sara skates

It is very nearly Christmas as I start to write this – which we don’t celebrate religiously but do celebrate in the name of Santa – the kids are tucked in – Santa’s elves have done their work downstairs – and I am settling in for the night.  I fully expect to be awoken at the crack of dawn tomorrow by two very excited children.  Random blog fodder that I have been meaning to write about includes the following.

The Poppy sweater is kicking my butt.  I have been within spitting distance of finishing it for a while now.  A series of goofy mistakes on the second sleeve have it taking *for-f-ing-ever*.  The latest includes doing the sleevecap shaping on the wrong edge (orientation) of the sleeve, such that that bell-shaping at the sleeve cuff/wrist would have popped up from the wrist, rather than hung down elegantly.  Tonite’s short-lived celebration after casting off the second sleeve (thus, some minor sewing up and edging alone were between me and an FO) lasted only a minute or two, and then the ripping party began.  This WILL be an FO before this Winter Break is over.  It might even be one sooner than later in the break, but no promises as no doubt that’ll jinx any progress at all.

We took Toby (and Hannah, though it’s totally pretend for her) to see Santa on Saturday.  We purposefully went early in the day to avoid the mall crush – three days before Christmas?  Any later than 10 am would have been insane.  As it was, it was *perfect* timing.  We got there and one kiddo was in front of us in line.  We pulled Toby out of his wheelchair and he walked up to Santa with his canes – Santa pulled him up onto his lap and spent the next 20 minutes chatting with Toby.  Toby had all sorts of important questions – like "Why didn’t Rudolf play any reindeer games?" and Santa told him all about it.  Toby gets plenty of negative stares and unwanted attention due to his equipment and motor differences – but every now and then strangers get past that and key into his charm.  That Santa did so was great.

Folks’ solstice posts have touched me deeply this year – in particular MamaCate’s and Mafia’s.  I can’t match their eloquence or even depth that comes with years of thought and practice.  However, their writing resonates with where I am at this year and where I hope to move – onward, to a more authentic being, where I live my life more honestly in tune with meeting my own needs while giving myself to others and living in the joy of the kids and all that comes with that.

With that, I am signing off to catch some zz’s.  Toby has shared a cold with me and probably Terry – it is settling in my head at the moment.  Someone must have done a study with the frequency of academics getting sick over winter break

Where to start.

There has been knitting.  A hat is done, more mittens are in progress, a sweater is Very Nearly Done, I am itching to cast on for any number of new things.  I have lots of ideas about using the Kauni Effekt yarn (with long striping sequences) – that may be its own blog post though.  I went to the Rochester Knitting Guild’s monthly meeting tonight – I haven’t gone in 4 or 5 years, they have switched spaces and now meet within walking distance of my house (!).  I serendipitously had put on my Lite Brite sweater this morning and it got a slew of compliments from the knitters.  Combined with a huge array of desserts that folks had brought – let’s just say there was comfort food in my belly, comfort clothes on my body, and really comfortable people to be around – not a bad evening at all.

Sadly though, we had to say goodbye to my Clyde kitty the day after Thanksgiving.  He has been declining for a while now – losing weight (he used to be 17 or 18 pounds – he was down to 7 lbs on his last day), looking rather scraggly, and just not as perky as usual.  His kidneys were on their last legs, and while he was reasonably happy all along, we woke up Friday morning to a kitty in distress.  We took him in that day, and while they could have tried some IV fluid therapy and that would have probably made him feel a little better, it was a matter of time – and not much time at that.  His kidneys were down to "little nubs" (I believe that’s the technical term that the vet used…) – they were just worn out.

Our other three kitties have been doing admirably at reorganizing themselves into a three-cat household.  The day after, Akasha (the three-legged wonder cat) crawled under the covers in exactly the same spot where Clyde usually checked in at night and in the morning.  She has not made a regular habit of it – but it was poignant for her to crawl in there on the first morning without Clyde.  Sweetie Pie kitty is becoming quite the bathroom buddy (as Clyde was), and Henry cat (the big rather brainless cat – while Clyde wasn’t as honkin’ huge, he was similar in temperament) is holding down the fort on my bed’s down comforter.  Clyde is sorely missed – I had him for 15 years, and he was totally "my" cat.  he had the hugest feet with two extra toes on each front foot, and he just adored me.  But the three others are dears – and all fairly young so we won’t be doing the old-pet thing for a good long while grin.

Lastly – skating.  I am SO excited.  The competitive season is around the corner – Sectionals are in March, and Adult Nationals in April.  Typically I go to Easterns as that’s the section where I reside (there are three – Easterns, Midwesterns, and Pacific Coasts).  And typically the competitions have two "tracks" – the qualifying events – where the top 3 from each Section go on to the Championship round of that event at Nationals, and the non-qualifying events – where anyone can enter as long as they meet the test qualifications for whatever level they are entering. 

So – the exciting part is that Pacific Coasts will have a *figures* event in the non-qualifying part of the competition.  As in compulsory school figures – that’s Tenley Albright in the photo on the left sidebar doing a patch loop.  The two figures being competed at my level are the one-foot eight, and a forward inside bracket to a backward outside bracket.  I am *beyond* excited. 

I need to decide whether I am going to submit a "change of home club" form to switch to a Pacific Coast figure skating club, and therefore buy myself the ability to skate in the qualifying round and make a rather unlikely bid for one of the three slots skating in the championship round at Nationals, or not bother and just skate in non-qualifying events.  I’d skate the same program – no worries there.  I have the form ready to go….typically, my rationale is "why not skate the qualifying round, it’s there" but I’m not convinced it’s worth the frenzy of changing home clubs etc.

I broke out my patch skates over the weekend (they have been sadly ignored since this summer) and – I have missed the patch time. 

The kids – Toby especially – are in their pre-Christmas/holiday frenzy.  This too shall pass ROFL.