Fog and sun and thoughts

It's October 28th and yet it doesn't really feel a lot like fall today. It's rather warm again. Not unpleasantly warm, for the most part, but warmer than it should be. It was wonderfully foggy this morning when I got up, because it rained all last night. It was foggy and there were a couple of large crows marching down the street. Very Edgar Allen Poe. Of course as soon as I went to get my camera and try to get a picture a car came by and scared them off. Ah...nevermore.

I just got back from taking a walk up to the playground and swinging for a while. Quite a pleasant activity in the sun, although I was quite warm by the time I got home.

Last night was a costume contra dance...since in Winston it's the dance closest to halloween because there's no dance on Saturday. It was fun, most of the people dressed up, although some didn't bother. I dressed as a gypsy, which I will also do when I take Colin trick-or-treating. Yes...we do that. I also wore my cape instead of a coat (and it was very good for keeping the rain off!) but I didn't get a picture in that.

Anyway:































And Laura...she was a pirate...although she looks rather like a gypsy also:


















Two thoughts occured to me about contra yesterday and today. One (and Laura and I were discussing this), she has an almost completely different group of guys who ask her to dance than I do. There is some overlap, but for the most part she'll mention a partner and I'll finally figure out that I have seen them, but never danced with them and therefore may or may not know their name and same for her if I say who I danced with. We couldn't figure out why this is, but it's odd...

And secondly, I'm really good at reading body language and telling how a person is feeling, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad...and very interesting at contra because during a swing I can tell pretty fast what sort of mood the other person is in. I say it's interesting at contra, because usually people are in a good mood...but occasionally I can tell they aren't really. I guess in general it's good to be able to tell how people are feeling so I don't bumble into their mood saying something grating, but it's also sometimes alarming. What do you think? Can you tell how people are feeling?

Oh...one of the dances last night was called "The Dead Cat Bounce" at which I made a strange face and the guy across from me just burst out laughing. "Oh my...the look on your face...that was priceless!" Well...really, with a name like that...

Balance and swing your neighbor
Men allemande left halfway,
Partner allemande right 1x
Men start hey for 4
(Men go halfway, but women ricochet back to the side where they start by meeting in the center and pushing back with both hand.)
Circle left
Partner swing on the side
Ladies chain, star left, pass through to new neighbors.

"So what, are we the dead cats bouncing off of each other?" said one lady. :D I have no idea...

I started knitting a glove last week...I think it was last week. Yeah. Well, I got the cuff and the hand part done and moved on to the fingers...and found that there was no way I could fit my fingers in, as tight as they were going to be. So I had to take out a whole finger and am going to try knitting it on bigger needles. By the way, if you have long fingers and want someone to knit you gloves, you'd better pick someone who loves you a lot, because it's extremely tedious to knit glove fingers. :D This is the first time I've regretted having long fingers. So, I have to knit that finger all over again, and hopefully it will work this time.

And now I should go peel some potatoes to make mashed potatoes for on top of the shepherd's pie I'm making for supper.