We all really enjoyed the Anonymous Four concert. They are an a capella group specializing in American gospel tunes. I wondered a little how it was for them, as New Yorkers and Bay Area folks, to perform their music in a place where everyone knew all the songs they were singing, and in fact had probably sung them in church within the past month.

They did it very well, though. Zimbabwe Griddle was reminded by their close harmonies of Chanticleer, though they had a couple of instrumentalists from The Republic of Strings. The Chemist and I were impressed by their unison sections, since a good unison with few voices is very difficult. Actually, The Chemist was impressed by how they stayed on pitch, but I think of that as a minimal level of skill for musicians. I’m just reporting it.

Then several of us, The Librarian, The Chemist, Zimbabwe Griddle, and I, headed over to the old train depot for coffee and sorbet.

“Which of these is fat free?” asked the Librarian.
“These are sugar free,” offered the Barrista.
“I can have sugar. I can have lots of sugar. I just can’t have fat and cholesterol.”
“Well,” said the Barrista, “I can have fat and cholesterol, but not sugar.”

It was another example of how topics, once they have arisen, continue to come up.

And, speaking of that tendency, I had to come back and edit this because I have had several comments, here and in the physical world, about the nutritional value of sugar. Check out this image of the nutrition label on sugar to see the simple truth about sugar’s nutrients: there aren’t any. Other, more natural varieties of sugar may have superior taste or something, but they don’t have more nutrients, because sugar cane doesn’t have any. The only point of free sugar (that is, sugar separated out from sugar cane or beets) is to make things sweeter, to make your baked goods a prettier color, chemical stuff like that. It has no food value at all. Check out blackstrap molasses to see that it contains some minerals, but bear in mind that the values shown are for a full cup, a quantity that would make you about 8 dozen cookies, so don’t get too excited. You are still way better off with spinach, raisins, whole wheat — foods, in other words. I should have shown this before — sorry.

For example, I have heard, three times in the past seven days, comments about how “Where do you go to church?” is a common greeting in these parts, akin to “Where do you work?”, while it is an extremely personal question in most places. I don’t really have anything to say about that, but I think I have gone for years without having that topic arise, and now it is everywhere. And I am not the one bringing it up.

Before the concert, I watched Evan Almighty with my boys. An enjoyable light family movie, good for watching while knitting.

ivy

Here’s Ivy. This is not at all a good picture, especially with the collar squished onto a sleeve needle. I am not sure why I did that, except that it was handy. The thing you can clearly see, however, is the size of the remaining ball of yarn: tiny, and not nearly enough to finish the collar.

I am still hoping that I might have another skein of this stuff tucked away somewhere. If not, then I am faced with a dilemma.

The yarn is Knitpicks Essentials. This yarn cannot be bought at the local yarn shop, but must be ordered from the Knitpicks website. So do I order one more skein of this yarn and pay as much in shipping as the cost of the yarn, though the total cost of the order will still be about $6, or do I go ahead and order up to the $45 that it takes to avoid paying shipping? It seems reasonable to figure that I should just buy the one skein, even though it becomes expensive when you add the shipping, rather than spending much more. However, that is only if you don’t realize how much I resent paying shipping. And of course, yarn is always useful. #2 son, in face, wants a red sweater, and the yarn for that would get me pretty near the required amount to avoid the shipping.

I didn’t say that it was an interesting dilemma, did I?

I will allow the question to percolate in the back of my mind while I am working today. It is a work at home on the computer day for me today. I have filing, both virtual and physical, to do, and I need to step it up on the second grade book, and links management is also high on the list. We are anticipating gorgeous weather, which I can enjoy through the windows as I work, and I shall be as happy as a couple of clams.