Knitting Angel

How fast Can I knit

I usually take Chloe out for her daily walk late in the evening, when the sun is almost down. The fact of the matter is, it is too hot for her to walk during the day, and the late evenings are pleasant here (or as pleasant as 90 degrees can be at 9pm, but hey, its better than 104). 

One thing I have noticed is that the winds kick up in the evening (like seriously kick up) and you can smell the absolute dryness in the air. Now I grew up when it was warm and dry, and where hot winds were a harbinger of doom (brush fires) so I have to say, the hot, evening winds make me a bit nervous. Especially when everything is brown.

Sometimes we get spectacular sunsets in the evening, or really neat looking clouds. The other day I caught one such cloud on my camera.

It looked almost golden in the sunset. I wish those clouds would bring us rain- a real, soaking rain. It is strange to leave the green, moist, scenery of Northern Ohio for the scorched, brown, cracked earth of southern Texas.

So my friend who is ill, well things are looking positive for him. He has a long hard road ahead of him, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. He is a person who loves the handknits, and I decided that he needed a get-well afghan. Knit by me of course. So I have dropped everything else ad have started knitting on the afghan exclusively (well except for the stuff I am making for a crochetville swap, but I can't show you that anyway.) I decided on the Rambling Rows afghan, and on a blue color scheme (he likes blues and greys.)

I have only completed the first square and started on the second. For those of you not familiar with the afghan, it is a simple combination of mitered squares with a color scheme that makes a neat looking afghan.

My goal is to complete a square a night. There are 55 squares total, so that means I could be done in a month and a half- just in time for my friend's birthday. I want to make this soon, because I feel like he needs it soon... so its gonna be rambling rows afghan all the time. This might be one of the first times I have ever devoted myself so exclusively to a project. Le't's see if I can pull it off...

A good friend

A good friend... no a really good friend, is one who gives you a nice grooming every morning, complete with a little ear-cleaning

(This is, of course, according to Chloe)

And (also according the Chloe) a good friend reciprocates the favor. So that all remains equal and fair between the friends.

This is all quite important, because otherwise, without a proper ear-cleaning, your friend might have an alarmingly rough day.

And we all know, rough days suck....

P.S. I am knitting, really I am. I am crocheting too- but everything is gifts that have to stay off the blog for secrecy's sake. Soon I will start another large-scale gift that I can blog about because the recipient doesn't know that i blog, but until then... well I went to one of my new LYS last week- one called Yarnivore and walked away with some wacky-ass sock yarn. Its Shaefer Anne and the color combo is, well interesting.

Hot pink, purple, army green and brown. Yep. Its more then just a little odd-and something about it called me. Actually- it SANG to me. It said "buy me, buy me" despite the fact that I have gone cold sheep. But I have been thinking- what kind of socks should I make with it? Any pattern suggestions would be welcome.

Drifting

You know what has characterized this move more so than past ones, is a sense of being sort of lost in it all- a drifting of sorts.

That and insomnia.

No really, I am a creature of habit. I like to establish a schedule, get into a groove and roll right along. I haven't been able to do that yet. My sleep habits have been really screwy lately, and I am fighting the most severe insomnia of my life. Some nights I only sleep two hours. Its beginning to wear on me.

So it is fair to say that I am severely out of sorts. That is why I haven't been knitting, crocheting or blogging much. I find myself drifting around in my own life....

A few things have begun to pull me back into reality. One is that school starts in only 4 weeks, and I defend shortly thereafter. So yesterday I went into the office and began to draft out a syllabus. I made good progress and worked some more on it today. I hope to have my core lecture course mapped out by the end of the week. Of course, I eventually I have to write the lectures, but one thing at a time. This is making me feel better.

(As you can see, Milo is out of sorts too. He has taken to climbing the kitchen cabinets.)

I have also decided to participate in a Crochetville swap again. So planning for the swap has gotten my creative juices flowing again, and that has also been helpful in the whole trying to get back on track thing.

Besides the move, other stuff has been going on- stuff I can't really talk about, but it suffices to say that a friend is seriously ill and the news of it hit me like a ton of bricks. Came out of left field. That has also left me out of sorts and in the doldrums. 

So while I have not been knitting, I have been cooking.

(Catfish seasoned with Old Bay and pan fried, white rice, and cherry tomatoes sauteed in olive oil, garlic and chives over the top. Easy and spectacularly delicious.)

And I have been spending time with the Chloe and Milo.

(Chloe with favorite rope bone toy)

And I have been trying to be glad for the small graces in life.

A few days ago I was walking Chloe when I ran into a woman who went to my college. Not at the same time as me, she is a bit younger, but we got to talking and she invited me to the dog park for the next morning. So I went with her, and her two pups and Chloe had a blast. As I watched the dogs run around I thought about how grateful I was that Chloe can at least trot around and enjoy life at the dog park now, post-knee surgery. I was also grateful for meeting this girl, who extended the hand of friendship when I needed it.  And as I scratched the ears of a friendly Basenji named Loki who sat on the bench next to me (just like a person, like he belonged there) I remembered that life has its ups and downs, and that you just gotta roll with it.

Let the sun shine

My new apartment has very good light- in the morning the sun streams through the bedroom and living room windows--in the evening it comes through the kitchen and dining room windows. 

Milo has made it a new habit of his to chase the light squares that dapple the floor.

His other main hobby is sitting the windows watching the birds (of which there are a lot of.)

So.... once we got to Texas we had to do all that moving in stuff. JCap and I unloaded the cubes with the help of a one of my new colleagues (C) and his wife, M (actually we are old grad student buddies- we were in the same program for five years and he got a job out here last year--at the same school and in the same department. A bit of serendipity eh?) Then Jcap and I unpacked in a flurry of craziness, saw a few of the sights (Riverwalk, Alamo- and it was 104 out) and generally ran around, buying stuff I needed, eating out at a few of the local places... etc. We dumped all my books at school, and the night before she left, had a great steak dinner with my colleague C and his wife M, while JCap regaled them with stories of growing up with a father who was a former Ringling Brothers clown (all true, btw.)

On Tuesday, I sadly put Jcap on the plane back to upstate New York and had to face down the fact that I was, indeed, in Texas alone now, and that I know very few people here. 

JCap was probably one of the few people in my life that I could make this trip with and not drive crazy (or have her drive me crazy.) Not only did we live down the hall from each other in college (where we often ate our daily meals together and took many of our classes together) but we also were roommates and classmates at Divinity School. Jcap and I get each other- in a sort of quiet, easy way. We've just known each other that long... I miss her terribly sometimes and some days I wish for our happy college days, when I would shuffle down the hall to her room to watch a movie and order chinese food. Or when we would sit sipping cups of her matzo ball soup during Passover (Jcap is Jewish- I am not, but I have so many Jewish friends that I have learned to appreciate many of the finer points of Jewish life, including matzo ball soup, what is kosher for Passover, and what is not, and competitive dreidel where you gamble for Goldfish crackers.)

For the last few days I have been keeping myself busy with Pedestrian things, like filling out tax forms at my new job, unpacking my office, having my new office computer installed, putting up new light-blocking shades (my bedroom is too bright at night and I haven't slept well all week). I was almost too efficient because by this weekend, I sorta ran out of things to do-- all that is left for next week is to deal with the DMV and to get new plates and a title for my car. I think i have gotten entirely too good at this moving thing, and that is a little scary in and of itself.

(My new windowsill herb garden- I have no porch or deck here, so I'm growing stuff in a sunny window)

Things I have learned about Texas:

The heat will do you in. Seriously. I have come to realize that I have to drink way more water than I think I need and then some.

The people tend to be really friendly. Especially chatty older women with big hair at the grocery store. (Seriously- I have talked to so many nice older women, and the one thing they have in common is a Texas drawl and big, coiffed, hair.)

Texans take their selection of cornbread mix, ice tea flavors, and bar-be-que sauce at the supermarket seriously. Kinda like North Carolinians.

HEB Central Market has got to be the largest specialty food grocery store I have ever seen anywhere. Think Whole Foods times two and a half. Seriously. Everything's bigger in Texas.

When you are having a miserable day, two breakfast tacos from Taco Tacco makes everything better. 'Nuff said.

I have to figure out how I am going to structure the rest of this summer. I have about a month stretching ahead of me before the big ramp up to the school years starts (and my dissertation defense for that matter). I have to design my courses now, and start getting ready for them. Write a book review and finish editing an article so it can go to the editor for the book it will be a part of. So I have stuff to do, but none of it is "fun stuff."  So somehow I gotta find free stuff to do around here, so I can do some exploring and sight-seeing. (It has to be free because I am not being paid for three months.) 

So knitting. I have knit very little, but plan to get things up and running again now that I am settled. Another friend is pregnant (man these babies- keeping me on my toes!) I also need to find a knitting group. I miss my old group in Ohio-- those ladies were awesome. 

Everything is hotter in Texas

Sorry for the silence.

The last two weeks have been a bit chaotic, and I don't know where to start.

First, I accidently packed away my camera so well, that I didn't find it during the roadtrip and got no pictures of our journey.... but I can tell you about it.

Day 1

We left Ohio the morning of the 29th. As my friend Jcap and I drove away from my little red brick house and the tiny town I lived in for a year I felt sad. Everything was so green and beautiful and the sun was shining so brightly..... we pointed south and headed along the way. Milo, mercifully did not start crying immediately and we had an uneventful ride until we hit Dayton, OH (where Jcap's family lives.) We stopped there for some lunch and rest and then headed further south into Kentucky.

At that point we were still cheerful, playing the alphabet game, and the license plate game. Kentucky was green and rolling, and once we got south of Louisville, there was nothing, but we kept going, chatting amongst ourselves, noting all the bourbon distilleries we passed. 

Then we got stuck in traffic. On the interstate. In southern Kentucky. For what felt to be about an hour and half. Just as I had to go to the bathroom. We sat. In traffic-- in the middle of Kentucky???

Jcap and I were getting a bit desperate. Finally she got us off at an exit that promised gas and the possibility of a bathroom. Our car (and many other followed) found a gas station in a tiny hamlet of a town off the highway. After speaking to the gas station attendant I discovered that not only was their major road work going on, but also there had been a big rig wreck. She gave us directions  to get around the traffic snarl (I'm from LA you know- so I've seen bad traffic- and that was bad traffic.) and we set off, driving through tiny towns tucked away in the hills and hollows of Kentucky. Finally we found our back on the interstate and heading south towards Tennessee.

We rolled into the Franklin, TN La Quinta around 8pm. Never have I been so grateful to see a hotel and an adjoining Cracker Barrel restaurant. After securing Milo and Chloe in the room, we went and I inhaled a plate of french toast. Jcap had the Chicken and dumplings, and once we were done eating we sat, sipping our sweet tea in gratitude. We were back in the south, where tea was, once again, sweet. 

Day 2

 

We got up out of the Franklin La Quinta as early as our tired bodies would let us. After loading the car (and having averted a crises--all night Milo refused to use his litter box or eat, and as he watched us pack up that morning he decided it probably would not be a good idea to hold out any longer, and he finally peed and munched down some food) we headed across Tennessee towards Memphis. The suburbs of Nashville (where Franklin is) were uncommonly pretty and green and the morning ride was pleasant. 

However, once we crossed the border into Arkansas, it became clear to us that we had entered a hot, dusty, industrial farmland area that looked nothing like the small Amish and Mennonite farms I had lived near last year. Arkansas was a whole lot of nothing. Once we got past Little Rock, the southern section of the state is pretty empty (at least by the highway- and to be fair, I hear that the northern section, by the Ozarks, is pretty- but that isn't where we drove through.)  We got stuck in traffic again in Texarkana and finally entered the great state of Texas (where we were greeted by a row of huge waving Texas state flags.) 

About 100 miles into Texas, Jcap switched with me and I drove us deep into Texas cattle country. At this point we got off the interstate (to bypass Dallas on our way to Waco, our stopping point for the night) and we drove through huge, gorgeous ranches, passed farm stands, fruit stands and nut stands, and through small towns. Jcap remarked that this was not how she had envisioned Texas, and I said it was because we were in the north, closer to the plains and that Texas is a big state. The roads were so remote and quiet, that often we were the only car for miles.  Every once in a while, a pickup or big rig would pass us, and surely they stared at the two girls in the dusty Mazda with Ohio plates and a dog and cat in the backseat. 

We got to Waco late at night, and thankfully, the La Quinta had a 24 hour Denny's next to it. As I sat there eating my Grand Slam breakfast (at 10pm), and trying to rest my road-glare suffering eyes, JCap and I joked about how when we were old ladies, that we were going to tell our kids how we drove some crazy-ass road-trip to get me deep into the Lone Star State.

Day 3

We rose a bit later, as we were only 3 hours from San Antonio at this point.  As we went down the interstate towards Austin the landscape got scrubbier and drier, and more cars appeared on the road. We played the alphabet game again and chatted about what needed to be done in San Antonio. Chloe sighed in the backseat and reclined against her pillow. Milo sat with his back towards us, totally pissed at this point, that he was back in the car again. 

Around noon on July 1, we rolled into San Antonio, and found my new apartment complex.  The heat, when we got out of the car was breathtaking, and as I got out of the car, I realized that my life was never going to be the same again....

It was over 100 degrees when we arrived.

More tomorrow.....