Feels Like Thursday

I'm not precisely what feeling Thursday gives off, but this day's got it. Even though today's actual day is Tuesday, which means there's a lot more week to go.

As of this month I've been a resident of Nashville and working as a copy editor in the same little cubicle for five years. That means I've been here longer than I was in any one school. The day I moved here seems like a long time ago and just yesterday all at the same time. My co-workers had a little "thanks for stickin' around" celebration today where we ate goodies and I got a small pin with the horse-riding circuit rider logo on it. And I start getting more vacation time now, which is pretty dang nice.

Here's a progress pic of the stole.

Newly Knit Neckwarmer

Here's the first cold-weather knit of the season! It's the chunky Misti Alpaca from Sarah and a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants pattern.

The ribbed part on one end fits close to my neck and the wider cabled part goes just low enough to fit just inside my coat. The yarn feels sooooo soft. And since it was big yarn and a little project it fit my attention span of the moment, which is shorter than that of a flea right now.

It’s Fair Weather.

In Franklinton, the little town I grew up in, the Washington Parish Free Fair is held every year in the third week of October. Schools close for three days. People come in from out of town, and the population of the place doubles for a couple of nights. Kids ride ferris wheels and eat cotton candy and pet farm animals and show off their popsicle birdhouses that won a blue ribbon in the craft building. Teenagers eat pizza and tap dance on stage and walk around the midway holding hands and playing games to win teddy bears or posters of rock stars. Adults visit the Mile Branch Settlement, and have little biscuits and communion-size plastic cups of sassafrass tea, and watch performances on stage—sometimes a kid or grandkid singing, sometimes a big-name country star singing.

The first concert I really remember sitting through and paying attention to was The Charlie Daniels Band at the fair. I sat by my dad on one of the green wooden benches toward the back and ate orange sherbert ice cream on a cone and kicked my feet in the dirt around the tree roots by our bench. I remember the sound of the fiddle, and I remember Charlie Daniels stood close to the edge of the stage and yelled a lot and his face got red and sweaty under the bright white lights. I remember people clapping, and everybody around us sang along to “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and if they didn’t know the words they just mumbled real loud. My chin was sticky from ice cream drips, and my tennis shoes and white socks were all dusty. It was cold enough that I had on a big jacket with sleeves that were too long, and I got to stay up past my bedtime.

Well, I haven’t made it to the fair most years since I’ve moved away, and that’s okay. In the times I have been back, I usually didn’t see as many people as I’d hoped. I didn’t have quite as much to say to the people I did see. And the crowds are a little less exciting now that I live in a crowd of a city every day. But I definitely miss the memories and my family—and the food—so I hope those of my family who will be in attendance will take a lap around the midway and eat an ice cream cone for me.

Rats

We saw The Departed this weekend. I definitely recommend it. There’s a bit of violence. Okay, a lot of violence. And at least one rat. But it’s a very good movie!

All the kiddos in my family are getting so much bigger. I miss them a lot! Both nephews are getting bigger and cuter by the minute! And look at this pretty little girl and tell me she doesn’t have her daddy wrapped around her little finger. (By the way, I’m really not sure what my brothers are talking about or why it happens to be in Spanish, but really this is pretty tame on the scale of “what is normal?” for them.)

The Knitters all gave me some ivory “happy engagement yarn”! How great are they? Plus Sarah let us all play with her swift and ball winder. Very handy! I’m thinking those items might have to go on my Christmas list.

Update: I have found that I no longer have the desire to take a class at the moment. Instead I’m learning the art of planning a wedding :) It’s looking like that’ll keep me plenty busy for now.