Miscellaneous Updates on Life
Blog. Seasons of Violet is starting its third month. So far there has been no problem in fulfilling my goal to write at least three times a week. In fact there has only been one week when I didn't post more than three times. One week in October I posted everyday. I still don't feel like I've found my voice but I believe that will happen in time. I do have a "100 Things About Me" page to add but it's not perfectly obvious how I do that. More study required. Eventually I'll just do something and probably make a technical mess.
Reading. Bob is reading the Brother Cadfael mystery series out loud while I knit. Brother Cadfael is a Benedictine monk living in medieval England. The books are rather slow paced and very pleasant to read and hear. The character portrayals and development are excellent. The murder mystery is almost secondary to the telling of English history and customs in those times. It is all woven together to make a fasinating story. There are nineteen of these books. We are on number four but we skipped number one.
Knitting. Right now I'm trying to finish up a pair of plain ribbed worsted weight shoes in dark blue to wear in the Christmas Parade. The heavy weight yarn is to keep my feet warm. I'm wondering if I might want more of the heavier, warmer socks once I'm not working. I have some Christmas knitting to complete, so I have to be careful about knitting talk for a while.
Operation Christmas Child. Friday I took two sandwiches (lunch for both of us) and four empty shoeboxes to Monette along with the Operation Christmas Child instructions on what to buy. She has the shopping completed for two girls and two boys. How do I ever thank her for that? I know! I'll let her take pictures of the Christmas Parade on Saturday!
Work. Friday's "wave" of people Pfired seemed to be very large. Several people that I know. There are strong rumors that the large office building where I work is going to be completely empty by the end of the year. The few people who aren't Pfired by then will be moved to another building. Since I expect my last work day to be December 31, I'm wondering if I can escape moving.
Home. The Violet Patch is covered with leaves. Most of our trees are oaks and hang on to their leaves way into the coldest part of the season, so there is not much point in raking yet. I just wait until spring to clean them up. Consider it nature's mulch.
Parade. We had outdoor practice for the Kalamazoo Christmas Parade on Saturday afternoon. That gave the dogs a chance to ride in the rickshaw for an hour with Fraulein pulling them. It worked well. Fraulein didn't have any trouble pulling the extra weight and Sunny and Pappy seemed to enjoy their ride. I think the whole thing is going to be a lot of fun if we only have decent weather.
Here is the Briarwood Dog Training version of the Twelve Dog Daze of Christmas:
- Shepherd pulling gifts for all to see
- Papillons (riding in the rickshaw pulled by the Shepherd)
- French Poodles (riding on the float)
- Barking dogs (will speak on command)
- Dogs with rings (carry golden rings in their mouth)
- Dogs downing (go down on their stomachs)
- Bowsers begging (gather around Sherry and beg for a treat)
- Mannerly mutts (?? I don't know what they're doing)
- Dogs dancing (forward, backward, circle right, circle left)
- Dogs leaping (jumping over a dowel)
- Pups pawing (like shaking hands)
- Canines crawling (down on their tummys and moving forward)
|