The Art of Doing Nothing

The singular focus of doing nothing is an art I have never perfected. There are weekends when I try to be a minimalist in all that I do...but I think that means basically staying in bed all day eating dark chocolate bon bons while the 5-CD disc player randomly plays your favorite music. The closest I have come to doing nothing was when I spent 8 hours on the couch finishing the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. If only the movie had been as good. The runner-up was one full weekend watching a Law & Order marathon on TBS and switching to Nigella Lawson when L&O was something I'd already seen. Now that was really decadent.

So I haven't done nothing this weekend. The Lacy Capelet is all knit up but is being blocked as of this writing, so no pictures until it is completely done. I am happy with it but am feeling a bit dazed. I have never finished anything in such a short amount of time; it still hasn't sunk in. If you consider only the last time I cast on for this project, it's taken me 11 days. That is a PB. Well, all right, I did knit 3 scarves in 2 days for some friends' birthdays but they don't count.

Now the only UFO left is the single sock! I dance a little jig. It's been so patient and I've been looking forward to picking up where I left off with sock knitting. June's project is done and the pressure is off. Have I told you about my 2005 knitting resolution? (Yes indeed, Erika, I have really gone off the knitting deep end) It doesn't matter how many projects I may start as long as I finish at least one of them each month. Completing more than one does not roll over to the next month, they are just feel-good bonus points. I made this resolution to myself because while I was a productive knitter in the fall and winter, there wasn't much to show for the spring and the summer. So far I have hit every month but there were times when it was touch and go.

The other non-nothing activity this weekend was a great hike along the Yuba River. Birdsong wrote a poignant tribute to a friend who was co-author of the book Yuba Trails which I picked up from the library. Karl hasn't been able to put it down. Vandana also recommended a hike around here so therefore we decided to explore an area near Nevada City. Since we were newcomers to the area we decided to take one of the most popular routes, the South Yuba Trail. This is a very pretty trail with fantastic views of the river. There are picnic tables and access to the water. I knew it was a mountain biker's paradise but I was surprised to see more kayakers than cyclists. The river was rushing underneath Edwards' Crossing. You can see the pictures of the hike from the thumbnails in the sidebar, Latest Photos.

Oh, and that's the last non-nothing thing for today - I cleaned up my blog template and added the thumbnails. What do you think? Thanks to everyone who commented on comments. I will try to be a good correspondent because I appreciate you taking the time to visit here and leaving a note. You are busy people! You could be doing something else (like knitting) but yet you read this blog and even write an opinion or an encouraging word. Well then, I will keep it short this time (relatively, because I know I'm verbose).

Until the next day in the life...