You Like It * It Likes You

My second contribution to Carson's Vessel Wednesday:



An old 7-UP bottle, found, (do I really need to say it?), at a local thrift store.

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I love the caption: "You Like It -- It Likes You".

There's nothing like your bottle of pop giving you some love.

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Because Cara Asked: A Photo Journey of My Weekend

Cara, famous Cara of January One, poses the question: "How was your weekend?"

I thought it would be rude not to answer her question. So, here for you all, is My Weekend--all its thrills, spills, and chills. (Whatever that means?)




This weekend, I had MUCHO grading to do. So, I started it off, as any sane teacher would do, with a Bloody Mary and the beginnings of the infamous Mason-Dixon Warshrag.



I must admit, I sat a little bit too long on the sunny porch (before the incessant rains began!), sipping the drink and knitting the rag. (Why does writing that--"knitting the rag"--sound so offensive?)



But despite this relaxing start to the weekend, most of my weekend was spent indoors, grading furiously (that is, furiously as in a frenzied state to finish 60 papers, AND furiously, as in how could my college students--some of them SENIORS!--not know how to use a comma, a semi-colon, even an apostrophe?!?!?!) Needless to say, I looked like the photo above most of the weekend--unshowered, pulling out my hair, feeling like I was in a state of agony.



Our black-cat-from-hell, on the other hand, felt just fine while grading his papers. Calm, cool, collected. Nothing to it.



So I wouldn't die from the boredom/frustration/agony of grading 300 pages of sophomore literary criticism, I broke up the day by cooking one of my favourite meals: hey! it's not procrastination, people. One must eat, and therefore, one must spend 1.5 hours preparing Chicken Saffran & Fennel Stew (or Ragout, as "the French" would say, and really, it sounds better than "stew") with Baby Potatoes. AND I made homemade baking-powder biscuits. AND I made brownies. AND I really didn't want to continue grading...



But the papers got done. It was brutal, but they are back in the hands of the students who have probably already smashed them--filled as they are with all my useful comments, suggestions, corrections--into their knapsacks, never to be looked at again, already forgotten.

Just think, in three weeks, it gets to happen all over again. What fun!

Oh well, at least we ate well. Oh yeah, and the warshrag got done too. It was MUCHO fun.

Amazing: The Softie Awards

This beautiful bird was made by Abby Jane at AsSheNaps. The photo of the beautiful softie was taken from AbbyJane's blog: whileshenaps.typepad.com

I came across "The Softie Awards" through FlintKnits this morning. You must go see it if you, like me, didn't know about it. There are some really amazing softies over there, and I'm always blown away by the talent of people.

My favourite, besides Abby Jane's beautiful bird above, is this one by RubyCrownedKinglette . I really *luv* him...

ETA: Ooooo, so sorry to edit my post but I overlooked the PaperbackWriter. I luv him too. That category will be difficult to decide for voting: Old Man or PaperBack Writer???? Hmmmm.....

Vessel Wednesday

Carson has been running "Vessel Wednesday" for a while now. There have been some really lovely vessels photographed as of late. I've been meaning to take part, but this is the first Wednesday that I have actually thought of it in time. Unfortunately, I don't have a very "artsy" photo, but this one will have to do for this particular Wednesday.

I found this birch bowl in a Goodwill store back in Canada about six years ago. It usually holds tealight candles and my Canadian money, but I think such a pretty wooden bowl should actually be holding these instead:



The first day of spring actually means starting to garden here in the Southwest (unlike in Western Canada where the first day of spring meant waiting two more months before getting to start gardening...)



This is the bottom of the vessel: it says "Birch" then "Sid and Ella Kingdon, 1984".

No, I Haven't Flown The Coop....Yet....

Yes, I'm still around--no taking off here for a fun Spring Break trip (oooooooo, how I envy Ashley!!) What I am doing is sitting in a library carrel (or I am *supposed* to be sitting in the library carrel), trying to get writing done. With Spring Break, the library is ghastly quiet (but I like it that way...hey, it's a library, right!?). Really, it's just me and this bird, who keeps landing just outside my library carrel window.




And, a la Megan's literary spectrum, here's a shot of some books in my carrel. Typical grad student fare. I'm not actually reading these (I'd be in trouble if at the late dissertation stages, I'm still trying to make my way through the cheat books!)*, but I do like lining some of these up with their colors and their "weighty* names. The Lowell is in there just to give me some poetry breaks from time to time, when the bird isn't around for me to take a break with.

Promising this: that modelled shots of Kiri are on their way. And Forecast? Well, I'm on to the first sleeve, so I'll show you some shots of that too.

And what am I lusting after now? Well, after perusing the B&N bookstore's knitting section (oh right, I'm supposed to be in the library carrel!!), I am wanting to make the crew-neck sweater from Glampyre's Fitted Knits, a jacket/sweater/cardigan from Erika Knight's Classic Knits, many, many things out of Lace Style (see Julia for a great review of this book), these socks, and these socks, and oh so many other things....

And what am I addicted to smelling right now? This....Hmmmm...

*Of course I (we!?) still use these kind of cheat books in the later stages of writing the dissertation-- :)

The Blocking of Kiri: A Silent Film*

*I didn't have time this morning, besides to drape Kiri over Guido while he was playing the piano, to do a modelling photo shoot for Kiri, but I'll see to that in the coming days. Then, all details and thoughts on this project will be shared with you all.

**My sincere apologies to Wendy of Knit&Tonic for the possible offense caused by this silent film of the lacy shawl--a lacy shawl that requires pesky little pins to block; I'll be sure to move the shawl immmediately off the chair, and hang it on the wall, as soon as I get home tonight-- ;)**

**You gotta love people who aren't afraid to share their opinions :) Although, I must confess, I'm a bit nervous now about modelling this for everyone in the coming days after her post of today and all of the commenters saying how much they dislike the look of shawls, especially triangle-shaped ones (something about the arrow pointing to one's butt!?!). I hope I can pull it off. And if not, who cares? I *love* my Kiri shawl.