Glanalaw - delighting in pure song

(Too bad that's not " Auditions and Beethoven".  I feel that would be a much more exciting blog post!) This morning we had our Corporate audit/inspection at the theatre.  Work has been a bit more frantic than usual the last few weeks, as we've been deep-cleaning everything, making sure it looks its best for the inspectors.  It really is a clean and well-run place to begin with, so this wasn't as bad as it might be, but even with regular scrubs, anything within a ten-foot radius of a popcorn machine gets a fine coating of grease which is a pain to shine up. (Rick, a co-worker, as I was giving the popper its evening scrub for (my) first time:  "You have to treat the popper as your mortal foe.  It thinks about nothing but popcorn and agony."  And I would add: and grease.  Lots of grease.) Last night I had to clean all the glass and windows in the lobby of the theatre.  If you haven't been there, I'll tell you this -- there's LOTS of it.  T...

Today actually felt like June.  Warm but not hot... low humidity... a good breeze blowing.   I took my knitting and my tea and Anne of Windy Poplars  out to the back deck for a couple hours.  (I did remember sunscreen.  Maybe not enough  sunscreen though.) The elephants seem never-ending, but I really may finally be reaching the end of the knitting.  Tomorrow: sewing up!

Breakfast.  This has been standard fare lately. Chocolate mug cake.  Recipe here .  (You can leave out the clump of un-mixed-in baking powder.) I love how the evening sun falls on this chaise lounge.  And how Conrad will arrange himself oh so carefully to stay just outside of the sunlight. I was "on call" for work today but they didn't need me.  I can't say how nice it has been to relax on a Sunday afternoon! It's been too long.  Lots of knitting (elephants, still) and relaxing music, and I'm planning to finish (re-re-re-re-re-re-re-reading) Anne of Avonlea  this evening. This melody didn't seem like much the first time I heard it but it has been haunting me for the last several days.  Lovely. I hope you have all had a calm and blessed Sabbath.

This is not quite the post I was planning to write.  I was hoping for photos with the band members, for one thing (they often speak to fans after shows.)  But it didn't quite work out that way... My friend Mae texted me a month or so ago.  "Do you like Keane?" she said.  As it so happens, I do - I discovered them my last year of high school and bought two of their albums then.  I hadn't thought much about them lately, though.  But I texted back "Yes", and then she said that they were playing in Nashville (first time they've been in this part of the country for about 5 years), and did I want to go with her? Well, that was a yes. So we bought tickets and yesterday we set off. The drive down was uneventful.  The venue was less than a mile off the highway - convenient!  We parked just a block away and then walked a few blocks to Subway to grab some dinner.  Then a walk back to stand in the line - we wanted to get as close as possible to ...

Literally a bowl of cherries.  They were on sale!  Normally I can't even begin to afford them.  On a more figurative level life is going pretty well too. Conrad is not so sure about the goodness of life, though, since I won't let him steal my cherries to play with them. There's also been some lace knitting.  This is the Mystery Shawl, up through Clue 3. And tonight I'm going with a friend to see Keane !  I'll take my camera, so hopefully there will be a picture-story for you tomorrow.

Just before the dark. Have you ever noticed how when you walk in the dark, your other senses are heightened?  Sight isn't very useful, but suddenly hearing and smell are extra-sensitive. I went for a walk this evening.  Just at the end of dusk, when the sunset was still a faint glow in the west.  It's a well-lighted neighbourhood, safe enough to walk alone but dark enough to make one feel isolated.  A glorious loneliness. And the scents.  A whiff of cigar smoke.  Somebody's lawn, freshly mown.  Somebody's lawn, overgrown and full of the fragrance of clover.  From somewhere hidden, the sharp sweet scent of roses.    A bright, herby smell, and from across the street, whiffs from a kitchen. And then the sounds.   The constant hum of crickets and cicadas.  The occasional croak of a frog.  Somewhere far away, the slam of a car door.  The whir of a bat, not far overhead.  Everywhere the whisper of evening bre...

Any day that you receive three packages in the same post is a good day!  Especially when one of them is from your family, and one of them is this: and the third contains five skeins of gorgeous wool in a suitably Pond-ish red. From StitchKnit . Actually this is the third delivery of Amy-coloured wool in the last week.  I have so far restrained myself from beginning any actual knitting on either of Amy's scarves, but I could not resist the yarn hunt.  An hour or so on Etsy turned up several good possibilities. In addition to the vintage Wool and Shetland Wool which arrived today (a DK/light worsted, probably), we also have the three skeins of Peace Fleece worsted, scored at a ridiculously low price, Which really is a beautiful deep red, contrary to this photo.  From Thoughtful Rose Supply . and the merino/cashmere/angora/nylon blend, which is not only beautifully cuddly and is going to be perfect for the lace scarf, but is recycled from a sweater...

Conrad thinks knitting needles are the best kind of chew toy. Elephant in progress. Making progress on the Mystery Shawl!  Also, aren't my new stitch markers gorgeous?  From the shop Absolute Wonder on Etsy. It's been all garter stitch, all the time around here lately, with just a little lace thrown in for good measure.  It's surprisingly not boring.  Plus I get to play with colours!

It's possible I've mentioned this before, but I find the wealth of gorgeous knitted accessories in British TV and films delightful.  I am always filled with enthusiasm and the strong desire to rush out and knit ALL THE THINGS I see.  (Witness the number of Hogwarts house scarves I've knit.)  I wonder why American shows never seem to feature hand-knits.  Are we too cool for that? Recently, it's been Doctor Who.  (You will have noticed this if you read my blog with any regularity.)  I came up with the pattern for Rose Tyler's fingerless mitts, I'm deep in the throes of the 4th Doctor's scarf (so. much. plain. knitting.), and now I've become fascinated by Amy Pond's red scarf. Or actually, scarves. I'm watching grainy images on Netflix which never, ever, ever pause in focus, and most of the photos I can find on the web are similarly pixellated.  But there are definitely two distinct scarves - one is a bit heavier and more solidly knit, with a ...