New shoes for the trip, and for hiking in general. I'm planning to do more of that -- I haven't done any in a startlingly long time, for someone who used to do a lot of hiking.

It's easy to get out of the habit.

These came from the shop where #1 son works. I knew the former owners and was familiar with the store, but hadn't been there for years.

It's gone upmarket since I shopped there. It used to have a lot of army surplus gear, but now it has silk hiking socks and ironic goods. The clerks are all nice young men like my son.

I tried on a couple of pairs of light hiking shoes and one pair of hiking boots. The difference, in case you were wondering, is that hiking boots go above the ankle and have more structure, less flexibility. I think the shoes will be better for city walking tours, but the boots might give better support on a wilderness trail. I might go back for them.

However, there was the familiar problem of having a lot of things to choose from and no real understanding of what makes one thing cost way more than another. If you can pay $35 or $175, there has to be some difference between the two, right? If it's that one is made in Switzerland and the other in Cambodia, that's different from one being glued together and the other stitched.

I like to ask the clerk to explain the difference, but the clerk in this case was # 1 son, who blithely assured me that he had no idea, and read the box the shoes came in aloud to me.

I may go back for the boots, too.

No sewing yesterday, which undoes any hope of reaching a garment a week, but not any hope of completing my SWAP eventually. My jaunt lasts only a week, and should be mostly a blue jeans kind of thing, so I'm not really concerned about failing to complete my SWAP in time for the trip. Here's what I have completed:

• two piece dress
• khaki skirt
• khaki trousers
• brown trousers
• several tops

I think I'm set.

I also think I need to buy some light hiking shoes and get them broken in before I leave, since we have several days of walking tours going on.

Yesterday I did a good amount of work, finished up all but the final lesson of the class I'm taking on advanced CSS and XHTML (last lesson: server side includes), and got partially caught up on my Amazon Vine reviews. I also frogged back the Lotus Blossom Shawl to the point where I made an egregious error and didn't notice it, a really long time ago. Sigh.

I did some slight housework, cleaning the bathroom and tidying things up a bit, but I don't think I can really claim to have done the master bedroom as required by the HGP. Nor did I get anything into the freezer, and I haven't yet decided on my handmade gifts, let alone bought the materials and started making them.

This week is the master bath and the linen closet, plus these tasks:

• Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
• Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
• Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
• Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes
• Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
• Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
• Take toys and books that are outgrown, clean them up and prepare them for donation to toy drives.
• Make list of toys and books that children would enjoy and that would fit in their rooms and that would work with what they have. Keep it hand for telling family what they would like.
• Inventory clothing and have another list of clothing items needed. Measure the children and put measurements on this list.

With no children at home I am exempt from a few of these things, so I will forge ahead and hope that I might get the master bedroom done at some point as well. If not, then not.

It's been rather a hectic week. My husband has a new car, or new to him anyway. I tried to join in with thinking of it as fun, but actually it's just a much more expensive alternative to repair work.

Still, we now have two functioning cars to take to work, rather than my having to drive my husband to and from the factory, so I have no complaints. Of course, #1 son has my car right now, but I'm planning a domestic day and a bit of work to make up for all the time spent on the car lot. It's amazing how long it takes to buy a car.

#1 son was over last night for dinner and a good chat about Bible story heroes. He's taking a course called "The Bible as Literature."  He feels that it's a lot like Sunday School, though. His teacher talks in "this old lady voice," he says. "It's like Sunday School, so it's familiar and comfortable and it's easy to go along with it," he said, showing with his face and body language how all the students in his nice Bible Belt class drop right into Sunday School mode. "She'll say, 'Put yourself in his shoes,'" -- here he clasps his hands in imitation of this teacher -- "and then it gets religious."

His objection is that his teacher puts all kinds of extra interpretation into the stories. He complains about his British Romantic Poetry class for the same reason, mind you, but I see his point. I have the same problem sometimes with Bible study, and I don't object to religious interpretations.

Esther, for example, doesn't strike him as all that heroic. Esther is the one who dared to enter the presence of King Ahasuerus even though she could be put to death for doing so, admitted that she was Jewish, and interceded for her people, saving them from extermination. There's a lot more to the story, but for the purposes of this discussion, that's the main outline; you can read about Esther, Purim, and the delicious Purim cookie called hamantaschen at NPR.  So few possibly mythological heroines have a really good cookie to go with their story.

Anyway, I read out Mordecai's warning to Esther that the king wouldn't spare her, in order to persuade #1 son that she actually was in danger. "She was his wife," he kept saying. "She'd made him a feast." This was said in #1 son's special patented scornful voice. I think it's a good sign that he can't imagine a husband being cruel to his wife, especially after a good dinner, but it may suggest that he didn't pay proper attention during Sunday School.

He also didn't think that Boaz fell in love with Ruth. Again I turned to the text to support my claim that he was at least interested in her. "He didn't even know who she was," I said, "and he told his workers to leave her extra to glean and let her hang out with his handmaidens to keep her safe."

  "He knew who she was," insisted #1 son, using the special scornful voice. "It was a small town. You don't think everybody was talking about Ruth and Naomi?"

I had to concede that point.

The story of Lot, he felt, was more like Greek mythology. He's right. Turning people into a pillar of salt is a bit out of character for our particular God, and the incestuous bit does seem more in keeping with those saucy Greek gods than with the Bible.

When it came to the parables, though, I just couldn't agree with him. The parables were the stories Jesus told to make points about religious topics. We may disagree on the particular point being made (and that's a good thing, or why have sermons?), but the parables were certainly teaching stories, and no one is suggesting that they are intended to be understood as history.

I think that the character issues that bother #1 son -- why is Abraham a symbol of faith when he had all those doubts? how can Joseph be a symbol of good triumphing over hardship when God kept him from experiencing any hardships? stuff like that -- I think these things can be explained if we are willing to consider the possibility that these were real people. Real people aren't as good at being characters in a story as fictional ones. They do things that don't advance the plot, say stuff that isn't worth recording, and have messy relationships that spoil the dynamic of the story. This is probably why our lives are so badly structured from the point of view of narrative.

The flowers in this post are from the front garden, such as it is. It has finally gotten cool enough for the plants to bloom, now that we're entering fall. I guess maybe we'll be having normal summer in the fall now, followed by harsh and extreme winter, then a bit more summer, and then some hellish uber-summer before getting back to summer the following Autumn. I'd rather have spring and fall, but nobody asked me.

By the way, the novel I'm reading right now is a shameless knock-off of the Stephanie Plum mysteries, if that's something you've been wishing for.

Yesterday was a lovely, relaxing day. I had a nap after lunch, and otherwise spent the day watching Numb3rs and working on my jacket.

It was a rainy day, so I was able to feel cozy snuggling up on the sofa, rather than lazy.

Lazy's not bad on hot days, though.

Anyway, my jacket is now at that point of wonderful promise. It fits, all the pieces are in roughly the right configuration (after many tries at setting in the sleeves), the color is a really good one for me. There is nothing wrong with it -- yet.

Now I merely have to do a bad job of pressing, hemming, making the buttonholes, choosing the buttons, or finishing the seams in order to spoil it.

The fabric is a flannel backed gabardine and I'm using the flannel as the right side. It's a light weight wool, and should be nice to wear for most of the year. It's a very fine quality and a real pleasure to work with. I ordered it online, so you never know, but it turned out well.

Along with it I bought just one yard of this habotai silk so I could do a nice Hong Kong finish and use it for the lining of the skirt yoke pieces and stuff like that. When it arrived and I saw how pretty it was and how good it looks with this color, I thought to myself that I ought to buy some more and make a blouse of it, but I didn't do so.

Now there is no more available. Sigh.

In any case, I'm enjoying the sewing. I didn't work at all yesterday. Today I must finish up my Aussies and put some time in on the unbillable sites, and I also plan to do some housework, but there will definitely be further sewing and lolling about.

I'm also going to make sweet potato gnocchi. I don't even know how to pronounce "gnocchi," and I don't think I've ever eaten any. However, I have a sweet potato and I've taken it into my head to do this, so that's the plan.

Tomorrow is #2 son's birthday and I failed to arrange his cake delivery. Since the bakeries in his school's town are not open on Sundays, I will be trying to line up a bakery from which I can make an order online, or at least very first thing tomorrow morning. Another sigh.

It is also week four of the HGP. This is the week to clean and tidy our master bedrooms (mine really needs it) and also the week to get started on gifts. We should buy 1/8 of the presents we plan to buy and start spending an hour a day on our handmade gifts. We should also get a meal into the freezer and a batch of cookies, too. I didn't do either of those things last week, but maybe I will this week. Who knows?

Sigh.

Once again I'm starting my weekend in a desperately sleep deprived state. I have a nap planned this afternoon. I feel tired enough to take a nap now, but napping before the sun comes up seems silly, and I already tried just going back to sleep. It didn't work. Plus, I'm expecting people this morning.

I'm planning a PSD (personal sewing day), with intermittent breaks to talk with people.

I haven't managed a garment a week with my SWAP, but I have made two pairs of pants and two skirts (one of which still needs a zipper and a hem), plus a top that matches one of the skirts to make a two-piece dress. If I can get the jacket made, I'll be well on the way toward fall SWAP success.

My husband has my car, I did the grocery shopping last night, and all the HGP had for this week's cleaning was the foyer. A big deal if you have to clean the chandelier and dust the grand piano, but my foyer is a dozen tiles just inside the door, so I think I'm okay.

I'm therefore planning to put on Netflix and get my jacket made.

Jackets are hard to make. I have several that I've made in the past which don't quite fit, or don't quite look as though they were made by a proper tailor. I also have quite a few lengths of fabric intended for jacket making which have never been made up because I get too nervous about cutting into them.

However, I also have a couple of handsome jackets I've made successfully for myself, so I know it can be done.

The other things we're supposed to do on the HGP involve putting a meal and a batch of homemade goodies into the freezer, buying film and batteries, adding a couple of cans to our grocery lists for charity and for the holidays, and buying the materials for our homemade gifts.

I haven't yet decided what to make -- I'm a week behind on that. I was also thinking that, since I'm heading for Rome in a month, I should wait and buy unusual yarn or fabric there. It then struck me that in the internet era, the chances of finding something quite different may be slim, especially since Italy hasn't caught the modern knitting hobby bug. Knitting is for grannies in Italy, it seems, and yarn shops are staffed by severe people who won't let you touch the yarn.

I feel like making hats for everyone, just in case it gets cold this year. I'm not sure that everyone on my list actually wears hats, though, so socks might be smarter. I have to the end of the day to decide and purchase the yarn without getting behind on the HGP.

I had better dress, though, in case my visitors arrive early. It's okay to blog in one's nightie, but face to face communication requires clothing.

I spent yesterday working, in a very whiny and ungrateful fashion. "Ungrateful" may seem like an odd word to choose, but it's the right word. I could have -- and have, in the past -- been working in retail or giving an exam or something like that. Instead, I was in the comfort of my own home grading papers and writing stuff.

I even took a break at one point and worked on my lace shawl -- Elann's Lotus Blossom pattern, roughly. Lace looks like nothing at all when it's being made, because the important part is the space between the threads, which doesn't show up until the lace is finished and blocked. It is, therefore, an exercise in faith.

I should have gone on a hike instead. I'd be in a better mood now.

No matter. Today is an all music day. I'm singing at 8:00 in one church and 11:00 at the other (Sunday School and practice in between), and then there's a 1:00 call for a 4:00 to 5:30 hymn festival. I should be in a great mood after all that.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. I've been sent a special prayer to read in the early service on that subject, filled with things about mourning and remembering. Fortunately, the hymn sing will focus on peace and not on wallowing in historical horror. I don't want to spend a whole day in pointless sorrow, though I realize that there's precedent for doing so. Sometimes you can't help it.

I was at the church -- the one I'm returning to -- when the attack took place. I was on a committee and we were meeting, and the choir director flung open the door and said, "We're at war!"

In the course of that day, I saw the famous footage of the airplane crashing into the tower over and over. Wherever you went, there it was. That was before we had grand-scale natural disasters every other month, and I think the idea of all those people being so frightened and all the loss of life was very shocking. There was fear about what our government might do, and a lot of debate over why people should hate us so much.

I had taught ESL for many years, so I wasn't surprised that people in other nations hated the United States. It's unmissable if you're in much contact with folks from other nations. There they were, wearing American blue jeans, studying in the U.S. with American teachers and books, hating us. Even being quite friendly and liking us as individuals at parties, but still hating us. I had no trouble believing that the attack on 9/11 was a generalized expression of hatred. 

For people who remembered Pearl Harbor, though, it seemed as though it had to be an act of war rather than a crime, and there was a lot of fear about what might come next.

I hope we don't have to dwell on it too much today, though.

Toby isn't worrying. He likes to hang out in my office with me, doing nothing and thinking about nothing, just being happy. I'm generally happy even without that level of empty-headedness, though I have been out of sorts recently. Toby, as you can see, gets enough sleep.

I'm not feeling well today.

This began on Thursday evening, when I went to the rehearsal of the choirlet. The rehearsal that evening was in the home of a smoker. I assume that there must have been times in the past when I have been in the homes of smokers, but I can't remember them, and I live in a town that doesn't allow smoking in public buildings, so I was startled to walk into a room and find it filled with smoke.

I don't know how smokers can stand this. My eyes hurt. My throat hurt. My nose hurt. I was riding with someone else, so I couldn't leave. We sang, so I was taking in great lungfuls of the noxious stuff. At one point, I looked around the group gathered about the piano and thought wildly, "We're all dressed in stuff from Coldwater Creek; this just isn't the kind of occasion where I can be rude and walk out."

The nonsmokers were coughing, and I suppose I wasn't the only one who was counting the minutes till I could get out of that place, but it was a rehearsal so we were there for a couple of hours. When I got home, I stank, my clothes stank, my hair stank.

I showered, but I couldn't figure out any way to clean my bronchial system, and I still have a sore throat.

That was two nights ago, and both those nights have featured dogs barking to be let out in the wee hours of the morning, so I am also severely sleep deprived. And I have to grade papers.

I had an unpleasant experience today. I have a bunch of different email addresses, approximately fibermom@thiscompany, fibermom@thatcompany, etc. so that I can talk with my clients' clients as though from their offices.

So today I had a communication from one of these folks and I got excited about what we were discussing and thoughtlessly clicked Reply All from my actual email address. That is, my business address.

My client was very upset, since his client now knows where I have my business.

It's possible to look at that and say, what the heck, all he had to do was Google me and he'd know. Plus, I happen to know that he has read my business blog, cause he has mentioned it. So what's the big deal?

However, this is one of the Rules. So I felt bad about it all day. I have trouble with these things deciding whether I feel bad because I am in the wrong and should feel bad, or because I hate being in the wrong and having people mad at me. One is nobler than the other, isn't it?

Anyway, I went to rehearsal and now feel much better. Apart from having to grade whole crowds of papers.

After writing here yesterday morning, I baked banana nut muffins and oatmeal raisin muffins and mini quiches while the kids sliced peaches and vegetables. My husband vacuumed the house and #2 son carried heavy things to and from the porch.

Since much of the action in the video took place on the porch, we cleaned it pretty thoroughly, so that part of the HGP assignment for the week got done. We also did a pretty thorough job with the living room, which is this week's cleaning focus.

However, I didn't make any lists. This is Question Week at the HGP, the week for contemplating the meaning of Christmas and what you really want to do with the holiday this year. Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas and Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season are a couple of thought-provoking books if you need to get your thoughts provoked.

From the standpoint of the HGP, it's about deciding what the important elements and activities of the season are, so you can focus on those and not on the unimportant ones.

We're also supposed to get a meal into the freezer, and pick up some extra flour and sugar. Ordering Christmas cards is also on the list.

Yesterday when all the kids were here, I suggested that we take a picture of all of them for our Christmas cards, an idea which was met with complete indifference. They think they're too old for that, especially the spontaneous picture bit. And of course they don't look much different from the last time. They're adults, that's what.

We did get our video filmed. I need to record the narration, and then #1 daughter needs to edit it, but we watched the rushes last night, and it looks pretty good. We had fun with the other cast members and had some tentative discussions about future collaborations.

Then we hung out watching stuff on YouTube and Netflix till we went to the movies. The amount of time we spend wit screens is a bit shocking. I suggested going to the fair at one point, and I felt as though we ought to play music or go hiking or something, but we didn't. We had good conversations, though.

The other thing we'll be doing this week for HGP is browsing through Christmas gift and decorating ideas. That's always fun.

We're making a movie today. The kids are all home, though #1 son is at work today and #1 daughter will be coming in this morning.

At 10:00, though, we have a bunch of people including a cameraman coming to film a video. I need to clean house and make food.

Last night, #2 son and #2 daughter drove in and we had pizza and played a new game, Gotcha!

This game is reminiscent of the drinking game Circle of Death, I'm told. We had a little beer, but didn't play it as a drinking game. We played it as a backdrop to the soccer game on TV.

Okay, I have to get ready for the film crew.