No, I haven't vanished from the face of the earth

But I've sure considered it. Or at least moving to New Zealand and raising sheep. And to all those people who say to me, "Oh there'd be problems any where else, too" I say "Pfffffffft." Not the point. The point is that the problems we are facing are almost unbearable. And the really irritating part is that people care more about playing the blame game and pointing a finger at everyone else, i.e. the other political party. There was even an editorial about all these financial problems are Clinton's fault. Please, please stop blaming each other, stop crowing about how much better your idea is to fix it, stop yelling about how wrong other people are. Here's an idea. Why don't our politicians, whom we elected, try thinking about what's best for American citizens first and actually doing something that would benefit us for a change. It's time for all these people who think they are examples of American success stories to step up and support the people in the country who propped them up.

Enough of that. I'm just going back to my knitting. Yes, the knitting obsession continues and grows, even. I listen to a knitting podcast while I walk Cosette and it fires me up to work on something. I'm busily trying to finish an afghan for my grandmother's 90th birthday present and a scarf for a friend before I go back home in October for the birthday festivities. And while I'm working on them, my mind is spinning with all the projects I want to work on next. Then, when I'm not knitting or listening to the knitting podcasts, I'm on knitting community websites, such as Ravelry. I can waste a lot of time looking at projects other knitters are doing, and one of these days, I'll stop looking around enough to figure out how to participate. I did start a knitting blog with a friend, but both of us got sick right after I set it up and I haven't done anything with it. Hell, I hardly ever update this blog, what made me think I'd keep a new one updated. But still, I might switch to that blog for awhile, just to be able to talk more indepth about what I'm doing. A kind of hobby journal, if you will.

I have gotten some reading in, too. I read The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library by Alice Kimberly. I got this from my mom, who decided she wasn't going to keep reading the series because it's just not her favorite thing. Me, seemingly always disagreeing with my mother, liked it and am looking forward to getting some more from the library. The premise is bookstore owner Penelope McClure who somehow (I haven't read the first one yet) is in possession of a coin that belonged to a private detective who was killed in the bookshop in the 40s and now the ghost of Jack Shepherd is with her, talking to her and helping her solve mysteries. The story has a modern day mystery that parallels a case that Jack had in the 40s, so it goes back and forth a little bit. Jack is a little bit of a stereotype and says "baby" a lot, but I enjoyed it and I think Kimberly is a good writer. So, I'll be reading more. But first, I'm enjoying Murder Runs in the Family by Anne George, part of her Southern Sisters Mysteries. It's funny, clever, and very Souther, and I like that. I have several books sitting on the waiting shelf, one of them is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've wanted to read it for awhile, and when I found it at Half-Price Books, I snapped it up. Oh, but first I'll have to read Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn, which I borrowed from my best friend, Angie. I have to finish that and the Anne George, which I borrowed from Mom, so I can return them when I go back in October. That means I better get to reading. *Tsk* Oh the sacrifices I have to make, but I gave my word that I would return them and I can't go back on that, now can I?

So, how about some pictures?

A pause in licking Uncle Jay. The lull before the storm.


Baking pumpkin bread for a bake sale


Cosette hoping for a bite of said pumpkin bread


Yarn to finish the afghan


Cosette napping after her morning walk