I’ve got another FO to show you–my Koigu socks, in that gorgeous colorway of golds, purples, and blues. They go just wonderfully with my Olympic sweater, don’t you think? All the accent colors are in there, and there’s even a touch of green in the socks (just the tiniest touch, but it’s there). (Here’s a better look at the colors.) They fit wonderfully, and I’m quite happy with them.

I haven’t actually gotten much of anything else done today. Reading. That’s mostly it. Kind of asthma-ish today (yes, Norma, I DID take some Elderberry syrup and I repeat, “ick”), and so I didn’t really feel like cleaning, like I really should have done, but I did do my laundry, did finish a book, and got some knitting done.

I’m getting close to the end of my Lotus Blossom Shawl, too. I’m midway through the third set of “blossoms,” and have about 12 rows to go, and am hoping to have this done by the end of the week. (Twelve rows, but at about 300 stitches each, it takes me about 20 minutes to get through each row, so . . . still a few days.) It looks great, though, and I’m still completely in love with the colorway (”Bronze”).

I do get good citizen points, though. I took some time out of my night to do my taxes. Yes, I know, I still do them the old-fashioned way–paper, pencil, calculator. I really don’t want to buy a copy of TurboTax, so . . . paper’s the only way to go. Chappy found the whole thing a bit boring.

Overall, though, as it comes to an end, I’d say this was a good weekend. Mom and I watched an oldish movie last night–Joe Versus the Volcano. Anyone remember that, from about 1990? Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in an odd little sort-of fairy tale. Tom Hanks plays Joe, a man in a dismal, dead-end job, who’s told he has 6 months to live–and then a billionaire offers him a first-class trip to this tiny little Polynesian island to jump into a volcano. Meg Ryan actually plays three different characters throughout the movie, and it’s just sort of whimsical and off-beat, and yet sweet. (And, Nathan Lane’s one of the men behind Polynesian makeup–I’d recognize that voice anywhere! Back before he revived his career by voicing Timon in Lion King.) It’s not a great movie, but it’s oddly appealing.

Now, I’m watching the Olympics Closing Ceremony right now. As always, I’ve enjoyed watching the Games, even if the US coverage is pretty pathetic–everything runs long and keeps me up late; and they only show about five atheletes of most sports–the US members, and the medalists, and some long-shot or other. Fine. Whatever. It’s still the Olympics. I was reading some article the other day that talked about how the ratings have gone down (gee, I wonder why, see above), and who really cares about speed skating or downhill skiing anyway? But see? That’s part of the point. It’s nice to see something other than football/hockey/baseball/basketball. It’s nice to see atheletes competing for themselves, not just ridiculously high corporate salaries. And, every four years, why NOT be interested in moguls or bobsledding? Why NOT give these atheletes our attention, even though they’re not wearing corporate logos and being paid mega-bucks to do what they do? Because, really, in this materialistic age, that’s inspiring. They pay huge amounts of money for years of training, with no guarantee of anything but a dream at the end. Only a handful of them will ever will Olympic medals, but they’ve all spent years living the dream. Darn it, I’d rather watch someone committed enough to spend that kind of money than one being paid to play. (And, we just won’t discuss Bode Miller.)

Has anyone else noticed, by the way, how very attractive so many of the athletes are? For sports like figure skating where there’s an artistic . . . excuse me, presentation . . . element, I could see how there could be a skew toward better-looking competitors, but speed skating? All three of the 5000m speed skating medalists were darn good looking. So are a disproportionate number of the skiers and snowboarders. How’s that happen? Fast and attractive? Not a bad thing!

And, let’s not forget OUR favorite sport. The Knitting Olympics, which also conclude today. (Adorable graphic comes, of course, from Franklin.) Thank you, Stephanie, for having the brilliance to think this up! It was great fun–I hope you’ve medalled, and are just too tired to blog about it yet!

Added: I’m just chuckling at Bob Costas–he mentioned Joey Cheek, who is donating the $40K he won for medalling to charity, and is headed for college, a little disappointed that he didn’t get into Harvard, even though he got into a number of really good schools. Costas looked right at the camera, and said something to the effect of “I’m talking to YOU, Dean of Admissions (name) of Harvard University. Would it really hurt to take another look at Joey Cheek’s application? I’m just sayin’.” I don’t know, if his grades are even remotely good enough, he seems like a person I’d want at MY university!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Endings //