Month: December 2021

Happy Birthday (Sunday) To Altair

Karen

It’s my sister-in-law’s birthday Sunday! She is so steady and just does the right thing without talking about it, so I wanted to talk about it instead.

She takes mentoring seriously at her job–I think (like me) she just didn’t have any senior woman to help her out when she was starting her career, so now that she’s the senior woman, she makes time to talk to groups and help her direct report. She’s done such a good job building relationships that her direct report joined us for Thanksgiving, and it was really nice to see the easy trust between them.

After Trump was elected, she got involved at the local level with government, volunteering to be on a sustainability board for her city. She’s going to grad school (again!) and her project is about using automation to help reduce water usage. She’s cut out single-use plastic at home. She treats all of these commitments–big and little–as just how things are. No big deal.

I can get so wound up about the state of the world that I feel paralyzed to do anything, but she sees something to change and quietly digs in. I love that Skyler has that example and I love her and her willingness to do the hard, right things. Happy birthday, Altair!

Wednesday Poem

Karen

It’s already been A Week here and we’re just starting Wednesday. This is a good one, similar in spirit to Denise Levertov–look around, pay attention to the world, and “everything/ you dread, all you can’t bear, dissolves”.

 

Any Common Desolation

can be enough to make you look up
at the yellowed leaves of the apple tree, the few
that survived the rains and frost, shot
with late afternoon sun. They glow a deep
orange-gold against a blue so sheer, a single bird
would rip it like silk. You may have to break
your heart, but it isn’t nothing
to know even one moment alive. The sound
of an oar in an oarlock or a ruminant
animal tearing grass. The smell of grated ginger.
The ruby neon of the liquor store sign.
Warm socks. You remember your mother,
her precision a ceremony, as she gathered
the white cotton, slipped it over your toes,
drew up the heel, turned the cuff. A breath
can uncoil as you walk across your own muddy yard,
the big dipper pouring night down over you, and everything
you dread, all you can’t bear, dissolves
and, like a needle slipped into your vein—
that sudden rush of the world.

-Ellen Bass

Tuesday Project Roundup: My Favorite Socks

Karen

These socks weren’t difficult at all and I messed up on the stitch counts on the second one, but I love them: 

That’s because I started them in February and then got tendinitis and wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to knit again. I’m a little more cautious at the gym and start to ice my elbow now if I feel that familiar twinge, but I’ve recovered enough that I knit everything from the heel down on the second sock and started another pair (!) in the last month. It’s a far cry from my “Year of Socks” plan but at least I don’t have to feel bitter every time I look at my basket of sock yarn.

These are the Thicksgiving Socks from Summer Lee with two yarns held together. I know the cream one was Malabrigo and the bright orange was Hedgehog Fibres but I don’t remember the other yarn that I used. Whatever the yarn, these are my favorite socks now, The Socks Of The Return To Knitting.

Friday Links

Karen

1. Typeatone puts a note to each letter on the keyboard, letting you…type a tone. Fun to mess around with.

2. A source of many new facts (including the fact that zipper company YKK made a zipper themed anime cartoon): 52 things I learned in 2021

3. It’s time to put up the Christmas tree and break out the holiday tunes:

Today’s Mood Board

Karen

Things* feel a little much, you know?

*The Supreme Court debating the rights of half the population, school shootings, new Covid variants, changes at work, winter darkness, the inevitable passage of time…what’s on your list?

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It’s December 1

Karen

…and clearly it’s time to see a heartwarming and cinematic 4-minute ad for Norway Post about Santa finally finding love.   (Bonus: Show it to your super-conservative extended family if you see them for Christmas and watch their heads explode.)

 

(via my friend Mike)