update

For all of you who sent inquiries and well wishes to Secondo, many thanks. He is pretty much the same: feeling just fine despite his appearance.

However, I may be permanently scarred by the experience if he keeps referring to the abscess as a "pus pocket."

Hotpocket, anyone?

the best laid plans

Today was the day I was really going to crank on the project. I took the kids to the beach yesterday, because I had to drop Primo at his friend's shore house for a few days, and I can't go near a beach and not take the other two to frolic in the ocean.

After driving all the way to the bottom of the state, watching kids gambol in the waves, and then driving all the way back, I was more than a little wiped out.

So I took a night off, and sat like a lump on the couch and worked on my socks, and planned that come the next morn, I would work ALL DARN DAY on the project, DARN IT, even if it killed me.

And then Secondo woke up, looking like this:

Amazingly, it isn't hurting him too much. Thank goodness, too, as he is not a kid who suffers well in silence. (Edited to add: He takes after his mom that way.) Here's another shot with him looking a little sorrier for himself (he worked up to it), in case you missed it in the first shot:


After my LSH had a minor panic attack (along the lines of "mumps!"), a quick exam revealed that it had something to do with his teeth.

And so off to the dentist we went. The pediatric dentist in Philly, that is, who is totally awesome but obviously a bit of a hike. He confirmed that it is, unfortunately for the poor kid, an abscess at the base of his tooth. Luckily, it is a baby tooth and there's no long term issue once it is pulled. Unluckily, it is one that we just paid hundreds of dollars six months ago to have filled and sealed.

(Yes, we have dental insurance. It bites. HA HA HA, I crack myself up.)

I am just now getting back to work, DARN IT. The only saving grace was that I got to knit a little bit in the dentist's waiting room. With days like this, you have to take tiny pleasures where you can.

mockingbird at midnight

I am still plugging away on the project from hell. The wee hours of the morning particularly lend themselves to the quiet necessary to concentrate on this beast.

It turns out I am not the only living being who feels similarly inspired to work.

At midnight or so, every night, a mockingbird starts up in the evergreen tree outside my office window. He is either wooing a mate or just doing what mockingbirds do. Opinions are varied.

It might explain the abandoned egg I found in the geranium basket hanging on our front porch. (Sorry for the huge pictures in my posts these last couple of days, but my finds have been so tiny that my camera is not coping very well.)



And here he is, right on cue (check the time stamp). I could swear that he has a whippoorwill call in his repertoire, though I haven’t heard that nocturnal bird during these late-night marathons.

plodding

The project plods on. I think this little guy, which I found in our front driveway yesterday morning, makes faster progress.

it's a start

In the interests of my sanity, which as we know is already stretched to the limit, I took time away from the PFH (project from hell) to watch The Bourne Ultimatum and cast on for my first sock. Because of the action in the movie or the excitement that Summer of Socks '08 generates or maybe just sheer exhaustion from the PFH (?), my hands were shaking something awful.

But still! I have made a start! This is the first patterned sock I have done and I like how the pattern holds my interest and breaks up the endless rounds. I had a bit of trouble (as in: had to rip the row out 4 times) with the cable increase, but now I am solidly on my way.

My sock was jealous to see that Heidi’s sock already went on an adventure. Apparently, watching Matt Damon careen around Tangiers didn’t count. To appease my sock, I took it out this morning. It got to help me:



feed the chickens and the barn cats and











check on a weaning ewe (who is not drying up, ARGHHH)






... and then we were back to work.


Today’s bargain* is: if you do one section, you get to knit one row. At this rate, it is a toss-up whether the PFH or Sock #1 will be finished first. My money is on the sock.


*Why yes, I do have the attention span of a gnat, why do you ask?

summer of socks, project of despair

Today is the official kick-off of Summer of Socks ’08. I signed up for this before I got the freelance project from hell, which is due on July 1 and consuming me alive right now. I am desperately fighting the urge to log off my computer and cast on for my first pair of socks. I have had the yarn for quite a while now. I just found the perfect pattern last week, thanks to scoping out Jessica’s queue on Ravelry. (I don’t seem to have a talent for finding great patterns, so I have to ride on other’s coattails. Ravelry is awesome for that!)

So I am making bargains with myself. “You can cast on if… if you bill x number of hours today… if you complete this much of the project… if you complete this particular section...” I have even put the ball of sock yarn in an inspiring location on my desk*, to remind me to stay-the-heck focused on this darn project.**

It is Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino ("KPPPM" to those in the know), colorway "I don't know because I have already misplaced the ball band."

See the little tail hanging out so innocently, yet so temptingly?

Resisting… urge… to check progress of others… on Ravelry…

*Yes, I am well aware that my desk will not be included in the flickr group any time soon, even though I did relocate a bit of the clutter for the picture.

**Don't you love all that pseudo-swearing? I am not so pseudo under my breath these days.

garden salad

We started planting lettuce last year. I don't know what took us so long. It is relatively easy to grow, and so far we have been really lucky in the rabbit and rodent department. (I am knocking wood as I type this.)

The only downside is that lettuce and tomato seasons do not overlap. I am going to experiment this summer with succession planting lettuce in the shade of other plants, and see if I can get some lettuce throughout the season. It is a really simple pleasure, but IMHO there is little that compares to going out to the garden just before dinner, gathering up your ingredients, and eating them a few minutes later. So you get to hear me go on and on about it in the annoying, evangelistic way to which gardeners are susceptible.

I started out with the yellow squash, where I got a pleasant surprise: two ready to be eaten. I sliced them very thin.

A tiny little bell pepper, not ready yet to join its buddies in the bowl.

I thought this banana pepper might be ready to go, but it was still bitter and tough. Note to self: banana peppers are supposed to be yellow.

The boys had told me the peas were in -- I planted them a little late this year but we are getting a decent crop at this point. I left the shells on, as they are so sweet, and just took off the ends and sliced them into quarter-inch pieces.

The green lettuce has bolted, thanks to the heat wave last week...

...but the red lettuce is still doing okay. A whole head joins the bowl.

A volunteer tomato plant, from last year's mega-monster cherry tomato bush (the thing took over the entire garden bed it was planted in). I found at least ten of these as I weeded while I picked. As my mom wisely says: a weed is any plant that is growing where you don't want it. This, and all its siblings, qualified as weeds.

Can you spot the non-weed in that thicket?











There it is: a teeny little baby lettuce plant. I take a few leaves from each plant.



The end haul:
Add some croutons, a little shredded cheddar and vinaigrette dressing: YUM.