Socks

It's been a while since I decided to make these wool socks, but I finally have one of them done. I lost my contact lense a few weeks ago and couldn't see well enough to knit until it was replaced. Then I returned to the job sporadically. Now that I have one done, I don't feel inclined to continue, but it's one of those things that one really ought to see through to the end. One sock is really not much use, and the time invested is really a waste if I don't keep going. Well, we will see how much this motivates me.

I have turned the thermostat down to 55 most of the time, and wrote a bum check to cover my fuel bill. Oil was delivered today and I was rewarded by the fact that I have consumed only 114 gallons since the last delivery. I think the time period is about the same as last time, when I consumed 175 gallons. While I am not fond of wearing a hat and gloves in the house and sitting wrapped in a blanket, at least it has done some good. Once I get through this winter I will have to do some serious thinking about my financial situation as it pertains to living in this house. When I moved here I thought it would be my last move, and I still hope that it might be. Nevertheless, I may find it impossible to stay here. It's something I don't want to consider now, since I have a year's lease and intend to live it out. Leaving has consequences that I choose not to entertain unless I absolutely have to, so I go on as if nothing will change.

I turn my attention to less gloomy things and look forward to going to an art exhibit tomorrow in Machias with Elizabeth, Patty, and Lisa. I remember reading an article several years ago in The Utne Reader called "The Nouveau Poor." The acompanying picture was a cartoon showing a woman sitting in a seat at the opera with a box of popcorn. It was about the new wave of divorced women who have acquired the tastes and sensibilities of the upper middle class but now find themselves without the means to indulge them. I've often felt that I fit into that category. Downward mobility is a strain, no matter how adaptable we think we are. Still, I can go to an art show, even if I don't have the money to buy the gas to get there. My companions are in the same boat, and we will share expenses. It's the way things are.