Good Friday FO: Birthday Socks

Well, OK it just so happens that I am writing this post on Good Friday. But I had these socks finished weeks ago, I'm just finally getting around to sharing the FO. 

With thanks of course to Alfie, who made it all possible ... 😂

Project: Birthday Socks

Yarn: Freckled Whimsy Serendipity Sock, Colorway Pisces

Needles: US size 0/ 2mm

Pattern: my own vanilla sock pattern

Notes: I have had this yarn for a couple of years, but every year would forget about it until well after my birthday. This year, I made sure that I put the sock set where I would see it, and finally, I could knit myself a pair of birthday socks! 

I didn't plan for this to be my birthday cast-on, rather I wanted to be able to wear them on my birthday. I started them in early February, so that I'd have plenty of time to finish them. Which turned out to be a good idea, since for a few weeks I lost my mojo, and I was also working on other projects, so my knitting time was divided among three different types of knitting.

The first sock was finished pretty quickly - that was before I lost my mojo. But the second sock suffered a bit, but I was still determined to get them ready for my birthday. And I did, finishing them a little bit more than a week ahead of time. I happily wore them on my birthday, and can attest to them being very comfortable, even though it was an unusually warm day for March. 

I really love the finished pair. The sock set came with the bright turquoise blue yarn for the cuffs, heels, and toes (I just did cuffs and toes). They are a closely related pair, but not identical, which is always fine with me. 

*****

As I mentioned above, today is Good Friday for Christians who observe the Easter season, with Easter itself on Sunday. My niece Amanda and her husband Pat are coming tomorrow to spend an overnight with us. We are looking forward to it, since they were not able to be here last year, and we really missed seeing them! This also means the return of the Inappropriate Easter Egg Contest, and it seems there are an overabundance of possible themes for this year! I have a really great idea (if a highly rude and inappropriate one) for an egg, but my challenge is also the drawing of my idea, so we'll see if I have any luck with that. I've considered a couple of ways it might work out, but the plan in my head doesn't always translate to the work of my hands, LOL. So we'll see.

If you celebrate, I wish you a very Happy Easter! If you do not celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful last weekend of March, doing what you like. 

I'll see you next week!

Birthdays, Train Trips, and Weekends

Hello! I just wanted to check in before we leave our house to walk to 30th Street Station here in Philadelphia for our overnight trip to New York. I didn't mean to be gone for so long, but this week brought more things going on than I had originally planned, and this was my first chance to write a post.

Milo the Koodle had a wonderful birthday on Monday - and has loved being spoiled a bit extra all week long. He is my Birthday Buddy, and it's fun to celebrate with him.

I had my birthday party (just us and the kitties, as usual) last night, and we had a good time. I also had a lovely day, since it was much warmer than March 14 usually is, so I was able to get outside and have an extra enjoyable walk. I was also doing some things in preparation for today and the weekend, but it was all stuff I wanted to do, and I was not on a tight schedule, so it was a lovely, quiet, pretty day.

Once we arrive in NYC later this morning, we are planning to visit the American Museum of Natural History for a couple of hours, since we can't check in to our hotel until 4 p.m. So we'll spend some time there, and then have a late lunch/early dinner, check in to our hotel and freshen up, and then head to the theater to see "Merrily We Roll Along." Talk about a full day! Then tomorrow, we plan to just head out for a nice long walk wherever our noses take us before making our way back to the Moynihan station to come home.

Of course, the combination of a change to our usual routines, and walking around outside for longer than usual will mean that we will need the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday to recover, LOL! But Sunday we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day altogether, without anyone having to be at work, so that will be the best. 

I hope your weekend is a good one, whether you are traveling, staying home, or even just staying in the house being cozy. I can't believe that Spring starts on Tuesday! After days of 60s-70s (F) degree weather, they are saying here that the first day of spring should have a high temperature of 45 degrees (F) - so I'm sure a lot of people will have a shock to their system. (Face it, we all know people who think that once the first day of spring shows up, they can put away all of their winter gear. As if.)

So enjoy, and hopefully I'll have some tales to tell about our trip the next time I show up here.

A Lovely Ride

Happy Birthday to me. 😊

The Week That Was

Hello again and Happy Spring!  I didn't really plan to be AWOL, so to speak, but I was. I have to tell you, last week was absolutely magnificent!  I enjoyed every single moment of my time off, and it was so nice to sleep well, not stress-eat all of the time, and be able to enjoy getting some exercise.  We all had a good week, as the kitties enjoyed having someone to serve their needs 24/7, and The Tim enjoyed the fact that I wasn't bitching and moaning about work every single freaking day. 😊 (Who can blame him??)

The only annoying thing that happened was that on Saturday, I decided to finally get my act together and respond to the comments on my last couple of posts.  Well, both my e-mail and Blogger worked together to make sure that nothing like that happened!  When I responded via e-mail, I got "Message undeliverable" for every single thing, and when I thought I would actually decide to respond on Blogger, each time I was told "Comment cannot be processed."  So rather than become a raving maniac before I had to go back to work (because I wanted to enjoy those last couple of days), I just decided not to get worked up over it.  To any who commented, thank you for your comments and good wishes, I promise I wasn't ignoring you!  

So let's do a quick recap of the birthdays.

Milo the Koodle enjoyed his birthday celebration very much.  Even though they don't get any cake to eat, Milo and Pip both enjoy the lit birthday candles and the singing.  Though they don't want to get too close to the candles thankfully!  But Milo loved the special attention, and was quite pleased with some catnip and some treats.  Then he made sure to get a TON of attention for the rest of that day and all weekend.  Thanks for the kind wishes you sent his way.  I read them to him and he purred quite loud.

My birthday was really lovely.  It was a beautiful day, and though I had to stick close to home for most of it, because the tree trimmers were there, I was a) home, b) completely left to my own devices, and c) knew I had the rest of the week if I wanted to go anywhere.  The guys from the tree trimming place were really nice and efficient, and by the time they were finished on Tuesday afternoon, not only were the trees trimmed and pruned and the ivy gone from the side of the house, the garden was cleaned up much better than any of my efforts, ever!  Now I just hope I can do a decent job of maintenance.

I got a couple of real-life, lovely cards from friends which was such a treat.  One of my online friends (who shall not be named here because I'm not sure if she would want to be named, also you might be jealous if she never sent you anything!) sent me a lovely card and note with this needleminder tucked into the package:

It's like the people who made this have met me, right?  It was so exciting to see a little treat in the card, and then when I pulled it out, it just cracked me up, it's so perfect! (The Tim: "Wow, she nailed that one.")

After I sent a link for this, The Tim bought this for the kitties to give to me:

When you undo the zipper, and open it up, there are dpns from size US0 to US6!  (Also - HOW is there already cat hair all over the case??? This was set up on a shelf away from them!  Sigh.)

These are Knitters' Pride Zing needles, and though I haven't used the dpns before, I love the circular ones.  I sent The Tim a link from Webs, but he told me he bought these from Amazon because they were a lot cheaper there.  Which is somewhat sad since we both try not to use Amazon if we don't have to, but then again, he said they were more than $10 less there, so I don't blame him.  

Anyway, we had a yummy dinner, and homemade marble cake with chocolate frosting, so it was all good.

That's it for now.  I'm finishing this at work since I arrived half an hour early, but I'd better sign off now before my time runs out.  Thanks again for all of the well-wishes, both for me and for the Koodle!  I'll fill you in on the rest of the week in a later post.  

Have the best week possible. 😀

Observations From a Birthday Week Vacation in the Second Year of Covid-19

As you may or may not know, I have taken this week as vacation from work.  I usually try to take time off around my birthday, because why not?  Last year, I had planned to do so, but then we were sent home for "two weeks, probably" after March 13, so I was home anyway, without any work that I could easily do, working from home.

Anyway, this year I have been working in our building on Tuesdays and Thursdays since this past August, and of course working from home (as much as I can in my job, which is a challenge), so I decided to return to my tradition, and I also decided to take the entire week as vacation.  I have the time available to me, and really - where I am going to go anywhere soon?  

Since this is the last work day of my vacation, I thought I would share some of my observations from this past week.

OK, this first part is something I've thought all of my life, but this past week has only made me a firmer believer:

1. WHY are Americans so stingy with time off?  First of all, generally most people don't get a lot of vacation time, or holidays off, and then when you actually want to try and take that time, you're looked at like someone who just ate a baby!  I know, I know - the Protestant work ethic, American productivity, blah, blah, blah.  Excuse me, but that is just a way of justifying the crappy treatment most people receive from their employers.  You ask for even a day off, and it's like the company will dissolve because you are not there - even if most of the time, your presence is either not acknowledged at all, or you are generally dismissed as unimportant.  God forbid you take time for YOURSELF - I mean, they're already being so generous, what with evenings and weekends for your interests.  And yet, in other countries, where people have been receiving much more generous amounts of time off, somehow it's all still standing in spite of that.  I know some people LOVE their work, and love to be at work, but Work Is Not Life.

2.  This week I had two meetings scheduled related to my work.  One was with the person who is our new supervisor, who also happens to be the CEO of the place.  This is until our current supervisor comes back from sabbatical, or at least that's what they are saying.  In any case, we are not allowed [seriously, not allowed] to reschedule our meetings with him (he can, we cannot).  And this one was for a "Performance Discussion," which is what our annual reviews are now called. (Puh-leeze.)

So, OK, I figured having to go to that meeting on Tuesday morning was something I could do and then go on with enjoying my time off.  WRONG.  Nope, after being told in the meeting that he could not figure out why I was still employed because he saw no reason for my position to still exist, and that I would need to amp up my goals in order to continue to have a job - well, let's just say that threw me for quite the loop!  And as you may imagine, ruined my happy mood and mental health big time.  So much so, that just yesterday afternoon, I started to talk myself out of worrying about it since I am supposed to be on vacation.  And once again - when your time off is not really time off, that's just not fair.  If we had not been doing Zoom meetings all year, I would have not been able to meet with this guy during my vacation - the meeting would not have been possible (trust me, I would have claimed to be in Lichtenstein or someplace if I had to).  But no, since we could meet, we had to meet.  I was also supposed to meet with the consultant hired at work so that she could advise me on being more of a team player.  That was supposed to be yesterday.  I sent her an e-mail saying something had come up unexpectedly and I could not possibly do it until I was back at work next week.  (Technically it was the truth - bad mental health had come up - but even so, I decided I needed the rest of my vacation to be free from work stress and so that meeting was just not gonna happen.)  Jesus Christ in a dress, is there no escape from work anymore???

3.  Moving on from the ugly stuff, in truth, I am really glad I took a week of vacation.  Even though the weather has been not that great, I have enjoyed being able to be at home and [for the most part] not have work crap hanging over my head.  I have been reading, knitting, and being lazy, even if I had other plans that didn't end up happening.  (Admittedly they might have, had I not been so depressed/upset/thrown off for a couple of days, but there you are.)  Would it have been nice to be able to go out to breakfast for my birthday?  Yes, but since I hadn't planned on it, there was no disappointment there.  And I like being at home and on my own schedule.  So although there were no particularly special plans for the week, it's been a good one.

4.  I had a *very* slight reaction from my second Covid vaccine shot.  I felt fine for the rest of the day when I got it (this past Monday), and then overnight that night I woke up with chills and a low fever.  I felt a little bit crappy when I woke up on Tuesday morning, but by lunchtime I was fine.  I'm absolutely sure that whatever the reaction is, it's still better than coming down with the virus!

5.  This morning we had an "international" kind of car trip, stopping at a few places.  First up, The Tim wanted to go to the Asian market for some things, so we stopped there first.  Then we stopped at the Italian bakery where they have ZEPPOLES every year on March 19th for St. Joseph's Day, so we'll have those for dessert tonight.  Then on the way home, we stopped at a Middle Eastern lunch place where the make the absolute best grilled falafel sandwiches ever!  We brought things home, put away what needed to go into the fridge and enjoyed our sandwiches.  It's been years since I've had one, and I am happy to say, I was not disappointed.  So we're definitely eating well today.  😀

I can promise you, we got only one for each of us.  Such a treat, and so worth it!

All of which means that the good news is, that vacation week is ending on a good note, which is how it should be.  And I'm grateful for that, since I'll have plenty of time next week for other feelings and frustrations.

Here's hoping that your week was a good one, or that if not, it's ending on a good note like mine is.  Have a good weekend, and remember to try your best to enjoy whatever you can, whenever you can!

Oh Excuse Me? You're Upset That the Clocks Moved Forward an Hour??

Well, imagine what it feels like to wake up and realize that for you, it wasn't just an hour, but a YEAR! 😉

Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, a lot of places in the U.S. turned our clocks one hour ahead ("spring forward").  This always causes a lot of whining and hand-wringing, and frankly it really doesn't bother me one way or the other, just the same as in the fall when we turn the clocks back ("fall backwards").  But this year, *my* clock sprung forward a year overnight from Saturday to Sunday!  I went to bed at the age of 64 and woke up at the age of 65!

Yep, yesterday was my birthday - YAY!!!  On Friday, this card arrived in the mail from a friend of mine; when you press the little sound button at the top right, it plays a meow version of Happy Birthday, which is hilarious.  

It was a lovely day, and I really enjoyed every bit of it.  The Tim, the kitties, and Hamlet helped me celebrate and though it was my second Covid birthday, that did not mean it wasn't a good one.  And I heard from friends and family with good wishes, so even if once again we couldn't really go anywhere, it really didn't matter. 

It was especially nice, since on Saturday we had worked on cleaning up the house and because it was in such a state, it really ended up eating most of the day.  So having yesterday to purposely relax and just do whatever we felt like doing was extra luxurious.

And after last week, where I spent a good portion of the week fighting with a migraine, I was happy that it happened earlier in the week rather than later.

Of course, this guy turned 9 years old last Thursday, so we also had a little party then:

I told him that this whole coming week was Koodle and Ma Birthday Week, so we can keep celebrating.  I'm continuing my celebration today by heading over to Penn very shortly and receiving my 2nd dose of the Covid-19 vaccine - and trust me, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that getting a vaccine would be considered a continuation of a birthday celebration!  

Strange days, indeed.

I hope your week goes well.  Mine should be good, because I took vacation all week, and other than a meeting I *have* to attend tomorrow morning for about 45 minutes, I don't have to think about or deal with work at all.  That in and of itself is another gift ... 

Staying Healthy by Staying Home

Hello friends - I hope you are all doing OK, and remaining healthy during this dangerous and uncertain time.  I am at home as we learned last Friday that we would all be home through the end of March at least, and perhaps even longer.  We are of course supposed to work at home.  My job does not make that possible, so my sick and vacation time is being used.  Sadly it's out of my control.  I just hope that I have enough of both so that I don't get to the point of not getting paid at all.  YIKES!

None of it is under my control at least not at this point, so I just decided to do what I can when I can and go on with things.  So I had a lovely birthday last Saturday, and it was also a pretty day here, so that was good.  The Tim and I went to breakfast at our favorite diner, which was not yet closed but was not very crowded at all, very unlike any other Saturday morning ever!  And we had cake, presents, and a birthday dinner with the critters at home that afternoon and evening.  It was a good birthday, even if an exceptionally quiet one.  Thank you for your kind wishes!

The Tim still has to go to work, though I'm not sure how much longer that will be the case.  He said on Tuesday that rentals were down more than 50%, and they were starting to lay off people.  On the one hand, I would prefer that he could stay home and [theoretically] be 100% safe, but if he is laid off, we'll be on extra thin ice otherwise.  Again, though, out of my control, so we'll just see what happens.

I do have to say though that the only family member who is struggling with social distancing is Hamlet!  When we go outside for walks, he can't quite figure out where all of the people are, and also why the few we do see don't want to see him.  The Tim, the cats, and I are doing much better, as we are all fine with not having to be around people.  When I went to see my therapist on Monday, she asked how I was doing, and I told her that I don't like being lonely, but I don't mind at all being alone.  She smiled, leaned forward, and said, "Me too." 

Spoiler alert:  I've been knitting!  Not 24/7 of course, as I've been trying to stay on a fairly regular schedule, but certainly more than I normally am able to do it.  On Sunday, I finished a few more blocks on my blanket.

I really need to stop working on this row and fill in some rows on top, but since there is no real deadline for this, I'm not worried about getting it all done. 

And I've made a lot of progress on the first of my socks that I've been knitting.  The last time I showed them, I had knit this much:

And this time, I actually have memorized the pattern and so have not had to do any more ripping out.  Now I'm past the heel and working on the foot.

I've even made more progress since I took this photo.  At first, I wasn't going to continue the main cable pattern onto the foot, but then I decided that at least this time, I'd try my best to follow the pattern exactly as written.  

I hope at some point, I can get a good photo that shows how pretty the yarn actually is - it's a light green with washes of blues and purples every once in a while, and also has stellina.  It makes it fun to knit, that's for sure.

Also keeping me smiling during this project?  This guy:

BABY YODA!  Isn't he cute?  Someone I follow on Instagram showed a project of theirs with this progress keeper, and I decided that being the Baby Yoda devotee that I am, I deserved to have one of my very own.  He makes me smile whenever I work on this project.  That counts for a lot, particularly these days.

Yesterday, I also started (and restarted, and restarted, and then restarted again) a sweater.  So far I have the neck done and today will start on the yoke (already restarted once unsuccessfully, I might add).

My original plan was that I would be on vacation from Monday through yesterday of this week, so to be honest, I sorta treated those days as I would have anyway.  Today is my first day when I will try to spend at least a bit of time reading some articles related to my work, so I can feel that I'm making some kind of effort - and also maybe learn what some others are working on these days.  There will also of course be some walks with Hamlet, and an exercise workout.  

I am grateful that I am well and only inconvenienced right now, and I hope that will be the case going forward for all of us.  I will say that I blame the person currently living in the White House and his ilk for all of this.  In not-surprising news, it turned out not to be a "Democratic hoax," and by the time he was willing to do anything, it was already too late.  Every person's illness and any deaths are on his hands, as far as I'm concerned, and I hope that when November comes we will all remember why this ended up being the horrific mess that it is.

OK, I got that off of my chest.  So now I'll just say that I hope you are all taking time to make sure that you are keeping on and making things work the best that you can.  My suggestion would be to limit the amount of time you listen/read/absorb the news and other information, and take time to breathe, and do what you can for yourselves and your families.  Let me know what you are making, reading, cooking, or baking - we can share the happy things and lift spirits!  

And before I forget, today is the first day of Spring - the earliest it has been in 124 years!  Maybe the universe knew we would need it now.  This is proof that the world goes on, no matter what we are doing or feeling on any given day.  Our daffodils are already out, looking quite pleased with themselves, and the crocus are getting ready to do their part.  

Look for the pretty.  Look for the happy.  Trust me, if I can do it, so can you.  :-)

Back to the Unfortunate Reality of My Reality

Ugh.  Today is back to work.  I have come to the conclusion that I don't mind working as much as I mind my crap job.  And my incredibly rude - and often just plain mean - co-workers.  It's bad enough on any given day, but after four days off, it's just insulting, you know??  :-)

Oh well, such is life.  Since I can't afford to retire, and I have no other prospects, it's time to suck it up and enjoy the other parts of my life as much as I can.  That's what I did for four wonderful days.

Last Thursday was my birthday, and in keeping with my personal tradition, since I had accrued some vacation, I took Thursday and Friday off.  I will admit that I am always surprised these days when I consciously think about how old I am.  This was my 63rd birthday, and of course that always comes after your 62nd birthday, right?  I guess part of it is that I have outlived my father by ten years at this point, and if I am lucky enough to live for a few more years, I will outlive my mother as well.   That just seems weird, but then again, I'm glad to still be here!

The Tim baked me a birthday cake, which looked really yummy.  He placed it on a table where I warned him that it could either a) be knocked onto the floor by the kitties, and/or b) be reachable and therefore eatable by Hamlet.  He responded in a way that made me sound like a crazy person, so I left the issue alone.  You can see where this is going, right?  Thursday afternoon at one point, I came into the living room and thought, hm, what's different?  Well, the cake was on the floor, and half-eaten by a very pleased doggie!  When The Tim got hom from work, he said, "Gee, I guess I should have put it someplace else."  YA THINK????  Anyway, we had birthday candles to blow out in some Rita's Water Ice, and another cake was baked the next day which was placed out of reach, and best of all, no sick dog!

Friday, I had an occupational therapy appt in the morning and then headed to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned.  Then Hamlet and I went for a long walk, since it was a lovely day.  Thursday was also perfect weather-wise, and I took a long walk with him in the morning, and then a really wonderful long walk myself in the afternoon.  I couldn't believe that it was so nice for two days in a row when I was actually home from work!  Usually the days I'm home are the ones with terrible weather. 

Saturday was also nice, but really really windy!  I walked over to Loop to get some double-pointed needles in the early afternoon.  Friday evening I had started to try and pick up stitches and start knitting the sleeves on my Neverender sweater.  After a few rounds, I frogged what I had knit and just decided that the needles I was using were making me miserable.  They were a really old pair that I'd had for years, from when I started knitting and there was not a lot of choice in different types of needles.  They had some kind of covering that almost felt like rubber, and it was making it truly difficult to move the stitches around.  Fortunately, Loop had a good variety, and I came home with a set of Knitter's Pride wood needles, which so far are working really well.

Yesterday was of course, St. Patrick's Day, so I went to church first thing (growing up we *always* went to church on St. Patrick's Day, and then if it was a school day, my parents would let us stay home).  Then I did a small amount (emphasis on "small amount") of cleaning, and then baked some Irish Soda Bread, which turned out really well.  For dinner we had a vegetarian shepherd's pie and some Guinness.  The only thing I didn't get to do yesterday was any knitting, but I still had a really enjoyable day with Hamlet and the kitties.

It felt good to do my own thing without being sick or having other problems for a change.  It would have been nice if The Tim could have taken a day off as well, but we had a good Saturday together, and enjoyed our evenings.  (For all I know, he might have been relieved to not have a day off with me, since he had quite a few over the last months, LOL.)

So, though I am not necessarily thrilled that it's Monday and that I have to be back at work, I'm glad to still be here for my 63rd year, to see what might happen going forward.  Here's hoping that it will be more enjoyable than the latter part of the year before!

Hope your week is off to a good start.

Going to the Wolves

As mentioned in a previous post, I had a birthday last week, and the one thing I had asked to do was to visit the Wolf Sanctuary of PA for one of their tours.  So last Thursday, The Tim and I got up and got going out to Lititz, PA (which I enjoy calling "La Tits" because apparently part of me is an 11-year-old boy).  It's a lovely drive, and once we got away from the city, there wasn't much traffic, so we were there in no time!

I wasn't *exactly* sure what to expect in real life, but I can assure you that the entire experience was wonderful, and did not disappoint in any way! 

The Wolf Sanctuary is a huge area, which currently houses 48 wolves.  There is one pack ("The Big Pack") made up of some of the wolves from the original group at the Sanctuary.  They had formerly bred wolves, but then realized that it would mean they would very quickly run out of room for other wolves that needed a place to be.  So all the wolves that are there now, and that come in the future, have been spayed or neutered, to control the population and assure room for any wolves that need their help down the road.

We have both always been attracted to wolves, and there used to be a woman in our neighborhood who had a wolf/dog hybrid (who was incredibly shy), but other than that, have never had much of a chance to be around the animals otherwise.  It was really interesting to hear all about the history of the Sanctuary, as well as learn details about wolf behaviors.  But of course, the actual wolves were the stars of the day.

The Original Pack includes Lincoln, Levi, Sarge, Chomp, Trinity (Alpha Female), Frodo (Alpha Male), and Lucas.  They were very interested in us, though would have been more interested if we had brought lunch for them!

Lucas and Frodo 

The Whole Pack

Frodo

Frodo

Lucas

Lucas

Lucas

Chomp

Below, please meet Thor.  He is the oldest wolf at the Sanctuary, having turned 18 on February 15th of this year.

Thor is blind, but was still very alert when the tour guide was talking to him.

This is Jake.  She is a relative newcomer to the Sanctuary, and is in the enclosure next to Thor.  They are hoping that the two of them will form a pack.  She was very friendly, but then decided she was lonely and started to howl.

And, just like when one dog in the neighborhood starts barking and then all the others start, the same thing happened here.  Everyone else started howling too.  It was amazing.

Here is a little video that The Tim took of her howling, I hope it works here.

Next up, we met Cheyenne.  She is particularly friendly, having been someone's pet.  She was so excited to see us and the tour guide!  Here's a video of her coming to see him.  (Again, I hope it works.)

Then we met Spirit and Mika, who are both white wolves.  Mika was extremely shy, but Spirit was ready for some attention and wanted to play!  Spirit is a former pet, who one day escaped from her yard when everyone at her house was out and she got bored.  She ended up at the playground of an elementary school, where the kids at recess loved playing with her, and she loved the attention!  Only when they called to say a lost dog was there, did they find her, take her to animal control, and learn that she was a wolf mix!  She was more than happy to get some attention, and clearly loves our tour guide, Denny.

The animals were all clearly quite content in their enclosures, and it was clear that the people working there were not only familiar with them, but that they love them all, and take excellent care of them.  

This is a cow skull, which is the only part of a cow that they are not interested in eating completely.  They use this to "play hunt," as they did with an opossum that [foolishly] wandered into an enclosure.  

Happy wolves all around.  This place is amazing and the people so clearly care about the animals and caring for them and rescuing them, it was a wonderful thing to see.  I can't wait to go back - our guide told us that the nighttime tours include a bonfire, which would be really something to experience.

I would definitely recommend a visit to this place if you like wolves and are interested in animal rescue.  There is even a B&B on the property where you can stay!  But it's well worth the day trip too.  

As we were coming home, we realized it's not that far from the Stoudt's Brewery, which has a tour of their facilities and a pub too.  So you could make a day of it and probably get a yummy meal as well.  

Which is surely on the agenda for a future trip ... 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and videos, and seeing the wolves.  I have a ton more photos, but what I have shared here surely gives you the idea of the place.  Let me know if you visit, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Off to enjoy the rest of my snow day, courtesy of the most recent nor'easter.  Have a good one!

Birthday and Brackets!

Today is this little girl's 61st birthday:

And Cream Puff the stuffed dog, shown here, is still with her and as loved as ever.

Yep, it's my birthday - YAYYYYYYY!!!!!  I am having a lovely day at home with The Tim and the kitties, just relaxing and being cozy.  We had planned an outing for today, but the snowstorm took care of that.  Which is fine, because I like snow.  However, it has turned to ice rain now, which I do NOT like in any shape or form.  Even when I am getting around fine otherwise, I don't do well on ice, so getting to and from work tomorrow should be challenging - even if it is just getting off the street to get a cab!

But like Miss Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow and enjoy the day as I have been doing already.  I love birthdays.  For one thing, having a birthday is always preferable to the alternative, if you ask me!  And I love cake - on my own birthday, I don't even have to be the one to bake it.  As a matter of fact, as I am typing this, The Tim is downstairs putting the finishing touches on my cake.

So no matter what is or is not going on with you, tonight drink a toast (alcoholic or not) to the fact that we are all still here!

*****

Are you a fan of March Madness, the college basketball frenzy?  I'll admit that I don't pay really close attention, or watch every game, but I do like to see who is playing and decide who I'd like to win.  So I always print the bracket and keep track what way.  This year, Villanova University is the top seed, and they are of course local.  From all reports, the kids and the coach are nice, decent people so I hope they do well.  Plus it's always fun to have a horse in the race so to speak.

However, there are other versions of March Madness floating around that I also enjoy, most notably Fug Madness.  I love the ridiculousness of it, and the commentary by the Fug Girls.  Play along if you like, it is stupidly fun.

And then, a friend directed me to the brackets set up for March Mayhem by the ladies at Mason-Dixon Knitting - I love it!  Not just the fun aspect of the brackets, but the chance to check out some patterns I may not have otherwise ever seen.  (Not that I need any more things in my Ravelry queue, but what are you gonna do?)

A friend who lives in Pittsburgh even posted a picture of the brackets set up by a local classical music station for listeners to compare and vote on.  What a fun idea!

I love that different groups are making brackets for their own interests.  Though March Madness is a true, intensive competition, the others are just for fun.  And I think the world can use as much fun as it can find these days, don't you!

Enjoy!

Report From Last Week

Well, I didn't mean to be incommunicado for so long - I didn't even realize until today that it had been a week since my last post!  I'm guessing that you all managed to survive nonetheless, so that's good ...

Since I couldn't come up with anything even close to ten things for this week's Ten on Tuesday, I decided to tell you about the highlights from my birthday week.  Due to a clerical error at work, I suddenly had five days of vacation I didn't have before - however, the catch was that I needed to use them before the end of March, or I would lose them.  The thought of LOSING vacation days is a complete anathema to me, and since I was planning to take my birthday and St. Patrick's Day off anyway, I decided to use last week for my five days.

It was amazing.  Not in any way that is thrilling to report, but it felt like a nice long time, and I found that I was sleeping better, not having anxiety attacks, not stress-eating - you get the picture.  What a lovely break it was, you know?  I just wish I had more vacation time in general so I could do it more often.  But I enjoyed it while it was there!

My birthday was lovely, if a little weird.  First of all, it turned really cold, and rained pretty hard all day long and into Tuesday morning.  Ick.  The Tim was not able to take the day off with me, which in and of itself was not a big deal, but he had to work inventory at the bookstore, which had been scheduled months ago, and no one was excused.  So he worked from 4:00 p.m. on Monday until about 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning!  As a result, we went out for a lovely birthday lunch instead of dinner, and had birthday cake before he left for work.  Then on Tuesday, he slept for a while (obviously) and then had to work the closing shift that night (3:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.) - so I was on my own for most of Tuesday.  But I got a lot of reading done, got a haircut, and hung out with Dug and the kitties. Very nice.

Thursday I made a batch of Irish Soda Bread, which turned out particularly well.  I also met a friend whom I seldom get to see for lunch, and we had such a great time catching up!  She can really only meet during the week until about 2:00, and not on the weekends at all, due to being the primary caregiver for her husband, so we don't get to talk in person very often.  We had a lot of laughs and some pretty amazing food.

Saturday, it was St. Joseph's Day, so we headed to Termini Brothers in South Philadelphia to get a couple of zeppoles.

SO YUMMY!!!  (We had ours that night with a cup of hot tea.)

After that, I stopped at Loop to see the spinning exhibition they were having.  I am fascinated by spinning, and would love to know how.  They are having a three-Saturday spinning class since there was so much interest, so I signed up.  I sincerely doubt I'll ever become an amazing spinner, but I would at least like to know the basics.

Then on Sunday morning I met with another friend for coffee and some knitting.  After which I went home and watched a couple of March Madness basketball games.  Some of my favorites were already out of it by Sunday, but some advanced, so it was a good day overall.  :-)

Now of course, it's back to the usual, though Easter is this weekend (how is it here already?), and my niece and her husband will be visiting from Baltimore, so I have something to look forward to; plus, I am trying to come up with designs that are actually doable for me for the Inappropriate Easter Egg decorating that will ensue.  I have lots of ideas, but since I am not too great at drawing, I end up letting most of them drop by the wayside.

I hope someday that I will have the chance to take an unexpected, nice long break again.  Sometimes not having all kinds of things planned for every minute makes the time even more enjoyable, you know?

Finally, a huge THANK YOU for all of your kind birthday wishes!  I so enjoyed reading them, and it was a lovely bright spot on such a rainy day.  Thank you thank you thank you!!

Sixty

(apologies if you have to sit through an ad to see/hear this)

The Secret O' Life

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

Any fool can do it, there ain't nothin' to it.

Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.

But since we're on our way down,

We might as well enjoy the ride.

The secret of love is in opening up your heart.

It's OK to feel afraid, 

But don't let that stand in your way.

'Cause everyone knows that love is the only road.

And since we're only here for a while, 

We might as well show some style.

Give us a smile -

Isn't it a lovely ride?

Sliding down, gliding down.

Try not to try too hard,

It's just a lovely ride.

Now the thing about time

Is that time isn't really real.

It's just your point of view, 

How does it feel for you?

Einstein said 

He could never understand it all.

Planets spinning through space,

The smile upon your face, 

Welcome to the human race.

Isn't it a lovely ride?

See me sliding down, 

Gliding down.

Try not to try to hard,

It's just a lovely ride.

Isn't it a lovely ride?

See me sliding down, 

Gliding down.

Try not to try to hard,

It's just a lovely ride.

The secret of life

Is enjoying the passage of time.

Happy Birthday to me.

(photo courtesy of Joan David)

Pensive

Tomorrow is the beginning of the last week I will be in my fifties.  It seems weird to say that, even weirder to realize it.  I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about turning 60, which I guess is not surprising since it is a milestone age.  I'm fortunate to live in a time and place where it doesn't mean that I'm being put out to pasture so to speak, but there are still realizations that come with making it this far.

When I turn 60:

I will have outlived my father by seven years.  That's crazy, since dying at the age of 53 seems so uncommon and young.  I remember that even at the time, he didn't seem *that* old to me, but now I realize just how young he was.

I will still be working with no real end in sight and in a job I truly hate.  This disappoints me, I have to be honest.  Not the still working part, because I didn't have any plans for early retirement.  But the job-hating part is the kicker.  For so many reasons, I'm pretty stuck where I am for the duration, and that is depressing.  And since recent illnesses have pretty much taken care of any financial cushion we may have had, retirement is likely a looooonnnng time away for me.

I will have survived three different cancers.  That's both ridiculous (no one should get three different cancers, one is insulting enough!), and wonderful (I am only too well aware of how lucky I am!).  I am fortunate in this as well, that I live in a time and place where surviving any cancer at all is a strong possibility.  My father, mentioned above, died from liver cancer when it was basically a death sentence from the get go, and that less than 50 years ago!  Now cancer can be detected long before you have any noticeable symptoms.

I will remember things like dial telephones, non-remote TVs with antennas, black-and-white TV, party lines on your telephone, cameras that used film you had to send away to be developed before you knew how the pictures looked, and so many other things that seem like distant relics today!  That's so weird, it's like I've done time-traveling or something!  :-)

I will be closer to dying than not.  I don't dwell on this fact, certainly, but it can be sobering to realize that your chances of dying are stronger than they were when you were 40.  Having said that, I certainly hope my time will not be up for a long time, since I have no desire to leave.

I will be able to appreciate the fact that I know myself pretty well.  I've always been self-aware to some degree, but only as I've gotten older have I realized how important that is.  I think it's one of my strengths and I feel bad for people who never seem to understand the concept.

I will be - to some degree - living the life that I want to live.  If you take away the work thing (and sadly, that is a big chunk, but it's not everything), I am lucky to have the life I do.  I have a house that I love in a place that is somewhere I enjoy living, I have The Tim, who even if we are not madly, passionately embracing every minute, is my true companion and partner in crime.  I am surrounded by animals that I love and that has always been a dream of mine.  I have books, music, yarn, TV, and a few true friends.  I have many friendly and pleasant acquaintances.  I've been able to travel, and hope to do some more.

I will have led a good life so far.  :-)

So even if I can't say "Here's to the next 60!" (because frankly I have no desire to live to be 120 years old), I can say "Let's keep doing this, and see what happens!"

Have a good week, and remember to be glad you are here.

The Ides of March

This week has been so weird.

It started with me going to the dentist this past Monday.  The tooth that I broke over the summer in The Big Fall, which has subsequently been repaired, started bothering me.  By last weekend, I was in incredible pain, and called the emergency line at my dentist's office.  He suggested I call on Monday morning, and tell them to "squeeze" me in to the schedule. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was definitely NOT a root canal in the back of my front tooth!  Needless to say, even with pain meds, it was not pleasant.

Tuesday, I had a morning of marathon meetings at work.  I mean, straight through from 9:00 until 12:30.  On top of which I was not feeling great (see above paragraph).  Ugh.

Wednesday and Thursday were a bit of a fog, due to a) pain, and b) tiredness, so I feel like I missed them altogether.

Friday, two colleagues took me out to lunch (nice), and then we had a meeting with our VP - at 4:00 ON A FRIDAY (are you kidding me!).  Fortunately, it went better than expected.

Yesterday was my birthday!  It poured rain all day.  Poured.  It was also the funeral for a police officer killed a little more than a week ago, and it was held in an area very close to our neighborhood.  I felt so bad for the whole family, but especially for the officer's 10-year old son.  He'd been on patrol and stopped in a Game Stop store to buy a gift for his son, whose birthday was on the 9th, when the store was robbed, and there was gunfight, killing the officer.  This is all bad enough, but I know from experience that having your father's funeral be on a day when the weather is awful only makes it suck more.  God bless the officer and his family.  My heart breaks for the whole situation.

And even though I felt awful for them, life does go on, and I had a good birthday. The Tim baked me a lovely cake, we went out for lunch, and I received great gifts.  I acutely felt my luck, even more than usual.  This next year will be the last in my fifties.  That seems rather unbelievable.

Today, we took Dug and walked up to the St. Patrick's Day Parade.  It was terribly disorganized this year, so not as enjoyable, but we had a good time, Dug got LOTS of attention, and it was nice for a change to be somewhere where we actually blended in to the crowd.  :-)

I saved up extra hours and so I have Monday and Tuesday of this week off as well.  I am looking forward to it, for a number of reasons.

Here's hoping that your week ended on a good note as well.  :-)