Three Rainy Thursday Things

Hello all, and I hope you have had a good week so far - either way, it's Thursday, so we're almost finished with the week anyway.  

Today I'm joining Carole and the others for a Three on Thursday post.  The first two are related somewhat, but the last one is just something that I was wondering about on my way to work this a.m.  

1.  Happy Bloomsday!

Usually on this day, I take the day off from work, but my request was not approved this year.  But we'll still celebrate this evening, which leads me to another thing we will celebrate as well:

2.  Today is also the birthday of the first kitty that belonged to The Tim and I.  We named her Molly Bloom and designated Bloomsday as her birthday.  Here is a close-up of her sweet face.

She was really a great cat - friendly, adaptable, cuddly, and extremely brave.  She used to do a lot of traveling with us, and she also [begrudgingly] used to let us put hats on her and take photos.  But as long as she could hang out with us, it was all good.  We have always told her, and continue to say, that she was "The Original and Still the Best."

It makes me sad that I lost so many photos of her when my previous laptop died, but at least I have some print photos, though right now we don't have a scanner so they are difficult to share.  But you don't actually need a photo to continue to remember and love someone, right?

3.  OK, this is the one that I wondered about on my way to work this morning.  It was raining pretty steadily and continually, and it occurred to me that every person who was visibly of the male persuasion was walking along getting soaked - none of them had an umbrella.  Thinking about it, I realized that I see that a lot, and so I'm wondering, is there a reason that men seem to be averse to carrying an umbrella?  It's not like I love doing it, but I do prefer it to getting soaked.  The Tim is in fact an umbrella person, so maybe I notice more when I see men just walking in the rain getting wet, I don't know.  But as the king would say in The King and I, "Is a puzzlement."

And there you go.  Have a good one!

Sitting in the Dark

Well, here I am sitting in the dark, even though it's daytime and we have lights on.  Tropical Storm Fay is visiting today, so it's really really really dark outside, and you have the sense of being in a cave.  I'm just glad to be inside and dry at this point.

I just finished a two-hour webinar for work about White Supremacy and to be honest, I don't think I'll do much for the rest of the day.  It was exhausting both physically and emotionally, plus given how this week has gone, I was tired even before we started.  I used to not mind webinars/Zoom/online meetings, but now that they are the norm, I find them difficult, and my eyes start to bother me at some point.  I'm sure others are feeling some kinds of effects as well.

Thank you for the compliments on my in-progress KAL shawl from yesterday's post.  Clue #3 arrived yesterday, and it includes Star Stitch, which will be a new one for me.  Not today though, since I know my concentration wouldn't be on point.  Besides the shawl, I'm working on the second sock of this pair:

I started these for myself in December of last year, but only got the first sock done with everything else happening.  So I decided to put it away and work on the second sock during Christmas in July.  Which works out really well, but if you don't pay attention to what you did on the first one, you can get well into the second one, realize you did something different, and have to rip back quite a bit.  It's all good though, since I am now beyond where I was when I had to rip.  

Speaking of Christmas in July, if you want to be included in this week's giveaway, remember to comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. this coming Sunday.  I'll announce the winner on Monday.

I hope wherever you are, you're having a decent Friday, even if it's dark and stormy.  I have no specific weekend plans, but I'm sure I'll find something I want to do, and if I'm lucky it may even be something beneficial, like cleaning out a closet.  (Don't hold your breath on that one, though.)  Have a good weekend, and please please please if you leave your house, wear a mask!  And if Tropical Storm Fay is visiting you also, I hope you can stay dry.  💧🌧⛈☔