Mossy Cottage Knits

I am looking forward to the Weeping Camel film and I'm not fond of violence in movies. Four of the five movies you list, I would never see but "Raging Bull" is on my top 10 (maybe top 5) list of best movies ever made. Go figure. Maybe boxing as metaphor gets to me since I also liked "Million Dollar Baby" A LOT.

Loved the fundraising story. Hope your friends realize what remarkable friends you and TMK are for attending.

Susanna, you are forcing me to confess that I haven't actually SEEN any of the five violent movies I listed. But I suppose that's not too surprising when I tell you my favorite move is "Monsters, Inc."

Our friends were VERY appreciative. They made it very clear that we didn't have to do anything, didn't even have to bid on stuff. Our only purpose at the fund raiser was to keep them occupied and to give them another "couple" they could run to when even THEY started to feel too much like fish out of water!

You might be interested in the Elliot Pattison books (Bone Mountain, Beautiful Ghosts, etc) which are chock-full-o-Tibet.

Buttons . . . I'm working on ideas. Are there types of glass buttons you look for, or other knitters look for, that they have a hard time finding? If you could have any buttons you wanted, what would they look like? (what happened to the other marble? I hope you got it . . .)

I am currently waiting for my copy of The Weeping Camel from Netflix. Must see what the fuss is all about. I will also stock up on kleenex for the viewing as I seem to cry at the drop of a hat these days. I used to be one tough broad. Now puppies and baby ducks (llama llama duck) make me cry. yeesh.

And the funny thing? I did read your whole post. I promise. But just can't seem to get past that whole "wearing heels" thing. Why would you do that to yourself? They make perfectly lovely flats. Men gave up wearing heels a loooooong time ago. Why are we so stubborn? Your poor little piggies. You must apologize to them by making them some lovely socks to lounge in. And treat them to some reflexology. Oh so lovely to have done.

Stalker Angie: I just have to jump in here and tell you that Ryan looked *good* last night. When we were younger we used to go two-stepping and Ryan could dance backwards in 4" spiked heels. She's no stranger to heels.

(And, three minutes after we got back home, we were both in our sweats and slippers!)

TMK

Hi Ryan and TMK!

I, too, have attended a Seattle fundraiser, but I wisely wore flats. (It was the Roosevelt High School drama and orchestra silent auction, which my best friend organized.) I was also slightly aghast at the money flying around. I guess if you just ask people for money, it doesn't work as well.

Remember how on the Saturday of the Dulaan knit-in, my husband was off "looking at" an amp with a friend? Well, guess whose house now has a new amp in the living room... That did mean that he felt like I DESERVED to buy a whole bunch of alpaca roving at Alpacapalooza this weekend.

I've finished the little vest I was making at the knit-in. Ryan, I found surprisingly nice buttons at Pacific Fabrics by Northgate. Could I perhaps deliver the vest to you or TMK, since I am NOT good at getting to the post office? I can even chip in some postage money...

Melinda

Melinda,

You're more than welcome to drop off your knitted goodies at my place. I'll make sure they get in the box. I'm almost always around during the week.

TMK

Ok, one: Was I not paying attention, or did you indeed not tell us which conversational option you chose? Because I'm dying to know.

And two: Stalker Ang: Remember the FINGERNAILS? I can't forget the FINGERNAILS as long as I live. So the whole high heel thing doesn't surprise me. Should it, Ryan?

Ack! TMK is posting more than I am! Must...catch...up.

Angie, I love heels, I really do. It's just that I don't have to wear them for work, and I certainly don't have to wear them when I'm farting around at home on the weekend, so I've gotten out of the habit. And why do I even bother to wear heels? Because I'm short and round and tubby and the heels make me feel taller. And rumor has it that my legs are of an acceptable and pleasing shape.

Pattie, the reference to the marble is confusing me. What marble? What am I missing? (I suspect I'm just having a senior moment...) As for buttons, I'm leaning toward something mainly navy blue, but since this is vest is 4-year-old size, maybe something cute and car- or animal- or flower-shaped. Dunno. I'll know it when I see it, I think. The buttons that looked the best were the dichroic glass ones, but as I said they were ridiculously spendy for this particular project.

Norma,

In answer to your question number one: I sat there stunned and completely speechless because I had no idea what this woman was talking about or what she had just asked us. She might as well have been speaking Farsi. Luckily, Ryan had just finished a conversation with our friends about where little "A" fit into all of this preschool madness and she was able to save us from an embarrassing silence.

TMK

I too am dying to know which option you chose! I think option A would have been the best, as guaranteed to discourage any further questions. And I laughed out loud (at work, too) about the marauding gang of Night Owls.

Norma and Judy, what TMK said. Not minutes before, one of our friends had told me that their son, the "Little A" of TMK's message, was, I think, an Explorer so the question was not complete gibberish to me, but close. So, although I didn't exactly REMEMBER that he was an Explorer, I did suss out that the woman's question had something to do with the age of the child and what time of the day he went to school and what class he belonged to, so I blurted out, "He's two years old," and those magic words seemed to do the trick since she settled back in her seat, satisfied. TMK and I were so exhausted by this nerve-wracking conversation, however, that we both left the table to find some soothing beverages.

I didn't realise what I had been missing by home schooling my kids. They painted alot of junk, I mean treasures in their preschool and elementary years. Why even now, in high school, the two youngest can paint up a storm! We could have afforded all the music and gymnastic lessons they wanted! Well, maybe I can pass on this bit of info to others that have kids younger than mine.

Ryan, got my first pair of heels (does 1 1/2 inches count?) in years because I do need to look a little professional occasionaly. My daughters are thrilled, but it is going to take a lot of practice before I go public!

Laura, I say 1.5" counts. Anything that makes your toes scrunch uncomfortably, if even slightly, is a high heel (interesting typo: I first typed "high hell)". TMK doesn't know this but, since I didn't know if I even HAD a wearable pair of high heels, on the way from her house to get dressed for The Event, I stopped at a store to look at shoes. Tried a pair but decided they were too high for even me when I almost did a header into one of the shoe displays.

Stalker Angie, I forgot to mention: With regard to "The Weeping Camel," you'll need TWO boxes of Kleenex--for good reasons and bad. Oh, and when they start waving a sharp knife near the jugular vein of one of the adult camels, don't fret--they're just going to cut off some of his luxurious neck fleece to make a halter (which, by the way, is a scene that would be of great interest to any fiber enthusiast).

Perhaps I should admit that I do, in fact, own heels. 3 pair of them in fact. And I wear them for the same reasons as Blog Mistress. I am short (only 5'1") and very round (I think I'm as round as I am tall) and I think heels make me look taller and thinner. In reality I probably just look like a cheese ball balanced on 2 toothpicks. Comical to say the very least.

I guess my "aversion" to them kicks in because I have square feet. No really. They are almost as wide as they are long. I can wear a size 6 shoe, but I need the width of a size 9. If I could just figure out a way to lace up the shoe boxes.....but anyway, it's HARD to find a heel that comes in a 6 or 6½ WWW. Ya know?

Oh and Norma? Nope. Didn't forget the fingernails. And I'm not shocked that she wore heels. I'm just trying to figure out why we do that to ourselves. I wouldn't be shocked to find a pic of Ms. Ryan in a gold lame jumpsuit with 6" platforms on and drop-dead-green, sparkly fingernails. Wheee!

Oh, Angie, if that is how you imagine me, you are in for much disappointment.

I'm still reeling at the ability of the blogmistress to two-step BACKWARDS in 4 inch heels! You rock! (I used to wear heels, but then my ankles died. Now I have a great excuse for comfy flats.)

But Ryan dear, I'm your stalker. You're my very first stalkee. It's stalkers rights to have you in flashy Elvis jumpsuits with big Texas Hair. *giggle*

Actually, I picture you being rather subdued and sophisticated unless you are *very* comfortable around someone. :o)

"...and she was able to save us from an embarrassing silence."

When HASN'T she is the question I'd like answered.

Mary B

Ok, I wasn't going to do this because I was afraid it wouldn't come out right in the black and white of the type, but now that I'm doing what I'm not supposed to be doing anyway (namely, reading these comments for the umpteenth time when I'm supposed to be working) and Stalker Ang got me hootin' and hollerin' with the gold lame jumpsuit and big hair image, I'm just going to tell the story.

When my daughter was going to her hoity-toity arts private high school (I'm now living in a tent, thanks for asking) she was cast as "Boo" in a wonderful play called "Blue Window." It was her best role as of today, and she loved it and loved the opportunity to do it. (and, if I may say, she was FANTASTIC in it)

But if you're not familiar with the play (hardly anybody is), Boo is one of a lesbian couple. So they went through the whole rehearsals "being lesbian," which in their minds I guess was kind of butch. These were pretty sophisticated teenagers who attended a pretty sophisticated and very open-minded and very diverse high school, but still. Anyhoo, when it came time to do costumes, the guy who ran the costume department (think Carson in Queer Eye...) said to my daughter and her acting partner, "No, no, no...we're not doing butch. We're doing LIPSTICK LESBIANS." Well, it was the first time any of us had heard the term, and we died laughing. It was so great, and the way she told the story...precious. But you shoulda SEEN the get-up he got my 16-year-old daughter into. She LOVED it: black lycra leggings with a tight black skirt and top thingy over it, 6-inch heels with rhinestones, the big hair, the LIPSTICK. It was awesome. (hee -- and her character was supposed to be a Ph.D. psychotherapist, as well!!) She did a drunk scene that was TO DIE FOR -- spot ON! (how did she know how to do that, I ask?!)

Anyhoo, so, Ryan and TMK, whaddaya say -- Rhinebeck in Rhinestones? Huh?

Now, hon, that'd be the VALENTINE marmot?

Ok, the only "marmot" we park rangers know about are the fat ground squirrels found out west. I'm thinking you're not grabbing a couple of those, putting them on a spit and headin to the barbeque, right? So, what's a marmot?

Well, Susie, that did it. Now you've got me researching the Internet to find out all I can about marmots! My research shows that there are twelve different kinds. Dunno what you have in your neck of the woods but the marmot *I'm* referring to is the Mongolian marmot or tarvag which is a joke between Cuzzin Tom and me because apparently Mongolians eat them, and Tom fears the day he finds himself hungry and facing a plate full of nothing but marmot-on-a-stick--especially since they're known to carry rabies.

Here, for your edification, a page listing the marmots and showing what they look like and what sounds they make. The rest I leave up to you since you ARE the park ranger, after all! http://www.marmotburrow.ucla.edu/hotlinks.html

Well, holy cow! The yellow bellied variety was the one I was most familiar with. What an unusual web site. And isn't this special: I found an article on catching, cooking and eating Mongolian marmots. According to the article, they taste beefy.
http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/asia/mongolia/marmot.php

since I used to do alot of GS camping I can say I have met many marmots.. and while I never thought of eating them I know that I have been angry enough a few times to wish their demise... so eating isn't that far off.

I ended up once on the cote d'azure talking about marmots, in french, to my hostess' BIL. talk about a strange situation.... non! c'est une GRANDE marmot!