Sometimes Monday ...

... is just way too crazy to write a decent blog post. I promise details when the story stops changing every five minutes.

Friday Letters

I haven't written any Friday Letters for almost a year, but have taken my virtual fountain pen in hand this week to say what's on my mind, take the opportunity to offer a thank you, and wonder about things. Let's open the mail ...

Dear MetLife,

Thank you for having at least one customer service representative that has actually provided some customer service. You administered one of my father's pensions, and after notifying you in February of his death, you've been busily sending me loads of letters. They've been increasing in number weekly, but also causing increasing confusion. Some letters say that his pension ended upon his death and no more payments will be received; others say that you need a new bank account number for the direct deposit of payments you haven't been able to make, and others say that I need to return the overpayments you have made. I've been calling you for several months, but the letters continue, almost like the scene in Harry Potter where all the envelopes come flooding into the Dursley's house. I called yet again earlier this week, and Anna was able to figure out that three different "life event" managers had been assigned to my father's account, all sending different letters. Anna seems to have fixed the problem, and I hope that next week marks the momentous occasion of one whole week without a letter from MetLife!

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Dear Social Security Administration,

I've been busy over the past three months filling out forms, having forms notarized, going to court, writing letters, making copies and phone calls, and filling out more forms. You guys have provided the few moments of levity I've had in the job of executor, and I do appreciate it. You originally received notification of my father's death from at least four different sources, and all of them included original death certificates, so I did have to laugh at the letter I received yesterday. It was a fun one addressed to my father stating that errors have been made in the past when dealing with the SSA, and could he please verify that he was really dead. Yes, your language was a bit more convoluted, but that was really what you wanted to know by asking me to fill out the enclosed form and return it with another original death certificate. John didn't believe me at first, but also laughed after he read it and agreed that it really was an "are you sure you're really dead?" letter. Way to go SSA; bureaucracy and humor all in one!

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Dear XBox One, 

The more comfortable I get with you, the more I love you, especially now that I know you turn your controller off automatically. I understand the futuristic glowing XBox button, along with the primary colored A, B, X, and Y buttons. There are still the left and right sticks, bumpers, and triggers for me to figure out, but who knows, I may even be playing a video game next week! 

Maybe this one ...

I hope your weekend includes more fun and games than bureaucracy!

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday, and today it's with three "interesting" views of hotel carpets. Yes, I know that sounds really weird, but all of them are in the same hotel, and each one struck me so much that I just wanted to ask "What were you thinking?!" I understand they need to choose floor coverings that don't show dirt and wear, but I do wonder why they also have to be so darn ugly.

This is the first carpet you see in the lobby - big, wild, and all I could think of was that it looked like some abstract depiction of a cell, complete with nucleus, mitochondria, and Golgi apparatus. 

Here you can see the big picture. 

This next carpet stopped me in my tracks when I got off the elevator. It's even wilder, and carpets every hallway leading to rooms. It reminds me of that awful Monster energy drink that Justin used to have in the refrigerator when he was a teenager.

I had to take a quick look in one of the ballrooms to see what lovely choice they had made for the carpeting there, and was not surprised to find this.

I think the yellow squares outlined in red make it really beautiful. ;-)

Head on over here to read more Three on Thursday posts.

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday.

Spring has finally arrived, the season where I can place my knitting on various blooming plants for photos. 

I call this one sock with bleeding heart.

Sock in redbud.

Sock in plum tree.

Sock with hyacinths, clematis, and grape hyacinth.

All of these are to show that I'm trying to be monagamous with my sister's found socks to actually finish them before too much more time passes. I've got two more four-row repeats of the waffle pattern before the heel flap, so progress is being made.

Spring has meant a little less time for reading as I've been doing lots of yard and garden work, but I did finish Stephen Fry's excellent reading of Sherlock Holmes in audio while raking, weeding, clearing, and planting. Fry and Holmes are a combination that was meant to be and I know I'll re-listen in the future. I also finished another excellent book that I know I'll re-read, Foolproof. It's about math, but the author Brian Hayes is so skilled a writer that he can explain almost anything mathematical. This book seems to have cured my previous reading slump, so I've just started A Mind at Play, a promising book about Claude Shannon. I'm hoping to make some time in the next week for Claude and sock knitting.

What are you making and reading this week?

The Trouble With Tuesdays

The trouble with Tuesdays is that too often I don't have anything of substance to say. But since I enjoyed the many poems that were shared during April, here is one to start off May. Billy Collins wrote this about the author, Denver Butson, “Here is a poet who is wild, frenzied, and refreshingly mad. His imagination unlocks for us the cells of reason and sets us loose in a world of dizzying possibilities.” That was enough for me to take a look at some of his poetry! I love the evocative language in this one, and the interesting images that the well-chosen words call to mind, the ordinary situation of waiting for a bus made extraordinary by fire, drowning, freezing, and worse. It speaks to me of quiet desperation.

Tuesday 9:00 AM

A man standing at the bus stop
reading the newspaper is on fire
Flames are peeking out
from beneath his collar and cuffs
His shoes have begun to melt

The woman next to him 
wants to mention it to him
that he is burning
but she is drowning
Water is everywhere
in her mouth and ears
in her eyes
A stream of water runs
steadily from her blouse

Another woman stands at the bus stop
freezing to death
She tries to stand near the man
who is on fire
to try to melt the icicles
that have formed on her eyelashes
and on her nostrils
to stop her teeth long enough
from chattering to say something
to the woman who is drowning
but the woman who is freezing to death
has trouble moving
with blocks of ice on her feet

It takes the three some time
to board the bus
what with the flames
and water and ice
But when they finally climb the stairs 
and take their seats
the driver doesn't even notice
that none of them has paid
because he is tortured
by visions and is wondering
if the man who got off at the last stop
was really being mauled to death
by wild dogs.

—Denver Butson

You can read an interview with Denver Butson here.

Random Scenes From the Weekend

This weekend began with a beautiful 72 degree day on Saturday; that meant lots of laundry as I made the annual transition from flannel sheets back to regular sheets. In between loads of laundry I did lots of yardwork - clearing leaves out of beds, weeding, pruning roses, mums, and hydrangeas, and dealing with my excess columbine seedlings.

When Ryan moved to Colorado, it seemed as if I saw columbines almost everywhere and I was entranced. I bought some seeds, planted them in pots indoors, and carefully tended them for almost two years before I thought they were ready to plant in beds outside. I attributed my success to all the loving care I lavished on my seeds, but now I have to laugh at how easy they really are to start. I have hundreds of volunteers growing in between the stones in the garden path, so I dug out quite a few of them to transplant to a relatively bare bed. I know that more columbines means even more volunteers sprouting where I don't want them next year, but too many columbines is a better problem than not enough.

 My amaryllis is blooming again, at the end of April! It's a true wonder to see.

I also have a slightly confused Easter cactus just starting to bloom and covered with buds. No complaints here; I'll take blossoms wherever and whenever I can get them.

I needed to get a sympathy card and because our Hallmark store is crammed full of every kind of knick-knack and tchotchke imaginable, I had some fun looking around.

If anyone needs a large stuffed sloth (cute or creepy? I can't decide), just let me know. 

Sunday was cold and chilly so I was just puttering around inside when Justin arrived for a very quick visit. He's been trying to convince me that I need an xbox one, and once he explained I could use it for Netflix, Amazon video, and Spotify, we headed to GameStop. I am now the proud owner of a used console, and Justin even help me set it up. 

He played a few of his video games, "just to make sure everything works, Mom", but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish my sister's socks even more quickly knitting along with my Spotify knitting playlists. 

Truer words were never stitched on a tea towel!

Better Late Than Never

A while ago, Carole posted about finding a nearly-completed pair of socks while cleaning up her craft room, and she just finished them on vacation. I had cleaned out my stash and ufos about six months ago, so I was fairly sure that the sock knitting fairy had not hidden a pair of socks in my craft closet. This morning I decided to take a look - you know, just in case. And look what I found!

A promising project bag!

I found a pattern, a few pattern notes that don't make much sense, and best of all, a sock that only needs the toes grafted and the half-completed second sock! 

While I'm thrilled to find my own pair of almost-done socks, the details are a bit quite embarrassing. I started these socks for my sister many years ago, so long ago that I'm not even going to write the year. Let's just say that the project is way down in the first row of my ravelry notebook. Now that I've posted this photo, I really do need to finish them. So, sorry for the delay, Jill. I guess it's better to receive long-promised socks later than never. Or, like Dad used to say, I'd rather owe you socks than cheat you out of them. :-)