Hah, the baseball outing has been rescheduled (due to forces entirely unrelated to my own needs) for the end of the month, the weather forecast is for sunny and 80s, so I'm taking Friday and Monday off and attacking that yard. I need to get the yard done before the Florida heat really kicks in - I figure I can clean up, design some planting beds and maybe even put in some plants, then call the Sod Guys. Wish me luck and a strong back.

I'm definitely in much better shape than I was a mere couple of months ago - I noticed this when deep-cleaning my very tiny bathroom, assuming contortionist-like positions to clean behind the toilet, etc. I wasn't even slightly sore afterward. Let's see what four days of concentrated yard work does to me.
I'm working on the first front of the Lo-Tech Sweat in my Ample Spare Time. Last night I read the new Knitters while soaking in the tub - it's a bit waterlogged now, but I don't care because I didn't see anything in there I have any desire to make. Nothing that screamed ugly, except that off-the-shoulder thing that looks like it came out of a Stevie Nicks' donation to Goodwill. Odd, very odd - maybe if you wanted to dress as a pirate's Wench for Gasparilla they might have something useful there. Otherwise it was a yawner to me. I really do find more inspriration from sources like ChicKnits and Knitty and now Magknits.

The only highlight for me was the Perri Klaas article about her daughter's knitting memories - she captured the essence of kid memories that I have experienced with my own now grown kids. They don't just remember the things you think they will - their memories are their own, and often they remember details about their childhood that you didn't retain at all. Every time I talk to my kids I'm struck by how things I didn't even think were significant are firmly in their childhood memory files. I think the message here for those raising small ones now is to not worry much about what sort of memories you are creating for your kids, because you really don't "create" them no matter how earnestly you may try. You can give them experiences, but they will pick from them the things that resonate with them, for whatever reason, and that's what will make their memories. Anyway, it's a great article and it really resonated with my own experiences, but the rest of the issue was a nothingburger, IMHO. Every time I get an issue I think this must be my last one, this subscription must be expiring soon, and yet, another one appears. I won't renew.