Wednesday, February 03, 2021

 

That falls alarm went off again, at 1:30 a.m. (See yesterday’s blog.) Paradox is exonerated. She was curled up on her blanket at the foot of my bed, and was as surprised as I was. No harm done, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I lay awake wondering what I would do with the money if I were as rich as Mr. Bezos.


 I would buy houses, or pay off mortgages, for all my children and grandchildren. I would convene some archaeologists and see whether it was feasible to excavate more of Piso’s villa, near Herculaneum. It’s a difficult job, because it’s full of solidified lava, not ash. But, given all my money, if we made the attempt we might find the missing books of Livy. Piso was Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. It’s the sort of thing he might well have had on his shelf. So far, only his rather boring Greek books have been found, and all work there has long ceased. He must have had a Latin library as well -- perhaps in the next room.

 

I think there would still be an awful lot of money left. The only thing to do would be to ring up the Gates’s and see if I could help.

 

2126 steps. Not distinguished. Archie was my “walker” today, and the weather was nasty. Wind and rain. Worse is forecast. But we got around. Yes, Mary Lou, I did read about all the snow in NY and NJ. East coast weather often gets here a week or ten days later. The groundhog looks like a good predictor, so far.

 

I’ve done 15 scallops – only 1 ½ left to do on the edging of the third side of Gudrun’s hap.

 

I plucked Gaughan’s “Knitting Nature” from the shelf and have much enjoyed getting re-acquainted with it. It’s vastly more interesting than I had remembered. What fun it should be, having her as VK’s new editor.

 

And that reminds me: has something happened to IK? My subscription seems to have swiftly and silently melted away – the Snark was a Boojum. I have never known a subscription to lapse without a series of pleas for renewal. I’m inclined to leave it. I’ve got VK and the not-very-good British magazine “Knitting” and that’s probably enough.

 

Life and Reading

 

Inspired by Hugh F-W and Tim Spector, I have returned to Mindful Chef, at least for the time being. I had let them lapse in recent months. Their approach to eating is precisely what Hugh and Tim would order for me – whole food, unprocessed. We never have white rice or pasta, and potatoes appear but rarely.

 

I’ve stuck with “A Perfect Spy”. It’s long. It’s very skilful.

9 comments:

  1. =Tamar6:21 PM

    I don't know anything about them, but I wonder: does the falls alarm go off after a long period of no motion? Whatever is causing it, it should be replaced as it is clearly defective now.

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  2. Yesterday was Candlemas. "If Candlemas day is fair and bright, winter will have another bite" Well, hereabouts, it was grey and bleugh, so we can't rely on groundhogs.

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  3. The company responsible for IK was facing bankruptcy.I've just checked and it is seems likely that it is no longer being published - the page link to subscriptions leads to an "error" message.

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  4. It's true: they divested themselves of several magazines a couple of years ago, but IK still exists. Their website is interweave.com and the subscription page still works for me. They just sent out notification of the Spring 2021 issue today. Piecework, Spin Off, and Handwoven magazines are now owned by Long Thread Media, including the catalog of all previous issues.

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  5. if you don't like the english "knitting" so much (I don't) - why don't you give "the knitter" (also british) a try? I find the patterns much better than the ones in the "knitting" magazine...

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  6. Well if yesterday was Candlemas, then today is the feast of St. Blaise. We had our throats blessed with crossed candles at my church. I always confused it with Candlemas, because they used candles!

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  7. I wonder if your red button thing uses batteries and this is its way if telling you to replace them? Like smoke alarms making a plaintive peeping sound? EZ Knitting Workshop has inspired me to make an i-cord edge to a small blanket - I am like a cat with 2 tails or should that be a dog?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, isn't applied i-cord wonderful? I find myself using it to finish off necklines and front bands now. Takes a bit of time but gives a neat finish.

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  8. Anonymous11:12 AM

    I literally just bought the latest IK (Spring 2021) off the bookstore shelf yesterday. It was a shadow of its former self (IMHO) but they have a new editor who may turn things around. At least I hope so. Chloe

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