Owl post

There are owls everywhere! And it's a good thing.

I came home the other night to find a lovely little package in my mailbox from Bea. I love packages! (Have I mentioned this? But then again, who doesn't?) When I opened it, three small packages popped out. One was labelled for me, one for "older" and one for "younger". Older Daughter opened hers right away, and out fell Pigwidgeon (sound familiar, Anne?). She was delighted. Younger Daughter had fallen asleep in the car, and I must say that having a package to open upon awakening certainly shortened the notorious cranky period. She promptly named hers Hedwig. Mine is absolutely perfect. Somehow Bea remembered which fabric I adored from her bag making adventures (check out her etsy shop! how much do you want one of those?), and sent me an owl made from just those fabrics (I don't know how you do it, Bea, really I don't!). Doesn't she look professorial?
She sits on my desk, looking as wise as I wish I were. Her name? Athena, of course. I've been waiting to post about them until I could get pictures of the girls' owls, too. They haven't let go of them since they arrived. They sleep with them, so I can't take pictures then (ever tried to find a palm-sized owl in the bedclothes in the dark?), and they've been taking them to school, so no pictures then. I managed to grab them both for a minute on the way out the door this morning, so the whole owl clan was in one place for a brief and shining moment.
Thanks, Bea!

The Marie Antoinettes proceed apace.
See the bees?
The fun thing about lacework socks is how very fast they go. I knit away on one motif, and before I'm bored with it, it's time to turn the heel. Amazing. I'm done with the gusset, and with luck will have the foot done tonight or tomorrow (there's a three hour meeting to get through tomorrow, which should provide good knitting time).

I've been slowing down a bit on the late-evening knitting, as I've been feeling on the edge of crummy. You know, the sort of run-down, a cold is coming let's see if I can fight it kind of thing. And still no time to take a break. Meetings tomorrow, then Rick's company party. Saturday it's off to Clear Lake to do some research (I'm starting a new project with a friend and colleague, which will be fun, but it's always a very long day!), then Sunday we're going to San Diego to hear Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Monday and Tuesday I'll be reading files for our new hire, and then it's grading until the sheep come home. But today's my last day of classes for the semester! I'm promising myself the week between Christmas and New Year's entirely off. With maybe even a day in bed to shake this thing sometime during that week. I've just got to make it until then. Meanwhile, I've got the birds and the bees to keep me happy.

(People, keep your minds out of the gutter! Owls! Socks! That's what we're talking about here. This is a clean, family-oriented blog. And we're going to see that it stays that way.)