Life's a Stitch

I haven’t talked much about our recent foreign student. We have hosted over 50 students in ten years and generally it is a good experience. Three of the four exceptions have been between the ages of 18 and 19. We are in the midst of one of those exceptions. This student wasn’t adjusting as well as the others, spending her time at the computer or at school, which she wasn’t thrilled about. When I talk about computer time, I mean 12 hours a day, sometimes falling asleep at the computer. I talked with her about balance to no avail. The other night I believed I caught her involved in some inappropriate behaviour in a chat room. The next day we found photos stored on our computer of “indiscreet” poses taken in our home. That was that. We arranged for a transfer in homestay arrangements, but as a mental health professional I believe that she needs more than that so I’m trying to put together some assurance that she gets the help she needs before she gets into further trouble. This misguided child was accessing sketchy chat rooms using her real name and photos.

     For a break we went down to our little place in Bellingham, WA. It is my refuge, but this time we were greeted by a leaky roof, broken gas fireplace, shorted out stove and a drippy fridge. I’ll have to plan a few days in a row when I can sit around knitting and waiting for repair people. I hit four knit shops and didn’t buy one thing. I went with shopping in mind but none of them had what I was looking for; Lamb’s Pride bulky for the flower basket knit along, Heirloom Alpaca in red for a cable scarf, and something black and metallic for a shawl I’ll be making for a gift.

     Didn’t accomplish much knitting, but I did start a simple cable scarf: