discouragement and recovery

Discouragement comes easily to me. This post isn't about the discouragement, though, so much as about the renewal of hope and patience.

This week I'd been discouraged about the community spirit of modern America, largely for reasons that I won't go into here. But the final straw was that someone stole the big terracotta pot of mint that I had growing on my front stoop (here's the summer savory that survived and is now inside). This was truly disturbing. Stealing herbs on a lark exhibits terrible insensitivity and pettiness; in some ways this mode of stealing because it's convenient or fun or 'there' is even more morally disturbing than stealing for economic reasons. I'm especially upset because the herbs that I grow in Cambridge are my tangible, everyday reminder of my garden in Vermont and my 'real life' there.*

But my sense of patient hopefulness was renewed last night with the election. Democracy in action can be an exciting experience. Still waiting for the results, but I'm feeling optimistic.

Anyways, that's really what was on my mind last night and this morning. But I do have a little knitting content too. As with other projects in life, I get easily discouraged when my knitting isn't going well. It's one reason why I often have half a dozen projects going at once and why I still haven't gotten up the nerve to graft the toes on those socks. This weekend, I was getting discouraged about my lace. I made a subtle enough mistake that I didn't notice it until I'd finished an entire repeat, which had to be gingerly ripped out. Yet somehow I'm keeping myself focused on this one project, and I've fixed the mistakes and am moving forward. Hope and patience.

*For those new to this blog, my main home is with my husband (Mountain Man) in Vermont, but as a grad student I have to be in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the week. That's also why my photos alternate between lovely, landscape-rich outdoor photos and cramped, indoor close-ups.