Beadlizard

Thankful Thursday

It is hard to choose only three things to blog thanks for this week.  Three very practical things.

1.  Indoor plumbing.  After seven years on the farm, hauling water from the creek in a bucket (chunks of ice in the winter) and warming it on the wood stove, then bathing in a Rubbermaid tub or just a sponge and bucket, I nearly swoon with joy every morning when I step into the shower and simply turn that knob.  Definitely one of the pinnacles of Civilization.

2.  Emergency Rooms.  I am a huge fan of alternative medicine and use it every day, but when push comes to shove, it's lovely to have Western medicine's rapid response system.

3.  Clothespins.  The kind with metal springs.  If you're ever at my house, look for clothespins.  My world would fall apart without them.

Fair Isle

Janine is giving a Fair Isle workshop at her lovely home in Berkeley.  I cannot recommend a class more highly.  She's a nice person, an excellent teacher, and her eye for color and line is amazing.  The class will fill fast.  If I could still read charts I would take the class, but graph paper and I do not get along anymore.  Janine is one of those comfortable teachers, like Stephenie Gaustad, who has the magical knack for infusing knowledge into even the most wayward brains [like mine].  And yes, I'm an expert knitter and that includes Fair Isle, which I've taught, but Janine?  She's leagues beyond me in her expertise and her color sense.

Much knitting here.  When I have the batch of Christmas mitts finished I'll post a photo.  And the diet is working gradually, as are the antibiotics.  Life is good.

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful Thursday posts are another one of Carole's positive ideas.  Go look at the beautiful photos of her family.  Someday, we will meet in person.

Today is easy.  I woke without pain which, after yesterday, was pure joy.  The cussed inflammation around my good eye is clearing, the medications worked, and I can see again.  I am still at the stage where I am surprised when I wake up and am alive and able.  I really did let go of the certainty of a future when Andy found the second cancer back in '01, and even though I'm doing rather well, I cannot take it for granted since there is no remission possible.  Each day is a gift.  So:

1.  I am thankful to be alive today.  It's icing on the cake that I am not in pain, that I can see well enough to read and to fix the family a decent breakfast, and that I will be able to enjoy:

2.  Date night.  DH called from work to inform me that, according to his calendar, we have a date tonight.  Of course I had forgotten, but I'll be ready in time.  With the mess of the current economy we've trimmed our budget down to bare bones in every way except concert tickets.  Our first date was to an early music concert 27 years ago, and tonight we'll sit there in the concert hall together and enjoy being:

3.  In love.  I fell in love with DH at first sight THIRTY years ago in the hall at high school.  I had no idea who he was (a lowly freshman!) but knew in that moment that he was my destiny.  Took us a while to get the logistics nailed down, but we have weathered a lot together and have an excellent marriage.

And yes, I will take some knitting along.  I don't generally knit in the car (woozy), but I knit during intermission.  Making yet another pair of fingerless mitts.  [Susan, I am casting on your pair at last!]