Thankful For Afterthoughts

I awoke this morning with places to go and people to see.  I don't normally have plans.  At least not those that are outside the usual sort of routine.  I need consistency.  Otherwise, I get all confused and heaven only knows where I'll end up.  

Today, though, was Family Lunch Day.  This monthly event, normally observed at a local eatery by the retired folks on the maternal end of The Sheep Family, is open to all with the appropriate lineage.  Since I am currently on vacation and have papers to prove my bloodline, I was invited along.  This is, in effect, a free lunch for those of us with accommodating Mommy Sheep so I wasn't going to miss it.  I usually try to make it when school isn't in session.

Getting out the door for my lunch with those of similar DNA was not quite as easy as I'd thought it might be, though.  It seems that Prometheus The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty was feeling needy today.  He dogged my every step, if you'll excuse the sort of mixed metaphor.  There were moments where I would have accidentally kicked him across the room were he not so solid a beast.  I suppose there is really no excuse for my not knowing he was there.  He was singing and trilling merrily away most of the morning and that should have alerted me.  

When it became clear that Mommy #1 was busy and he grew bored with the automated kitty toy, he turned his gi-normous head to Mommy #2.  The Big, Fluffy Kitty has no real interest in mothering this interloper.  None whatsoever.  He tried his best, though.  He rolled about on the floor in front of her, working ever closer like some sort of Absurdly Gi-normous Inchworm.  He put on his cutest face.  When this failed to get the desired response, he waited until she was occupied with the washing of her tummy and crept up behind her, tentatively reaching out a paw to touch her head.  He chickened out three times before she noticed and scowled him into submission.

With no other options open to him, he decided that the direct approach was best and began actively stalking her.  This was the worst possible choice he could have made and soon led to hissing, growling and the raising of paws in warning.  

He returned his gi-normous attentions to Mommy #1.  I honestly didn't think I was going to make it out the door.  With minutes to spare, I finally resorted to the Fake Out.  This maneuver entails pretending to go to the living room, perhaps even stating that this is your intended destination, then quickly changing directions, grabbing the purse and throwing yourself bodily out the door before a large orange mass can hurtle himself at you.

Is it any wonder I ate my own weight in chicken, bacon, buns and fries at lunch?  No it is not.  Not at all.

By the time I got home, the thunderstorm warnings were back up, the AGK was beyond all hope of reason due to his having been left unattended for a few hours and I was a little woozy from all the chicken.  I took a nap.

This, not surprisingly, left little in the way of time for fibery pursuits.  What can I say?  That's just how it goes sometimes.

Fortunately, there were a couple of things I probably could have covered in a bit more thorough fashion yesterday while I was flinging bullet posts about with wild abandon.  I can use today to remedy that and the fiber will be covered.  First up, though, let's talk sorbet.

There were a couple of requests for pictures and procedures so, in spite of the fact that I was stuffed to the gills after lunch, I bit the bullet and served myself up some frozen goodness just for the photo op:

It was tough...but I powered through.

I looked at several recipes before deciding on the one I used.  As it turned out, though, I did not have enough raspberries for the recipe as written:

2 C water

1 1/3 C sugar

4 1/2 C raspberries

2-3 tsp. lemon juice

Combine water and sugar and bring to a boil then lower heat and let simmer for 6-8 minutes. Chill for 3 hours. Puree raspberries and lemon juice then strain. (You will have to push through a strainer) Discard seeds. Chill puree 2 hours (note: I chilled everything for much longer than I was told and the Sorbet Police have yet to show up)

Combine ingredients and process in your ice cream maker for about 30 minutes or until it looks like you want it to look.  You could also just put the whole thing in the freezer and stir it every once in a while for a less creamy, but just as yummy, dessert.

Because I had fewer berries (2 cups), I halved the water and used only one cup of sugar.  I didn't measure the lemon juice, but I'm guessing I used about a teaspoon and a half.  

It came out perfectly and was more than enough for several desserts.  Or a single dessert on a day when things haven't gone as well as you'd hoped...

The other thing I forgot to do yesterday (and for which I am now grateful) was to show the Shetland/silk blend I've been spinning.  Look!

Even with all the kitty tending, I filled a whole bobbin!

This has been slow going and has required that I let go of my belief that it should be spun perfectly.  I picked, flicked and carded it for as long as my patience would allow and this really wasn't enough to make for perfectly smooth batts.  Hence, I am going to my Handspun Yarn Should Look Handspun place.  It is not exactly even and, after several yards of laceweight production, it became clear to me through other endeavors that I stink at knitting lace.  After that epiphany, the yarn, she got fatter.  It's for the best.  Trust me.  

Otherwise, there has been little else to report today other than the completion of a sleeve and and the gathering of stitches onto waste yarn for later grafting in the hopes that this will be pleasing to The Thing That Will Never Grow Up To Be A Sweater.  Sleeve the second was also started, but not to the point where it is all that impressive.  Any and all of the above fall into the Little Stuff category.  

I am really not capable of anything other than little stuff right now.  There is still a massive amount of chicken sandwich weighing me down and a large orange mass of fur who needs me more than any living thing should need another.  This, combined with the constant screech of the Emergency Alert Warnings on the television directing my attention to possible weather issues in counties nowhere near mine, has rendered me utterly spent.

It saddens me that it takes so little these days...

SA