Sunday night chit chat, 13 May 2012

Carla says this can be a photo or saying.

The engineer Buckminster Fuller is often cited for his use of trim tabs as a metaphor for leadership and personal empowerment. In the February 1972 issue of Playboy, Fuller said:

"Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary—the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab.

"It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it's going right by you, that it's left you altogether. But if you're doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go.

"So I said, call me Trim Tab."

Reading
I've been poking around some boat books and articles. One article i read about changing out portholes; on my boat they all leak to some degree and while i'd like to rebed them, it's best to get them replaced as the outer edge is cracked on all. The guy writing the article has the same kind of boat and decided to make his own. I wasn't sure if we were up to that, but we'd have to remove the ones we have at any rate, at least one fore and one aft to get measurements for replacements, and the article explained how the guy removed his. Well, i think he's related to Martha Stewart, and i'm definitely not. He was saying the whole job took him 4 hours (taking out the old portholes, making new, and installing them). It took me over an hour to try and pry off one. I was getting really tired and thought it best to stop and try again tomorrow.

Watching
I watched another episode from the  "Fan Favorites—the Best of Cheers" this week. Excellent one about a Thanksgiving hosted by Carla.

Listening to
David Francey's CD, "Right of Passage."


Cooking/Baking
Nothing special.

Happy you accomplished this week
The boat is uncovered! I've started with a few of the jobs.


Had  lovely chats with three dear friends this week.


Changing to summer sheets on the bed. I love my polar fleece sheets or flannel sheets when it's cold, but the first week of putting on the cotton sheets had its own sort of deliciousness.


A few of the tomato and basil seeds i planted have sprouted. Nada for the pepper seeds. I've seen a few places selling raised beds for a good price and think it'll be worth my while to get one or two.

Started knitting a hat, guessing on gauge (tension) as i was using lighter weight yarn and smaller needles than the pattern called for. I didn't guess quite right and rather than trying to make do and fix from where i was, i ripped it all out and started over. My second attempt seemed much better, but i realised i misread the patttern and ripped out again. sigh. So far, she says with fingers crossed, this time looks like it should be a go.

Looking forward to next week
Full speed ahead with the boat jobs list. Some of it is weather dependent, but i do have a few jobs i can do in the barn as well, now that the temperatures are warmer. So, if it rains, i can repair the dinghy (inflatable) and start varnishing the few wood pieces i have. (The glue for the repairs and the varnish need temperatures to be at least 40°F and stay there--we had dips into the 30's, so i thought it best to wait. For Celsius readers, 40°F=~5°C, 30°F=~-2°C.)

Weeding the garden--i still haven't seen any sign of asparagus in the bed i started last year, but the weeds look healthy enough.

Ordering yarn for gansey sweater i'd like to try and make. Yes, this was on last week's list, too, but i didn't completely decide on which colour until this week.

Thankful for today
The sun! This weekend was great, weather-wise.

Enjoying the violets growing in the yard. There are purple ones and white ones.