Unraveling

Drive-by Posting

This week has almost slipped by and all I can spare is a few moments at the blog. Mr. Celia returned from  Europe on Tuesday, with tales of Travels with the Boyo and some nice presents from the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gough Museum. Taking care of myself, the dogs and the house all alone took a lot of time while he was gone. Not to mention the screaming schedule at work. 

I am so glad he is back.

For now, I have to get back to the screaming schedule. I just have enough time to tell you to go read the Panopticon today.  Franklin is a sweet pea.

That's all I've got.

WWKIP Day 2008, Berkeley CA

We came, we sat, we knitted in public at knit one one. 

You can see the lovely Pamela on the left, placing a chair for me. At its height, the crowd swelled to about 50 knitters. Wonder Mike came and interviewed each and every one of us. It will be fun to hear what makes it into the podcast.

It was a most enjoyable morning, and the beauty of knit one one is that it's a studio, not a store.  Thus, we were not tempted to add impulse yarn to our stashes.

Thanks to Sile for hosting and Elaine for organizing it!

The View from the Tub

With Mr. Celia gone, it's true that it is quiet in the house but it takes a lot to run the house without him.  Dogs need to be fed, food needs to be cooked, mail needs to be sorted and read, plants need to be watered, and the house needs to be readied for the cleaning lady. And we're having a bit of a heat wave so I'm trying to keep up with the evaporation rate in the garden as well.

At work it's the end of the fiscal year, so we are busy with justifying next year's budget plus trying to wind up projects before the end of this budget cycle. Talk about busy! It's actually hard to get things done - so many "important" interruptions.  That, coupled with news of an impending reduction in force, has everyone tense and worried about proving their worth. 

Not much knitting happening, so far, this week. I'm looking forward to WWKIP Day, which I will celebrate at one or more of these locations.  Meanwhile, I regale you with the view from my morning bath.

It's here I ready myself for the busy day. I savor this view.  The hummingbird feeder attracts the current Queen of the Yard, who owns all the lemon and fuchsia blossoms in the garden and loudly chirps as she flits from flower to flower, challenging all who dare to enter her domain, even the cat. Sometimes she will deign to sip the ruby nectar from the feeder but, alas, not this morning.

That's all. Have a great day. Once more into the breach.

A Month of Sundays

Life keeps rushing at me. Yesterday was the second Sunday in June already. The work week loomed and I was wishing there would be another Sunday today.

I'm alone in my own house - a rare luxury. Sunday morning, I drove Mr. Celia across the Bay Bridge to the San Francisco airport. He's off on European adventure with the Boyo. So I'll either have enough time to get thoroughly sick of living alone, or maybe I'll have just enough time to get used to it before he comes home.

I have driven across the Bay Bridge the past four Sunday mornings. Somebody's always going somewhere. In general, I don't travel over the bridge more than once or twice a month.  But it's been an unusually busy season, filled with visiting relatives, friends who needed rides, sightseeing trips, graduations...you know the drill.  And there have been more than just those Sunday trips across the bridge. While the visiting relatives were here, we even had a three-bridge day.

Sundays are usually quiet affairs. Celebrated in my pajamas with a lingering breakfast. This past month of Sundays has been quite...active.  Not in an overwhelming sort of way - I've been enjoying all the activity - but I do long for a Sunday spent in pajamaed langour. It's just that I don't see it happening any time soon. Perhaps after Mr. Celia returns and we get back to our regular schedule. For him, Sunday morning is reserved for golf, while I have the house all to myself for a few hours of loafing in pajama comfort. That's the way things were until the last month of Sundays. I hope to hit that equilibrium again soon.

Midsummer Pajama Day, anyone?

K is for....

Kettle!

The Girlie gave me this kettle several years ago. I use it every day. Often two or three times. And every time the handle gets hot. I usually use a towel, my sleeve, or a napkin as a potholder, and each time I think, "I ought to make a little felted potholder for the kettle handle."

Yesterday, I finally did.

Perfection!

Tagged

By the Girlie. And I'm so in the middle of Birthday Hell Abundance Week (the Girlie, Mom, Mr. Celia), that I don't have time to think!  So I turn to the meme.

4 jobs I've had:
Copy Shop Manager
Costumer
Clown
Sleeping Bag Stuffer

4 favorite movies:
King of Hearts
Casablanca
Children of Paradise
Some Like it Hot

4 places I've been:
The Great Wall of China
The Coliseum in Rome
The Top of the Twin Towers in New York
Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden (salt mine in Germany)

4 places I've lived:
Berkeley, California
Rome, Italy
New York, New York
Oakland, California (That's it. Only 4 cities my whole life)

4 favorite tv shows:
Grey's Anatomy
Dancing with the Stars
ER
Ugly Betty

4 favorite radio programs:
10 @ 10
Fresh Air
This American Life
All Things Considered

4 favorite foods:
Brown Rice
Sushi
Goat Cheese
Cookies

4 places I'd rather be:
By the sea
New York City
Wherever the Boyo is (currently Germany)
At home in my pajamas

Tagging:
You! You're it!
 

J is for...

Just for Me!
You may recall this package which remained unopened until a certain something was finished.

It's from Knit Kimber Knit, my ISE6 spoiler.

A bag.

What's inside?

Closer view.

A perfect fit!

A new friend....

...who likes to sit on the windowsill with "Barb."

And, finally, some yarn to knit. OMG it's almost the same color as the scarf I just sent off!

I love the colors! Now what shall I make?

Done Gone

It was finished on Monday. And now it's winging its way to my ISE6 pal.

It was a fun, relatively quick knit.  It's ready for its closeup.

Cast on: April 27, 2008

Cast off: May 26, 2008

Yarn: BMFA medium weight in a Rare Gem colorway

Pattern: Spindrift Scarf by Lucy Neatby

Needles: Addi Lace circular US 1(2.5mm)

What is Normal?

It's California. Land of Change. Dry land that had an especially dry winter. So, of course, last weekend's exceptionally lovely, clear, HOT weather gave way to Fire on the Mountain by this Thursday morning. By Friday morning, I could smell it INSIDE my home, even though we're about seventy miles from the fire, and they were advising people like me to stay indoors because of the air quality. I could see why on my way to work.

Downtown Oakland was enveloped in haze. And San Francisco? Couldn't be seen.

Then yesterday morning, the area got a little relief.

Rain? In California? IN MAY?

Another good reason to stay indoors most of the day and enjoy the fact that Mr. Celia, who has been away on business all week, could stay home and have breakfast with me.

Rain is, unfortunately, wreaking havoc with graduations going on at Cal this weekend. Our neighbors sat outdoors in the rain yesterday morning at the Greek Theater to watch their daughter walk the stage in the College of Engineering graduation. This is not something we expect in May. It is not normal

What is normal is that I am a little behind. This package arrived in Saturday's mail.

But I can't let myself open it until this is done and in the mail.

It's almost there, but not quite. I'll have it done by tomorrow for sure.

And here's the normal state of affairs in my house on most days.

Butt to butt, these girls are the best of companions.

Playing Tourist

Not much knitting. No, we have been busy. First: getting ready for,  and second: entertaining, our visiting German cousins, the Familie B*** from K**********. We played tourist with U** and K**** on two of the most spectacular days, weather-wise, I've EVER seen in the San Francisco Bay Area.

My, oh my, it was HOT. 97 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday (5/15 - a week ago). But, oh how clear it was! Familie B*** and I caught a ferry at Jack London Square, and Mr. Celia drove over and met us at the Ferry Building.

U** remembered a calendar my own grandfather had sent to his family when he was growing up in East Germany that featured beautiful photographs of San Francisco. In particular, he wanted to see the Japanese Tea Garden. So there we went.

The Tea Garden is a beautiful, tranquil oasis in the midst of city hustle/bustle. I was more impressed with it now than I have ever been.

From there, we headed over to the DeYoung Museum , primarily for the view from the tower (but we enjoyed the cool inside on the hottest day of the year so far).  And then it was on to the Beach Chalet for lunch.

The men enjoyed tasting six different local brews, and the food was delicious.

Of course, everyone thinks when they come to sunny California they will want to swim in the ocean. What most people don't know is that the ocean here is cold, especially in May. It may be 97 Fahrenheit in San Francisco, but the water is more like 55 degrees - chilly! U** checked it out and found I was right.

From the beach we drove the scenic route to catch good views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We drove down Lombard Street, we walked around Fisherman's Wharf (which IMHO is not really worth the effort), and then we hopped on a cable car.

(Well, not really we had to wait in line and listen to a terrible banjo-playing idiot who didn't even know the words to the songs he was singing - and he wanted to get paid, too! Maybe we should have paid him to NOT play.)

We ended up at Tadich Grill, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the City (Since 1849 - 159 years!). It's one of our favorites, and a true San Francisco institution. And the food was really good.

Friday, we started out by walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Now, I have been on the bridge many times. I love walking across. But I NEVER EVER have seen a day like Friday. It was balmy. You could see seals lolling about in the water below, flocks of birds flying close to the water's surface, the Farallon Islands (From.The.Bridge.), and the bluest of blue skies overhead.

I can hardly describe in words how much I enjoyed the walk across the bridge. There was so much to see. I felt like I was looking through a microscope on the most perfect day ever and the walk took longer than expected because the day was so beautiful. By the time we made it across the bridge, we were ready for lunch.  We decided to stop in Sausalito at Horizons Ondine, where we could get a beautiful view of San Francisco. Then we headed to Muir Woods.

What can I say? The redwoods are so amazingly beautiful.

And so amazingly tall.

They inspired the romantic in U** and K****.

After Muir Woods we drove up and up and up Mount Tamalpais, to catch a view of the bay.

and the Pacific Ocean

Spectacular.