The Big Yellow

Today, The Misers went swimming in our friend's pool, or "The Big Yellow Pool" as Bee calls it. It's the second time this week we've gone there for a swim, and I've got to say that I'm getting absolutely no work done. We are smack dab in the middle of summer and all this Miser wants to do is HANG OUT AND GOOF OFF AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE BIG YELLOW. And Monday doesn't look any better because we're going to the beach. The New Depression has led us to become the opposite of Weekend Warriors. 

What I Did Today (Instead Of Working)

SNAILEY'S WALK

Slugs And Snails

Lately I've been putting various small creatures on the ceramics pots I've been throwing. I got bored with just plain pots, so I decided to spice them up a bit. I spent the better part of today glazing some snail covered bowls. I have no idea how they'll turn out, but I'm thinking who wouldn't want to share a bowl of cereal with a snail? Or a nice plate of pasta with a couple of slugs? I know a two year old who wouldn't mind.

Bloody Knee

This morning, as I was nearing the end of my run around Echo Park Lake, I tripped over a bit of uneven sidewalk and fell to the ground, skinning my knee and my arm in the process. This is about the one billionth time in my life that I've tripped over basically nothing and fallen down. I've got to be one of the biggest klutzes out there. You will never find me on "So You Think You Can Dance" as I would have tripped and fallen during the audition. It's embarrassing to trip and fall, but I always get up, brush myself off, and continue doing whatever it was I was doing, muttering to everyone around me "I'm okay, I'm fine, it was nothing," even as I'm bleeding copious amounts of blood. I am covered with the battle scars of a life lived falling down.

Sticky McWoody

Guest blogger, Sparky McManus.

My friends know me for my collection and fascination with walking sticks. I've made them from branches that fall from our Eucalyptus trees, driftwood, and even a tree in Ed Moses' driveway. Affectionately they all receive the surname, "McWoody", but their first name is up for inspiration. For the last six years I have walked with Sticky McWoody in my hand. I have used it to hit innumerable walnuts, pine cones, rocks, etc. while walking the dog. Every year I'd give it a new coating of Minwax to protect the wood and keep it shiny. That alone should have been enough to say to people, "I am not some random stick lying around, I have a name and belong to someone!" But it wasn't. 

We made our way to the top of the grassy knoll in Elysian Park with a view of downtown and met up with a bunch of other dog owners. We sat down in the grass with Bee and let her play with the clover and palm tree seeds. Gradually we gravitated to the dog people and chatted with them. While engaging in this pleasant discourse with fellow Elysian Park walkers, some weirdo came up behind us and snatched Sticky from the ground where'd I'd left him to sun. We didn't notice Sticky missing until we set off about 20 minutes later - he tended to be on the quiet side. I was shocked and stunned beyond what was probably appropriate, but who steals a person's walking stick?! And what kind of freak lurks about in public parks waiting to do something like this? What do they live for? What are their hobbies? After much teeth gnashing, screaming, and a small amount of weeping, I let it go. Poor Sticky, after all these years, was in someone else's hands, possibly even riding in the trunk of their car... Worse, Sticky may have met a violent end in a hot fire. WTF!

Anyway, the next in line, a slender Eucalyptus branch from 2006, has been fashioned to accompany the dog and I on our walks. It shall never leave my sight in public as I no longer trust society's ability to keep its kook factor at large. (If I ever meet the knothole fornicator who took my stick I will beat him to a bloody Haggis and leave him to the crows.) This latest addition to my stick family has been named, "Dog Leg McWoody", I think you can reason why - and it will be up to the task of revenge should it ever be presented. 

Knitting

I'm knitting blankets for my brother's twins, one blue and one green. I like both the pattern and the yarn, which is a nice soft cotton blend. It's machine washable and dry-able, which is kind of a necessity with infants. It is really quite amazing how many baby patterns use beautiful hand-wash-only yarns; it's so impractical, because babies are such tiny messy creatures. I'm wondering who these people are who are creating these patterns. People who have plenty of time on their hands to spend it all carefully hand washing their precious knitted baby heirlooms? Or rich people who pay other people to wash these items? Or maybe people who have extraordinarily clean and mess-free babies? Because in my experiences with infants, stuff is constantly coming out of all their little orifices, and hand-wash-only is just not going to cut it. So I'm being sensible and knitting them something they can actually use. My favorite things to knit are blankets, wraps, and toys. So I'm going to have to knit them some cashmere teddy bears, too. Maybe not very practical, but it's not like they'll be wearing them. And since the teddy bears are teeny, this Miser will only need a very small amount of cashmere. It's nice to knit with luxury yarns for a change, and one day when I'm no longer a Miser I'll knit cashmere wraps for everyone I know. 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Today the Misers SPLURGED and took themselves out to the old ball game at Dodger Stadium. It's expensive there! We sat in the cheap seats, and didn't buy Bee a ticket (children 4 and under are free. They are supposed to sit in your lap, but there were plenty of empty seats.) We sat in the upper deck behind home plate, and had an awesome view of the field. The Dodgers beat the Rockies 1-0, which was pretty cool. Sparky and I used to go to Dodger Stadium all the time back in the old days. This is only the second time Bee's has been; she went once when she was an itty bitty four month old, and then she pretty much slept through the entire game. This time around she was very much wide awake, and enjoyed herself immensely. She especially enjoyed the frozen lemonade I bought her. It was a hot, sunny day in L.A., and we were fortunate enough to have seats in the shade. Overall, it was a grand time, but I must say it will be the one and only time the Misers go to the ballpark this season. Parking alone cost $15! Misers hate to pay for parking. Still, we all enjoyed ourselves, and it was a classic Los Angeles outing.