Let the good times roll

Today is the last day before lent. Today is shrove Tuesday - pancake Tuesday - fat Tuesday or, as the French say, Mardi Gras. During Lent, it used to be mandatory for all good Catholics to refrain from meat, fats, sweets and wine for fourty days, (not counting Sundays which are feast days.) So on Shrove Tuesday, the thrifty medieval housekeeper cooked foods to use up all the cooking fats which otherwise would go rancid over the next seven weeks. It was a day of some luxury and revelry before the long drab days of Lent. And it has gone on from there. Wouldn't it be interesting to mandate 40 days of abstinence for all those who are indulging in excesses today as a spiritual balancing for them?

Here is the hat I knit mostly during "Ghost Rider" It wasn't quite long enough, so I picked up around the bottom and added a slightly contrasting cuff. Not entirely successful, but interesting. And very very warm. It goes into the NW Medical Teams basket.

DH wants to know if we can get tax credit for all the knitting I'm donating to charity. Anyone have any input on that? How do we figure dollar ammount on a hat or blanket or sweater that might save someone's life?

Here are eyes for future farceeing hats. Two sets of bobcat eyes, and two sets of fish eyes. Wayyyy cool! An artist friend of Mr. Tim has already paid me to make her a hat. But, very wisely, she said, "I know about learning curves. I want the third hat you make." I Really enjoyed meeting her and look forward to furthering our acquaintence.

This morning I have been in hand-to-hand combat with the computer again. I recorded 90 minutes of textbook onto my assigned MP3 player, and then tried to download it to the computer so the student could then upload it form the class website. My computer did something bad, refused to process, and disappeared the folder for the recording. I can still hear it when I turn on the player, but I can't FIND the sucker! ARRRRRRGH! Computers are Genies with capricious juju. They are fickle servants and deceitful friends who lead you astray more often than not, and exist only to suck all the free time and joy out of your life. And we can't live without them anymore!! (I know women with husbands like that. Thank GOD I dodged that bullet!!) So I will take the MP3 player in to work and offer it up to the high priests of the IT department and see if they can effect a healing on it. Or, I may have to re-read an hour and a half of "Social Problems - Crime and Justice" (Their premise is that the justice system is biased against poor and minorities. From my perspective, it looks biased in favor of the rich and powerful. DUH! What's the point of being rich and powerful if you can't bend justice to your convenience?)