Coincidence?

Remember this photo from my July post about Winnipeg? Well, just about the time I posted last, I was feeling a bit down. This being a good person thing, saving dogs, etc.? It can be stressful and tiring, even without proofreading a book to boot. (by the way, to answer comments and questions about loose dogs? The professor thinks I have brought roughly 27 dogs without tags or I.D. to the local humane society in the last 5 years. I've lost count. That number doesn't count the dogs I recognized or who had identification, so I could just bring them home again myself) Of course I plan on doing this good person thing, but a little cosmic reinforcement from people every now and again is nice. Not all the dogs appreciate being found!

Well, I got some wonderful comments from you and emails, too! First, from Winnipeg...see that spinner on the right side of the photo? That spinner's name is Erica. She emailed me this weekend. No kidding. She was surfing the internet and found that photo and her husband said, "Hey! That's us!" Pretty neat, huh? I was so excited to hear from her. The world is not a very big place. Looks like I might already know a Winnipeg spinner who is ready to get together with me sometime after I move.

Next coincidence? A few days ago, I had a dream with some elementary school/junior high school classmates in it. I found one of the people in the dream online, he appears to be a nice person, all grown up, we exchanged a brief email or two, and that was it. Two days later, I got another email that relates back to that school dream. In elementary school, I had a couple of friends named Doug and Kenny. They let me play basketball with them outside during recess. (I had about 8 left feet. It was an act of supreme kindness. They were gentle souls.) Doug's mom bumped into my mom recently, and she dropped me such a wonderful email. She's a knitter, and so's Doug's sister. They even knew of my forthcoming book and patterns. Wow.

Your comments in the last post buoyed me for several days. (Thanks for saying such nice things!) The professor's been running around like, well, a mad scientist, so I've mostly been on my own. The highlights of my long weekend involved serving big dinners Friday night, Saturday night, and Monday night to single friends and a young couple. We've spent too many holiday weekends completely on our own here, with no invitations. At this point we are proactive. If we offer to feed people, at least we have some company!

I also spun some, knitted, and finished a sweater design that I can't blog about. None of it was interesting; in fact, it's all literally blue. (Joanne's blue period?!)

The third coincidence happened this morning...and all good things come in threes? I got an email saying...Hey, what about that Alpaca Ruffle Boa pattern? This Alpaca Ruffle Boa pattern was published online at Magknits, and, as a result, disappeared when the magazine went offline. Not one person contacted me about missing it, so I concluded that reformatting it wasn't worth the bother. I'm fond of the boa; I've knitted it three or four times myself! Today's email motivated me to reformat the pattern in record time. My webdesigner (aka, the brother-in-law) is working on it. We hope to have it available again soon. Thanks for asking about it!

My conclusion? Via the web, I am reminded that there are a lot of other wonderful people out there. Kind people. People who save dogs (and other animals), who remember old friends and klutzy children....and who reassure me when, say, I feel like I'm the only one out there on the street when someone screams. Thank you for your comments to remind me of that!

(Oh, and one last thing. I saw the little dog's owner on the street. She said thank you. The dog is healing up just fine.)