Friday morning things

 * The funeral is today. I agreed to serve at the lunch, so most of the day is going to be consumed by meals on wheels-serving the family-going to the funeral. They're doing it differently - burial first and then a service at church; usually when it's a case of an actual interment of a body (rather than a cremation) they do the funeral first. The one issue I do foresee is that it'll run late and we'll be stuck waiting around to feed the family (they are doing the interment first, then having lunch, then having the funeral); I remember that from an earlier one where they had the funeral, then went to the cemetery, then came BACK for lunch - and I wound up having to leave because I had to get back to campus for a meeting.

* Still just kind of tired and sad; there are just too many bad and difficult things in the world and it does look like we're heading into the - what is it  now, sixth? - wave of the pandemic and while I'm as well protected as I can be (short of getting a fourth vaccine dose, but I'll take then when it's advised AND becomes available) but I guess I limit my circulation a bit again and also just plan on teaching masked this fall. (I guess I just dump my threat of "I'm going to quit at the end of spring '23 if things aren't better because I don't think I can afford to, health insurance would be an issue, and the thought of finding a new job or, worse, finding a new job AND moving is more than I can cope with, so I guess I just stay even though there are MANY things suboptimal about my job right now)

* I pulled out an old, long stalled project and tired to restart it - the "Color Bar Blanket" from the "Stitch and B*tch" crochet book. I had all the colorful blocks done, just lacked the black, white, and navy blue ones.

I HOPE I have enough navy blue; if not, I may be making a flying trip to JoAnn's at some point to see if they have anything that matches closely enough to what I have (I *think* it's Wool of the Andes, but I've lost the ball band so I don't know). As it is I had to sub in a similar yellow for the two yellow blocks that go in the "horizontal bar" (you can see another person's version here). I had lost two of the blocks I made (or never made them) and couldn't find the original yarn quickly, but could find a VERY similar yellow - and I think it's the same fiber content; I did a burn test on a scrap of each yarn and got a similar result. 

I know I will have enough white and I am pretty sure I'll have enough black (and I know the black is WOTA "Coal" because I have the ball band, even though I wouldn't be able to get the same dyelot)

* I should also pull out the "Pocketses" vest I have somewhere that's all finished except for weaving in ends and knitting on the front and neckbands. I think I even have the buttons for it in the bag with it, and I KNOW I have enough yarn, it's just that weaving in ends is boring and blocking takes a bit more effort (soaking it in water and pinning it out so it takes on the right shape). 

* I am still working on "Merry Go Round of Life" from the Joe Hisaishi (composer for Ghibli films) book. It's not that HARD, it's just...some of the chords are kind of a stretch for my hands.

I also started "Rainbow Connection" after finding the sheet music in a book of various sheet music that I had. It's funny how evocative that opening bit is - the sort of quiet "plunky plunky plunky" sound, I can always see in my mind's eye that opening shot from The Muppet Movie, where it's a very long shot of a swamp, and it gradually pulls in until it focuses on Kermit, who's sitting there, singing. And I think of that and I'm like 10 again, and at what was, at that point in my life, THE BEST MOVIE I HAD EVER SEEN. 

(And I remember expressing that opinion to my fifth grade class and getting roundly laughed at because everyone else said they loved "The Jerk" and thought it was their favorite movie - though if I remember right, that was an R movie, so 10 and 11 year olds probably had no business seeing it - but that's how my school was, everyone desperate to seem more sophisticated than they were, and idiots like me still enjoying stuff that was probably more age-appropriate being laughed at for being "babies.")

I learned my lesson though; a few years later when the teacher tried to do an icebreaker by asking everyone their favorite TV show, and the first few (popular) kids said "M*A*S*H," I said that too (despite NEVER watching it). In fact, the ENTIRE class said that; we learned conformity well. 

I still like "The Muppet Movie" better than I ever liked "The Jerk;" at least the Muppet Movie gave you hope that your dreams would actually be fulfilled one day and you'd find a like minded group of friends. (I guess "The Jerk" did wind up with him going back to his adoptive family, but still....much less hopeful movie).