Knitting Cybrarian

Musings

Newport, RI is beautiful.  If you ever have a chance to visit, do.  Even in winter, it's beautiful.  I loved watching the water, the high and low tides, and the beautiful sunrises. 

However, the Hyatt (on Goat Island) was undergoing renovations during our conference.  I pray I won't get sick from inhaling the drywall dust, the mold (from the construction breaking into the building and melting snow) and the off-gassing of the new materials.  I was in one of the older rooms (so no off-gassing during sleep hours) and the A/C/heating unit sounded like a jet engine.  And just wouldn't be tweaked to an appropriate temperature.  My room was overly warm most of the time, and although I was tempted to just turn the bloody thing off, I was afraid I'd wake up to a 50 degree room. 

But Newport is still beautiful despite all of that.

The conference was great.  The MLA Big Band was terrific, we raised money for MLA's funds, and not only did I get to visit with old friends and make new ones, I learned so much about what my colleagues are doing around the US and Canada.

Back to reality... I'm trying to catch up on a week's work, and I'm having surgery ("girl stuff", enough said!) on Friday.  Although I keep telling myself it's pretty minor surgery, it's still a little unnerving, and in the end, I won't know if it solves issues until about 3-6 weeks from now -- or even later.  I'm taking it easy this weekend -- not working Saturday, not singing at church, etc. on Sunday.

My dreams have been strange ones for over a month now.  My dad died 13 March 2001, and that anniversary is just a few days away.  My friend Jen and I joke about being in the Dead Dads Club.  It's not a fun club to be in, but when you find another person who's in it, you connect emotionally.  My mind and my heart are still processing Dad's death on so many levels, and perhaps that accounts for some of the recurring theme dreams I've been having.  His suicide forever changed me -- and in some ways for good.  Why?  There are assumptions I cannot make.  No matter how much I think I know someone, I really don't.  I can't know what that person is truly thinking and feeling.  So, I need to be kinder in my actions, and know that we all carry burdens we hide from the world.

This time of year is difficult.  While the sun lingers longer (hallelujah!), it's still cold, and it seems winter will never end.  Yesterday evening on my way to church, I saw the trees have started turning slightly green -- they too are looking forward to spring.  I think I saw (and heard) red-winged blackbirds at the feeder this morning; they too return in early spring.  Those signs of early spring seem to help lift some of my gloom -- at least for a little while.

I'm afraid there's no point or profound observations in this post.  Just musings.  Thanks for reading.

Adventures in Travel

Or why I love the northeast.  Today I flew to Boston, MA.  Took the Silver Line Bus ($2) to South Station, where I bought a ticket on the Bonanza Bus Line for Newport RI. 

While I walked quite a bit (including schlepping luggage, as were a few other hardy souls), I marveled at how easy it is to get around in Boston, and then to Newport.  My first visit to Boston was in 1988, my first big solo trip to a really large city.  I took Amtrak from Charlottesville and used the T to get around.  I was amazed at the efficient system of trains and buses.  And today, I was reminded of that again. 

The Bonanza Bus passed through several lovely towns.  I marveled at the stone walls that lined the road the last miles of my trip.  Many of the mills in towns like Bedford Falls are being renovated for other uses.  These stone buildings were beautiful, but if I were a mill worker in the 19th century, I'm sure I would not have found them so beautiful.

My hotel room overlooks the spit of water separating Goat Island from Newport.  I hope to have a few hours to wander tomorrow morning.  More then!

Packing

I'm getting ready for my annual trek to the Music Library Association conference.  This year's meeting is in Newport, RI.  If you've never visited Newport before, it's one of those places not served by commercial airlines.  I don't know that part of the northeast very well, so I decided to take a direct flight to Boston, and then I'll take a bus.  I figured one change for the trip rather than two (the Providence RI route) was enough.

So, packing.  Here's the preparations so far:

• As Queen of MLA Chachkis, I'm shipping a box or two to myself tomorrow.  The boxes will be chock full of signs for the MLA shop and office supplies.  Much easier to ship those than try to carry them in luggage (because there's quite a few items). 
• I'm one of the pianists in the MLA Big Band.  Assembled my book today.  While the other instruments may have two pages of music (single line), I usually have pages and pages.  I make working copies of the music, and have arts and crafts time with a 3-hole punch, scissors and tape.  Sometimes I can work the page turns out better than others.
• Charge up the MP3 player and upload said tunes for Big Band. 
  
  • Hate the Yahoo! player that MusicMatch has switched to.  Uninstall both and stick with old favorite RealPlayer (only 'cause I don't have an iPod to use iTunes).
• Download podcasts (Cast On!) to computer to transfer to MP3 player.
• Pick out knitting projects to bring to conference.  Items not requiring much attention or concentration.
• Transfer highlighted meetings from preliminary conference schedule to Outlook; synch with Palm.
• Call hotel to double check that they do in fact have my reservation and correct room rate.  Some surprises are good, but ones involving hotel rooms are not.
• Get hair cut; hate the current longish do, and get something very very short.  Hairdresser from heaven stocks me up with samples for trip.
• Weave in loose ends on very favorite (and now a little shabby) sweater.  If I must be on a plane and then a bus for several hours, I will be comfortable.

Yet to do:

• call the two knitting stores in Newport area for their hours, assuming I can sneak away for a visit on Wednesday morning.
• plan wardrobe.  Yes, it'll be black.  But which black pieces?  Can I get away with the small suitcase this year?
• plan shoes.  See above.  Except, it's winter, cold, rainy, snowy.  Wear hiking boots on plane?  Not fun for the security walk-through, but I can walk through anything and not get wet or cold.
• Snacks.  Must bake and bring snacks.  I have a longish bus trip from Boston to Newport (and back on Sunday).  Hence the loading of the MP3 player.
• Must remember to bring microphone for conference call during meeting.
• Must remember to clean out briefcase, especially of anything small that might be on the TSA no-go list.
• Must grab several of those quart zippered plastic bags.  Just in case.
• Must change purses to much smaller purse.
• Must charge up cell phone and bluetooth headset.  Bring adapters.
• Ditto for Palm and MP3 player.
• Must pack FedEx boxes to ship back any interesting brochures or SWAG for staff and students.

Any comments on perceived priorities will be ignored. Except for those about knitting projects.

The knitting projects for this trip are:

• Tulip Baby Sweater in original colorway.
• Sock it to Me Baby Sweater by Black Purl Designs.
• Anne Hanson's That Little Scarf (which requires much more concentration than the others, but...)
• Oh, and a basic garter stitch triangle shawl if I don't get it finished tomorrow night!

Stay warm!

Deer at bird feeders

  Deer at bird feeders  
  Originally uploaded by lauragayle

This morning we awoke to a snow storm.  Soon, two deer appeared in our garden.  And promptly emptied out our bird feeders.  We watched them for a while and realized they were responsible for some of the damage to our feeders, particularly pushing out the perching rod -- all so they can get more seed in their hungry mouths!

Giving in...

I've had The Cough That Would Not Leave since oh, late November.  I got some meds before Christmas that let me get through singing Advent IV and Christmas Eve services.  I ran out, and the congestion finally went away, with a few more meds.  But the cough just wouldn't stop.  I got a prescription for an antibiotic on 1/3 and didn't fill it.  Why?

• What if I didn't really need an antibiotic?  Would I be killing the good bacteria?
• The medicine was $90!
• The medicine was $90!  Although the doc did give me a $15 coupon (which should have been a clue).

This morning, after yet another night of coughing, of Joel sleeping in our bed, then in the guest bed, and the realization that I'm going out of town next week and my conference roommate will not have another room to move to when my cough kicks in, I reconsidered the antibiotic.  And I gave in.

So far, I can't tell much.  Except that I feel a little more tired than usual.  Of course, having spent many nights hacking my lungs out, I can't say I'm fully rested.  So we'll see.

I'm knitting a shawl for the silent auction at this conference and I need to be knitting more often and quickly!  It's a boring garter stitch, which is making me sleepy while I knit.

Let's hope these meds get rid of The Cough That Would Not Leave!

She loves her aunt's knitting

  DSC00057 
  Originally uploaded by lauragayle

That's why she's smiling.  She loves the hat her beloved aunt knit just for her!