Stripes and Rows

Someone is making a quilt called "Dear Jane."

I was immediately reminded of this:

Oh, my Daddy loved these.  Well, anything coconut, really.  And I can taste these just looking at them.  It was hard not to eat the whole rich, delicious thing at one time.

Each day, I try to do something to work on my fingers.  The TENS machine, coloring (particularly with colored pencils), rolling pennies (picking up change is a real challenge), and yes, knitting.  It's going not too badly.  The hat that's been here forEVer is at the decreasing for the crown stage, so more is getting done than had been.  I think I'll challenge myself to socks next.

Promise Kept

Here's the frame at work:

This is one of my favorite Animals-on-Couches yet.  It's so quiet and soft.  

I got out today to run a couple of errands, and traffic was awful.  Like, students are back awful.  This town has been in disarray for so long: tearing up streets, rerouting cars, tearing up the rerouted.  Not to mention all the houses and apartment complexes going up in what seems every empty space that can be found.  There honestly aren't that many ways to get around this town, and they are all choked right now.

TeNsTuesday

This I understand, yet at first glance it seemed odd:

⁹

How was it left at my door?  Laying flat.

Thankfully, my parents favored large frames, so I've been able to use some of those for my Animals on Couches collection.  Still, I have had to buy a couple, and this is one.  Promise to show you how it's put to use.

I bought a little TENS machine to see if it might help with my fingers.

I don't think it does;  I've used it a few times and my fingers are still numb.  I've also used it on my neck during tension headaches, though, and it did make a difference there.  

The vaccines still had me in bed all day and night Saturday, but Sunday only the arm soreness remained.  I don't think I "have to" get any other shots --- that kind of depends on which online questionnaire I take.

Why Does June Get Special Privileges?

June gets to bust out all over, while the other months have to sit quietly.  Who decided that?

(I also just saw, while doing the image search, that there's a TV network called "june."  Wow.)

Ugh

I made it through the evening and night, but woke up at 3 AM so miserable.  My left arm, where I got both shots, is sore to the point of unliftability.  My head is pounding.  My chest hurts...

How are y'all doing?

Simple Friday

This helps me a lot.  Maybe more than it should.

I got COVID and pneumonia vaccines this afternoon.  Let's see if they do anything to me.  I will say CVS has an interesting selection of reading material for perusal or purchase.

"Jesus or 'Car and Driver'?"  Oooooh --- a whole magazine about brunch!  So many choices!

Watering Hole

Thursdays here are plant care day.  I've come into possession of several succulents, and am trying to keep them alive.

I put the little pebbles in to make things look cute.  Sprouting on the bottom left is cilantro, I think?  I've been so carried away with the plants and the little pots that I didn't keep the seed package.  

Air plants are around, too.

I really like the hand holder.  The other is some part of a teapot, I think, but I can't figure out how that would work.

These aren't real.  I added the pink, yellow and white to the dark purple.  It may be a bit much, but I do like how the arrangement looks.  I'm usually crap at arranging flowers.

I had a philadendron from middle school to college.  Those were years when talking to your plants and playing them music were very in.  My philadendron was named "Gibb."  Gibb heard a lot of Bee Gees, Emmylou Harris, and Delbert McClinton.  He was also the source of cuttings for several of my friends, so he may yet live on.  I'm working on names for all these new plants.

Empty/Full

It's hard to wash a colander. 

The thing I dislike washing most is a pizza cutter.

It looks like my ginormous gardenia bush has gone almost entirely barren.  Just a single bloom.

I may have to have it taken down.  It's been a glorious friend for lots of years.  My mother said that gardenias made her think of the days after Dale died;  apparently I had them all around the house.  I honestly don't remember a lot from that stretch of time.

Today hasn't seemed like a Wednesday at all to me.  Am I the only one?  It's seemed more like a weekend or something.

In I-want-to-move-but-I-need-to-clean-anyway news, one dresser has been completely emptied.  The book chest at the foot of my bed is empty.  The kitchen is as bare as it can be with someone still using it.

On the other end of the spectrum: my Lincoln books case is full.  FULL.

(Ignore the surveyor's stake in the corner.)  This might mean I can't read another one.  Well, buy another one, at least.

Things Of Which I Am Tired

Down on one knee proposals.  If I were in my early 20s, I might feel differently, but I doubt it.

Hearts made with hands or fingers.  Again, this opinion might have been different before.

Mr. Beast.

Losing tape measures.  IT WAS JUST RIGHT HERE.

"You've Got a Friend in Me."  It worked on me in "Toy Story," but every other Instagram post uses it.  Please stop.  Same with "A Thousand Years."

Things "vibing."

Holiday Food

Memorial Day here was sun, clouds, RAIN, clouds, RAIN, sun, STORMING RAIN.  Anyone hoping to spend time behind a grill today was probably mightily disappointed.  I very-slow-roasted a honey garlic tenderloin for myself yesterday.  Corn on the cob and a salad rounded out my inside picnic.

Dale loved to grill, but always on a gas grill.  Personally, I think the smell of a charcoal grill and meats cooked on it is hard to beat.  I live a little over a mile from both a hamburger place 

and a steakhouse

so I get that luscious aroma pretty often.

Pet Peeves

1.  Misused/misplaced apostrophes.  ("The Smith's invite you to their luau."  The Smith's what?  And which Smith?  "Smith" there is singular.  This makes me CRAZY.)

2.  When actors are playing scenes that call for them to drink something, and their cups or mugs or glasses or whatever are plainly empty.  

3.  When people say, "shaking your head 'yes.'"  You shake your head "no."  You nod your head "yes."

4.  Police don't light up their sirens.  They light up their lights.  You do not hear their lights and sirens.  You only hear the sirens.

5.  "Where at?"  Just "where."  Simple.

6.  Has anyone ever named a pet "Peeve?"  (I know this isn't a pet peeve --- more like a tangential thought.)

7.  "Whenever" instead of "when."  "Whenever you were at the store..."  How about,"When you were at the store..."

8. People bucking if you call them "Sir" or "Ma'am."  It's not an age thing, it's a respect thing.  It's manners.  It's politeness.  Maybe that's my Southern upbringing, though.

9.  "Reesies."  This gets quickly and almost painfully under my skin.

10.  People cracking their knuckles.