The black walnuts are dropping.

That means there's now an extra step to mowing certain parts of the yard. It also means I need to be more careful walking around - those things can throw you off very easily. I've started a pile of them beside the driveway. It will probably be pretty large by the time they all fall, and then the squirrels will eat them all during the winter. I may pick up a few after the hulls come off, but they're so hard to crack that I may not. I told Lexi that every time she's here for the next couple of months she'll need to pick up nuts.

Knitting:

I had a real bad disappointment yesterday. I finished that lace shawl on Friday. When Alyssa was here yesterday, she picked it up to look at it and said, "What's with the hole." Sure enough there was a large hole two or three inches up from the bottom. Apparently I dropped a stitch that didn't release until Lexi swung the shawl around earlier. I've spent several hours unraveling and trying to get a row of stitches on the needle so I can re-finish the thing. Part of me wants to just drop it in the burn barrel. I really think I won't try anything that delicate again. The neuropathy makes it too difficult.

Speaking of the burn barrel, I took the paper trash out to it on Friday morning and got the fire going. Then I started cutting up some of the tree prunings and putting them in. I got quite a bit burned, but there's still a lot more piled up. In the process, I burned the thumb and forefinger on my left hand. Not bad, but I couldn't knit for the rest of the day, so I read instead. Then in the evening, I used the burn as an excuse not to do any mowing. I took a shower, put on decent clothes, and went to the reception at the Art Guild in Mayfield. I picked Lexi up and took her with me, and then she spent the night here.