The Dweebmachine

 I had a wonderful day today, what with the cool drizzly weather (a welcome change for the hottest February I've ever experienced; admittedly I am in Guatemala...) and an orchid exhibit just next to my apartment! A couple friend's (one was a member of the orchid society in Guatemala) and I met for a little coffee and a nice visit. The exhibit was small, but it had all local to Guatemala orchids! There were micro-orchids,  The orchids are growing in the center of the leaves! grassy orchids,  and of course the Monja Blanca, the national orchid to Guatemala.                 According to my friend it's a sort of albino variant of a pink orchid.  It was really nice to discuss the different things and a little about how many were discovered because of Orchidmania in the Victorian era. It's dark, but the petals are GREEN! And wel...

As promised here's a quick roundup of projects I'm currently working on:   First up, the waffle pullover! It's from a vintage pattern, my second attempt at using one. I put it aside when I had a dream about a sweater, which happens to be my next project: an Irish wool striped pullover Finally, I have a mitered square blanket I'm working on in between things, not that I've had time in a few weeks. It's using cotton from right here in Guatemala! Well most of it. I had a few scraps of cotton that I brought with me from the US.

 It's been a while, hasn't it? It's been a very stressful few weeks! First my birthday, which was not stressful, but rather busy. I made a complex dessert and a curry. I had a couple friends over for dinner, games, and cocktails. It was amazing. One got me some really nice Irish yarn! Birthday cake, knife included A little drunk chilling on the couch Then at the last minute the Guatemalan government decided we could teach in person when the city was on Red, which it couldn't do before. We found out at 5:00pm the night before (and the day after my birthday 😭). I adapted and managed to get to work with only a little annoyance. But on Tuesday, after being back only two days, I was forced to quarantine because two of my students tested positive. Then a parent did. Then another parent. So, a week of stress over if I was infected, because I HAD been exposed...We came back Wednesday, with parents of COVID positive children angry they had to wait a week, because of...