In the Mean Time

Right about this time five years ago, I had graduated from business school, taken a "buy out" from a job I'd worked at for eight years and ended a rather troubled relationship. Within a matter of two weeks I found myself completely without three things that had been sucking up all of my physical and mental energy. I had plenty of time and money, but my day was completely unstructured and I spent long hours walking around my tiny apartment in NYC knitting, napping and looking at the Internet. I felt like an untethered balloon. How would I know when to go to bed or eat?

In the two weeks since I last wrote, the school year has ended at the high school and the college where I have been teaching. At the same time, we hit the submission date for the guide book I was working on. After two of the busiest, craziest months I've ever had, I suddenly find myself with no obligations hanging over my head. Again, I have that untethered feeling. Of course now I have Fred and the period before my next job starts won't be so long, but I still wandered around our (much larger) apartment for two days knitting and trying to get things organized on my computer. (See the new links to photos from some of our trips in the side bar.)

Part of the problem is that I'm exhausted and I know I don't have to do anything right now - except a few little bits which I can put off - and there's that inertia that sets in after I sit and don't do anything. I just sort of feel like sitting some more.

Anyway...

After the due date for the book, I met some of the women who also worked on the guide book. (I'll give information for the book when it comes out.) What an amazing and fun time. Two Americans, a British woman and an Aussie. The other two couldn't make it, but we're going to get together again for a small informal publication party.

I also went to my first Stitch 'n Bitch Amsterdam. It was amazingly Dutch. Of course I expected to see Dutch women, but there it was all Dutch women except for me and a guy named Robert, who is also American. It was nice to have another man there as I knit in a group for the first time. He seems nice. We'll have to get together and hang out. I need more social contacts.

The last two days have been partially filled with visits to two friends. Mary, who I worked with at UPC made me a wonderful lunch and we sat on her balcony and enjoyed the view of the water she lives on. Then today I swung by my pal, Sally's, house and sat with her to catch up for a while. She just returned from Tennessee to visit her mother. It's so nice to have good friends here.

While I was out, I bought some yarn. I'd been meaning to get. Fred and I happened up on Egg Mercantile a few months ago and I saw that they had Manos yarn. I've been putting it off until I had some free time and today was the day. I bought four skeins at the very reasonable price of €9,30 per. In NYC, I spent a bit more than that four years ago when I was making a scarf for Fred out of Manos. Not sure of the pictures really do the yarn justice. I ran out of batteries before I could try other settings.

I talked to one of the owners, Joshua, for about half an hour. He and his partner are from San Fransisco (after living in several other cities) and have been here for about a year and a half. If your in Amsterdam, go by and visit. The store is absolutely wonderful with a strict "no filler crap" policy. The online store is also nice to peruse.

Fred called me while I was at Sally's and said that our departure date for our trip to Croatia is different than we thought. We're leaving Sunday instead of Saturday, which means that I have an extra day to pack and do laundry and do what I need to do to get ready. Not completely sure what knitting I'll take along since it'll be hot and carrying a lot of wool (like Manos) is not an appealing idea, but it's safe to say that I will be bringing along sock needles and sock wool. I need to learn to do socks and I like to knit every day. So my thinking is that if I only have sock yarn and sock books, I will knit socks. We'll see if that theory holds.

I know the reading that I will be bringing. I'm taking This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes. I got it as a going away gift from the English department at the high school. I just finished reading Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler. It's the story of a woman who starts to run away from her marriage and family, but gets kidnapped. Can I just say that I love reading Anne Tyler? Every time I get to the end of one of her books, I am relieved to see that there are many other books by her and several that I would gladly read again. I'm also taking Casts Off by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I read her last book, Knitting Rules! on the beach in Florida and really loved it. Two books will have to do for this trip. I'm not the fastest reader, and I need to not pack the whole house.

Okay. I was afraid to try to blog because I thought I didn't have anything to say. Oh how I do go one. I've got a few things to write about before we depart. I'll save them.