Still with the Greyhounds Already

Lucy's on my left, Stella's on my right

Cracker is in his chair and Razzle's at my feet.




In between, Twister rests his head on Razzle's back, and the alpaca hat is worn by a vinegar bottle. For the life of me, I can't get photos to go where I want them. Once again, outwitted by inanimate objects.

I'll see Rachael in a few days, and get a photo of her in the hat. She will like it, she's a funky girl, she's 22. It amuses her that she was born the year as Sven, my Volvo

What Was I Thinking? the next chapter

It was a calm and pleasant Christmas, relatively speaking. I have seven greyhounds in the house, and this is more fun and less stress than most holidays I can remember. It helps when everyone decides to eat out of his/her own bowl.

Precious little knitting to report, though I have finished the flip-top mittens. (Scarf? What scarf?)

While checking in on http://www.cuteoverload.com/,which cheers me up every day, I was led to two new-to-me sites, which may well become daily habits : http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ and http://www.marriedtothesea.com/.

Of course, not a day goes by that I don't check in with Franklin, and Dolores his live-in sheep ( it's ok, he's gay ) at http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/

My Dad

I think about my dad whenever I get a new toy. He liked photography, and my first hand-me-down camera from him was an old Leica that he bought, I believe, before World War II. It had a leather case that fit it like a glove, with a matching, separate, light meter.

Dad died in 1977. He would have loved all the technological advancements that have come along since then. Whenever I acquire one, I have a conversation in my head with him about it. VCRs, CDs, PCs, DVDs, cell phones...I don't have an iPod but he would have had one...A friend was upgrading and gifted me with her old printer/fax/scanner/copier.It took me a week to gather the nerve to install it; I'm always afraid I'm going to strip gears or erase hard drives or something. There it is, no bigger than a bread box (anybody remember those?), with its friendly little lights blinking at me. Copiers used to be huge clanking things, always choking. And I can remember mimeograph machines - phew. Well. Whatever will they think of next? Stay tuned, Dad.

What Was I Thinking?

Boring.

This scarf is boring. And painful. The yarn is too fuzzy for anything but garter stitch. The number eleven needles aggravate the arthritis in my hands. I make myself knit five rows of the unfortunate thing, then reward myself by working on the mittens.

Coincidence? Or a Sign from God?

Five new dogs came to us on Saturday, and I was interested to see my designated foster, because I've been considering an addition to the family.

As a member of Netflix, I've worked my way through some excellent old British mini-series. After revelling in Helen Mirren's six Prime Suspects (just in time for the new 7th one), the next one in my queue was Cracker, with Robbie Coltrane. He's not Hagrid here: a criminal psychologist, obese, alcoholic, a chain-smoking gambling addict, incredibly obnoxious, totally irresistable. The first CD came in the mail the day before the dogs arrived.

My foster dog's track name was Kracker. Now he's my dog, and his name's Cracker.

Black Friday

It was a dark and stormy morning. Jean and I met for breakfast, to go over details of tomorrow's delivery of newly-retired greyhounds. Everything is choreographed in advance, because the dogs arrive about 5 am, when we're not hitting on all cylinders.

But I digress.

I felt like wearing a dark grey shirt and black jeans, tho my usual rule is bright colors on dull days. After breakfast at Freckles, we checked out the consignment shop two doors down. Jean found a coral-colored cashmere sweater (she's a non-knitter, poor dear) and I got these funky black suede mary janes. My shopping mojo was in gear.

The Knitting Basket is just down Libbie Ave. I wanted something soft and black for mittens. I'm secret santa to a woman who wears black almost exclusively, and I'm making her a scarf from Knit Picks Suri Dream in Strawberry, 74% Suri alpaca, 22% wool, 4% nylon. If black mittens are included, with wide stripes of strawberry, maybe she'll wear the ensemble. This Nashua waved at me, 75% wool, 25% alpaca. We'll see how it goes: the latest attempt at behavior modification is going against the grain. Cate of Having a Knit Fitt says she cleans house for 15 minutes, then knits for 15 minutes. My dust bunnies taunt me like Marley hassles Scrooge, and I have to clean until I can stand to stop. Notice I didn't say until everything is clean.