He's Back

Yes, QueerJoe has returned from vacation and he's more tan and fat than he's ever been. Pictures of that would be more disgusting than the toe picture.

First...Thanks
First and foremost, I want to thank Carol publicly for all she did to make this blog more funny and interesting while I was gone. I read all her entries and the associated comments, and I recognized immediately that I couldn't have picked a better guest blogger.

Thanks also to the regular readers of this site for making her so welcome and fawning over her. As a flat-headead Pollack, she needs that sometimes.

Knitting On Vacation
I took this as a true vacation.

From everything.

Including knitting.

I did bring my current project (the Vineyard Throw using Manos), but I think I completed a total of 2 rows on the project during my entire stay. I've included a baseline picture of where I am so far, so I can track my progress on a go-forward basis.



As a small consolation, I can say that I at least balled up all the yarn prior to going on vacation so that I'd be prepared to finish knitting the garment. Fortunately, life on the Vineyard wasn't at all boring. Here are a couple of pictures of the "backyard" I got to enjoy



And this was a picture of a magnificent sunrise I was lucky enough to witness.



Vacation Reading
Whenever I'd consider doing knitting while I was away, I'd consider how much concentration I'd need to dedicate to even just one row of knitting. The current blocks I'm working on have two different stitch repeats, and all of them have a third repeat for the border.

With all that was going on at any one particular moment, I didn't feel I could dedicate enough concentration to the project, so I stuck to reading in my downtime. As a result, I read the following four books:






The first book, "Belly" by Lisa Selin Davis was a wonderfully written book that I completely fell into as I read it. I could feel every bit of tension between the characters and visualize all aspects of their surroundings. Ms. Davis is an excellent writer. I didn't enjoy the story. I prefer stories with at least one protagonist, and this one didn't really have one.

As for the second book, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", you might find it strange that a 46 year old gay man would read a teenage girls' book. But I have to say, it was a very well composed book with remarkably good writing. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

"Tuesdays with Morrie" was a very different kind of book. I personally find Mitch Albom's writing very simplistic and perhaps even lazy. But his subject matter and moral in the book are worth the read. Again, another very quick read, but highly recommended.

Finally, "Winter Moon" by Dean Koontz is definitely not a book I'd ever recommend. The plot line is formulaic and sophmoric, and while his writing is good, he wastes it on a completely non-believable story.