Okay, socks are ONE kind of happiness, but making them is something new I’m learning and I’m finding it enormously satisfying even though I have more socks than any one woman needs. Maybe it’s “Happiness is Learning a New Skill,” although I also get tremendous happiness from the weird socks I’ve bought, like Nita’s the Loch-Ness-Monster-Pretending-To-Be-Cthulhu knee socks. The weird thing is, those socks have disappeared from the internet, much like the Loch Ness monster. I cannot find them anywhere no matter how hard I google. I’d think I’d made them up, except I own them. I can see them. I HAVE them, therefore they exist.
Where was I?
Of course, making vertically striped socks does have the added pleasure of choosing yarn and feeling like a pioneer woman. Assuming pioneer women made socks. Which they must have because where else would they get them? Which leads to the question, where did they get the yarn?
This week I’m having focus problems, but that makes me happy, too. If I start to actually focus on my problems, I’m less happy.
Enough about me. What made you happy this week?
“This week I’m having focus problems, but that makes me happy, too. If I start to actually focus on my problems, I’m less happy.”
Makes sense — I’ve never seen an alligator wearing socks.
My creative moment was writing a villanelle for a friend’s 70th birthday party. A party of fifteen women, we were told to dress up and wear jewelry and bring a toast. I was able to use “We dress and don our jewels to toast to you” as one of the two refrains.
It was no great shakes, but I was proud of the poem and it went over well.
I feel your pain in trying to find the socks of your choice. It has made me wonder what ever happened to 100% all cotton no blends added breathable plain socks? My feet would wiggle and dance in jubilation to find such a commodity.
Would Buster Brown ankle socks work for you? I have a link:
https://www.shopnational.com/intimates-and-hosiery/socks
I was successful in googling wide calf compression socks, so I have colorful stripes now, instead of just black. I feel somewhat like the wicked witch of the east, at least on one leg. The other doesn’t need the compression, so I’ve been mismatched (and apparently in style) for the past six weeks).
Other happiness this week was getting in touch with a fun group of women for sewing and companionship. I’m hopeful that this is a continuing gig, as opposed to a one-time event.
And, it’s Groundhog Day. I’ll be calling my brother later on to wish him a happy birthday, since he’s my favorite groundhog.
The great thing about socks is that they can tie you emotionally to an activity or time period. I have brilliant 1,000 mile socks that saved me from blisters in basic training, socks that go under my riding boots that remind me of my beloved (now dead) horse, and skiing socks that remind me that I can do more than I think I’m capable of. And you can hide subversive socks under the most professional and business-like of outfits, and no one will ever know…
Happiness this week was attending a conference in London with some of the most inspirational speakers I’ve heard in a long time. It reminded me that however dark the world may be, there are still good people out there, fighting for better days.
This week had its ups and downs, but there were plans for future happiness. My best friend and I are going on a joint birthday spa weekend extravaganza (big ending in zero birthday for both of us this year) and arrangements were made this week.
My grandmother is also turning 100 this month and we bought tickets and made arrangements to visit her in Chicago, which made me very happy b/c it’s something we can do to make her happy.
And in the “celebrate small victories” column – I’ve been using the whiteboard a lot in this 8 week teaching session and I notice my handwriting is getting neater, at least for when I write my lesson plan for the day on the board (it helps that I do it the day before or before class starts so I’m not rushed). Still not what most people would call “neat,” but better. Handwriting is my “lifelong curse and sorrow” to paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, but it feels great to see any improvement after many years of feeling like I had to constantly apologize for it. It’s so small an improvement, I wouldn’t even bother to point it out to most people, but I can see the difference and it makes me happy.
My penmanship has gone downhill over the years so I was not surprised when my grandson said he could never read what I wrote on his cards. I was embarrassed that he couldn’t decipher my scribbles only to find out that the school is not teaching penmanship but relying on printing. Go figure!
When I read that two years ago in Vancouver area, I was appalled.
Our apprentice has terrible penmanship. He can hardly print. I guess the have to print properly before they can write, but this is ridiculous. Think of all the wonderful historical documents that could never be read.
How sad.
Fortunately our granddaughters are in Montessori school. I bought cursive writing workbooks just in case. Gray has lovely writing skills and youngest is a whirl of hurry. Starting to get better.
They should do both, with calligraphy offered as an art option. I decided at the start of my working life to block print intra-company envelope addresses — anything that wasn’t typed — just to spare unfortunate mailroom employees. But then I spent most of my career working in an engineering department where the engineers were normally taught drafting print; I’d grown up with it. I still block print any form I have to fill out by hand.
My daughter, who has a landscape architect degree, has the most gorgeous printing. I covet it.
Sometimes I can’t read my own writing. Since now I sometimes have to take the minutes for meetings, I really have to make the effort to make my handwriting legible. It’s been awhile (HA) since I had to take notes so I’m hoping some abreviations come back to me. I guess I have to focus and slow down!
IMO handwriting should first and foremost be about function (ie, readability) but I also think handwriting is an expression of self (ie, art). My mom had big loopy handwriting–mostly the style of her era but it also reflected her big sweet personality. Another woman of her era had precise, near-printed handwriting. She was careful, wry.
My own handwriting has changed at least five times at different stages of my life. Now it’s often illegible which tells me I need to get more energy behind it. (Fatigue be damned!)
Whiteboards are a remarkable invention. 🙂
Happiness is satisfying the jury duty requirement by sitting on a jury for a one day trial. Everything about the experience was fascinating. Each juror was different from the rest: the generous blonde who sought the good in the defendant and every person involved; the elderly man who would break out in one of his barbershop quartet tunes; the older woman with the suit and nifty scarf who suspected everyone of hiding something; the 20-year-old man who can’t even legally drink yet (it was a DUI case); the forewoman who is a mom and part-time adjunct professor for an online college.
I know I didn’t play the everyone-comes-to-a-shared-verdict game. Having listened and watched openly, I was decided when we went into deliberations. I even had to pull a Miss Climpson (Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey) eventually, and say that I was willing to tell the judge we had a hung jury. But, very fortunately, we rewatched the video testimony (from the policeman’s bodycam) and as a result everyone agreed with me.
I feel too much like a bully to want to sit on a jury again, but the one time was great. (No one perceived me as a bully except me.)
I mostly wear plain black (all cotton) socks to work and plain white (all cotton) low ones around the house. But I do have bacon socks.
This week’s happy was spending time with my (former) brother in-law, still friend, who was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 colon cancer a year ago. He is very religious and believes it won’t kill him. I’m just supportive and hope he’s right. We had been doing once a month “dinner and a movie” at my house. Now we’ve switched over to every two weeks “dinner and 2 episodes of Picard,” the new Star Trek series. Unlike Star Trek Discovery, which I found too grim and only watched twice, I loved Picard (Patrick Stewart rocks), which made me happy too.
Happiness was a small simple Imbolc ritual yesterday with the two core members of my circle, and experimenting with a new chicken dish wrapped in bacon. (The chicken, not the actual dish. That would be messy.)
Today I am doing colonoscopy prep, with the actual procedure tomorrow. I’ll be happy when it is all over with.
The things we put ourselves through to be healthy — Deborah, you are in my thoughts today. At least the colonoscopy is vitally important so it’s almost worth the prep.
Did you know that today is a palindrome? 02022020
Yes, Elizabeth! Yes! I have been looking forward to today’s date for months and months. I am bummed that it’s not a workday so that I can send emails to large numbers of people emphasizing the date. 🙂
It reminds me of the period from 1-1-2001 through 12-12-2012, which offered one fun date each year, and then the wonderful 11-12-13 and 12-13-14, after which dates were just dates again.
Now what I’m looking forward to is Spring 2021, when the 17-year cicadas show up again and start singing in my area. I love cicadas!
I was born on the 51st day of ’51. The day I turned 51 was 02202002. Those were some nifty numbers. Not useful for the lottery, though.
That even works with the date the right way round (day-month-year).
Colonoscopies are not fun. But, I’ve asked people what they think they’re going to have to go through if any cancer isn’t caught early. The colonoscopy would only be the start of their treatment. And, I think the prep has gotten a bit ‘gentler’ over time
It’ll be done before you know it.
The prep is still brutal, alas. But I have lost people to colon cancer, and I’m losing another right now (although his was so advanced, the colonoscopy came too late). So it’s worth it. You know, as long as the procedure goes well.
I’m curious, Deb, where did you find all cotton socks?
I was watching The View recently and Patrick Stewart was a guest. (I can only watch that show up until the claws come out which is about 5 minutes in) Anyway towards the end of the interview he said the reason he came on the program was to invite Whoppie Goldberg to recreate a character she played years ago. He was very charming. Of course she said yes.
What helped me in my colonoscopy prep was Gaterade, any flavor a but a red variety.
Walmart, believe it or not, although the last time I went, they didn’t have my favorite brand, which is No Nonsense.
And I saw a clip of that moment on The View (which I don’t watch otherwise, even though I love Whoopie). It was really touching.
I did prep and colonoscopy in November, and the prep is the real ordeal. Everything after is gravy – so to speak – and is a good thing to have behind you – so to speak. Really, you’ll do fine and tell us all about it.
It all went well. No unexpected surprises, just the expected ick. The medical team was lovely, and patient with my panic attack as they were putting me under. Now I just have to take probiotics for a couple of weeks to replace the good gut flora that got washed away. Thanks for all the support, Argh People!
Just be careful afterwards. DH was out doing yardwork a week afterwards, and disrupted a scab on one of the places they had gotten a sample. Give it a couple of weeks before you do anything strenuous.
Been sending you good vibes. I did mine young-ish and it wasn’t awful. I was worried about recovery, but had no problems at all.
I have a hard time getting rid of socks, even if they have holes in them. Any suggestions for good things to do with worn out ones, so I could justify getting new ones?
I had been happy with my annual virtue for weight loss until I was stalled this week going up and down one pound with a net progress of nothing. On the other hand, my mail order of Russell Stover valentine candy came, so I am all set for gift items, and eventual personal enjoyment in March. Maybe a little cheating on the actual day.
We have sun today, and one of my kitties was extra cuddly this morning, so I am declaring the world to be a good place. With chocolate consumption to come…….
You can use them as erasers for chalk boards and white boards or as cleaning rags. Depending on the location of the hole you can also make sock puppets.
I tend to buy a lot of socks of the same type so when one gets a hole I can use the other with the mate of another sock with a hole. It does reduce the use of interesting socks but makes it easier to throw out holey ones.
Or you can draw the face of tbe politician you dislike on it which may make it easier to throw out.
Strangely this post showed up in my Goodreads feed of recent posts yesterday….
Messing around in the kitchen makes me happy.
I’m trying to bake a Hasselback potato. So far, I’ve managed to slice it thinly, but not all the way through. It’s in the oven; we’ll see.
Also roasted veggies and sauted muchrooms for the comming week.
And I made a vegan mac and ‘cheese’ earlier which wasn’t too bad. I’ll punch that up with the veggies and mushrooms (maybe some tuna? I’m not vegan so…). And I’ve some almond milk and almond butter (the butter from glutan free choco chip cookies) that I have to use up.
I already determined the almond milk isn’t going in my coffee. It’s not bad but I’d rather cow milk.
And then the clean up.
Icebreaker socks make me happy – they’re great socks, and then if you get a hole in one, take back the pair and they give you new ones. Ad infinitum. Socks for life.
Also making me happy this week, school starts today! Holidays were great, love my kids, but oh my god I’m so happy this morning to wave them goodbye for the next 6 hours.
I love socks. The brighter and more colourful the better. I am highly allergic to wool so my socks are cotton blends – not as hardy as wool socks but preferable to itchy feet.
DH and I tried a new restaurant in our neighbourhood – I had fried cauliflower and beet-cured salmon which were both delicious. FaceTime with my BFF today. Making cookies for DH to take to my nephew when he goes out of town on business this week.
I too am allergic to wool. There are many things I wish I could wear, but cannot.
Ditto.
Happiness is a few days with my daughters (though I do miss the dogs). Celie was a bridesmaid on Saturday, she also sang (Elvis) during the signing. It was all v lovely, beautiful glass in the church, everyone frocked up and making an effort, but here I am again, annoyed at the memory of old men who have never experienced such a thing lecturing on success at marriage. Thankfully I’m sure the newly weds won’t be putting much store in his lecture.
I’m also happy that the most recent awful fire weather day didn’t destroy small towns in its path. The road between here and home has been closed intermittently so I have a perfect excuse to stay a few days longer. It’s fairly sobering to realise that every road out of my area has now been closed due to fire in the last month, fortunately not all at once!
I wear Birkenstock sandals without socks about 90 percent of the time. I wear socks with my walking shoes. That’s it.
Unexpected happy was friends calling to see if we could put them up for the night because they were coming to town to buy something. The advantage of living in a no sales tax state is if you have friends who are trying to save money and their state has an 8 or 9 percent sales tax, they get a savings right off the top and that’s before they have shopped around for a sale. On big ticket items it makes a real difference. And we get the fun of having them stay when we were not expecting to see them for another month.
And they take us to lunch then we stay up late playing Boggle, or Wingspan or Catan. So much fun.
Did I say that I’ve been teaching myself Ukulele? That’s been a big happy for me lately. Also hanging out with my friend and other little things.
I love my bright and snarky socks. I have a pair of socks with pictures of people and dogs. Under all the people they say ‘asshole.’ Under the dogs, they say ‘not an asshole’. ‘Assholes are everywhere’ is written periodically. I don’t know why those rude socks give me so much joy!
Because they say what you are too polite to say out loud.
My friend Bob came into town this week and took me out to dinner. I couldn’t decide where to go that would fit his relatively new diet and not be too pricey. I called my friend Harriet, who spent years wining and dining clients. She suggested a place that we both really enjoyed and where they didn’t give us any grief for being somewhat late.
Everything was copacetic until it was time to leave. I turned south, instead of north and ended up no place near the train I wanted to catch. No biggie, I thought, I’ll just take the bus to the other train and opened my pack to get out my bus pass, only to find that the zipper case where I keep all everything except my cash was missing. I called the restaurant but they could not look for the case because another party was using the table.
In the end, it was right where I thought it must be, but I didn’t find that out until the next day and in the interim I called every place I had gone in a very busy afternoon without knowing at what point I had lost it.
I have since decided that the next time I am late, I am going to SLOW DOWN so that I don’t make that kind of stupid error more often. I think I have used up my share of lucky saves.
Yay for soft and squishy handmade socks. Love them, love them, love them.
Socks are my only successful knitting projects! They are perfect for me – relatively quick to make, (vs a sweater!!) readily portable, always fit, and SO many options to make them from. However I am deeply curious how you are getting vertical stripes, and if you are crocheting them or have swapped temporarily to knitting?
I spent last week at the North Country Studio Workshops in Bennington VT – I was in the 2D fiber workshop, learning more about embroidery and how to execute it on surfaces other than fabric, and with fibers other than thread. It was delightful, and my head is full of new ideas.
Crochet:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/side-to-side
Not crazy about the toe, but I think it’ll be easy to figure out.
Wild!! let us know how they are for wearing?
They’re super thick since they’re sport weight (Felici from Knitpicks) but I’m having trouble getting the toes right. I used Hawthorne (fingering) doubled and I’m not sure that was the best idea. But the pattern is fun.
I am an avid sock knitter, too! Thanks for asking that question – I was also wondering if they are crocheted!
I’m grateful for wool socks and not being allergic. When my feet get cold, they cramp and wool is toasty. Costco (go figure) puts a 3-pack of merino socks on their shelves in early fall. My inner tightwad loves them.
I have a basket full of (nearly all) white socks. I don’t have to wash socks for a month, if I so choose. A fair share have “Dr. Scholls” or “MediPeds” on the bottoms somewhere. If I have a hole in a sock, I have a new rag.
Back when I wore boots, I still owned boot socks. The last time I ended up with socks bunched up in a boot, the thrift store acquired boots and boot socks. Life is too short for long, bunched-up socks.
It’s been years since I bought socks for anyone else. Her name as an author was Alexis Siefert. She lived in Alaska and taught Kindergarten and First Grade. She wore multi-colored toe socks year round, regardless of weather, and I provided at least twenty pairs. I miss her.
My husband and I are under contract for an insanely adorable and insanely tiny home in the neighborhood of the university where he works. It’s the area we wanted to be in, and in our price range. It was on the market for 48 hours and had two offers, ours being one. We are going to do the inspection this week. If it uncovers a few things we can’t cope with, we’ll have to back out.
I’m simultaneously happy and absolutely freaked out that we might be making the wrong choice. We want to downsize, but were hoping for a place about 300-500 sq foot larger. But, in the end this house just means a bit more downsizing and letting go of stuff we don’t really need or use. And perhaps a couple of small projects to add some more usable storage once we are in. We are planning to buy a nicer sort of shed to act as my art studio and supplies storage in the back yard. The yard is really big, so removing some lawn and having a shed would be perfect. We are going to add egress windows to the two basement rooms, and my husband can use one as a music room, and the other one can be storage and a place to put the litter box. It’s so tiny, we actually have to plan where we could put the litter box. Eventually, I’d like to get a stacked w/d, on-demand tankless water heater, and make the utility/laundry area look less dire, a bit less like a set from a horror movie. Maybe install decorative metal screens or removable panels to hide all the pipes and duct work and the sewer stack.
I’m very much someone who depends on home to feel anchored and calm. So tossing everything into the air like this feels very unsafe and I’m finding it hard to maintain any kind of equanimity. Everywhere I look are items large and small to get rid of. Everywhere I look are boxes and boxes of things we want to keep. My cat is sick with nerves and I mean that literally.
I wish I were someone who makes decisions and never looks back, but I’m an awful second guesser. Or infinity guesser.
I keep reminding myself that although it’s very nice to have a tons of space and bathrooms, it’s also daunting to maintain it all. It’s much easier to buy things we don’t need and won’t really use once the shine is off them. And I really dislike living in a suburb with nothing interesting to walk to or do. Dependent on driving to get everywhere.
I think I will feel better once these stressful few months are over and done. Once we are in the new house, with far fewer possessions to lug around and store, and once this house is sold.
Strength to you, Diane. I also need home to feel anchored. And while I have to drive EVERY-SINGLE-WHERE, I’ve found the stability of my location to be worth it.
Diane, you have come far in just a few days. You must be exhausted.
The house sounds great, albeit small. The future shed sounds fabulous — a room of your own!
You will be able to walk places. Perhaps because of its size the house will force you out into the community. And at the end of every outing, your cat will be waiting.
I took awhile to feel at ease after we moved in 2015. We moved from convenient suburbs to a house so deep in the woods that my car couldn’t make it up the driveway after I left the closing and tried to get to my new home. Yet, I had acquired a room of my own and some other goodies. I’m very happy now.
I guess I’m trying to say that as long as it might work out, go for it.
Thank you! We are very aware that we are buying the location as much as the home, whereas with this big suburban house, we were buying the space for when there were four of us, and seven pets, to house.
I work from home, and have found that living here, without a car, dependent on being able to walk or bike in good weather, and trapped in the bad weather, is making it harder and harder for me to leave the home at all.
Already a homebody, but do need to have a way to get out. My husband will be able to walk or bike to work on some days in the warmer seasons, and I’d be able to have more access to the car if I need it. Here, he needs to drive to work every day. I don’t need a car often, but it would be nice to have the option.
I had a room of my own here, but still… this area is not my favorite place.
I remember buying this place on a one-lane road and thinking I was insane at the time.
Turns out it’s fabulous since the only people who come down this road are delivery people and the very few who live here, who usually slow down to wave or chat and who never run over my dogs. I’ve had any number of conversations standing in the middle of the road with somebody else I met walking. Probably the safest place I’ve ever lived.
Cul-de-sacs are even better. When the neighbourhood kids can use it as a cricket oval/skatepark/football field. We need to promote more life-on-streets, communal spaces I think. #CommunityBuilding. #RoadsForPeople #WhyAmIHashtaggingABlogComment #ShouldGoToBedNow
Our first home was a studio apartment. When we were buying our first house ( 2 bedroom, 1 bath) but still we were in the apartment and not yet moved, I thought that it was going to be awful because we would no longer be together all the time when we were home. We would be living such separate lives. It wasn’t awful but the personal dynamics were different. Fast forward 50 years. We now live in a large 3 story house. I am in the sunroom by myself messing with my ipad, he is in his shop on the ground floor and we can’t even talk to one another unless one of us treks up two flights of stairs or screams our lungs out. We talk about when we are older we will get a smaller house and though the house work is killing me and I will miss my view, I will love being in closer proximity to one another. We spend an hour or two chatting at the dinner table because that is the time we have to talk to each other.
The stairs were another factor. My right knee in particular can no longer handle stairs if I walk straight down them. I’ve been going down them backwards for years. I would only need to do stairs to do laundry at the new home, and my husband doesn’t have stair issues (at least not yet), so he’s happy to use the basement for his music space.
A friend suggested getting a murphy bed with an attached desk unit for the basement, and then we’d have an option for short term house guests.
I had totally knee replacement on both about 20 years ago and was advised to move to a single level house. I kept walking up and down the stairs as I recovered. My orthopedic guy says he fully expects my knees to last 25 or 30 years or even longer because I have managed to get full flexion and the ligaments and muscles seem strong. Stairs are a killer when the knees are going but are built-in PT as you recover. That said, I still have mornings where I creep down the stairs instead of walking down them and when I do laundry, I lift the basket up a few stairs, walk up to it, stop, lift again and repeat until I get it to the top because walking up and down stairs with extra weight puts more leverage on the joint.
Fingers crossed for a good inspection!
This sounds extremely promising. Do hope the survey goes well. Fingers crossed for you!
This week I learned that my husband can not keep a secret, even a good one.
Apparently for the last few weeks he and our traveling partners have been planning a trip for my birthday. The funny thing about that is that he and I are actually away from home and on a trip on my actual birthday when we go to the HSBC Rugby 7s tournament in Vancouver. I do not think a fuss needs to be made over my birthday. I am not a birthday fusser in the slightest. I will be 50, hence why other people feel a fuss needs to be made.
But now we are going to San Francisco for a weekend at the end of May. We only have, really, a day and a half because no one has any extra vacation time this year. We are planning on going to a Giants game on Friday night, I was thinking a tour to Muir Woods to see some Redwoods, something I have always wanted to do. We are looking at one that also has an Alcatraz tour attached and does a short tour of the city.
We have the afternoon on Friday before the ball game to run around and be tourists but we don’t know what to do or see.
So, San Francisco Arghers, help me please!
What fun! For our daughter’s 30th birthday we visited San Francisco and took in a Giants’ game, and visited Muir Woods as well. You have great plans. It’s fun to ride the cable cars, and on a walk along Fisherman’s Wharf you can check out the wildlife — I think they’re harbor seals — as well as the other tourists and wild San Franciscans. Chinatown is fun, too; you can have a chop made as your own personal seal. (A chop is a carved seal that you use with ink to sign your initial/astronomical sign/pattern. Here’s an etsy page of chops: https://www.etsy.com/market/chinese_chop_seal)
My sister once took a Gray Line tour in SF that included a stop at the Musee Mecanique (Pier 45, Fisherman’s Wharf) and told me about it before I went to SF. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have penny arcade machines from many ages that you can still play. There is an automated circus that is so big it has its own room. And the place is a real labor of love for the people who run it because a lot of these machines have been out of production for so long that the owners have to make their own parts whenever anything needs repairs. The museum was started in 1933 and according to Google, the same family owns it.
I thought Fisherman’s Wharf was a tourist trap, but this place was a land of enchantment.
NOTE: If you go there, you might want to take some cash. They have a machine that sells quarters, but these days most people use their cards or smart phones for everything. But maybe they have an ATM there, now.
I loved walking round Muir Woods. Also the Musée Méchanique. Golden Gate Park was good, especially the De Young Museum and the gardens. I also enjoyed walking up the stairs from the harbour to Telegraph Hill, and then on to Chinatown.
There are a lot of great things in a small area – it’s a good city for exploring on foot. (Muir Woods, of course, are a drive away.) I didn’t get to Sausalito, but that sounded fun too.
For Muir Woods these days, you need reservations. And I’m not sure if you are allowed to drive to it, or if there are buses.
It became such a popular spot. I remember walking there with my twins when they were around 5 years old and seeing salmon spawning. Amazing! Back then it wasn’t such a destination, and there were only a few other people there that day.
I was reading about what a nightmare parking at Muir woods was and was thinking it was out of the question since none of us are up for that kind of headache but I think this tour might work out for us. If I can get everyone on board and get it booked in time!
If you are up for leaving San Francisco, you could go to the lovely Ferry Building and look around at the shops, then take a ferry over to Sausalito, which is adorable. Often crowded, but adorable. I’m biased, because I was lucky enough to rent there for 17 years.
I love sock! I learned to knit them in 1978 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. It was an incredibly cold winter. At one point the temperature dropped to 60 below with the windchill factor.
I made two pairs. The ones I made for myself fit fine. Then I got fancy and attempted an argyle border. My needle tension was such that the border cut off circulation to the feet. They were pretty though.
Not every holiday I buy new socks for my friends and myself. I am especially fond of frogs and sheep. But settle for whatever the holiday has to offer. These are my son’s current favorites- https://www.yourwdwstore.net/Disney-ADULT-Socks–Haunted-Mansion-Stretch-Portraits_p_61842.html
Happy sock day.
I can’t knit but I have a few pairs of SolMates socks and they make me ridiculously happy. (When I say I can’t knit I mean that my stitches are insanely inconsistent and that makes things lumpy and ridiculous and I gave it up for the good of mankind)
That’s my take on writing poetry. I had a few published, read them and thought the world was better off without them.
If I won the lottery, I used to think I would get all new socks. I had a bunch of single socks, and always thought the mate would turn up. The bright side of the house fire was I needed all new socks. It took a while, but now I have peacocks and flamingos and unicorns and puppies and my favorite Fox on socks. I realize my taste is 7 year old girl, but they make me smile. And other people check to see what socks I’m wearing and they smile too.
I remember an interview with Faith Hill, the country singer, who grew up fairly poor and she said that beyond the safety and security that her success brought her, beyond knowing she could pay her bills and still buy food, the best thing about having money was knowing she could buy new socks whenever she wanted.
It’s a great relief to finally get here. For some reason this post didn’t show up in my feed, and by last night I was having anxiety dreams, worried something had happened to Jenny. It turns out she lives in San Diego, which is a small town on a precipitous wooded hill above the PacificOcean. I met other Arghers – mostly lurkers – and we somehow were in her house, where there was no sign of her except a small, friendly dachshund, whose name I couldn’t remember.
She was there, Jane. She was just buried under piles of yarn.
If only it were just yarn.
Is this me Jenny? Because you’re close. Except I’m on the Atlantic side and there are two dachshunds and a poodle, but you got the precipitous wooded hill right, and the small town. Possibly the Arghers are lurking in the underbrush; I have a lot of that.
Yes: I realized when I woke up that the steep wooded hill overlooking water was right, even if the scale and location were wrong. I think Jessie and Thea were involved somehow.
I’m so disappointed that it wasn’t me!! Why am I not in JaneB’s dreams??? 🙂
You probably would have been, if my dreaming self had a better grasp of geography, and I’d focused on the east coast.