Petunia rambles on and on….

Did I put up a picture of any of my new toys?  Shame on me for just sitting on my ass knitting, when I should have been sitting on my ass posting pictures, right?

While at Maryland Sheep and Wool, I did get something I’ve wanted for a long time. 

A Golding Spindle!

It’s a tiny one, about 2” in diameter, about 0.8 oz., for fine spinning. The balance is wonderful, it’s beautifully hand-crafted, and if there were an extra 8 hours each day, I’d have time to do much more with it than I’ve done so far. This is a tool that is also a work of art.

And I splurged! Oh, my. We all know that husband is a TV/movie freak. Will sit on the couch watching that screen for months, seemingly with no concern for what it’s showing, what he’s viewing. Just sits there watching, slack-jawed, until he falls asleep, which he swears he doesn’t do. I’m the opposite. I must have some hyper-activity in me ‘cause I just can’t sit still that long, can’t find anything on TV that will keep my interest for longer than (only rarely) the length of one movie. Most TV programs that I’ve seen don’t interest me at all, but I guess that’s not fair – I’ve seen so few. All the so-called “hits of  the season” are unknown to me, as the last time I turned the TV on was when the Prince got married in London.

Anybody that knows me, knows that it’s music that holds my attention – and I’d rather be at JW’s tonight listening to Joey than sitting here typing, but…. If I’m at home, I want the satellite radio on, or I’m listening to music from my iPod. Good sound. I have the sat radio connected to Bose speakers and I even have Bose ear buds.  And then I got hooked on Pandora.  Thanks, Jim, for getting me started with another time-suck. But the problem was that, after being used to really good sound, well, the speakers on this laptop are good for the sound of the cards falling when you win at Solitaire. Nothing more. It was driving me crazy.

The solution is this, the Bose Soundlink Bluetooth speaker.

It’s slightly larger than a book, weighs less than 3 lbs., the “stand” underneath folds around to cover the front when not in use, and the cover uses magnets to stay in place. I can run Pandora through the laptop, or through my cell to this device. (Just make sure, if you use a cell, that you either have an unlimited data plan OR receive the signal through wi-fi – it uses a lot of data and will quickly put you over on a limited plan, but data gotten via wi-fi doesn’t’ count against that plan)  It’s portable, can take it out in the yard; it’s easily fit into the laptop bag. It’s Bose sound!

Uh, there’s a reason why the daughter calls me Ms. Gadget.

I don’t know that I regret the choices I’ve made,

but I will always regret the necessity –

Dragonfly in Amber

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was necessary. In the end, it was the best choice for everyone.

May 21, 1976 – June 2, 1994

I don’t forget.

A group of us will be leaving early Saturday morning, oh, about 0615, and heading west of Baltimore, to the Howard County Fairgrounds for the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

I’ve never been to it before. By the time I became enough of a lunatic an avid knitter and spinner to want to drive this far and walk all day in either steaming heat and humidity or pouring rain, depending on my luck, well, the first week of May was spent with the grandtwins, whose birthdays (for both of them, duh) is May 5. Daughter always had their birthday party on that first weekend.

She is this year, too. It’s just that she’s doing it over 1000 miles and 18 hours of car travel away from me. This would make for a lot of Interstate driving to get home in time to go to work on Monday morning.

So, instead, I will drive to this fair, which I believe is midway between Baltimore and Frederick, and spend money. This will not make me miss the twins (or their not-so-wee brother) any less, but it will help me not spend the whole day thinking of where I’m not.

I love you, guys, and I’ll send you pictures of the sheep! Take care of Mommy and have fun at your party.