490. Bliss in bloom.

Me, with my hyperbolic bracelet.

My daughter's arm, wearing the hyperbolic bracelet.

489: Hyperbolic Balls of Bliss.

Have I blogged about this before?

If I have, forgive me. It's become a mini-obsession.  :D

Somehow, in between dreaming, blogging, doing laundry, sleeping, vacuuming, dusting, writing, Facebook stalking my teenager, and other duties as assigned, I've fallen in love with hyperbolic crochet.

Yes, I know it sounds like some weird dance step or a drug that accelerates the metabolism but it's neither.

Actually it's a simple method for crocheting cute balls of fluff with lots and lots of uses.

They can be crocheted using any yarn in any color, to match your mood or decor.

My obsession started with a search for the perfect flower pattern.

Looking at flat, one-dimensional flowers didn't give me the sense of creative urgency I needed to start working the pattern.

Then I discovered hyperbolic crochet.

Are you now wondering what hyperbolic crochet is?

Yes?

Here is how Lion Brand Yarn describes it:

Hyperbolic Crochet is the name given to applying a mathematical principle to crochet patterns. A hyperbolic plane expands exponentially from any point on its surface, always curving away from itself. You can easily crochet a hyperbolic surface by increasing at a constant rate throughout the piece.

Hyperbolic growth in nature gives rise to the ruffled shapes of coral, kelp, and sea anemone. Crocheting coral forms is a great opportunity to try different yarns and stitches, and is just one example of the types of project that hyperbolic motifs may inspire you to do.

The Institute for Figuring created the concept of the Coral Reef with hyperbolic crochet and have been developing this concept since 2005. More information about the project may be seen on their website www.theiff.org.

And here are links to the IFF fun stuff:

• Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
• IFF links to galleries of hyperbolic crochet in action 
• Hyperbolic Space Introduction

There will be no hyperbolic crocheted reefs in my future but I know I'll be crocheting lots more Hyperbolic Balls of Bliss.

It's because I have a thing with numbers that's been going on since childhood, when my mother told me the story of our "family numbers", a story I'll have to tell some other time or I shall digress too far.

I don't recall when I first learned of hyperbolic crochet. (Can you tell I like saying those words?) But I've since used several  patterns to achieve the h.c. before realizing I don't need a pattern, just an idea and an understanding of how often to add stitches.

Any way, without  further ado (and before I nod off at the keyboard) here are photos of the Hyperbolic Balls of Bliss I've crocheted so far.

The beige Ball of Bliss is rather small. I crocheted it using crochet cotton, also known as crochet thread.

This weekend I pinned a small hair elastic to it and wore it as a ring. I got lots of compliments on it.

The other two are here awaiting a good home.

They are too big to be worn as rings but they:

• are interesting as over-sized bracelets
• look lovely sitting on a mantel or a desk
• will inspire lots of comments when tied to a car antenna...

The list is bound only by imagination.

488. I don't like the word "diet".

Nor do I like the word "exercise".

I can substitute "movement" for exercise.

What can I use in place of "diet"?

Hmmm...  Off to the thesaurus!

On another note, I'm sleepy.

There was nothing nutritional in my "diet" today. Absolutely my fault for not making sure I ate properly before I left home this morning.

When I had time to grab a bite, I was in an area with no options for a healthy snack. And by then, I was feeling drowsy and lightheaded. I felt like anything was better than nothing, if I wanted to make it home safely.

So I grabbed a bag of chips and a can of tea.

Now I'm feeling the after effects.

Yuck.

487: Thinking about...

My diet.

Not "a diet".

My diet.

When I get home, I'm gonna write my diet affirmations on a sheets of white paper and tape them to the walls in several rooms:

Today I will only consume food and drinks which I believe will create and sustain my optimum health and healing.

Thank you God for making these items readily available to me.

And so it is.

Amen.

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486: A day of...

...Bliss.
 
Today is a good day. Nothing pressing on my plate.

Another funny dream this morning and I awoke in a panic, thinking it was Saturday and hoping I wasn't late for a much-awaited excursion with my church family.

Thankfully, five hours of sleep will be enough to last until my next dance with the Sandman.

A smoothie for breakfast would have been perfect but waking up early gave me a false sense of time. Instead of eating, I did other stuff. Before I realized it, it was time to get dressed to take my daughter to work.

But I managed to snag a bowl of watermelon for the road. So far, so good.

One of the Facebook pages I "subscribe" to announced Harris Teeter's Super Doubles Days. And I wondered where I would find coupons since I neither have printer ink nor do we get a Sunday paper.

God always makes a way.

I was sitting here at the library, at a station that has been without electricity since this branch re-opened this summer.

Only I wasn't aware that the power hadn't been restore until I plugged my laptop in.

I packed my bag and strolled the premises several times, in search of an available station with an outlet. Not one.

Finally I sat in the open area near the front door.

I saw a sign...

Literally.

It said:  Help yourself to Some of these Money Saving Coupons!

Aha!

Just what I needed.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

My fingers dove lovingly into the pile.

It was a goooooood pile too. I found more than 20 coupons I will actually use when I get to  Harris Teeter early tomorrow morning.

Amen.

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485: Today I am Inspired to...

Many thanks to my new blogging sister Georgia for such an inspirational post!

She has inspired me to create a Day of Happy Hypotheticals.

Here goes...

Today will be a wonderful day filled with positive energy, love, love, and more love. Lots of peace too.

Today I will:

1. Smile at everyone I cross paths with.
2. Radiate peaceful energy to the universe.
3. Treat Baby Bliss to a nutritious lunch when I pick her up from work.
4. Remember to make up the bed so it feels fresh when we get back in it.
5. Polish off the remains of our home made apple pie (thanks Mr. Bliss!) with the other Bliss while we laugh at the questions and answers on Family Feud.

 =)



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484: Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

If my husband would stop snoring, I could go to sleep...

*Insert sad face here*

483: Aha!

Maybe they were wearing magic glasses.

Who knew... 

Wear Sunglasses to See Better When Driving in the Rain

482: Thank God for yesterday!

Sometimes dwelling on the past is a good thing.

Today was a good example of such.

Around 3 a.m., my eyes were hurting so I figured it was time to turn off the telly and put the yarn and hook away. I also knew I had to be up by 10 a.m. latest, to get Baby Bliss to work on time.

Since I was already on the couch and Mr. Bliss has been working the No-One-Has-a-Clue-What-Time-He's-Getting-Off shift, I decided to sleep on the couch.

Which may or may not have been the root of the problem. The theory shall be tested soon.

When I woke up five hours later, I was not a happy camper.

*sigh*

Having bad dreams is such a bother. And it was a strange bad dream too. Not so much the details as the tone of it.

I'll detail it below and though I dabble in dream interpretation, I welcome any thoughts any one else has as well.

***

First, it had elements of several movies: Knowing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Legion, The Happening...

It started with Mr. Bliss and I in an empty room on the ground level of a house or business.

The walls were white or very light colored and the room seemed empty except for he and I. We were naked (or almost), with my husband embracing me from behind. We were facing a door flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows.

I looked outside and saw a man in a truck. He appeared to be watching us. I asked Mr. Bliss if the man was watching and he said yes.

We decided to cover the windows. I found lots of light-colored fabric on hangers and picked it up. I wondered how I would hang it because the windows were high and I didn't have anything to secure the fabric with.

Creepy how the man from the truck (and I think another man) appeared in the room, behind us.

He began talking about a drug he wanted us to take, making it sound like it was something fantastic. We refused but he managed to give me some kind of shot with something from a tube (like the ones I've seen some indigenous people use with blow darts).

I immediately got angry and wanted to hurt him/them. I think I told my husband to detain the guy(s). I think I tried to fight the one who drugged me but eventually he/they left. Suddenly my husband and I were clothed and we left the building too.

We knew we had to leave the building.

We were standing close to the door of the building we left, which opened onto a big square like the end scene in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (the version with Donald Sutherland).

I noticed a huge pond in the middle of the square.

Then I noticed that people seemed to be dying by being slammed (or slamming themselves) against some kind of barrier (shades of "The Happening") but I could only hear it, not see it.

Suddenly I saw bodies appearing on the pond, which had frozen.

Once we stepped out into the street, men began coming from various directions to harm us (reminders of the men from "Knowing").

It became a lucid dream of sorts. I told myself it was a dream and tried to wake myself up because I began feeling very afraid, like if I/we was/were killed in the dream, something equally awful would happen in real life.

I think I managed to wake up for a few seconds because I have a vague memory of seeing a superimposed image of my real life surroundings. But I got sucked right back into the dream. It was like I was struggling against an invisible barrier while underwater. It was awful.

When the dream continued, Mr. Bliss and I managed to elude the men but then ordinary citizens began pursuing us. Not in a pack or continuously, but sporadically, like letting us know that even if we escaped we would never be safe.

There was an old woman, like the one in the early diner scenes in "Legion" who came at us.

At that point, I know I was in a panic. I don't remember having a conscious thought of "what the hell are we gonna do now?" but i opened my mouth and began chanting "nam myoho renge kyo".

The old woman began convulsing and was unable to continue towards me.

My heart sang as I realized we were safe.

I became a little frightened when I forgot the words but the people around me began to chant as well. The sound spread until there was a multitude of voices chanting in unison.

***

I don't know what the dream means but a literal interpretation would say it's time to start chanting again.

When I began studying the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin and chanting in the early 90s, the first thing I chanted for was a cessation of the nightmares I had had almost every night since childhood.

It worked.

My Buddhist practice and study has been dormant for a long time now. Maybe 10 years. I've had a few nightmares in the years since but very few compared to the number I had before I chanted.

Hmmm... I just had a thought.

Perhaps a metaphysical interpretation could be:  there's something I need to focus more positive energy on (represented by the chanting), in order to keep the negativity (represented by the scary/bad people and incidents) at bay.

Does this all bring me back to why I'm thankful for yesterday? It should, shouldn't it?

Yesterday was warm and sunny. Today was cool and rainy. Flood-y rainy.

It started out as cloudy but progressed to pouring in time for me to drive my daughter to work. When we were pulling off, I kept thinking how this was the first time all summer that we had to head out in such bad weather.

She only works three days a week but I'm thinking that in three months, at least once of those days should have been wet if not stormy. I can't recall either.

Today, visibility was dodgy and I drove slowly with my blinkers on. Folk were flying by as if they had magic glasses that allowed them to see through water and mist.

Worse, my side mirrors and the outside of my side windows were foggy. It was difficult to see drivers who didn't have their lights on.

The drive home was better. The rain was gone and the air was cleaner. Cooler too.

Despite yesterday's heat it was a wonderfully restful day, just as I planned.

Thanks God.

Today's bad dream coupled with navigating the deluge make yesterday a dreamy day of the best kind.

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481: Life is Good.

Early evening yesterday, I was watching Family Feud and looking forward to watching Law & Order SVU followed by two episodes of Burn Notice.

But nature would not be cheated (as one of my exes liked to say). Steve Harvey's antics were not enough to keep me awake. It was time to add some zees to my sleep deficit.

When I awoke it was dark; The New Adventures of Old Christine was winding down.

Five hours had passed.

Waking up at 11:30 p.m. is disorienting but not unusual. My sleep schedule is... different. Learning to work around it has become my forte.

So I've been up all night, Facebook-ing and checking my favorite online news sources.

No plans for today since my daughter doesn't have to return to work until Friday and I've already gotten groceries for the week.

There are things to be done of course but isn't that always true?

Today I'm taking it easy and thankful to be able to do so.

Amen.

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