A Rainbow After the Storm

So, the weather in Missouri has gotten national (maybe international?) attention.  Gosh, Joplin!  That place won't be the same for years.  School, hospital, countless homes and businesses... and peak tornado season is nowhere near over.

But some days, you see the promise of hope.  I was driving home after a particularly strange day.  We spent part of it in the library basement, hoping that our cars weren't being pounded by hail.  I drove one of my alternate ways, kind of unusual for an end-of-day drive, and saw it as if it was leading me home... a beautiful, clear rainbow, all the colors there to enjoy!  I fumbled as best I could for my camera, but no luck.  Besides, I really had to put more energy into driving safely.  As I got closer to the house, I saw other cars on the street, kids playing basketball or chattering in little groups.  I wondered, did they even see it?  Were they looking at the sky while the rainbow was up there?  I hope so.

Then there were these bits of joy from my yard on Monday:

 These pretty pink blossoms are in the flower bed.  I think I bought a little bucket of them for next to nothing two years ago.  They were pretty at the time, I never figured they'd pop back up each year!

 These were the big surprise two years after Michael and I got the house.  I just figured it was a thorny bush right in front of a bedroom window.  Nice deterrent for thieves and snoops.  Then, two springs later, all these blooms burst forth!  What a cheer-up.

While I was doing all this flower photography, two residents noticed my activity and set up a bit of a racket.  So I had to photograph them too!

Ah, my fierce protectors!  They were a bit perturbed that they couldn't join me in the front yard, but I didn't want to have to run all over the neighborhood fetching them if they'd gotten out of that fence.

One last gorgeous blossom to show.  Maybe later I'll have pictures of my mums, if they survived the roofing and siding guys' abuse!  They are supposed to be hardy, after all.

Who Swaps? I Swap!

I had to choose what to blog today... would it be the awesome swap goodies, or the collection of beautiful outdoor pictures from around my house yesterday?  Graham Norton decided it!  Today's show (rerun, obviously) had Matt Smith!  It was such a funny show.  So, in honor of the Eleventh Doctor on GN, here's the news from the swap!

My package took quite a while to make its way from Scotland to Missouri.  I saw it arrive and booked it out to the mailbox to bring it in!

Already, I was excited because I had Jelly Babies!  Hooray, I get to try the Doctor's favorite candy.  Plus, stickers!  I don't remember mentioning it in all the swap chatter, but I really love stickers.  I just have a hard time deciding what is cool enough to stick these stickers on!  Especially the big hologram-y Dalek one.  And the big lovely Pandorica one!  Ahem.... I needed to know what was behind all those sweet polka-dots.

Seriously!?!  The first package opened was the Doctor himself!  In ultra-cute amigurumi crocheted form. Which is brilliant, really, since I'm not a crocheter.  This is a real gift, something I can't make myself.  Yes, I could learn crochet, but I haven't yet.  So I'm thrilled to have Tiny Doctor near me!

Oh look!  Not only was the TARDIS also along for the ride, but Martha!  She's wearing her awesome red "jacket" and her hair is in that brilliant up-do.  Really nicely done!  Plus, check out that bracelet!  Shirley, aka cherryred on Ravelry, is also a beading wizard!

Not only are the beads beautiful, but four of them are also removable charms that could be stitch markers!  Absolutely smashing idea.  Not only that, but the box it was in looks like a fob watch!  Nice reminder of "Human Nature" and "Family of Blood".  So far, most people who've seen it really like that blue bead third from the left.  I like it, but also the heart charm that isn't in this photo.  It stays on the bracelet, and is really nice!

Oooh, I'd forgotten about the shawl pin!  It's gorgeous too!  I might use it in my Clapotis, it fits with the colors, but eventually... well, I'll come back to that discussion, let's just say.  Check out the cool tin!  A nice pencil-case size, with the shawl pin, four thistle teabags from Edinburgh (one is gone already, I loved it!) and the four badges from the new Doctor and companions!

Here's the real loot!  Two wonderful, handspun-by-my-spoiler, skeins of worsted yarn!  Get this, the orangey colorway is named Pyrovillia!  Awesome, I really love "Fires of Pompeii".  The grey/color-flecked skein (which is really more beautiful in person) has some recycled sari silk and is called "Don't Blink"!  Great name, also a fave episode and the name really fits this yarn.  You never know what you're going to see in it, and you might miss something if you blink.  I love touching both of them!

Here's the whole batch, with a rather bored Saffron in the background.  I've got to come up with some shawlette pattern for that yarn, and use the shawl pin with it!  And not eat all the Jelly Babies at one go.  I've got a plan with them.  I take gummy vitamins each morning, and sometimes I get the urge to eat them like candy.  Bad idea!  So now, when I get a gummy craving, I'll snack on a Jelly Baby or two!

What a swap.  For the wait, I was really treated well.  Can't wait for the next one!

Pictures Aplenty, Locked Away.

I lost my USB memory card reader, which I'd had for years, so I bought a new one.  Now, it's lost too.  I literally had it earlier today, so it can't have gotten far!

As soon as I find it, you will all be treated to lovely pictures of the flowers in my yard and the goodies from my swap box!  Yes, it finally arrived!

Oh, those flowers.  They have a rough life, actually.  I do very little to keep them going.  If it survives in my flowerbed, it has earned the term "hardy" as well as "perennial".  I'll try to at least rake out the bed sometime this summer.

The swap box!  I've already enjoyed some of the thistle tea, all the way from Edinburgh.  It was nice plain, even better with a splash of milk.  Just a good flavor that doesn't need sweetening.  Yes, my grandmother would be shocked by that statement, but really what she always gave us was more milk & sugar than tea.  Good, comforting, but not tea!  Good memories, still, anytime I drink tea.

There was a lot more than just tea, but I'll keep that close to my chest until I can treat you to the pictures.  Believe me, they're worth the wait.  The webcam shots just don't really do all the goodies justice.  Thank you, cherryred from Scotland!

Sick Puppy (And Vacationy Stuff)

Last night, Ty got sick.  I had a wonderful time scrubbing the carpet in that spot.  I couldn't tell what he'd gotten into that had made his tummy upset, but did my usual treatment of one gingersnap cookie as a treat, then a 2/3 portion of kibble this morning.  It's not like he's going to waste away from a slightly reduced ration!  It's so unusual for either of mine to be ill.  They're two of the healthiest pets I've ever known about!  Thank goodness, since I am the only one to nurse them.

My cute knitting/evening bag has a problem.  The handle came away on one side!  Bummer.  But, it seems like I could get after it with a needle and thread, but I'll always worry if it's reliable.  Maybe I'll reinforce the other handle side while I'm at it, because this really is the perfect little bag for my trip.

Another jewel from Toronto... I found this bit of art in a subway station!

Now there's a way to get culture to your population.  Have it where they can see it every day.  And here's one that's a little more frivolous...

On the side of the Rogers Center (a multi-purpose stadium) you find this wonderful sculpture of rambunctious fans.

This is brighter, but not as close-up.  All the crowds were headed to the UFC event that night.  Apparently, it was a good fight, from the bits I caught on the news the next morning.  Not my thing, but more power to the fans.  The girl who stood next to me in the CN Tower line was headed there.  She was from Ottawa, and had several tattoos which I was too shy to stare at long enough to figure out what they said.  But they looked cool.  We had a nice chat while waiting, until we got separated in the elevator!  We were crammed in there like sardines.  But the view was worth it!  (warning, if you get vertigo from looking at up-high pictures, you might want to avoid this bit)

 That's the glass floor.  What a rush, looking straight down!  No, I have no fear of heights, why do you ask?  I didn't lay down on it only because it was quite crowded.  This floor is rated to support the weight of 14 hippos.  I wonder how they convinced the hippos to stand on it... ;)

 This is the Old Roundhouse, where trains turn around.  I didn't know that before I snapped a picture of it, just guessed, but later on looked at my Toronto maps and realized yes, I was right!  I love train stuff.

Here's the City Centre airport!  It seems to be mostly for smaller aircraft.  I saw a Cessna, or some other puddle-jumper, taking off.... so strange, being so much higher than an aircraft!  I bet this island is beautiful now that things are greener.  I got the feeling that the whole city was just anxiously awaiting spring.  Boy, don't I know that feeling!  Sometime, I'll try to go back while it's warm and lovely.  It's a great city to walk in.  And don't I know that too, sheesh.

A Post Keri Can Enjoy Thoroughly!

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Toronto was a stop in the beautiful bountiful source of yarn known as Lettuce Knits!  Although I was seriously tired from three hours' sleep followed by a rather hectic airport run, I still had loads of fun shopping and visiting.

Here's my main haul... two skeins of Koigu, just for me!

It's gorgeous.  Really a bit darker in tone than this picture, but the best thing is how squooshy and lovely-soft it is.  Still undecided what I'll make with it.  I did have two other skeins of Koigu and one nice Berroco Ultra Alpaca, but I gave them away before I got pictures.  Giving is fun!

It was a shock to realize my swap package sped its way from Missouri to Nova Scotia in just five days.  But reading how excited Dawne was to receive it was so awesome!  It made all the work truly worth it.  After it was all taped up, I thought of half a dozen other little things I'd wanted to tuck in, but as it came in .2 ounces below the next weight class, maybe the tape was fate.

I found another treasure locally!  Bex somehow hid some beautiful yarn bowls from me by putting them in the front window.  But they called to me!  And one came home with me and was put to work!

I love that it has a notch and a hole.  That way, a project could be in there temporarily, or for the duration of the skein.  See that lovely cast-on?  It's the second half of my Shapeshifter Shrug!  I was really concerned about the cast-on edges matching, since I might put it in the State Fair.  But not if it isn't up to snuff.  Here's a comparison...

WOW!  A great match!  And it was the first try.  I was prepared to try tons to get it even close to this good.  I still have to tink once or twice in every lace repeat, but that's worth the effort too.  This is a nice pattern, and I'm going to be proud to wear it.

As soon as I find twenty perfect big buttons.... oh, still work to do.

Spoilery Review of "The Doctor's Wife"

So, don't say I didn't warn you.  This is just what it says on the tin.

I've been looking forward to this episode for a long time.  Pretty much immediately after I read Neil Gaiman's book "The Graveyard Book" and later on heard that he was writing a Doctor Who episode.  I mean, if he can write freakishly good stuff like that, who knows what he could do with the good Doctor, right?

Well, I wasn't disappointed.  It was a wonderful episode.  Was it perfect?  Ummm, nope.  But it's not like they could make the changes I'd like.  You'll see what I mean.

First of all, TINY cast!  Wow, seven people and a voice actor?  Well, they had to save money somewhere I suppose.  Special effects shots, everywhere!  House, a rather enigmatic fellow of indeterminate size, had all this green smoke stuff all the time, that must have been loads of fun.  Then there were all the shots of the TARDIS and the shell-TARDIS flying through the rift between universes.  Beautiful, certainly, but that usually does cost a fair bit in production terms.  Bits of regeneration-like energy from Idris, that's beautiful but probably complex.

Aunt and Uncle were rather tricky prosthetic challenges, I'd guess.  Uncle's ear was lopsided, and to make Auntie's mismatched hands look like they functioned normally?  Serious thumbs up to those geniuses.  Then there's Nephew.  I suppose they had the Ood heads around already, but then you have to change the eye color.  Plus, there was aged/dead Rory.  Oh, so sad.  Very effective, thumbs up Arthur Darvill, but... How many times has he died now?  C'mon, Moff, let the Rory-meister live!

And sets!  House was rather messy, wasn't he?  Leaving all that TARDIS junk all over the place... I'm sure "Hoarders" would have something to say about that.  That set, though, really complemented the characters.  Then we get TARDIS corridors.  I bet they can re-use those, and I do love the look.  Yay for hexagons!

The Doctor's interactions with Idris, aka Mrs. TARDIS!  Oh, what a great relationship!  I've often wondered about the Doctor's sanity, but Suranne's performance really made you realize, perhaps the TARDIS itself is just as off-kilter as our favorite Time Lord.  Such a sweet, doomed romance.  I rather wish we'd known more about Idris, before Nephew drained her soul and filled her with the TARDIS, but maybe that would have just confused matters.  Either way, I loved every second they were on screen together.  The Doctor, with his TARDIS.

All of that is quite positive, yes.  Now comes my nitpicks.  Amy didn't have much to do.  She did her patented Glare #1 a couple of times, when the Doctor was talking about reattaching a head, and when she commented "It's just what they're called, it doesn't mean he knows what he's doing."  But other than that, I don't feel we got much of her.  We've already seen the agonized "Rory is dead" thing already.  A few too many times.

The Doctor... really, I do like Matt Smith.  He's done an excellent job of making this role his own.  But when he told Aunt and Uncle to run, I somehow felt it fell flat.  I wanted to hear Ten telling them to run. They'd have been on the exact opposite of that asteroid as fast as their little Frankensteined bodies would allow, if Ten's rage had been focused on them!  I also wanted his reaction to "the little boxes".  Usually, Eleven's quiet, oh-so-old sadness is perfect in such situations, but I wanted more this time.  The raw emotion that David Tennant could give with just the slightest look.

I did a bit of reading in Doctor Who Magazine, and the interview with Mr. Gaiman gave me a bit of hint as to why I might feel that way.  He got the basic idea of the episode before Matt Smith even became the Doctor.  Bingo!  I think Mr. Gaiman was significantly influenced by DT's performance, even if he did claim to write it for a "generic" Doctor.  What a long time to wait before seeing your vision come to life! Well, congrats, Mr. Gaiman, I do think this was an incredible episode.  I'll be happy to re-watch it many times.  The Whoverse has greatly benefitted from "talking" with the TARDIS, if only for half an hour or so.

I Have a Camera?

So, I went to Toronto, Ontario, for a lovely weekend.  Okay, actually, the first day was rather drizzly and chilly, but hey, it was somewhere other than Missouri.  I really needed that.  Even Kansas might have been a refreshing change.  But I'm glad it was Toronto instead!

Why did I pick Toronto?  I wanted to try out my new passport, so domestic flights were out.  Well, I didn't want to go to Mexico.  Warm, yes, beautiful in spots I'm sure, but I have a feeling that my personality might not mesh well with too many macho men.  Yes, it's stereotypical, but I've heard stories.  I might go to Mexico with a group tour, but not on my own.  So, that pretty much leaves me with Canada.  Hmm, still a big country to see... I didn't want to change too many time zones, so that kinda left out Vancouver.  I wanted a place with a good yarn shop population, and one of my favorite bloggers, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee a.k.a. the The Yarn Harlot had mentioned Lettuce Knit a few times, so Toronto already had one big plus going for it.  Also, I'd found out one of their public libraries, the Lillian H. Smith branch, had a special sci-fi collection!  Oh, that almost decided it right there.  Plus, griffins out front, how nice!

Then there's the CN Tower.  I love tall things that I can look down from.  (Michael never did, neither did my mother, so I really haven't had a lot of opportunity to indulge this daredevil tendency.)

Once I got there, I realized there were so many other pluses to choosing Toronto.  Public transportation? Piece of cake!  I loved the subway and street cars.  Great practice.  Restaurants?  Oh My GOSH I had some of the best food in the world.  Thank you, One Love Vegetarian Restaurant!  A nice place to sit and recover from culture shock, and have a beautiful bowl of soup and pumpkin-stuffed roti.  Also, thank you Marsha for showing me around.  I'll never forget that dim sum lunch in Chinatown.

 I never would have picked Rol San out as a good restaurant, if I'd just been looking at the storefront.  But that was so much fun, and so much tasty-goodness.  Even my hotel restaurant made a lovely mahi-mahi with mango salsa.  And good coffee.

This isn't to say it was a perfect trip.  No trip really is.  But my worst problems were really my own fault, like not dropping off my 40-lb pack at my hotel before journeying downtown.  If I were re-doing the whole thing, I also probably would have stayed in the bar and watched the rest of the hockey game.  I sort of made some friends while waiting for my burger, even though I didn't get their names.  Watching the Stanley Cup in a Canadian bar!  I should really have stayed.  And oh, the walking!  I really walked my feet off.  It certainly moved "new pair of Skechers" higher on my priorities.

The worst thing was probably that I forgot I had a camera most of the time. I only got 32 pictures!  Next time I'm post-it-noting "Get the camera out!" on the front of my city notebook.

But certainly, more things went right than wrong.  I got some lovely magazines, a totally cool pen, and five skeins of yarn.  Three of which I have already given away.  Not because I didn't love them, I really did, but because I felt they really belonged with the recipients.  As it turns out, I don't really mind flying at all.  Cramped yes, but somehow still exciting.

Thank you, Toronto, for being a wonderful host to an out-of-town girl.  As cities go, you are amazing and beautiful, with loads of personality.  I do hope we can "date" again in the future.

Hiatus Over!

Okay, sometimes, I just don't want to be online.  Clearly, looking at my post counts for the end of April and beginning of May, I've been in that sort of time.  But it's over!

I got my Mac going again.  It just took looking up some restart key combinations.

I gave the passport its first workout with a weekend in Toronto!  (Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, surprise!  I did a trip on my own.  And everything is fine.)  It was quite valuable, making me know what to expect in the airport, customs, public transportation, stuff like that.  Plus, Toronto was tons of fun!  You'll hear a lot more about that in future posts.

The socks got finished!  The box got mailed!  The spoilee, Justdawne, was happy!  Oh, that's the coolest thing.  It has to be said for a good swap, it's almost as cool as opening up your own goodie box, to hear what your swap partner thinks about what they got.

So now, I'm on a countdown to London, working like crazy on my Shapeshifter Shrug, and feeling like I've come out of a slump.  Sometimes, you're in a slump and you don't realize it until you look back.

Time to look forward, and up, once more.