Rainbow Country

The powers that be have dubbed our city "Rainbow Country"

As magical as that sounds, it's a bit like celebrating "Pain Relief Wednesday"

We get a lot of rain. Usually it feeds my soul and makes our forests and gardens green. But it has been so cold again that I worry for my neglected garden. I have only been out two days. The weeding and pushing of the wheelbarrow exacerbate my painful hands so that I cannot knit.

Until last year, D. never helped in the garden. I did all the mowing until I complained about the vibrations from the blasted mower causing more hand pain. I have had a few injuries from riding and motherhood and have battled tendonitis, tenosinovitis, repetitive stress injury and burgeoning arthritis all along. My sisters are the same. We call it "turkey hand" because one sister removed her enormous home-grown turkey from the oven and couldn't release the grip. We all knew the pain.

My heel is improving. I am doing my stretches. I'm loving Aquafit and the reading time I get on the recumbant cycle. Plus the friendliness and encouragement I crave.

It doesn't matter if it's raining when I'm in the pool.

We have only one more meeting with my committee (plus and extra one I can't attend) and then a break before I join the next set in the process. We've almost completed our report.

The Haiku sweater is completed and buttons have been bought. Too cute. I need to mail it SOON.

I sent the cotton Mariah to my niece. I made it a while ago, but I wanted to give the nephews (and her) their sweaters in order of age. I hope she likes it. Noodle-pie tried to like it, but I knit too loosely and of cotton, so even though I knitted a medium to achieve a large, I ended up with an XL too big for me. That's what family is for. It's a more intricate knit than I may have attempted for my amazing niece, but I can see her wearing it as she goes to her masters in archeology classes. I hope she can feel the love for we rarely see her. I'm trying to find pictures of the cream cotton aran hoodie, but I think I finished it before I had my own camera. I'll ask D. to email it to me.

Off to the Y for some important sweating.