Petunia rambles on and on….

Yep, we all do!

It’s difficult for Pop around here, with all of us after his body.  He’s trying to cope.  As best he can. For an old man!!

First, I needed his scrawny ankle and foot, to test the socks for length, and to model them for blog pictures. At first, he gave me a look like I was nuts. You know that “You want me to what???” look. Then he got into it, wiggling his long, scrawny toes while I was trying to get them to pose. Despite the difficulties here, I felt like I needed a photo, or people would start to think that I’ve forgotten how to knit.

The new camera. The nice weather (finally). I’ve been outdoors and on the go, when I haven’t been either at work or in the middle of very necessary chores. So not much has gotten done.

Sock is pulled because there’s another one hanging there, Magic Loop style!

Pop likes his socks to fit close, and this one seems to do that.

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And there’s another area where we’re, uh, using his body.  Pour soul. Daughter K has the 2 boys. They are almost 3 and still in diapers. Her husband is military and deployed. Not here to, uh, demonstrate things. Pop, can you, uh, show what you’ve got?  Often?  Showing’s better then telling.

Pop has, well, stepped up to the plate.

And we got results. Nick did pee in his potty, and there was great cheering in the land!  Maybe tomorrow, Alex will join the ranks.

I love the smell of them.  When I was at Ronny’s Garden World on Sunday, with aisles and aisles and acres and acres of plants and flowers and trees and shrubbery, all of a sudden I was sniffing like a bloodhound on a scent.  I knew there were some nearby.  Sure enough, there were English Boxwood for sale.  Beautiful healthy looking plants.  I had to have them.  It’s the strange smell.  I have sniffed boxwood at Mount Vernon, at Colonial Williamsburg, in Philadelphia, in Wilmington.  Anywhere there is any “colonial” influence, there English Boxwood – and I sniff it out!!

The difference between the English Boxwood and the American variety is that the English is slower growing and so is more compact, more dense.  Now, they’re small, young ones, but when these plants mature, they will remain so.  They make more of a wind-break, more of a privacy hedge than the American variety, which tends to grow fast, get “leggy” and appear more sparce.

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Gas Prices

Went past the local gas station today, AND had the camera with me AND it was in the passenger seat.  Although I didn’t need to fill up, I noticed that the damn price had gone up again.

The last price check and picture was on 05 April and regular gasoline was USD $3.21.9 — a 5% increase in 16 days.  I’m so glad my vehicle will run fine on that cheapest grade of fuel.  Diesel fuel is over $4.

It arrived today. My package from PomPom in Australia. To celebrate her blogiversary!! I read every post and enjoy them immensely. The best part of the concept of a “global community” is getting thoughts and ideas from outside your own head,your own place. Thanks so for all the thoughts and ideas you’ve sent round the world to me. And to so many others.

Kate sent me a message on my cell phone before lunch time that the package had arrived, and I had to wait for hours before I could come home and have a look. It made for a long boring afternoon. And it was rainy and gray, too, so the day was dismal.

I opened up the shipping box and inside, nestled in packing papers was this lovely box. A keeper!!! Isn’t it pretty? So delicate.

Inside, a ball of fine pure wool from Rubi & Lana. Oh, I’ve heard of that shop all the way over here in Delaware, USA, because I listen to Sticks and String, the knitting podcast by Australian bloke David Reidy. I’ve been listening to him on my iPodas I knit since he first started, and I’ve enjoyed every episode.And I’ve heard him talk about Rubi and Lana’s. And here I was standing at the dining room table holding a ball of the most beautiful deep red fine, fine wool and the ballband said, “Rubi + Lana” I couldn’t believe it. 600 meters of beauty.

And, as if that isn’t enough to knock me over, there’s another ball of fine wool from Kaalund Classic Two Yarn, 365 meters of Australian goodness in shades of deep red.

Now, I’m sitting here wondering, how could this PomPom, from the other side of the world, know so much about my favorite color choices. Is there some sort of tube through the center of the earth, from there to here, that she can look into and see, well, my RED car, my RED iPod case, my RED keychain, the deep RED dress I wore as Mother of the Bride, the RED jackets and sweaters and handmade socks. RED purses, RED suits (that I usually split up, wearing either the�skirts or the jackets but not both unless it’s Christmas!! After all, at my age…..) From where I’m sitting now, I can SEE 3 RED knitting bags. I even bought a RED freaking collar for the dog!!! If I pair up the RED with anything, it is with white or black, depending on the season – or both. These are beautiful, perfect for me, and I think I’ll go sit and hold them in my arms like precious quiet children for about a week or 4.

I brought out Mom’s cut-glass dish, to show the yarns off. Actually, this dish was my grandmother’s, and she died in 1928, and it wasn’t new then. So the dish is well over 80 years old, and possibly as much as 90-95 years old.

And wee goodies for the twins. Pencils with pictures of kangaroos and koalas on them. And TWO (oh, thank you for that, for TWO) Australian flag iron-on patches for small-fellow shirts. I’ll record a proper thank-you from them soon.

A lovely card, made by Australian artist Denise Sutherland, and a note from PomPom congratulating me for winning the prize, when really, I should be congratulating her on one year of publishing a wonderful and interesting blog. We all should be sending her congratulations.

Thank you.

Your friend,

Pat