the on-call part-timer has today off

I don't always know when I will have time off (or when I will have time on, as the case may be) but today is free. Well, except for the daily diddly, and I want to get another thousand words in on the western,(the really sexy chapter. DH may have surprises waiting for him when he gets home.) but aside from that . . . I think I will plop my broad butt on the sofa with cats around me and finish that pink orphan sweater with green sleeves while I watch Xena and Dancing with the Stars.

And I need to go shopping for yarn! I have a request for alpaca mittens in purple (oh, twist my arm!) I really enjoy Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in Sellwood because they have a cafe right there. Yarn Garden has a ginormous selection, but I usually suffer sensory overload before I find what I want. Luckily, there are sixteen other yarn stores in the metro area, so I have my work cut out for me.

We are expecting rain today. I will have to go sit on the porch and sniff the air when it starts. One of the joys of the smell of the first rain after a dry spell is its evanescence. If it were bottled in a room freshner, it would soon loose much of its charm. But that first scent of fresh . . ahhh!

I was raised in a stinking desert, and thunderstorms counted as major entertainment! Light, sound, smells, you could even taste it if you wanted to. The glorious feel of the air suddenly cooling, the steamy feel when the sun came back out and the humidity spiked . . . I can hardly wait for the rain. (Remind me of that in April when I start moaning about how sick I am of the stinking rain.)