Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Grammar is so funny!

On a local NPR program, there is often a woman who reports on grammar.  She is called the Radical Grammarian.  Today was a discussion on the word healthy and healthful.  We often say I eat a healthy diet.  How can a diet be healthy?  Healthy implies that it is alive.  It is supposed to be  I eat a healthful diet.  I hate that we are all so lazy that we talk in poor grammar.

Which goes to say, I am not interested in being correct.  I know in my writing that I should care.  It isn't all about commas anymore.  Unfortunately I write just like I talk.  And obviously I am not being correct.

It does goes all over me when I hear a young anchor on t.v. say something that is totally so WRONG.  Yesterday I was standing at a window when I heard something so wrong.  I turned around and yelled at the t.v.," no, no, no.  That is an adverb, not an adjective." 

So I guess I do care a little bit about something so obvious.  I haven't got the energy to determine if I need a clarifier or whatever.  I talk lazily, and my fault that I don't care.  See, I used the adverb, not the adjective.

I am almost done with #10 hexagon.  My right hand has been aching this week with the weather all over the place.  Also my right knee has been talking to me today.  It is dark and gloomy out.  Thankfully it is not bitter, bitter cold.

I am also halfway through the first side piece for the jacket.  It is going fairly quickly.

I have great ambitions to do more, but I can't seem to make myself get going.  My neighbor has organized a charity to make quilts for the new Children's Hospital that is to open next year.  She gave me some flannel that was donated to her.  I think there is ample in the piece to make two receiving blankets.

My friend CF is being dragged into the 20th Century.  No, not the 21st yet.  Her daughter has mounted a large HD flat screen t.v. on her wall.  She is getting her mother hooked up to internet so she can access Netflix.  She has her on a list to receive DVDs.  It is too funny.  CF has adamantly refused to have anything to do with computers or computerized anything.  She still uses a landline.  She gets too confused with cell phones.  Thank goodness BL is going to spend the Thanksgiving visit to teach her how to access her account, add to her list, etc.  I love her password.  It is typical of BL to come up with that.  My friend told me in case she loses the paper that she wrote it on. 

We are having unusually warm weather.  We had two little freezes with the day temps in the 50's and 60's.  It is extremely weird.  I have been holding my breath waiting for the winter to settle in.  I am grateful that I have had time to do my outdoor chores.  I finally closed up all the vents under the house.  The hoses were disconnected a long time ago.  I am waiting one last time to empty the back gutters under the box elder tree.

Well, I have to go fill the bird feeders again.  Keep moving.  That's the only advice this week.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Do You Take Breaks!

I belong to some groups on Facebook that are about knitting, spinning, weaving, and dyeing.  One of the questions that came up yesterday evening was "Do you take breaks with your knitting?"  This particular group is about knitting Persian Dreams.  It is a difficult thing to knit, but everyone is addicted to his own little hexagon world. 

The woman who posted the question has gone five days without knitting anything.  She says she isn't sad or upset, but she really is enjoying "not knitting".  She, of course, has young children that are in sports and other activities.  She also mentioned she has been bingeing on Candy Crush.

A while back I found myself obsessed with these hexagons.  As soon as one is washed and blocking I was onwards to another.  My hands got tired of managing the colorwork.  I am also knitting other projects, so I was trying to fit them into the schedule.

I suddenly pulled back. I give myself a three day break in between the hexagons.  I pick up the blanket or the sweater if I have to knit.  Yesterday I did not knit all day.

Today I laid out my eight that are completed and studied the colors.  I know what color I have to go to next.  I haven't gotten number 9 pattern out yet.  I just wanted to think about colors.

I am listening and watching a Rebecca Mezoff weaving class.  And I am finished with the purple roving I found that I had stashed away.  I am listening to Armand Gamache mysteries on audiobooks from the library.  I have listened to two of those this week.  I have read four books this week. 

Of course, all of this keeps me from turning on the t.v. and hearing the crap that is being hashed out there on the news.  I have limited my time on Facebook.  I do enjoy certain computer games, but that's when I take a break.  I haven't been watching as much Netflix as I normally do. 

So do we listen to ourselves and take breaks when our hands or our eyes or our backs or our families tell us it is time to do so?  I hope most people do.  I remember the "old days" prior to shows that I would make myself sick working crazy hours to finish the last pieces, label them, price them, etc.  No more of that.  I am not on a time schedule any more. 

I will say that I do set a goal to completely finish one hexagon in a week.  According to many of the others, that is slow knitting.  I just don't like to sit and knit all day long. 

If the weather keeps up, I may be mowing the yard one more time.  It has been coolish in the mornings and late evenings, but it is warm in the day time.  Little or no rain lately.  I have been watching for the first frost, but none so far.  Weird!

I guess I just wanted to expound on the question of the day.  Do You Take Breaks!