Shortz vs. Dowd

A week ago I spent my entire day taking mass transit from New Jersey, where I'd been for my grandfather's funeral (sure, he played professional basketball in the 1950s, I already knew that, old news... but he went on to work at the Pabst brewery? where they make PBR?! no way!), to Maine with the Crafto-Dad. When we were in Port Authority in New York, with our respective overstuffed backpacks that could take out a couple of strangers with a swift or inadvertent pivot to either side, I commented that it was like we were on the Amazing Race. Sort of.

Lesson learned about myself from that day: my particular brand of intelligence does not lend itself well to crossword puzzles. I know a lot of words, but once I've thought of an answer, it's tough for me to think of other possibilities. Also, I'm impatient, have a short attention span, and am not competitive enough with myself to really care whether I leave half the squares blank. I tried to waste away some of the travel hours by crossword puzzling, but I lasted maybe half an hour and went back to the knitting.

Anyway. The whole week has been lackluster and lethargic, which goes perfectly with (or might be caused by) the weather lately. Enough with the rain every day! There's been just enough rain each day to make the whole city, and particularly my house, feel musty and stuffy and just ick. Also enough rain, maddeningly timed for the end of the work day, to keep me from mowing the lawn, or weeding the garden, or planting the two potted peonies next to the porch (alliteration is my friend, oh yes it is). I think it's supposed to be precipitation-free tomorrow, when I've got a thousand things scheduled, and then not again until Wednesday.

On a more positive note, the Buttony sweater is coming along well. I'm quite a ways past the point where I connected the torso at the base of the armholes (it's a raglan, knit from top down), and about to where the waist shaping will transition from decreasing to increasing. So I have to knit the rest of the torso until it's long enough, then do the sleeves, for which I'll need to reacquaint myself with the magic loop technique.

Also: go read Maureen Dowd's latest column. I heart her. Which means that she wins (sorry, Will Shortz).