Getting a grip on things

Have you ever had one of those days, when nothing seemed to work out? Well, I've been having lots of them lately. What's a person to do? Get a grip!

Netflix has brought more British gems to our small screen, and I found this one particularly appealing:


Gripping the lines of a tall-masted ship, sword in hand, is the character I've adopted as my workplace muse: Horatio Hornblower. Whenever a problem comes to the surface in these sea tales, Hornblower takes care of business. He jumps over the side, swims out to it, takes it captive, blows it up, rescues it, plugs the hole, or otherwise solves the problem. Hornblower does all of these things while never losing his gentlemanly cool and remaining completely loyal to His Britannic Majesty King George. Mentored by a fine Captain and supported by other loveable (or sometimes hateable) junior officers, Hornblower manages a bunch of crazy characters who function as crew, all of this while wearing the prissiest shoes you could imagine. I live to see those silver-buckled beauties on the screen. Delicious men, fine seascapes, action-packed adventure be damned -- I want to see the shoes!!

Hornblower is played by Ioan Gruffudd (he says it, "Yo-wan Griffuth"). You can find the movies on the A&E website, and they show them periodically. Keep a weather eye out for them, and I hope you're as inspired by the character's can-do attitude as much as I am.

I'm still working on the second Wildfoote sock, and the cuff is a little longer than four inches, despite my not touching it for the past couple of nights. Let's see how far I can get it this weekend, shall we?