has it been a week already?

hope that wasn’t too much buildup, ’cause what I made from my recycled silk boucle was very simple. I got the idea here: a beautiful yarn with great texture needs only garter stitch to make an effective scarf. The colour in the upper photo is closer to the actual yarn, which is even more vibrant. Because Sandra and I often talk about our respective trips to Paris, I knew she’d appreciate the humour in getting a Hermes scarf, west coast style, and I had this bag from a perfume purchase. She seemed to really like it and I think it will suit her colouring so well — she’s a redhead with really blue eyes which the scarf will accentuate. The coolest thing is that altho’ she’s not a knitter, as soon as she lifted the scarf out of the tissue, she brought it to her nose and said, “It’s silk, isn’t it!” The girl has potential, no? (Okay, you non-knitters out there might not know about this, or believe me, but at least in its yarn form, silk generally has as distinctive a smell of its own as wool does, altho’ I’ve never noticed it in any silk garments.)

As you might notice, I had my first non-family posters yesterday, both really generous bloggers following up on my having left comments on their blogs. Please be patient while I muse for a minute or two about why this is so important to me. Working in a world that demands a certain kind of writing and, really, that implies that certain subjects are worthy of writing while others, not so much, I’m feeling such a sense of release just being able to explore writing about the things I truly enjoy doing. At the same time, my inner editor, who often sounds very much like my doctoral supervisor, Greek accent and all, is whispering, “Isn’t this rather banal?” and “So what?, Why should anyone care?” My attention to this editor has held me back from doing any more academic writing since my diss was done two summers ago (well, along with the heavy teaching load — 4and4–that’s the gig at the university-college I’m at ). Part of my hopes for this blog is that I might start owning my own voice again, so I’m doing my best to ignore the whispers. Comments that show someone does care about what I write or at least doesn’t think it’s too banal are a huge encouragement. As well, working to keep those commenters coming back is a big motivator and also a way to learn something about the dynamics between writer and audience. So I’m a bit ashamed of my own history of lurking. Same history, though, lets me realize that some of you may be kind enough or even interested enough to stop by but you’re just too busy or shy or not feeling you have anything to add. Eventually, I’ll put a counter on the site to keep track of interest that way. For now, my own fascination with developing the blog would cloud any stats (I’m probably checking in 15+ per day!).

On a different note, while the garden’s a bit stressed right now with all the heat (and the salt-carrying wind is amplifying that stress), my Hydrangea quercifolia is really coming into its own right now and I’m loving the contrast between the rich dark leaves and the bright white flowers — it should be even prettier in a week when the lacecap develops but here it is looking glorious already.