Coming Around the Bend....

...and the Finish Line's in sight! I am currently in a state of Happy Anticipation, as I look forward to completing certain projects:

1. NaNoWriMo. The finish line is in sight - the deadline is midnight on Sunday, November 30. By that time I must have finished my novel, containing 50,000 words (or more). I'm thinking there may be a few more, because a) I have a HUGE honkin' bag o' words; b) the section I just finished contains 45,000 words (I'll wait for the applause to die down) and c) where the story is right now, the girl is just heading out for the castle where she will have to perform some magical acts with the help of her supernatural helpers, resulting in (as I see it now) the place where she throws her hand-knit shroud (what do you think, cables?) over the wicked witch, who will immediately die in a great, shrieking, howling and dramatic way (no, smartypants out there, she can't scream "I'm shrinking, I'm shrinking" because I think Margaret Hamilton got the permanent rights on that one). Maybe she's allergic to wool and itches herself to death? But I'm not sure, and I think I have more than 5,000 words' worth of stuff to get to that point.

Incidentally (I haven't used that for a long time, Lovely Daughter, live with it) I did entertain a brief thought where all the little girls in the village go up to the castle, each claiming to be the true Princess to heroically save their little friend -- but see, I had this scrawny little man dressed in rags standing up in the back of my mind and shouting " I am Spartacus!" No, she's going alone.
Well - the priest (yes, he's back and it's fine), the sheep and the cat go with her. They have to, they're the "magical helpers".

I've said straight up all long, we're going for QUANTITY, absolutely not quality.

2. The Dr. Who scarf is nearly, almost, very close to finished too! It has all the ends woven in and one end is entirely fringed!! So all that remains is the fringe on the other end. I like it, I'm proud of it, and I'll be glad to get it finished because a) I feel as though it's been my Sisyphus' Rock; b) I'm ready to work on something else (dare I say it? I already have another toque on the needles!); and c) it won't be a fashion statement any more, it'll be a lifesaving necessity for the recipient. I have no pictures at this point (with the fringe) but I aim to get a portrait with the fellow wearing it.

3. I'm nearly ready for our Thanksgiving meal - well, I still have to put away the two ...erhm... three ...that is to say five knitting baskets away, ( hey, they're part of the Decor ! ) and move all the rest of the extraneous stuff in the living room to make room for The Table. (See November 24, 2007 for the Annual Routine.) Mr Dearling is In Charge; all I have to do tomorrow is make the corn pudding and then set the table and so on. I *think* all three of my progeny will be under my roof together which, if it actually does happen, will make me very thankful indeed.

And the other thing I'm anticipating is that this is the beginning of THE HOLIDAY SEASON. Now, how do you know that, Dale-Harriet? Oh, I dunno - my first clue was the Christmas ads on the teevee!!

Now, the truth is, I really like some of them. I like the little Hershey Kisses that ring themselves like handbells. I'm a terrible sucker for the Heartfelt, Sensitive, Tender, Moving commercials you get from Hallmark. Oh heck - remember that one a few years ago with the Russian-Soldier-lookin' dude watching the people walk what absolutely looked like "out of East Germany and into West Germany" for the holidays? A little kid drops his teddy bear and the soldier picks it up, hurries after him and then kneels down and hands it to him. I'm telling you, I cried my eyes out every time I saw that one. What was it for? Oh heck, I have no idea. NOt a clue. Helluva commercial.

But it's almost time for Lovely Daughter and me to go hunting for the annual Little Italian Guy for Mr Dearling's nativity scene, and for me to find a really beautiful new Heart ornament for him, too. Oh, and the star - I always send a star ornament to my granddaughter's other grandma; I've done that since her birth, in honor of "the little star we both share".

But it's almost 3:00 AM (looking back, I see many of my posts are written in the deeps of the night) and I think I might try to get the girl to the castle, at least, before I go to bed.

I'm going to end with a new Pet Peeve, though, probably because even though I'm a Night Owl, I'm a little cranky. And this is about commercials too. There is a word I don't like. I mean, it's a perfectly good word, superior to other names for the same bodily product, but this has bothered me for some time. I do not like the word "MUCUS". It just sounds like what it is: slimy, yucchy, ishy. (My children NEVER had runny noses - although they may be neurotic today from my perpetually running after them with a fistful of tissues when they were little.)

So WHEN, I ask you, Mr Madison Avenue, did it become a good idea to make commercials with big, green, soft, squooshy-looking Mucus PEOPLE?? As if that's not enough to nauseate me completely (which it is) now Mr and Mrs Mucus have CHILDREN! And that, ladies and gennulmen, gives me a mental image that I DO. NOT. WANT.

And the latest: we're shown a few pair of hands "text-messaging" -- and there are...(if you haven't seen it yet, you may not believe this) heads - human heads - on the thumbs. And guess what, the thumb-heads are conversing. Re-read that, I'll wait.

OK, I'm going to listen to Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention in my earbuds now, and try to get those images out of my mind. And then go to bed. G'night.

Alert! Alert! Just was reminded by Mr Dearling, that in FACT, the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz" says, "I'm MELTING, I'm MELTING!" Although I do not doubt what he says ever, on account of his being right 99.44% of the time, I checked it out (we loves us some innerwebs) and as I thought, HE IS RIGHT.

Therefore - my evil sorceress may INDEED make some howlings along the lines of shrinking (who knows, if she's also 4'11" tall, then shrinking is too awful to contemplate).

That guy in the back of my head, though? He IS yelling "I am Spartacus!"

Thank you, Mr Dearling, you've made me an honest woman......again!

Onward and....

"Forward!"

This is the statue depicting the motto of the State of Wisconsin. She has a twin standing outside the Capitol. They bear some resemblance to the figure named "Wisconsin" who stands, enrobed in gold, at the pinnacle of the dome of the Capitol. (It is said that she's pointing toward Washingon D.C.; if that were true, she'd have lowered her arm and frowned eight years ago.)

"Forward" is also my motto for today, because tomorrow morning I'm leaving for my Fall Retreat of writers in Racine. I guess this fits the "Books" part of my title. I've made a list (and not lost it yet!!) of things to pack. The clothes will be easy, just which of my 18 identical dresses to take, and which jammies. The knitting -- well, you know, I'm not yet 100% firm on whether or not to take any. This is a literary, wrie-y, book-y sort of thing....but I'll see. I imagine if nothing else I'll take a ball of red and some DPNs and cast on the first newly-commissioned toque -- if I have NO knitting with me I feel like I'm missing my underlinens.

We're to take "something for the snack table". That sounds promising, although someone mentioned the meals provided being a bit plain , which is in keeping with the fact that it's a convent site. Not sure what I'll take along for that - SOMETHING, or I won't feel right trying some of the Double-Rich-Extra-Chocolately Brownies they keep talking about.

Daisy! Of course I'll take Daisy, because I can imagine somewhere along the line my Muse will grab me by the ankles and shoulder and drag me off to write something, even if only in the deep hours of the night. I can almost taste the anticipation of Inspiration, and I'm not a-going to fight it, I can tell you.

Cats? No, although I'm sure each kitty will spend some time lying in the suitcase (admit it, yours do that too) I don't think they'd be welcome. PICTURES of cats? Gee, well - if I had any maybe I'd take one. {{koff koff}}

No, the biggest thing I'm concerned about taking is......Stuff I've Written. I'm going to take Ygraine (remember? she's my flash-drive thingie?) and also print out copies of as many of my stories as I can. One of my dear colleagues in my Writing Group (thanks, Stephanie!) gave me a link to proper format. I don't know as my stories will do anything other than hunker down in a corner of the laptop bag trying to look like kleenex, but you never know. I hear there are going to be people there who are actually attached to PUBLISHERS, and I think I've also heard that sometimes people get connected, and are a little closer to seeing their stories in print. Excuse me while I go lay down and hyperventilate for a moment.....

OK, I'm better. There is also a deal, I think Saturday night, where some editor types collect from the participants a "first page"; these are then read aloud and commented on. It can be the first page of ANYTHING you've written, and of course they don't get to everyone's, and they're anonymous. Am I brave enough to risk that? No idea.......but I may prepare First Pages of a couple of my things, just in case.

No idea of the Nunnery has wifi (what a concept!) but I can make blognotes while I'm there, at least, and will report back when I get home.

Also, you may have noticed, here and there, that there's apparently a Presidential Election coming up soon. Yeah, really! And to that end, we had a visit Tuesday from John Kerry who shoulda won himself a while back who was going to be speaking on behalf of Obama. Because the crowd began gathering at the Capitol early, before I left the Museum, I got a couple of pictures. Frankly, I can't imagine a more inspiring place for a political speech. We didn't stay for the Rally* but everyone looked very enthusiastic about it:

There was a band playing while people gathered in a very anticipatory mood. It was very accommodating weather for the event, cool and cloudy. It's a fairly short walk from campus, so I imagine before the actual speechifying began the crowd swelled ; I didn't watch the coverage on the news, but I know how these things tend to go.

If you click on this one, you can see "Forward's" twin sister at the heart of the throng. I'd have sworn I saw a "Capitol Statues for Obama" button on her chiton. But this does show a little corner of the mood among Madisonians, for the most part - peace signs, &c. I'm sure I've mentioned before, Madison prides itself on being described as "77 Miles Surrounded by Reality". We atribute the Free Thinking atmosphere as resulting from the combination of main University and State Capital.

I think it's an exciting place to be, though, and I suppose one reason I like it so much is that I'm in agreement with the general population around here. It's a place an Aging Hippie can call home and be comfortable. (See above. Nope, don't know him.)

DISCLAIMER: we have our share of folks whose belief systems are like the Opposition, no matter which side you're on, of course. The teacher of my museum group yesterday wrote on his comment sheet that I had used "slang expressions" which they're trying to avoid: I referred to Candidate Obama as a "black man" (apparently they use only "African American" in their school) and I also mentioned that some of our red brethren prefer the term "Indian" to "Native American". I haven't had such comments before, but there are Perpetually Outraged no matter where you go. (My boss wasn't ruffled in the least....we know 'em when we sees 'em.)

And having said all that, however, I can also report that I am in the Final Stretch of the Dr. Who scarf!! (I will pause until the roar of enthusastic applause dies out.) I don't know as I'll finish it completely today - there are a couple big thick bands at the end, but the end IS in sight. I've been diligent about working on it while taking teevee breaks - and my Knitting Coach has been uncommon attentive:

You're slowing down - KNIT KNIT KNIT!!

I suppose it's not too soon to begin trying to decide where or not to actually add the (sometimes optional) 7" fringe to each end. Any thoughts on the subject? I may leave it off just because it stands a pretty good chance of, you know, *dragging*, and it could get wonky pretty easily. I'll watch my tapes of Tom Baker to see how he handles it - and maybe I'll swallow my
abject mindless pointless terror nervousness and see what the folks on Ravelry have to say about it.

* My mind is made up, and while I'm still reading stuff, I'm finished with speeches, debates, teevee commentary, &c. I can't imagine anything anyone could say that would sway me at this point - unless Barak announced that Knitting would be Illegal and ALL books should be burned. No worries, mate.