a day with Robin and other miscellaneous stuff

Waiting for the next front to come in which it did on Friday and it rained. Saturday was cold and windy and wet, Sunday was a gorgeous day, perfect for working outside but I had plans with my grandgirl Robin, so OK, Monday, I'll get back out there Monday, except it rained off and on all day. Damn, can't work on the vines, can't play with my new toy.

Robin wants to sew an oversize hooded jacket with bunny ears, so we drove to Shopping Mecca to shudder the other Evil Empire but their good lord saved us as they are closed on Sundays which I had forgotten. On to the nearest Joanne's for a pattern and fabric only they didn't have the only pattern that looked suitable enough so we segued to crocheting. She also wanted to crochet a hat so we looked at ALL the yarn until she selected some and a crochet hook and then we spent the next hour or so looking at all the paint and brushes and markers and sketch books and cake decorating stuff and cookie cutters and fake flowers and scrapbooking and stamps and christmas ornaments and every other other craft thing before finally looking at all the fabric until we decided we had seen it all. I had no plans to buy any fabric but how does one resist? I found a nice bolt of cotton that I really liked, thought it would make a good summer skirt and really I need another one because (here's the justification) I've about worn out the two I wear all the time (only sort of true).

Years ago when Robin was still a kid and was coming for her summer visits I taught her how to crochet but we never really got any farther than a basic chain stitch but she picked it up quickly. She also took to sewing faster and better than her two older sisters. Anyway, once home she found a video tutorial for crocheting a hat/cap and started on it. The yarn she picked out is blanket yarn, big and soft and fluffy and a pain in the ass to crochet even if you know what you're doing.

But she persevered and got a good start on the hat band and as it was getting dark she gathered up her stuff and headed home. 

About midnight I got this picture.

She watched the video again and soldiered on through without any guidance from me. That's her mom, my daughter Sarah, in the picture as the hat turned out too small for Robin. Plenty of yarn left, she's going to try again.

Did I mention it rained all day yesterday? About 4 PM I started texting Abby that I wouldn't be coming to yoga last night and before I finished I got a text from her: Skipping...too gross out. We were of like minds. So since I wasn't going to yoga we started watching a new series, The Peripheral on Amazon Prime, based on The Peripheral (The Jackpot Trilogy) by sci-fi author William Gibson. Set in a technology altered future Flynne, a young woman trying to hold her broken family together, discovers a secret connection to an alternate reality as well as a dark future of her own (paraphrased from a search description). We've only seen the first episode which had some pretty hairy parts so if dystopian brutality puts you off you might want to skip it. It's intriguing though, centers around virtual/alternate reality and time travel in a way.

The only other thing we did was meet with the guy who handles our investments because I had to take a mandatory draw from my IRA as the government only lets you put off paying taxes on that for so long so we're opening a new account with that and reinvesting it.

10 AM and still only 49˚ out there. Overcast but should start clearing soon. Burn ban has been lifted so that's on the schedule for this week.

I've mentioned that Cat wants to be part of the puppy pile but when she plonks herself down so she's touching both Minnie and myself, Minnie is having no part of it. Up her head goes and she moves to the other end of the couch. The other night sitting on the couch with Minnie laying under the blanket on my left and Cat in my lap, Cat moved stealthily leaving her back half on my lap and slowly gently laying her head on Minnie's blanket covered body reaching across it with her front leg. Minnie never noticed and there we all stayed until it was time for bed.