What I'm doing and where I've been

The problem with not having internet in my apartment is I've been neglecting this blog. The upside is that you, reader, have not been inundated with the posts I've been typing up in my head and then forgetting. Posts like "Eating an olive sandwich is oddly liberating" and "OH CHRIST A CENTIPEDE" and "Muppet-dog is judging me again." You will never have to read those posts. You're better for it.

As an apology for not having any content here for almost two weeks, here are some snapshots of what I've been up to.

First off, the yard.

I've never had a yard I loved this much. It's a little bigger than an average St. Paul back yard, entirely fenced in, with fruit trees, a huge lilac bush, and a border that only touches one other neighbor's yard. I've been spending a lot of time out there, just sort of basking.

The pear tree is laden with fruit already, all its branches bowing under the weight. There are hundreds of pears, slightly bigger than ping-pong balls.

The concord grape vines along the back of the fence:

The two apple trees have dropped a lot of their fruit already, but some of them are still growing. They're about this big now:

The muppet-dog in the yard, looking uncharacteristically heroic:
He spends most of his time out there snuffling around for apples to chew on and barking at the neighbors across the alley.

Next, knitting.

Owls sweater, knit up to the armpits:

Garter Yoke Cardi, about five inches from the body being done:

Sylvi jacket so far:
I've also been doing a lot of spinning lately.

Playing around with spinning Corriedale wool in lace weight - the most consistent thing I've spun so far:

And my favorite thing I've spun:

That's a full 4 oz of 60% superwash merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon, spun into lace to fingering weight. It's currently sitting on my ballwinder, waiting for me to get home and ply it. As soon as I get done with this shift at work, it is on.

Lastly, writing.

It's a little hard to take pictures of writing. So here are some things on my writing desk.

This is Harold. I bought him at a garage sale last week, and so far he's been an excellent supervisor.

Stone trinkets, feathers, a candle that smells like Christmas cookies, and my outline for the chapter of Or Your Money Back I just completed:
OYMB is currently in its third chapter. It took me a while to get into the groove of the story, but now it's cruising along nicely. And I seem to be bonding pretty well with the narrator. I have an odd history of my life imitating parts of my POV characters' lives. There have been instances with my long-time fantasy series narrator, Tiern, where I've written something in his life and then had a similar thing happen to me in the next week, unexpectantly - things like small injuries, particular bits of news from friends, mood shifts, even getting rejected. The more involved I got in Tiern's story, the more this happened. (Thankfully, the deadly psychic powers, major character deaths, and epic war plots have stayed firmly in the realm of fiction.)

Anyway, to the point. Over the weekend I wrote Seb getting blisters from his too-tight loafers. Yesterday I wore some sandals that usually don't hurt much...and got big whopping blisters on my feet, in the exact number and locations of my narrator's. Cue the spooky music.

I'm not going to show you a picture of my blistered toes, though. (You're welcome.)