Forgotten holidays

Remembering them is kind of like finding $20 bills in the couch, but only if that happens before the day in question. Fortunately, I did remember Columbus Day in time. Woo-hoo! And a happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving to everyone back at home!

Then, of course, there are the holidays that one forgets (because one doesn't get the day off) until one is waiting to catch the bus to work and realizes that the bus is on a reduced schedule for the day and will only come by once an hour instead of once every 20 minutes and it already passed. Not that I'm bitter from personal experience, of course.

So far I've celebrated the long weekend by finishing the Christmas stocking...

...starting another pair of socks (toe-up socks, based on Wendy Johnson's pattern and adapted for Artyarns Supermerino and 3.25 mm needles)...

...and continuing the log cabin blanket.

I think I'm going to go for a walk now. It's gorgeous out!

My cat, meanwhile, will get high on garlic fumes.


Random thought on culture shock

Speaking of holiday nomenclature, I've noticed some other terminology differences between here in Providence and the places I lived in Canada. It's not just the "zee" vs "zed" thing. I hear people here giving the time as "twenty of" an hour instead of "twenty to", and when I used the word "keener" last week I got a blank look from the other person. I won't even go into the discussion my (American) husband and I had once about the use of "pylon" for those bright orange traffic cones. Are differences like these dependent on region, or are they country-wide?

By the way, keener = a person who is really enthusiastic about something, e.g. getting into medical school.