Woolverine
….in case you were curious.
Inspiration
I am unexpectedly in New Hampshire for work all day, so further reflection will have to wait a bit. Here is a bit of tea-inspiration from last night’s cuppa.
Renewed and Rejuvenated
I arrived home from my retreat last night, and am still sorting through my thoughts about it. I’ll post more later this week, after I’ve considered and reflected a little bit more, but I had an amazing, renewing, connected time and met some amazing people I’m glad to have in my life. In the meantime, my photos are here, and here are a few of my favorite things from the weekend:
* A group that jelled naturally, like we’d known each other for years.
* Comfortable beds and sleeping in the dark and quiet.
* We had an outie in the group, and he was fabulous.
* People brought coffee – phew!
* I was nowhere near the only queer, and it totally didn’t matter.
* Feeling connected to M/W through her thoughtful gifts, though she couldn’t be there
* A fun and brutal Yankee swap of yarns we loved.
* Sheep live there!
* Amazing food prepared by an intriguing family.
* Learning new tricks and tips for knitting.
* Deepening my meditation practice.
* A stronger connection with folks in my home knitting circle.
* Discussing secular Judaism on the way home.
* Not getting in a terrible accident when some dimwit decided to turn left from the right lane as we got off the highway in Providence. I think that would have strained my newly deepened relaationships.
Special thanks to Julie of Cool Moon Yoga and to the incredible folks who make this amazing place for retreat, reflection, growth, and renewal.
Zombified
Sometimes you see things so often that they just become a part of the scenery until someone else points them out to you. This window display, between my office and my favorite coffee shop, is a case in point.
Yeah, that’s a melting skeleton guy, and it’s not part of a holiday display. In fact, the whole store front is filled with the creepy and the macabre.
But it’s not a halloween shop; in fact, it’s not a shop at all. It’s the design center and coroporate HQ for Monster Mini Golf, which takes the squeaky clean right out of this family passtime. They get so many questions about it, and so many people trying to buy their stuff, that they have installed this skeleton guy with an informative sign about what they are and that the decor is not for sale. 
I don’t spend a lot of time looking in the window but when a colleague pointed out this strange window earlier this week, I thought I would share with all of you.
Deep Breaths
Today is a big day – it’s my old man’s birthday, and I’m heading out this afternoon to a yoga and knitting retreat at the Sky Meadow Retreat Center. I’m excited to spend a few days focusing on mindfulness, talking with others about our practices of both knitting and yoga, and the ways they are similar and different. I’m also looking forward to getting to know a the founders of my knitting group a little better, and am glad the three of us will be sharing the experience. See you all next week.
Fleurs
Nothing makes Ellison feel better than getting flowers delivered, and Smarty Pants and Flippy sent some along last week as a “Get Well Soon” gift. Since I just got a new camera this week I wasn’t able to take a picture until nearly a week had passed, and here they are still looking lovely. Ellison is a very lucky guy to have such good friends.
My Maine Man
Yeah, that’s a Rain Man reference. Sorry. I just want to take a brief time out to say that I’m heartbroken about the outcome of the Maine equality referendum but so incredibly proud of the work folks did there and will continue to do. It’s hard to be patient for this incremental fight but it’s gone faster than any other civil rights movement in history. So I make a personal commitment to keep talking, being, living equality…and hope you will join me.
Still need a pick-me-up? There’s a great post from a queer South Carolinian here.
And tonight, Ellison and I are going on a nature walk to try to spot some beavers. For realz.
Sweet Seat
At the office, I sit on a balance ball chair much like the one below.
This chair choice elicits a large volume of comment, compliments, questions, and observations from those who pass by, and certainly serves as both a landmark and an identifying characteristic around the office.
But I’m thinking since I’ve already broken in the office to strange seating choices, perhaps I should upgrade to this:
Vote Equality
Today is election day, and in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Washington State, and Maine, the voters are presented with a choice to support basic equality for their friends and neighbors, or to repeal legislative measures ranging from anti-discrimination ordinances through marriage equality. I am most familiar with the campaign in Maine, and they have been doing amazing work on the ground for 25 years to get to this place, organizing the living daylights out of communities across the state and doing the hard work of changing hearts and minds. I’m sending love their way and know that they’ve done everything they can.
I’m really hopeful that the folks in Kalamazoo will see through misleading, hateful ads that shamelessly paint transgender people as playground child molesters. It pains me deeply that these arguments still have a foothold in society, and it would be amazing to see a ballot measure be defeated.
And last random thought for today is that it’s M/W’s birthday, and strangely, I received my birthday gift the day before hers. She’s sent me really fabulous things to supplement my retreat this weekend and I’m glad to bring a piece of her with me.
Namaste, bitches!
Return to Regularly Scheduled Programming.
With Ellison still out of commission this weekend, we thought ahead and planned our own low-key fun at home. Rudy McRuderson and GirlScout came over for pizza, and brought pumpkins for carving. Rudy and GirlScout teamed up to carve the big one with the spider web image Ellison had selected. I went for a Donna Reed-style flip, first time I’d ever given a jack o’lantern hair! Rudy took this awesome pic, with the super spooky shadow of the tree outside. 
GoldenBoy was around for the weekend, but we were all feeling pretty low-key, so we spent a lot of time lounging about, napping, cuddling, and eating. Ellison made fantabulous Saturday and Sunday brunches, and some guacamole which made a delicious snack. I also got a LOT of knitting done – I had a few little projects that needed ends woven in, harder blocking, final touches, etc. So today I am able to debut both my Gallery Jacket and this little shawl pin from Designs by Romi, which I was generously given by Somebunny’s Love from my knitting group. 
It’s nice to know that even when I’m rushing along on deadline, I can find a little zen within myself by looking at my knitwear!
Today I expect delivery of my new replacement camera. Since my old one died at the end of September, I’ve been having a hard time capturing the images around me that keep me fired up for this blog. But I hope the replacement will inspire me to more regular posting.
Ellison couldn't bear to see him relegated to the blog archive, so we're displaying him over here "forevs".
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