Best intentions
G'day all!
My new obsession:
My old obsession is complete, for the moment. I need to spin some more yarn and make it just that little bit bigger. Or lose some weight. Since I am quite happy with my weight, I will blend up some yarn (in absence of the original hand painted stuff, though I do have more of the plying yarn) and knit some more onto the edge.
No pics yet - the weather has been, ahem, interesting since I finished it. Sunny at first yesterday then a nice big fat cloud came in and gave us a bit of rain. Only 8mm (1/3 inch) but beggars can't be choosers and it has made the garden perk up some - we had only had about 5mm for the entire month until yesterday. Now we've had 13mm. Only 45mm to go until we reach the average, or 37mm for the median.
I showed off my obsession at the spinners' guild meeting yesterday on their show and tell table. It got a clap! Applause means it is good. :-)
You need to see a random picture of our eggplants being eaten by slugs. Ooops. I've only ever gotten one eggplant a year off any of the plants I've grown in the last four year and this one? We've had about 4 eaten out by slugs, four got over ripe and another 6 have been edible. Plus it is still bearing more aubergines. Amazing, eh? Plus the hibiscus is still going strong after getting a savage pruning last year:
Now the other day I intended to get a whole lot of handspun up onto my website to sell it. Alas, the best of intentions cruelly undone by:
a) the bathroom
b) cleaning up
c) DH upgrading his computer which meant that mine suddenly didn't work properly any more (apparently all my files are stored on his hard drive)
d) my computer randomly freezing. It is very very hard to crash my computer. It has a very robust operating system - not windoze. In the last three weeks I have crashed it three times, twice doing exactly the same thing (editing yarn labels).
So I am still editing pics and getting them online. I need to do this asap as if the yarn does not sell quickly (say within two weeks) I will need to send it off to the guild.
In the meantime, I really want this book. Want so bad! It will cost me $40 to get it from Amazon (adding in postage and USD to AUD conversion). The cheapest (only price) I've seen here is $70!!! Of course by the time I add a couple of other books, I will be up for $70.
A number of people have been asking me about how I feel about moving to the US or commenting that they could not move halfway round the world. (OK, it isn't quite halfway round the world.)
Well my feelings are a bit mixed, especially after the week you Americans have just had. The number of people who seem to go nuts with guns in the USA is scary.
Now I know that guns don't kill people - it is the nut holding the gun, but guns make it very very easy to kill people at some range. Have you ever heard of someone going nuts with their fists and beating 30 people to death? Or even with a knife? It is so easy to kill people when you just have to pull a trigger. Face to face has to be a lot harder. I'm with most Australians on this matter - guns just make arguments and nutters a helluva lot more dangerous. Yes you can still get guns here but the types you can get are limited and some can't be used outside certain environments (eg rifle ranges, etc).
Anyway, having polarised my audience, I now go on to talk about other aspects of moving.
What will I miss most?
It will be out of these
(I love it when Nathan plays the piano but Nutmeg hates it - can you tell?)
or these
Yep. The pudding cats or the Australian environment. I seem to be very attached to gum trees. You wouldn't really know it but after being away from Oz for a month in 99, the first thing I wanted to see what a gum tree - not even a familiar face or my own bed! I know there are plenty in California, so I might just have to visit Ca occasionally and crush a gum leaf in my hands. Colorado does not seem to have the same variety of plants as I am used to.
The cats will be hard to say goodbye to. I think Nutmeg might fret some - she followed us around everywhere for more than a week after we got back. She tends to be a bit dog like that way, but this was even more so than normal.
Then there are friends and family. The good thing about these is email and phone calls. It is not the same as seeing people but it will be a lot easier than it would've been even 20 years ago. Again, hard to say goodbye but the connections can continue a lot more easily than they can for say the cats. Plus we already know we have to have a spare bedroom - we've been told to expect visitors. I already knew we wouldn't have a one bedroom place - we need a place for the computers and we need a place for at least one extra bed for two people. Plus a sofa bed (or whatever others call couches that convert to beds, albeit uncomfortable beds but ok for an overnight or two stay).
The house? Well I haven't lived here long enough to get a real attachment to this place. We have not been here 18 months yet. I like my home well enough, but it is like my car. I took about two years to really bond to my car and now I will be sad to sell him to a friend (but he is going to a friend so I'll hear how he is going). He's been a very good car to me. Never broken down (touch wood), only one battery and two centre tailights, plus a new set of rear brake pads and a windscreen. We zip around places and fly up twisty roads (not literally) and he gets no more than 7L/100km (32mpg) even when I flog him. The best I've had from him is 5L/100km (about 50mpg). I'll miss my baby car.
I'll miss the garden too. When this idea of Nathan working in the US first came up, I expected that we would live in an apartment. Now though I am starting to wonder. I need a garden to potter in. I like to wander around in it, pull out the odd weed, put in the odd plant. The gardens in the apartment blocks are all too perfect and manicured. There doesn't seem to be any place in those areas for a person to get up close and personal with dirt. My whole family gardens. We all have vegie patches and ornamentals and yards that we are interested in (if you saw our yard, you might wonder though). So I am looking at duplexes and older houses in Fort Collins (the internet is a wonderful thing!). If anyone has any suggestions about where to live (the boy will be working on E Harmony Road, almost at the I-25 and I would like to be able to walk/ride to the shops/Vitamin Cottage/Wholefoods in good weather), I'm all ears!
Food. This is one thing that doesn't bother most people but does bother me. Other people on restricted diets will also know how it feels. People who are able to eat anything do not understand how het up people like me (gluten free/dairy free diet) get about food. Just a little won't hurt! Just a little danged well will hurt - I go whacko in the head (my friends who have done various drugs tell me my description of it sounds like a bad trip) along with often severe gastrointestinal problems, with fatigue lasting up to several days afterwards. Food is a very basic requirement for life and being poisoned by something you eat (especially when you've been told it is fine for you to eat) is not pleasant. It is all very Maslow's Hierachy of Needs.
When it all boils down though, I can't wait! I don't want to "abandon" people and pudding cats here but this is a really really good move for Nathan and it could be good for me. There are more opportunities in the US than there are here if nothing else because of population size. OK, there are plenty of whackos there and the religious right has a lot more power there than it does here, same for the gun lobby and other groups that I consider radical. I don't intend to live in the US for ever (US govt will be giving us temporary visas anyway not green cards)- I consider this place to be my home. Maybe that will change, more likely it won't.
There are pluses and minuses but it will be a Most Excellent Adventure!
Happy Earth Day!
anon!
My new obsession:
My old obsession is complete, for the moment. I need to spin some more yarn and make it just that little bit bigger. Or lose some weight. Since I am quite happy with my weight, I will blend up some yarn (in absence of the original hand painted stuff, though I do have more of the plying yarn) and knit some more onto the edge.
No pics yet - the weather has been, ahem, interesting since I finished it. Sunny at first yesterday then a nice big fat cloud came in and gave us a bit of rain. Only 8mm (1/3 inch) but beggars can't be choosers and it has made the garden perk up some - we had only had about 5mm for the entire month until yesterday. Now we've had 13mm. Only 45mm to go until we reach the average, or 37mm for the median.
I showed off my obsession at the spinners' guild meeting yesterday on their show and tell table. It got a clap! Applause means it is good. :-)
You need to see a random picture of our eggplants being eaten by slugs. Ooops. I've only ever gotten one eggplant a year off any of the plants I've grown in the last four year and this one? We've had about 4 eaten out by slugs, four got over ripe and another 6 have been edible. Plus it is still bearing more aubergines. Amazing, eh? Plus the hibiscus is still going strong after getting a savage pruning last year:
Now the other day I intended to get a whole lot of handspun up onto my website to sell it. Alas, the best of intentions cruelly undone by:
a) the bathroom
b) cleaning up
c) DH upgrading his computer which meant that mine suddenly didn't work properly any more (apparently all my files are stored on his hard drive)
d) my computer randomly freezing. It is very very hard to crash my computer. It has a very robust operating system - not windoze. In the last three weeks I have crashed it three times, twice doing exactly the same thing (editing yarn labels).
So I am still editing pics and getting them online. I need to do this asap as if the yarn does not sell quickly (say within two weeks) I will need to send it off to the guild.
In the meantime, I really want this book. Want so bad! It will cost me $40 to get it from Amazon (adding in postage and USD to AUD conversion). The cheapest (only price) I've seen here is $70!!! Of course by the time I add a couple of other books, I will be up for $70.
A number of people have been asking me about how I feel about moving to the US or commenting that they could not move halfway round the world. (OK, it isn't quite halfway round the world.)
Well my feelings are a bit mixed, especially after the week you Americans have just had. The number of people who seem to go nuts with guns in the USA is scary.
Now I know that guns don't kill people - it is the nut holding the gun, but guns make it very very easy to kill people at some range. Have you ever heard of someone going nuts with their fists and beating 30 people to death? Or even with a knife? It is so easy to kill people when you just have to pull a trigger. Face to face has to be a lot harder. I'm with most Australians on this matter - guns just make arguments and nutters a helluva lot more dangerous. Yes you can still get guns here but the types you can get are limited and some can't be used outside certain environments (eg rifle ranges, etc).
Anyway, having polarised my audience, I now go on to talk about other aspects of moving.
What will I miss most?
It will be out of these
(I love it when Nathan plays the piano but Nutmeg hates it - can you tell?)
or these
Yep. The pudding cats or the Australian environment. I seem to be very attached to gum trees. You wouldn't really know it but after being away from Oz for a month in 99, the first thing I wanted to see what a gum tree - not even a familiar face or my own bed! I know there are plenty in California, so I might just have to visit Ca occasionally and crush a gum leaf in my hands. Colorado does not seem to have the same variety of plants as I am used to.
The cats will be hard to say goodbye to. I think Nutmeg might fret some - she followed us around everywhere for more than a week after we got back. She tends to be a bit dog like that way, but this was even more so than normal.
Then there are friends and family. The good thing about these is email and phone calls. It is not the same as seeing people but it will be a lot easier than it would've been even 20 years ago. Again, hard to say goodbye but the connections can continue a lot more easily than they can for say the cats. Plus we already know we have to have a spare bedroom - we've been told to expect visitors. I already knew we wouldn't have a one bedroom place - we need a place for the computers and we need a place for at least one extra bed for two people. Plus a sofa bed (or whatever others call couches that convert to beds, albeit uncomfortable beds but ok for an overnight or two stay).
The house? Well I haven't lived here long enough to get a real attachment to this place. We have not been here 18 months yet. I like my home well enough, but it is like my car. I took about two years to really bond to my car and now I will be sad to sell him to a friend (but he is going to a friend so I'll hear how he is going). He's been a very good car to me. Never broken down (touch wood), only one battery and two centre tailights, plus a new set of rear brake pads and a windscreen. We zip around places and fly up twisty roads (not literally) and he gets no more than 7L/100km (32mpg) even when I flog him. The best I've had from him is 5L/100km (about 50mpg). I'll miss my baby car.
I'll miss the garden too. When this idea of Nathan working in the US first came up, I expected that we would live in an apartment. Now though I am starting to wonder. I need a garden to potter in. I like to wander around in it, pull out the odd weed, put in the odd plant. The gardens in the apartment blocks are all too perfect and manicured. There doesn't seem to be any place in those areas for a person to get up close and personal with dirt. My whole family gardens. We all have vegie patches and ornamentals and yards that we are interested in (if you saw our yard, you might wonder though). So I am looking at duplexes and older houses in Fort Collins (the internet is a wonderful thing!). If anyone has any suggestions about where to live (the boy will be working on E Harmony Road, almost at the I-25 and I would like to be able to walk/ride to the shops/Vitamin Cottage/Wholefoods in good weather), I'm all ears!
Food. This is one thing that doesn't bother most people but does bother me. Other people on restricted diets will also know how it feels. People who are able to eat anything do not understand how het up people like me (gluten free/dairy free diet) get about food. Just a little won't hurt! Just a little danged well will hurt - I go whacko in the head (my friends who have done various drugs tell me my description of it sounds like a bad trip) along with often severe gastrointestinal problems, with fatigue lasting up to several days afterwards. Food is a very basic requirement for life and being poisoned by something you eat (especially when you've been told it is fine for you to eat) is not pleasant. It is all very Maslow's Hierachy of Needs.
When it all boils down though, I can't wait! I don't want to "abandon" people and pudding cats here but this is a really really good move for Nathan and it could be good for me. There are more opportunities in the US than there are here if nothing else because of population size. OK, there are plenty of whackos there and the religious right has a lot more power there than it does here, same for the gun lobby and other groups that I consider radical. I don't intend to live in the US for ever (US govt will be giving us temporary visas anyway not green cards)- I consider this place to be my home. Maybe that will change, more likely it won't.
There are pluses and minuses but it will be a Most Excellent Adventure!
Happy Earth Day!
anon!
I am already polarised!!! I agree: at Port Arthur a lone Knifeman could have been easily overpowered.
ReplyDeleteI think treating this as an adventure is the way to go: houses and cars are ephemeral, the cats will be loved anew, but you and Nathan have a great opportunity!! I am glad you are excited!!!
Hi! I'm usually a lurker but thought I'd drop by with a comment regarding buying"Victorian Lace Today" . I got my copy from www.bookdepository.co.uk - I heard about them on the Sticks and String podcast. No shipping to Australia and pretty quick too. The prices are good as well. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteLynne you must get Victorian Lace! :-) It's a lovely book to just leaf through but the patterns are gorgeous too.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest thing I found about moving halfway around the world was culture shock. You don't think it will be an issue when you move to another English speaking country but boy oh boy is it ever! I still come across things that make me shake my head in disbelief and I've been in the UK for nearly 11 years!
For keeping in contact remember MSN is your friend! My Sunday mornings are reserved for MSN chats with my Aussie rels and friends. :-)
I'm sad that the U.S. is so well known for gun-wielding whackos and the religious right. Some of us are nonviolent, liberal, and not insane! :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your packing and all.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteSally got five copies sent over - just over $30 each, and free shipping. It was quick too.
You must get the book, it is even better than you think it is :)
i too must share bookdepository.co.uk -
ReplyDeleteno postage, about $30 AUD
Oh no...the puddies have to stay behind? I'm so sorry!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I also have to chime in and say how sad I am that the US is getting this reputation...gun-toting whack- jobs and authoritarian/fundamentalist government. Not without reason. There is no good reason an ordinary citizen needs a semi-automatic weapon. All I can say is I am counting the days until the next election.
Yep another vote for Book Depository, half the price it is on amazon UK and free shipping for you :-)
ReplyDeleteI was going to mention the Book Depository ....
ReplyDeleteas for your dietary restrictions, i may have a small, sort-of solution. if there is a HyVee grocery store in Fort Collins, or any nearby city, they have registered dieticians that can help you with your diet. i have a friend who has to have gluten free foods, and she adores them here in omaha.
ReplyDeletegood luck on the move! when doyou go?
Or ifyou wanted to get it locally, yarnsonline.com.au has it for $46
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your move. I agree that it's a great opportunity. Having moved from the UK to the USA 10 years ago I would say that it is more different than I would ever have imagined. I also was interested in the things you thought you would miss - it will be interesting to compare in a year or so what you did actually miss. What I miss most is just the sense that I belong, sharing that same English history/culture/sense of humour. I will never be an American however long I live here.I also warn you...I came for a 2-year temporary assignment to the US...and 10 years later am still here :-)
ReplyDeleteYou should wait to get the book until you move! :)
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like a really good move for both of you. And you are moving to an area that should have lots of food options. If you were moving to the Black Hills, I'd worry. Front Range of Colorado? Not worried! :)