Scroungin'

It's almost time to head home for the long weekend, and I'm scrambling to wrap up well: clean up my desk, wash any dishes or mugs, feed my guppy, remember my camera's memory card, etc. etc.  I haven't gotten around to buying bus tokens this week, so have been making sure I've got exact change for the bus.  This afternoon it's involved a shaking out of my coin purse, a looking around the other compartments of my purse, and, in the end, a rumble through my desk drawer.  Et voila!



 Just enough to get me home.  Phew!

This, to me, bodes well for the weekend.  Our plans to go camping have been cancelled (the sites we were considering booked--we shoulda known better; the remaining site a two-mile inland, uphill, bring-your-own-water hike--not for my first time, thankyouverymuch), but I'm looking forward to relaxing with old friends, getting fully unpacked (where do the books go?), doing a bit of crafting, and sharing about it by weekend's end.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Bus knitting

I have made some progress on the second Pomatomus sock that I started on the bus last week.  In keeping with the theme, I snapped another shot before I got off this morning.  Voila:

Here I am on the second repeat.  Knitting this part is generally pretty quick for me.  On the 30-minute ride into downtown today I put in about a dozen rows.  Good thing the pattern is easy to memorize!  One and a half more repeats to go until the heel flap...

...which is where I always get stuck.  Well, the flap itself is pretty quick, knit back and forth on only half the number of stitches.  Turning the heel doesn't take that long, either.  But man, when I get to the gusset, it seems that thing never wants to get done--even as I'm doing decreases!  For the first sock, I was done with the cuff after our week in D.C.  But it took an additional three weeks for me to get through the gusset and sole.

I hope it doesn't take me so long for this sock; I'd like to have ends woven in next week (even though I'm not going to gift it until October, for the recipient's birthday) so that I can continue with Knitting For Me!

4 p.m. - 10 a.m.

Before regular sleeping hours, on a free evening, one can:

• balance a checkbook (even after years of not looking at a register)


• draw a rudimentary but fairly accurate floor plan of one's new apartment

• reorganize one's kitchen a bit better

• cook a just-what's-in-the-fridge dinner (egg noodles and bok choy stir-fry)


• wash the dishes (doesn't always happen the same night, don't tell my mom)


• overturn a pot of succulents and break them all (but replant tips and keep fingers crossed)


• wash a skein of newly acquired secondhand yarn

• paint one's toenails; and


• fix and restore photos to previous blog posts.

Then, when a bout of insomnia has one tossing at 3 a.m., one may decide to get out of bed at 3:30 and:

• organize mail, coupons, and receipts


• wind leftover and stray yarn into balls


• clean off the coffee table


• finish a sock; and

• still get two hours of sleep.

After waking up and getting ready, one may even have time to take photos of some accomplishments before leaving for work. This may cause one to miss breakfast and be 10 minutes late, but, in any case, one may start the second sock on the bus.

And, if one, is lucky, one may find a trail bar in one's desk drawer, and be blessed by coffee and strawberries from a coworker.

What an incredible 18 hours for one!

Where *not* to go...

...on a Sunday afternoon:

We usually go to the market after church on Sunday evenings, but thought we'd mix it up a bit yesterday. 

Whoa. 

Never again.

Bus karma

This morning's bus commute into town was extremely unique:  I was the sole passenger for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the ride.  Having taken the bus for nearly a year and a half, I can say that that was indeed a first.  A quiet getting to work is a treat that I much enjoyed.

The ride home was *a bit* of a different story.  First of all, I stayed at work about 30 minutes longer than usual.  When I boarded the bus, though, it was my usual 5:07 driver (yes, he had been delayed 40 minutes!).  And the streets were all lit with red brake lights.  Turns out there were no less than six labor and immigration rallies overlapping each other from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.  Yowza!  Busses were rerouted and passenger numbers much exceeded the norm.  At one point, my driver had to stop picking anyone up.  It was a bumpy, crowded and long ride back.

Like I've said, riding the bus brings on a different type of stress from that of commuting by car.  Overall, I'm a firm believer in public transportation, but on days like today -- when I arrive home exhausted not by my work day but the getting home -- a little part of me yearns for the comfort of my own little capsule.  Which is why I'm grateful to come home to my own place! 

Time for a glass of wine.