Not With a Bang

It has been an odd and not entirely enjoyable vacation. A quick summary: First day home from the Cape, the automatic lawn sprinkler sprang a leak (bad valve). We watered the neighbor's driveway liberally until we figured out what was going on. Called the repairman. We accidentally broke a large mirror; called the glass guy. The nearly new refrigerator gave up the ghost and killed an entire load of food--fridge and freezer--before we discovered that it was no longer cooling. Called the repair guy. I went for a physical exam on Friday, and received a booster for tetanus/pertussis (did you know they did pertussis shots for adults?) I've felt seriously crappy ever since, although it may just mean I'm coming down with the cold that BF is getting. I can no longer upload photos for any reason (not even to Flickr) despite working for hours at it. I've cleared my cache, temp files and cookies. I disabled all my add-ons and took down my firewall. Nothing. So frustrating. Anyone got any ideas? (I've loaded my photos today at BF's computer.)

Worst of all, I took little Peaches to be spayed, and she did fine with the spay but isn't home yet; the medications they gave her for the pain (including morphine) gave her a GI stasis, so they're curing that up now. She's given them hell, tough little girl that she is. Her first action out of anesthesia was to thump at the vet. I went to visit her yesterday--poor sad little scrap. I wanted to scoop her up and take her home--I felt like she just needs her own bed and food and litter box (she doesn't like to doot in her own cage, so she may be holding it!), but I didn't want to have something bad happen by taking her prematurely--sigh.

I did a lot more school work than I wanted, and a lot less needlework. Here's some, though. Patricia at In Stitches aided and abetted the purchase of another project on Friday:

It's called the Product of My Needle Sampler, and it's by The Scarlet Letter. Sorry it's so blurry. This has a 1988 copyright on it, and is still sold on SL's website. I love the black. I'm using a 34 count gray Legacy linen from my stash, which I got on sale once upon a time. It doesn't matter what color the fabric is, because it will be filled in with black. I love the colors of the AVAS silks; neither photo does justice to the design.

I spent time working on Wendy's RR.

Until I got the SL design, I couldn't settle. I picked up Dorothy's garden and worked a bit. Then I worked on Over the Hills. Then this--looks like golden retrievers but it's not; does anyone recognize the design?

Here's Pink and Peaches having a little fun with Yazziebear. Yazziebear is the toughest pet in the house. She's completely devoted to us, but has absolutly no sense of humor, and all of the pets are afraid of her. Pink: "(I don't want YB to catch me sneaking around her. Is she awake?) Peaches, go say hello to Yazziebear; she's very friendly! (hee)"

Peaches: "hmmmm."

"Hi, Yazziebear!"

Yazziebear, hardly looking, gives a whack of her paw in Peaches' direction.

Well, back to work tomorrow. Think I'll go upstairs and have a little nap. Happy week, all!

Monday Bunday

I spent the past few days doing homework--a particularly difficult project for my statistics class and the midterm for my accounting class, so there hasn't been time for much. I realized today that the first week of my vacation is gone already--poof. It has run off, quick as a bunny... But! I have one more week for frolic-ing and merriment!

As you can see, we have a new toy in the rabbit room. Pink is checking it out.

And pronounces it adequate.

A scene from Friday or Saturday--surrounded by cats (from left clockwise: Scratchy, Chester, Yazziebear and Buckaroo) and needlework and my homework. I have a desk, but I prefer working cross-legged on the bed, as I did in high school. Maybe I'll even get to stitch tomorrow.

Come along with me this week:
A trip to Vienna to see the exotic vet, where Peaches will be spayed and the boys are scheduled for mani-pedis.
A trip to Wegmans to shop for food.
A possible trip to the heart of Baltimore to scout for 50s furniture.
Richmond? Culpeper? Staunton? Catonsville? Stay tuned....

Bun to the Third (Bun Cubed)

I took just two projects with me on my trip: Wendy's RR (yes, I'm late!) and Dorothy's Garden. I've been trying to stick with just one project at a time, hoping to get a finish, but you know--working on one big project gets kind of tedious. I'll show Wendy's in a few days, before I mail it off (I had to start out by frogging something I'd done--I was three whole columns off....three!) Here's Dot's Garden. It's hard to believe I put so many hours in on it...

The buns were mad at me for being gone, and I got the cold shoulder on the first night. Pink actually turned his back on me ("I'm not looking at you. Perhaps you could go get Dad, WHO LOVES US, and I will look at him.")
Then I got the slow thaw.
Pink: "Hmmph." Elvis: "Yeah."

But by last night Pink was ready for games with Peaches. Peaches arrived with two big bags of toys, including this nice cube/tube affair.
Pink: "Hmmmm."

Peaches: "You get inside it."

"Like this."

"See?"

Indian Summa

It was Indian Summer in New England this past weekend, a wonderful time to be on Cape Cod. Here's a little tour of my old neighborhood:
Menauhant Beach:

Digging quahogs in Bourne's Pond. Now frankly, I'm not sure I'd dig for anything there. There are a lot of houses built around the pond (which is salt/brackish) and not all of that part of town has a sewer system--yeesh. The authorities check the bacteria levels of the beds though.

Falmouth Heights. If you're a marathoner, and you've run the Falmouth Road Race, you'd recognize the view.

Unloading a fresh catch. There were big bags of shellfish on this boat, probably scallops. I'm not sure why, but I really don't like scallops. I did have some good seafood, though: scrod (twice); a huge stuffed quahog; and some great clam chowder.
My favorite seafood shack had a meal called a cod dog: a long piece of fried cod in a top-load hotdog bun, but I wasn't there long enough to try it.

I really missed BF and the bunnies, but I got a nice chance to see my parents and sister. I did a lot of needlework, which I'll show you tomorrow--I've got a couple of homework assignments to complete by midnight--yikes.
Sue, this is for you:

Everyone is Scared of Something

I went shopping for a baby shower gift today; I never finished the baby blanket I was knitting. I found some cute things including a book called "Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears" by Emily Gravett. Here's Little Mouse confronting his fear of having an accident because he can't build a toilet paper tower in time to climb up to the toilet. Fear of having an accident is "dystychiphobia." This book is hysterical--look for it for your kids--or for yourself. There are a rather dark couple of pages covering Little Mouse's Fear of Knives (there are three blind mice wearing dark glasses and without their tails). Note that the mouse has had an accident and is blushing.

Since the toy store is next door to my LNS, I stopped by to chat and see what's new. I bought this little chart, because while I don't have time to finish the baby blanket before the baby's birth, this looks quite do-able for my vacation--maybe. And the baby isn't due until November. It's by Willow Hill Samplings, a designer I really like, and it's stitched with Crescent Colors on 32 ct Lakeside Linen in navy bean, because the called-for color (spring meadow green) was too green.

Peaches is adjusting well to her new home. Here Elvis is showing her the ropes. We were surprised to discover that perhaps because of her sex, she was easily accepted by the other rabbits, and the three hang out together.

In fact, Elvis seems quite smitten with her, and he follows her everywhere. Pink is more ambivalent; he likes to run into her cage and play with her toys and scatter doots on her towel.

Elvis has a phobia of bare floors, so he doesn't follow Peaches down the hall when she goes back to her room, having had enough of the boys. Elvis: "Come back! Where are you going?" (Isolophobia--fear of solitude.)

Elvis: "I do not have philophobia--fear of falling in love." Edited to add: and it is a platonic love only; both boys have been snipped, and Peaches will be spayed while I'm on vacation. Although she can't get pregnant by our neutered boys, she needs to be spayed to prevent uterine cancer.

More Peaches!

Peaches!

We have a new family member. Peaches is a dwarf rabbit, only 2.9 pounds fully grown (compare her to the top of the Diet Coke can I set next to the cage for scale). Apparently someone put Peaches out on a major highway, and she was living in the culvert in the median. A nice couple spotted her and watched her for several weeks, stopping to feed her every day (my heroes; they're not even "rabbit people"). Then they set out a Havahart trap and captured her. They took her home and found her to be funny and affectionate, but they couldn't keep her because they have a very large dog who seemed to feel that Peaches was a little gift they'd brought him, and Peaches was terribly afraid of him. The mom works with one of my friends who knows about our buns, so she got us together and Peaches rode home with me on the commuter bus tonight.

She's settling in, so more pictures this weekend. She's as cute as can be, and very friendly and curious.

Savannah Goes to Washington

Savannah came to town in honor of the Sticky Buns project, on her way back from Sweden where she has appeared on Swedish television. She stopped by the law firm to opine on some weighty matters and to use the reference library. She said she was looking for evidence relating to Pink and Elvis' new family member.


After spending time in the library, we went out onto the roof deck to enjoy the view. Savannah poses with the Washington Monument in the background.


She said she might stop by the Federal Reserve tomorrow and make a deposit on their lawn.

In the distance is the U.S. Capitol. Below her is the Old Executive Office Building. She asked if we could see old executives and whether they had old buns.

Savannah says that it may appear that she is floating above the ground in these shots, but it is ok, because that is only an illusion. Savannah says that many things in Washington seem to be just an illusion. She has learned much here.

Soldiering On

Over the Hills and Far Away arrived, so yesterday I went to Fredericksburg to kit it up. It calls for DMC and 32 count fabric. I thought long and hard about doing the conversion to NPI, but decided not to; at $4 a skein, it would have been an $80 proposition and currently I have several silk projects going. I really miss using the silk though...so I'm trying to assess whether it's likely to turn me off the project halfway through to use the cotton. I had to stitch a little British soldier, just to see what it looks like. I notice the picture is not true to the DMC greens called for by the design, yet the other colors are correct--odd. Any significant work on this (or any other project) is going to have to wait now for me to finish Wendy's RR and get some major homework out of the way.


Oh, well--vacation coming up in two weeks. I have a few things on the two-week agenda which might yield some interesting photos. I'll be headed for the Cape for a few days (and visiting a stitching shop or two); I'll be expoxying the garage floor (maybe); I may hop one of those super-saver comfy coach buses to New York City ($15 each way--amazing, when you consider the shuttle is over $300, and even Amtrak is over $200) and indulge in a little shopping for work duds and perhaps a bit of museum-going; we may head to suburban Baltimore and visit the coolest-ever store that sells mid-century used furniture. I have my eye on this:

And these: 1920s Portuguese hospital cabinets. I'm thinking of getting one for the stitching room, if I like it in person.

In any case, I'm looking forward to getting out of the house--I've been housebound for months, it seems.
And watch this space; there may be a new family member arriving in the next week or two if all goes well.

"WHAT?!!!!!"

Anyone? Anyone?

I was disappointed not to have hit the sale at In Stitches in Alexandria yesterday morning; I had to go to the College Park campus extra early to get a parking spot near my class (and paid the $15 to do so) because Maryland was playing E. Michigan at home. The tailgaters ringed the big parking garage and were grilling the yummiest-smelling food. Since I got there a couple of hours early, I had the opportunity to wander the campus, eat at the campus McDonalds and then settle into a big comfy chair at the student center and stitch a while on this before my accounting class. I did make it finally to the needlework shop on the way home after class, but with only 1/2 hour to spare before they closed, I really didn't have time to kit up one of the new charts that have arrived from Attic Needlework or from England (and y'all completely decimated those charts--pretty slim pickings when I got there at 4:30--like a bunch of turkey buzzards over fresh road kill). I did pick up a few extra skeins of AVAS for this project--it EATS floss. I'd hate to run out, so I bought a few skeins of colors I'm using a lot of on this.

Pink, enjoying the New Yorker:

And Elvis' kissable lips. He sends you a big "mwah" for the week.

I finished my homework early today, so I'm off to cook something and read the NY Times with what's left of the day. As always, I'm hoping my dreamboat has a column today. In case you haven't read him, check out this column on love and economics:

Stem-and-Leaf

I've spent much of the week doing homework, alas, which is why there is so little progress on Dorothy's Garden. Much of what I've been doing has been tinkering with the software to produce charts for my business statistics class. I'm enjoying the class, although thank goodness I toiled last summer over all that advanced math; I'm going to need it. The software is an add-in to Excel. I've just started using Excel 2007 here at home, then added the stat software, and I've been entertaining myself with turning in my various assignments in purple-and-silver, rose-and-gray, pink-and-maroon for the various histograms and polygons. Today I worked on a stem-and-leaf chart (boring) assigment--not as pretty as it sounds. Here's a better stem and leaf:

Pink and Elvis like to lie down face to face with their noses smooshed together--what a hoot.

And I'm happy to note that Bunny Girl, Cadbury's mom, has come through the hurricane in Houston unscathed. BG, her husband, Cadbury and Pixel are all ok, and BG's superb camping skills are no doubt going to be much appreciated. There's only minor damage to their house, and she even was able to blog a bit today from a borrowed computer. I always look forward to BG's recipes on Sunday--bet she'll have some even more interesting ones, especially if she gets the "soda can" stove going. (Please tell us what a soda can stove is when you have a chance, BG!)

Have a good week, all!

Liquidity

Yesterday was the first day of school on the U. of Maryland Campus in College Park, which is roughly a 1.5-2 hour drive from here. Hanna apparently was registered in some courses there as well, because she followed me up the coast. It was quite the white-knuckled event, as I drove right into the teeth of the storm. Water, water everywhere, and cars spinning out every which way. Not a lot of traffic though; who drives in a tropical storm if they don't have to? We got about 6 inches of rain in these parts--the remaining ripe-ish tomatoes in the garden all split open on the vines because of all the water. The grass greened back up overnight though.

Some thoughts on U of MD: the campus is huge, but there's hardly anyone there on the weekend. Are they sleeping in or studying, or do all the students go somewhere else (home?) on the weekend. The approach to the main gates is on a seedy part of Rte. 1. Just before the gate is an enormous liquor store. What kind of message does that send? And how rich is that particular business owner? You terps think you got football weekends with fans in the stadium, tailgating and bad behavior everywhere (mostly on the part of the old folks who are the alumnae)? Go to the U.T. Knoxville campus during a football game. Now there's some bad behavior. Also, UT has the "Rocky Top" song. Try not singing that in your head for years after you've heard it played on someone's customized car horn.

Some thoughts on attending college in this century: more and more textbooks are coming as looseleaf volumes. Genius--you only need to carry the chapters you're working on, although you have to make sure you don't lose some pages. Also, I signed up for the wonderful notification of cancellation for weather and other emergencies via text to my cell phone. Note to MD: only useful if you actually cancel classes due to weather emergencies.

What we discussed in my intermediate accounting class: liquidity! Solvency and insolvency. Statements of cash flows. The difference between recording assets at cost vs. fair market. And my favorite of the day: that the accounting profession has not figured out what to do in terms of issuing a rule about gift cards--those things that people lose or forget they have, or don't use up completely. Companies carry those balances on the books as a liability. In some cases (think Best Buy) they're huge liabilities. Fascinating stuff--darn good reason to climb in the car and risk my life (kidding--really it was an interesting discussion and it reminded me that I have a $24 balance on my McCormick & Schmick gift card).

A couple more motifs on "Dorothy's Garden" (you're stuck with this until the mail arrives from Attic Needlework and The Sampler Company).


And a word from Pink: "Mom, there's some liquidity on the carpet in the corner. I didn't do it."

Over the Hills and Far Away

NOT over the hill--Over the Hills! Brenda Keyes of The Sampler Company has a new sampler, and I ordered it straight from the British website today (so easy--they take Paypal), the minute after I saw her other new sampler on The Scarlett House (go look if you haven't already--it's amazing and so is all of The Scarlett House's other samplers). It's called Red House Sampler. I struggled with the decision of which sampler to buy, I really did. But as gorgeous as Red House is, I'm already stitching two or three other sampler houses, and stitching a little different subject appealed to me and I wanted just one new chart (this week. Because who knows what will come up next week?) You may remember Brenda Keyes as the designer of, among other samplers, Plymouth Sampler, which I have in my WIP pile. And Church on the Hill, which I have in my acquired-chart stack but haven't started stitching. I like that Brenda Keyes' samplers all seem to use DMC floss.

In the meantime, I haven't been idle: lots of work on "Dorothy's Garden."

Hurricane--or Tropical Storm--Hanna's headed up the coast, and depending on whether it jogs a bit to the east or west, we'll get a bit of rain and wind or a lot, so Pink is checking to make sure the flashlight we keep clipped to the bed frame has batteries.