(Note: The new party line is that if you want to know how mom is, call her on her cell, or email her at her new email address for the official version. If you don’t have her contact information, leave a comment with a way I can get in touch with you and I’ll get the info to you. )
The clock in question is an old friend, this carriage clock, which expired at 4:20 in the afternoon on Monday. I got it when I was “B” in the first duplex I lived in. It was donated by the lady in “A” to my mom’s garage sale because it had a “freewheeling” hour hand that dangled and would only show 6 o’clock. It never made it to the garage sale. Instead, I fixed it and kept it because it played the (Westminster) chimes, and it was a nice looking clock.
I don’t know how long the lady in “A” had had it before the hour hand malfunctioned, but I had it for eleven years and three moves. It used a D battery and it had little hammers that struck little metal rods to play the chimes. But, for the past year or so, I had noticed the chiming mechanism was becoming a bit arthritic and was beginning to falter. Then, Monday, it just stopped and could not be revived. Not bad innings for a clock I got for the time and effort it took to fix it. Anyway, we looked at it for a while. (It’s a nice looking clock). Then Mom said she missed the chimes. (Me, too.) So I got on Amazon and got us another, considerably more expensive one.
It’s a Seiko, about half again as big as the old one, and it’s completely electronic. Runs off a C battery, which is supposed to last it a year. It also chimes at the quarter hour. It’s a good thing mom and I are musical, because the apartment doorbell also plays the Westminster chimes only at a higher pitch (and at a teeth-rattling volume!). However, the clock has two chiming tune options, the other one being the Whittington chimes. If all the Westminster chiming and bonging starts to drive us crazy, we can change the clock to the other chime tune.
In the knitting news, there is knitting news! I have snatched some time to knit on the infinity scarf. I reckon I’ve gotten about 1/4 of it done.
I have gotten yarn (100% pima cotton in black) as the first step to designing an iPocket for my iPhone that will fit around my waist to carry my phone and key card in when I wear leggings (which don’t have pockets). If I can get enough time to have two coherent thoughts in a row, I’ll try to sit down and work out how I want it and write a pattern for it. It’ll be like a strap-on pants pocket, a rectangular bag with a slit opening along the back edge. Stay tuned.
The Owl Underground 
I have a grandmother clock that chimes on the quarter hour, too. Of course, I have to remember to pull the weights on a regular basis. The pulling is no problem; the remembering can be, and restarting the thing is a little more complicated than just setting the pendulum to swinging. I’m always intrigued by how little I hear the thing. I can go for hours at a time without hearing it. Sometimes, I get up and go check it, just to be sure it’s still ticking along.
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