Sunday, January 6, 2008

I Spoke Too Soon



"By the time I'm finished with the Flower Basket scarf, my lace Raven yarn should be here for me to start the Swallowtail shawl." Hmph. As you can see, the Flower Basket scarf is finished and blocking, but the Raven yarn isn't here yet. At least it's shipped. Now, of course, my hands feel all twitchy and empty without knitting. I could finish the Dove socks, but this scarf has whetted my appetite for lace. I have another skein of gorgeous alpaca laceweight in some soft lavendars and pinks that's tempting me. I could do a quick lace scarf... Here's another shot of the Flower Basket scarf:


On the non-knitting front, aren't the elections getting interesting? The compressed schedule is adding a bit of pressure on the non- or no longer- front runners, too. I was not surprised that Huckabee won in Iowa, but I was a bit surprised at Obama's strength. McCain seems to be doing well in New Hampshire, which could spell big trouble for Romney, despite his Wyoming haul. I watched some of CNN's coverage this weekend. They had more lengthy pieces in which they just filmed the candidates talking at some of their campaign rallies. I appreciated getting the chance to hear more than the usual soundbites and spin. They allowed poor Bill Richardson to get more coverage than he's probably gotten all year. I was very interested to see what he had to say; unfortunately, (or fortunately?) the crowd was cheering so loudly that I couldn't hear half of what he had to say. The Obama segment showed had him sitting down for breakfast with a bunch of people. He certainly has charisma. He bantered easily, seemed relaxed, and sounded genuine. I didn't get a chance to see the Clinton segment. Apparently, she had a two hour session (untelevised) in which she did nothing but answer direct questions from voters. I would have liked to see how she handled herself. Virginia's primaries aren't until Feb. 12th, after Super Tuesday, so I'm not sure how much my vote will affect who ends up being the nominee.


Something occurred to me while watching McCain stump in New Hampshire -- the man is 71 years old. He would be nearly 80 by the time his second term was over. He's already looking a bit shaky. Can we be confident that he would stay healthy throughout his term? I know there are many decrepit members of Congress who are basically awakened every now and then for a vote or a statement on the floor, but is the Presidency too important to entrust to someone of that age? Am I being ageist here, or is there a legitimate concern? It's not that I think there are no 80 year olds out there who are capable of being president -- Shrub's father would have been a perfectly hale and hearty 80 year old President -- but is the risk, the unknown, too great?


There was a great piece in the Washington Post's Outlook section today by George McGovern outlining the many arguments in favor of impeaching both the President and the Vice President, for actions arising out of the war in Iraq, violations of civil rights, and the handling of Katrina. While I agree with much of what was said, it's a bit late in the game to talk impeachment, isn't it? Their time in office is almost over, the damage, unfortunately, is done. Impeachment proceedings would certainly send a message to Bush and Cheney (and to future administrations) that their actions were unconstitutional and unacceptable, but would they just paralyze the country for the next 9 months or so? Wouldn't it take until the end of the term just to get through the proceedings?

Speaking of senior moments, I can't remember whether I posted about Jr. Jr.'s new triumph! He's been very resistant, up until now, to ride his bike. I don't know whether it's because his father and brother are such avid riders and racers, or whether he simply didn't have confidence, but he just wouldn't even try to ride his bike without training wheels. Over Winter Break, however, he gave it a shot and got it right away. Now he's a bike riding fool. The minute he walked into the house after school every day this week, he asked to ride. I'm so glad he got over that roadblock (no pun intended).



Last but not least, the hubster and I watched a great movie last night called "Stardust." It's based on a Neil Gaiman book that we both enjoyed. The movie version was nice, too. The guy who played Tristan was perfect. I also liked seeing some of my favorite -- but lesser-known on this side of the pond -- actors like Sarah Alexander from "Coupling," and Julian Rhind-Tutt, late of "Keen Eddie."

3 comments:

Scott T. said...

first, you will cease and desist using my copyrighted image.

Second, today, one week after he was coaxed and conived into letting me take off his training wheels, Liam and I just rode all the way to Bluemont Park and back. He even insisted on trying to ride up the steep hill up Jefferson ("did Jake do this?")

According to Google Maps, it was approximately 3.1 miles one way to get there via the route we took (down past reed school and Westover shopping center; 11th street to Patrick Henry, across I-66 to the bike path on the other side). don't know if this will work but this should show our route approximately http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
we came back more directly via Westover Park and up Jefferson. Really impressive. Only a few very nervous moments.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Behinder than behind on my blog reading, so I'll just pick up here. :-) Most importantly, big congratulations on Jr for the bike riding. I like the helmut.

Beautiful shawl. I have made this pattern as well and enjoyed it. You appear to be a patient blocker. Love those crisp points.

Is it bad that I watched CNN this weekend not paying a heap of attention to the political stuff, but focusing on John King and his new fiance, fellow CNN'r Dana Bash? They both were married as of last year to others now they are together. The beltway gossip is infinately more interesting that the political goings on. So much so that I find myself sidetracked by small things....like the aforementioned pending nuptials and why are the reports now reporting from INSIDE cars? can they not get out and report from in front of buildings like in the good old days?

I still have yet to see anyone who is interesting enough to actually get my vote. The family was discussing how different the elections would be if there were the old fashioned caucuses in every state. Maybe people would feel more involved? I still think that Mr. Al Gore is sitting at home waiting to decide whether or not to go for it. I think if he did, he would win.

I haven't read your thoughts on reading and am also an avid reader. I like books on cd as well so I can read and do other things at the same time. Have you seen the 'kindle' by amazon? It's a book reader. I think it would be awesome to have.

Happy New Year!
kippi

Loren T said...

Happy New Year to you, too, Kippi! Oooh, gossip. I'd heard that King and Bash got engaged, but I didn't realize that they had been married (to others) before. Workplace romance, huh? There was a segment on CNN this weekend about how cold it was in Iowa, with lots of shots of reporters shivering, so maybe they decided to give them a break and let them stay in a heated car?

I've seen the Kindle and it looks cool, especially since it can hold PDFs and pictures, too. Imagine -- you could have books and knitting patterns all in one place. It's $$ though, and I'm always afraid of things like that turning into useless gadgets that I'd never use. Books never lose battery power. Plus, there's something nice about the heft of a book, the different typefaces, covers, etc. I like that I can pick a book off the bookshelf to read again, or toss to Sr. Jr. now that he's old enough to read some of my favorites, you know? Where does the e-book go after you've used up your space limit? Your computer? It's not quite the same. Maybe for newspapers, magazines, and knitting patterns, therefore, but only if the price came down a LOT.

Take care,
Loren