On Knitting Smaller Things:

Now that the Winter Games are almost over and my UFO knitting (UnFinished Objects) have either been finished, tinked (unraveled), or abandoned until I can find the written pattern or other parts. I have been thinking about what I want to knit next. (I’ll be working on the bed throw until the end of the games.)




I have this baby sized baby doll. I’ve had ‘her’ for over twenty five years now. (The doll is gender neutral. I have designated the female to her.) So far, she is Goth only in the sense that she is mine and I bought her because she was made to sleep eternally.

I have made her hand made baby clothes (mostly to use for demonstrations at colonial reenactments), but I’ve never knitted for her.

I’ve been watching Black Crow knit little things for her art dolls and feeling the urge to knit small.

So, I have gotten together a few baby patterns and I’m going to try to knit for her. Changing them, of course, into some gothy baby things to broaden her scope of possibilities.

Any suggestions?

I’m more into spiders and owls then skulls, bats and snakes if there is a motif involved, not that I wouldn‘t go for any of them. And anything in the Victorian line is good, as you already know of my morbid liking for cemeteries and Victorian post mortem photos.















Only her head with painted/molded hair, arms (elbows to finger tips) and legs (knees to the tips of her toes) are plastic and real looking. The rest of her body is cloth and stuffing. So sleeveless and short panty type things will look silly, just thought I’d mention it.

If anyone is interested. The back of her neck has ‘Berjiisa Made in Spai’ marked into it. I’m thinking they meant Spain and it was a miss print.

So, Onward into the world of baby doll makeovers I go. I think I’ll have to start with a February Baby Sweater for her. I have one, so she will too.

On Get this Monkey Off My Back:

This winter has been a long one so far. Some years we get a break in January. But this year it has been one big super long winter day.

We can get out if need be, but why add to the backed up traffic while the road crews try to get this mess cleaned up. We don’t really need anything that we are out of, but our sanity.

So here you have it.














The winter monkey on Lady Longs back. Even she is tired of trying to get through this stuff.















She is up to her neck in the fluff.














The snow is no longer any fun.














Spring can come back any time now. In fact, Lady Long insists that is comes back right now.

On Shortened Stone Wall:

As you can see the stone wall around the garden has gotten shorter since yesterday.

We got a lot of snow and wind with this storm, but not as much as they said we might.

We got about 12 inches (30 cm) on top of the about 4 inches (10 cm) we had.

You can see to the right of the picture, a board on the small table where we put seed underneath for the ground feeding birds, so the snow doesn’t cover the feed as fast.

We are safe and warm snuggled by the wood stove.

And yes, it is still snowing and will be for days.

On In Response to Another Blogger:

I found a blog today. New to me, but out there in cyber space for a while now. It is Goth Ilk. She is open to more then the narrow view of what a goth is. Here is what I wrote to her in response to her posting ‘Goth before Goth‘.

Hi Naomie,

I just found your blog today and just had to comment. I find your take on goth music refreshing. I was goth before goth was an in thing to be. There was no sub culture to support my views on life.

I had to hide my gothiness or was threatened with shock therapy for a depression I didn't have. I was happy, but liked to hang out in cemeteries and think about death and the beyond. I would wear dark makeup in my room and wear a mix of old fashioned clothing and new alone where no one could see me. I was drawn to a look that didn't exist except in horror/vampire films.

The look of goth is beautiful to me. In my day the closest I got in public was being Snow White on Halloween. Pale skin, dark eyes and lips. And she got to wear a red cape too. Oh, if only I got to look like the dark queen in the Disney version back then.

Goth is more then a fan base for a group of post punk bands. Those bands collected the people like me around them.

No longer did I have to listen to opera to get a dark theme set to music.

You are too young to know of the fairy tales of old and their dark themes and the scary nursery rhymes that taught children to be too frightened to step out of line.

In our sanitized 'don't frighten the children' world, Goth has always been around, it just didn't have a name or group following in an open way before.

In a way 'Old Goths' are the only true goths. For they are the only ones that have been tested enough and still hold true to the thing inside them that makes them like and follow beyond the fad phases life has to offer.

In the end, music and fashion may have been a gathering point, but goth is a way of life from the heart and soul. Not evil or threatening in any way just free and different with a little shock value thrown in for fun.

Sincerely, Lady Euphoria

On YouTube and Knitting:

I have been knitting, but not getting done nearly the amount of things I had hoped to.

Since the start of the Olympics, I finished that sweater I started when I relearned to knit Continental style. I worked on the scarf, the bed throw, and spent more hours looking for the parts of that toy I had finished knitting already, then I would have if I just knitted them over again. And I would have too, if I had enough of the right colored yarn left.

I did finish the pair of mittens so at least I can scratch them off the list.

I am having trouble keeping the tail ends of my yarn tucked in on the scarf. No matter how I tuck them, sew them in, or incorporate them they keep on sneaking out and looking frayed. I paid a lot more money then I am used to for that yarn, for its softness and color and I have to say I’m disappointed with this turn of events.

After the Winter Games are over, I just may have to rip out the scarf and make smaller things out of it that don’t have any grafts from ball to ball in them. I’ve spent too much time already fixing and re-fixing those errant tails that are making my soft and pretty scarf look shabby in places.

I’m working on the socks today. No fancy patterning just variegated sock yarn in rib stitch.

For some extra fun while I knit away at my UFO‘s, I have been over at YouTube watching videos.

I watched the forty minute movie ‘Lord of the Rings - The Hunt for Gollum’ a well made tweenqual (Okay, no such word. A look at a part of the story, in the middle of the plot, not visited before.), about Gandolf and Aragorn’s search for Gollum once the ring was discovered to be ‘The Ring’ and before Frodo met Aragorn at the Prancing Pony Inn. If you liked Lord of the Rings you should give it a look see.

Then I found ‘Lord of the Libraries’ an eighteen minute spoof on the Lord of the Rings by a group of Kansas University students. I found that one to be very funny as they twisted the plot and lines to suit their purposes.

I also came across Miss Hannah Minx's Vlog (video blog). She is a cute, perky goth, twenty year old from West Philly, going to school in Tokyo. The link goes to the oldest Vlog on the list from last March, but most are less then five minutes long so it is fairly easy to get through all of them. Konichiwa! See, I’m learning Japanese.

On Being on Facebook:

I was on Facebook for about 24 hours over the weekend. I just couldn’t stand it. I literally hated every minute of it. I felt like my back was exposed and a target was on it. It made me break out in hives. I had to deactivate the account and run away to hide until I stopped shaking.

I am not a social peacock. Peacock, yes. Social, no. Even with my blog I talk with the people that come to play in a one on one manor. And I guard my personal information.

I don’t like crowds. I don’t play well in groups. I sit with my back to the wall so no one can sneak up on me. Organized sports and team play makes me nervous because I‘ve been hit by friendly fire before. I have an uncomfortable need to not conform and that in itself leaves me vulnerable.

And the other thing about Facebook was the knowing of things about others I didn’t ask about. I didn’t like being barraged with nonsense information. I didn’t need a third party to tell me about the latest score someone got on a game that I know nothing or care nothing about. I don’t really care what groups someone just joined unless the subject came up in conversation. I felt like someone was watching over my shoulder all the time just waiting to tell the world of Facebook friends my latest move.

Then, in thinking I was going to find the interests or activities of people I do personally know, when I went to see their pages, what I got was an eye full of what some other people are about out there and I was appalled at a small contingent. (Hey there liar, your pants are on fire.)

It is not that I don’t care, but more because I do care about others, that I don’t want to look into other peoples personal lives. I don’t want to know about how the baby played with his poop. Or how some out there are so clueless to their own inadequacies. I don’t need to watch someone else’s train wreck I can do nothing about. I can’t watch knowing some have too many kids already and are spending their time playing games on Facebook instead of taking care of those kids. It just hurts me too much to see it.

Yes, I do have my own issues because I have been betrayed badly by others in my life. Why on earth would I like to stick my neck out there and let someone thoughtlessly do it again. I am guarded for my own very good reasons. I screen my comments on my blog for those reasons also.

For me, you must gain and earn my true friendship as some of you here have already done. But on Facebook there were too many people free to out me to the ones I don’t want to find me and possibly hurt me again. I won’t be going back.

On Second Annual Thankfulness Tea Party:

It was delightful here at Darkness Manor. Lots of thankfulness all the way round. I’m only sorry I can’t show it all to you.














The only pictures that came out were the ones I took as I was still setting everything up. Somehow I got something on the lens and the rest had a dark blurry spot in the middle.














You can go here to see last years tea party and get the same feel for what I am going for with the day.

I’m thankful for quite a lot of things. Pages of them in fact. And I have to tell you, I’m thankful for that too.

It brings a smile to my face to have so very many things to be thankful for. It maybe a twist on the old ‘count you blessings’ thing, but it does really work.

Happy Thankfulness Tea to you and everyone you know.

Check out Little Black Crow and Knotty Mouse for more Thankfulness Tea Party fun.

On Some Things I’m Thankful For:

Silver linings, they help make the bad times bearable
Music
Cloudy winter days, I love the look of light and shadow
Wings
Trees and bushes without leaves, I just like the structure
Flavored Popcorn
The sound of rain on the roof as I go to sleep
Crayons
Walking in the woods on a calm day
Stories

Remembering childhood fun
Lace
Creating, crafting, repurposing
Smiles
Grilled cheese sandwiches, though I rarely eat them
Birds
Looking for fairies hiding in nooks and crannies while I dust
Wooly sweaters
Having my hair brushed and fussed with
Sweets

Finding myself singing a silly song for no reason
Dried fruit
A new set of clothing that sets me apart
Rubber boots
Sitting quiet and knitting by the fire on a cold day
Tango
The soft way that corn leaves whisper and click in the wind
Water pistols
Black lipstick and fingernail polish
Video games

The unrestrained laughter of children at play
Doc Martins
Walking in a cemetery dressed in my finest black dresses
Tea parties
Songs that make me think about my life
Wilted roses
Puzzles of all kinds, jigsaw to pencil, spatial to logic
My bed
Internet friends from all around the world

On Stories, Dogs and Knitting: And Tea

I posted a new story on my ‘Thrill or Shiver’ blog last night. Like some of my stories, ‘Mack’s Room’ is a fabrication based on an experience I once had. I hope you like it.
____________________________

My knitting of unfinished objects, UFO’s, is coming along again. ‘Interruptions’ seem to be the call of the day. Among other things the dog, Sir Laidback, had an allergic reaction to something and his face swelled up. Meds and fussing on him fixed the troubles, but it took time away from the things I wanted to get done like my knitting yesterday.













Right now I’m working on a purple and gray stripped scarf I started back in May. I didn’t have the mojo for knitting a scarf in the late spring, even though I was loving the yarn. So it sat in my UFO box until now.

The Yarn is Reynolds’ Odyssey 100% Merino Wool 50 g. balls. I picked it up when I went to Boston last spring to visit my daughter. The color in the picture doesn’t do it justice. No color name, but it is a variegated gray and variegated purple, and the pinks and blues really stand out in the purple. It is a lot more colorful then it looks in the picture here. In the daylight you can see the striping contrast so much better.

And the softness of the yarn is like melted butter, a cloud… When I first touched it I didn’t know it was wool. I thought it was some kind of non fluffy angora.
_______________________________











Some people will be having their Thankfulness Tea Parties tomorrow and I will be having mine on Sunday. (Mountain Man has a prior commitment on Saturday and I want to include him in my Tea Party.) I have collected and readied all the things I will need including the flowers for the table.

Have a good time with your parties and remember the small things you are thankful for too.

On Tea and Knitting:

The Thankfulness Tea Party is coming this weekend. So you only have a few days to collect what you are bringing to the tea or want on hand.

I cut out scraps of paper from magazines with pretty pictures and paste them to the corners of my pages. I also find a special pen to write with.

This year with Mountain Man and I being sick, I have already sent a package to the friends who where going to be here with me, so that they can have a illness free tea party without me coughing on their goodies.
_____________________________

On to the knitting:
I have so far, in my quest to finish the UFO’s or ‘unfinished knitting’ during the winter games, finished my gray sweater.

It is just a simple top down Feather and Fan patterned sweater. I cast on the neck, increased every other row until I got to the arm holes, separated the sleeve stitches for later and just went with the yarn I had. Leaving just enough yarn to sew on the buttons. Five balls of Patons, Classic Wool Merino 3 1/ 2 oz. or 100 g. in the color Gray Mix for my large frame. I went with three big buttons because I like the look.

The pattern I made up is very similar to the Liesl pattern shown here. My button band is more substantial and my repeat in the pattern break is in the solid part and hers is in the lacey portion. So, I won’t be making up and posting a pattern for this because she has done the work to have all sizes. But feel free to ask me any questions.



I feel like Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter Movies, but with a little more class. I’ve always liked the Feather and Fan pattern because it reminds me morticians drapes. I think I’ll wear it to tea.

On Aging Computer Controller:

I recently acquired a used computer for my mother. I had it checked out and fitted with the programs she needed and today delivered it to her, set it up, and got her started.

Now, I don’t know if you have ever watched as a senior citizen learns how to work a computer for the first time, but I was pleasantly surprised at how fast she did pick it up.

She knows how to turn it on, find and work the work processor, play her music that we put into it, Play with the game she picked to practice her mouse skills on, watch her DVD’s and she can also shut it down.

She was, of course, overwhelmed at first. So much to learn and understand, and there are so many ways to learn to do the same thing in the beginning. Icons, start menu, enter, escape, right click, left click, keyboard, mouse. Programs, oh so many programs!

I watched as she made her way from holding her mouse in a death grip to finding the curser doing what she wanted it to do. She made choices and went ahead with stilted confidence which further grew.

I wrote up a little ten page instruction booklet to leave with her. Explaining wording and actions on her screen, what the buttons do and where to find things she will want again. She will easily try to and get better at it tomorrow and the days after that.

I will call her on the phone and field her questions, guiding her in the exploration of this new larger then life toy.

I may have to nudge her to practice so she will be ready for the big day.

Next week we set her up with the internet. Email and My Space here she comes.

On Too Sick to Say Much:

I woke the other morning with a wracking hacking cough. The kind that hurts down to your toes. And it was down hill from there.

I’m up today, but only barely.

I have been doing a little knitting.

And I wanted to remind you about the Thankfulness Tea Party on this coming weekend.

On Pulling Together Loose Ends:

The Winter Games and the Knit Olympics are about to start. And I find myself in a bit of a pickle.

I would love to start a new and challenging knit project along with all the other knitters joining in this year. But I do have a problem. A good portion of my knitting needle collection still have projects on them. I’ve turned into a starter not a finisher of late. And I just don’t have any more room for another project in the process. (Five bags with started projects in them in this room alone.)

So, there is only one thing to do. I won’t be sending my name and info to Yarn Harlot. I’ll be here by my lonesome doing a much harder thing for me. Turning stitches around from Combination so I can knit Continental and finishing as many UFO’s (Un Finished Objects) as I can before the winter games are over. And as a further goal for myself I will not start another project until the games are over or I have finished all the UFO’s in the house.

I know of a large bed throw, a scarf, a pair of mittens, a pair of socks, two sweaters, and a toy that I can think of off the top of my head, and I know that there are other things in plastic boxes out of sight.

I’ll keep a running total on the side of my blog and post pictures when I’m done with something.

By the end of the Winter Games I intend to be a winner. And get some of this heavy old UFO guilt off my back. Who knows, I may even loose a few pound of fat off my butt at the same time by keeping busy.

If you are not joining the Knit Olympics and would like to join me in a UFO ‘Finish Off’ Olympics instead, just let me know.

On Playing Leap ‘Frog’:

Yes, I have been missing from the blog for a few days. I have been concentrating.

If you have been following my blog for a while you know I have memory issues. And that after I went through Chemo for breast cancer four years ago, I was suddenly a Combination Knitter after being a English Knitter all my life. (I still don’t know how that happened.)

There is nothing wrong with either method. Most all patterns are written for English/Continental Knitters and Combination Knitting is much faster. The basic difference is the coil of the knitting around the knitting needle is clockwise for one and counter clockwise for the other, but the outcome is the same. (Don’t ask me which at the moment or my head will explode.)

Well after a self imposed vacation from knitting for a few months, I tried to learn how to knit English/Continental again.

This was for no other reason then some knitting patterns just can’t be made into Combination very easily and I was getting tired of transposing them. Some times it meant learning a new stitch in English then learning how to change it to Combination then re-writing the pattern to accommodate the change.

So for the last few days I have been knitting, making mistakes, frogging (or tinking, unknitting, pulling out my work), doing this all over again repeatedly and concentrating very hard to learn how to knit in Continental. (The knitting itself is English, but the holding of the yarn coming into the knitting is Combination.) The knitting itself is not as fast as Combination, but I don’t have to take days to learn a new pattern either.

I have finally turned the corner in this relearning and have gotten 9 1 /2 inches or 24 cm done on a simple, neck down, feather and fan patterned sweater without having to frog some or all of the stitches in each row. At this rate I just may be ready for the Knit Olympics to start on Friday.

Now all I have to do is pick a difficult pattern, get the wool, and do all this in a record breaking snow storm. Maybe this year I’ll just keep on practicing at this knitting for now.

Here is a website with videos of all three kinds as well as knitting for the left handed if you are interested. (Although she does make it harder to purl in Continental then it has to be. I use my thumb there.)

On The Tea Party is Coming:

I came up with this Thankfulness Tea Party some time ago. But there are people asking if it is one of those protest things. No it is not.

It is a simply nice way to remember that we have some things to be thankful for in our lives and that life is not all dull and/or bad.

Some people stopped worrying about things long enough to watch the Supper Bowl today and I offer a Tea Party on the weekend of the 21-22.

The rules are here if you want to look at them. But in a nut shell, you have a little tea party, by yourself or with others, and write down the things you are thankful for in your life. You can keep it privet or share, that is up to you.

Nothing complicated just nice clean fun and enjoyment.

I hope you can join me along with Ms. Mousie and Black Crow.

On Cat Love:

I am on the lookout for a knitting pattern of a full sized sleeping cat.

You see back around Halloween I found a black cat at the animal shelter that I just fell in love with. His name was Grim and we hit it off right away.

The shelter doesn’t adopt out black cats anywhere near Halloween, so I waited.

When the time came for him to find a new home, our new dog Sir Laidback was sick and we couldn’t bring a new animal into the house and maintain the care needed for the dog. Grim when to a new family and I was left empty handed.

I have not found another black cat, or any other kind of cat for that matter, that I have had the same instant and complete relationship with.

So, since I can’t have Grim, I’d like to make a reasonable facsimile to cuddle and stroke. He will live on my bed where the dogs can’t get to him and I may even put a vibrator inside him so he can purr to my petting to his hearts content.

Why do some animals make such a big impression on us? I’m wanting my Grim back, even thought we were never really together.

On Surprise Finds:

On days we get wood in from the outside wood pile and bring it in to warm up inside I generally hide from the cold in the family room from the door being opened repeatedly and the cold wood.

I usually hide under the covers, once we have brought all the wood in, and read a good book even if it is a re-read. Today it was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I’ve been re-reading this one every few years or so since I was a teenager.

I like to read allegory over again because you get so many life lessons from stories like this one. I track my progress in learning the lessons well. Not to mention we could all use a visit from the princess’s ‘Rhyme’ and ‘Reason’ a bit more.















Back to the wood, we usually get a few things out of the wood pile that we didn’t put into it and this time was no different. The difference was in the amount of things. We got a good haul this time.

From the top center clockwise.
A live stink bug, feathers from a Blue jay, a dead wool bear caterpillar, a large buckshot pellet, and a piece of snake skin.

The stink bug did not get feed to the Venus Flytrap. They stink far too much. And the caterpillar was already dead and dried up.

The Phantom Tollbooth is now tucked away in my head again and I feel a bit more ready to face the world and what life has to bring me.

Surprise, I’m not as bad off as I thought I was in the brains department with my bad memory troubles since the chemo. I remembered a lot more of the book then I thought I did.

On Yes, I Did It Again:

Okay, I’ll admit it straight from the top. I went back on my word.

I tried, I really did. I was not going to get sucked into the money pit of the world of Sims. ‘Expansion packs’ and all that good ‘Stuff.’

Sims 2 was riddled with problems. Patches were far too long in coming. Months of play time was left fallow while we waited for the fix to come in.

I, along with others, screamed and ranted about lax policies at EA Games. How the money grubbers there didn’t care about the consumer. How we would never give them another dime so long as we lived.

I broke down and bought Sims 3.

I know, I know. I’m not worth the air I breath.

In my defense I did wait until the patch was out before I bought it. I did my research before plunking my money down.

A large change for me from counting the days and standing on line waiting for the store to open just to get my hands on the next installment.

The patch for this new game took almost as long to download as the game did, but I’m up and running. And it is good. Very different in play, I must say, than the first two go rounds, but strangely familiar.

I watch my Sims walk to the neighbor’s house to visit, an impossibility before. They interact more like humans do and learn in different ways then the old Sims do.

My Sims can bring their guitar to the park to play. They can walk or drive to a place of business to find a job. They can have part or full time jobs and work on odd jobs on the side.

You know right away how another Sims feels about your Sim in words as well as symbols. And you can play multiple versions of the same game from a point you pick in play, like a big ‘What if I turned left instead of right‘, life puzzle. One Sims can marry different other Sims and you can see which life choice worked out the best.

You can give them longer or shorter life spans. Their lives are more complex, in a good way. No longer are they fairly cardboard and repetitive in life patterns. They even have favorite colors.

I’m in love all over again with the Sims.

On Carnivorous Plant Time Again:

It is February and that means a girl heart turns to things that eat other things. Carnivorous Plants will be for sale again in the Northern Hemisphere. I will be trolling the highways and byways looking for some new plants that eat things.















My Venus Flytraps have just come out of hibernation recently so they are not looking too good in the picture, but I see a few babies getting started so I’m stoked.















And in the other jar is two Pitcher Plants with a few Sundews round the sides. I do need to move them to a better place that is not as crowded.

I’ll have to be on the look out for a new terrarium for them. I do like my extra large apothecary/cookie jars. But I can’t fit another on the window sill. It just wouldn’t take the weight.















Not to leave the others out, Mortimer the Cactus is doing well. Spike his brother met with the floor one day and expired that afternoon. I still don’t know what kind of cactus Mortimer is yet, but he is showing the signs of arms. Once the days get a bit longer he should start to grow a bit faster.

(Mort was grown from seed in a mixed seed package so I know he is one of seven different kinds, I just don’t know which yet.)

Mort needs a new home also and I’m thinking of starting some more cactus from the left over seeds. So I will wait to move him until I have just the right spot and pot.

Hopefully I’ll find some nice Butterwarts or something else to fill out my little carnivorous and sharp families out a bit more this year.

On Silent Poetry Reading for 2010

Today is the Silent Poetry reading. More info here.

This is my offering:

At the Window Watching

By Lady Euphoria Deathwatch 01-30-10

He stood in shadow
Moonlight pouring over his arm.
I heard his breathing
Melding with the night time breeze.

I smelled his aroma
On the sheets and pillow next to mine.
I sensed his restlessness
As he looked out over the moonlit world.

My lover, my man, my heart.
Why do you need more?

His hair moved softly
As a breath of air came through the window.
He shifted his weight
And leaned against the window frame.

I wished he would look
At me with such intensity and longing.
I felt forgotten and alone
In a room full of our wedding bed.

My lover, my man, my soul.
Why do you look away from me?

He sighed and shivered
Naked in his body and his thoughts.
I daren’t disturb him
Wrapped up in his own privet view.

He coughed and sniffled
Wiping what could only be a tear.
He turns towards me
a smile curls his lips, yet still a tear remains.

My lover, my man, my breath.
What has pierced your heart?

“Oh, You’re awake,
I thought you sleeping.
I woke and found
the moonlight calling me away.”

“I had to look
And see the ‘tween world.
But it did not have
Its former charm to me, My Love.

“My lover, my woman, my life.
You have replaced all wonders in my heart.”

On Watch Your Mouth:

It was just another day at my house. My computer mouse was acting up so we went off to shop for another.

On our way we stopped at our local dollar discount store and passed a father with his son by the door. The boy was on the ground having a quite sit down tantrum and the father was discussed and out of sorts.

It was obvious that the child had some developmental problems and I felt sorry for the father. This boy was not small and could not just be picked up and put in the car.

We went in the store and looked around. Bought a few things and my husband, Mountain Man, went to the car with my package while I went into the store next door.

I came out with my fix of Sudoku puzzle books to find the father hands up at the back of his car and another man the same at the back of his own vehicle. A Police Officer was standing a few feet away, gun drawn.

My husband is sitting in our car, just to the side, and a few feet from all this.

Other police cars came racing into the parking lot lights flashing.

The other man had seen the father shoving his boy into the car and went to see if it was a kidnapping of a child. Words were exchanged. (Not nice words either.) And tempers flared.

The father explained to the police that his boy was Autistic, but by this time the poor man had been having a hard time with his son for over an hour that I had seen. This had not give him license to use foul racially derogatory language before the police got there.

He had hoped to get away with his indiscretion, but Mountain Man had seen it all.

The man who had tried to step in and help the child was black, the father and son were not. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the police station while Mountain Man waited his turn to make his statement.

We don’t care what kind of a day you’ve been having, Don’t use the ‘N’ word and try to get away with it. It’s just not right.

On Tea Parties:

Last year I started something. A Thankfulness Tea Party here on the web. Last years blog about it can be found here.

I have been doing this at my home for some time, around the third week in February each year.

I picked that time of year because most of us in the Northern hemisphere are reaching our limit with the winter blahs. I noticed that my friends and I needed a pick me up and a new outlook. A freshen-upper.

To all those that are interested in joining us:
You are invited to join Ms. Mousie at Knotty Mouse and Little Black Crow at her knitting blog or her more often used arts blog, my co-hosts this year, and myself Lady Euphoria, to a Thankfulness Tea Party.

It will be held on the weekend of February 20-21, 2010. (I will be having my tea on the 21 st, but I leave it open to the twentieth for those of you who’s lives fit this day better.)

The rules are as follows:
You invite anyone you like to your party, if you want to. (Some of my best Thankfulness Teas have been held alone.)
You serve the Tea and Goodies of your choice. Other drinks are aloud as long as they are served in tea cups in keeping with the theme.
You have nice/pretty paper or a blank book and a pen or other writing implement for each member of the party. (I paste small pictures in the corner of each page of small note books for each participant. Often tying it up with a ribbon.)
You dress up in your finery. (I dress in my Victorian gowns.) You can dress as you like, but you should look your best, this is a party.
You are to play thoughtful music (I use classical, but what you want to listen to is up to you.)
You and your guests, if any, enjoy your tea and write down the things you are thankful for as they come to you.
It is to be an uplifting experience. Talk and have fun, but spend some time looking inward and finding your thankful self.

I would love to hear about your tea party plans or experience. So please feel free to comment.

I will remind you again before the weekend arrives, but I did want to give you time to get your Thankfulness Tea Party things together.

I’m looking forward to having fun with you all. Lady Euphoria