Chris and I went hiking in early November (has it really been that long since I posted?); we went to Red Top Mountain one Sunday afternoon. I needed to get outside, and we both need to make more of an effort to get out of the house.
It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm enough for a t-shirt, but not too hot. There was some bickering about where to park (Chris doesn’t believe me that you can park pretty much anywhere in Georgia, and we were also concerned that the Kia might not make it back off the side of the road).

This is his pleased-with-Tasha face.

Once we got on the trails, though, it was perfect. I realized that I needed to be outside in nature, touching leaves and trees and taking pictures. I forget that sometimes, I just need to go hang out with trees.

Happy little tree!

It looks like a rose!

(Other photos are posted in my Etsy shop.)

I like reusing. I also have a soft spot in my heart for kitsch (which you know because you’ve been to thrift stores with me oh-too-many times). That’s why this Craftzine.com blog caught my eye. I love this hot pink owl. I love this gnome. I NEED them in my life. Mostly, I love the hot pink owl. I’m seeing visions of Goodwill trips and spray paint in my future.

Maybe cats are good practice to having kids someday. Think about it: They get sick with stupid things like cold, eye infections and ear infections and you have to make a call when they get bad enough to have to go to the doctor. Not to mention that they can’t tell you what they want and get angry and start whining and you don’t know why.

It’s really the “when do I take him to the vet?” that has me worried tonight. I noticed a couple days ago that Ash’s eye membrane (if that’s what you want to call it) was pink. I flushed his eye with kitty saline solution and it seemed to irritate him less. I’ve been watching him and adding drops, though, cause it didn’t look like it was getting better and had the telltale discharge of an eye infection. Tonight, when I got home from work, he was pretty much only looking out of one eye:

What? I'm winking...

I called the vet — gone for the day. Which wouldn’t really be a big deal, except tomorrow’s the only day I could get him in before I leave for Houston for the weekend! What if his eye would get worse while I was gone and there was no one here to monitor him? Worries, worries, worries. I figured I’d call as soon as they opened and drop him off, hoping they could squeeze him in. In the meantime, I google “cat conjunctivitis” and read that antibiotic eye ointment is the recommended treatment. That’s when I remembered he was prescribed that for his last eye infection. And… we still had the majority of a tube. Now he’s happily medicated and his eye seems like it hurts him less.

Tomorrow, I’ll line up a friend to stop by and lube his eye up while I’m gone. In the meantime, I can tell he’s not feeling the greatest. He’s cuddling, and that’s not really his m.o.

Bare Minerals is making my face itch. Does this mean that I’m allergic to it?

My dad will eat anything as a sandwich. I have literally seen the man make a sandwich with spaghetti and tomato sauce. But then again, he’s also a firm believer that any disparate foods will get along, as long as they’re all combined in scrambled eggs (I think of him when I add random veggies to the onion tart I wrote about a while ago).

One sandwich he made all the time was peanut butter, onion and cheese on toast. It used to gross me out when I was a kid, but Dad finally convinced me to try it one day. And it is good. I have no idea how, but it actually is tasty. I make the sandwich sometimes just to remember him making it, but Dad would probably think I was fancyin’ up the place with my whole grain bread and red, not white, onion.

Chris is perhaps understandably horrified by this sandwich. But seriously, just try it.

Last week, out of no where, there were little squares of space chained off in my work building’s lobby. Inside the squares were pallets of canned goods. Everyone who worked for the building was busy, so I didn’t get a chance to ask was it was about.

The next day, ta-da!

Sculptures made from the cans! Turns out, it’s a group of architects that break into teams and practice assembling these for weeks — and then go to locations and race to finish first. They’re on display through the end of the month, and then the cans are donated to the food drive.

I finished the shawl I mentioned in this post. Here’s the whole thing:

Not a square!

I started this in April or May of this year, and for a while, it was a slog. It took me a long time to learn the pattern repeats, and I had to count the stitches after every row to make sure I was on track. I also had to rip back a lot, because I wanted this to be made correctly, without fudged “fixes” for mistakes I made. I think it was worth the effort, though.

Why hello, lens flare.

It’s really pretty, and I’m amazed at the difference blocking made — it went from lumpy and bumpy (and looking pretty awful) to flat and smooth. The lace really opened up, though I wasn’t able to block it as severely as I would have liked because I was afraid of breaking the yarn. I think I should give it another try, though, because the lace is reverting to its previous lumpy state.

I used a skein of Cascade Sierra, a cotton/wool yarn that I had left over from making a Clapotis for Mom last year. I am really glad to be done with the yarn, because it splits, and the cotton hurts my hands because it has no bounce. I need to make a project that uses 100% wool, so that I can work with a yarn that have some stretch.

The baby kimono I mentioned in the previous post is almost finished. All the pieces are knitted, but I have to seam them together, and crochet an edging and ties, then block it. I cannot express to you how bad my seaming is, and I hate doing it. These two things seem to feed one another…

Ok, one more scarf photo.

We didn’t go out for Halloween, but we made dinner for a few friends. Well, Chris made dinner. I mostly cut up a few veggies. There were short ribs:

Mmm. Seared goodness.

These were seared and then braised in wine, tomato paste and mirepoix. I know you don’t eat meat now, but these smelled amazing. When people came over, they came in and then stopped short and then headed toward the kitchen, asking what was cooking. We also had sauteed kale and this farro recipe.

So, so good. Totally worth cleaning the apartment and having people over.

ook, it’s Daily Drop Cap! Quisque suscipit congue neque id adipiscing. Vivamus ornare nisl id lacus egestas quis varius dolor vehicula. Cras ac lacus in massa sagittis sollicitudin quis in lorem. Aliquam et diam ac massa convallis tincidunt. Aenean convallis consequat tincidunt. Vestibulum lobortis, nibh at sodales eleifend, nunc lorem sodales arcu, sit amet sodales diam felis ac nisl. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. In arcu ante, adipiscing nec pharetra ut, cursus vitae lorem. Nam eget mauris eget neque sagittis vulputate. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Donec diam enim, pretium iaculis elementum id, faucibus non lacus.

I found out a couple days ago that there’s a problem with having only black cats: When the power goes out, you can’t see them in the shadows. You can only hear them. And it’s a little scary, especially when one is known to attack.

Tuesday, LA had high winds — at one point, someone told me they were 40 mph — which knocked out lines (and power) all over the city because it’s just not built to sustain it. I was at a restaurant with May that still was serving, despite there being no power. The ambiance was great! But when I got home, the kitties were hiding in the shadows and hard to see. And racing each other all over the apartment.

Yesterday, with the power back on and the sun shining, visibility was much better:

Ash still is a little hard to see, but I blame the camera phone and not the lighting for that.

Private message to Tasha’s mommy: Hi Mama K! You’re not the halfway point between us, but I’m going to pretend you are. Mostly because Ohio is the only place we’re guaranteed to meet up!