In Case You Don't Know any Union Songs

Here are some for you to enjoy and share.

This is the New Life - Same as the Old Life

Yesterday was my last day of full time work.  There was CAKE:  cupcakes, raspberry mousse cake, chocolate pretzels, and punch.  Loads of my work friends came down to wish me well, or to be sure I was actually leaving - hard to tell which.  I'd been there for almost fifteen years, so there are a lot of people there I will miss.  My goal will be to keep in touch with them through the wonders of the Internet.

I'll be moving to Massachusetts around the middle of March.  Although this is a change we have been looking forward to for some time there is still some panic in the actual preparation.  We have gone through all of the books about forty times.  The last of the rejects have been sold to Half Price Books and the keepers are all boxed up and out of the way.  I think this has been the worst part of the preparations.  I never thought I'd see the day when Shana has as many books as I do, but I was ruthless in thinning the herd.  The combination of moving by the pound and drastically reduced living space has done the trick, although it has literally taken months to go through them one at a time.

We've planned a beachy break to Maui prior to the actual move, although that is beginning to look iffy.  We may not be able to make the timing work this year after all.

Melting Permafrost?

I've heard about methane trapped in the Siberian permafrost as a potential accelerator of global warming, but hadn't really had an idea of how that would be released.  I ran into a video with a really graphic demonstration of the idea:

Winter Knitting

One thing I learned during my most recent stay in Massachusetts is the value of knitwear.  In Oklahoma hand knit accessories are a colorful accent and make a thin sweater suitable for a cooler day.  A cozy scarf can take the place of a sweater and keep you warm in the movies.  Gloves are nearly never needed in Oklahoma unless you are (rarely) shoveling show.  fingerless mitts are more useful because you can use them to keep your wrists warm in  cold offices while still being able to type.

I took a long walk every day on the Cape, and my opinion is now that hand knits are a very good way to preserve life!  The Cape is windy, and the closer you get to the shore the breezier it gets.  I was reassured that the coat I had purchased last year specifically for dog walking in Massachusetts will be exactly what I need.  I thought I might have overestimated the amount of protection I needed, but my coat was perfect.  Jennifer sent me two beautiful (but hard to photograph) skeins of worsted weight alpaca for Christmas last year.  I started on a simple cowl as a traveling project, and accelerated my knitting when I got there so I'd have something cozy to tuck in my coat to keep the wind off of my neck.  The yarn is a brown and purple hand spun in a light worsted that knits up sproingy and delicious. The cowl is long enough to wrap around my neck twice.  

The other thing I noticed is that Massachusetts in winter is brown brown brown, as opposed to Oklahoma, which is more golden brown.  More color is definitely needed!  Hence my current knitting (which is brighter in person than in the photo) - bright orangey red self striping yarn for a pair of socks, and a lovely bright hand dyed alpaca fingering weight for a hat and mitts.  I'm making another sock yarn slouch hat like I did with the fingering weight alpaca Jennifer gave me for Christmas year before last.  I makes a pretty, sort of dressy cap that is really warm.

A New Look

I've gone with an East Coast theme for my blog, now that I'm about to make Cape Cod my home.  The picture on the header is of Bournes Pond, taken from the back yard of the house where I will be living for a while.

Things are a little chaotic here - moving plans, life changes.  Since everything is up in the air we've been enjoying a lot of comfort food.  Fortunately it's the sort of thing people will bring around to you when they think you need a little treat for the spirit - cake, chocolate, fruit.  We had to go out and get these big menacing lobsters for ourselves.  Although their appearance is not encouraging they are actually quite soothing to eat at home.  Their sweet flesh dipped in butter combined with the absorbing effort to get everything good out of their shell is relaxing.  There is always laughter around the table when lobsters are on the menu.

Now that we are back together in Oklahoma City we turn to comfort food again.  This time it's spaghetti with meat sauce, roast brisket with mashed potatoes, peach pie with ice cream, cheap macaroni and "cheese", and canned soup.

Our local Buy For Less just gets better and better.  In addition to a beautiful and improved cheese department, a good deli and beautiful produce they are improving the decor of the store by adding murals with local themes to the rear wall.  There was already one at the front of the store pointing out the sights on our segment of Route 66.  I thought it was quite interesting to watch the men working on the new one.

I'm Still Blogging

African violets, originally uploaded by cinderellenk.

Moving plans are underway, we've had a death in the family, and I am temporarily overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I'll get my focus back shortly and I'll have some kind of post up this weekend. To those people who have been a comfort and encouragement - thank you.