Look for the Helpers

No, not "helpers" in the Mister Rogers sense --- not firefighters, EMTs*, etc.  "Helpers" as in anything around me lately that parts The Grey.

This pretty little leaf on the driveway:

The fact that I'm wearing sweatshirts on the regular now.

It being the time of year when there's likely a football or hockey game on TV every night, giving me something to do.

Speaking of TV: "What We Do in the Shadows"

I won't post a picture, as some might not want to see, but these rather amazing  Joro spiders are all over the place here.  Their webs are massive and beautiful, and it's fun coming across them.

Straight or Circular

My first year of grad school, one of my professors and I had a discussion about time.  Being sociologists, we talked about how time is entirely socially constructed, how we could never get our students to quite understand/accept that, and then he asked me how I thought about time.  Did I picture time as a circle or a straight line?

Straight line.

He thought of it as a circle, and we then turned to possible explanations.  His idea was that people with significant life experiences outside of cities/metro areas are more likely to think of time as a circle.  Farmers, especially, would think of time as cyclical, as their lives, both day to day and year to year, consisted of the same rotation of events.

What do you think?  HOW do you think: straight or circular?

 

Projects

 The flower seeds I planted a good while back have grown, but not bloomed. 

I've finished my scarf.  TONS of ends to weave end.  As is my pattern (!), I cannot tell you what the yarns were, except for the variegated.  It's Red Heart Heat Wave, which I picked up out of a JoAnn clearance bin.  I don't know that the striping here will generate any discernable warmth, but we'll see.  A long while ago, there was another heat-activated yarn that changed color in sunlight.  I had to make Hannah several pairs of mitts with it because she thought it was super cool.

 

 

Baby Boy

 Today is Briton's birthday, so I made him

Eggplant Parmesan.  

(And let me state for the record how I loathe dipping things in eggs to bread them, no matter how good the dipped things wind up being.  [I'm looking at you, French toast.])

I also made him a 

big cookie, but it didn't stay around long enough to have a picture made.

Now What

Neither my mood nor my mindset has changed.  Life continues to be a slog.  I surrendered to the "I-just-want-to-be-in-bed" thing for a couple of days.  I've read Twinnie's book, and can truly recommend it.  I won't drop any clues but will say it does feature some familiar names.  When I've forced myself to do some knitting, it's been familiar or easy  Mostly I've told myself I had to move, then resented having to move.  This has got to give.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere. . .

I'm still wrestling with computer woes.  Did you ever feel like there's nothing in your life that's working as it should?  And you can't think of any way(s) to make things right again?  And that, even if you could think of something, you just don't have the energy to take action?

All I really want to do is go to and stay in bed.  Which is never a good sign for me.

It's Just a Big Ol' Mess

Saturday, I discovered that I had been signed out of almost every website that I use regularly.  Passwords that have been stored on a password-managing site were not working.  Passwords that could be scrounged from memory were not working.  Sites that offered "help" said that password reset links could be sent to registered e-mail addresses.  Do you see the problem there?

I couldn't get to my e-mails either.

Result: lots of pounding and slamming of things, which, oddly, did nothing at all to ease my frustration or solve the problem.

I opened, then closed, a new Facebook account.  Weirdly, it's the loss of Facebook that has gnawed at me the most, despite thinking for months that I shouldn't continue to "support" the site.  Perhaps The Universe has taken care of that for me.

Obviously, I managed to get back here.  My e-mail account seems to be okay, too.  Since most of you who read this are also Facebook followers of mine, just know that you can still reach me if you want to.  

It's all so infuriating.  Not quite that I can't live without computers, but that it can go so sideways so easily.  Also, there's the nagging suspicion that there is something very simple that could be done to solve all this, and I don't know what it is.

Yeah, More Tap Stuff

But with only one photo.  Sorry.

When it's time for us to go on a walk, as he jogs down the hallway, he barks.  I used to think he saw someone or something out the door, but have come to believe he's announcing that we're on our way.  

"Hey, if anyone's out there, just know that we are coming and I will bark at you."

Before he allows me to put his leash on, he must find the cats.  If they aren't in their "regular" places, he goes straight to checking out their Places B and /or C.  Once he has eyes on both of them, I can hook him up and we can head out.

"All my charges are accounted for.  We can proceed."

Will he now prance out into the wide world?  Not so fast.  Once on the porch, he goes back and forth to the edges, looking in all directions.  Can I keep him from making his rounds?  Maybe, but if he isn't ready to move, he will bow that neck and plant.  When he's satisfied that there's no immediate threat, he will come over and lightly boop my shin with his nose, and we can go.

"Mom, honestly, what's your rush?  Don't you value your safety?"

After business is concluded outside and treats have been received inside, he will usually de-brief with Madeleine, which most often looks like this:

"Mom, seer-ee-us-ly, we are discussing the health and well-being of everyone in this house.  Can we have A MINUTE?"

Riley prefers to wait on a hard copy to read at her leisure

.

Pleasure and Pain

It's been a wet week here.  Contrary to how most people seem to feel about rain, I continue to love it.  There's something about all the gray that makes me feel snuggled and cozy.  The downside to this type of weather, though, is my severe sinus headaches.  Still, even with those,

Adventures with Tap

 The moment he saw what was ahead of us:

He scared the vulture off the poor armadillo coming and going.  He's been strutting around the place ever since.

And Now It's Saturday

Amanda commented on Madeleine's size yesterday;  she is a big girl.  Her vet once told me that we've done too good a job controlling her diabetes!  Go figure.

A day spent mostly watching football, which is practically any of my Saturdays --- and Sundays, to be truthful --- this time of year.  The UGA home game today was some sort of ESPN deal, so staying home was even more desirable than usual.  The ESPN buses and trucks have been rolling around town this week, which is sort of cool I suppose.  Personally, I'm more excited when there's a blimp covering the game.  Blimps, I have learned, are surprisingly noisy.

Gettin' Through a Friday

 I'm all over the place lately.  My sleep is impossibly irregular.  Projects are begun and left where they were begun, meaning the house is a mess that I don't have the energy to clean and/or pick up.  I'm either not eating or eating so much that I have gained back a third of all that weight I lost (and was so proud of myself for) last year.  All my headaches are lasting days. 

Then I walk through the house and come across this

and have to crack a little smile.

As long as you're comfortable there, Madeleine.