Thanks

Thank you to you bloggy-reading folks who commented or emailed or phoned to say KEEP BLOGGING!  Okay ... I get it!  I might be boring now and then, but overall, y'all think my blog is worth reading, or that my cat is entertaining, or that I occasionally share a good recipe, or that I have "unfinished business" with y'all in the knitting department, or that I share the odd bit of humor.

It's like this:  I get unsettled now and then.  When I'm feeling unsettled, I start doubting the validity and benefit of whatever I'm currently doing.  Such as blogging.  And current furniture arrangements.  And hair styles (used to be hair colours). 

Do YOU ever feel that way?

It's like an itch you can't quite reach to scratch.

Fall is the worst time of year for that for me.  I know, it's not quite fall yet ... but summer rolls right into fall before we can say "Jack Spit" in this part of the world.  September is like New Year's for me.  I want to start NEW things in September.  I get really itchy to GO BACK TO SCHOOL in September.  Unfortunately, neither current bank account, job commitments, nor personal energy levels are up to embarking on too many new things in September.

Part of the reason that I'm feeling unsettled right now came from a surprise visit this past week.  My first Douglas College instructor.  It's not everyday that someone from a couple of decades back walks into your office and says "Hi!  Remember me?"  She was here in PG in a totally different capacity from college instructor, but we managed a few minutes for a quick catch-up.  As always, she "nailed the nail right on the head" with her observation that I'm missing academia and "you should be writing, you know!" 

Yes, I know.  I KNOW!!!

Trying to sort out what's going on in my unsettled head is a little like ...

 ... taking a basket full of odds and ends of wool and making something useful out of it.  In a timely and organized manner.  Above are my "fall" mittens ... minus one thumb ... knit up from current odds and ends in my knitting basket.  They look quite "fall-ish" to me.

I prefer mittens over gloves as my fingers always feel cold in gloves.  For "winter" mittens, I knit them double-layered or "thrummed" with bits of wool fleece inside.  Besides, I can tuck things down inside mittens that won't fit in gloves ... such as my bus pass.  Or keys.  Or tissues.

Knitting mittens helped "settle" me a bit.  My balcony garden didn't help.  It usually does.  Usually I'm content to just sit out there and enjoy ...

... all the little green tomatoes.

 My radishes are done.  They were in boxes on the balcony railing.  Here are the last of them, bolting.  Radishes get woody and tasteless when they start to bolt, so they have now been pulled and consigned to the compost bucket.  I haven't replaced them with anything yet.  Can't decide what to put in there.

I have lots of little hot peppers too.

See?  I'm still a little scattered, but coming back together again! Thanks again for your encouragement!  Y'all are GREAT bloggy-readers!