Well, at least

I've gotten out and about. Saturday, L and I and a friend went to see The History Boys; how many movie premises are built around the subjunctive case?? We all liked it a lot. It's always great to see NO HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STARS emoting. This cast is just amazing--so talented on all fronts.

Sunday, we went on downtown's open house tour, looking at new construction in an area being revitalized. Lofts, "townhomes" (lots of stairs, there; not for the weak of knee'd). Can't help wondering where the displaced residents are moving, though. In a town near where I went to college was a famous bit of graffiti: "Gentrification Is War!" The local arts association is installing a series of sculptures (!) along the sidewalk. How soon will they be graffitied, I wonder.

Today: yoga workshop with a teacher from California. Very intensive lower body work; lots of great toned women in there (one lone man) from all over. Right now, I'm feeling quite stretched out, like a gumby with old joints. Great to do some yoga asanas from a different perspective; it makes me think about things in a new way, which is what is expected of all this.

Blah

I'm feeling very blog-blocked, short of ideas, and waning of interest level. Perhaps proofreading an accounting text has something to do with it. Maybe it's February.

I did order a very lovely book that arrived today: Twelve: A Tuscan Cook Book, by Tessa Kiros. I had read a really wonderful, in-depth interview with this author on another blog, one that seems to have just stopped in mid-tracks about a year ago. I wonder whether that blogger was feeling a similar sense of ennui, or if something happened. (Do YOU know?)

Twelve is filled with absolutely beautiful photographs of food and a few of the Tuscan landscape and people. So, looking at it I'm feeling a bit less creaky and crabby than I did earlier. In fact, I'm thinking of making something from it right this minute, something involving chickpeas. Hmm.

I'm also not looking forward to getting my eyes tested this afternoon with L. I called to find out how long it's been since we had a real test, not just the one in the doctor's office covering one eye alternately and looking at the chart at the end of the hallway. I don't even want to admit how long it's been, but I'm guessing we'll both end up with new specs.

I traveled

to another city on Monday to participate in a knit-in at the downtown Library (a beautiful building, very grand; I wish I had brought my camera). What is a knit-in? A more-or-less two hour period in which (in this case) about 30 women and one seven-year-old boy sat around and knitted on their various projects and gossiped. The boy was quite a good knitter; his mother had taught him. I have to say I had a great time, getting away from home (I spent the night in a posh hotel with turn-down service, something I've never experienced), but it was very VERY tiring to be with four other women who, unlike me, love to shop.

Sitting knitting was one thing (plus meeting and talking to the author of one of my favorite knitting books was a great treat), but standing around in two (and it was going to be four, if we hadn't gotten lost; small favors) yarn shops for an HOUR AND A HALF in each one made me nearly tear my hair out. I can now understand how D feels when I spy a bookstore and disappear for, well, an hour and a half (small letters, because it's me; after all, how bad can waiting for me be?)

Saturday afternoon

we decided to go and see the Sandhill cranes (I'm not sure what subspecies these were), migrating to Florida and north Georgia. Last year, over 15,000 of them stopped over. We were kept back quite far from the birds, who spend several days in a sheltered area on the river; it was difficult to see them.






Luckily, in a farmer's field right next to the road, a lot of them were feeding on the hay seeds. We scrambled up a steep bank to get this picture (along with many other birdwatchers). Watching them land, with their feet outstretched, dangling beneath them, I felt a catch at how vulnerable they are. And indeed the entire group of whooping cranes (actually 14 of 15) that had accompanied the sandhills died in the tornadoes in Florida last week. That represents the whole population born this year, I believe. (Speaking of weird weather patterns, anyone seen An Inconvenient Truth? we watched half of it in Sunday school; one of the group was in tears, and the rest not far from it. We'll watch the second half next week.)





After watching them for I'd say 15 minutes, we were interrupted by the "chirp" of a patrol car, and the officer advised us to "move your ve-hick-als" so we scrambled back down, and away.

pantry

Sandy's post suggested a view of other people's pantry's. I don't have a room devoted to storing things; I have an old jelly cabinet that I got in New England that gives a surprising amount of room. I keep lots of dried beans, baking stuff, chips chocolate and vanilla--just lots of essentials










And I have cupboards full of nonessential essentials as well. Even marshmallow fluff . . .

Snow!

Yes, we did get snow, which shut down everything! This is the South, after all, so we do have our milk and bread, just in case we're here for the duration. Luckily, it didn't start snowing until the wee hours; if it starts snowing while people are shopping, carts of groceries are often abandoned as people run out to flee home.






L stayed home from school, and we all got to sleep late.



But Soul is taking advantage of the fireplace, which you can't see in this picture, glowing behind him. Bear is enjoying looking out at the snow but won't go out, as we've seen a vulture out in the woods. Soul here is a heavy-weight, and unlikely to be carried aloft.