Walk of Shame

Housewives Tarot

No, not that kind of walk of shame - not only am I married, I'm too old for that now: I would take pride in it rather than shame.

I was at the dentist today, having slinked out of an appointment on Friday 13th (are they KIDDING me ?!) You'll recall my morbid irrational fear. Today I was there for a filling, which involved a needle for anaesthetic being put into my pre-numbed back of my mouth. I cried. Silently, of course, since after all, I am an adult. 

During my stay, tears continued to leak out in spite of my best efforts, the dentist's words of advice on how to calm down, and the death-grip I had on the dental assistant's hand - a very talented person who could handle all kinds of tasks with her remaining hand, as we found out.

I have to go back next week for either a triple trip for a root canal, or one single trip for an extraction. I have opted for an extraction - fortunately the affected tooth is in a place that will not leave me looking like I'm some kind of Appalachian hillbilly.
 

As I drooped and drooled home (the anaesthetic took 4 hours instead of 2 to wear off) I pondered my father, Belo, who regularly falls asleep during root canals and other dental nastiness.

I considered Titch, whose arm had to swell almost to bursting point with pus-filled yuck before he would consent to A&E.

I considered my Good Twin, whose pain threshold meant she thought a burst appendix was a particularly feisty bout of trapped wind. On the other hand, she thought her gall bladder packing up was agony, so please all my gods don't let that happen to me.

I considered my friend Dianne, among whose symptoms of Behcets is sweating blood. Literally.

And I considered my sister, Auntie Fashion, who has been in Addenbrooke's for just about 2 weeks so far while they work out what they can do about the PML without poking the Behcets back into action.

And I was ashamed.

Xmas in the Garden of Good And Evil

Spiral Tarot

Yes, I have made it through to the other side of the first half of the festive season - and in one piece. More importantly, so have my nearest and dearest. Mini Diva and Destructo Boy have been totally, thoroughly and overwhelmingly spoiled rotten by their Uncles and Aunties - to whom I offer my heartfelt gratitude; I was very touched by their generosity.

And my Twins have sent me lovely creative things wot they have made speshully for me - Alison sent me a Lenormand Eclectique, which not only makes me right on trend in the tarot world, but it is a collaborative deck in which she was responsible for the design of card 12, Birds:

I had to laugh when I looked up the meaning online and found it means '' verbal communication, phone calls, negotiations, twins, siblings, hectic times, an older couple. The Lenormand Birds are about conversation and chatter. Think of how birds are always chattering and you’ll get a good idea of what this card means. It’s about a lot of conversations, speeches, meetings, interviews, gatherings, high energy, and hecticness while flitting to and from thing to thing, place to place.'' (with thanks to this site) as this is so totally appropriate for both Alison the Good Twin and Ania my Eviller Twin. Really, you needed to ask if I was the quiet one ?

And the lovely gift from Ania my Eviller Twin contains a vein of evil in it that made me snigger: look carefully at the detail of the fabric of this beautiful crochet hook roll that she made for me:

Do you see the cat amongst the pigeons ? This is in the way of another layer on a very longstanding joke on my screen-name ...

And as you can see she has left me lots of space to add to my collection of hooks: oh what a tragedy. 

I would just like to point out, as it is rarer than rocking horse poo for me to have the moral high ground, and for the purpose of being so amazingly pious and holier-than-them, that I am the only Twin who made is through Xmas without a hangover ...

The Kindness of Strangers

This colorful 6 of Pentacles from the Tarot of Trees is to exemplify the kindness of strangers. I have been very fortunate to receive some lovely things this year - sometimes simply for the asking, and at other times, wished for but unasked - from people I have never met except online.

Quite some while back my Alabama friend Sara of Lazy Knits & Purls was having a clear out and, amongst other things, was getting rid of some Brittany knitting needles; tongue-in-cheek, I suggested that I was a worthy beneficiary.  Lo ! what showed up in my mail a couple of weeks later:

At around the same time, my Fen friend Susie from Useless Beauty was itching to jettison some Malabrigo Lace in a lovely colorway, . She didn't like the feel of it: I know ! Not in her right mind, obviously. D'you think I took advantage ? Why, yes, yes I did - I nominated myself as being is dire need of it, and Lookee ! what my postman delivered a bare few days later:

One skein of which was sent much later to my friend monkey Mimi so as to share the love, and the other I transformed into the Waves of Leaves shawl (blogged about here, here and here):

My Good Twin, Alison of Hestia's Larder, sent me - apropos of nothing - a deck I'd been quite keen on for a while, the Fenestra:

 My Evil Twin, Ania of AniaM, sent me a bunch of ebooks, mainly crime - murder mysteries. I wonder what she's trying to tell me ? By the way, I have actually met my Twins in real life.

And just this week, mi amiga Janine of Where the Nodding Violets Grow not only emailed me with a lovely comment about my last post, but said she'd found one more ball of the Sirdar Sirocco she'd gifted me, and would I like it ?

Also this week, I was surfing my Ravelry friends' activities, and noticed that m'amie Steph had posted pictures of her completed Karise shawl. Why yes, it is green (again) - why do you ask ? Since her alter-ego's name must be Kermit ....

I asked her if she might lend the pattern to me, and - Whallah ! - there it was, gifted to me and sitting in my Ravelry library ! 'Course, that means that now I really do have to knit it.

So take that Bainbridge Scholars Mister Kitten, for all those posts where your thrift shop finds made me weep and wail.