April 21, 2006
The Flying Nun Monk*
And I quote:
"When I saw my first Internet weblog (“blog”)—essentially a public, online diary that people anywhere and everywhere are invited to read and comment upon—I was aghast, truly aghast. I believe my hand even flew up to my mouth in horror. I couldn’t fathom wanting to hang your personal laundry out to air on the web, much less inviting complete strangers to read it. Then and there, I made a solemn, eternal vow that I would never have a blog."
This opening paragraph from an article I wrote for our Guild newsletter and which I subsequently posted on the blog, makes it all the more remarkable—and, if I'm to be honest with myself, laughable—that today is my third-year blogiversary. Which makes me either a ginormous hypocrite or someone who realizes that she was flat-out wrong and that the blogging experience—and the relationships I've formed through it, and the adventures I have had as a direct result of it—has made it worth every minute spent staring dully at a blank screen, thinking, "What the &*%^$#!@#! am I going to write today?"
I dedicate today's entry to Kathy the Tax Accountant, the latest person to join the list of People Who Have Read [The] Whole Blog Regardless of the Infinite Number of Postings They Have to Slog Through. Thank you for your enthusiastic support of me, TMK, and all our silly adventures, and for your wonderfully long and chatty comment, Kathy! You rock!
For those long-time-readers and Dulaaners who don’t read Cuzzin Tom’s blog, big news: Our monk is headed back to the land of camels, freezing nights, mutton, marmots and bad coffee, otherwise known as Mongolia. On May 31st, to be exact. He and the airplane pilot have promised me that the plane will let out a loud, jalopy-like “a-woooooooooooooo-gah” as it flies over Seattle so I can look up and wave. (Wouldn’t it be a hoot if that were the sound fighter jets made when they broke the sound barrier, instead of the sonic boom? Or what if they just squeaked, or mewed like a kitten, or made a sound like a fart? All of a sudden, being a “top gun” pilot wouldn’t be quite so glamorously macho anymore. In fact, the pilots would desperately stay 1 mph below the sound barrier just so they don’t make “that” sound and get teased in the mess hall.
Er, sorry. My brain gets away from me sometimes. Much like a helium balloon. Which makes a funny noise when you let it fly around the room, or goes “squeeeeeeeeeee!!! when you stretch the opening. Which would also be a funny noise for the jet to make.
See, no control over the brain. None.)
On the Dulaan front, the latest count of items currently in F.I.R.E.’s possession is 1,456. “Only” 3,062 items to go, but if the Knitting Brigadiers are anything like me, they’re waiting to the last minute so they can cram as much into their boxes as possible before heaving them Arizona-ward. However, and not to nag, although I will if I have ta’, we do have only 72 days left before everything has to be in F.I.R.E.’s possession. 72. Days.
72.
Seventy-two.
Sixty-two with another ten added on for good measure.
(Update, 11:06am PDT: Just received another email from F.I.R.E. We broke the 2,000 barrier and have hit 2,097! 2,421 to go. We're almost halfway there, Brigadiers!!)
Also, a gentle reminder about the Café Press Dulaan shop. All profits made through the sale of Dulaan items will be sent directly to F.I.R.E. So far, we’ve made…er…$135.32. Our plan is to take down the Café Press site on July 2, so shop, shop, shop! (I’ve purchased some of the items myself—a t-shirt, a tote bag, and the teddy bear—and am really impressed with the quality.)
As eagle-eyed Anne C. Miner noticed, yes, we did celebrate TMK’s mumblemumbleth birthday last week. Because she is a Gadget Gal, I gave her one of those new digital-readout indoor/outdoor thermometers. Big mistake. Big. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times a day she calls me to tell me e-x-a-c-t-l-y what the temperature is. And, curse my bad luck, it’s springtime here in the Great Northwest when the temperature can range from 35 degrees in the morning to 68 degrees in the afternoon and, depending on the cloud cover, or lack thereof, fluctuate wildly between those two extremes. And any and all major upticks or downticks in temperature apparently need to be reported directly to me. And the different temperatures in the different rooms in the house need to be reported to me. And the difference between the temperature inside the house and the temperature outside the house needs to be reported to me. Heed my warning, girls; this is a bad, bad gift.
Speaking of dwelling on unimportant news, the gods smiled upon me. I squeeked out enough Wool Pak and Plymouth Encore to finish the Wing and a Prayer Sweater. Photos on Monday!
*I really hate to have to do this because it makes me squirm with the realization of how rapidly I'm aging, but for those of you who are too young to understand the reference to The Flying Nun, it was a sitcom in the late sixties, early seventies, about...well, I won't insult your intelligence by finishing this sentence.
Happy blog day!
I guarantee that if fighter jets made farting noises, there would be LEGIONS of guys waiting to join the Air Force. The Fart Heard Round The World.
I think that thermometer sounds neat. Don't you love it that you get her something she completely adores and looks at throughout the day, that reminds her each and every time of you?
Excuse me...but Ryan has left out a very important detail regarding the weather station. She keeps *asking me* what the temperature is. I only volunteered the information the first couple of days it was set up. Don't let her fool you. She's just as enamored of the weather station gadget as I am! ;-) TMK
(Hey, we live in Seattle. Seattleites talk about the weather all. the. time. It's our number one topic after "how to fix our traffic problems.")
Posted by: The Mysterious K on April 21, 2006 10:08 AMTMK--Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Posted by: Ryan on April 21, 2006 10:18 AMHappy Blogday! I love the idea of the thermometer!
One day when I was talking to the plumber, I heard a tiny kitten mewing in his pants pocket. Yep, cell phone ring. Big burly guy, tiny little kitten mew.
Posted by: Patti on April 21, 2006 10:22 AMHappy Blog-o-versy! I'm so glad that the world has Mossy Cottage Knits! I still giggle when I think of the very first post I read of yours. You've had the gift of gab from Day 1.
Posted by: Rebecca on April 21, 2006 10:56 AMhappy blog day.
and to think.. now you know people all over the world b'c of some silly text on a screen.
Sorry TMK, but the person who tells the story first gets their story as the one people refer to.
OK. back to the grind. mwah!
Posted by: anj on April 21, 2006 11:09 AMhappy, happy day!! i think i have been reading of your adventures for just over a year now. i was googling (free)sock patterns (have knit both) and there you were. I had never seen a blog before and was quite entranced. went back to the begining and got caught up. thank you for letting me peek into your life and knitting.
Posted by: laura on April 21, 2006 11:10 AMMy place in the universe is secured -- I've been saluted by Ryan! Just to show how silly I am, it brought tears to my eyes to read that paragraph. And just to show how really silly I am, when I read "Kathy the Tax Accountant," I thought, Wow, another tax accountant named Kathy who reads this blog. Duh.
Congratulations on 3 years! And I'm very glad for CT and his return to MongoLEEa.
Posted by: Kathy on April 21, 2006 12:01 PMHappy Blogiversary!
Only a day before the big Chicago Dulaan Meet-up. (I'm deathly afraid that it will just be me and my mom . . . but I've already collected 14 items from people who can't make and there are more on the way! I guess that's what really counts. You would think with this being Chicago I would know somebody to call in a "favor" but they don't typically work in knitting . . . it's more cement garment thing.)
Hey! That's not *all* Mongolia has. There are freezing *days* too. Tomorrow's high? 29. With winds 15-25 mph.
What I really picture is me and the pilot diving real low over Seattle, littering the sidewalks with dropped lattes as the population scatters, while making Hawaiian hand gestures out the window and singing raucously and off-key:
"Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
MongoLEEa, Gobi mama,
Take me home, country roads."
I'm also still teasing out whatever peculiarly tangled brain circuitry I possess that made some kind of inscrutable leap between your use of the word "ginormous" and your declaration that you "squeeked out...Wool Pak," causing me to bark out laughing loud enough that both cats fixed me with a "don't force me to come over there and shred your robes, monk boy" glare before tucking in their noses and returning to the place *they* belong, namely Snoozeville.
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on April 21, 2006 12:16 PMSmall World Time! So Cuzzin Tom grew up near Englishtown, New Jersey. My college roommate lives near Englshtown, New Jersey! Manalapan Township, to be exact. And I have actually been there, and been by the site of the raceway.
Posted by: Diana on April 21, 2006 12:37 PMSheee-it, only halfway there with the Dulaan items? Yikes. I sent my big box a couple weeks ago and am working on a sweater and started a hat last night. We need to get the brigade moving!!! Although, as you say, they'll probably pile in at the last minute.
Happy blogiversary!!!
Posted by: Norma on April 21, 2006 01:41 PMHappy blogiversary! I've been reading since pretty darn near the beginning, but I think I missed that first post.
I'm one of those people stockpiling Dulaan projects. I'll try to finish them up and send them on their way soon.
Posted by: Melinda on April 21, 2006 02:38 PMhappy blogiversary!
and happy mumbldey birthday, tmk! i turned murphmumble 3 weeks ago, and i didn't die!
and i do have 2 hats done for dulaan. i also have cast on for a toddler vest in handspun. (my own handspun). it's a bit stiff, but it will definitely be warm.
i just do a ton of charity crafting, and i have to watch how much i'm doing, lol.
Posted by: minnie on April 21, 2006 08:44 PMNow come on! TMK cannot possibly be mumblemumble--she doesn't look a day over murmurmurmur.
As to the weather gadget: Ryan, you gave an indoor/outdoor thermometer to a native Californian?? Truly, they don't need any encouragement when it comes to measuring the degree to which the weather is deviating from perfection.
(The ones I'm related to (BY MARRIAGE) will anxiously obsess about our weather, a thousand miles away, even though they have NO accurate idea of what it really is....)
Glad you broke your solemn vow ;)
Posted by: Ann C. Miner on April 21, 2006 09:13 PMI just finished singing "happy blogiversary to you!" Out loud. a few times. and I have house guests. I guess they know me on a new level now. Oh, and as for the Dulaan numbers.....I just can't wait for the last minute fire storm of items. Not a doubt in my mind....
Posted by: marylee on April 22, 2006 04:07 AMJust like to say that I loved the Flying Nun. Although I was a mere child then, for sure... Practically a babe in arms in fact. As were you, I'm sure.
And happy blogiversary!
Posted by: Mary de B on April 22, 2006 01:06 PMDude, guess I'd better get going with those blankies...
Happy blogday! I'm wicked glad you're here :-)
Posted by: Lee Ann on April 22, 2006 01:09 PMHi, Ryan and TMK! Add me to the list of those who have read the whole thing, and while you're add it, add me to the Dulaan Brigade. I've been amassing kids hats and scarves and sweaters, etc. for years now, but never found a program that really inspired me. When I found Mossy Cottage Knits and the Dulaan Project, I was hooked. Finally, a project run by people just like me. I love you guys, and you're now a daily part of my life. Gizmo the Kitten sends snuggles, and says to tell Frankie that it's perfectly acceptable to have a toybox in both houses. After all, this spoiled kitten has her own toys at my best friend's house too. Apparently the furry little creatures think it's their just desserts.
Posted by: Lisa Rogers Lowrance on April 22, 2006 08:21 PMI know just how "bad" a gift it is. I gave one to my mother (aka The Weather Channel Queen). She still calls to check on my weather. I hope your gift does humidity and pressure!
Posted by: Cyndy on April 23, 2006 11:55 AMHappy blogiversary! I haven't read it all yet, but I do intend to one of these days.
I'm hoarding a few Dulaan items, but only (as of last night's finishing frenzy) four. Better than nothing, I suppose.
Posted by: Kirsten on April 24, 2006 04:54 AMDang it, Cuzzin Tom, now I've got that song stuck in my head!
Happy Blog Day, Ryan!
(My phone does the temp inside and outside, the humidity and shows a nifty illustration of the weather outside. Which isn't completely accurate. This morning it said it was raining out when what it meant was "There's enough dew out here to soak a Retriever!")
I'm working on getting some knitters together to help with the Dulaan Project. I'm hoping to be able to get more items together before the deadline!
Posted by: gerald on April 24, 2006 07:08 PM