Another gray day out here in the Richmond... we've been spoiled lately by really excellent sunny weather, so I can't complain now that the rain is back. Yesterday we had someone out to trim the trees on our sidewalk strip, and I was very impressed by his abilities to climb and saw and chop despite pretty consistent heavy rainfall. He did leave after the first tree and will be back again for the other; it was just too wet and chilly. Still quite impressive to me as I sat inside with my coffee and throw pillows.

I am definitely ready for spring, as evidenced by my recent purchase of samples from luckyscent.com. (I love perfume samples as a really cheap and easy treat. I've ordered samples from Aedes in the past, too, and have been impressed with each shop's selection.) This time around I tried a few by Commes des Garçons, who are known for being totally out there, just avante garde and really unusual. The scents I tried were Play, Rhubarb, and Sequoia. Sequoia was a little disappointing because it was so heavily cedar wood, and I just don't think of redwoods and cedars as smelling the same. At all. I'll have to try it again, on a cool foggy day, and see if my first impression stands up. Rhubarb I found simple and delicious, a possible full bottle buy, and Play was extremely interesting. I will have to try that one again as well, but on a sunny bright day. It's positively carbonated!

In a decidedly non-spring move, I've also been knitting quite a bit. There are babies on the way (none mine, mind you!), and little hats and socks to be completed. I also have two three lace projects on the needles, all of which I am enjoying immensely. There's Obstacles (rav) for Mr T, in a lovely color In Vino Veritas. Also a little woodland shawl based item for myself (it might be a cowl, I'm not sure yet) in an insanely gorgeous gold-green squishy delicious yarn. And finally the intimidating but very do-able Queen Silvia shawl (rav) which is going to take most of this year, if not all of it plus some of the next. It's so lovely that I don't mind - someday it will be a truly cherished piece of "omg, I did that?" knitting.

And in one more breakneck turn of topics, Formula One: I'm very disappointed by the decision to bring MacLaren in front of the FIA for possible fines. Backstory is that last year's world champion did something during this year's first race that was... questionable, but not obviously wrong. When asked by the media, he gave one account, and then when asked by the race stewards, he gave a different one, probably under instruction from his management. His team have already been docked all points for that race, and a senior member of his organization has been fired. Now the rulesmakers want to punish them further. I am no MacLaren fan, but I don't understand this. It sheds suspicious light on the FIA World Motor Sport Council, encouraging the existing perceptions that a) they truly support MacLaren's rival team Ferrari and aren't particularly neutral at all, or b) there is some institutional racism at play (the driver who provided false accounts is Lewis Hamilton, the first black driver in F1). Neither is flattering to the sport and I hope that they allow the current punishment, the removal of points, to stand as sufficient.