I have been swimming in sadness lately. Not like grief exactly, because there is no particular cause. I'm just sad and the sadness is enveloping - like an opium haze. Sweetie says it is the allergies.

I found a funny website about Disapproving Rabbits. I had to send in a couple of photos but I don't know if they will be posted ever. I think I must have the T shirt.

I ordered two books about lace. One is the NewVictorian Lace and the other is Meg Swanson's A Gathering of Lace. I also ordered 5 pounds of tussah silk for dyeing and blending. Trying to get my shit together for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival in Franklin, Indiana over the first weekend of June. I was late to apply because Blue Acorn and I boothed together last year and I thought I had booked my own self for this year. But no. I will be there with my fibers and my bunnies. The five little babies are growing up and will be at their most adorable in three weeks.

Here is a recent shot of the Queen herself, Fuzzarelly.

You Can't Make this Stuff Up

From News of the Weird (link is on left sidebar):
Officials in Apex, N.C., finally confiscated the 80 sheep that David Watts had long been keeping in his home as pets (he slept upstairs, they downstairs), with the final straw coming when some of the sheep wandered into the local cemetery and munched on fresh floral arrangements. The town had apparently tolerated Watts's eccentricity for years because of his pleasantness. Said a next-door neighbor, "(Officials) felt like he was (merely) living an alternative lifestyle." [News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 3-27-07]

Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) on Randall Tobias, implicated in the D.C. sex scandal:
"Tobias had been running the Bush administration's Global AIDS Prevention Program which emphasized abstinence, because there's nothing the administration can do that is not ironic."

And now for something completely different.

How to Get Teenagers...

... interested in Geometry.

A small rant

I hope my several friends are having a great time at the Maryland Sheep Festival at our annual Run from the Roses getaway. My regret is not being there to watch the Kentucky Derby with them on TV this afternoon, wearing a silly hat and placing a friendly and uninformed bet. I went last year and the event I enjoyed most, after the derby, was the Parade of Breeds, where maybe 80 different types of sheep are displayed. Once was enough for me, though, and I doubt I'll attend again.

Here in Indiana, the allergens that make me ill are on the attack. Seriously. I have been sick, achy and asthmatic for the past week - worse that usual. Not to mention depressed and weepy from same. I have stayed inside, in the air-conditioning, and I have cleaned the dust from living room where I spend most of my time. I don't broom sweep but rather vacuum daily and still, I have been so sick. I have been sleeping 12 to 16 hours a day.

Rant: The one medication that really works for me is Singulair. It does something to my sinuses that allows me to smell and it eases the body aches. Under Sweetie's old insurance plan, it cost $40 for a month, which was not great but affordable. Under the new, not improved plan that took effect March 1, it costs twice that. My other medz, the Enthusiastimine, now is $65 a month. Preventafit and the regular anti-depressive are now $30 each. Then there are Sweetie's medz. All in all, about $250 a month.

Also, I broke my six-month-old glasses last week. The frames were bought "as is" with no guarantee, so that was my bad. However, the new frames and lenses, lightweight with no-line bifocals were over $450, out of my pocket. The insurance will not cover another eye exam or another pair of glasses for 18 more months. It doesn't seem that a little bit of metal and plastic should cost so much. We are not poor or destitute, (in which case said medz and glasses might not cost so much) but it is still a major chunk of change out of the purse, especially the medz which are a monthly expense.

We are frugal people, Sweetie and I. We don't buy new cars. I buy my clothes at Goodwill. We don't splurge on much - Netflix and Sirius are a combined $25 a month. We rarely eat out and I pack Sweetie's lunch. We don't have kids - not the two-legged kind, anyway.

Rant recant: But to be honest, I shouldn't complain. We have so much and I am grateful for everything. We own property outright and are considering buying another house just outside of town that is coming up for tax sale for a mere 35K. If we weren't so frugal, we would be in debt like most Americans. I don't have to work - how much is that worth?

I want to rant, hard and loud, but It's difficult when so much of the world has so very little. Wind has gone out of sails.

On a different note, I am now spinning for a new shawl.
It's always fun to begin a new project, isn't it? I'm experimenting with one colorway using a pattern from Interweave Knits, Fall '06, the Swallowtail Shawl.

It's the Law...

* Law of Repairs: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin-to itch or you'll have to pee.
* Law of Workshops: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
* Law of Probability: The probability of your being watched is directly proportional-to the stupidity of your action.
* Law of Telephones: If you dial a wrong number, you’ll never get a busy signal.
* Law of Alibis: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
* Law of Variations: If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in willstart to move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).
* Law of the Bath: When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
* Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increaseswhen you’re with someone with whom you don't want to be seen.
* Law of Results: When you try to demonstrate to someone that a machine won'twork, it will.
* Law of Biomechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
* Law of Theatre: The people whose seats are furthest from the aisle will arrive last.
* Law of Rugs: The chances of an open-faced sandwich landing face down aredirectly correlated to the newness and cost of the floor covering.
* Brown's Law: If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
* Wilson's Law: As soon as you find a product that you like, they’ll stop making it.
* Law of Logic: Anything is possible if you don't know what you’re talking about.
* Law of Location: No matter where you go, there you are.

This cheap blog entry is courtesy of Phil Proctor

Odds and Ends

Another bunny rescue. This little girl had been slated for python food and somehow survived and is now three or four months old. I don't know enough about short haired rabbits to know what breed she is - all I know is that she is brown with white around her eyes and no chest fat (or whatever that pouter pigeon thing is called.) She is also a very sweet girl and I drove home with her sitting in my lap.

Also had an email enquiring about a home for seven angoras today. Egad. I offered to take them if no one else would. I have the room if I repair the huge hutch, aka the Palatial Summer Home.

Watched a movie about the work of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist of the moment, so to speak. I have seen photos of several of his pieces, because that is how most of his work is available. Many of his pieces are made from such ephemeral objects as dandelions, icicles, snow, dirt, leaves, and twigs. I was enthralled by his work and by his skill and intensity. The movie showed him gathering materials and then creating. I seriously love his work.

Sweetie and I also subscribed, at last, to Sirius radio. Wow. I listen to our local and excellent public stations, but I must admit that Sirius has them beat. My favorite listening is World Radio News, with English editions from Ireland, Sweden, Southern Africa, China, the Netherlands, etc. The music and comedy stations are also great.

I am ready to start another knitting project, but am casting about for The Next Thing. If it is to be a shawl, I will need to spin the yarn first. Since I tried dyeing the angora/alpaca/merino roving last night, and found it to be not a total mess, I may just do that. Spin the yarn for the shawl, I mean. In nice autumnal colors. Jean Miles, from Knitting in Scotland, is knitting the most lovely of shawls, called the Princess. Me want to make! At some point, anyway. I mean, let's be real.

Knitting!

The Leftover Socks are done and I like them a lot. I like that they are colorful, are fraternal (not identical) twins, and I like the thriftiness of using five or six different odd bits of leftover sock yarn.

For the heel and toe, I used a sort of peasant heel. Instead of two single decreases paired on each side, I used a double decrease that created a bold center line. It needs tweaking, but I like it. Occasionally, I used two yarns to create stripes and avoided the dreaded jog by starting the other yarn directly across from the other. It's only a little fiddley but worth the small effort.

These were made for a friend of mine against whom I have held a resentment for 18 long months. While I knit the pair, I worked through some issues. And I knit with love in my heart, too. I don't like having a resentment against someone that hurt me, however unintentionally. Our relationship has slowly mended, but I want the hurt feelings to be totally gone.