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Today, we did our grocery shopping for the week, and had lunch at Culver’s while we were out.  After dinner we went for a walk on campus.  Tonight, we decided to walk on west campus and visit the Pioneer Cemetery.

There is an obelisk near the center of the cemetery commemorating Thomas W. Barber, the only casualty of the Wakarusa War.

The stones on the ground are the poem “Burial of Barber“, by John Wittier.  There is also an obelisk to commemorate the unknown dead Union soldiers of the Civil War.

Your history lesson for the day.  Oh, and I lost 1.6 pounds since my last weigh in.

Today we took it easy.  We slept in, then had lunch at India Palace.  After a lazy afternoon of catching up on the blogging and news, we determined we would have to go out for dinner because chili was the only thing we had the ingredients to make, and it just didn’t sound good in 95 degree weather.  So, we went to Encore.  Afterwards, we had ice cream from Silas and Maddy’s, then went for a walk on campus.  Our picture of the day is another interesting feature on campus: the bronze sculpture titled “The Pioneer”, by Frederick C. Hibbard, ca 1904.  It was the first sculpture on campus.  You can read more about it here.

The Pioneer

On our evening walks we have started taking pictures of some of the neat features and markers around campus.  Most of you will remember we got married in Danforth Chapel.  On the side of the building, I never noticed that it has the University Seal:

University seal on the side of Danforth Chapel

Today was busy.  First, we took Hannah shoe shopping because she doesn’t have a single pair of shoes that don’t cause blisters on her feet from being either (a) made of crappy plastic or (b) the incorrect size.  She now has properly fitting sneakers and slip ons.  This week.  Her sneakers are women’s size 6!  Let me remind you the child is 8 years old.  Brae is no better, though.  He wears men’s size 12, which is bigger than I wear!  While we were shopping for Hannah’s shoes, Kris also shopped for new work shirts.  After lunch, we went to the public Library to turn in Kaity’s and Hannah’s summer reading program fliers.  For completing the summer reading program, they received coupons from several local area businesses as well as a free t-shirt (Kaity) and a free book (Hannah), and Hannah got her name on “the wall”.

Hannah's name is on there somewhere, now

After dinner, we took our evening walk on campus.  To cool off afterwards, we took the girls to Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers (where Sheridan’s used to be) to use their coupon (the one they got from their Summer Reading Program) for free frozen custards.

This morning we got up and went to the Farmer’s Market.  We ran into several friends while there.

After Kaity got home from her friend’s house, we had lunch at Ingredient and did some shopping at the Merc.  A storm rolled in as we got home, so we watched “Up In the Air.”  The storm dropped the temperature 15F, outside.  We took advantage of the mid 70′s temperatures and went for a very pleasant walk on campus.

I experienced a moment of perfect contentment this weekend, sitting on a storm drain at the farmer’s market Saturday morning, watching people walk by and listening to a local band.

Note the babies on the backs of the musicians.  Totally Lawrence.

Brandon and Kaity took me to lunch Saturday, and we just happened to be downtown shortly after the Art Tougeau parade ended, and the entrants just happened to be parked in front of one of our favorite lunch spots, India Palace. I also had my camera on me, one of the reasons I bought a smaller camera in the first place.  Here are a few of the participants:

Rainbow car

Kaity calls this the "Mordor car"

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Dragon Wagon

This one was designed by a high school senior in Baldwin, a town just south of here, as part of community senior project.

Bottle cap car - now with working propeller

This one has been in the parade before, but it has a few new accessories this year.  It’s a real distraction driving down the street, with that propeller spinning in the breeze.

And not all entrants were of the four-wheeled variety.  Kaity’s friend, Ian, used the dragon his mom designed for the school production of The Hobbit, and transformed his tricycle.

Ian and his dragon-cycle - note the snazzy riding outfit

Dragon-cycle

That’s what I love about downtown, there’s always something going on, and you never know what it might be.

What’s the old saying? March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb?  Looks like Mother Nature got it backwards this year.

Freezing Rain

Since yesterday, we’ve had temps in the low 30s, and rain that turned to sleet overnight.  West of us, they’ve had lots of snow, and the governor has declared a state of emergency in 62 counties.

Ice Storm

So much for Spring. Looks like a good day to stay inside and knit.

I’ve started working on a new pair of socks.  I spent part of my Christmas gift certificate to the LYS on some pretty Crystal Palace Mini Mochi Yarn in the Violet Rainbows colorway (thanks, Poppy & Callista!).

Mini Mochi Sock Yarn

I waffled for days, trying to find the right pattern for this yarn.  It’s not self-striping, but has bands of color that blend into each other seamlessly, and I wanted a pattern that would do the yarn justice.  After digging through Ravelry to see what other knitters had done with this yarn, I settled on Cookie A’s Monkey Socks pattern, partly because the examples I’ve seen look great with this yarn, and partly because I’m an anthropologist and like the name.

I started the first sock on a Size 1 magic loop needle.  After three repeats, I tried it on, and could barely get it over my heel.  Not good.

Too tight

My size 1 needles are 2.25 mm in diameter. Checking the pattern specs, the designer recommends US 2, 2.5 mm needles, which I didn’t have.  All of my sock needles are either size 0 or 1.  So I made another trip to the LYS to pick up the right size needle.  I decided to splurge on an Addi Turbo, and picked up a size 2, casting on again from the second ball that evening.  After two repeats, I tried it on.

Too Loose

Sigh.  Turns out that Addi (a German company), sells 3.0 mm needles as US size 2, while the pattern says a US 2 is 2.5 mm. No wonder they were too loose.  I remeasured my other needles, hoping that I might have one that was 2.5 mm.  I discovered that my very first magic loop needle, a gift from a swap partner in England, is the right size (even though it’s listed as a US 1). I ripped out both socks, and cast on again last evening while watching Season 5 of Buffy.

Lesson learned: Ignore the US size numbers, which lie, especially at the smallest needle sizes, and go by the diameter measurements.

We stopped downtown today to spend a little time at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  It looked like most the the town had taken off work for the event; parking was a nightmare, and there were thousands of people lining Mass Street.  Before the parade started, the reviewing stand was serenaded by a fiddle quartet:

Good music

Everyone was decked out in their best “Irish” garb.

How many green fro wigs do you see?

His shirt says "Irish Craic Addict." Craic - "fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; often in the context of drinking or music" - Oxford English Dictionary

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