May the fourth

be with you, always.

G'day all!

May the fourth has really taken off.  It was all over the news channels when I went to the gym today.  People on Ravelry are asking what order to watch SW dvds in (my answer - 456123 cos if I did it in chronological, not filming, order, I'd get bored partway into Ep 1 and wander off and not get to see Star Wars (I'm old fashioned and call it what it was when I first saw it waaaaay back when it was first released).  Star Wars is still probably my very favouritest movie ever.  And if you read this blog much, you'll know how much difficulty I have picking favourites).

We've had a miserable couple of days here in Seattle.  Rain, rain and more blasted rain, except this morning when it seemed ok.  HA!  I went off to the gym and then it has pretty much rained nonstop ever since, which rather annoyed me as I had to go pick up some photos and needed to have them put in a plastic bag.  And I didn't have a brolly or a jacket with a hood with me.

I have finally found some buttons I like for the cardigan I've been knitting for a while.  I've already worn it, sans buttons, at the wedding brunch.  It didn't got with the rest of my outfit - I have the horrible habit of making lovely knitted stuff that doesn't go with the rest of what I have.  You would think I would learn, but no.  Given I like to knit blue, mauve, purple and pink stuff for me, with the occasional rainbow thing, and given those are the colours I prefer to wear, you really would think something would be matchy-matchy but no....

Eksqeeeze the blur, the good photo hasn't uploaded

 I have finished the chemo cap I made for our BC group on Ravelry.  One of the ladies is late in stage IV (ie terminal) and since we can do little for her, we are making hats for the patients at the cancer centre she attended.  It does fit around my head but for purposes of photo taking, I just stuck it on top.  At the point where the round starts (that would be the funny sorta line straight up the centre of the hat, if you hadn't already worked that out).

Since it is Spring here, I thought I would start growing some seeds - lots of basil, some coriander, some beans and peas...  Well, I just plain did not think that some critters would want to share.  I'm growing the things on a balcony and it never occurred to me that the local grey squirrel or one of the starlings or maybe even the house finches or whatever they are would decide they would be some good tucker...

Sigh.

Some of the basil should be ok, I know there are coriander seeds still and the peas are quite obvious, though I am sure I did not plant them in the small peat pots...  Back to the drawing board and this time get some chicken mesh!  Or I can get small plants, but $3 for two basil plants seems like such a rip off!

Another weekend is rocking up in an hour - time is flying.  Totally whizzing past.  I'm told it gets faster as you get older, and I am quite worried.  Soon I will blink my eyes and a year will have passed.  As long as I keep getting years, I think I shall be content!

anon!

new socks, surprise!

G'day all!

It is amazing how much knitting one can do whilst sitting on a plane. No matter how much we aussies love to knock Qantas, the inflight entertainment is pretty darned good, the food isn't too crappy either and you have plenty of time to knit most of a sock whilst watching a doco on human growth and eventual death (I admit, I cried), three or four episodes of Downton Abbey, an ep of Sherlock Holmes, then a movie that was obviously so memorable that I have already forgotten it... It only took another hour or so to finish it.

On the way back, I nearly finished its not quite pair.

Most gratifying :-)

Anon!

Fare thee well

We are off again...

We came, we saw, we left again...

G'day all!

It has been a truly whirlwind trip home.  I've hardly had time to catch my breath and tomorrow we fly back to Seattle.

The wedding was lovely, the weather and tide could not have been better, and the wedding reception went totally off, thanks to some well applied nerf guns... I have a new sister in law, no more SIL2b.

I've caught up with my family and with nearly all the in laws, certainly all the ones who came to the wedding.

Pictures will follow but since I don't have my laptop with me, I have not downloaded them.

My test results are all fine and I just have to tough out the pain of the scar tissue (but it makes me feel dizzy because it feels wrong so I might get some pt done on it, see if that helps).

In some ways I don't want to leave but in others I can't wait to get back to Seattle and see what is happening there. Melbourne is Home, it has most of my closest family and a lot of my friends, but I sometimes find myself saying home and meaning Seattle.  It is where my Stuff is, it is where we don't have to live out of a suitcase (that gets very old very quickly), it is where nathan's job is...

On a completely unrelated note, I have yet another new watch... I keep destroying the bands of my watches and then losing them....

Anyway, we are off to the states again tomorrow morning so

Anon!

Forward, into the future!

G'day all!

In a couple of hours we will be boarding our plane to LAX.  Guess we'd better get a wriggle on, eh?

Then to Oz!  Forward, into the future!  Hooray!

See you

anon!

Fishing for sympathy

G'day all!

I am straight up looking for sympathy.

I was out enjoying the sunshine on my bike this afternoon.  I was having a lovely ride.

Then when I went to take off after stopping at a stop sign, my chain slipped.  My shoe got stuck in the corrugations of my bike pedal, I rolled my ankle trying to pull it out, fell on some very delicate bits on the bike saddle, bruised my dominant hand and then toppled over sideways.

So I'm laying on the ground on my left side thinking OUCH!  Certain parts were saying OUCH somewhat louder than others.  Some indeed were screaming OUCH.  But I didn't hit my head.  I didn't even stun myself.  Falling over hurt so much less than I expected it to.

There's a car behind me, thankfully stopped otherwise it could have been very exciting indeed.

I pick me and Percy (the bike) up and drag us both to the side of the road, limping.  I rub things and check things - sprained ankle, check, sprained/bruised thumb/wrist, check, delicate bits screaming OUCH, check, bruised shins, check.  Anything else?

No.  I am sure I'll be sore tomorrow - after all I fell flat on my side, on a shoulder that has seen better days.

Well I was most of the way to my destination, so I wobbled back onto Percy and rode off carefully.  I bought the items I wanted, then checked something out and rang the doctors.

I have stitches.  And I'm still wobbly four hours later.

And I've been assured that it will feel worse in two or three days.

We have a visitor (or two) this weekend.  Thank heavens they are not staying with us because I was partway through reorganising and cleaning up.  Now I am heavily into icepacks and sitting on ring cushions.  I am not sure I will be much fun nor that our place will be either clean or tidy.

And I have two flights on Monday, one of which is for 14.5 hours.  I bet the air attendants will get to know me quite well, and will have a nice tale to giggle about.  As will anyone reading this blog.  But first, sympathy?  Or do I deserve it for riding my bike and trying to get fitter (getting regular exercise decreases chances of cancer recurring).

anon!

A little trail of woe

G'day all!

So I've hopped on the trolley bus (trolley lolly lo, don't ask me why trolley buses inspire me to say that whilst shopping trolleys, aka shopping carts for my American friends, don't) and I'm happily tidying up my stranded colourwork cardigan, when I hear the driver say "Wallingford." 

Wallingford is my stop so I pull the cord.  The bus screamed to a halt cos normally they say the name before they reach the stop.  Oops.   I gather up my bits and pieces hurriedly, shove them in the bag and hop off the bus.

The door to the Wallingford Centre, where you'll find Bad Woman yarn and the Wednesday knit night, is about hmm maybe 20 yards from where I got off the bus.  I'm sorta glad about that because as I started up the steps to the entrance, I had this weird sorta tugging feeling,

like
        I
              was
                       trailing
                                      something
                                                              ...

I looked down.

Oh.

I am very glad that I don't need the rest of the white yarn, nor do I need that extra 15m of blue.  They were dragging behind me, the blue all the way to the gutter, like I needed to lay a thread behind me to find my way back to the bus stop, and of course it had been raining.  So not only was the yarn draped behind me, it was sodden already.  I gathered it up and a young couple gave me a boggled eye and a young woman smiled at me - she thought it was amusing.  So did I, if a bit embarrassing.

Could've been worse.  I could've left the remains of the blue ball on the bus and had it take off down the road on me.  That would've been fun!

anon!

PS - you wanna see the cardigan?  Wait!  Patience is a virtue, they say, and you'll probably need the patience of Job.  I have a gazillion ends to tie in and some bits to tidy up and buttons to get and button bands to sew down....