Knit 'n' NASCAR

Everything Else Starts With E

The Justin Roberts fans among you may recognize that as track 3 on "Great Big Sun", but for me, it's a cop-out for my  year in review.  I'll probably get back to it eventually, but the chaos that is my life right now precludes me thinking of anything else in a neat an orderly fashion.  Them's the breaks.

Got another devastating phone call from Papa Knascar yesterday afternoon.  Long story short is that she still can't breathe and they want to scope her lungs to find out what the problem is.  Once they do that, there's a very good chance they'll have to leave the breathing tube in permanently, and if THAT happens, it's unlikely she'll ever be a candidate for treating the cancer that got us here in the first place.  From there, we have to start thinking about quality of life, et cetera, et cetera.  I'm trying to change my flight to go home sooner rather than my scheduled Tuesday departure, but we all know how accommodating airlines can be, even during their non-busy time of the year, so I may be here for the better part of the next week.  Joy.

I have been doing some knitting, though I don't have a picture of my Boyfriend "If You Knit It, He Will Come" sock in progress, but I turned the heel a couple of days ago and am working on the leg.  You would've thought I would've finished cranking my way through Francis, Revisited since I was only a couple of inches away from the hem, but we all know how that goes.  Maybe I'll have a CSI marathon this weekend (I am SO behind) and crank it out.

D is for...

the District of Columbia (I know, total copout, hush).

This marks the 15th year that I've lived in DC-adjacent.  Despite briefly considering jumping ship for Chicago around the turn of the millennium, I can't imagine living any where else.  It's home to me, much the way Columbus and Gambier have been.  I'm not saying that I'll never live anywhere else, but for now, this is home.

 

Last night, with the temperature hovering around 60, I decided to mosey Mall-ward and check out the National Tree.

Tanenbaum got back

What is going on with the junk in the trunk of that tree?  Seriously!  Last night was an experiment in taking photos at night with no flash.   A second may not seem like a very long period of time, but while you're standing there trying not to move while the shutter's open?  Well, give it up.  I'm glad I didn't go through the hassle of lugging my tripod around, but I do understand that it comes in handy in situations like these.

 

The Old Executive Office Building was all decked out for the holidays.  You know you're practically a native when you can't be bothered to go on the half block side trip to check out the White House.

Okay, fine, I did squeeze it blurrily into the background of one of my tree photos.

There was a children's choir singing last night when I arrived at the Ellipse, and I have to admit to getting the giggles.  Not at their performance, per se, but at the wild gesticulating on the part of the choir instructor.  Oh, I remember those days well.  Now, if only they had a handbell choir...

D is also for the never-ending bouts of  dogsitting & DC United (better luck next year, boys!)

C is for...

cancer.  Could it be anything else?

In my mind right now, cancer is bigger than any six letters, bigger than any word, bigger than any blog post.  It consumes nearly every waking thought and brings me to tears on a daily basis.   Grief and guilt rolled into one, big, sticky ball.

Mama Knascar and I have never been close; I was most certainly a Daddy's Girl.  M.K. and I have very little in common - our senses of humor are different, style, worldview.  Virtually everything.  I think that's why, on top of everything else, there's a layer of guilt that overlays everything.  What could I have done to be a better daughter?   All of those times that I thought "I'll try to connect more with her the next time I'm home" and now those next times are, if not gone then at the very least in jeopardy.

I spent the first four hours I was awake yesterday crying.  Papa Knascar called at 8:30 a.m. to tell me that she had to go in for emergency surgery.  Seems the infection she couldn't shake was eating away at her intestines and they rushed her into surgery to remove part of them.  She apparently came through the surgery fine but once again, her recovery time will push back any attempts at treating the cancer.

I don't go home for the holidays for another week and a half and even then, it's only for four days.  I really don't know how I'm going to survive it.  Christmas is really my mother's season.  Whenever I find myself singing along with Christmas muzak in department stores - that's my mom.  Wrapping presents - mom.  Christmas cookies by the dozen - ma.   Is it any wonder I'm having trouble finding my holiday spirit?

B is for...

blogging!

The irony that I haven't posted in a week is not lost on me.

I'm not entirely sure why I continue to blog.  It started off as a catch-all place to stay in touch with Stick when she moved to Atlanta (en route to Nashville), then the blogosphere continued to be a place where I'd toss my voice into the void and see what happened.  I'm not one of those people who puts it all out there, which would surprise no one that I know IRL because that's just not how I am.  I do, however, still enjoy this little medium to say hi to the folks out there who are vaguely interested in what's going on in my little corner of the world.

If blogging were truly my therapy, I'd definitely be up for another round of NaBloPoMo, but as it is, I think I may need to go back to good old fashioned journaling for a while.  Not at the expense of the blog, but perhaps as a sidebar.   With the Mama Knascar situation, I'm feeling a fairly strong desire to scream at the world, and if you're one of my three loyal readers, you don't deserve that.

[Speaking of Mama Knascar, they moved her back to the nursing home last week, where she steadily began another downward slide.  When I last talked to Papa K, he thought they were going to have to admit her back into the hospital to see what's going on.]

Not unsurprisingly, as of yesterday, B is also for blood pressure, as in mine has gotten a little high lately, so now I'm on meds.  I don't know if it's due to weight or stress - both of which are substantial - but there you have it.

To make this post even remotely interesting, I'll distract you with yarn:

Chocolate cake!  Get it?  See, it's a yarn cake, and it's choc...oh never mind!

Cloudy sky colorway...how appropriate

The pictures could easily be brought to you by the letter M as they are both of my new Malabrigo.  I initially cast on for the Mockery socks in my Malabrigo sock, but decided that the combination of yarn and pattern just wasn't working for me, so last night I cast on the toe for the Boyfriend socks (if you knit it, they will come...).  The bottom pic is of the Silky Merino that I picked up so that I could finally cast on Grumperina's Shifting Sands scarf.

Of course, since I don't know of any blue sand, I've redubbed it my Swirling Skies scarf.  With all the needle-free cabling, it's not quite the quick knit I hoped for, but I really like the way it's coming out, so I'll keep plugging away.  Besides, there's always Baby for when I need something truly mindless.

Nobody puts Baby in a plastic bag and accidentally kicks it off the foot of the bed...oops!

Right now Baby is just a big tube of Brooks Farm.  I'm about 4" from starting the hem at the bottom though, so that's something.  I have absolutely no idea which skein I'm on.  Two?  Three?  The size 11 needles are certainly helping stretch it out.

A is for...

AUSTRALIA!  (duh)

 

For 17 days in September (as opposed to 7 Days in May), Holly and I roamed eastern Australia.  I climbed the bridge in Sydney, she fed kangaroos (well, one greedy sucker) in Adelaide and we both cursed the rain in Hobart.  We ate unbelievable seafood and dipped our toes in the chilly South Pacific.  I have a few regrets about this trip, among them that I was too busy after a day of sightseeing to go play with fellow runners in north Sydney one chilly evening.  Some day I'll learn to travel without being a slave to guide books and bus tours (but I really like them!).

I don't have any plans for international travel in 2009.  I figure most of my flights are going to be back and forth to Columbus (or Dayton) to check on Ma & Pa Knascar, with the odd trip further afield to visit friends.  Colorado is definitely on the list for a Labor Day getaway & I'm planning a jaunt to the Pacific Northwest, now that Seattle finally has an MLS team.  Oh, and Austin for the spring race if I'm lucky.  Ahem.  Anyone know of a sugar daddy accepting applications?