"Back in Ought Six..."

Janis, I'll do it! (yesterday's comment)

The phrase above, in today's title, is a family favourite of ours, as of many. I've heard Bart Simpson say it. I Googled on it recently, in inverted commas, and got pages of examples, but no explanation of its origin. Whatever -- today is the last day in the world that we can use it. Henceforth, I'll go with "late forty-eight", I think, for which at least I know the source. (The song "Take Back Your Mink" in Guys and Dolls)

Yesterday was pleasantly thrown off-kilter, for us. Our son-in-law Ed has been in Strathardle this week for a breath of fresh air, with his two daughters. He was planning to drive back today, after dispatching the elder daughter by train yesterday. They had a good deal of difficulty as they left to catch the train, because of snow, and when they got back, found that it had been snowing all day and they couldn't get the car anywhere near the house.

Ed packed up, closed the house (no small task), and hauled luggage to the car by sled. It took him three trips, over about half a mile. That's hard work, in deep snow. He and the remaining daughter came here last night. We had a pleasant time, and dispatched them this morning -- a mild, open day, at least in Edinburgh -- for the rest of the drive south.

So that's the answer to your question about the weather, Donna. My husband and I didn't have any trouble at all -- I dreaded spending all day Thursday on a snowbound train somewhere in Yorkshire, but we sped happily north with no delay. It's been savagely cold, both here and in London.

But I got a couple of socks darned last night, as an earnest of the better person I am going to be in ought six, and a couple of rows further on the veil.

Do go visit Joe's site to vote in the Knitter's Blog competition. There are lots of blogs there which I haven't heard of and mean to explore. Voting for "most entertaining" was particularly difficult. You Knit What is not so much a blog as a public service, I feel. It is ceaselessly entertaining. But so is Franklin, and he is a blog. A tricky one.

Here's a picture from our Christmas holiday, for today's illustration. It's the Round Trip jacket from Knitter's Fall '03, in Noro Kureyon. That's James' wife Cathy, drinking champagne. There was a lot of it about. The jacket kept slipping off, she says -- other people have made the same complaint about that fun pattern -- until she added an antique Chinese button.