Finished some socks

 I didn't get a lot of knitting or crochet done over break, but I did finish a pair of socks and begin another.

I finished the Gusto color-blocked socks. These are the ones where I did the two skeins in opposite directions rather than struggling to try to match colors.

I'm a lot happier with how they came out than I thought I would be, they actually look pretty good and there's enough of the same colors in both that you can tell they're a pair

 

 I then pulled out a ball I had brought with me of WYS yarn (I think it's the colorway called Woodpigeon, at least, it's one of the "British Birds) line. I didn't get very far:

 It's mostly purples and greyish purples. 

I just started on the knit-plain part. 

It's been another stressful day - weird-bad news, and I found a dead woodrat in my drive this morning (almost certainly one of the neighborhood cats). I was rushing to get over because I THOUGHT I had a student coming in to make up an exam at 8 (turns out they had car trouble and couldn't get in) but also I didn't feel like cleaning it up in my work clothes. 

So when I got home at the end of the day today, I decided to quick bury what was left (the city doesn't like animal remains in the rollcarts though I suspect if I had put it in a trash bag no one would have known. By then there was......half a rat....(the cat must have come back). It had also dried up somewhat so it was easier to scoop up with the shovel and bury. 

I also think I'm hitting a point where I "leave it all on the field" in class and I'm worn out when I get home - one of my classes is covering a difficult topic right now and I work hard to try to teach it, and then I'm just worn out after the day. And I think when you've been teaching a while, it catches up to you (or my age is catching up to me) and you don't rebound with a short rest as fast as you did before. 

***

After piano practice, while looking over the notes for tomorrow's (8 am) class, I put Bluey on in the background. And I realized something: there's a Japanese genre of anime called Iyashikei,  which translates to "healing" or "healing anime" - mostly slice of life, worldbuilding storytelling where nothing very bad happens. Apparently My Neighbor Totoro is an example (though I would say that the little girl going missing for a short time is a little....not restful). I think that's the only one I've seen of the ones listed here, but I'd happily watch more if I had the chance to do so easily (I don't have any streaming services)

But I also realized, that in Western animation, Bluey might be a pretty close example of this - nothing very bad happens, there's a LOT of slice-of-life and gentle humor, and a lot of the things that happen - a lot of the ways the episodes end - is gentle and soothing and makes you feel good. One of the episodes tonight was the one where they clear out the old nursery, and Bluey asks if she can move into it and have it as her bedroom, and she does (but with a lot of horse-trading with Bingo about which of the "teddies"* and books live with each girl

(*I presume "teddies" is the generalized term in Australia for stuffed toys/plushies/stuffies)

And then they start scooting notes to each other across the hall until their mom stops them. 

But Bluey winds up lonely in her new room - and at the end, she and Bingo wind up both back in their old room, sleeping in the same bed (and hugging each other, which is very sweet and wholesome). And Chilli (the mum) says to Bandit that he will have to move the beds back to the same room the next day, and while he groans a bit, it's clear he will do it. (And he asks - "does she miss her old room" and Chilli says something like "No, she misses something else" and then it cuts to Bluey and Bingo sleeping happily in the same bed)

And yes, it is, for me at least, a healing show - it depicts a really nice family dynamic, and nothing very bad ever happens, and there are some gentle laughs along the way.

And maybe we need more animation like this? Even adults? I think "Summer Camp Island" (which can be hard to find but Discovery Family used to show it) comes close. But there aren't a lot of shows specifically for adults** where it's just restful and nice and there's no major horrible conflict. And maybe, especially now, we need this?

(**though arguably, Bluey puts in some subtle things grown-ups would pick up on, both bits of humor ("It was the 80s, man!") and things like subtle sly glances between Bandit and Chilli, that kids might not pick up on. And some episodes seem to have deeper meanings; I take "Flatpack" as an attempt to somewhat reconcile some kind of theism/deism with evolution, in a way)