windy

It's so windy today that the power has flickered a couple of times. HWWLLB and I just got back from a walk, on which I did think for a minute that we might actually blow away. Big swirls of leaves kept blowing up around us, and every here and there we'd stop to pick up some random thing -- a big stick, a trash can, a cardboard box -- that had blown into the street, and drag it back to wherever it seemed to belong.

Our greenhouse is blowing around a bit too, even though I weighted it down inside with cinder blocks. It's moved about 8 inches across the back patio in all this wind.

Today is a day for lists. I did lots of little things this weekend - cozy little things around the house - so I'm going to share a couple of them. On Saturday, I started seeds in the greenhouse. Here's what will be (hopefully) poking its head through the soil soon:

Kale, White Russian
Pole beans, Kentucky Wonder
Edamame, Sayamusume
Spinach, Barksdale
Lettuce, red romaine
Lettuce, bacarole
Lettuce, summer mix
Broccoli, early green
Melons, sugar nut
Watermelon, sugar baby

Those last two are sort of extra-hopeful. I'm imagining big, strong, ready-to-fruit melon plants as soon as the soil gets warm this spring. Last year the melons did absolutely nada (I think I started them too late), so hopefully this year will be better. We already have a cool-weather lettuce mix in the garden, and I'm hoping that in another couple of weeks we'll be able to start harvesting it - it's already looking pretty good. I can't wait for a fresh salad! All the lettuce at the grocery store has seemed kind of droopy lately, though it might just be my garden-lettuce anticipation making it seem inferior, when actually it's perfectly repsectable lettuce.

Today I spent most of the (windy) day sitting on the couch knitting, working on various baby gifts for friends. There seems to be another big crop of babies happening among our friends right now. Between stitches I was burning some CDs for a friend who is going through a tough time (and is about to have a baby as well). These are the CD's I burned. They were both close at hand - sitting on top of the stereo - and things I thought she would like. They are some of my most favorites right now:

Juana Molina: Son
Marisa Monte: Universao ao meu Redor
Sharon Jones & the DAP Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights
Amadou et Mariam: Dimanche a Bamako
Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine
Cesaria Evora: Café Atlantico

I think these albums all have wonderful songs on them, but they kind of run the emotional gamut from really fun, happy songs that make you bounce (Amadou et Mariam) to songs you play when you want to wallow in your very bad mood (Fiona Apple). I know that some people think that when you're unhappy, you should listen to happy music to cheer yourself up, but I'm one of those people who enjoys really wallowing in whatever emotion I happen to be feeling.

But I'll tell you one thing you should definitely knit if you want to cheer yourself up: baby booties. They are so damn cute I can't help squealing when they're finished. Not to mention they're really really fast, and also not to mention I am sorely in need of a large pile of baby gifts, pronto. A couple of weeks ago, I asked about what folks did with their scrap sock yarn, and most of y'all who answered said baby booties. I think I'm going to bootie it up on the next Free Pattern Friday, which may be right soon, because this has been a fun bunch of little projects.