Saturday, August 28, 2021

 

Poor Mr Biden is a classic illustration of the old saw: Be careful what you pray for – you might get it.

 

His spokesman Jen Psaki is a friend of my nephew and his family. But I don’t know whether to feel sorry for her for having to defend the indefensible, day after day; or for believing it.

 

There was an article in this morning’s Telegraph (I think) which should cheer them all up, recounting various past American disasters and demonstrating that they didn’t have much effect on the following election unless they actually occurred in the month preceding it. I spoke to my sister a fortnight ago, the day before the Taliban overran Kabul. She wasn’t much interested in Afghanistan (no harm in that) and her main interest seemed to be in that area: what effect would all this` have on Biden’s chances in the 2024 election? I certainly won’t vote for him again.

 

Anyway, here I am. C. and I had a grand time on our cruise. And the cats are fine. We got back in time for lunch yesterday and of course the first thing I did was to check on the cats (unimpressed as they were to see me). There was wet food in one of their bowls so I threw that away and washed the bowl and opened another tin. I had bought little presents for the cat-feeders but the stairs down to the next-door flat are taxing so I just sat there and waited until Louise appeared. And when she did, I wish you could have seen my faithless cat Paradox rushing to the door, wreathed in smiles: Louise is here! Perdita is more constant.

 

C. took lots of pictures which I’ll start doling out soon. I made a good start on knitting the Coofle. It begins with 14 rounds or so of corrugated rib. Not exactly difficult but certainly trying, and I was proud of myself for getting through it after all my recent inactivity here. I even thought, for half a day, that I might get to the underarms before the cruise delivered us to dry land, and then what would I do? No danger, as it proved. Kate Davies’ Millarochy Tweed (spelling not guaranteed) is, not surprisingly, sort of tweedy and doesn’t slip through the fingers in quite the blissful round-and-round way I expect of a bottom-up yoke sweater. I am uneasy about gauge, which of course I didn’t check. I’ll apply a tape measure to it tomorrow. KD seems to expect the same gauge to be achieved for the corrugated rib and the subsequent plain vanilla st st, although according to her instructions the needle size should be increased between the two. I think I’ve hit the gauge in the ribbing, and I didn’t change the needle size.

 

We’ll see.

12 comments:

  1. Glad to see you back and reunited with your faithless cats. Teach them a lesson and take another trip - angst all around! I'm so glad things went well.

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  2. =Tamar7:29 PM

    Welcome back! Couldn't you get a hint of the comparative gauges just by spreading it out a bit and looking at it? A smaller gauge draws in?
    Paradox will come around.

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  3. Glad you are back safe and sound. Looking forward to your stories and pictures from the cruise.

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  4. Welcome home! And cats can be fickle. Paradox, the younger, only thinks of her meals. Soon she will appreciate you again.
    Looking forward to some photos.

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  5. Welcome back! I missed you but consoled myself with the thought of you having a great time. Cats are rascals, aren't they?

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  6. Welcome back!! Cats are indeed fickle. You will soon be forgiven.

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  7. How lovely to hear your voice again! I hope that the weather gods smiled on you. I found the Millarochy tweed awfully thick and thin, although it looked lovely when knitted up and the colours are very subtle.

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  8. Great to be reading your writing again!

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  9. Anonymous7:14 PM

    Welcome back! Good to hear from you on your return.
    Lisa RR

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  10. yay you have returned! cant wait to see the photos and hear of the adventures. as for the cats, well as others here have said... fickle they may be but we all love them anyway... n'est pas?

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  11. Welcome home! I hope we in the comments in a small way can make up for the cats' lack of welcome. Our semiferal cat welcomes us home by not fleeing the house.

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  12. Without getting too far down the rabbit hole of politics, it's my understanding from a social worker I know who's involved with Afghanistan that he had very little choice. It was a deal that was struck in the prior administration. He had to keep the deal or break it. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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