The return to civilization (and a belated giveaway)

Um.... *taps microphone* Is this thing on?

If I flatter myself, you may have noticed my conspicuous absence at the start of this month (well, unless you follow my Twitter acct in which case I was jawing my head off). That would be because on Saturday, Oct 29th at about 3pm or a few minutes earlier, a big tree fell across our driveway taking down our power lines and a utility pole and causing the transformer to hit the ground and break open. We were without electricity and running water until Sunday, Nov 6th. The tree blocked egress until the 4th.

The tree in question:


I spent most of my time knitting or trying to knit, so that's the main inspiration for this month's very belated giveaway. This month I'm giving away an emergency preparedness kit. It's not just any emergency preparedness kit, it's a yarny preparedness kit. Inside, you will find one slightly underweight skein of this yarn - Jackrabbit 4oz in the colorway "Implausible". (I spent the whole week telling myself "this is unreal".)


As well as (not pictured) an emergency light source, some emergency calories, something to get the smell of woodsmoke out of your post-emergency FOs, an entirely facetious "pattern" to knit in the dark, and whatever else I can think to add to the box. This is a seriously plump giveaway, if I do say so myself.

I'm going to let this run a full week, through Sat Nov 19th before I let the randomizer pick a winner. To enter, just comment here with an answer to this thought exercise. How long could you survive (without food poisoning or scurvy) off only the food currently present in your home? Added limiters are 1) no electricity for things like refrigerators and freezers, and 2) no running water so all water needs to be carried in by hand from an offsite tap and heated in a pot on a propane stove if you want it hot. Remember to leave me a way to reach you if you win; a Ravelry id is enough!

Friends of the family lost power for days and ended up visiting a different friend's house each day for food and warmth. For us the reality was too much food rather than not enough. When you have a standing freezer as well as an overstuffed side by side, and over 1,000lbs of vegetables gleaned from a local farm that was scheduled for delivery to local food banks, it's a matter of spoilage and no easy way to wash dishes that cause problems. It was cold enough to make washing dishes in unheated water incredibly unpleasant, but not cold enough to keep food from spoiling.

At one point I was tempted to slather everything with barbeque sauce and throw it on the grill. The mess of it was the main deterrent. I did get reasonably good at cooking rice, however. The key was bringing the rice and water to a boil in a heavy pot on the propane burner and then covering it and letting it simmer over a lit sterno canister for about 30min. Our propane burner doesn't produce a low enough flame for cooking rice, but a can of solid fuel is just right for the slow simmer part.

More nattering about the power outage after the jump.

Down the rabbit hole (and proof I'm a huge dork)

First things first, the winners of my October giveaway are Rebecca with the Pomegranate colorway, and RightAsRain for the random drawing. I've contacted both. Thanks for playing, everyone! There were a lot of great ideas, but I had to go with the one that caused me to go "guh" involuntarily when I opened the picture.

I'll have pictures of Pomegranate to post later in the week when it's dry. Yes, I dyed it already. How could I resist that rich, succulent pomegranate? I love those things, and the sheen of the silk and the silver glitter in the yarn like droplets of juice.... Seriously delicious. I really hope the yarn is as beautiful dry as it is wet because this will be a fantastically juicy colorway.
 

Meanwhile, I never did post about my trip to Seattle. I went for a really quick little trip and took my nieces to a Keith Urban concert on the 29th. These aren't my concert pics. I was fooling around with my new camera which I'm still learning, and my new phone's camera, which I'm also still learning. Here's a shot of the Space Needle which I like. More after the jump.


I'm really proud of how this one came out. After 2 days of no clouds, a few started rolling in in the afternoon and it just cried out for a picture.

Procrastination (and a concert aftermath July 14 and 15)

I'm supposed to be doing a shop update. In fact, I should have started it on Thursday but between the heat and family visiting I haven't done much of anything useful at all. So, this is my concert aftermath, and then I'm going to start working on my shop update and if I don't get anything listed tonight I'm going to give away some yarn on Twitter. I don't think it'll come to that, but it's a good extra incentive to finally edit down those 400+ pictures I have.


Also, I should say I'm one of "those" fans but I'm not one of "THOSE" fans. I met some of THOSE fans on the 14th and I'm far too mellow to be that way.  Here, have a teaser picture:


Yes, that's a picture of my sock in progress at the Newark show. I am a knitter, after all! I like this tradition a la YarnHarlot and I think I'll continue to do this in the future. That means I need to knit more socks, I think!

More blather and eventually lots more pictures after the jump.

Busy busy busy! (And a shiny giveaway)

Summer is here with gorgeous weather and long days that still don't manage to be long enough. I'm working on the shop between family visiting and other family visiting and going to visit family, and in general lots of demands on my time. Keeping true to my promise to update the shop every 2-2.5 weeks, I'll be restocking the laceweight early next week. I have 32sk ready to photograph and I was going to do it this weekend but the niece who takes fantastic photographs will be visiting, so I hope to dragoon her into taking product photographs. This weekend I will be skeining and dyeing up the 6oz skeins of Jackrabbit instead.

But before I natter on about all and sundry, I should get to the giveaway! This month I'm giving away beads and hairsticks. Hairsticks because it's July and what better time to keep one's hair off one's neck? Beads because, well, they're beads! Specifically, these are seed beads suitable for beaded knitting and crochet. Beaded projects have become more and more popular, but it can be difficult to find beads. So, for all of you who ever thought about trying it out but haven't actually taken the leap, this is especially for you.


The giveaway consists of a pair of hairsticks, 40g of size 8/0 seed beads in Iris Silver (a shiny dark grey, suitable for lace weight), and 40g of size 6/0 seed beads in Rainbow Clear (suitable for fingering weight).

The hairsticks may look like knitting needles, but they're not. The tips are flat and start around a US#3 and they gradually grow to about a US#11 instead of having a consistent diameter. Still, if you're not too picky about gauge, they'd do in a knitting emergency. I asked a friend of mine to pick them up for me on a visit to Costa Rica. They have a beautiful grain and wood color, but I don't actually know what wood they are.

I'll let this giveaway run a little longer than usual, through the 9th since I'll be going up to Boston for a few days at the end of the week. Just post here and tell me what exciting things are going on with you this month! And believe me, even just relaxing in the back yard (I typo'ed that as "yarn") with a tall iced tea and a book sounds exciting right now.

As usual, double dipping with the Ravelry group is absolutely fine. And remember to leave a way for me to reach you if you win. Ravelry username is sufficient.

More gabbing about stuff after the jump.

Adventures in Nashville

I'm home and chipping away at the work I need to get done, but I wanted to post about this before the details became too hazy.

I haven't gone away on a trip in several years, so I was excited for a lot of reasons and not just the obvious. I had to remind myself repeatedly that I am actually capable of being a grown up in public and traveling to a strange city where they speak the same language as I, without getting permanently lost. Also, I took this trip with an old friend from grad school (Julie) and so would be able to make her navigate. This is very important given how I've turned getting lost into an art form.

First observation on the plane was that the river does some amazing things to the terrain. Second observation in the airport is that Nashville Int'l Airport is tiny. I realized over the course of the four days just how pocket sized Nashville is. With the car, we were never more than 20min away from anything, and that was if we hit rush hour traffic. Mind you, I realize that I may have unrealistic expectations growing up with New York as "the city" and Newark as "the airport".

So, Nashville was FOURTEEN DAYS into a heatwave of 90°F and up weather the day we arrived. The day we left, they were excited because Sunday was forecast to be "only" 89. It was a heat that just sapped the energy and turned us into melted puddles of people. The normal temperature for this time of year is a good 10-15 degrees cooler.

Thursday was the day of the event and we got up early to visit the Parthenon first. It's a full sized replica of the Greek building, but with all the friezes, etc, intact.

It was just the right size for something to occupy the morning, but I'll spare you pictures of the interior. There's a giant gilded sculpture of Athena inside, as well as replicas of the original stonework, etc.

More chatter and pics after the cut. 

Things of thinginess

First things first, the recipient of May's shrinky dink giveaway is Sarah of Slinging Stitches! I liked all the posts, it reminded me of all the crafty things I haven't picked up in ages, as well as a few messes I used to make for the fun of it. :D

It's still spring here, and for proof that it's May we had a tiny morel harvest on Friday. Three, we found three morels. Actually, I found a big one off the driveway near where I found several last year, but the entire top had been bitten off by something so I hardly think that it counts. These three were in an entirely different spot at the base of a rotted out stump that had been filled in with dirt.


Since there were only three, I ended up making a mushroom side dish with additional white button mushrooms and some fresh shitake mushrooms. I cut them all up and sauteed them with lots of garlic in olive oil with a bit of thyme and freshly cracked black pepper. It never ceases to amaze me how small morels shrivel when cooked, yet still retain a kind of crunchy texture.

Meanwhile, today I made a lunch of crepes and I like to record recipes when I tamper with them. These crepes were whole wheat and are quite robust in tooth. They're not exactly the delicate buttery things that most people anticipate when promised crepes, but I like them. I think they would be better with a savory filling but we had them with strawberries and whipped cream.

Strawberries were dressed with agave syrup and a bit of cognac, and the whipped cream was lightly sweetened with agave syrup as well.

Recipe after the jump.

Japan

Some things.
Help_Japan on LiveJournal, along the same model as Help_Haiti etc. An auction where people offer things and other people bid on them, and the winning bidders donate directly to aid orgs and the offerors fulfill the bids. No money changes hands between offeror and bidder unless shipping costs are figured in, but that's at the discretion of the individual offerors. The comm is also collecting links to charities and of news value here.

I have four auctions up. Bidding is open, and the comm is still open to new listings. The auction will be open for new offerings through the 26th and will close bidding on March 31st.
Custom yarn or Corriedale spinning fiber offer - 2 100g skeins of wool/nylon sock or superwash worsted or 12oz of fiber.
2 skeins of 2ply New Zealand Gottland wool in natural grey. (I've decided to match this donation myself to NZ earthquake relief.)
Autographed Equus playbill, signed by Richard Griffiths.
Knitted dumpling toys, catnip optional.


And some links I've collected from friends, etc.
Global Voices Online - Waiting for the right moment to help - this is addressed to people who could conceivably get up and drive to the affected areas, etc, but I think it's worthwhile to think about what it says regardless. Aid efforts have to be coordinated to be useful.

Oregon Live blog - Helping Japan: how your knitting can (and can't) help. - I pretty much agree, so I'm putting this here. I've seen a lot of people eager to knit for Japan and I know that impulse too. It's a generous one and it's not coming from just knitters but all sorts of people who feel helpless and that cash is not enough. Still, misguided or unfocused assistance can cause more difficulties than it alleviates and it can divert energy that eventually goes nowhere instead of into actual assistance. Which is actually what the previous article was kind of saying. So really, my plea is that we all be thoughtful about giving and whether or not we're actually helping, or if we're making more work.

AsiaJin blog - lots of interesting content about internet efforts since the disaster began.

MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub - There's a lot of scaremongering about the nuclear power plants, as well as misinformation, truncated information, etc. (including the jerk who spread the fake nuclear fallout map). This blog is updating regularly with more information as they get it, but of the greatest value to me was the first post at the bottom explaining how reactors of this type work. The entire blog is useful, however, in explaining and contextualizing the actual information, rather than saying "radiation contamination" and leaving us to wonder if things are going to start glowing in the dark.

Scientific American - Radiation's Complications: Pinning Health Problems on a Nuclear Disaster Isn't So Easy This article is talking about Chernobyl and is interesting in its own right, but it's additionally topical now of course. For another interesting read, check out The worst nuclear plant accident in history: Live from Chernobyl.

ShelterBox - they're not taking directed donations, but they are on the ground in Japan working to get their boxes to the critical areas. I'm posting this here because I'd never heard of it before this event, and it's fascinating what they're doing.

I know some people want their money to go to whatever cause they specify. I'm comfortable with MSF/Doctors Without Borders being my "go to" charity in situations like this even without a directed donation set up. I'm not so picky as long as it's an organization I trust to actually spend the money wisely instead of eat it up in administrative costs. There's so much need, after all. New Zealand and China are both still recovering from recent earthquakes. Haiti is still trying to recover, and there's no lack of disasters both natural and human created before or since. CharityNavigator is helpful when making choices as well as weeding out potential scams.

I should learn to luge

First things first, I forgot to do this yesterday. The entries for February's giveaway really cracked me up and the winner of the giveaway stitchmarkers is Bretta! I'll contact via Ravelry.

Meanwhile, this winter is certainly full of enough ice and snow. We've been on ice since the sleet storm, with an impassible driveway. Rather, we could get down but getting back up again is always the kicker. This was the top of the driveway this afternoon. This is after a couple days of thaw, but it hasn't dented the inch thick layer of compacted snow and ice pellets.


Digging around in the shed revealed a bag of rock salt and a bucket of sand, so everything visible in the picture was given a going over. This allowed us to get out and, more importantly, back up again with staples like milk, eggs, and cat food. That last one is really important. We are perfectly capable of surviving until spring thaw with what's in the freezer and pantry, but the cats are more particular than we are. :P

Not only that, but there's been a stranger cat visiting late at night since the 3rd. It's a large black and white long hair, very skittish and it runs away whenever I turn on the light and go out to look for it. But it lingers around the house and cries and cries. I think it may be a housecat that got out and is now lost in the wilderness of ice and snow. I've been putting food and water out for it, so hopefully it will become less skittish over time and I can see about finding where it belongs.

Being iced in gives me a weird sense of limbo. I've been knitting up a storm and getting not much else of worth done. I'm separating some 6ply silk into a 2ply and a 4ply for a weaving project I want to do (which is a special sort of tedium since I don't have a wheel) and I've been making stitch markers, but there's no urgency to anything. Getting to the mailbox has been hard enough, let alone the post office. With the second half of the week expected to go back down to single digits overnight, our driveway is unlikely to improve very much. I feel like I'm hibernating.

Still, one thing I did do was post my free knit jiaozi pattern to Ravelry, and I made a little instructional video, too. Both links are in the sidebar, too.

Ravelry pattern page
Ravelry pdf download link
YouTube supplemental tutorial

These dumplings were a good idea, actually. The cats have been going stir crazy indoors, and so I've thrown a bunch of these around and it lets them blow off some excess energy. Not all of them have catnip in them and they still seem to work.

Happy New Year! (a belated eclipse post and a giveaway)

It was a very busy December with my father's 80th birthday banquet on the 19th and family coming home for the holidays, as well as other assorted goings on.  One cousin's family has expanded with a bouncing baby boy, and another's is expecting any day now.  It's been full of moment and now that I can pause to breathe and blog, I'd like to post about the lunar eclipse on the solstice since I took a lot of pictures that make me ridiculously gleeful.

I'll talk about the giveaway first, though.  One thing is that December's mystery box remains unclaimed (and no, it's not exactly the same as the Rav group box).  Soooo, I'm going to do this.  I'd like to send it to cols journey who won it, but if I don't hear back by the end of January's giveaway, I'll do another random pick from the existing entries for December and announce it at the same time as January.  I think that's equitable.  Meanwhile, January!

This month I have a pair of earrings from a friend of mine who has a thoughtful and literate Etsy shop called Written Insight (closed for the holiday, it'll reopen tomorrow).

These earrings are about 2in long and they're made of text on newsprint that's been carefully dipped in resin, as well as green and white marbled glass, wood, and silver beads.  The hooks are silver plated brass.

For this giveaway, I'd like to talk books. Specifically favorite books.  I have a lot of favorites since I was one of those kids who would read under the blankets with a flashlight.  But if asked, the one I always go back to is Jane Austen's Persuasion.  It's got the right blend of funny and heartfelt for my tastes, and I like how Anne isn't remarkable or perfect, but she's mature, intelligent, and good (almost too good for her, Austen said).  Her Frederick has the whiff of a storybook romantic hero, but when you get to the real him he's just a man who's a little foolish but ultimately well meaning to go along with the "handsome, capable, and rich".

So, what's tops on your list and why? Comment by Thursday, the 6th to be entered in this drawing, and as always leave some way for me to get in touch with you.  I'll pick a random winner on Friday, January 7th.  And I do hope everyone will visit Written Insight and take a look around. It's perfect for logophiles and bibliophiles, and nature lovers, too.  The Rav group has a different pair of earrings, and as usual entering both giveaways is fine.

*** Eclipse! ***


The 2010 complete lunar eclipse was entirely worth staying up for, even if I didn't see a single falling star.  We lucked out and had a gorgeous, clear night for it although it was very cold.  I found my half-fingered gloves in the pockets of my parka so only my toes froze.  I had to pop inside and take off my shoes to warm them up periodically.

More after the jump....

In cake there is truth

(Because saying "the cake is a lie" has become a little tired.)

This is late, because I actually baked this cake a week ago for a reception on the 23rd. Cake is an evanescent art form, and also participatory.  I'd go so far as to call special occasion cakes performative.

It tasted really good, although it fell apart when cut due to several factors. And I should have used more syrup to moisten the layers all the way out to the edges. And I rolled the fondant too thin for the first tier I covered, so it ended up being overly pleated. 

But, cake!


The next big baking I have to do is a teetotaler's rum cake for my father's birthday banquet in December (teetotaler because we can't send people home drunk off cake, mostly), but that's only one layer, even if it's big.

Details of the wedding cake after the jump.

Moon faced and pie eyed.

It's 3am and I should be doing all sorts of other things including work, but I just spent over an hour outside looking up at the sky.  You see, my father received an email a while back talking about the August "Two Moons" effect of Mars and the moon. While the phenomenon is actually not true, what was true is that the sky was clear, the moon was gloriously bright, and there was a bright speck of a planet visible as well.  I think it's actually Jupiter but I'm not sure.

The night was so clear, not a cloud, and the moon was bright enough to not need a flashlight. So we took the big telescope outside to take a closer look.  I took some truly awful pictures with my little point and shoot.

 
In the second picture, that smudge of light to the right is the light bouncing off the edge of the roof. I kept this picture to give an idea of how bright it actually was.

 
And these were taken through the telescope.  There were what looked like 4 visible satellites to the planet, which is why I think it's Jupiter, all in a little string of 3 with a 4th further out and not visible in the picture.  Since I don't have a bracket to attach the camera to the telescope, nor a motor to allow it to track, my pictures are never very good.

While I find internet hoaxes and false excitement over non-existent phenomena annoying, I was glad for the reason to look at the sky tonight. It was fun, and the weather is perfect for it, and the moon was absolutely lovely despite not being full. We really don't use the telescope enough. It's a terrific 114mm Newtonian Celestron telescope and perfect for looking at near space. I bought it for my father when I was still earning a fat paycheck and it's been gathering a lot of dust.

I enjoy the sense of wonder that comes from looking at the craters and shadows on the face of the moon or seeing the pinpricks of light spring into visibility around the glowing speck of a planet. And since our spotting scope is out of alignment there's also a sense of victory when we can actually find anything!

Melting

First a reminder!  Today is the last day to comment for the July 1 giveaway! I'm giving away some lovely Urbbody products, you know you want 'em!

Meanwhile, it is hot. It is ridiculously hot. I have to give the rabbit outside ice bottles three times a day so he doesn't overheat.  He's hiding in his little house cuddled up to a cold water bottle.  For some reason, the cats have insisted on staying outside, however, and we're treated to melted cats draped over all the available cool surfaces.

Bergil and Banquo defying sense and staying outside in the stunning heat.

The last few days have been taken up with preparing my Phatfiber samples.  July and August were mailed out today.  Sending 2mos at a time is more than a 50% savings in priority shipping, and that alone makes it worthwhile. They should get there in plenty of time for box drop.

July samples shown in colorways Sea Wrack and Long Walk, Jackrabbit base.

And it's Wednesday, which means it's my day to cook.  I refuse to heat up the house by turning on the stove, so I'm getting creative with leftovers. Especially after picking up a chocolate bar I left in my office and it squished. 

An early Midsummer Night's Dream

It's not yet midsummer, but this month's theme for the June Phatfiber box has arrived right in the middle of some mid-summerly heat and humidity.

Before I get into the glories of the box, however, here's a picture of a visitor to our carport this afternoon.  I don't know why it was in the middle of our carport instead of wandering amongst the trees.

It looks like a luna moth caterpillar to me. I put it in the ground cover out of the way and hopefully it's made its way safely to wherever it was going.

Now, on to the box!  Lots of beautiful and large! samples this month.

This was the great "program" Jessie sent in the box to hold the cards and such.

Pictures of the box contents and shop links after the jump.

Mundane mysteries

Cleaning the house instead of dyeing yarn today, and I have two mysteries.

Why is the pink yarn I dyed last night so firm compared to the other skeins? It feels almost hard. It's not felted (superwash, hasn't lost length, isn't felted in appearance). The only thing I can think is that the strength of that particular dye changed the hand. I've never used that dye at that concentration before. If it still feels so dense and firm after it dries, I'm going to have to list it as a second, I think. It's really disconcerting.

The second mystery, how did I miss that big pile of spilled catnip under that rack? Sad to say, I haven't had catnip in the house for a really long time, which means that's a disconcertingly ancient pile of catnip. I've never seen the cats so intrigued by a dust bunny before. Dusty cats are pretty typical, however.

In the midst of this scintillating day, I discovered I won something! I never win things! :D In this case, it's a fantastic monogrammed calendar from the Manolo for the Home's Dabney Lee at Home giveaway. The months are all different and they're so fun and bright. I'm really looking forward to receiving this.

Oh, wait, I have a third mystery! Fourth if one considers winning something a mystery. This little butterfly was flitting about today tasting the dirt and being ineffectually chased by one of my cats. I haven't noticed this variety before so I haven't the least idea what it might be. I should try looking it up at BugGuide.net.


OK, back to cleaning. Hopefully there are no more ancient and kitty intoxicating dust bunnies lingering in the corners. I'm just glad it missed the rug.

Exhibition, exodus, and loot

Once again the realization that lots to blog about means not enough time to blog percolates to the fore.  This weekend, I knit in public for the first day of World Wide Knit in Public day(s); I noticed that there was the annual mass exodus of toadlets from our pond; and I went cherry picking and once again demonstrated my passionate devotion to Prunus cerasus or the sour cherry.
 
They're like jewels. I can't resist them.

I'd best get on with this before it's Monday! (Oh well, I tried!)

Exhibition
First up, WWKIP day! I drove up to Ridgewood, NJ and spent the day with an old friend. We sat in the outside area of a Starbucks and chattered on for hours as we knit. We did speak to a few people who seemed interested, and one very pleased woman who was excited to see someone else who does this craft.

I twitpic-ed from the Starbucks, but here is photgraphic evidence:

The yarn used for the cozy was Knitpicks Merino Style in cream held doubled, and a Phatfiber box sample of handspun merino from Spindipity. The combination reminds me of strawberries and cream, even though the handspun has blue and green in it, not just pink and red.

Things of thingness

Thinking up catchy subject lines is hard.

Ahem, anyway yesterday I went to the Renegade Craft festival and decided it is not the appropriate venue for me.  It was hot and humid and there was a tornado watch.  Dude, Brooklyn?

No pictures, because it was seriously gross out.  A storm blew through in the late afternoon and washed a bit of the heat away, and by 9pm the whole area was in the embrace of a totally different weather system that dropped the temperature by 15-20°.  That kind of temperature is much more conducive to yarn buying!

I did grab a few pictures while sitting in Manhattan traffic, though.  I like the contrast between the buildings and the clouds. And the reflections off the buildings in the one struck me as really cool.
 

More chatter after the jump.

I'm bit

I have a hat design idea. It could be awesome. It's cables and colorwork and fingering weight yarn, and I don't know if I'm insane or it's genius. I think it might be the former.

This comes about because of a Ravelry thread about what's impressive in a hat, and that started the juices flowing.  Mind, I've designed cables and colorwork before, but, well, I don't think this really counts as impressive.  Nuts maybe, but not precisely impressive.

Now this, this could be impressive, I think.  As an inspiration:


Yeah. So that's what I'm thinking. An 8 section hat with closed ring cables and I'm not sure what else. High nuts quotient is definitely a possibility.

In other things, I should deadhead the roses.  They're loving the hot weather with lots of sun.


These are my favorite single white roses with a blush of pink on the buds. They were battling a bit of fungus earlier in the spring, but I think all the extra sun has helped, even if it makes me want to melt.  The shrub has gone from weedy and sad to an explosion of glossy leaves and flowers the size of my palm.

The morel of the story

I frequently reflect that I live in a lovely place.  But every once in a while things happen that make me marvel anew at just how beautiful and delightful it is here in rural New Jersey.

Granted, rural New Jersey isn't all that rural in the grand scheme of things. But there's farm land a brief walk away, the land behind the house belongs to the county as Green Acres, and we have deer and wild turkey regularly wandering through.  When the wind is right, you can smell the buffalo farm.... Er, right.


Today, I found morels near the driveway.  We harvested morels around this time last year in the same place.  Now, it's not a "miracle of the wood" because I seeded giant morels near there many years ago.  But it was long enough ago that I thought it had just disappeared into nothingness. Then a while back a few morels popped up in the garden. And then last year we noticed a fair crop of them next to the driveway. And this year, there they were again. 

Is this TMI? - weight loss

I'm a little o.O because I'm under 160lbs for the first time in, well, a really long time.

On the one hand, it's celebratory because it's a sign that I'm doing something right. On the other hand, it's not. Because it's just part of a very long road, and because while I weigh less, I'm not more fit.

Weight loss without increase in fitness is mostly cosmetic when it's the difference between 176 and 156, I know that. Still, I have a little interior satisfaction knowing that the 156 is there staring at me from the scale instead of the 176. And all it took was 3 years of portion control and getting out of bed. :P

*dances a little, anyway*

Here, have a picture of the sky yesterday, when I finished taking yarn pictures. The light was starting to angle low behind the house, and was catching through the new spring green.