Eclecticitee

It’s a conspiracy.    Fate is simply conspiring against my blogging.

First, the cruise.  A wonderful week….but contrary to promises there was NO INTERNET ACCESS the entire time.  All the moments of dolphin sightings, beautiful sites, quirky and other memorable moments went undocumented in my ramblings.   Not to mention I failed the August NaBloPoMo challenge.    Grr.

In Rhodes, we toured, shopped, sat at outdoor cafés for drinks and laughed with hosts – this one fellow had a drink with every single customer.  Since we were there pretty late he was flying high and extremely funny.  (I doubt his family would agree…not to mention his doctor…)

On the island of Kos we visited the ruins of Asklepieion, where Herodicus taught Hippocrates medicine,

went wine-tasting at a local winery, and visited the village of Zia, where at a lovely garden café I sampled the village specialty (and it was delicious!).

And Santorini was just as beautiful as we remembered.  The artists’ colony in the village of Oía, the capital of Thera, more wine-tasting.  The ship was anchored off a cliff, accessible only by small boats…and we rode donkeys down the cliff to the boats.

Lots of experiences on board the ship, too….but perhaps that will wait until a future post…

We returned to a a tornado of preparations for kidlet to set off to boarding school.  Sorting, washing, packing, and of course dealing with all the emotions of upheaval and a new reality for all of us.

Then…while setting off to the market for a few items and other sundry tasks, I slipped and bounced down a whole flight of stone steps on my butt, landing on my arm and lower back…  Kind of shaken up, I got up, dusted myself off and ran the necessary errands…but by midday my shoulder hurt so bad I couldn’t move my upper arm without shrieking.  So the evening was spent in the ER, where they poked and prodded and took X-Rays from all directions and angles only to decide there was no break or dislocation, only a bad bruise – and immobilized the arm in a sling.  I actually did quite well eating and maneuvering the computer mouse with my left hand, much better than I feared.  But it was still extremely limiting.    Had to take pain killers and meds against muscle inflammation.

Rosh HaShana came too quickly!  Kidlet wanted to come home for the holiday, but her school explained that it wasn’t customary,  the kids and staff celebrate together there.  She asked for permission anyway, and at the last minute, they  decided that since she’s new this year, it would be ok for her to come home.  So she was able to join the family festivities!  Dinner for 25, gifts and gabbing and much too much good food.

After dinner, as we all relaxed in the evening air, I pulled out my knitting as usual.  Three of the girls – 8-yr-olds – asked me to teach them to knit!  I showed them the knit stitch using my vest,

and they took turns practicing on the socks I was knitting.

With close supervision, of course…  Sometimes they made it a team effort, one would work the needles while another wrapped the yarn – pretty funny.  Last year I made them all ponchos, this year they have decided that they want slippers with pompoms – and that they want to help me knit them!!!   We discussed colours – so on my next visit to the LYS I will get yarn and needles for all the girls and we’ll start our project.  I chose the simplest garter stitch pattern  –  PomPom Footwarmers by Pyramid Mills Co, as posted by KrazyKnitter.

New knitters have been born!

And speaking of my knitting, despite sticking to my resolve not to begin any new projects and focus on WIPs, I have not finished one single project this summer!!!  OK, I’ve made lots of progress, especially on the Glorianna scarf and the circular vest.  But nothing has made it to completion.  Yet.  Very frustrating.

Time to establish a new routine and get to work.

Anyone else make progress this summer??  I need some encouragement!