Vegas!

I had always said I had no interest in ever visiting Las Vegas. That was before we decided to visit the north rim of the Grand Canyon and it made sense to get there via Vegas. We didn't have enough time to drive to our destination in Utah after flying in from DC, so I got us 2 super cheap rooms at the Tuscany Casino & Hotel. It's an older casino off the strip but had huge rooms for $69. One could do worse. 

Of course, it was hot. 98F when we arrived, but a delightful (to me) dry heat like Canberra, after humid East coast. It's also very flat. We drove around so J could show me a little and, even after years of watching CSI, I was astonished at how bigger than life everything is.  I might warn potential visitors that the place changes constantly. I had read a Lonely Planet guide to try and figure out what was worth seeing and found it quite out of date. 

We came back for 2 days after Utah. I must confess to taking advantage of air conditioning and resting most of the time. J went out walking and reported that distances were very deceiving: what looked close was really a long walk away. This from someone who has visited several times. 

We stayed in the Jockey Club, which is not a casino and doesn't even have a restaurant. It's a block of time-share apartments squeezed between the Cosmopolitan (very hip) and the Bellagio (very luxurious). An ideal location and we had a 2 bedroom apt for $160 a night.  It's not swanky, but ticks all the necessary boxes. Across the street are Planet Hollywood and Paris. If you are lucky (we weren't) your room overlooks the Bellagio fountains. 

Our one splurge was an evening at the Bellagio, playing penny slots (and losing), seeing Cirque du Soleil's "O", and having a steak dinner at Fix. Not cheap but I really enjoyed myself. We walked around the hotel to see the Chihuly glass ceiling installation in the lobby, which was lovely, the Botanic Garden, acres of marble floors  and lots of gambling. "O" was astonishing. They have somehow constructed a stage-sized tank (and it's a BIG theatre) that fills with water and seconds later is a solid floor. I don't know how they do it so stealthily you don't even notice it's happening even if you try to 
catch them at it. Added to the usual Cirque acts are high diving and fancy-dress synchronised swimming. The usual acrobatics often end with a plunge into the pool. I couldn't decipher the story but the costumes are great and I could have easily seen more of everything.

I wanted to go to the Pinball Hall of Fame but fatigue and heat wore me down as well as the prospect of the long flight ahead of me. I was surprised to actually like Vegas. But I wish I were wealthy to see everything! 

Revival

I have decided to try and revive my blog. Facebook does not lend itself to ramblings and after my trip I realized how many friends don't do FB. So I'm back and hope to continue to post stuff on a more regular basis. At this point, I think there will be less craft stuff; it will still be a part of my life, just not as central.

I'm going to start with reviewing the 3 week trip I just had in the US. JD was with me the whole time and it was very nice spending time with him after Skyping for so long. I'm going to do my review in sort of reverse chronological order with what's fresh on my my mind: a diatribe on airline travel. 

This trip was made in 3 segments: Canberra to Washington, Washington to Las Vegas, and Las Vegas to Canberra.  The middle one was the only one that was on time, but shared the physical impracticalities of the others. I had airline agents make all the scheduling of flights so they can't blame me for not giving myself sufficient time to make connections, but I missed them on each end. Going over I missed my LA-DC flight, one of the replacement flights was 3 hours late due to weather in the Midwest and electrical faults that shut down Chicago O'Hare airport and therefore messed up all flights passing thru it. A trip that usually took me 24 hours door to door was now 32 without sleep. Flights were late consistently, airport organisation requires extremely long walks, and very little consideration is built in for transporting luggage. It's almost as if airlines expect you to travel without any luggage at all, because they make collecting it and moving it from one part of the airport to another (domestic to international, or airline to rental car, and vice versa) very difficult. It will all get worse with an ageing population with more limited abilities. 

I refuse to fly economy class on any flight longer than 90 minutes.  There simply is not enough leg room, with my already sore knees right against the seat in front, and I pray that person doesn't want to recline. There is now a class called something like "premium economy", depending on airline, that offers more comfy seats and much better legroom. While it costs roughly twice economy class rates on Qantas, I don't recommend economy unless you are young, short, or a Japanese gymnast. Even premium economy can get interesting when headsets are plugged in, blankets and pillows in use, seats reclined, and someone (even you) wants to use the toilet. Practice the limbo before your flight.

Airport design mystifies me. I'm sure there is some logistical reason for a flight to arrive at the very last gate in one wing of the terminal and you must walk to the very opposite end to get a connection, pick up your luggage, or get to the shuttle bus you must ride to get a rental car.  These are things thousands of people do daily but little concern is shown for their ease of travel, again something that will get worse as we all age, and are tired from traveling. In Las Vegas there were 23 baggage carrousels, all empty but the very last one where our luggage arrived. In LA, United had 2 very overloaded carrousels for all luggage. Traffic in airports is a nightmare of 
mazes, with insufficient room for drop off and pick-up causing 
universal disregard for parking restrictions, and further problems for shuttle busses required for connections. In LA they were announcing repeatedly that their shuttle bus system was being overhauled and to allow sufficient time for moving about. I didn't know this till I was standing there waiting for one, so it was a little late to tell me this. Never sighted a shuttle bus.

This can make it sound like I don't want to fly, and right this instant I don't! But it's the only way for me to visit folks in the US and the only way I can lure them to me. My advice is to expect the worst, allow LOTS of time for connecting flights, and try to pay extra for comfort. If any of you are really serious about coming but flinch at the cost, let me know and I'll gladly help. All the airlines and airports tell us they are improving things but that usually means more shopping opportunities in airports, and a reliance on technology, which is great when it works. Australia's electronic passport system was a failure for about a third of the folks using it because you have to do each step exactly right. Sleep-deprived elderly people are not used to whiz bang systems. 

Next post I promise to be more upbeat. I hurt all over so I will ned some rest but I will return with photos. Great to see everyone I did. I had a great time in Utah.

I've decided this year to forgo the annual written, inserted into Christmas card and mailed report and revert to my blog where everyone can see it all. To be honest, when 95% of your Christmas cards are mailed as overseas letters, the postage can make you think twice. Most of you probably send a couple of overseas cards a year but I send dozens, or did until this year. I'll give the year in review and some personal feelings. I might return to the blog if anybody shows interest. I don't do book reports on Facebook and don't feel like joining one of their clubs or apps to do it. I also don't publish some fleeting things I ponder. They aren't private things or I wouldn't put the online at all. Just not Facebook content. What I write below will be partially what you may know if you follow me on Facebook, and if you were one of my stops on my trip this year. Forgive the repetition.

2012 opened with me recovering from the previous year's knee surgery. It is all healed now but there are complications. My knee-cap is very thin and is not being held in the proper position by the various bits of my knee tissue. It's slid down so it's resting over the end of my tibia. This causes pain, especially when the knee is held in a bent position as in sitting. My knee surgeon is the best but he couldn't offer a solution that would guarantee a fix. So the plan is now to lose the weight I packed on while immobile the previous year hoping it will mediate the pain. I have been on a strict diet since my moderate pigout in the States (but I do love bbq and root beer) and can already seen the weight start to go. Walking long distances will never be easy for me and I might never get to climb stairs quickly. The remainder of the infection has left the back of my leg with a large area of discoloured skin so I won't be showing off my legs (as if I ever did).

I spent 7 weeks state-side and aside from learning how out-of-shape I am (I bought a sign that says "I am in shape. Round is a shape"), I had a good time. I visited almost everyone who's high on my list, including both my brothers, but I can't do these marathon trips again. In fact, I'm trying to put together a plan where I come over more often but for shorter times. I'll turn 65 next year and will gain access to my US pension fund so I can afford it. Some other plans flitting about. I love visiting in October for the fall colour. Here we only have isolated trees that turn colour, not entire mountain ranges. Unfortunately Hurricane Sandy screwed up my departure, with Washington braced for the worst and closing all airports. I ended up having to drive to Atlanta and booking a flight on Delta to catch up with my flight back to Sydney. Not to minimize the horrific damage done farther north by Sandy, but she was just a lot of rain in Virginia and I don't believe it warranted closing airports just in case. As has happened before, I return torn between my two homes. I still love the US for all its flaws, but the medical expenses keep me from returning. Besides I still love Australia as well and would not want to give up the things I've made a part of my life over the past 21 years.

One of those things is of course, my football team. The Sydney Swans took advantage of my being out of the country to win the Grand Final, the championship of the whole AFL. I had promisied myself that the next time they made it to Grand Final I would pay the price and go to Melbourne to see it live. Not only could I not do that but I was on the other side of the world! I was able to watch it on replay and have indulged in fan memorabilia. The Swans have sent the Cup out to tour the fan-zones and, when it came to Canberra, I got to hold it and have my picture taken with it.

Back home I moved into renovation mode. Brian's former man-cave has been remodelled into a proper guest bedroom next the the already remodelled bathroom. So there is a suite ready for all of you who keep telling me you're coming to Australia. The former guest bedroom was rather small and is now my study with my genealogy stuff, computer, etc. Next task in 2013 is a new kitchen. I don't look forward to the actual event (and I'm certain Chianna wouldn't if she knew it was coming), but it's past its use-by date and I desperately want a new stove. I've also had a local firm make a wing chair plus ottoman made for my height so I can put my feet up when watching TV. Exit old recliners. Some more cosmetic stuff like flooring and drapes to follow. Then hopefully I will not need to remodel again.

I took another weaving course the the Australian National University and enjoyed it a lot. Met a new American pal who gets my sometime frustrations with Australiadom. The class was enough of a success that I have just purchased a small floor loom to be shipped from the US. It will have a much smaller footprint than the big one I bought in 2007 (and sold in 2008) and I will be able to do things I can't do on my table looms.

I am enjoying retirement, but wonder when I will ever get to everything I want to do. All my hobbies, from my veggie garden to my family history to spinning and weaving all take time. Adding anything else to the mix tends to tire me out extremely. You sometimes can't fight fibromyalgia when it says you aren't going to sleep, or your muscles will hurt despite medication. The fatigue can be crippling. I am very proud of myself for driving to Sydney mid-November to see Coldplay perform live. It was an epic adventure that tested my physical limits (I refuse to play the disability card if I can manage independently) but the experience was absolutely spectacular. They put on a hell of a show with lots of fun effects. It took me about 3 days to recover when I got home but it was worth it.

The genealogy trip is neverending. I got a pile of pictures from my brothers and my father's notes in the family Bible. The research can take forever, and I will need to visit some places in the US for more information. Neither the reference books nor the records are available in Australia. I've made contact with distant relatives via Ancestry. I'm still catching up with American history to learn about the ancestors.

This Christmas I will be alone as my dear mother-in-law has commitments in Sydney. I plan to watch the Lord of Rings Trilogy all the way through. No doubt Chi will spend it on my lap. She has forgiven me for leaving her for 7 weeks but still believes that as long as I am not standing up she has rights to my lap. She did not like the tradesmen banging and bringing nasty smells into her house and hid for days.

I close with a photos of my class project in my weaving course, a scarf woven of white wool with stripes of coloured rayon. When washed, the wool shrinks and the rayon doesn't, creating ripples in the fabric.

Yes, this time it has truly been an eon. I almost decided to let the blog die. I've been partly suffering from low-grade depression, which makes me think that my life is crap, and partly inertia. Let's get the ugly stuff out of the way first.

My knee has healed and I have full range of motion. I still get tired pretty quickly and my back isn't as strong as I'd like but if I did my exercises more rigorously that would help. However my right knee hurts now. Behind the knee cap, all the time. There isn't anything more surgically to be done since my surgeon said my patella was pretty thin already. Heaven help me if I have another infection. Let's not go there. So it hurts which makes me want to not exercise it which is no doubt counter productive. I've had a few bouts of gastric upset as well. This week I had a skin cancer (just a basal cell one) removed from my upper lip. I thought it was going to be really minor but it has proven to be more uncomfortable than expected. I feel like somebody punched me in the mouth and have a bandage over my upper lip. Gross. I went back to my optometrist who is going to fit me with a different style of contacts that cover more of the eye and supposedly give better vision. Meanwhile watching the footy is tiring as I can't see what's going on clearly enough.

I've been madly spinning everything in sight. I sold off $200 worth of spinning fibre on ebay to clear the decks a bit (and downsized the knitting stash to D as well) and am just spinning whatever comes to hand. Right now it's a blend of wool and alpaca in rusts, browns, fuschia, and orange. Plying merino and silk in red with black and white accents. Knitting has gone on the back burner with my eyes not 100%. My hands are often sore as well since winter has arrived. We've had temperatures at night below freezing already.

My genealogical work progresses. I am poking at a branch that were the first Dutch settlers of Albany, NY, and plan to map out the migration of some of the early Massachusetts ancestors. I found I have one ancestor who came over on the Mayflower, William White, and his son Resolved White. There is one ancestor with the exotic name of Naomi LaPorte who was a French emigree fleeing the French revolution. That's as close as I get to my mother's myth that we were descended from General Lafayette's brother.

I've been watching Masterchef again, but I skip the team competitions and watch when they are concentrating on a dish I would consider making myself. Maggie Beer sets the bar too high I think and doesn't allow enough time. I do wonder about the cooks hurtling about madly to finish their dishes in time, then cut to the kitchen totally clean and each cook brings a dish up one at a time. Some things must get cold or sit in their juices too long. Maggie's grape upside down cake must have been still hot when served or they are fudging the timeline elsewhere. I've been catching up on the TV series Fringe on DVD which seems an intriguing mix of X Files (not a fan), Lost, and Alias. J.J. Abrams shows his influence in all three. I look forward to seeing more of Leonard Nemoy as the enigmatic William Bell.

Last but NOT least is the weaving course I took at the ANU School of Textiles. It was billed as 3D weaving which involved making textures within the woven cloth, with things like pleats, waffle weave, and seersucker. My class project is above, a scarf of felted wool with stripes of rayon that created ripples and bubbles. I had to weave like hell because I was sick fo a couple of classes. But it turned out exactly right. I bought a battery powered fringe twister which was a treat for sore hands, then put it in the washing machine for felting. It's now soft and interesting and I can't wait to do another.

And yes, I got my hair cut. Now it's just under ear length and layered. Much easier to maintain.

Well, I told you I was wondering why I wrote this blog and I haven't come up with enough things of import in the past 2 months to write about. I have come out of my depression without intervention by a professional (fortunate, since my appointment with the shrink isn't until April). I have started work at the Library as a volunteer doing not very interesting material but it was good to see all the friendly faces. My physical well being improves. My back no longer hurts except for occasions when anybody's back would hurt: long time spent bending over, etc. I continue to have pain in my leg muscles after I walk any distance which is disappointing because walking was how I wanted to get fit. One day of walking means I am very sore the next day. I've had my enthusiastic Bhutanese gardener go after weeds in my garden. The Canberra weather has been extremely bizarre: cold and wet which is hardly a typical summer. My tomatoes don't know what to do when we had an all-time record low for January of 1C. They produce a handful of tomatoes. The lima beans are still going and have produced pods. I made 2 batches of zucchini pickle relish from blimps produced in the garden. We are at this moment having a hailstorm. Housewise, I got the drains cleaned out, have been nagging my gutter repairman to do the job he signed up for in November, and had to get my old DVD player wired into the new digital set-up because my new whiz-bang DVD player/recorder won't play region 1 DVDs and there is no hack for it that I could find. Since I have hundreds of American DVDs, this was not permissible so I had to take a step back to an older DVD player that has been hacked.

Otherwise, I read, watch TV, spin, work on my family history. The photo above is one I scanned from a collection of photos my sister had. I've made a couple of contacts with distant, previously unknown, relatives. I managed to get some data for my MIL's genealogy search as well. Books: I finished Judgement of Caesar by Stephen Saylor. I love his Roman mysteries and have read every one. I also finished Stephen Fry's second volume of autobiography, The Fry Chronicles. I raced through the Steve Jobs biography which I found absolutely riveting. What a complicated, driven, genius of a man. We will miss his mark on society since he personally approved of every tiny detail of every Apple product. I have been an Apple fan for a long time and now know some of the why. I bought a first generation Macintosh the first month they were on the market. My BBBB is now is Thames by Peter Ackroyd. My previous BBBBs proved not to be sleep inducing and are therefore languishing half read. I've been reading science fiction on my Kindle. I go through so many hard science/space opera novels that it hardly bears listing them.

I spun coffee brown BFL, some hand dyed BFL in blues, browns, and roses, and am now into 15 oz of merino & tencel in a lovely aqua/sea green. Bought two lots under different colour names from two different vendors and it turned out to be the same thing. I spin so much and knit so little that I wish I could sell some. My current new favourite TV show is Homeland partly because I love Damien Lewis. I am also a fan of the Canadian series The Republic of Doyle and Flashpoint. I am watching the British mini-series Exile because I love John Simm.

Next week I see the eye surgeon, have a mammogram, and I intend to make appointments for my teeth, the cat's annual check-up, and my hair. I am finally tired of the locks enough that they're coming off again. This weekend I am going blackberrying in the state forest with some of the girls. This assumes there are blackberries given the weird weather and that it doesn't rain.

Is that enough for 2 months? Don't know whether there is enough interest in what I do write, but I'll continue to update my waiting audience when there is something to post. Maybe after I start the weaving course in 2 weeks.

I really wore myself out last week because my head was convinced that I was back to full strength while my body very much was not. I did a lot of walking, especially around the newly enlarged mall in Belconnen, partly to get new lights for my Christmas tree. Putting the tree up was part of my mind set of being on the road to recovery so, although it's a bit late, it's up and that's what counts. Fortunately the Imp shows no interest in the tree or its ornaments, although I never put anything breakable or edible on the bottom. I have had a cat that ate all the straw ornaments so I am cautious.

The weather is stuck in some other time dimension. We've continued to have rain (thunderstorms yesterday) and it's only around 20C and not very sunny. I've said it before but it's still true: this is not normal for Canberra in December. The garden loves it. The beans are blooming. So are the tomatoes but the weather doesn't suit them.

My BBBBs have been American Jezebel and Language Death and they have both been too stimulating and I haven't been sleeping. The David Crystal book inspired me with his rationales for multilingualism, including that being bilingual stimulates your brain. I have studied a long list of languages but the only one I feel comfortable in taking up again is Spanish, partially because it is an "easy" language. It's not hard to pronounce, it seems closer to Latin which helps me out, and I did study it intensely as recently (ha) as university. I have more years invested in French (5) but I can still read it with the help of a dictionary. So I got some simple Spanish stories for my Kindle and a dictionary for my iPhone and am going to try reviving my Spanish neurons. Even tho I taught Swahili in grad school, not much of it remains in my brain and I have little opportunity to use it. At least with Spanish I can read labels on stuff imported from the US! For those who only know me in the Swanknitter persona, I got a masters degree in Linguistics & Non-Western Languages, specializing in African languages and before that studied Latin, French and Spanish. Lack of jobs in the field shunted me into library work. I love learning languages, but they are like puzzles to me; once I figure out how they work I lose interest so rarely become fluent without constant exercise. My new BBBB is Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, which follows on from previous BBBBs about Central Asia. My Kindle book is another Neal Asher Ian Cormac novel, Line War.

My dear MIL is coming for a visit over Christmas, which overjoys me. I haven't seen her in over a year due to my knee. Once I got the word on the cataracts, driving to Sydney to her new home seemed beyond me and would put off a reunion till sometime around June next year. So seeing her over the holidays is the best present ever. Each year without the Bear is hard. I hope someday it won't be so raw.

I finished the handspun sock yarn for D. and It turned out really well, with the colours lining up almost exactly in plying. I finished a pair of Opal cotton socks last night and bought up 2 more balls of it (since I found out it was discontinued and I really like it). The last pair was grey/blue/pink and the next pair will be coral. I am spinning some brown wool of unknown origin but those blankets deserve stripes. I finished spinning what I think was 4 oz. of wool/silk/mohair blend in autumn colours. Have no idea what I'll do with it!

When I went to the supermarket yesterday, I passed their array of fresh flowers and was blown away to find this huge bouquet of peonies. I miss my US peonies terribly so to have these to admire is brilliant. I don't think I have soil suitable for them here. I don't think thay will last long; they've already gone from bud to full blown in 12 hours.

In the process of researching 17th century America for genealogical purposes, I am reading American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante, about Anne Hutchinson. I'm not a very religious person. I was raised in the Congregational church, which was my choice for my family, made when I was 7. Since this denomination is descended from the original Puritans, I expected to find some chords to resonate in the story. I cannot say that today I am a Christian because I no longer believe in many of the basics of Christian faith but I do try to follow the ethical standards. I am now totally dumbfounded to find that the founding fathers of Massachusetts, who left England for religious freedom, became totally legalistic and narrow in their beliefs in the new world and prosecuted Anne Hutchinson for her differing opinions on points of theology. Of course, much of it boils down to the fact that she was a woman, who was supposed to be silent and obey her husband. Anne was brought up as an independent thinker, and one who believed at a deeply emotional level about how "salvation" is achieved. I don't believe in heaven or hell and I'm not sure what I think about what happens after you die. Sometimes I believe in karma; sometimes I think you just die. Of course these are the same legalistic ministers who banished my ancestor Roger Williams, so I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. The original society of Massachusetts in the 17th century is not quite how we were taught in school. I'm not sure those controlling ministers should engender the respect that they get as "founding fathers."

Canberra's weather continues to confuse me. We got 90mm (almost 4") of rain last week. Last night the thunderstorms started around 6PM and are still rumbling and raining at noon the following day. I have a small lake in my back yard and I would love it to stop raining long enough for me to pick strawberries, etc. The garden loves it and the weeds like it too. I need to get my gutters repaired but the guy can't fix them until it stops raining!

The cataract problem continues to bother me. If I read too much or do too much close work in the evening I often get a headache. Apparently cataract surgery is a simple process so I'll go ahead with the weaving course. I continue to have a weak back, but I'm doing exercises to strengthen the muscles. I have a weak lower back originally because I am missing part of a vertebra. I am told this is an extremely mild variety of spina bifida; it just means my lower back hurts when I lift things the wrong way.

It's 2 AM and the Imp has woken me up twice since I turned the light off. It's our first really warm night this summer and I think she thinks I should be awake to share it with her. No thank you. I may have to eject her from my bedroom (and lose air circulation) if she won't settle down. Aside from walking around on me and demanding to be petted, she yowls.

The knee progresses but the back is still weak. I walked three city blocks on Friday and was barely able to keep upright at the end. But I also worked an hour in the garden mulching and weeding and was sore but managed to actually accomplish something. I'm getting good returns of strawberries but the spinach has given up in the heat. One of the varieties of pea has finished but another is still coming in if this hot spell passes.

My city visit was to see my optometrist because of semi-constant headaches, especially when I try to do close work. I feel like I'm straining to see. The verdict was unexpected: cataracts, when I was expecting new lenses. I see the surgeon in Feb just before the next weaving course. I hear the recovery time is short so I may be able to do both. The next weaving course is on textural weaving like waffle weave and seersucker, both of which I wanted to learn, so I really want to take it. I can drive now but don't trust myself in locations like city traffic (I know you who snort that Canberra has city traffic but we have sufficient concentrations of bad drivers). I think D doesn't want to relinquish driving my car but it's nice to have somebody there to take up the slack when I tire myself out. It's only been a month since surgery so I am entitled to longer recovery time.

I'm reading Martin Cruz Smith's Three Stations on my Kindle and have downoaded Steve Job's autobiography. My BBBB is American Jezebel about Anne Hutchinson, She co-founded Rhode Island with my ancestor Roger Williams based on radical ideas about freedom of religion and payment to the the Indians for taking over their lands,

I am alive, I'm home, I can walk and I am sitting almost comfortably at my desk with my feet flat on the floor and knees bent. The right leg is still relatively weak after not being used for 6 months, but it gets stronger every day. I can walk without support but I still do my exercises. At the strong encouragement of the physios in the hospital (including the physio from hell I met on my first knee replacement), I made an appointment with a physio closer to home and got some additional exercises from him. Since I've only been home a week I think I am doing well.

At right is the only knitting I can show for the last month, a pair of socks from Noro's Kureyon sock. The colours are obviously a knockout but the yarn itself is rather harsh feeling and is spun no better than my handspun. If the wow factor of Noro is the colours, I can dye yarn just as striking. I've started a new pair of socks out of Opal Cotton in greys and soft pink.

My spinning output has been the one pound of 50/50 merino & tussah silk in a deep forest green. I got 4 hanks out of the pound from Yarn or a tale which cost all of $21, but I haven't counted yardage yet. It's very soft and is a sport weight. I've been thinking of knitting one of those long skinny scarves that people seem to wrap around their necks these days and this silk mix would be a good candidate. The next spin will be some superwash merino in hot pink, neon green and turquoise for the sock hoon, D.

My other preoccupation since I've been home is the release of Coldplay's new album. I am a very devoted fan of theirs and would love to see them perform live. I'll have to keep my ear closer to the grapevine to find out when or if they are coming to Australia and try my best to get a ticket. I know nobody else my age or younger who shares my musical tastes so I'll go alone if I have to. I've been watching a lot of their Youtube videos and phrases from their songs are running around my head 24/7. Any Sydney folks out there who would go with me?

Speaking of which, while I've been home, I've been thinking a lot about this blog. The person for whom I wrote is no longer here. I know I have a handful of devoted readers but they are not interested in knitting and spinning for the most part. This blog may have passed it's use-by-date. Facebook connects me with a lot of my friends that wouldn't read my blog. This platform may become more irregular and be confined to crafts, books, movies and such. Once again I ask for feedback altho I know who most of my readers are. Anybody anonymous please let me know why you read?

Book reports: I finished In Siberia by Colin Thrubon and it was just as interesting as all his other travel books. He goes to places ordinary travelers wouldn't and seeks out unusual people. This was a picture of post-Soviet Siberia, which is crumbling like many of the other bits of the Union. He visits prison camps and Old Believers, Lake Baikal and the Amur River. I am now reading both Language Death by David Crystal, which invigorates those latent linguistic routines in my brain, and Will the Boat Sink the Water? about the plight of the peasant in rural China. For regular reading, there's Steven Saylor's Judgement of Caesar, and on my Kindle some ripping space opera.

Here I am on the almost-eve of my surgery and strangely, even tho I have been longing for the surgery to replace my knee for 5 months, I am consumed with anxiety. I always have increasing panic when waiting for sugery that is scheduled for a future date. I hadn't a twinge when they wheeled me into theatre every other day when I was in hospital. Now that I'm sitting at home waiting for the day to roll around, I've got knots in my stomach. Irrational but that's the way I am. Were the Bear here, I'd be in tears begging to be kept home. Do I actually want to clump around on crutches and/or a frame for any second longer? No, but the thought of surgery makes me frantic. I had such a bad time with the pain management when they put the right knee in the first time that I dread the possibility of not sleeping for 3 days again. I haven't been able to get in touch with my anaesthetist to go over what he thinks he's going to do with me. I have implored my surgeon to make sure my normal medication regime is not changed. I can't do anything more on that except stew. The wound is completely healed, and the rash is almost finished healing. It itches a little.

Otherwise, I read. Steven Saylor's The Judgement of Caesar is one of the series about Gordianus the Finder. This one takes place (so far) in Egypt, almost from the death of Pompey. I find Saylor's Roman novels some of the most readable of its genre. I'm still In Siberia while going to sleep.

I've finished spinning and plying the dark green merino/silk, and am trying to regain use of 2 bobbins by plying a bobbin of white alpaca with white wool. I haven't tried this before and it will turn out a lace-weight yarn. Next out of the box is some hot pink/neon green/turquoise superwash for socks for D. She has been beavering away on socks and likes the most vivid colours. I have almost finished the Noro socks. The yarn is gorgeous for rather harsh on the hands with very little give, making my hands hurt after knitting an inch or so.

I ask again why I write this blog. I know there are a handful of devoted readers but the reason I began this blog has passed away. The remaining readers have a more varied interest in me: old friends, relatives, fellow bloggers, fellow spinners, etc. I'll keep going for you but don't expect a new post for a while.

My wonderful gardener turned up last weekend and did some more weeding, planted beans, and put stakes up for the peas. I've gotten a few meals of asparagus although the bed is full of couch (weed grass). My apple trees are blooming so I hope I get a decent crop (like 6).

Finally I am clear for knee replacement. The nurses declared me healed and discharged in the AM, Plastics did the same later, and my surgeon was all smiles and ready to go. I knew everything would go OK but it was still stressful awaking the verdict of the various medical professionals. Not to mention getting in and out of cars and clumping around on crutches. So on Oct 17 I am in John James Hospital to get a knee and resume my life. It's been over a year since the initial injury and I will never get that year back but I'll make the most of the rest of my time. It is trying to be spring here and the flowers have come and gone (except my apple and pear trees which are currently blooming) but the rest of the garden awaits me. What will the Imp do if she doesn't have me to sit on all the time?

Insomnia. Just when I think I have it beaten, here I am at 2AM too awake. My GP had me try melatonin on top of my regular sleeping medication but I can't detect any improvement. I read some on Colin Thubron's In Siberia about Stalin's work/death camps, had the Imp settled in my armpit and thought my day-long headache would appreciate a rest. Wrong. The cat started snoring like a tiny feline trumpet, my breath was wheezy and congested (a common condition), and I had songs from West Side Story running through my head from the last episode of Glee. So I gave up, got up to take something for my headache and a bonus sleep aid and pulled out my faithful iPhone. I was amused to find that my prescription sleeping pills are illegal in the US and that I was forbidden to bring them into the country. That would effectively bar me from re-entry since I can't sleep without them and sometimes not with them. I wonder what they propose I do in order to visit my homeland. I know the last time I accidentally went over without them I was miserable and sleepless for a week until J posted them to me.

Otherwise, the news here is good. My wound is almost completely healed and I expect Plastics to set me free next Tues. I see my surgeon the same day and I think the Oct 17 date will become confirmed for my new knee. I realize recovery will take longer this time but I'm very motivated.

I've been reading Stephen Fry's autobiography which makes me realize what a brilliant mind he has even if he did go off the rails in his youth. As a girl brought up in the 1950's it was also a window into all those childhood boy things I always suspected happened whether one was gay or not, but polite male authors never spoke of. Stephen tells all and this girl at least went through similar emotional and physical explorations, but I was too much a Good Girl to ever stray from the very straight and narrow. Except smoking at 16 which I don't recommend.

I have also read Larry Niven's Destiny's Road which I enjoyed quite a bit. No, it isn't up there with Ringworld but is quite a good read. One of the Bear's leftovers. The Orchid Thief was a disappointing mishmash of personal experience with Florida's orchid community and environment and a historical background. Considering the orchid mania of Victorian times, this minor incident hardly counts but it is a window into a section of the plant world unknown to most of us. I used to occasionally accompany my mother to preserves in southern Florida in search of birds and I therefore know a little what they are like (hot, wet, and full of bugs but spectacular).

Here in Canberra we had torrential rain and high winds today, which are shredding my wisteria before it can properly bloom. My apple trees are blooming and I managed to pick enough asparagus for a meal last week. Next weekend I should have my gardener back to plant beans. The peas and lettuce look good A's much as I can see. But spring is toying with us, giving us some lovely days and then retreating leaving us shivering.

Last night I spent two hours watching shows about 9/11. I obviously was not in the US when the disaster struck but I still get very patriotic about my birth place and got very teary-eyed at some points. 9/11 seemed to bring out the best in many Americans: their courage under attack, their help to fellows in distress, their dogged persistence in rescue and the resolve it gave the country that we were not going to become a nation of victims. I certainly don't agree that the logical future involved invading Iraq and I doubt there's a chance of truly battling radical terrorists with an army anywhere, but we tried. The efforts of Homeland Security to make air travel safe are completely over the top and Timothy McVeigh proved that home-grown radicals can wreak havoc, so the solution can't be simply to put armed guards everywhere. I was so upset to listen to radical Muslim clerics declare that the US would not rest until every Muslim was dead. Our whole nation is built on exactly the opposite of that and only Muslims declaring jihad on America has changed our feelings about religious freedom. I am still very much American and I miss my homeland very much sometimes. I think Americans get a bad reputation overseas because in some cases we are frightened of foreigners since we can be insular. Our country is so big and has such diversity that going overseas is not the rite of passage as it is many other places (like Australia). I was terrified on my own even here because I knew I was in a different culture and didn't want to be thought ignorant or foolish when I opened me mouth. Maybe we talk too loud because we all talk at once at home and are not used to other cultures. Whatever; I've gotten off track. I felt such kinship and shared pain for the people who suffered through the attacks of 9/11 and it's that feeling of kinship that pulls me home even when I know I can't live there again.

Swans news: They won their elimination final against St Kilda! The played really well for most of the game and really bottled up the Saints. Ryan O'Keefe kicked 4 goals and I usually wince when he's kicking for goal because he can be inaccurate. But as the coach said, when a player is hot, he can do miracles. Goodesy was hot as well and the young bunch played very well. We play Hawthorn on Friday night (I hate Friday night matches) and their star forward is injured so we have a chance to get a little closer to the Big One.

I've been reading like mad. I finished the first three volumes of the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell and I am debating whether to buy the last three. Book prices being what they are, I could buy the last three on Amazon for half what they cost me here. But they are just military sci-fi about space battles and I think I'll go on to something new. I've started The Soul of a Chef which is about the Culinary Institute of America and I'm somewhat disappointed to find how focused they are on French cuisine. These days it pays (here at least) to know as much about Thai, Chinese, and Italian cuisine as French. Some of the course is very pedantic, but I guess knowing how to make a perfect stock is critical. I don't make veal stock because I don't cook classic French anything. Pasta and stir fries are more my speed and desserts my passion. I am reading The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell. He is the author of the Kurt Wallender mysteries but this is not in that series. I am finding it very suspenseful, similar to the feeling in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but with less violence (at least so far). My BBBB was The Crack at the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester, which is about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Over half the book is about the geology of America and for that I recommend John McPhee, who can make geology interesting. I was a bit deflated by this book, because John McPhee is better at geology and the chapter on the earthquake itself was a dry recital of facts. I'm now reading The Orchid Thief, since I love orchids.

In the middle of the last paragraph the nurse came to dress my wound and this one said it was almost healed over with just a few pin head holes. This is the first concrete assessment I've had. Every nurse says it's looking better but nobody has told me it was healed over before. This surely means surgery on Oct 17th is a go and I will walk again!

My gardener worked all weekend and has cleaned out almost all of the veggie beds. We have run out of room to get rid of the weeds and you can't compost most of these because they wouldn't get killed in a household compost bin. He also cleaned out the fish pond and cleared out ivy at the front. He may bankrupt me with his work ethic, but he will shortly have weeded everything that needed weeding and will have a break to let the weeds grow back!

No, there's nothing new around here. Surgery is still scheduled for Oct. 17 and I think I might make this one. The wound is looking a lot better and is small so I have hopes it will heal by then.

Swans news: we made into the finals and will play St Kilda in Melbourne Saturday night. It is an elimination final and, while in theory they could win, I am expecting an early exit. I am pleased they did as well as this given the number of new players. It proves we can bring up new talent and win without Roos. Our first Irish import Tadgh has announced his retirement. I've watched his entire career and it's been a great one. I have to admit there are names in the records list I don't know, because I don't watch the matches because I get overly excited. This can be dangerous for someone in my condition.

My great news is that I've hired a gardener. Actually I am paying a foreign student from the ANU to work in my garden doing what I can't. He worked most of the weekend and not only got my peas and greens (lettuce, spinach, swiss chard) planted, but he completely remodeled my overgrown pear tree, bring it back to reasonable size. He has an orchard of 300 fruit trees at home so I trusted him to know what to do and he did exactly what I wanted. He also cleaned out the ivy and vinca underneath it and cleaned out the vinca smothering my hellebores under the wisteria. He will be back next week to continue the cleaning out of the veggie beds. He thought it was safe to plant the hot season crops like pumpkin, but we're still having frosts and it isn't safe for another month or two. He's also said he will clean out my fish pond and get it running which is something I have never gotten my lawn mowing person to do. My plum tree is in full bloom and I have narcissus in bloom. Unfortunately the last people to weed my garden eliminated some of the daffodils planted in the herb bed.

I have made a little progress in my genealogy, getting death certificates for my father's parents. I was hoping to find where my grandfather was born but all I got was "New York". I think it's Albany but New York didn't begin registering births until 6 years after my grandfather was born, so I'm out of luck there. I will have to rely on census data unless the city of Albany has records. I'm adding siblings where I can, hoping to make more connections.

I have had my adoration of Stephen Fry rekindled by watching his live performance in Sydney on cable. There are heaps of video clips on YouTube of hysterical sketches with Hugh Laurie and I've put the DVDs of their BBC shows up on my queue on Quickflix. I need a dose of silliness until there's more Big Bang Theory to watch.

Yes, it's been eons. And the saddest thing is that nothing has changed. The wound on my leg is not yet healed. It has completely filled in the gaping hole that had been there, and all I need now is skin covering over, but I'm not going to have surgery in September in this condition. I saw the plastics folks yesterday and afterwards called my surgeon's office and cancelled the appointment for next Monday. No point in going in, have him look at it, and reschedule the surgery. So I rescheduled over the phone for Oct. 17. I may just need a padded room if I'm not ready by then, but another month should do it. As you might imagine, I am going bonkers being cooped up. So Monday S came to visit and I got into the garden and actually weeded a bit which I paid for later. Today D and I went across the border into NSW in search of sock yarn (I have created a sock knitting monster) partly because the utilities folks cut off all services to my house for 6 hours. I was exhausted by the time we came home (I only bought one ball of yarn but also a much needed replacement pin cushion) and more or less collapsed for several hours when I returned to a house with power. I read, I watch TV, I sleep, I play on the computer. I've made the first real genealogical steps by writing off to Connecticut for death certificates for my father's parents. I've made contact with a member of my maternal great-grandmother's family who sent me a photo of the family with my grandfather as a child. That branch of the family is Canadian so I guess I'm one quarter Canadian. Otherwise there is very little to blog about that I would dare share with the anonymous public. I've had my blog used against me once and I don't want to get into that situation again. Sorry about that, dear readers, but not everyone in cyberspace is nice.

At right is the latest pair or socks, completed last night during the Masterchef finale. I have to admit I was glad Kate won and hope she continues to grow as a chef. I'm not worried about Michael or any of the other finalists because they will get opportunities without actually winning. I have been so frustrated at not being able to cook while they were creating marvelous dishes. Don't think I'll add a cooler of liquid nitrogen or a paint sprayer to my kitchen, but I have bought a mandoline.

Earlier this year I posted that I was considering moving back to the US when I turn 65. Waffling back the other way, now I think I won't. This medical adventure has been a wake-up call to me to reinforce how much quality and, most importantly, free medical care I have access to. Aside from the rather superficial trials of not having a private room with all associated conveniences, I got excellent medical care in The Canberra Hospital. Sure there were some not so nice nurses, but that is the nastiest thing I can say about it (aside from the appalling food). I shudder to think how this would have played out in the US, much less how much 5 weeks in-patient and now 4 months out-patient care would have cost me. Besides the medical side of this, I like my house and once I get more renovating done I can close off a guest suite and use the rest of the house for my own devices. I was going to have to put in a new kitchen anyway before I sold it, so now I'll remodel it for my tastes and needs. I now also know that I have one friend I can totally rely on through thick and thin so I don't feel quite so alone. The thought of all I'd have to do to move was beginning to really oppress me so I feel somewhat relieved. I could easily change my mind again but now I'm enjoying the wattle in bloom and looking forward to the Swans getting through the season in one piece.

The fact that I haven't posted simply means that there has been no progress to post about. The nurses continue to come (but twice a week now, not 3 times) and tell me the wound looks good, but the fact remains that it is still there. I can only hope that it heals in the next four weeks so my surgery can go ahead. The thought of being put on hold for another month is almost too much. When I'm feeling OK emotionally, I can remind myself that it's not cancer or something else potentially fatal; when I'm depressed, I feel like I've been sentenced to eternal house arrest. Yes, I've read, watched TV, knit, researched family history, but I am limited to my house and can't even do much within the four walls. If I could cook, or weave, or work on the garden, or work on fixing up the house, it wouldn't be so frustrating. Today D told me my neighbours across the street (whom I don't even know) asked if I was all right because the car doesn't move. I am tired of the Imp glued to my armpit trying to lick my neck, or rolled up like an armadillo in my lap. All right then. If all I can do is whinge, I should shut up.

Well, my last post might have given you the impression I am depressed. I am; the continuing postponement of my surgery makes me feel like it's never going to happen. The nurses telling me the wound looks clean and slowly getting better is old news. I want it healed completely. Now my ever sensitive skin is developing a sensitivity to the adhesive on the wound dressing which results on a nasty rash which also needs to heal. Depression means I hurt more and I either can't sleep or can't pry myself out of bed. Most of my "friends" have forgotten about me save for the ever faithful D who sometimes drops by to bring in the mail and hang laundry. I would be utterly lost without her. Meanwhile I am subject to the tender ministrations of The Imp, who wishes to thoroughly clean my face and neck and chew on my hair if available. I'm trying to discourage this as the cute factor wore off long ago. She sleeps in my armpit if the photo makes it into the post.

When I get up to watch TV in the living room, I'm either spinning forest green merino/silk blend or knitting one of 2 projects: socks (green Opal) or my resurrected pink silk shell. I've finally made it to the armholes on the latter and it would be nice to finish for warm weather. The silk has a lovely drape and I hope it will look as nice as the photo with the pattern. I'm also enthused about another shell pattern for Berroco Seduce, which I bought 2 hanks of on my last blow out US trip. So I ordered a few more to make a summer top out of the gorgeous blend of silk, linen, rayon etc. In a brown/gold and turquoise colourway. While pawing through the boxes of the stash I found such lovely stuff to knit with. I must apply myself.

Trying out posting via iPhone because I'm lazy. I have been very busy getting household chores done (aside from playing Zombie Farm on said iphone). I got the windscreen crack repaired, getting various household tasks fixed (my cutlery drawer has been sitting on the counter because its rails were broken).

I saw my surgeon yesterday and as expected the date for the knee replacement has been put off another month till September 12. I'm not surprised because I know he won't operate with the slightest wound. I am so tired of waiting for the bloody thing to heal and there is nothing I can do about it. It's tiny but still there. Every one says it looks healthy but it just doesn't close.

So I knit, spin, read, watch TV, go out occasionally when I get stir crazy. I don't even wear the brace any more. I'm going to do some solid evidence in the genealogy search by sending off requests to New Haven for my father's birth certificate and my grandfather's death certificate. I've had contact via Ancestry with a Page family descendant, which is kind of cool.