I was going to leave this one un-illustrated, but my sister sent me that nice groundhog from Essex, CT.

I stumbled on an interesting blog yesterday: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ It's called "Baghdad Burning" and purports to be the diary of a resident. It sounds genuine. She must be either a native English speaker (probably) or have spent some years in Britain or America. Time may tell.

Back at the Ranch...

Today's excitement is -- should be -- the arrival of a new refrigerator. All being well, there will be a picture of it tomorrow. We bought the outgoing one 30 years ago.

Tomorrow's excitement (on the other hand) is a visit to my oculist. I am frightened. My eyesight is getting worse. It's fine for most purposes -- I can read, and knit, and cook, and walk about without bumping into things. But am I still safe on the road? When I discussed this with my Eye Man a year ago, there was a certain amount of sucking in of breath through teeth, although he wound up saying I was OK. We could live happily enough (and more cheaply) in Edinburgh without a car -- but we couldn't get to and from Strathardle. Last year I thought, well, I won't go see him in '05 until the crops are in. But then, the other day, I decided that that was irresponsible. I gather that a cataract operation might extend my driving life -- not a pleasant thought, although those who have been through it speak highly of ithe results. My husband could drive, if push came to shove. His eyesight is excellent, despite diabetes. He's out of practice, but still licensed and insured.

Well, of that you will hear more on Wednesday.

The Ribwarmer

I got the old binding off last night. It had to be replaced -- the stitches around the edge looked raised and knit-into, and couldn't be left to themselves. I'm now about half way around. I used extra-big needles for the lower front corner, and did four or five unattached rounds among the attached ones. We shall see. It may need to be blocked again.

Rugby

I got a wonderful message from Julianne yesterday about the France-Scotland match. She (like the Scotland coach) thought we wuz robbed. She sent her message as one of those Anonymous comments, but included her email address in the text and thus could be replied-to. That's another way of doing it. (The other being to email me directly: jean@jeanmile.demon.co.uk)

To finish off the weekend, Ireland beat Italy in Rome yesterday. Ireland are favoured by some to come out on top this year. I think on the whole I will cheer for Wales when those two nations meet, although it is hard not to be in love with the Irish captain, Brian O'Driscoll.