Yow -- how can it be back-to-work Monday already?! The last time I checked, I had all that lovely vacation time laid out for knitting and reading and taking it easy. How did it manage to disappear while I wasn't looking?
I could really get used to this not-working-and-still-getting-paid stuff. (Note to self: Win Powerball this year.) Thanks to the generous vacation policy at my company, I now get 4 weeks of vacation after 7 years' worth of service, but entry-level newbies in Australia get that much to start. What's wrong with this picture?
Getting back into the old routine wasn't all that bad, except for the part where my alarm clock went off while still showing the hours in single numbers. After the morning infusion of coffee (Sumatran, half-and-half, no sugar, really really big cup), I remembered my passwords and got started. This is how it's going to be until our next company shutdown during the first week of July, so I have plenty of time to get used to being back.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Not that the news is all that bad in the leisure department. We're going to Mardi Gras at the end of January! The actual date of Fat Tuesday is February 8, but we always go on the weekend of the Mystic Krewe of Barkus parade and then get the heck out of town before the real tourists arrive. We attend other parades and catch beads and drink our fill of Hurricanes and coffee with chicory, but Barkus is always the real reason we go. Well, that and getting out of the cold for a long weekend.
This trip has traditionally been a "girls only" junket for my friend Jody and me, but I just didn't have the heart to tell Greg that he couldn't go... so we're all going. He should have a great time just jamming with other musicians and visiting all of the usual French Quarter haunts. As long as he doesn't interfere with Jody's and my shopping time (particularly the time we spend in The Quarter Stitch, a wonderful knitting/needlepoint emporium right off Jackson Square), things should be just great.
Ahhh, New Orleans. I just love New Orleans. I would probably settle for a long weekend in almost any Southern city after a few months of Maine winter, but New Orleans deserves its reputation as a terminally charming, fun, sybaritic city with a definite rough edge. Jody and I vacation together every other year (they have a farm, so the chance of our taking a couples vacation is pretty slim -- it will be lambing time then), and we keep saying, "Maybe we should go someplace else for a change." As vacation time gets nearer, though, we always decide to go back to New Orleans. The lure of the Cafe du Monde is just too strong.
Stuff Breeds in Captivity
The Reorganization Bug bit me yesterday. Every once in a while I am compelled to tear into something and restore order, and yesterday I sacrificed precious knitting time to reorganize my stash. Let's just say that no newbie knitter should have that much yarn. It's all carefully organized now, though, and I could pretty much find anything at a moment's notice. I even dug up the frog pond!
The results were indeed worth it. I found several skeins of Lamb's Pride that were just crying out to be felted, plus some more skeins of alpaca from a local alpaca farm that could also make nice felting yarn.
Update on the Concert for the Tsunami Victims
The people organizing the concert have decided to hold it on January 30 in Kennebunk. Unfortunately, I will be far too busy breakfasting on beignets to be able to attend. The chorus will sing the German Requiem and a couple of spirituals by Alice Parker. I had a duet in one of those spirituals, and I'll miss singing that part again.
3 comments:
What does "sybaritic" mean?
I know what you mean about getting going after so many days off. It was hard today. Large coffee cups, indeed. I asked for yarn from my knitting student for my birthday! (it's coming up) Sigh ... another year older.
Thanks for checking earlier Karen too see if that banner was their...It was but I think it would keep disappearing, I was using the 50Mb of webspace I have elsewhere to upload pics and link my pics @ the jist from their but the webspace proved to be garbage, anywho many thanks.
It's tomorrow! The 5th. All these January babies. Mr. P.'s daughter's is on the 30th, a good friend's of mine is on the 29th, as is my mother's, one of my student's is on the 11th, another on the 26th, and a cousin on the 23rd.
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