Current Reading

Scary stories are not my bag. Life is sufficiently frightening to me, without going out and looking for sources of anxiety.

A couple of years ago, on a dark and stormy night, I arrived at a small seaside town, described to me as charming, atmospheric, and old. Whitby is on two steep hills, divided by a snug little harbour. From the window in my B&B near the top of one hill, I could look across the harbour to the ruined abbey on top of the other hill. While I was there I learned that Bram Stoker ( is that a cool name or what )wrote Dracula there, and that the town itself is a prominent part of the story.

It is, indeed, charming. I spent several days there wandering the streets,and walking along the cliffs over the sea, on well-marked paths that are part of a huge National Park.

Fast forward. This past weekend I babysat two greyhounds I hadn't met before. The little girl was named Mina, after one of the girls in Dracula. I seemed to remember that her friend in the book was Lucy, which (insert creepy background music) is the name of my female greyhound. So I'm reading Dracula. I was right about the names. I can't remember which of the girls survives. Guess I'll find out.

Embroidered FO

This is my part of Anne's project. Her plan is to construct a tote bag, and each person who stitches a name gets to use it for awhile, then pass it on to another contributor.

Inspired by a Chair

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was from Glasgow. He designed stuff. Looking at a photo of a chair of his, I saw my next project. It is to be hoped that I have the perseverance to complete the shawl that is in my head. The yarn is Elann's Peruvian Highland Silk in Allspice, a lovely gold. I cast on 511 stitches on two number 7 needles, using two separate balls of yarn for the long tail cast on. I'm doing the knitting on Inox teflon-coated number 6 circulars. Updates as they occur.

Mothers' Day Project

Franklin's blog mentioned Anne's Mothers' Day Project and I signed up for it.here is the link. I think. Still don't know why the name won't come up. Sigh.

WTF Wed,. May 2

In London there are lots of old cemeteries, some big like Highgate, some so teeny you wouldn't know they were there if you weren't looking for them. Bunhill Fields has traffic and office buildings all around it, but once you're in the gate, the old walls and trees make an Alice-through-the-looking-glass contrast. There are famous folks buried there like Daniel Defoe and William Blake, but this is my favorite. The inscription reads :

In 67 months she was tapd 66 times
Had taken away 240 gallons of water
Without ever repining at her case
Or ever fearing the operation