Apparently at least one airline

gives frequent fliers a 30,000 mile "bonus" when they have flown one million miles. This is not necessarily news that one wants to learn, especially when that doesn't reflect all airlines flown.

So last year

we read Shanghai Girls for book group and Hubband and I both really enjoyed it. Well,as I recall, I am pretty sure most everybody in the group liked it. I was really happy when the story was continued with the publishing of Dreams of Joy, and quite excited to be on a fairly short waiting list for in in eBook form. It was an excellent read, full of history and wonderful research. (Again, much easier to let you read the links rather than me repeating what has already been said.) I would strongly recommend both of these if you enjoy well researched historical fiction.

I recently read

a very popular book (Powell's link). I checked it out in eBook form from the library, since it is/was so popular I would have had a very long wait to get it in paper (currently it has 30 holds for four copies). I am guessing that some of you will have heard of it by now, as it has had a fair amount of press, including the selling of movie rights before it was actually published (pretty good for a first novel). Rather than me going on and on about it, you can read at least the first few chapters yourself, via the publishers website.
You can also see a trailer for the book at the author's website, as well as some other cool/interesting stuff.
(With any luck, in the very near future I will tell you about another excellent book that I finished recently.)

Apparently not all

the cool kids are turning fifty this year. At least one of them got to do it last year.

DTE suggested

getting Oribel a pet Guinea Pig to keep her from being lonely. I will be willing to do that with the same rules we had for the kids and pets when they were still at home. AKA, when Oribel is mature/dedicated enough to feed, clean the cage without having to be reminded every time, and play nicely/safely with her pet, I will be happy to get her one. (I don't recall being accused of inconsistency much in my life.)

Some folks have asked me

if Oribel misses Sadie, to which I generally have answered "Who really knows with a cat?" I still stand by that statement (not my business to try to understand a cat!), but I am beginning to think she might, at least a little. It used to be that Oribel would sleep on Sadie's bed in our room every afternoon and some evenings. Well, she hasn't slept or even gotten on it at all in the last week (plus a few days). She has slept on Sadie's bed in the family-room a couple of times, but again this used to be a daily activity, if not several times a day, so that is another significant change.

 

The biggest change I have noticed is that the water bowl has looked like this all week,

 

instead of this.

 

Coasters are still being given (loud) tours of the house, dropped on me at all hours, as well as being kept very close and greatly loved.

 

It would seem she knows Sadie isn't here to get presents anymore.

This was not the post I planned on

returning from the blogging hiatus with, but it is the one we all get anyway. I had planned on telling you all about our trip to Portland in May for DTY's college graduation, catching you up on my Project Spectrum doings, telling you about all the knitting I have been doing, sharing news about my trip to Milwaukee when friends that "lived in my computer" became "real", as well as a trip report of a family vacation to Washington, DC, this past week. Other than that brief "what I would have said" bit, I am not really here today to talk about any of that stuff.

 

Well, I guess in a way I will mention DC a wee bit more since in a way it leads into the real subject of this return posting. Last Wednesday Hubband, DTE, and I all got on a plane together, then changed planes together, and then landed in Washington, DC, where DTY met us via different plane routes. We all had a several days of fun and activities together, and then headed in three separate directions (all of that would be the previously planned report) on Saturday afternoon.

 

DTE and I flew back to our starting point together, where we were greeted by a cat who seemed fine with our return, and a dog who was, as always, very happy to have most of her pack back where they belong. About three hours after we got home from the airport, Sadie started fussing at the two of us, pacing, and wanting in and out. We figured fairly quickly that she was not OK and needed to to go to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic. Shortly after getting her there she was diagnosed with GDV (which I had rather suspected would be the case). Given that she was fourteen-and-a-half, an rare/strange heart murmur, and several other known age related issues, she was not a candidate for any kind of surgery, so I am pretty sure you know the rest of the story.

 

 

 

DTE headed back to her place in Minneapolis today and our house has never, ever felt this empty.

Thanks Sweetie!

Happy Anniversary to you too!
(I hope meetings are going well. You know I miss you.)

When I shared this

 

with my uncle the other day, he said, "Well, you must have some really fine knitting needles."
Happy Birthday today to my Favorite Uncle!

Where was I last?

Oh, right, I was at the point of one big block, wasn't I? Well, ends all got woven in, the i-cord got done, and the finial bits and pieces were woven and snipped, and a washing/blocking have been accomplished. Thus it has been declared finished! Not that you can see said edging, but I promise it is there. The finished size is about 40" by 54" and weighs in at about two pounds. I loved working with this yarn, the pattern was very well written and a lot of fun to knit up. Actually nice enough that I told Hubband part way through this one that I was pretty sure I would make it again. I have concluded that I will, just not this month. (Want to know something else cool about the pattern? As of June 3, $15000 had been donated from the sales of this pattern, at $5 a pattern purchase!)
For those that are wondering (or haven't figured it out) about why I picked the colors I did and why they are arranged the way they are, I am happy to share said information. A couple of years ago, I had decided to knit a "Block A Month Blanket" as can be evidenced here. Well, I did get a couple of the blocks made, but the idea kind of stalled. The stalling had nothing to do with the sewing together issue, it had more to do with the finding the pattern for what I kept seeing in my head. (For the record, what I kept seeing would be much easier to produce with pieces of fabric. That might still happen someday, but don't hold your breath for it to be very soon.) Anyways, I had been acquiring the proper colors/yarn and was waiting for the proper inspiration/pattern/thing to happen, as I knew it would and sure enough, as soon as I saw the Mitered Crosses Blanket pattern I knew it was exactly what I wanted. So, the first one is blue for Advent (depending on a few things, that could have been purple instead), the second is white for Christmas, the third is green for Epiphany. Next comes purple for Lent, red for Holy Week, and white for Easter. The seventh one is red for Pentecost Sunday, then there are three different green ones for the long season of (Sundays after) Pentecost/Ordinary Time. That brings us to the eleventh block, which is red for The Feast of St. Luke (not necessarily significantly more important than other saints, but he happens to be the patron saint of our congregation), and the twelfth/last block is white for The Feast of Christ the King (the last Sunday in the liturgical year before starting over with Advent).

Now I just have to hope that the person I made this gift for isn't allergic to wool.