Here’s a little update on our lives and my crafting. Last evening we went to our local botanical gardens for the twice-monthly dog walk. Since we are members, we do try to take advantage of this for our dogs and our own health.

There’s an event going on right now, gnomes in the gardens and a story. It was fun to see them all set up. There was a selfie area, and I really did try to get a decent picture of Rose and Mr. Ink but it didn’t quite work out as we had hoped.

We tried! As we reached the last story board, Mr. Ink says “And THAT is the end of the gnome universe.” Seems appropriate as that is basically the quintessential “dad joke.”

Naturally, not much time for crafting last evening. But here’s where I am on various projects anyhow. First of all, I finished the singles I was spinning over the weekend.

Because I am not that inspired by them, I decided to let them rest rather than ply them. I had anticipated doing a combo spin next, a 3 ply. But, when I started dividing up the braids I had chosen, I decided I wasn’t feeling it after all. Instead, I pulled out one braid and divided it for a 2 ply yarn.

I’ve been working on it off and on since Sunday.

Then there’s my scarf out of Miss Marja’s handspun. I am working on it at work, and that has been a good space to do that in.

In other news, I convinced Miss Marja to go on a little bike ride with me this weekend! She hasn’t been out in a couple years, so we got her bike up and running, got her rack on her car for future use, and grabbed our bikes and headed to a trail. I took my fatbike, she took her favorite touring bike, and we went around a lake twice. The first round was slow and leisurely the second round we picked up the pace.

And on that note, at the very end of the ride, we had a guy who is part of the “spandex army” try to mansplain trail rules that didn’t exist to us. Guys-don’t do that. Even if the women you are chastising don’t look the part of cyclists, they still may be. You might be surprised that they can keep up with you on a fat bike even though YOU are on a road bike. And, they might actually be in their 40s and will follow you and mock you and make sure you understand that it was actually YOU that weren’t following the rules. And you might have to ride REALLY fast through the parking lot and take off because you had no idea that they were that fast or that they were not going to put up with your mansplaining. And for the love of ALL that is holy, DO NOT call them “girls.” Just don’t.

The prevailing theme of my 40s thus far seems to be sick of everyone’s crap and not willing to stand by while they try to pull it.