Poetry in April: Poems about Aging

It's another Thursday in April, which means it's again time to share a poem. The theme this week is "Poems about Aging," and I had bookmarked this poem even before I knew I'd be using it. This one comes from Ted Kooser -- it's one of his Valentine's Day poems -- and I love the image it gives me of a couple growing older together.

Splitting an Order

I like to watch on old man cutting a sandwich in half,
maybe an ordinary cold roast beef on whole wheat bread,
no pickles or onion, keeping his shaky hands steady
by placing his forearms firm on the edge of the table
and using both hands, the left to hold the sandwich in place,
and the right to cut it surely, corner to corner,
observing his progress through glasses that moments before
he wiped with his napkin, and then to see him lift half
onto the extra plate that he had asked the server to bring,
and then to wait, offering the plate to his wife
while she slowly unrolls her napkin and places her spoon,
her knife and her fork in their proper places,
then smoothes the starched white napkin over her knees
and meets his eyes and holds out both hands to him.

From Valentines by Ted Kooser, University of Nebraska Press, 2008

Be sure to visit Bonny, Kat, Kym, and Vera today for more poetry!

Unraveled, Week 24/2025

Good morning, friends, and greetings from the puppy house, where we are all tired. I mentioned to a couple of you in my replies to comments that it felt a lot like having a newborn again, and that really is the case. Monday night was better. I moved her crate over so that I could sleep on the couch, which meant that I actually slept. She was up every two or three hours, mainly just needing some comforting, though at around 3 a.m. we went outside and she successfully peed like a real dog! She's still rather skittish around Molly and the Mister, which isn't all that surprising given that she hasn't spent all that much time with them compared to me. Molly is off from school on Friday, though, and I'll try to get her to hang out with Ruthie without me so that they can have some quality time.

I thought about skipping the blog today, but honestly Wednesdays are my favorite day to do it because I get to join Kat and the Unravelers.

With all of the puppy stuff happening, I'm sure it will not surprise you that I haven't knit a stitch since Sunday morning. I did, however, remember to get a photo of my Sugar Maple Tee -- now with sleeves!

I don't know how sturdy it will be in the long run, but I do like how the sleeves are handled in this pattern in such a way that they completely match the body. Essentially you work the ribbing before you bind off the sleeves, so the colors match perfectly, and close the gap under the arm on the round after you bind off by working a fancy decrease. With handspun, it's often impossible to get sleeves to match if you pick up the stitches for them afterward, so this method eliminates that problem. I really like how my thin stripes are working up and I've basically got the section I'm in memorized, but who knows when I will get to work on this again. Perhaps I'll try to sneak in some time in the evenings when the whole family is downstairs; when I'm alone with Ruthie, I try to keep my eyes on her all the time.

Similarly, there hasn't been much reading time, but I've finished two books since this time last week -- both by the same author! I've got Charlotte McConaghy's latest book on hold at the library, so while I wait, I went back to read her last two.

In Once There Were Wolves, conservation biologist Inti Flynn and her team arrive in rural Scotland to release wolves into the forest as part of an effort to restore the ancient forests there; with no apex predators, deer and other animals have become overpopulated and eaten all the seedlings before they had a chance to grow into new trees. Inti also arrives with heavy emotional baggage in the form of her twin sister, Aggie. As the story progresses, we also learn about the sisters' tragic past and the complication of Inti's unusual condition in which she physically feels what she sees happening to other people. When a local resident -- one who was strongly opposed to the wolves -- turns up dead, the story becomes a bit of a murder mystery as well. This is a pretty dark book, in a number of respects, but I really enjoyed the atmospheric quality of it as well as the conservation message it has. It's probably not a book for you if you like everything to be crystal clear and tied up neatly because there's a fair amount of ambiguity. I gave it 4 stars.

Migrations was the earlier book, and I suppose you could call it speculative fiction because it takes place in a world where many animal species have gone extinct thanks to humans. Franny Stone, the woman at the center of the narrative, has found herself a spot on a commercial shipping vessel and convinced its captain to follow some of the world's last remaining Arctic terns on their final migration. But in flashbacks, we learn that she is not what she seems, that she is hiding some dark secrets, and that perhaps she is not so much running toward the terns as running away from her past. Like Wolves, this book has a strong conservation message and a damaged woman as its main character. I found it to be a little less appealing, though certainly still intriguing. I gave it 3 stars.

I should note that I really only managed to finish the second book because it was on audio. That may be how I read most of my books for a while!

Welcome Home, Ruthie!

She's here! And she's even more adorable in person!

When we picked her up at the transport van, she was clearly very nervous. She was wagging her tail when we approached her in the kennel, but she wouldn't come out on her own. I held her on my lap in the car and did finally calm her down. I won't lie: We had a rough night. She is comfortable in her crate, but she started barking when I went upstairs to get ready for bed, so I ended up staying with her in the family room overnight, sleeping on the floor so she could see me. And this morning she was a little more willing to explore the house (but also had a couple of accidents), but it's clear she's still very cautious. She does seem to trust me, though, because this is her preferred position:

We'll see how today goes! I'm sure I'll be dragging from lack of sleep, but she's sure worth it.

TGIFF

(Thank Goodness It's Finally Friday!)

For most of this week I've been thinking it's a day ahead -- on Wednesday I thought it was Thursday, so yesterday should have been Friday already but, alas, it was not. I may complain about all the work meetings I have to attend, but they do help me keep track of what day it is when I get reminders for them! Happily my meeting today is of the "put your updates in the chat" variety, so I get a little break. And I need it, because it's been a busy week but we have a big weekend coming up!

First, an update on the handspun you saw on the bobbin on Wednesday morning: I had time that afternoon to wind it off and wash it, and thanks to the cooler weather we've been having our radiators are on again, so it was dry by yesterday morning.

This skein ended up being the thickest of the last few I've spun, all fractal spins from fiber from FatCatKnits. This one is approximately 295 yards of mostly DK (there are thicker and thinner spots, as usual). I do like seeing the trio of them together, too!

At least two of these will be going into the Etsy shop, if I can ever get it open again. I succeeded in signing into my account to change the name of the shop (I'm rebranding) and change my email address, and when I tried to sign in again, I'd gotten locked out. So now I'm waiting for a response from Etsy support. If it takes much longer, I may just give up and open a new shop because it's not like I had a huge number of sales before, so my sales history isn't much to write home about. In the meantime, I'll share with you the rebrand and the awesome logo that Molly designed for me -- amazingly, she put together some options that were exactly what I had in mind without my having to explain what I was thinking to her.

I'd hoped to share a progress photo of my Sugar Maple today, but yesterday it was so rainy and dreary that I could not get decent light. I promise to share and update soon!

As to the weekend, there is a lot going on. Our ovens are not going to be delivered and installed in time to host Passover, so we'll be back at my parents' on Saturday evening. We'll be a little crowded, but we'll make it work. My brother is hosting a smaller second seder at his place on Sunday, but only the Mister will attend from our little family because Molly and I will be driving out to Washington, PA, to meet the van bringing Ruthie to us! It's supposed to be there at 4:30, so even assuming it's completely on time and we get right on the road, it'll still take us at least an hour to get home, and I don't think it's fair to the puppy to take her to someone else's house with a bunch of strange people. So we'll just come home and try to get her as comfortable as possible in her new home.

I will do my best to provide an update on her arrival on Monday, but I may not get to post until later in the day. In the meantime, I'll leave you with another photo of her -- this is the one the rescue posted that truly captured my heart:

Have a great weekend, friends!

Poetry in April: A Poem in Your Pocket

It's Thursday, which means it's time to share another poem with you. Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day, and the idea is to share a short poem that could be written on a slip of paper and carried around with you. The one I've chosen to share today is by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins.

Poem

It's like writing a short letter
to everyone in the world at once,

only I don't have anyone's address
and there is no thin blue envelope to carry it,

no tiny picture of a famous aviator
or of a blooming flower to speed it on its way.

Be sure to visit Bonny, Kat, Kym, and Vera for more poems to carry in your pocket today!

Unraveled, Week 23/2025

Could someone please check in with Mother Nature? She appears to have turned spring off the last few days. Yesterday it was actually snowing while I walked into the office! Obviously I have plenty of wool to keep myself warm, but I'm tired of feeling cold.

Today, at least, it looks like the worst of the cold is over -- and today is Wednesday, which means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers! If that doesn't lift my mood, I don't know what will.

There has been knitting and spinning chez Knit/Wit these past several days. I'd pulled out another braid of FatCatKnits fiber to spin a while ago but only actually split it up and started spinning last Friday afternoon. I did another fractal spin, though this time one bobbin was spun from the fiber as is and the other from three strips (the fiber was naturally breaking apart into thirds, so I decided to go with it). I spun the first bobbin of singles over Friday and Saturday and the second over Sunday and Monday, and I was able to get the whole skein plied yesterday afternoon. Winding it off and washing are on today's to-do list.

I've been knitting more on my Sugar Maple in the evenings, though I don't have a progress photo to share today (frankly it's slow going, so it doesn't look much different). Instead, here's the sock and sock-adjacent knitting I've done over the last week or so:

Once I'd finished the socks for my sister-in-law, I knew I needed to cast on another pair so I'd have something to work on those days I go into the office, so I got out the very last skeins of Knit Picks Felici (unless there are more hiding somewhere!) and cast on a pair for my mother-in-law. They'll either be for Mother's Day or her birthday in June, depending on how fast they get knit. On the left is a new pattern/design I've been meaning to cast on for months. The yarn is Ross Farm Funky that Amy asked me to use for a design back when I saw her in late November. I was originally going to use it with a neutral for some kind of colorwork, but the longer I looked at it, the more I realized that I was better suited for something else. So now it's becoming a pair of slipper socks that will be pretty easy and fast to knit up; what you see here is the work of Monday afternoon. It looks like the two will end up being different due to the colors in the wool, and I kind of like that.

There has been reading this week as well -- not great reads, but good ones.

First, a bit of necessary reading ahead of Ruthie's arrival: The Puppy Primer. I did a search for books about training puppies and this one was recommended frequently -- and now that I've read it, I can recommend it as well. The primary author is animal behaviorist, so she knows what she's talking about. And if all I've read is to be believed, training a puppy is hard work but not nearly as hard as raising a child; I'm certainly feeling much better about my abilities after reading it. I'm going to have Molly read it as well so that we can be consistent in our training and so that we can get started from day one. We are already well stocked on training treats! I gave this one 4 stars -- very helpful and informative.

I wanted some escapism next, so I went for some romantasy. Divine Rivals came highly recommended by Katie, and I was really looking forward to it. It tells the story of two rivals (you're shocked, I know) at a newspaper in a world where ancient gods are at war. Iris's brother has gone off to fight and her mother has sought comfort in alcohol. To deal with her grief, she's been typing letters to her brother on her grandmother's old typewriter and slipping them under the door of her wardrobe -- and then, one day, someone writes back. I liked the premise of the magic in the letter writing, but I felt confused about where and when the story was taking place and thought the characters were a bit one-dimensional. I also noticed at least three grammatical errors, which you all know get on my nerves. So it was an okay read, not great but not horrible. I gave it 3 stars.

Finally, I picked something light to listen to while running, cleaning the bathroom, and folding laundry. Margo's Got Money Troubles is a bit of an understatement. At 19, Margo finds herself pregnant after having an affair with her (married) professor. She decides to keep the baby but is forced to drop out of college and then gets fired from her job due to a lack of childcare. Then two of her roommates move out and she has a bigger rent bill than anticipated. And then her ex-pro wrestler father, fresh out of rehab, shows up on her doorstep needing a place to live. In need of cash, fast, Margo turns to OnlyFans, where it seems there's money to be made. As you would expect, problems arise and life gets even more complicated. I thought this was entertaining enough (especially as I listened -- Elle Fanning does an excellent narration) and I liked Margo's spunk, but much of the book made me feel a little icky. I also didn't understand why it kept shifting between first person and third person; it seemed it had something to do with the writing class Margo was taking with the professor who she had the affair with and made some sense at the beginning, but I think it went on too long. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm currently reading Time of the Flies on paper and Once There Were Wolves digitally, and I expect I'll be ready for another audiobook by the weekend.

What are you making and reading this week?

How to Spend a Rainy Weekend

That old rhyme about April showers is pretty true in my neck of the woods, but it does put a damper on doing things out of doors when you have the time. That was pretty much the case this weekend, when it rained on and off and then got downright chilly. It was a good weekend to stay inside!

On Saturday morning, we had a "framily" brunch. We have a group that includes our siblings and their spouses as well as some longtime family friends. We all live nearby and have an ongoing group chat from the early days of the pandemic (we call it "Inappropriate Coronavirus Isolation and Other Topics Discussion" and share memes and other silly stuff), and periodically we get together either for dinner (just adults) or brunch (with kids). My brother couldn't join us this time because he did something to his back and was laid up in bed, but the rest of his family made it, so we all got baby snuggle time in. Actually, all the women were fighting over holding my niece -- I guess we all miss having a little one! I also gave my sister-in-law her socks, which she loved and insisted on putting on right away.

She said they fit perfectly and that she loved the colors, so I felt pretty darn good about making them.

We got takeout on Saturday night and the Mister and I spent the evening watching a couple of episodes of The Pitt (yes, we're finally getting around to it) while I worked on my Sugar Maple. It was slow going at first, but now that I've got the pattern memorized, it's going faster, even as the round are getting longer.

I did indeed decide to stripe the two colorways throughout the whole sweater, though I used just one for the twisted ribbing on the collar. I was a bit doubtful at first, but as I've made more progress, I'm really enjoying how the stripes look. I think there will be areas with high contrast and areas with low contrast, but it certainly will not look like any other sweater knit from this pattern, and I rather like that. I only just pulled out the excess cable when I took this photo (I was magic-looping to start), and I think not having to wrangle the needles every half round is going to add to my speed.

The other thing I did this weekend was stock up on some of the things we need to welcome Ruthie! We've now got a crate with a soft insert, food and water bowls, food, treats, a leash, poop bags, puppy pads, a couple of toys, and enzymatic cleaner for any accidents. We're still waiting on a personalized collar that should come later this week. It's going to be hard to get through the next six and a half days!