Interesting Times

Scotch tasting!

We met with about 18 other members of the meet-up groups for single-malt scotch tasting Tuesday evening. This is the second of these events we have attended. We sampled four different scotches and ranked them according how we liked them.
Our samples were small, but they are pretty high in alcohol, so we had food. Everyone brought something.

My favorite scotch was Ardbeg, which is produced on the Scottish Island of Islay (pronounced EYE-lah).

During one of our walks this past week, we encountered more deer. There were about eight of them, all young males. They were pretty spread out, so it was hard to get them all in the photos. The pups found them interesting.

I finished the first Trickle Brick Sock. I had a lot of knitting time in the car on Monday when we came home from our trip and while watching the two days of hearings.

When we arrived in Beaverton last weekend, I discovered I was missing one of my earrings. It must have been caught up in my shawl, but it wasn't there. We combed through the leaves next to where we parked the car. I kept the remaining earring, thinking I could put it on a chain for a necklace. When we brought our things in from the car after returning home on Monday, I went through each plastic grocery bag for receipts. At the bottom of one was my missing earring. Here they are, reunited.

Last week's story was "Parts of Things," taking a look at fractions, their uses and how they work. I had to take a lot of photos for the story.

Rocky had his yearly wellness exam. The vet recommended a dental cleaning now, even though his teeth were still pretty clean, with only a bit of build-up. The recommendation was to do it now because he is 15 and he may not be healthy enough later on when he really needs it, so a preventative cleaning. All his blood work came back normal (excellent, actually, considering his age), so we decided to go ahead with the dental. 

Sunday we went to another concert.

Here's the program:

The musical groups here are amazing, and the drive to the high school auditorium, where the performances take place, is only about seven minutes.

On our way home, we found the sky filled with contrails. We found an explanation here. It isn't from today, but I'm assuming the explanation still fits.

Not deer, but still interesting.

The trip to the vet, the hearings on TV, our walks, the concert and two choir rehearsals pretty much used up the time this week.

There is a Chinese curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times." I guess we do.

What's on my needles: The second Trickle Brick Sock; just starting the pattern.

What's on my sewing machine: Back to trying to get some winter clothes made for Emil.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Parts of Things. The dolls explore fractions and what they can be used for.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Tower by Gregg Hurwitz and Blowout by Rachel Maddow. DH and I are listening to The Tower together while driving, so it may be a while before I finish it. I'm finding Blowout fascinating.

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw Red Blend 2016 (aka "Two-buck Chuck"), appropriate to go along with the small herd of bucks we saw on our walk.

What's my tip of the week: Onions and potatoes stored at room temperature will sprout sooner than those stored in the refrigerator, but if your garage is warm enough in the winter, you can keep them there. We put them in the refrigerator in the summer, because our garage gets too warm

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

A Week of Events

There wasn't a lot of fiber fun this week, but I managed to finish one washcloth to go to a military troop stationed in Africa....

....and have a good start on another one.

I plan to wash them before sending them, as I've found that the dye in cotton yarn often runs.

The "Sunshine in the Rain" shawl is blocked and ready to wear. It was pretty easy to block, because it has holes in all the right places to line up to block evenly.

It took about 24 hours to dry.

We had our time taken up during the week with filling out paperwork to apply for a loan to refinance our house so we could get a better interest rate and finish the improvements and repairs. One glitch was the "Peggy-Margaret thing," as it has come to be known.

Back in the day, when I applied for my Social Security card, I was allowed to use "Peggy" although my birth certificate, passport, voter registration and driver's license were all issued to "Margaret." That was 1961. There was no problem at all until a few years ago when Utah passed a law that mandated that the name on your Social Security had to match your driver's license. By then, I was already receiving Social Security and didn't want to mess that up. I also didn't see why I had to change my name legally to Peggy, so I fought it. My state representative was able to get DMV to waive the issue. When I renewed, the same thing came up. I had a new state representative, who also was able to smooth the way for me to renew.

When we moved to Oregon, I was given the choice of which name I wanted on the license, but they recommended using Margaret, because that was what was on my passport, just in case I needed the additional identification for traveling overseas. So all my adult life (from 18 on), Peggy worked, received paychecks and paid income tax, while Margaret drove, voted, traveled overseas and gave birth to three children. With this refinance, the lender decided they wanted to have proof that I was both Peggy and Margaret, so I had to try to find the scanned copy of the letter I received from the state of Utah explaining the problem and the emails between my state representative, the person at the DMV and myself. Finding all that was a headache and took time, but I was finally able to produce them. It resulted in one more document for me to sign, too, but all's well.

On a lighter note, Friday's story in The Doll's Storybook was about a cat Mandy brought home from school and Emil's surprising ability. Here she is, taking off her coat after bringing the cat home in a box.

And here's the cat.

I've been trying to get permission from the manufacturer of the dolls (Götz Puppenmanufaktur Intl., a German company) to use my photos of the dolls in a printed book. I had received some legal advice that if I could document that I tried to get their permission and they didn't respond to my inquiry, they would have a hard time suing me if I went ahead and did it, so when they didn't respond to several emails, I sent them a registered letter, thinking that would be my documentation.

That was August 28th. On September 15th my letter arrived in Frankfurt, but then tracking only said it was en route to its destination. There was no change as of Wednesday, when I went to the post office to see if they could help me with tracking. The local post office only had access to the same information I had, but gave me a number I could call to find out what to do. I was busy with other stuff (see above) so it was Friday before I called. The representative I talked to on the phone explained how to put in an inquiry online. That would start the process of getting in touch with Deutsche Post to find out where my letter went. I spent half the day trying to file the online form.

After finishing with USPS online, I checked my email messages and discovered I had an email from Götz. In it, they said that they were delighted to give me permission, and that the wording I am using in my blog post explaining that I'm not affiliated with them and giving them credit for designing and producing the dolls was perfect for a published book or books, which meant they had looked at my stories. The next step will be to see if an organization that deals with pediatric cancer wants to get involved up front, if not, I'll have to self-publish on my own, but at least I can move ahead with the project. I'm so excited!

The week involved a lot of the H-word toward the end, because we have company coming this morning for coffee and pulla, and we had to clean the house. It needed cleaning anyway, because the appraiser will come sometime this week.

We went out Tuesday evening for a scotch-tasting party. We had 10 people. There is way too much to know about whiskey, but I could taste the difference, and they were all good. I found out that after you sniff the whiskey "neat," which means without mixing anything with it, you should add a few drops of water before tasting.

We watched this video together, just for fun.

The host had a small house, but she had a Steinway grand piano in her living room. she played a little bit for us.

It was fun having a small group in a casual setting. We got acquainted with everyone and had a nice time. It snowed when we left to go home. They are already planning another one, and we will be going.

We managed to continue our two-mile walks every day, in spite of the busy week, which included getting the dogs groomed.

It makes me tired, just re-reading all this! I hope to get in some fiber fun this week, and certainly the washcloths will continue.

What's on my needles: Washcloths for Africa

What's on my sewing machine: Put away for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Marmalade." Mandy comes home with a surprise.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I stopped listening to A Scandal in Battersea by Mercedes Lackey to listen to How To Start a Revolution, a nonfiction book by Lauren Duca. The author is a young journalist and award-winning columnist at "Teen Vogue." The book made me laugh and cry at times. She talks about the new political awakening of millennials and other young people, and how they can change the world for the better peacefully. I can recommend it.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards California Red Blend, 2016 vintage. One of our staple wines.

What's my tip of the week: If you have bare floors meeting wall-to-wall carpeting, you can sweep the dust and dirt from the floors onto the carpeting and then vacuum the carpet, rather than sweeping into a dustpan. Obviously, you would only want to do this if you planned to vacuum the carpeting right after sweeping. Otherwise, you will be tracking the dirt and dust back onto the floor. (It's good to pick up any larger objects, such as books, newspapers, dog toys, balls of yarn, etc., first, though.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.