Some Thursday stuff

 * Not commenting on the Big News of the day other than to note I have had friends who were ardent royalists (Jo, in particular, who passed away a year and a half ago) and others who are "republican" in the British/Aussie sense of not wanting a monarch. And I feel like: no matter how you feel about the monarchy, she was someone's mother and grandmother. And as I said on twitter: death is the big mystery we will all face some day, and maybe I personally feel better to be silent in the face of a numinous thing than to hop on a soapbox.

Also she was 10 years older than my mom, which gives me pause and makes me realize once again that some day I will be rushing to 'get there in time' just as the various royal offspring did for their mother. And I'm reminded of how I was too late to say goodbye to my dad in person, and yes, that has made me a little sad all over again today.

* Ran a couple of errands. I got more 1/4" tape at the quilt shop (and a couple one yard pieces of pretty, new fabrics they had - one which could be a binding for a quilt I want to start piecing soon). The quilt shop used to operate out of a used-car dealer - turns out they've now sold that part of the business and are exclusively a quilt shop. (The young women - sisters - who are the primary owners lost their dad, who had owned the motor shop part of the business - just a couple months after I lost my dad). When I was in there I heard their mom and another woman making plans in the back about "we could put four sewing machines on this table" and not wanting to be TOO nosy, but wanting to know (are they going to do classes? retreats?) I mentioned "sounds like big plans doing" and one of the sisters told me that they're now a Janome dealer, and they hope some time to build a bigger facility on the property - I think they own the plot of land/building, which is good. I hope they CAN expand, having a quilt shop in town is extremely nice even if I need to hold back on fabric buying; they have notions too and periodically you just need a bottle of Best Press or some new quilting needles or something. Also she told me one of my quilts will be done soon. 

The second errand was to take my unwanted wool-ease to the Goodwill. Because I am who I am, I was expecting to be met with a bit of a sneer (despite the e-mail I received, which came from the "North Texas" association) and told "no, we can't use that" and be stuck with taking it home. But instead, the woman who came out and saw the two "recycling bags" (clear plastic, like trash bags but not) full of it (about 60 skeins in total) said "Oh, this is great! Yarn sells really fast, because it's gotten so expensive now in stores!" so I guess it's a win-win: it's out of my life and also maybe someone who couldn't afford JoAnn's prices on stuff gets to continue their hobby a bit longer? There were only a few balls of each color but for someone knitting hats or mittens or making afghans in multiple colors, it would work. 

I will also remember that as I slowly cart the yarn home from the storage unit: if I find some I just can't with any more, Goodwill will probably take it off my hands.

* I think I am taking Saturday off from working. I need to do "big" grocery shopping (e.g., in Sherman - there are some things harder to get locally). I also just....I need to get out. I might go to the bookstore and just walk around in it. Not sure where else I might go other than a grocery. Maybe the natural-foods store. Maybe I see if I can find the Spirit Halloween if it's opened up yet. I'm just tired and this has been a hard week, not even considering all the wildness in the news (a shooting in Memphis, the stabbings in Canada, the Queen dying, the new PM, and probably other things I've forgotten) but in my own life: students with issues, issues at church, bad ragweed and high pressure making me feel tired and achy. And I need some comfort of some kind. (The quilt shop trip was partly a comfort-trip; I just needed a positive human interaction). I really do think one of my problems these days is that I have few enough human interactions and few enough positive ones that the negative ones, or the ones where I'm asked to take on yet another duty, loom very large in my psyche.

Perhaps I go to Denison first and go to a few of the small shops there, instead of spending time in big box stores that aren't that great.

* Speaking of comfort: I had heard recently about the concept of "comfort characters' which, yes, some people get weird about, but in a simple sense I like the idea: familiar characters you like and that make you feel happy reading their stories/watching their movies or cartoons. And I got to thinking what mine would be, and I realize they're MOSTLY characters aimed at children:

- The Moomins, and most of their friends and relatives

- Eeyore, specifically, from Winnie-the-Pooh but also kind of Piglet

- Reepicheep from Narnia, maybe also Mr. Tumnus and Puddleglum.

- Paddington (in fact, I bought a pattern today that a person on Etsy designed for a tiny Paddington Bear. Not sure I can find the sport weight chenille she used - she is from Latvia - but maybe I can find comparable yarns, or perhaps even just go a bit larger with the worsted weight I normally use for amigurumi type critters). I like both the books - I read them a lot as a child - and also the recent movies. (There also is a nice Canadian- French(?I think) cartoon that was fairly faithful to the stories; back when Qubo still existed I used to watch it even though I had seen every episode many times)

- Hobbits, to a certain extent. I just like the idea of fundamentally peaceable agrarian creatures who live small quiet lives and appreciate comfort. (And my feelings on the "multicultural" Hobbits in the new Rings of Power show: well, why not? Tolkien himself, in some of his writings, seemed to express no problem with it, and honestly? Fantasy should be diverse. Especially if the characters are basically stand-ins for humans)

- And of course, the Ponies, but especially Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. 

I never really got into some of the other shows that people seem to derive comfort-characters from - not "Supernatural," not "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," not "Dr. Who" (I know, but I just never had regular enough access to it to get into being a fan), not "Sherlock" in any of its various versions, though I admit I do like the books, I think I'd find Sherlock a little offputting as a real human.

Perhaps among "adult" media (as in: media not aimed at kids, not "adult" in the "adult situations" sense), I might say Hercule Poirot and Albert Campion are characters I find it comforting to read about. 

But yes: most of the "alternate universes" I return to time and again are ones at least nominally aimed t children (It's argued, or at least I've seen it argued, that The Hobbit was written as a children's novel). I don't know if that means I'm fundamentally childish, or if I just like the simplicity of worlds where it mostly revolves around home and food and comfort....