Perambulations

I had a lovely day yesterday with T-Man. The weather was sunny and cool but not cold so we went out for one of our long walks. We began with lunch out at the White Spot which was a Saturday treat back when I was a child. The only difference in my choice of menu was yam fries and chipotle dip with my Legendary hamburger instead of regular fries. Oh, and an apple cider instead of milk. Yum. The hamburgers still taste pretty much like they did when I was 6 and later when I was pregnant with our first child I’d beg T to bring me one for a late-night-snack on his way home from work. I even prefer them to my own homemade hamburgers. Go figure.

After lunch (and some remarkably slow service) we continued down to Best Buy where I got a flash drive for Bluet. Since she doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive the only ways to get files from one computer to another is to use our wireless LAN, SD cards or a USB flash drive. I thought since the latter are so cheap these days ($12 for 4 GB) it wouldn’t hurt to get one just to have it available as an option. Both of our big computers have SD drives but not every computer does. And USB is faster. You never know when you might want to share something.

Then we went down to the Seawall and walked along to Granville Island. We stopped in at Opus for some art supplies that I need for my upcoming class on Studio Journals with sharonb. I got a cute little watercolour set in a box with mixing pans and a water brush and some watercolour paper to make my own journal. Then to Maiwa’s supply shop where I got some Orvus and Synthrapol, both of which were running out in my dye studio. I saw they had some black oak bark which I hadn’t noticed before so I got some. It’s a good and lightfast yellow dye and isn’t always easily available so I took my chance when it came. I know I’ve been concentrating on local dyes from my garden but I’m running out of coreopsis and only have one baggie left of marigolds in the freezer so the yellow possibilities are limited until next summer. Besides I’ve never used black oak before. Gotta expand the repertoire.

After Maiwa we went to the market and got some groceries. Then it was the uphill slog to Broadway to Mayfair News for the weekly magazine search. I got the new Quilting Arts and the holiday issue of Vogue Knitting but that was all the new issues that were out at the moment. We were both pretty tired by the time we got home, not just because that was over 10 kilometres we walked but that we were both carrying about 10 kilos each in our backpacks.

It’s amazing how much the leaves have changed just in the last week or so. A lot of the colours are just about at their peak right now though other trees haven’t even begun to shift yet. You have to pay attention because the whole show is over in less than a month from when it starts. I’ve heard others exclaiming that this is their favourite time of year and I so agree. So beautiful and all my favourite shades! I hate for it to end but it will. Luckily I also enjoy the patterns of the bare branches against the sky. Every season has it’s pleasures if you just pay attention.

I have the Back Home Blues Socks finished but I haven’t written up the details yet. I’m heading over to hang with my Ravelry buddies today so it’ll just have to wait. I’m thinking both T and I have enough socks for now and my sock knitting will be concentrating on other family members now. Speaking of T, he has just driven The Ninja to the airport on his way to Japan for the first time. Then he was heading out to the Woodworking and Tool show. I’m happy not to accompany him this time. It’s kinda fun because I love seeing “things to make other things” and the folks who get excited about that, but most of it isn’t my cuppa tea. Definitely T’s tea though and I’m glad he got a chance to go this year. Even if it was all by himself.