If it’s Thursday, it must be time for Three Beautiful Things:

1. Twice in the last week, I’ve fired up the old oven. The first time, I made cranberry bread (with fresh cranberries I bought before Thanksgiving!) because I didn’t have all-purpose flour. The second time, I made chocolate chip cookies — half for us and half for the supportive coworkers who put up with my whining last week.

2. When I left work last Friday, I took my book to Lafayette Park and read in the sun. A nearby charter school was also using the park, and it was such fun to watch the kids jumping rope, playing football, and running around. It was hard to believe it was February!

3. Neighbors of ours must have been celebrating the Lunar New Year last weekend, because their apartment was bedecked with red streamers, and festooned with red carp, and otherwise cheerily decorated.

I’m about to embark upon a massive journey. No, it won’t compare physically to Di‘s marathon training or mentally to Shelley’s science-class-loading or emotionally to Sam‘s wedding.

But it will challenge my skills and my sanity (and maybe Rudi’s).

I’m going to take part in the Olympics, starting this weekend.

Why, sprite, you say with surprise, you’ve never given any indication that you partake in a winter sport. What do you do — ice skate? luge? curling?

Nope. Nope. And nope.

I’m entering in the knitting category.

Huh?

You read it right. I’m going to be a knitting Olympian.

Yarn Harlot decided to launch a knitalong to take place during the Olympics. I’m not sure how many people she thought she’d get to take part, but it’s obvious from her recent entries that it was not the 3,000+ who’ve signed up to knit their way through the real Winter Olympics.

I’ve debated joining for the last several weeks, and finally decided for certain tonight that I’m in. My project will be two pairs of baby booties (for D.C. friends who are expecting twins this summer). The rules dictate that I not cast on before the Olympic flame is lit on Friday (not possible, since I won’t be buying the yarn until Sunday anyway) and that I finish before the cauldron’s flame is extinguished on the 26th.

I don’t yet have yarn or a pattern, so if you’re a knitter and have suggestions, I’m open to them. I haven’t swatched. I’ve never knit one bootie, let alone four.

But I have faith that I can finish the task I’ve chosen for myself. It won’t be easy. It may not be fun. But I bet I will learn a lot. I will grow as a knitter. I will take pride in my accomplishment when it’s all over. And I will relish being part of a community that crosses international boundaries and languages and abilities.

And, in the meantime, I’m limbering up by finishing the socks that I started last year. It’s good to go into the Olympics with a final win, you know.

Wish me luck. Wish me speedy fingers. Wish me sleep. (And think nice thoughts for Rudi, too, who will have to be my one-man support team/cheering squad.) And, when it’s all over, wish me two finished pairs of baby booties.

It’s rare that we get good ecological news. Usually it’s that species are becoming extinct. And if it is good news at the beginning, it’s bad by the end when they start talking about shooting the recently unendangered grizzly or drilling in a pristine wilderness area they’ve just found. So it is with delight (and a bit of trepidation) that I share this story with you: Lost World of New Species Found in Jungle.

WETA, one of our three local PBS stations, has gotten into the lovely habit of showing old movies on Saturday nights. This week we got Houseboat, starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. The movie, which I had seen the second half of many years ago, takes place in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia and features a great scene of a floating band shell on the Potomac and fancily-dressed concert-goers sitting on the Watergate Steps.

Houseboat was my first exposure to Loren, despite the fact that in my final semester of grad school, I took a class on women in film (1910-1960). In it, I was introduced to a number of great films and wonderful actors, but Loren seems to have appeared in films mostly outside the date scope of the class.

This made me curious: what other great film stars have I missed out on?

I consulted the AFI’s list of 50 top stars and made notations of who was missing: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, James Dean, Robert Mitchum, William Holden, Rita Hayworth, and Ava Gardner. They’ve all eluded my list. (more…)

Luckily, it’s not the furnace.

Unluckily, it is the hot water heater.

Worse, I’m overdue for a shower.

I am disheartened to report that my iPod, faithful travel companion as I’ve jaunted around the country and across England, gave me a sad Mac of death today.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mac products, when one of their products goes belly-up, it mourns along with you by showing a sad Mac. (Mac products that started up properly once gave you a happy Mac face, although Rudi tells me that they no longer do.)

Rudi bought me my iPod just after I got hired at my current job as a congratulations gift. I was not as faithful a user as he was of his, but I enjoyed having it and being able to listen to music on planes and at work and when out soaking up the sun at the park (as well as when Rudi puts on his video games).

But, alas, the hard drive has died and it would cost nearly as much to replace it as to buy a new iPod with more storage space on it. So I will shell out a couple bucks over the next few weeks and track down a new, replacement iPod. I like having music, and my travel schedule alone would make it a worthwhile investment even if I didn’t use it around town.