Updates and Mysteries

Knitting updates from the deck earlier this week:

Special Request Socks #1 are in the bag there, and the brown yarn is what will become Dad Slipper #2.  The beverage is a gin martini with a splash of Grillo's pickle juice.  The pickles are long gone now, but the juice is still absolutely delicious.

Not pictured:  FM socks (cuff is done but needs to be grafted - the wedding is Saturday so I need to step it up!!), Only One spinning, Monkey Socks (on hiatus awaiting the return of the Karbonz), May Hat, and 8 million other projects in various stages of completion.

One of our deer definitely has a baby - I saw the both of them a couple of fields over the other day when I was driving back from the recycling place.  I haven't seen the rest of the herd in some time, but it sounds like there's lots of food in the forest this time of year so perhaps they only venture out for lawn salad occasionally?

A couple of hummers stop by the feeder periodically, but so far there hasn't been a lot of action there - they must have some alternate food sources as well.  I'll continue to refresh the sugarwater in the hopes that they'll continue to visit.

There continue to be mysterious flora growing all over the place.  One of the latest is a bunch of purpley, dangley flowers just at the edge of our little patio:

Their stems and leaves make them look weed-like to me, but the flowers look deliberate - although I have absolutely no idea what they are!!

The Mystery Shrub in front of our house (facing North) is likely a lilac of some kind.  It is sprouting flowers that look like very small and delicate lilacs, and in that context the leaves are very lilac-like as well.  It's very late-blooming for a lilac around here, but of course it's been cold and wet this spring so who knows.  I'll take some pics when the sun comes out later this week.

I drive a 2005 Honda Accord, which I love.  I got it new, so I've really had it for 14 years.  It's low frills - only the windows are automated.  Even the transmission is standard.  This makes it especially great to drive in the winter - who needs brakes!  One of the fun things about having a car for this long is that you start to see it all - the thing that keeps the gas cap attached rusts off, the speakers stop working inexplicably, stuff like that.  This week I needed to take it to the dealership for a recall recall.  That's right - a new recall for the driver airbag that was installed as a recall probably 10 or so years ago now.  So this is the third airbag this car has had, although none have deployed (although on my way home someone pulled out in front of me and I thought - wouldn't it be ironic if the airbag I just had installed was used like 20 minutes later??  At least this version wouldn't have the chance to embed shards of plastic in me!).  And, double bonus - I got a LOT of Dad Slipper knitting done when I was waiting!