a party girl ---not

Summer is here in full swing, and I realize that I did not know what an Atlanta summer is like, based on my experiences last year. Last year's August and September were all I knew of the GA summertime, and since it was mostly cool and rainy, I was thinking I could do this. But here and now, in the mid-90's, with this astonishing humidity and strong southern sunlight? All I can say is "damn." It is what Hawaii would have been if the blessed miracle of the tradewinds would ever turn off. But here we have no wind. What wind we have is not a cool sea wind, but a muggy movement of air.

I am working on channeling my dad's famed love of hot weather, inspired by Reya's fortitude in the heat, and forging out into it, but I am not loving it. Mostly, I'm just a bit daunted by the idea that it's only June and maybe this will continue all summer? No. NO. Meanwhile I am inspired to put mint into the ice water, and wear only tank tops and sunscreen, and somehow we'll make it through this inferno.

Last week, P and I went to Boston for a family reunion of sorts. His brother and sister are big Jimmy Buffet fans (I can't bring myself to say "Parrothead") and the family reunion was taking place at a Buffet concert in the area, rather, at the all day parking lot party that accompanies such an event. I have had my party girl days, but this one was a bit much. Heat and dust and more alcohol than you could shake a stick at. My BIL has a motorhome, and we took it, and rigged up a couple of tarps for shade, and made margaritas and served up a fantastic potluck. All good fun, but the concert didn't start til 8:00 and we arrived at noon. Fortunately there were our fellow parking lot dwellers to amuse us. It seems that in spite of Buffet's age, a large portion of his fan base is in the twenty-something range, or in the category of "wish I was still 24." My SIL made about a million Jello shots for the event, and we realized that perhaps amongst ourselves, we were maybe too old or too smart to consume all of them. So we loaded 'em up on a tray and went walking around the parking lot giving them out to astonished recipients, who bartered lovely things like tequila shots and grilled shrimp for them. Uh, yeah, of course I'll take a skewer of grilled shrimp for these Jello shots... and I do like tequila. When we finally got to the concert, I found Buffet to be quite good, and good natured, though I do not get the glorification of the pirate lifestyle at all. Oh, I am all about pirates. But let's tell the truth about the harsh life at sea, it ain't no Jimmy Buffet concert. He didn't even say "Arrrgh" once!


I should probably explain that this song is one of my favorites, and that any mention of "party girl" brings it to mind. And I am more of a U2 fan than a Jimmy Buffet fan. And I just think Bono is sooooooooo gorgeous in this video. The hair tossing, beefy, leather vested Bono is my favorite morph of him, and he is All That in this clip. Are he and the wife still together? I hope so.

Incredibly, we were not hung over the next day, which enabled us to go out to the islands in Boston Harbor, a cool respite from the blazing heat of the city.

It seems this entry is all about heat and parties, no? Let's look at what's partying on the wheel these days:
The Clown Guts roving, all predrafted and ready to go for my fractal spinning experiment.

The singles:

And the results are in!

The roving was Ivy Brambles Merino in the "Impatiens" colorway, and was nice to spin. 320 yards of roughly sportweight 2-ply yarn. Very pretty, though my plying is somewhat inconsistent.

Now I'm prepping some undyed Coopworth to continue the Tour de Sheep Breeds I'm conducting. I am liking spinning the more natural wools. I've got a lot of this coopworth and am hoping to get some major yardage out of it.

I am a bit spacy this weekend, due I think to the lunar eclipse, a migraine which I successfully treated, and a huge reiki share that I participated in on Friday night with my local circle. Good fun, and very inspirational too. The moon was gorgeous, and we built a fire and stayed outside til the wee small hours of the night, making s'mores and telling tales. Then I had to get up at 5:30 am to take P to the airport. He's off to Florida to look at some oil for a week. The result of all this has been utter uselessness on my part. I've only been able to knit a few rows on a dishcloth for a swap, cook a little and putter. Which is okay, because it's summer.