The Life and Times of Florence Knitingale

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Cat Puke Alarm Clock

Okay, no--this entire post isn't about cat vomit. In fact, it's not really at ALL about cat vomit, but the nasty stuff IS the reason that I'm up early enough to post something, Gussie being the lovely animal that she is and further being inclined to seek me out and howl as though having her spleen removed with a grapefruit spoon on the rare occasions when she does upchuck. Which are always around 4:00am. I think that just adds to the wonderfulness of it all.

BUT. We got back later than anticipated Sunday night (dorking around had much to do with this) and I have Knit for Life on Monday nights and there is the dreadful annoyance of having to WORK for a living in between (some poet once referred to work as "the great toad that squats upon my life" and, while I like my work quite a bit, it does sort of get in the way of the important stuff like blogging and knitting), so only now can I tell you that I was in....
Portland. By the airport, as it happens...the one called PDX. Does that tell you who I got to spend the day with?



Yep, it's MonicaPDX (which my husband once misread while I was typing and wondered aloud who this "Monica POX" was I was writing to...and why she was named for a disease) of Animorphia fame and she is every bit as delightful and funny as you would think. She is at least as smart and insightful as you would think, and we had a splendid time. Mr. K was at a knife show most of the day (he makes knives for a hobby) so Monica and I had nothing to do at all but yarn crawl and chat and giggle and have a wonderful, wonderful time. I know--sounds awful, huh? = )

Because I have been set on "spaz" for some time now (I'm starting to think that particular knob is broken because I've not managed to find the "my shit is together" setting for some time), I forgot my spindle, did not bring her the yarn I was planning to, and gifted her with nothing more than some truffle brownies and, eventually, the recipe. She, on the other hand, had all of her stuff together and brought me:



I wish I had photographed it more successfully--it's a stunning blue stone with traces of green and she made it into a necklace for me and I love it love it love it. If you look at the picture of the two of us, you can kinda see how perfectly it hangs. She also brought me:



Is this not yarn kryptonite (so pretty you get weak when you look at it)? I keep stroking it, which Mr. K thinks may be some sort of offence in some areas of the country. When the miners blankets are done, this is going straight on the needles and becoming sock kryptonite. And, of course, I completely heart the cow tape measure. You pull its TAIL to measure with it which, of course, tickles me to death. I'm a simple creature.

Thank you again, Monica. You rock beyond words. We went all over the place and did some stash enhancing (thank goodness, since neither of us had any yarn) that I'll show you tomorrow. We also went to the International Rose Test Gardens which really defy both description and photographing--it's impossible to describe the impact of all those acres of roses--but I pretended to know my ass from a hole in the ground about photography and did get these to show you:



The color is true here--it really is orange and yellow splattered and looks like it was painted. Then this:

which just took my breath away in person. Kind of like Monica herself.

I have some blanket square photos, too, but I think blogger may just climb out of the computer and smack me a good one if I try to upload any more photos today. It was threatening a bit with these last two. I'll try to get those in tomorrow, too.

Now, I have to pry Gussie from my lap where she is happily purring (perhaps she is a blog fan and that's why she woke me up so early...and now she's happy because it worked and she has a new post to read? You can bet I'll be checking the screen for nose prints later) and exercise before going to work. But, in Gussie's honor, have you ever noticed that there are certain questions to which there are going to be no good answers? For instance, "What did I just step in?" is never followed by anything like "Mmm...warm massage lotion". I think there may be an entire post in the future on this very subject.

12 Comments:

  • At 8:33 AM, Blogger Tola said…

    we just spent the weekend at my aunt's house, for my uncle's funeral. they have 3 cats, all of which adore my daughter, as proven by the fact that they always chose her to sit next to when they yakked up a hairball. she's used to it: her Nana has 13 cats, and so there's always at least one pregnant at any given time.

     
  • At 10:08 AM, Blogger Marianne said…

    Wonderful...absolutely wonderful! What beautiful gifts and hey, a day with monicapdx...just the best.
    Beautiful roses, love love love the orange and yellow ones and in the second photo, that rose on the right, with just a smidgeon of warm tones? oh yeah.

    Dudes, you're SO lucky!

     
  • At 11:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wow - first-ever blog photo of me with my hair down! [vbg] And ROFLMAOWTIME over Mr. K and "Monica POX" - oh man, I nearly broke something. ::snirtling madly::

    The rest of you should know I had just as much fun as Ms. K did; I did not have my stuff together that much, as I got us lost all over Portland, despite living there (yes, full disclosure on my blog, reciprocal blogging taking place here); I was completely smitten with Ms. K in turn, who is just as wonderful as you think, in turn again [g]; and Mr. K is quite the guy! Flo, I'm so glad you got a pic of the necklace, 'cause now I can definitely tell my readers they can actually see it, LOL. And I forgot I gave you the cow measure! How could I forget that?! (See? Spaz over here, too.) (And I have a tigger-striped one and totally forgot to show that to Ms. K. Again, spazicity.)

    The truffle brownies, btw? Worth their weight in gold.

    I can hardly wait until we get together again! ::still-giddy hugs:: And sympathy to Gussie. I kinda react that way too. ;) But dang, it would've been nice if she'd let you sleep; you need your rest after all the gallivanting around!

     
  • At 11:34 AM, Blogger Faren said…

    So glad you two had a good time and got to yarn crawl together. The roses and yarn are beautiful.

     
  • At 11:36 AM, Blogger ~Tonia~ said…

    Sounds like you all had a great time. The roses are so pretty.

     
  • At 12:46 PM, Blogger Kit said…

    The cat puke thing never happens to dogs. Well, unless they get into your chocolate stash, which my Daisy is far too cultured and refined to do (plus she's terrified of the consequences if I ever catch her).

    Anyways, it looks like a good time was had. One can never complain if the day is spent giggling, chatting, and petting yarn. :D

     
  • At 12:54 PM, Blogger KimK said…

    You know, my Nuala lets me know she's about to hork something up by yowling, too. Although I appreciate the warning because then I can hustle her off the rug (where she always seems to want to lay one) and onto the hard floor for easier clean-up.

    On a more pleasant note, it sounds like you had a ton of fun; can't wait to see more of your new yarn!

     
  • At 3:23 PM, Blogger Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns said…

    I'm so happy you got to meet Monica PDX! You look great together and I'm envious of that time you had yarn crawling and everything. Next time can I come, huh, can I?

    (And I would ask, why do small dogs, when choosing to upchuck in the early hours, always choose the spot right by the door where you'll come in...?)

     
  • At 4:50 PM, Blogger Lynn said…

    OK, sister, we need to get you down here to Texas. Tyler thinks it knows a thing or three about roses, too. [But I don't think any of them grow as huge as they do in the Pacific NW.)

    I love that "Grateful Dead" rose. Also the Smooshy Pink one; it looks just like the yarn that Tan sent me for her blogiversary.

    Email me about my "stupid barf question". It may or may not ever make it to my blog, but Fourthborn and I will never forget it.

     
  • At 12:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    To Jo - dogs, small or otherwise, do it by the door (upchuck or whatever) because they KNOW they are SUPPOSED to go outside, and YOU left the door shut so they couldn't. While you were sleeping - why would you do that?

    So you can see, it is all your fault you have to clean the bottom of the door as well!

     
  • At 10:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh what an "awful" day .If only we could all get together and have a bloggers Co-operative shop .The trouble is if I ran a yarn business I couldn't part with any .

     
  • At 1:29 PM, Blogger Joanna said…

    I just love the cow tape measure, and what a fun day, also those orange roses are really cool, it's so great to get together with blog buddies,looks like you had a good time, I know your keeping the spindle at home until I can get over and teach you, course you are!!I might even throw in a fearless dyeing for the terrified session too!

     

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