Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes, I had an extremely nifty day.
Ways is which my birthday was very good (an abbreviated list)
1. I had a really great lunch with Lene downtown, on a patio, in the sun, wearing a tank top and drinking Stella Artois. That alone was great, but then the very young and hot waiter hit on me. While ten years ago I would have thought he was a pig, there’s something about getting older that makes it less harassment and more absolutely charming and thanks so much. (It’s like how getting carded when you are very young is horrible, but now I think I would weep tears of joy.)
2. Joe bought me a new battery for the phone. My old phone held a battery charge for approximately 3.5 minutes, (assuming of course that I had the presence of mind to charge it for 8 hours prior to wishing to use this 3.5 minutes) I’m sure that anyone who has tried to have a 4 minutes conversation with my and been consigned to the abyss will appreciate this am much as I do.
Joe and the girls picked the most beautiful handmade glassware for me, and it was my lovely and charming husband who co-ordinated my day so that I knew only joy.
3. Ken wrote the best guest blog ever, and I feel extremely grateful that he’s put up with my insanity for 20 years. Grateful enough that I’m contemplating his next pair of socks. How could I not, after he knit me this?
We are ignoring (graciously) that there is only one. (We are openly mocking the pointy toe, mostly because it’s fixable and Ken mocked it first.)
4. Dinner was prepared by people other than me, and I did no dishes. It speaks volumes about my life that this filled me with a simple joy that I will not even attempt to convey. You have to live it.
5. Kelly, my very tidy sister-in-law who happens to live in Nova Scotia, gave me this (this is as good a close-up as I could manage, check out the perfect, regular curls of mohair.)
Fleece Artist “Curly Locks”. Kelly and her husband Ben would like to personally apologize for the blueness, but acknowledge that while the blog may tire of blue, for me…blue will never die.
Yes, that is the beginning of a shawl, and yes I did cast it on while Kelly was still here. No I did not consider the feelings of the boring cardie. I have donated four days of my life to the cardie,
(yeah…ok, fine. It was four days sort of on and off, and I was rather impolite to it yesterday) and it’s it’s own fault that it’s getting dumped, because it is boring. It reeks of monotony and no reasonable knitter could be expected not to dump it the minute a better yarn came along.
(Obviously I missed my calling as a marriage counsellor?)
6. Ken gave me this.
It’s Lion Brand “Van Gogh”. A bulky single, 100% wool. There’s about 240 yards. Any ideas?
7. I watched the french language debates. (Canada is about to have a federal election, and since we have two national languages, there are two debates, one english and one french. ) Is it just me or did Paul Martin say something crude about taxes? The moderate and lovely Canadians around me I’m sure will maintain that The Prime Minister said that he would “abaissez les impôts” (Lower taxes), but with my wool as my witness I will go to my grave believing that I heard him say that he would…well, let’s just say that the verb “baisser” in Quebecois french can be idiomatically used to mean…well “baisser” and “abaisser” are very different. If you must know, ask in the comments.
The very thought that the Prime Minister may have uttered this phrase in a National Debate is a birthday gift all by itself.
All in all, I am a lucky, grateful harlot. Today I’m going to enjoy the spoils of the day, knit a little on the new shawl, and cast filthy looks at the sulking boring cardie, and watch the english language debates. Tomorrow, (hoping that elves have finished knitting the cardie in the night) tomorrow I start something new and exciting.
Yarn Harlot
Glad your back! Even though Ken is awesome and we understand why he blogged for you, we missed you.
I’m happy you had a great birthday. If anyone deserves it, you do.
I think the bulky wool is crying out for a dyeing and fulling project. Maybe a bowl? A hat? A bunch of fey little fishies?
I’m glad your birthday went so well! 🙂
Ok, please fill in those of us whose foreign language skills consist of one dirty German limerick as to what the Prime Minister might have said!
How could I forget a Harlot’s Birthday? Someone must extend the birthday and say it one day late – alas, it must be me. Happy Birthday Harlot.
Let’s just say, if it were on the SATs, Baisser would be to screwdriver as Abaisser is to lowdriver. That’s still g rated, right?
Yes, that yarn looks likes it’s dying for some colour and the excitement of a novelty project. Such a range of lovely gifts you received! I agree that #4 is a real treat – the aftermath can overwhelm a meal lovingly prepared.
That poor boring cardi – bad karma going on there. i hope you can make up with it before it’s done or it will be painful to wear!
Lovely blue mohair loops! Yum. Glad you had such a wonderful day. Don’t let the boring cardi mock you.
the only thing worse then political debates is the cbc news.
glad you had a wonderful birthday!and congrats on getting hit on.NOW thats what I call a good birthday lol
Happy belated birthday….sounds like your day rocked! The dinner and dishes are the best. On my birthday one year, the hubby was on the shores of Cambridge Bay, and the satelitte phone was down so he couldn’t even phone me. My boys (15 and 13 at the time) made me spareribs, asparagus, and ceaser salad, and completly cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Then I had to have a long talk with them about how when women cry it isn’t always a bad thing.
Sounded like baisser to me too. Gotta love it.
Barb B.
Well Happy Birthday, Harlot. You are a must read for me but, yesterday I didn’t have a chance to comment.
I didn’t catch all of the debate but from the body language and the overall tone I believe the Right Honourable Mr. Paul Martin wanted to say, “Lowdriver you and the horse you rode in on.”–with a nod to a previous post–and I think that coloured his debating language.
Happy Birthday! Glad to hear it was a great one.
So, after that debate will your PM have to “pardon his french”… sorry… (not sorry enough not to post it, though)
Oh harlot! A “nice rack” from you hubby and a flirt from the young, hot waiter all in a week’s time… It is shaping up to be one hell of a year for you, my dear.
Well, hell, we all know what tank top you were wearing, and of COURSE you got hit on. Did he, perchance, say, “Nice rack”? If not, I’m sure he intimated it. Very cool, I’d say. Very cool.
So glad you enjoyed your birthday! I’m noticing that there are more than a few Gemini knitting fiends out there . . .
Oh! I missed reading yesterday and missed your birthday!
Very Happy Birthday to you! It’s nice when people go out of their way to make a birthday special. It sounds as though a lot of people helped make your day a special one.
Nice job on the blog Ken
Wishing you many more happy birthdays, Stephanie
liz 🙂
A tank top, drinking Stella on the patio? Canadian heaven, man!
I concur with dyeing that lovely yarn. I’d select a favorite impressionist painting (perhaps, one by Van Gogh?) and use it as inspiration for the colors.
With 240 yards of bulky wool, I’d make either a scarf (show off those lovely hand-dyed colors!) or a hat. Something to keep you toasty!
First, a belated Happy Birthday! Second, the newspapers concur that the PM uh, misspoke himself — but since probably almost nobody watching the French debate was going to vote for him (at least according to the Quebec polls) it probably didn’t matter, other than to provide us all with some harmless amusement. I missed the French debate (I was busy having far too much fun with my husband and my thesis adviser at a wonderful restaurant on College St.) but watched the English debate last night… which I think Duceppe “won”, since he didn’t give a damn about anything and knew he’d already won all the votes he needs.
Sorry, long and boring comment, I do apologise…
Except there’s the difference between “baiser”, which is what you’re thinking about, and “abaisser”, which means to lower. As in taxes.
Party Pooper, aren’t I? But then there was the moment when Gilles Duceppe said, wrt relations with the US, that you could be friends without getting down on your knees in front of them. Okay, I know what he *meant*, but it’s much more amusing to think about the other meanings that could be drawn out of that…
And further to what Aven said, Duceppe wins because he’s smart, has his arguments well thought out, can state them reasonably in both languages (did no one else cringe at Harper and Layton’s French?), and actually *believes* in something.