ROBIEWANKENOBIE

the return of the dsl! okay, so i'm a wee bit pissed that the damn dsl picks THIS month to be a rat bastard. it is really cramping my style (such as it is).

the weekend of funeralpalooza turned out to be quite interesting. my mother and i cooked about a gazillion meals, washed a gazillion dishes, and ran ourselves quite the tight ship. our main folks consisted of a core group of fifteen. at dinner our number ballooned to twenty-five. i swear my ass literally was worked off. can't find it anywhere. we shared memories of my uncle, and my father broke out the traditional kilt and accouterments (the hat. sporran. funky-ass shoes). he cracked my shit up.

after all was said and done, the old folks and i collapsed on the sofa exhausted. these are the people who can't make it up past nine...yet they did. we were up until freak in' midnight talking. my dad was telling me how he really wanted to make a difference in his community. he pays a really fair wage for his little bookstore, and he's trying to raise the pay another two dollars. in addition, he pays the entire health care cost of employees who work more than thirty hours. oh, and they can bring their kids to work with them. seriously. that's some bad ass shit, right there. we talked a lot about work and family. how to balance the two. how to do work that you feel is meaningful. kumbayah, folks.

while we're on the subject of family love, i wanted to make mention of the handing down of family heirlooms. my uncle had a few really kick ass pieces from my grandparent's house. the thing i longed for was this ancient paisley fine china. it has amazing coloring. i think it was part of a set that a relative used to serve tea at the university of Toronto. it totally rules. my brother knew that i wanted it. he didn't even make a sound, so i didn't know. well, the set isn't quite perfect, but it is extensive...breaking it up? no big deal for me. and now we both have something that a) reminds us of our grandmother, and b) reminds us how much we love each other. come on now...that's good stuff! oh, and i also scored a beautiful Japanese vase, a pottery bowl, trifle dish, gorgeous antique table, and...my grandmother's sewing chest. the chest is lust worthy. my favorite part is a miniature aqua dressmaker's mannequin pincushion. you'll have to trust me on this. it's damn cool. the disbursement was so much fun. each of us got something that meant something to us. and we all made sure that everyone felt like they had something special. damn. kumbayah indeed.

(dad tried on the first of the two socks of doom. verdict? fuckin' awesome. except he's old and square, so he didn't actually say that. he did, however, make a crack about taking the sock off the needles so that he could jam it into a shoe. picky. i'll be working away on #2. maybe i can do it this week. now that i've quit the day job, i might go so far with my slacking as to take an actual lunch break to knit. i'm such a rebel.)