Tag: Venezuela

Happy Houston Astros Day

Today, as declared by our mayor for the city and our governor for the state, Houston Astros Day in Houston and in the entire State of Texas.  Cool.  Good job, Astros.  We’re proud of you guys.  We went to the parade and saw glimpses of the guys up on a fire truck or bus.  We’ll have to watch it all again, but on a screen, and actually see how things looked.  We knew we’d see likely little today, but we went more for the environment and togetherness and coolness of the event.  I heard my name called from a tree above me at one point, and I was invited into the trees by a student from a school where I once worked here.  And that was totally normal behavior for today. 

Oh, and we were on the news, and we didn’t even try to be.  If I had been all smiley, I likely would have been interviewed, too.  It was too hot, and the wait between the parade and the ceremony was too long, for me to be smiley naturally, especially with a drunk guy shouting and smoking right next to me.  It was a good day, nonetheless.  The ladies standing behind us filled us in on all the details of everything relating to the Astros, and one of them gave me an idea to help me with the bracelets I make (totally unrelated to Astros, but relevant for the two bracelets I wore today, and the others I’ve made and make).  I ate with some nice Venezuelans after all the parade stuff, and learned about the stars on their flag, and that tú is more common than usted, and that it is reversed in Colombia.  I shared my table with three young people around my age.  And I actually stood up to get their attention and to offer them the sharing of the space.  They were grateful, and I was happy to have helped.  We didn’t chat quite like the Venezuelans, who had previously occupied their seats, and I did, but that was okay.  They were still nice, and my mom finally showed up soon after they sat down, and I interacted with her mostly, then.  Yeah, it was a unique and good day.  After such a lame situation with our public transit as today was, Houston will take seriously the benefits of it, and make ours real, instead of minuscule and only occasionally somewhat helpful.

I went straight to bed when we got home around 6:30, and slept for about three hours.  Now I need to shower and go to bed for real, for the night.

I passed this car, when I was walking to the bathroom and restaurant/store where my mom and I ate after the parade festivities.  The chalk was just sitting in a chalk box in the hood of the car.  These guys decorated a bit quickly, and then ran back to their car on the street (traffic was incredibly slow).  More people were walking up to the car as they left, and those people then began adding their own decorations to the car, using the provided chalk.  This was so Houston.


My new goal is to befriend someone on the team.  Think it’ll happen anytime soon?  😛

Post-a-day 2017

Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarves…?

I like to knit.  Crocheting is nice, too, but I tend to knit much more often.  I think I prefer the patterning of knitting to that of crocheting.  Crocheting to me is like hipster headbands, baby blankets, and huge afghans.  Whereas knitting is more anything clothing, and even various accessories, too (think bags and such).  So, while I do both, I tend to knit more than crochet.

That being said, the thing I knit the most is scarves.  Why?  Because they are simple and rather quick, and it is utterly satisfying to have something materialize before my eyes so quickly, and with what feels like such little (and typically meditative) effort.  It’s always a sort of medicine for me, I think, making scarves.  I often just make them, simply because I’ve come across a yarn that I particularly like and can see being a fabulous scarf.  I find someone to whom I can give it eventually, usually… sometimes, anyway.

I do tend to make a lot of scarves as gifts in this manner, though.  Sometimes I actually go to the store when there’s a sale, and I bring a list of people for whom I want to make scarves this year, and I pick out yarns for each of their scarves.  I almost always get a few extras for unexpected add-ons to the list later on.

I had done just this recently, and was doing some volunteering for the International Weightlifting Federation’s World Championship, when several of the weightlifters and coaches saw my scarf-making.  They would pass by me on their way to a meal, and comment on the fact that I was knitting at my station.  (My response to the inquiries were that I was simply working on Christmas presents.  Which I was.)  When they were later leaving from their meal, they would be shocked and would comment on the great progress I had made in the scarf – it typically took me a single shift to make a full scarf (if that long).  And, eventually, some of these people either asked or hinted (and I, of course, offered) for me to make a scarf for them.

So, that week sent my scarves around the world to France, either Guatemala or Ecuador (I honestly don’t remember which – I just remember that they team had lots of yellow on their warm-ups, I always spoke to the girl in Spanish, and they were from somewhere down south of Texas), and Italy.  Now, I have scarves currently residing in Japan from this year’s Christmas presents, and future Canadian, Jamaican, and Australian residents.

For whatever reason, this incredibly excites me.  Not only do I travel the world in little bits, but so does my art!  😀

Who knew scarves could travel so far and wide?

 

Post-a-day 2017