pepperknit

I saw on Jessica’s blog that Deb was doing a meme/contest regarding November calendar pages. Being that November is also my birthday month, I had to participate!

When I was growing up, my best friend’s family and my family were incredbly close. We had a funny sort of synchronisity with a lot of our birthdays, too–her sister’s birthday is the day before my mom’s, hers is the day before my dad’s, and I was actually due on her mother’s birthday (Oct. 29). My mom and little sis were impossible during the entire month of July, their Birthday Month. They would bring it up at every opportunity. My friend and my dad fashioned themselves more subtle and sophisticated, but would find ways to mention their birthday month (August) all the time, too. The rest of us all get our own birthday months (in order, too: Sept, Oct, Nov), and we found ways to be obnoxious about having whole months to ourselves. All this to say that, well, even though I don’t expect people to celebrate me for the entire month, I have strong feelings toward the month of November.

This year, my birthday is on Thanksgiving! I don’t know why I didn’t mark it on the calendar; if I had to guess, I suppose it’s because this is my work calendar, and anyway, I know my own birthday. The photos in the calendar are all X-rays of flowers. I love the austere black and whites, and I think they’re very beautiful. However, I would like to ignore the name of the calendar, because it is embarrassing to purchase or be seen with “Flower Spirits.”

In other news:

• Neosporin should be a controlled substance, that stuff works so well (as I know from having scraped my knuckle badly on an exposed brick wall in our stairwell while carrying a box out this past weekend).
• Walking 2 miles to work really is better than sitting on the bus. You don’t get to work and feel tired! You’re awake and invogorated, plus you see some actual nature (though you were more than a bit turned around and lost in Central Park).
• Teaching coworkers to knit during lunch breaks is satisfying therapy for both of you.
• And playing with cable patterns can be fun but confusing. Here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on (note, the cable pattern is not my invention, but I’m modifying it a bit and that’s why I’ve needed to chart it out for myself).