Phew!

Catastrophe averted.  My shorts aren't too short.

Jiggles

This post has nothing to do with any of the important things that are going on in my life right now.  It's just short and I have time to write it.

My running pants are chafing my legs at the bottoms where the hems hit my shins.  I'm not even running yet, just wearing them around the house.  This bums me out because I am by no means prepared to go out in public in shorts.

I really want to go running though.  I guess I'll go put on some shorts and try to see if I can figure out how truly godawful it is.  Is it even possible to see the backs of your thighs jiggling while jogging in place and looking over your shoulder into a mirror?  Maybe the easily viewed fronts of my thighs will be deal-breaker enough.  If I can tell that it's bad, maybe I'll think of something else to wear while I'm upstairs.  

My goal is to make the world a more beautiful place.  Sigh.

An Award

I give myself the "Worst Craft Blog Ever" award.  Why is this? (I have to ask because who else will?)

Mainly because "I Make Things" and I don't tell you about it.  I have neglected to photograph and post the last five objects (at least) I have made.  What's more I gave them to their intended recipients without taking any sort of photos whatsoever.  You will never see the beautiful raspberry colored lace cashmere scarf that I made for Fay's neurologist.  Nor will you see the ruggedly good-looking and deliciously soft charcoal-grey baby alpaca scarf I made for Fay's neurologist's assistant.

You might get a chance to see the three ring-bearer pillows I finished yesterday and mailed to California today.  I expect to meet up with them again later and there will be cameras in abundance then.  Also pretty California light.

I have to say that things have been stressful lately.  Nothing terrible - I have a very cushy life.  It's just that our real estate agent wants to put our house on the market next Thursday.  Pete's had clients non-stop in Vermont for the last two weeks.  This leaves me with most of the job of going through our belongings and deciding which to sell, which to pitch (rhyme!) which to move to our new puny apartment-to-be (if all goes well) and which to move to VT.  

That's actually fair since I was responsible for accumulating most of this crap anyway.  All Pete ever buys is guitars and recording gear which he stores neatly where it all belongs in his recording studio.  Wow, are we different from each other.

Still, it's a big job.  Spending yesterday cranking on ring bearer pillows was an enormous relief.  It was also damned successful if I do say so myself.   Should I ever get through weeding our belongings I might have time to finish my Etsy shop and start a new career in wedding gear (another rhyme!)  Maybe then there will be more photographic evidence of the "things" I have "made" complete with prices.  And maybe then one of the "things" I can "make" will be money.

One Reason Why You Want To Be Friends With Jacques Pepin

The other night a friend of mine told me a story about a friend of her mother's and Jacques Pepin. 

This friend of her mother's is a longtime Boston food person, friends with Julia Child as well as M. Pepin.  A few years ago her life partner died.  After the funeral, late at night there's a knock at the door.  It's Jacques Pepin.  He's brought two bottles of champagne, two-hundred oysters and a guy to shuck them.

Don't you want to be friends with him?

Commercial Flying

I can admit it now - I used to be afraid to fly.  

It wasn't a problem when I was younger.  Sometime in my twenties it hit and it continued through my thirties.

I forget when I picked up my knitting needles again.  Late thirties maybe?  That's what helped me to fly again.  No knitter ever has enough time to do the knitting they want to do but what else is there to do on a flight?  Might as well indulge.

After a few years of knitting on flights I can now say that I actually love flying.  It seems impossible to believe but I actually love the airport.  I love getting the yogurt parfait at some sandwich stand.  I love looking at all the people on my way to the gate and I love sitting at the gate waiting for my flight and setting up my in-flight knitting project.

Okay, sometimes I pray furiously when there's so much turbulence that I can't get my needle to go in the right loop.  Sometimes I worry about Fay when she's panting in a carry-on bag under the seat in front of me.  Also, I would never ordinarily choose to eat whatever dehydrated salt-based slurry product it is they hand out with the complimentary drink.  Flying has grown on me though.

Another Quick Weather Report

Pete and I were just driving over the B.U. Bridge tonight on our way back from dinner with friends in Cambridge.  The view of Boston from the bridge is usually stunning.  Tonight there was no Boston.  The fog is so thick that you can't see anything at all past the Citgo sign.

By the way, we had dinner at Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar, 255 Washington St. in Union Square (next door to the Independent) in Somerville.  The food there is fantastic - spicy, fresh and authentic.  I think I might be addicted to the Thai Tom Yum. 

Whining and Cowboy Boots

Spring has to be my worst season.  Summer's rough too for a gal like me: HATES being hot, hair frizzes impossibly in the humidity, only sunburns, apparently the favorite food of mosquitos.  I even started another blog inspired by my distaste for summer.

While summer annoys and angers me (on the really hot, humid days) spring can cut me off at the knees.  I don't usually get migraines in the summer or incapacitating bouts of woe.  That's why spring is worst.  I shouldn't be so sensitive.  What's a little gloomy weather?  So it's cold and dark and wet.  Mind over matter and all that stuff.  

Today started out sunny in Brookline so I headed into the garden.  The spring spruce-up is extra important this year since we'll be putting our house on the market soon and we want that curb appeal.  I imagine whoever ends up buying the place won't want the garden I've put in though - it's untraditional and needs a bit of maintenance.  Well, different maintenance than a weekly mowing and occasional hedge-trim.

I did the big payoff stuff first: trim the box standards, lightly prune the roses, cut back the ornamental grasses and remove the twiggy stuff.  It began to rain lightly while I was working but no big.  I kept going and it looks a lot better now.  

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I'll tackle the serious weeds - wild onions and lawn grass - then. 

So now that that boring weather report is over let's move on to shoes.

I kind of want some cowboy boots.  

These are nice:

And $439.00 on endless.com.  Not getting those.

These are very cool:

They'll cost you $1,115.00 on shopbop.com.  These are hand-made in Italy.  Needless to say...

You can get sort-of plain ones for under $100 on endless.com:

But once you've seen the pretty ones it's hard to settle.

$370.00

$509.00, both from endless.com

Not that it matters because I'm not getting any of them!  I don't have the $$$ and I don't ride horses!  Sure, millions of people sport awesome cowboy boots and never ride a horse.  I see people in them all the time and I don't go sniffing those folks to see if they just came from the stables or anything.  Hell, New England isn't cowboy country either.  People up here ride horses all the time - especially in Vermont.  I think they tend to wear hiking boots or something though.  Still, cowboy boots are pretty and I do like them.

As for other horse-related fashions, you'll never catch me in a pair of jodphurs.  Plenty of good reasons for that.  The fashion industry pulls 'em out once in a while to see what we'll do.  I'm not doing anything with those.  

I wonder if endless has layaway?

'Tude

Not feeling bloggy these days.  Not feeling tweety either.  There could be a number of reasons for this but I'm inclined to blame Spring.  

Spring is really jerking me around so far.  A few days ago when the weather was sunny and pleasant I had a massive fit of Spring Fever.  I swear I could almost hear Pan's pipes in the Hannaford's parking lot in Keene (NH) It felt like a bacchanalia was looming somewhere in the atmosphere.

Today in Vermont it is thirty-nine degrees and raining (which also means it's dark)  Who the hell wants to do anything but stay in bed on a day like that?  I'm doing stuff but I don't like it!  Except when "stuff" means "stuffing my face" with Rice Krispie Treats.

Who here has a really bad attitude? MEEEEEEE!