bug du jour

This is what I found out on the deck this morning when I went outside. Not sure what sex it is (Blogless Michelle? Chris?) though I hope it reproduces and spreads all over the area, as they're one of my favorite insects ever. It was sluggish, and so was I, with the weather this morning being overcast and in the low sixties. Fall has come, after days and days of torrential rains that have put Atlanta on the map. Our meadow, featured last week, became ever more flooded, and we discovered a wee leak in our roof, that hopefully, will be repaired under our roof warranty.

Lots of rain means lots of potential mud in our house, and Cricket's paws are testament to how much of his time is spent outside, holding canine smackdowns in the gladiatorial arena that is our backyard, complete with dirt floor. We keep towels by the door, and wipe paws off before they come in, but some mud gets in, anyway, and our carpet is taking on a nice patina of grunge. Hopefully it will spur us to replace it with the dreamed-of hickory flooring, sometime after the kitchen re-do.

I started knitting the Monkey sock a while back ago, in the yarn that my co-blogger DisKnit sent me. It is a good match for our surroundings. A little pooling of the colors, but in a good way. The Monkey is a rather addictive knit, even though I'm no sock knitter. I might actually finish these!

While we're on the subject of knitting, I may as well confess that I'm having some issues with PinkAriann. I've made some ugly, uncentered buttonholes, and inserted some un-called-for decreases adjacent to the buttonband. Then, when I clumsily tried to add back in the missing stitches, with my favored kfb increase, more ugliness ensued. In a less shocking color, in a different part of the sweater, you know me; I'd leave it. I'm notorious for just making errors and following the rule of "It Won't Be Noticed From the Back of a Galloping Horse" which kinda just slides right over the fact that I haven't ridden a horse in 20 years. Nevertheless, I can't take this full-frontal ugliness, so it's being frogged back to just before the buttonholes and I'll proceed from there. I'm gonna proceed with knitting the sleeves, while the frogged ugliness marinates, on the theory that if I finish 2 sleeves, I'll cheerfully repair the body. It IS an enjoyable knit, which is why, no doubt, I soldiered on cheerfully, leaving mistakes in, willy nilly.

This past weekend, P and I endured a 2 hour drive, in a dark downpour to go to Athens, to see The Decemberists, which was a big thrill. I've been a fan of their epic storysongs for a few years, and they have a crazy new album, "The Hazards of Love" that they performed, as a sort of rock opera, in its entirety at the show. Great fun, gorgeous atmospherics, courtesy of a simple backdrop, a smoke machine and lots of good lighting. I'm really happy about the plentitude of musical offerings in Atlanta. Yayness.