20 September 2017

The Good, the Bad

Hello there - I meant to write a post in the past couple of days, but got waylaid by some other stuff that needed more immediate attention.  But things have settled at least for the moment, so let's discuss some good things and some bad things, shall we?

Good things first!  On Saturday of this past weekend, I bound off the Scattered Wishes shawl!  Here it is in a state of unblocked, unwoven ended-ness:


Sunday morning I wove in the ends, and blocked it later in the day.  Stay tuned for an upcoming FO post about this one.  Here it is, folded up waiting for blocking:


It's not perfect on the lace border, but it's just fine as far as I'm concerned.  I fudged a couple of things but it's not that noticeable, and even if it is, you have to be mighty close and looking at each stitch to tell.  My plan to only do two rows of the lace whenever I sat down to work on it was the answer to my problems with the lace.  I'm waiting for a nice day when I can get a really good picture for a project post on it.

Another good thing over the weekend:

Sticky buns!  A bakery near our house has these on weekend mornings, and every once in a great while we treat ourselves to one.  These were nice and warm from the bakery, and soooooo yummy!  We are suckers for good sticky buns, let me tell you.

So the weekend was successful.  I am also not that far from finishing the pair of socks I'm knitting - I'm at the decreases for the heel gusset, and then will be able to sail along on the foot and toe, and another pair will be in the books!  Then I can start on my project for Dee and Vera's Fall KAL.  I need to finalize what I want to knit, but it's narrowed down to three possibilities, so I'll just need to decide what works best with the yarn I want to use.

That's all good.  :-)

Then there's the Bad.  Sigh.  Earthquakes and hurricanes.  With not even a breather in between!  This morning on the news, the death toll from yesterday's earthquake in Mexico City was already in the hundreds, with a lot more searching to be done.  I've never experienced an earthquake of any note (gratefully!), but I can only imagine the fear and horror.  

There are wildfires in the west, some barely being controlled, that are destroying forests, lands, homes, and habitat.  Some areas have been suffering from drought and so fighting the flames becomes even  more difficult and unmanageable.

And then, Hurricane Maria heading right for my beloved Puerto Rico makes me incredibly sad.  I keep thinking of the horses, chickens, iguanas, and other animals on Palomino Island.  My hope is that they were able to move the horses somewhere else that is safer, but I also realize they do not have a ton of resources to work with, and will concentrate on people first.


Places right on the water will be especially hard hit, and likely destroyed.


And I keep wondering how people will survive and rebuild.  I know they will want to, since it's their home and their lives, but they are having so many financial issues to start with, there isn't a lot of anything else to use for a jumping off point.  

It's overwhelming when there is just one terrible thing happening - but there have been two earthquakes in Mexico in only a few weeks, and then Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and now Maria all in a row.  And OK, technically, Hurricane Jose has been riling up the waters and flooding along the East Coast, which is not good, but at least it's not as destructive as the others are/have been.  

We can only do so much to help, but it's better than nothing.  And we don't even have the example of compassionate leadership for direction and comfort to make us feel like can and do and will help.  Instead we are stuck with someone who wouldn't know what compassion and empathy were if they were standing in front of him personified.  It boggles my mind that people can exist who are like that, but we have our very own shining star in that arena.

Ugh.  It's up to the rest of us to do what we can, however we can, and when we can.  We're the ones who need to act and do a Good Thing.

13 comments:

Bonny said...

I knew you could do it! Scattered Wishes is lovely, and I'll look forward to hearing more about it. The person who might be investigating the lace border too closely is probably the same one down on the floor counting rows on your social security socks. They definitely deserve a kick.

I haven't read any news yet this morning, but I can see that it is time to do that and queue up my next round of donations. Too many disasters. :-(

Tired Teacher said...

Beautiful shawl. I can't wait to see it when it's blocked and even more beautiful.

Add the massive wildfires in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Montana to the list of recent disasters. Such a destructive summer with enormous economic impact. I can only wonder what's next.

Nance said...

Congrats on your Finish and Soon To Be Finished. My knitting is at a standstill due to Lack Of Motivation. I feel Bleah about it right now.

I agree wholeheartedly about 45* being completely without empathy and therefore unable to even recognize the need to say anything about the terrible devastation of these storms. He simply does not see it. It doesn't directly impact him Personally, so he has nothing to say. What a pathetic individual.

Glad you have a nice bakery to cheer you up!

Araignee said...

Mmmmmmm....sticky buns.
Your photos of PR are gorgeous. What a beautiful place. It is such a shame those islands are having such a terrible time. I can't even imagine.

Araignee said...

PS: The shawl is gorgeous. Can't wait to see it blocked!

Wanderingcatstudio said...

love the colours in your shawl - and those sticky buns!!! Now I'm hungry!

Kym said...

Every time I hear about the hurricane's (hurricanes', actually) path (paths), I think of you and all the wonderful stories and photos you shared from your trip to Puerto Rico. It is simply heartbreaking.
XOXO

Judy S. said...

Love that shawl, and it'll be even prettier when blocked. Nice work! We've finally had a bit of rain here which has slowed down the fires some thankfully. It seems like I just read/heard about another earthquake in Japan? It's sure scary with all these disasters, and hard to understand how anyone could deny climate change.....

AsKatKnits said...

I am likewise horrified by the devastation in Mexico and Puerto Rico - I find it unreal that the Moron-in-chief has said nothing about Puerto Rico (at least not that I have read about, anyways)

Now, ending with some good - that shawl is beautiful and I can't wait to see it blocked! And, those sticky buns look amazing!

Anonymous said...

First the happy stuff --- your shawl is lovely and looks so squishy and warm.

Then .....................Chief Cheeto!

Seriously, HE. IS. BEYOND. BELIEF.

Vera said...

Oh Bridget, your Scattered Wishes turned out so well. It is beautiful. Congratulations on a fabulous finish.

So many disasters and so much heartbreak. Frightening and just so sad, sad, sad.

Mereknits said...

I love your shawl and am glad there are a few good things to think about. I swear in Florida everyone is still walking around like zombies, we are all still in a bit of shock and that is with our homes intact. I can't believe those in south Florida, the Keys, Puerto Rico and other islands. The fires, our president taunting another maniac calling him Rocket Boy, when will it all end?

karen said...

I don't know if I've had a sticky bun....can't recall so I'm guessing not. But now, I need to maybe make them or buy them. The devastation is humbling and I worry about our environment and catastrophic weather events.