Evolution, of sorts

This is how I kept myself from going over the edge the past few days.

I began this project just as whisperings of an approaching "storm of the century" began to be tossed about.

I continued it with abandon during Monday as Hurricane Sandy/the nor'easter made themselves known.

I even spent two of those days knitting a silly tiny blanket to go with the little critter. I couldn't help myself. The texture of the blanket is so interesting that I had to see it to the finish line.

 As you can see, I held off adding the eyes, nose, and mouth as long as possible. That's always the most nerve-wracking step, because one little slip of the needle can give the intended a bizarre expression.


(This is another Fuzzy Mitten design. I love her knitting patterns with their easy-to-follow instructions.)

Ta-dah! Done! Facial features added this morning.

So this is how I got through Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath.

But as it turned out, we didn't see much damage here in Maine. Lots of power outages, but we even escaped that. Lots of dead trees or at least some of their limbs downed, but all in all, we came out of it mighty lucky.

The folks down in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, etc., though, are in a terrible dilemma. My thoughts are with them.

John, Elaine, and my camera

Lately I've been harassed by two dreams, very different dreams, but dreams that plague me almost every night.

In one dream I'm with my two best friends from high school, John and Elaine. We aren't high-school age, though; we're our current late-60's ages. In the dream John and Elaine are now married or are about to be married. The status of their relationship varies from one episode to another. Last night, when I had this dream, they were already married. In reality, John is married to Kathy, and Elaine is married to Ed.

Each time I have this dream, I'm disturbed that John and Elaine are together. I feel they've betrayed me, I guess. Maybe I wanted dibs on John, but Elaine got to him first. I'm not sure.

That's about it for that dream.

The second dream, even more disturbing, involves my camera. I have this dream often, too. According to the dream, Ken and I are traveling, I spot a scene or event that MUST be captured by my camera, but  try as I might to snap a picture, the camera won't "click." I try and try. I practically break the camera. I try pushing down on the button with my index finger, then with my thumb. Nothing happens. No click. The scene or event gets by me. All is lost.

This will probably be my dream tonight, since I devoted last night's dream time to John and Elaine. But at least that dream had a new chapter added: I was beginning to teach Elaine to knit while John sat nearby. I see a peaceful ending to this one, but I don't know what to do about my camera.

Assessing the earthquake damage, and other things

Perhaps you heard about the 4.0 magnitude earthquake in Maine last evening.  First there was a loud ka-boom, then a bit of rumbing/rattling, then an even louder ka-boom, with more rattling.

I was at a meeting of my sorority in Gorham at the time. We ladies were startled, of course, and at a loss as to what had just happened. Some said furnace explosion, others said plane crash, still others said cyber attack, and yet others said earthquake.

Everyone grabbed her cell phone, but none of the cell phones worked. That's when I began to get concerned. Maybe it was a cyber attack.

Finally one lady got a call through to 911 by using a land-line phone. She was immediately told an earthquake, centered about 20 miles east of Gorham, had occurred.

Actually the epicenter was about three miles from my home. Ken and the dog were home at the time. I don't know if Molly sensed the impending quake or not. Dogs have a sixth sense when it comes to that sort of thing, but it could be she was wallowing in a delicious dream and simply couldn't bring herself up for air.

Anyway, this morning Ken and I assessed the damage at our house. There's a fresh crack in the plaster of one living room wall.

Little piggy, here, fell from the shoulders of his piggy buddy on my cup and saucer rack. He sustained damage, actually severe damage, to his right foot, as you can see.

Upstairs at Ken's desk he discovered a cup of pencils had been knocked over.

That's about it. I suspect that was probably as severe as the damage proved to be for most folks. Today bridges in our area are being checked for damage, but so far nothing has been found.

I remember an earthquake in this area about 25 years ago, and that one sounded much different. It began as the rumbling sound of a train approaching, except there was no train. China on my hutch rattled a bit. This earthquake consisted of loud booms.

 

Moving on, this is what I found on my kitchen counter when I got home last night. I never know what I'll find on my counters. Ken explained he's calibrating something, no doubt for his Model A, and "the calibrating can be done only on the kitchen counter."

Whatever. This, too, shall pass.

And finally, the knitted dog. He's completed. He's another of Fuzzy Mitten's patterns.The only thing that bothers me is that he seems to look more like a lamb disguising himself as a dog, than an actual dog.

I tucked him in with the penguin and lamb to try to distract viewers from his non-canine appearance.

Now I'm focusing on finishing a pair of knitted socks for Ken. Knitting socks is tedious, especially when they're man's socks on a size 2 needle. I'll be glad to see them done.

We had a solid frost last night. The outside annuals are officially dead. Ken's outside with his little garden tractor this afternoon, using the leaf sweeper to remove mounds of oak leaves from our lawns. I'm sure this is only the first of many afternoons he'll spend doing this between now and the first snowfall.

It's time to put away plant pots and other garden paraphernalia and hunker down for the winter ahead, an earthquake-free winter, I hope.