Last week's weather presented some challenging driving conditions. By the end of the week I was tempted to create a bingo card that included Construction, Earthquake, Terrible Flood, and Locusts.
Though we didn't actually endure those particular events, we did have snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular rain, and dense fog. Many of us suffered from being on the road in the wrong order: timid drivers in front, driving no faster than 30 miles an hour and keeping their hazard lights on; sensible drivers in the middle, with headlights properly on, sure that they could stay on the road at a slightly swifter 40-45 miles an hour; aggressive Jeep owners in the rear, headlights off (unless they were tailgating, in which case they were using the high beams).
On the last day that I drove my loaner car, everything seemed to come unraveled. While Youngest and I were trying to get through town in the rain, one windshield wiper ripped the other one from its mounting. I stopped the car, retrieved the separated wiper, and drove to the nearest auto parts store (fortunately, it was just a quarter of a mile away) to have it replaced. We continued on until we were three miles from home, when a rather overstuffed raccoon was wandering across the road. One mile later we were almost struck by two large low-flying birds. I wasn't sure that I would get home safely until I was in the driveway, putting the car in Park.
Bah! There's not even any snow or ice!
On Friday morning I was at last able to pick up my new used car, the 2011 Subaru Forester that my mechanic has been rebuilding for me sine sometime in November. I seemed to spend all of Friday figuring out how to drive it — I accidentally put it into a "sport" mode that depended upon me to do the shifts, then eventually figured out how to put it in full automatic mode again — but at last I was home with my "new" car and new license plates.
Eldest and I spent much of Saturday vacuuming the upholstery and detailing the interior in mid-30s weather, since it wasn't raining, or hailing, or snowing at the time. We found some items that the previous owners had left behind: five pennies, two stainless steel coffee mugs, and a fork. (I cleaned them up and will return them via my mechanic.) I flipped through the owner's manual and put Post-It flags on the pages where information was particularly important to learn in a hurry. Illumination Brightness Controls? Now I get it!
Here's Kinga. Kinga Forester. Get it?
She's so much fun to drive, and she seems to enjoy k.d. lang albums as much as I do.
Typewriter Time
I'm getting ready to give a cleaning to another typewriter in my collection. It will be my mother's 1966 Smith-Corona Galaxie II, which she gave me at Thanksgiving. I remember this machine as the one she used when she went back to college in the early 80s to earn a Master's degree in Education from THE Ohio State University. (There's a tiny splotch of Wite-Out on the ribbon cover; I'm thinking of leaving it there to honor all the pages she typed — and retyped — on it while sitting at the end of the dining room table.)
Eldest and I took a careful look at it this afternoon, flipping it over to see how we might get it out of its shell, but I don't want to barge in without looking at the repairs manuals, and maybe a few YouTube videos, first. So the real work probably won't start until next weekend.
Impossible Read checkpoint: The Once and Future King, Book One, Chapter 17. I have been doing a little reading because I so desperately want to do any reading at all. I am not caught up on my notes.
Knitwise, I gifted the Thrift Stripe Cowl to its new owner. I also completely frogged the shawl I was making with that soft and beautiful lavender yarn (Järbo Garn Duo in purple/grey) and wound it up again to prepare for a fresh start. I have 200 g (312 m) of it; what could I make? I'm leaning towards something stole-ish in a simple stitch pattern.
The Stripe Scarf is still waiting for a perfect box, which I might have in my office at work.
So much yarn in the stash, but nothing is calling out to me right now. Eldest is requesting one of the dickeys from Elizabeth Zimmerman's wonderful book Knitting Around, so I will try to get started on that. Casting on with some Shetland wool might be just the thing to ensure that the cold weather will fade away until next winter.
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