String Makes a Great Birthday Gift

My elder sister celebrated her birthday on Saturday. My poor sister.... Because her birthday fell at the end of August, it always felt like the last, rattling, spooky gasp of summer, snatched back from the hungry jaws of fall and the drudgery of the school year. Granted, it wasn't always like that, and I'm sure now it's not like that for her. There's only the ongoing drudgery of work and adult responsibilities, and there's very little one can do to escape them.

For once in my adult life, I got her gift to her before her birthday. Of course, this year it wasn't a matter of finding the gift and getting my arse in gear to get it in the mail to her. No, I was all about getting a jump on things this year, for I started her gift three months in advance.

And used a helluva lotta string.

Let me tell you, Gentle Reader, knitting a big wool blanket during a record-breaking triple-digit heatwave is not fun. To further complicate matters, my feline children did their best to let me know they wanted the blanket for themselves. I was forever having to shoo one or more of them off the thing as I worked on it in the afternoons and evenings. I probably plucked enough cat hair off the blanket to make a whole new cat.

Bucket still tried to claim the blanket after I finished it.

In addition to the big piece of string I gave my dear sister, I also sent along a teddy bear that's probably older than my elder sister that's very similar to one we had as kids.
I can't remember if it belonged to her or if it was mine, but I remember the bear had only one eye and always sat amongst our small collection of stuffed animals in our bedroom in Enid. Dad had brought it home from Otasco, but I don't recall when. I think Mum still has it, boxed up somewhere for one of us to claim and relieve her of. (Fat chance of that happening any time soon.)

Happy birthday, Squeegie!