Think the rain'll hurt the rhubarb?

I don't know if that's a Midwestern colloquialism or just a family one, but I've heard it all my life during periods of rain. Around here? Not so much. Regarding the rain, I either hear, "Boy, we can sure use it!" or "If it don't [sic] stop, that river's gonna flood for sure."

What does rain have to do with running? Squishy sneakers. Sloppy socks. But how would I know? Because I've never run in the rain! One time last spring it started sprinkling toward the end of a run, but this? What we have today? This is rain, people.

Boy, we can sure use it.

So I'll be venturing out a little later into new territory. I'm sure everything will look different with the glowing patina of wetness. I guess I shouldn't have complained about my boring routes yesterday. Proving, once again, that you should be careful what you wish for.

Y'al know this is a [mostly] no-whine zone. Laura, I've used MapMyRun rather laboriously in the past. Dial-up? Sucks. [And so glad Sophie's doing better!] It's probably faster to get in the car and drive around for an hour, measuring distances and avoiding hills, than it is to use the site, as cool and wonderful as it is. For anyone out there who has a high-speed connection, though, do check it out; it's a great resource and one of those ingenious [and free!] ways the internet makes life so much easier. And earth-friendly! 'Cause sitting on your ass mapping a run burns way less fuel than sitting in your car.

And now, for something completely different …

Guess who's posting again in the diet blogosphere? JuJu! She's moved her blog to Wordpress and I know I'm not the only one out here who's happy she's back. And, get this, she's also knitting! Obsessively!

And so have I. This weekend I finished a pair of fingerless mittens and two bookmarks. That may not sound like much [and the bookmarks weren't; I was just trying out a couple of lacy stitch patterns], but the mitts were stranded colorwork, which requires constant attention to detail. When I was on the thumb of the second one, I saw a teensy-tiny error on the first one, but couldn't figure out how to duplicate it. So … I'm just following the tradition of Middle Eastern carpet weavers, who incorporated deliberate flaws in their work because only Allah could create anything perfect.