If left to my own devices for the night, I will seriously consider chocolate chip cookie dough for dinner, will rule it out because softening butter takes too much time, and will settle on Lipton’s chicken soup and an ice cream sundae.

Luckily, Rudi does not often leave me to fend for myself for dinner — possibly for this very reason. He actually enjoys cooking and, for reasons unfathomable to me, finds it relaxing. So I eat tasty gourmet food on a regular basis and nutritionally sound almost always.

On a bright note, despite my nutritionally questionable dinner, I did put a dent in the shredding portion of the housecleaning. Shredding is a large portion of the cleaning Rudi and I have to do, because we only do it once or twice a year. And junk mail accumulates with surprising rapidity. (Rapidity is a nice word. Go ahead, say it aloud. It has an onomonopoetic pop to it, don’t you think?)

I’m having a flighty day and have had a hard time remembering the things I wanted to consider for the three beautiful things from the last week. I remember thinking about them as they happened and thinking, wow, that would be great to include. But right now, I’ve got nothing…

Let’s see…

They must be here somewhere…

Okay, here’s one that will work:

1. We wanted to see Pink Martini play at George Washington University tonight but on Sunday the show was listed as sold out. Tuesday afternoon however offered up great seats! I’ve enjoyed both of their cds and it was excellent to finally see them in person. They’re wonderful musicians — particularly the pianist, the brass section, and the drummer on the traditional kit. Their singer is amazing. And they’re finishing work on a third cd!

That wasn’t on the original list though…

Oh, okay, here are two of the things I’d thought of earlier:

2. My cousin’s new baby arrived precisely when predicted by the doctors — last Sunday. Thomas Richard is blessed with very impressive timing, particularly because his day of birth is also his parents’ first anniversary. I’m betting Caroline and David won’t forget the date anytime soon, though. (And I offer congratulations to the whole family!)

3. The fall harvest season is upon us and last week’s market was bustling. I came home with a sampler of the first apples of the season (Jenny also sent a few of her harvest home from Utah with us). And I managed to score one of the last two pints of raspberries. I love that raspberries have two totally distinct seasons.

This is my September Sock-a-Month 2 contribution and the most recent finished objects in my collection.

Rudi’s boss had his first grandbaby last week, so I thought it would be nice to send along a gift. The pair is made of Cascade Fixation and is pretty much a straight-up Magic Loop adaptation of the Baby Fixation Socks. Rudi picked out the yarn from my stash and picked this pattern over another one. They are very quick to knit up (doable in a day, really) and immediately elicit “Awwwwwws” from all the women in my office because they are just so deliciously tiny. (And, yes, that’s a quarter in the photo for perspective.)

(Click on the photos to open them in a larger format.)

Also, as promised earlier, I offer you some recent fibery goodness as well as some of the other pretty things that insisted on coming home with us from Salt Lake:

Visit this site and start dragging and clicking away at will with your mouse. I guarantee you’ll be surprised by how long you can entertain yourself.

(Via Kat and Cate.)

The Burrow experienced technical difficulties last night as Verizon did not see fit to deign to grant us internet access all last night. Therefore, instead of posting photos of pretty yarn and recent knitted objects or sending my friend Brian birthday greetings, I spent the evening doing off-line activities.

I celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day by cracking open Gideon DeFoe’s The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. It’s short and it’s saucy, so if you check back next week I should have a review in the monthly roundup.

I also tried to celebrate a beautifully sunny late summer evening by sitting outside Teaism with a salty oat cookie and a mango lassi. Unfortunately, all those mosquitos who thought this summer was too hot to be outside also wanted to hang out at Teaism, but instead of feasting on tasty baked goods and refreshing yogurt drinks, they thought *I* looked particularly appetizing. I switched seats. I swatted and shooed. Eventually I walked home. They followed me. It was like a Looney Tunes cartoon. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d knocked on the door and tried to sneak in when I answered it. Hmmm… Maybe that’s what the large cockroach Rudi killed outside the Burrow was working on this morning…

Anyway, look for photos of pretty things tonight…

So last Thursday evening we flew out to Salt Lake City, purportedly to visit Rudi’s mother for a long weekend.

I admit, that while visiting my mother-not-in-law is as good a reason as any to visit Utah, I had a secondary motive — the Yarn Harlot was coming to speak.

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