sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

October 19, 2018


customer service, clinched, and patient
posted by soe 1:09 am

Late Night Drink

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The Dunkin’ at the airport was out of black tea, but they didn’t realize that until after I’d paid. They gave me a cup of hot water, because I always have tea bags in my bag, and threw in a couple extra doughnuts for my trouble.

2. I have no team still in baseball contention, but as a New England girl, I’m glad the Red Sox have made the World Series again.

3. My dad is home and doing well, and I look forward to seeing how much better he’s feeling when I’m home again at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

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October 18, 2018


october knitting — now with 100% more unraveling
posted by soe 1:25 am

Nope

You can see here that I screwed up the center stitches of my knitting. As in, at some point, they stopped being centered.

Fingers Crossed...

I’ve got the four outermost stitches back up on the needles and will need to fix one more normally. Then that final stitch will need to become 15 stitches in the end, all of which will need to be laddered back up, hopefully reentered where they belong.

Check back tomorrow to see how I did…

(And check Kat’s blog for more knitting (and reading)…

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October 17, 2018


top ten bookstores i’d like to visit
posted by soe 3:03 am

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic asked which Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted To Visit (in no particular order):

  1. Shakespeare & Co. in Paris (France’s most famous English-language bookstore)
  2. The Book Barn in Niantic, Connecticut (I’ve driven past this used bookstore many times over the years, but somehow never stopped in. I have been to a different, unrelated used Book Barn in Amity, which may explain the oversight.)
  3. Bart’s Books in Ojai, California (it’s mostly outside)
  4. Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis (a kids’ bookstore)
  5. Kitchen Arts & Letters (NYC cookbook shop)
  6. John K. King Used & Rare Books in Detroit
  7. Left Bank Books in St. Louis
  8. The Last Bookstore in L.A. (it looks like a museum)
  9. Murder by the Book in Houston (mysteries!)
  10. Parnassus Bookshop in Nashville (one of the more famous indies, because it’s co-owned by Ann Patchett)
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October 16, 2018


random thoughts from connecticut
posted by soe 1:57 am

It’s been a long day and my thoughts are unwilling to slow down. I offer some of them to you in an effort to get them out of my head and to get something down here, no matter how free-form:

My dad’s surgery went well. As of right now, they plan to send him home tomorrow, which will make him very happy.

It will also make my parents’ dog very happy. She is very much THEIR dog and has been sulking in her bed much of the day. She also suffers anxiety during rainstorms, which means we’ve snuggled together a couple of times, as I have attempted to assure her that I will not let the rain storm get her. She did enjoy the drive to the grocery store, though…

Their cats were far more blasé about my parents’ absence. I mean, they’ve noticed, but as long as I continue to feed them, they’re chill.

I have been up since 7 a.m. How do you people do that on a regular basis? I mean, it just sucks.

I did not get bit by the tick I discovered crawling on my hand after I emptied the cats’ litter box outside this morning. And I did not lose it before I could dispose of it properly. Yuck.

I discovered last night that I screwed up the centering on my shawl two repeats back. I may rip back tomorrow evening in an effort to get back on track, but I may try dropping down just those relevant stitches first, though, to see if I can get away with doing it that way. I mean, the worst that’ll happen is that I’ll have to unravel it, right? In the meantime, I brought two pairs of socks with me…

When grabbing my suitcase to pack for my trip up here, I discovered my pair of jeans had never gotten put away after my last trip. This was a happy discovery, since I had another pair of jeans that had suddenly developed a hole and I was really surprised I hadn’t noticed my good pair was wearing through. I bought a new pair, though, because fall, so now I have two pairs and have found my good belt and the pair of leggings I assumed was hiding in my closet.

I read the first hundred pages of The Librarian and the Spy this evening. It’s cute so far.

I’m enjoying the reboot of Magnum on tv. It’s nothing deep, but it’s fun.

I spent much of the later part of tonight culling emails from my inbox. I deleted more than 10,000 messages, which feels pretty good, although I’d like to get it down just to the important ones. (My apologies to those of you that just gave palpatations to…)

The animals have all gone to bed. I suppose I should follow suit, because it’s another long day tomorrow. Plus, my mother asked me to sleep in their bedroom so the dog can wake me up if she needs to go out, and I haven’t been able to turn off her bedside lamp all day and I should figure that out before I get too tired and just deal with it by unplugging it…

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October 15, 2018


mid-october weekending
posted by soe 12:10 am

Markus Zusak

Friday evening, Rudi and I headed up to the Cleveland Park neighborhood for an author event with Markus Zusak, who wrote The Book Thief, which I loved. He’s in the U.S. promoting his new book, Bridge of Clay, which sounds interesting. I opted to forego the signing and will read a library copy instead. Rudi and I considered eating at one of the many restaurants up there, but instead decided to pick up some pizza dough at an Italian shop and eat at home. Yum!

Mid-October Gardening

On Saturday, I spent an hour at the garden, where I pulled out dead tomato vines, harvested peppers, ground cherries, cherry tomatoes, and the basil we suspected wouldn’t appreciate this week’s chilly weather, and sprinkled some seeds underneath the remaining vines in the hopes we might still get some greens before the end of the season.

Mid-October Harvest

Check out what I found at the garden!

Fall Violet

I stopped at the library to return a large pile of books and at the H Street Festival, where I visited Solid State Books and got a warm beverage to drink while I perused the books.

H St. Festival

Rudi and I got Thai food takeout and watched the first episode of the new Doctor Who and Saturday Night Live.

This morning, I got up early so I could fly to Connecticut at literally the crack of dawn. My dad is having surgery tomorrow — nothing too major, but still — so if if you could think good thoughts, we’d all appreciate it.

Sunrise at National

How was your weekend?

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October 14, 2018


t’is the season
posted by soe 1:17 am

For monarch butterflies to make their way through D.C. on their way to their winter home in Mexico.

Last week, I saw one floating outside my coworker’s window, six floors up from the street (but still moving with the flow of traffic on the one-way street). Today was a little more prosaic, as several were flitting around the butterfly bush at our garden gate.

Monarch

Butterfly Bush

Have you noticed any critters preparing for the cooler weather?

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