Saturday, October 17, 2020

 

It would have been today. C. and I should be sipping white wine right now  and eating a delicious amuse bouche and listening to the skipper telling us his plans for tomorrow. (Majestic Line food is superb; in the evening, the first course is brought out and handed round as one sits in the saloon with one’s new friends and one’s wine.) I ordered Kate Davies’ Evendoon pullover kit, to mark the occasion, and compounded the misdeed by ordering the hat kit which (since today) goes with it. Since KD doesn’t have a shop and sells entirely on-line, as far as I know, she won’t have suffered too much from this extraordinary year, so I can’t even salve my conscience with my usual helping-small-business excuse.

 

I could at least bring the WIP section of the sidebar up to date, as a constant spur to my conscience.

 

But I can comfort myself with the thought of how much happier my cats are this evening, did they but know it, than if I had waltzed off to indulge in amuse bouche-eating. Here’s a slightly indelicate domestic scene for you: Perdita has taken to joining me in the Downstairs Lavatory when I am seated there, and somehow we have worked out a routine. I turn on the cold tap to a trickle. She jumps up on the basin – it’s small, and the rim is narrow, and she is a fairly stout middle-aged cat by now, so that takes a bit of calculating. Then she drinks deep. And pauses for a while, and drinks again. (Needless to say, water is provided elsewhere, but that’s Paradox’s water.) I sit there until she jumps down.

 

I could hardly have asked a cat-sitter to go into the Downstairs Lavatory and sit down. Nor would Perdita necessarily have responded. She’s my cat.

 

And I’ve knit a bit further on the random-Shetland EPS. I’ve successfully increased, and have embarked on the st st body. I agree, Shandy, that it’s going to be a long way without anything that could count as challenge factor. At the moment, I feel that’s what I want. Although I think I knit more productively when there’s a challenge involved. The sweater (admittedly, there’s not much of it) is looking good, but I feel that, compared to the Evendoon, random loses out to designer stripes.

 

Life

 

Manaba rang up today – he was out for a walk with his son, I think. He says that he and Hamish click to each other responsively. He also says that there are different clicks, at least one of them slightly rude, so that Zulu grown-ups tell children not to click like that. But as far as I could gather, a click can’t be stretched into a basic word like “Mama” or “Daddy”. I’ll be glad when I can see them again in real life, to observe and discuss clicking, and to talk to Manaba about sourdough. I gave him some of my starter, you may remember, and he has shot ahead of me in the sourdough stakes.

 

I continue to enjoy “The Blessing”. But now that the weekend is with us, my responsibility for Italian resumes.

12 comments:

  1. Sorry to bring awful news - but have you caught the announcement from Andrew and Andrea? Such a dreadful thing to happen to such lovely people.

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    Replies
    1. First attempt failed. Thank you for this, Shandy and Kay.

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  2. Just FYI there is a Youtube video of the two of them explaining that Andrew has an inoperable brain tumor. Very moving, sad, and terrifying. Not sure if I can link but the video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9pSLhiEJuc&t=695s

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  3. It is on the Fruity Knitting website as an announcement, but your link may have some extra bits at the end(I tried it and it did not work; you could try this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9pSLhiEJuc

    or just go to the website.
    Very shocking and upsetting. I've watched Fruity Knitting from the first episode, so kind of feel like I'm personally acquainted with Andrew and Andrea. Wish them both strength and the best of luck.

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  4. I think I started watching Fruity Knitting by hearing about it here and it was soon after their first episode. I just watched their announcement and shed a few tears. Shocking and upsetting that it would happen to such lovely, interesting, talented people.
    What else can 2020 bring us???

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  5. Horrible, shouldn't happen to anyone.
    When I first stir in the morning, before getting out of bed, my cat Sophie starts giving orders to get into the bathroom and turn on the tap. The other time she does this is to get my husband to lay on the couch, she then lies on his legs.

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  6. I heard of Fruity Knitting here and have enjoyed episodes off and on. They are such lovely people and I have enjoyed meeting and learning more about knitting and knitters through their program. I cried during their announcement video, 2020 just doesn't let up.
    On a happier note, our pets truly are part of our family and create their own routines within ours. I laughed about Perdita and the lavatory sink..I had a grey cat named May who loved to have a drink from the sink while I got ready in the morning. I finally bought her one of those cat fountains.

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  7. Anonymous10:42 AM

    OH NO-O..o...o...o. I was just thinking about them last night and how their next podcast would be up soon. Chloe

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  8. Anonymous3:46 PM

    I worked for a few years with a woman from South Africa who has a click in her name. While one of my colleagues could make the sound, as could his 6 month old baby, I just couldn't get it ...

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  9. Anonymous1:08 AM

    Oops I was so anonymous i forgot to add my name in the above comment.
    Lisa RR

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  10. Fascinated by the clicking and the learning of it. And by the feline ownership of water sources!

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  11. Yes, one of our cats demands that I run the bath tap at a trickle for her to drink from as I brush my teeth at the basin. So sorry about the Fruity Knitter's news.

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