Is there an echo in here?

Here are the last two yarns I spun, posed with the last two yarns I acquired commercially.





Alpha B yarns in Beach Glass, my handspun chain plied merino/silk. Not quite the same, but familiar enough in color scheme to match in a project. Likewise here.



Turtle Cove in Who Killed Tangerine and my handspun sportweight sock.



Curious, isn't it?

I finished the fan lace socks. Love 'em, as well I should since it'll be the last pair of "me" socks before I get done with the dread holiday crafting.



I will likely debut these tomorrow. I've started on undisclosed project #1A and will post pictures after the fact. My children are entirely too nosy.

With a sinking feeling, I got a good look at the raglan tee I was doing and I think it's too small. I put the sleeve stitches on holders, then took a good look at the width and I don't think it's big enough. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep going, rip altogether, rip back to the raglans and keep increasing, or toss the whole works in the trash. Honestly, it's gorgeous yarn and I cannot understand why I'm having so much trouble sticking to a project with it.

Anyway.

We went to the Shadyside Arts Festival over the weekend. I did not enjoy it very much. The way it was set up completely obscured Shadyside as a neighborhood, and made it a blinding, pointless succession of white canopies. There was no live music, save a dude on steel drums trying to sell CDs.



Not much in the way of food and beverages either, and what there was, was expensive. There was quite a bit of interesting art to look at, though.



This was an oil painting done from the winning play of the Super Bowl, and signed by the players involved. According to a sign inside, the original was auctioned off for over $10,000 to benefit the Mel Blount foundation. Good cause. The gallery (Maser Galleries) is a permanent fixture in Shadyside, though, and has been for years. They have a lot of very nice paintings, photographs, and prints.

I adored this piece from a festival artist.




She had a number of other pieces involving yarn that were equally gorgeous. I liked them much more than her abstract pieces.



I think that's the shop dog. Awesome pose, though.

These glass pieces were very cool, as were the large metal sculptures.






The heads of the large metal animals moved.





And I am sure that this chaps the ass of every wealthy resident of Shadyside, right on the main street in the business district.


Almost artistic in its own way, eh?

I may have ranted about this before but Shadyside has changed, and not for the better. When I was much younger, in High School and just after, I hung out in Shadyside a lot. It was a very cool neighborhood, Pittsburgh's biggest known Gay community, and there was a lot of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity. The shops reflected that diversity. Now it's not like that, it's an overpriced hipster enclave where many people tend to operate under the assumption that 1)their poo does not smell bad, and 2) they are the only people on the planet.

(please don't think I mean this of all residents, I don't, but there is a certain element there of white, entitled, very well off, that treats anyone they perceive as beneath them with total disdain. I mean. I had a woman expect me and my cane to walk off the street to get out of her way. She looked dead at me and just kept coming, so I stopped dead. And made some choice comments, after she had to walk around my poor, fat, crippled ass complaining the whole time. Ha.)

It's really a shame because it's a beautiful place with an awesome 2 business districts and some very arty cool people and interesting houses.





I think part of the problem is that houses within a few blocks of the main drags tend to be very, very expensive (half a million or more) for Pittsburgh, and that does not lend itself to much in the way of diversity. There certainly aren't many students living in Shadyside now, like there were back in the day, and there aren't any jazz bars that I can see, which was something I really enjoyed. But it's not like I support their lifestyle in any way, or they care what I think, so it's all good. Just disappointing.

A couple more random photos and I'll be on my way. I have laundry to put away and sleep to get-I did not get much last night and I expect this to be a long week at work.

End of an era

With the death of Senator Edward Kennedy last night, a chapter in American politics comes to an end.

Everyone saw Ted's flaws. He was the only one around long enough to show them. His mistakes were endlessly scrutinized and believe me, in some ugly corners of the Internet, are being breathlessly and joyfully rehashed today. The good grace to allow the man to grow cold in his coffin apparently does not exist.

Joe, John, Bobby, Ted. The princes of what passed for American royalty, what families like the Bushes try to emulate and fail, what conservatives decry and progressives despair to ever see again. People with faults and flaws and humanity, with love and pain and hope in their hearts. People who tried to do the right thing as often as they could, on balance.

Ted Kennedy has always been around in my life. He was a flawed man, but a political giant. He fought tirelessly for the downtrodden, for equal rights for all, for health care, for peace.

From Jezebel

Gender Equity: Kennedy saw the Senate of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, which aimed to make men and women equal in the constitution. He reintroduced the legislation again this congressional session, but it has yet to make it into the constitution.

Kennnedy championed Title IX of the Civil Rights Act in 1972, which prevented educational institutions from discriminating against women (afterward, colleges and universities integrated, paving the way for women like Sonia Sotomayor and Hillary Clinton to attend Ivy League institutions), as well as requiring equitable athletic opportunities.

Civil Rights: Kennedy saw the passage of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 as committee chairman, which strengthened the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Afterward, then-executive director of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights Ralph Neas said, "Now you see what happens when you have a civil rights champion in charge of the committee."

He was also chief sponsor on the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which addressed intentional discrimination and harassment in the workplace. He was also a key sponsor of legislation by the same name in 2008, which sought to restore civil rights protections stripped by Supreme Court rulings in recent years (like the Lilly Ledbetter case).

Pay Equity: Kennedy worked on the Fair Pay Restoration Act, which sought to restore the rights of women to sue with each discriminatory paycheck, overturning the Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear.

Voting Rights: Kennedy worked on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed equal access to voting as part of the Civil Rights movement. He also worked to add amendments in 1982 that expanded voting access to Native Americans, Latinos, and others who required language assistance.

Affirmative Action: Kennedy helped defeat legislation that would have ended federal affirmative action in 1998 and joined his colleagues in the Senate in filing a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action in 2003.

And from Shakesville.

Teddy's legacy, then, is complicated. A man of privilege, who used it cynically for his own benefit. A man of privilege, who used it generously to try to change the world. And maybe to salve his own conscience. Even as he believed fervently in the genuine rightness of his endeavors—and certainly would have, even if there wasn't a scale to balance.

(Both links are very much worth reading-far better than I do here.)

My hope is that his legacy of compassion and fairness will continue in his name, and that the world will never forget that the most flawed of them ended up the most productive. Was his work a gesture of atonement or was it just what he felt was right? We'll never know and it doesn't matter. The world is a more just place because of him, and a far, far poorer place without him.

Maybe Dog is trying to tell you something

The title comes from our corgi girl Miss Lily changing the channel earlier to the 700 club. The Color Purple is one of my favorite movies, and even a big old heathen like me can appreciate a scene like this.



This has been a sort of laid back week. Trying to confront and tame some old financial issues that are holding me back and making my phone ring way more than it should. Trying to keep the old blood sugar under control. Everything status quo if I can get it that way. So far, so good. My only issue has been a big toe that is rather numb and that worries me a bit but it's on the foot of the bad leg, so it doesn't bother me as much as it would on the good leg. I expect nerve issues in the bad leg.

I went to an afternoon Tea on Saturday with some women from the Mensa group. We met at the Purple Rose Tea Room. What a lovely experience! It was my first formal tea sort of thing and I really enjoyed it. The tea room is great, it's an old tailor shop and they have some really interesting and beautiful things around the place, including some vintage handmade lace.









Here's Dana and her Mom, the proprietors.

Sorry, Dana's Mom, I'm crap with names.


(this fiber arts person wants to get some crochet thread and repair this table cloth.)





Here's our group having tea and conversation.


And my lovely friend Pearl at the other end of the table.


Anyway, I hope we can do this again, it was fun. I highly recommend the place too, the tea and the food was amazing. Especially the signature tea, Purple Rose, a black tea with violet essence and rose petals. I took a tin of that home with me and have been drinking it ever since.

This was the only morsel left on the table when we finished.


In fibery stuff, I'm still working on the socks, having turned the heel and working up the cuff. I imagine they'll be done by the end of the week. The raglan tee is moving along. I'm doing my best to guess when to put the sleeves on waste yarn and continue with the body-don't think I'm quite there yet.



Socks really have me spoiled. I have so little patience for larger projects any more.

Today, I'm spinning the merino/silk blend that I got at the Pgh Knit/Crochet fest last Feb.

I'm doing it fine intending to Navajo-ply to preserve the color runs and also to avoid the muddy look that happens far too often with handpainted roving.

In last month's Cookie A knitalong on Ravelry, when I was so frustrated by not getting my pictures posted on time, I actually won a prize! I posted in the "always a bridesmaid" thread there and got picked randomly for this gorgeous sock yarn.



It's from AlphaBYarn on Etsy, and wow, is it ever gorgeous, and a very generous skein at 480 yards.



Check out her shop, the semi-solids are so rich-looking and once I'm solvent again (and have room in my sock yarn stash bin) I'll definitely be getting more.

Well, that's all I got for now. Like I said, trying to maintain status quo and not run out of teaspoons.

Brown paper packages tied up with string

Back to craft and other fun stuff after a minute here.

I got an anonymous comment on my last post. I want to address some points this person raised.

"As a woman who is a SAHM by choice I was not offended at all by the ads. My husband and I have been married for 30 yrs and have learned that the secret to a great marriage is laughter."

First of all, let me commend you for being a stay-at-home mom. It's hard work that is generally thankless and unpaid. I applaud women who are willing and able to do this work. Now. The point of my whole post was not the airing of a personal offense to the content, it was a concern with an organization that seems to confuse humor with untrue, harmful stereotypes that hurt both men and women. Yes, I agree completely that a great marriage needs laughter to succeed, but ideally, your spouse should not be the butt of your jokes.

"Just because a woman does not work outside the home and does not generate an income does not mean she lives with a man who keeps her locked up. Care to share your secret for a happy marriage and successful parenting? Do you really think if a man makes a joke about his wife and her shopping that they can not have a successful, equitable relationship?"

I think that a marriage where a man treats his wife like a child who cannot be trusted around shiny objects is destined for marriage hell and eventual failure, yes. As to my "secret" for a happy marriage, I'm not the one getting the 1.5 million plus a year for this schlock, but I'd say it starts with mutual respect and trust and sharing of resources. And actual humor. Not making your wife the butt of your rib-elbowing jokes with your homies.

"Do you also assume that if a man hints that most of his income is spent on his children that he wishes he would have had a vasectomy? Have you never seen the t-shirts saying.. " My child and my money go to ----- university? What parent has not made a comment like that?"

My issue was not a one-off comment or the occasional joke, it was the place of this attitude in the whole series of ads that push stereotypes and unhappiness (as well as penury) as a natural result of marriage and childbearing. It's all about the context, dude.

"I was pleased to read that the ads were written by women .. women who in my view have a sense of humor."

If those ads were indeed written by women, I'll eat my hat. And in my view, they're about as funny as a minstrel show.

At any rate, onward and upward.

We went to the National Aviary, located here in Pittsburgh, on Sunday. It was really cool-I haven't been there since the kids were little. Here's a slideshow. (click through for individual photos or to embiggen)



In crafting news, gads, I haven't posted any crafting stuff in a couple of weeks. I'm knitting on a basic top-down raglan tee for myself, in the round, kinda making it up as I go along. It's got a garter stitch collar and placket like the little baby sweater I made a little while ago but the scale is so much bigger there's really not much comparison otherwise. Hopefully this is something I can actually finish.

I did finish Cosy's Baby Belle sweater. IT IS SO ADORABLE. It almost makes me want a grandchild. ALMOST. No, not really. But it is cute. It makes me wish for a baby girl I can give it to.





I love those little buttons-my mom and I went through her button box and found the perfect match. Both yarns are handspun. The pattern calls for a third yarn for the button bands but I thought that might have been too much considering the variegation in both the main yarn and the trim.



So cute. I love the ruffle.



Last weekend I could not figure out what I wanted to knit. It turned out what I wanted was to spin, so I spun this orange sport-sock. It's thicker than I wanted, but the yardage is good-about 350 yards.





I'm really going through an orange/yellow phase lately.

Also got the first fan lace sock done and started on the second.






The yarn really is terrific, the stitch definition in that riot of colors is way better than I expected. They look like a bowl of fruity pebbles.



Well, I'm cooking a rather elaborate Monday dinner and the rutabaga is calling so I must be off. I'll try to post later in the week if I can.

Relationship Notes from a Bus Ride

(I hope to have fiber content soon, my camera and my computer are having issues speaking to each other and my printer, the backup "unloading dock" for the camera card, is dead dead dead.)

There's a new organization in town called TWOgetherPgh. They're supposed to be "... a coalition of like-minded agencies and individuals who believe in the strengthening of marriages." They have hired the World's Least Clever cartoonist to do ads for them. These ads are all over the buses I ride. This is their story. (dun dun dun DAH)

This is the first one I saw. I kinda sat there the whole time looking at it going "Seriously? Seriously?????"


(In case you can't see it, it's two poorly-drawn guys with two poorly drawn women who look very unhappy in the background. And also, the one woman's neck is kinda frightening. Man A is saying to Man B "I always hold her hand at the mall. If I let go, she'll shop" Har, har har. That's a real knee-slapper there buddy. )

"Oh how I hate thee, let me count the ways."

1) Woman as willful, uncontrolled child who can't be trusted. Also, no agency. No ability or desire to make decisions for herself, dude is probably a total control freak who won't "let" her work outside the home and gives her an "allowance".

2) Shopaholic stereoptype. She'll just shop and shop and shop and shop and shop and keep shopping until we have no more room in our house and Clean House will have to come by and do a yard sale and we'll get yelled at by Neicy Nash and it'll be FOOLISHNESS.

2) I have to hold her hand! Otherwise she'll....spend MY MONEY. That I earned! Not hers! She has no money of her own and if she does, she has no right to spend it as she sees fit! I hold the purse strings in this family and boy howdy do I ever hold them tight. None of that shopping for you!

Why isn't she allowed to shop? Does he lock her in the house so she can't leave while he's off at work? Doesn't he trust her? And this is relationship ADVICE? (More on that later.) This is a sure-fire path to disaster, treating your spouse and partner that way. MARRIAGE FAIL dead ahead.

Ok, second ad.

(Dude to other dude, brandishing wallet.."Being a dad means carrying pictures where your money used to be.")

Dude #2 probably went right out and got a vasectomy. This comes across as some kind of "parenthood as deprivation" thing. It's not, really. I would have been poor with or without my kids, with the kids I was rich in other ways. This one also reinforces the "Dad as sole provider/spender/bacon-bringer" stereotype which is so much no longer true. I think more Dads would have pictures of their urban assault SUVs and vulgar-assed McMansions if they REALLY wanted to carry pictures of what makes them poor. Plus, maybe if dude let his wife out of the house now and then to SHOP she'd find a job and they wouldn't BE so poor. Right.

I really hate the direction these ads go in.

Here's the third one that I managed to snap.

(Woman on exercise bike says to other woman "there's somebody for everyone, mine just got lost and won't ask for directions")

OH HAR HAR HAR. HAR DE FREAKING HAR.

That's so funny. Men don't ask for directions! Therefore, men can't find us. Therefore WE SHALL BE LONELY AND SAD FOREVER BECAUSE WE LIVE FOR BEING FOUND BY THE MENZ. Sorry. This one pisses me off more than I realized.

Now, I am not sure if these are "WRONG WAY TO DO RELATIONSHIPS" ads but they really don't come across that way. There are others that I've seen that I don't have pictures of that are equally or even MORE problematic. A harried mother on the phone with a friend saying that "if the kids are alive when he gets home I've done my job" (!), a woman saying her life is just like a fairy tale and she's the wicked stepmother, and a priest or minister saying to a pair AT THE ALTAR that they have no idea what they're getting into.

This group is getting 8.3 million dollars over a five year period in federal funding.

Yes, it's a "faith-based program".

Yes, that makes me hate it even more.

How many shelters could be funded for 8.3 million dollars? How much day care could you provide for needy families for that kind of money? I'll give you a clue. A LOT.

I wrote them back when I saw the first ad. It took them almost three weeks to get back to me. Here's the email exchange. (Names redacted)

From: Buttercup
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 12:13 PM
To: 'xxx@TWOgetherPGH.org'
Subject: Bus ads



I have to admit, I’m a little bit horrified by the one “cartoon” I saw on the bus yesterday. In it, a man confides to another man about his wife. “of course I hold her hand in the mall, otherwise she’ll shop.”



I hope this cartoon is subtly saying that this is the wrong way to go about an adult, responsible, mutually respectful relationship. I’m sure you’re aware that men who treat their wives like children who can’t be trusted around shiny objects are pretty much doomed to relationship failure, in the long or short term. Such behavior is dysfunctional and infantilizing to say nothing of disrespectful of the partnership that a successful marriage implies.



I hope you’ll consider discontinuing use of that particular “cartoon”, as it sends a very disturbing and wrong-headed message.



Buttercup

The reply:

From: xxxx@twogetherpgh.org
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 11:56 AM
To: Buttercup
Cc: axxx@TWOgetherPGH.org
Subject: RE: Bus ads



Buttercup

Thank you for your email. Please see the following message from Terry Mann, the Project Director for TWOgether Pittsburgh:

Regards,

Ann L. Bxxxxxxxxx, Assistant to the Project Director

(Forwarded attachment. Dude can't use email himself? J)

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. While it is never our desire to offend anyone intentionally we recognize that there are times when marketing to tens of thousands of individuals that this is going to occur.


The ad you referenced is one of 14 different ads that were designed by our ad agency. They were distributed with my full approval. The ads were designed, written and conceptualized by professional women, so I am sure no intention to offend was in mind. When dealing with comedy, caricature and generalization is how you make impact. While the overwhelming majority of our responses have been extremely positive, we are very sorry you were offended; it was never our intention, and I am sorry for any undue stress it has caused you.


If you desire you can write me a letter at the address below and I will forward it to our ad agency.


Terry Mxxx

Just before my head exploded, I sent this.

From: buttercup
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 7:24 AM
To: 'xxx@twogetherpgh.org'
Subject: RE: Bus ads



Ann (and Terry)

It’s not a matter of being offended. It’s a matter of projecting the wrong message about what makes a successful, equitable relationship. I’m not offended, I’m concerned for the couples you’re encouraging to see this sort of controlling, abusive behavior as “normal.”

Buttercup

Haven't heard back since, and I'm not really surprised.

Thoughts?

What happens when women are property

A deranged man went into a health club in Pittsburgh last night with four loaded guns. He walked into an aerobics class, turned off the lights, and unleashed an estimated 50 rounds, killing two women (a third would die en route to the hospital) before killing himself. Nine other women were injured.

Make no mistake, he targeted women exclusively. A (pdf, some graphic and disturbing content)diary or log, posted online some time before he left his home to murder people he didn't even know who had done him no harm, showed that he had planned this act since at least last November. In this diary, he refers to women repeatedly as "hoez". Over and over he bemoans that they have rejected him. Time and again, for years they have rejected him, even though there's nothing wrong with him. He's perfectly normal. He takes care of his skin, his teeth, he works out, he's fit and trim. He doesn't understand why he is not automatically entitled to one of his estimated "thirty million desirable women".

This man was sick. Of that there can be little doubt. But his sickness was projected onto the screen of a patriarchal society that teaches men that women are acquisitions, are property, are prizes. It teaches men that if they do all the right things, say all the right words, have all the best jobs, and hang out at all the right clubs and bars and fitness centers, one of those prizes will be his. No matter how deranged, disturbed, creepy, or insane he is.

George Sodini, thankfully, is not typical of lonely men. But some of his mindset is very typical of a patriarchal power structure, a power structure that he desperately wanted a place in, and believed he was entitled to enjoy.

He refers to women as "edible". Not human. He was incredibly self-centered. Incredibly hateful. This is the monster that can live inside men. And I think most women he approached saw that monster and ran as fast as they could. The ones he killed and injured last night could not run fast enough.

Another side of this is the controversy surrounding Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Realistically, there are only two people who know whether an assault on his accuser happened that night, and I do believe Roethlisberger is convinced he is innocent, that he did no wrong. Legally. There is no criminal case, and Roethlisberger's defenders disingenuously ask why she did not file charges at the time if something untoward in fact happened. In fact, rape is the only crime where the victim is put on trial. Most rapes go unreported for this reason. It wasn't even a whole day before the woman bringing the civil charges was pilloried left and right on websites everywhere.

I really want to believe there was no assault. I want to believe that Ben did no wrong, and any sexual acts were completely consensual, not implicitly but explicitly consensual. But the part of me that has walked this earth as a woman, some of the time as one of the "30 million desirable women", understands very easily that there is a fine line between strong coercion and assault. There is a fine line between force and "come on baby, please baby, do it for me, just this time, come on, it won't take long, come on baby, please please I promise I'll pull out, I promise it'll be over soon, I promise I won't hurt you." And while there is no explicit threat, there is most certainly an implicit one. Ben Roethlisberger is 6'5" tall, 241 pounds. He is a professional athlete. He is a celebrity, and she was told to entertain him.

I believe there was coercion. I don't know if it could be assault in a court of law, and I'm guessing no. But there are few women in this world who are not familiar with that implicit threat, with that fear, with knowing that you could be hurt, physically, emotionally, professionally, by someone with that much power over you. In the alleged victim's case, that threat could have come from Roethlisberger and her employer at the same time. After all, her value was in the entertainment she could provide for a celebrity guest.

She was property.

This is what a patriarchal society does. This is the devaluing of half the human race because of gender. This is relegating half the population to a sex class, only valuable as receptacles for men's lust. This has to stop.

This makes me a little sad

Due to her ongoing one note song in opposition to public-option universal health care, the constant string of unfounded scare stories, and the increasing stridency and desperation of her postings, I'm removing Junkfood Science from my blogroll.

I used to love reading Sandy's posts. I did. She was a voice of sanity in the anti-fat wilderness. But now? She's parroting corporate scarewords and it's frankly annoying and very, very disappointing. I thought far better of her.

Not that I think removing her from my blogroll will make that big a difference, but I'm not going to have a probable corporate shill sitting over there lying to people who might click through in innocence.

I'll be so blue thinking about you

Needless to say the Blue Screen of Death errors are ongoing, which is beyond frustrating. I think I know what it is, though. I think it's a buildup of dust and pet hair and I need to find time to disconnect everything and take the back off and blast out all the ick. Which I'm not in any hurry to do. So without further ado, recent adventures in crafting.

I do believe last time we met I was spinning for the Tour de Fleece. I did spin every day of the Tour. I accomplished my personal goals. I got some awesome fiber out of it, too.



Over 600 yards of light fingering weight alpaca, spun on a spindle and plied on the wheel because I'm not that masochistic. And about 320 yards of single ply flax, from Challenge Day. (The flax was all spun in one evening)

Still knitting socks and finished both July pair from the Cookie A knitalong on Ravelry. The striped pair of Hedera will be a gift (not sure yet for who) ...


and the Rick socks are mine, all mine. In fact, I'm wearing them tomorrow.


I did something really wrong when I switched from leg to heel and had to drastically rework the stitches to get to the right place in the foot chart so they're a long way from perfect but I love 'em anyway, even if the one ankle is a little extra-twisty.



Finished the handspun baby sweater.

WAY too cute. And started another one.



The second one is actually almost done-I'm at the end of one sleeve and once I do the other sleeve and block, that's it. The pattern is Baby Belle from Cosy at Cosymakes. She was looking for people to knit them from handspun for a photo shoot and I volunteered. It's a super-cute pattern and is available on her website. Hopefully I'll have photos that show the actual sweater pretty soon.

Just started a pair of Fan Lace socks from the Charlene Schurch book, Sensational Knitted Socks. It's become basically a stitch pattern library for me lately but I've been wanting to do these for a while. When I got this yarn, I knew it was perfect. The yarn is Tausendschön and it's imported from Germany. Nice stuff. Great stitch definition and soft to knit. Very good colors too. Probably not as nice as the fabled Wollmeise, but certainly good enough for a terrific pair of socks.



And that's about it in crafting. I am not sure if I'm going to do the Cookie A socks this month; I think I need a break from those for a while and I'm craving some toe-up action. But we shall see, they picked a fabulous pattern this month.

Biddy the Former Basement Cat was freaking out at the window on Sunday afternoon. When I went to see what the ruckus was, I saw this.

A caterpillar must have crawled up in between the window panes and hatched out into a butterfly, only to find him or herself trapped.


Fortunately, the window is very easy to open to get to between the double panes-it's an old fashioned leaky grotty window and I guess in this case it was a good thing.



What a beauty, huh?


Looked like one of it's little tails was a bit damaged but it was flying fine, once I convinced it to skedaddle.





Gorgeous creature.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll find out of PA state employees are going to get paid any time soon. I am so angry about THAT whole situation that I can't even get started on it.

I've had any number of very thinky post ideas rattling around in my head but between the BSOD, summertime lassitude, a bad cold that's had me down for the past week, and a general lack of interest in sitting at the computer all day at work (for no pay) then again at home has kept me AFK as we used to say back in the day. This too, I'm sure, shall pass.

Until next time.