First things first–it’s my parents’ 45th wedding anniversary today, and Mom wrote out the story of their wedding day, with all its crises and madcap adventures over at her blog. Dad sneaking off to catch the World Series’ scores. His tuxedo being tailored for a man about 5″ shorter. The wedding ring almost being sent down a sewer grate by a city bus. The guests having to lift a Volkswagen out of the way so my parents could leave the reception… Go take a look! (Maybe if enough of you ask, she’ll write up the sequel about the honeymoon, scheduled around sporting events telecasts … and don’t forget to ask about their tour of the White House.)

Then–I haven’t shown you any knitting pictures in a while. I’m working on the Monteagle bag from Mason-Dixon knitting.

And also the Cardi Cozy from Mason-Dixon Knitting. (Both patterns from the new book, of course.)

I will say that I’m getting frustrated by the Cardi Cozy–it’s well nigh impossible to figure out exactly where the raglan increases go. It’s not that I can’t “read” my knitting, either, but the numbers just don’t seem to match up, and I’m coming up to a point where the instructions say, “Increase until sleeves are ___ stitches, then only increase on fronts and back.” But, um, since I’ve had to completely guess as to where the raglan increases ARE, how can I really know how many stitches are in the sleeve sections? If it was just a matter of stopping the increases when I hit a certain number of stitches, no problem, but the increases stop at different times … So, I’m getting frustrated. And it’s not like I want to try frogging the Kid Silk Haze, you know?

Chappy, of course, has been very helpful–he heard me getting frustrated and immediately came over to be consoling, and then sat down to protect me from whatever might be coming through the door to further upset me. Isn’t he a GOOD boy!

It’s been a nice day, all in all. I spent an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen. (Pancakes for breakfast. Baked and frosted the cake. Ate lunch. Made tea. Cooked pot roast for supper.) My sister dropped by unexpectedly with cookies and an anniversary gift. (Two hours in the car, and about 15 minutes here in the house. She gets good daughter points, too!)  We all went out for a walk at about 4:00. According to my sister, it was sunny elsewhere this morning, but not HERE. She was surprised when it got cloudy when she was about 5 miles away. WE were surprised to hear that there was sunshine to be had so close to home. But then, that’s the way the weather’s been this weekend. (You saw yesterday’s pictures, right? With Kim and Jessica all bundled up? Not to mention wearing my braid of roving as a scarf because her neck was so cold?)

Anyway, don’t forget to go visit Mom’s blog!

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:45 // 6 Comments »

So, the negative about pulling out so many old, favorite knitting books to write reviews about them? My already-overflowing bookcase has started disintegrating into chaos. Because it’s overflowing to begin with, I’ve got horizontal piles of books, and piles of books balanced on the top … not to mention the knitting magazines overflowing their holders. The extra bags of yarn that have been piled there haven’t helped matters, either.

Then, I’d pull books out, and somehow, they would lose their places and there wouldn’t be room to put them back … As I say, chaos.

So–an hour or so of work later, at least I’ve got everything more or less tidy. The yarn is organized and all in the appropriate bins at the top of the closet and, for the moment at least, the books mostly all fit. (Um, we’ll see how long that lasts!)

Also? Today would have been Katy’s birthday. I know, I tell you this every year, but for some reason, I’m really missing her today. Or at least, right NOW.  So, here are some (blurry) photos-of-photos of her because, darn it, she was so beautiful….

• Tags: Family, General, Katy, Jilly, Muppy • Permalink:(Re)Organization // 8 Comments »

It looks like a perfectly innocuous little corner, don’t you think? The edge of the dining room table, some of the rug, Chappy’s chair with its (crooked) slipcover … Yet, earlier today, it was the site of mayhem!

Because, um, while I was carrying in the baking dish full of manicotti this afternoon, it sort of jumped out of my hands.

No, seriously. I did NOT drop it. It was, however, not as secure in its holder as it might have been, so even though I was carrying it very carefully, and I had my hands (in their oven mitts) on the edge of the pan, as I leaned toward the table to put it down … the baking dish literally somersaulted out of the carrier and landed on the floor with a big splash of tomato sauce.

Um, you’d be surprised to know how very far that tomato sauce can go. Luckily, the dish–even though it somersaulted downward–stuck the landing, only losing one or two pieces of manicotti on the way down, while most of them stayed more or less in place. But, the resulting splash of sauce? Me. My shoes. My chair leg, the table leg. the side of Chappy’s chair. The drape. The window! We found tiny drops far up the window! The floor and the rug for miles around the crash site. Pretty much everywhere.

Chappy, naturally, immediately volunteered to help clean it up, but he got a mouthful of very hot cheese filling and promptly dropped it back on the floor–after which, his Grandpa came over to grab hold of him to keep him out of trouble. My brother-in-law and nephew stayed far out of the way, while my sister, niece and I tried to help Mom clean it up. Towels. Paper towels. Vacuum cleaner. The other vacuum cleaner. More paper towels … then we took a break, draped clean(ish) towels over the worst of the mess and ate dinner. What was left of it.

Then, more vacuuming, more scrubbing, and tons of Spot Shot–a no-doubt environmentally-corrosive cleanser, but one that does fantastic work on stains. Like, say, tomato sauce. (Or doggie diarrhea, like poor Jilly used to suffer from.) The worst part about Spot Shot is that it smells just terrible–not only is that smell mentally tagged in my brain with “Poor, Sick, Dying Jilly” but it’s STRONG and isn’t something I can sit near. So, I spent some time out on the deck, taking pictures of Chappy playing with his cousin. And with my sister! That almost never happens.

Um, after that, we ate dessert in the kitchen, away from the smell, and I was VERY careful carrying the bowl full of berries over to the table! Afterwards–even though by now I was pretty tired (as was everyone else because while we were scrubbing, my brother-in-law was doing yard work)–my nephew wanted to go for a walk, so Chappy and I went along. And, um, my nephew is over 6′ tall now and has long legs, so we walked rather faster than usual. We stopped, though, at Chappy’s favorite neighbor’s house–they had the whole family over and were sitting outside eating cake on the lawn–so we went and said a quick hello. And, while Chappy was saying hello to their 1-year old grandson Matz, he politely turned his head and threw up on the lawn.

Well, at least it was better than throwing up on their grandson! And we were walking kind of quickly on full stomachs. Anyway, we came home, the family left, and Chappy got a cool bath–right after he threw up in the bathtub, too. (Hey, at least that was easy to clean.)

Oh, and the visit to the LYS yesterday? That wasn’t actually my idea–my niece said she wanted to knit a sweater. Well! Far be it for me to stand in her way! I pulled out Custom Knits (since it was right on the top of my pile anyway) and she really liked Ingenue, and decided that we thought Cascade 220 would work for that and that it wasn’t that expensive, and so that’s why we went to Modern Yarns yesterday. It wasn’t for me. It was for HER. Because that’s the kind of aunt I am. (Hey, I let her get the 10%-off credit for hitting 5 miles on my yarn card.)

Um, but, naturally I couldn’t let her buy yarn and not buy some myself, right? AND what if she had questions on the pattern? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to answer if I were making it myself, also? So, that’s what that pretty blue yarn from yesterday is going to become. You know, in case you were wondering.

And, gosh, for some reason, I’m a little tired!

Now, I just need to figure out how to get tomato sauce off my favorite little blue Mary Jane shoes…

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Tomato Explosion // 4 Comments »

There’s a story to this necklace.

Once upon a time, my grandmother (Dad’s mother) wore this necklace just about every day. None of us is exactly sure why–did she make it herself? Did someone make it for her? But she obviously loved it. My mother would ask why, when she had so many other, nicer necklaces, she wore this one so often, and she would just smile and say she liked it. This drove my Mom a little nuts, and she grew to dislike the necklace.

When my grandmother died, though, my dad and uncle set up an estate sale to clean out the house and, on the last walk-through, Mom saw this sitting on Grandma’s dresser. The memories of Grandma wearing it ALL the time came flooding back, and suddenly, she just couldn’t bear to leave it there for strangers, and so she tucked it into her purse.

My sister has had it for years now, and pulled it out on Saturday so I could photograph it–and the whole time, I thought about my Grandma, and how she wore it just about every day. I don’t care that it’s just a string of buttons and beads that a kindergartener could make. (And, who knows, maybe one did?) It’s precious because it was hers and it meant a lot to her.

Of course, I can’t find a picture of her WEARING the necklace. Apparently most of the pictures I took (with my really grainy, low-tech cameras back in the early 1980s), were on special occasions when she DID wear her nicer jewelry. Isn’t that ironic? But, trust me. She really did wear this all the time!

Oh, and just to prove that I DO still spin…

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Grandma’s Button Band // 6 Comments »

Just some pictures from our day. Again, we saw the usual group of me, Chappy, Mom, Dad, and my sister’s family with the added bonus of my Aunt, my cousin Dianne, and my other cousin’s daughters who have been visiting NJ.

I particularly like the picture of Elizabeth sitting on a chair INSIDE Chappy’s crate. And the one of Chappy blowing a big, drool bubble. Chappy made quite an impression, especially on 9-year old Elizabeth, who is a little ball of energy. So much so that, when she climbed into Chappy’s crate and zipped it closed, her sisters, aunt, and grandmother all encouraged her to stay in there so they could have some peace and quiet (grin). The older two girls are twins who’ll be 14 in October, and are both very nice, very polite, very well-spoken young ladies.

We had a great day. We even went down to the stream at the back of the property–something I haven’t done since around the time my sister moved in 18 and a half years ago. I’d forgotten how lovely it was back there. My cousin–who got lost on her way up to my sister’s–followed us back to Route 80 on the way home. Mom even took a picture of them from the back window, which I thought was pretty funny.

As usual, Chappy is just exhausted, but very, very happy. He saw his whole family, met new people who are actually relatives, too, and generally had a great day. Which means, of course, that I did, too.

I also took about 200 pictures, many of which were around Patty’s yard, and I think I’ll pull out over the next few Fridays for Eye Candy.

Knitting for the day? I got almost two inches done on my sock this afternoon, but otherwise, nothing. I haven’t touched my spinning wheel in a few days, either. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that stole–that bizarre construction for the 3-strand garter rows just seems too fiddly and just too much work–especially since there’s no way I can get the ends of that slippery silk completely woven in … I’m not sure where that’s going to go, but my brain is mulling it over, so, we’ll see!

Now, I’m a little tired, too … but I’m sitting here, watching the end of the women’s marathon on the Olympics and thinking, “How can I complain about being tired?” I can’t imagine running for two and a half hours, much less running that FAR in two and a half hours! Sheesh. You know, this is the bad side of watching the Olympics–they’re inspiring and amazing and just wonderful, and yet they make me feel like a lazy slob.

Okay, maybe I’ll do some spinning while I watch … that’s something, right?

Go Michael Phelps!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Cousins // 2 Comments »

Okay, maybe I should rent Susan space on my blog, because lately I’ve been mentioning HER stuff almost more than my own! But, today? Oh, my, you MUST go watch this video. Trust  me. Go watch it.

No, seriously, I’ll wait. She had mentioned having the camera crew on the farm in May, the day Truman the lamb was born, in harrowing circumstances. The video is produced by Etsy and is just charming. It’s well put together, it’s got nice music. Watching the baby goats leaping around the barn is delightful, the scenery (being Martha’s Vineyard) is naturally wonderful, but the best part is listening to Susan talk about her flock–all that enthusiasm and happiness. And did I mention all those adorable sheep and goat faces? Really, Go Watch. (There are even more pictures which are adorable–even one of the chicken that freaked Chappy out. And this one makes me smile.)

Okay. Enough free advertising for one day (grin). (Seriously, I’m just so happy for her. And that video IS amazingly sweet.)

I’m kind of tired tonight. I put a full day in at work, and then came home and gave Chappy a bath, and then went downstairs to make dinner. But when I opened the pantry … pew! What a smell! I bent a little closer and saw the eye of a very-dead mouse in the trap on the floor. Poor thing. I thought I had smelled something yesterday, and Chappy certainly tried to tell us there was a problem, but we didn’t see the poor thing until today (and, really, I’m trying not to think about it). I, of course, immediately called Dad to come and take care of the trap because, well, that’s what Dad’s DO. Um. Let’s have a moment of silence for the poor, (very) dead mouse, shall we?

Luckily, I was in the kitchen to cook because that helped cover the smell. Chappy’s pot of food, first, then onions/celery/carrots for the leftover chicken dish for the three of us. And then biscuits and blueberry scones baking in the oven. All of which helped with the smell.

By the time I was through with all that, I was even more tired but–how could I have left any of them out? Especially the bath. Chappy really needed the bath because he finally made up for the disappointing weather for his birthday party last week and got his cousin in the backyard to play.

They had SO much fun!

Luckily, this was over my lunch break because I was HOME, so I grabbed my camera, added the telephoto lens and proceeded to take about 115 pictures.

Some of them, of course, are better than others, but my nephew was very patient about all the shutter-clicking. I even caught him smiling a few times. (grin) Did I mention that Chappy’s tail did not stop the entire time they were out there? Though towards the end, it was going about the same speed as his tongue.

Really, though, I’m not sure which of them was having a better time. My guess was that it was one of those even-steven kinds of things because they both sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.

I do need to figure out what my camera settings really should be for action shots, though. I got a lot of blurry-Chappy photos, but not quite so many freeze-action kinds of pictures as I would have liked.

And, of course, I DID have to go back to work … even if I was a little late.

Totally worth it.

Now, for tomorrow? Kim is coming over in the morning for a little bit of spinning–something we haven’t done since January. Considering that we’re only about 3 miles away from each other, and considering that we were originally trying to get together every other week … it seems time to end this 6 month hiatus, wouldn’t you agree? I’m looking forward to it–and so is my wheel! Despite my best efforts, it’s only spun for, what, 20 minutes since April, poor thing.

• Tags: Chappy, Eye-Candy Friday, Family, General, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Squirrel // 5 Comments »

Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you about the high school friend I found on Ravelry, after about 20 years? Well, the world is getting even smaller. When I posted the other day about the Bunch of Grapes fire, Sarah saw it and, having just come back from MV herself, posted about it on her blog … where Joan read it and told her she couldn’t believe Sarah read my blog and that she and I were good friends in high school. Because it turns out that Joan and Sarah are good friends, AND that she and Jessica went to library school together. What are the odds?

But wait … there’s more! At just about the same time, I saw a post on Copyblogger about good articles for freelance writers to read, and one was a link to Julie over at Writing Roads–a blog I hadn’t heard of before. In her post, she mentioned living on Martha’s Vineyard. Naturally, I had to leave her a comment. I mentioned Mom’s blog, and she replied with two links–one for the MV Fiber Farm, which I naturally know all about–but it turns out that she and Susan are good friends, and that Susan is all excited that she and I found each other.

I tell you, this world is getting smaller and smaller all the time. But, how COOL!

You’ll all be glad to hear, I’m sure, that Chappy had a good birthday.

  He had his family home, got out for a walk, played with his toys, got lots of extra attention. Not to mention popcorn. And half a cheeseburger with his supper.

He even got another present–a new blanket for his favorite chair.

Not to mention a little more cake. (Yes, I think he’s had enough sugar for the day!)

We picked a winner for his RSVP contest, but I’ll tell you about that tomorrow. AFTER I figure out what the prize should be…

And, jeez, I have to go back to work tomorrow….

• Tags: Chappy, Family, Friends, General, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Smaller World // 7 Comments »

 Excerpts from my Journal from 2001: 

7/8/2001

 Sunday. I got an email from Randy in PA today–the puppies were born! Eight, but one was stillborn. He hasn’t had a chance to tally the sexes yet, but he sent me a photo of the happy mom and family. They’re so little. Of course they are, only hours old in the picture, but … tiny. They even still have their full tails and everything … so, let’s see, eight weeks from today is Sept 2nd….

7/9/2001

Some bad news today about Tawney’s puppies. Only one is a girl, and she’s already spoken for. I’m so disappointed. But still, surprisingly quickly, we’ve sort of considered a boy puppy and decided that maybe a boy would be nice anyway. Bigger, yes, but maybe different isn’t such a bad thing? Certainly we’ve come up with more boy-names than girl-names (Edgar and Chappy head the list). What surprises me most is that Mom seems to have no trouble considering a 35-40 lb dog when 2 months ago the thought of a 30-lb female was big. But we believe in the fate thing–maybe someone’s trying to tell us something.

7/13/2001

 Randy sent me a photo of the puppies and a ruler to give me an idea how big they are. Looks like about 6″ from tail to shoulder, give or take. Either way, tiny.

7/28/2001

I got an email from Randy … we’ll be getting one of Tawney’s boys. Chappy, it is! Mom and I will still go out on 8/11 to pick him out, but no more mystery aboug gender or name. I can stop referring to NewPuppy.

7/29/2001

 Randy emailed me two pictures of the puppies at 3 weeks old. What a difference! They look twice the size they were as newborns and no longer all fit in a row to nurse. Their coats are starting to show wavy vs curly fur, too. Even the curly ones won’t be VERY curly any time soon, but they’ve got a lot more crimp to their coats than their smoother siblings. Randy also said that in certain lights you can see the different browns, too (liver or chocolate). They aren’t quite walking yet, he said, but crawling–doggy paddling as he put it–swimming along on their bellies, but they can stand and are practicing walking. Sweet.

8/1/2001

Okay, it’s the oddest thing. Randy sent me a picture of the puppies eating their first meal of solid food (puppy food, oatmeal, and water). It’s adorable–they’re standing, and everything! The first picture I’ve seen where they haven’t been a puppy pile heaped around Tawney. But–and this is the odd part–now that I’ve seen Chappy (whichever pup he is) looking like a Puppy and not just an infant … i almost miss him. I haven’t even met him yet, but some part of me almost expects him to be around somewhere.

8/11/2001

So, we saw Chappy! What a cutie. The drive was about 320 miles, 6 hours. We barely saw Buddy–he gave a friendly, enthusiastic hello, but that was about it. Tawney, on the other hand, was a sweetheart. mellow, very calm. Every time she went into the puppy pen, all the puppies practically attacked her–crowding under her to nurse at every opportunity. Then she’d move away and leave two to four puppies lying on his back or side, looking all surprised. “Drat! She’s gone again. Where’d she go?” She was really friendly, though, and we kept petting her while we oohed and aahed over the puppies.

Ah, the puppies! Tiny–about 5 lbs, maybe? Easily lifted in one hand, with all four legs outstretched. (”Whoa!”) Tiny little heads and noses about 1/2″ long, with a little, button, brown nose about the size of my fingertip. Short little legs with paw-pads about the size of a dime. Soft, puppy coats. Tiny ears, maybe the size of a quarter. Fuzzy blue baby puppy eyes. They nails are tiny little lace-crochet hooks, needlelike,s harp, and curved. The teeth are coming and in and pretty needle-sharp, too.

And then, how to pick one? I didn’t have a love at first sight moment, but they were all so cute! Finally, we picked out two and them around us on the floor–though by that time they were pretty tired and just wanted to snooze. Chappy’s the one I ended up holding and couldn’t put down. He kept snuggling his nose in and snoozing. Randy marked the inside of his ear with red marker….

8/26/2001

 Well, we brought Chappy home yesterday. The biggest news is–we didn’t get the puppy we’d picked out. We went to Randy’s and went inside. The puppies were all piled together and just waking up when we walked in. All those bright little faces. But one of them didn’t want to wake up–he ran away into the corner as the others started to untangle themselves to be charming. And that’s the one we’d picked. I managed to catch him and lift him, but he squirmed to get away. When I put him back in the pen, he ran over to the wall and just lay there while one of his brothers lied down on top of him. There was no way we could bring that puppy home. …

I narrowed it down to two–one of the big, wavy-furred calmer boys, and a smaller curly-coat who was more active. It was so hard choosing between them. Really hard. Finally though, went for the calm wavy-coat. Gave Randy his check and headed for home. We let him sit in our laps for the whole drive. He slept almost the entire drive and the only thing that bothered him was the sun shining in his face.

 We got him home and he immediately started exploring. No clinging like Katy did. He did NOT like his crate and does NOT like being alone yet. He has quite a voice. He cried during supper when he was in his pen and he definitely cried in his crate last night … but when I woke up and could actually see that adorable little face … it’s so cute. His paw pads are about the size of a quarter now, and his ears about the size of an egg. he’s stretched out asleep now, just fitting lengthwise inside the base of the kitchen chair. He tried getting up the step through the front door and got stuck, his hips were level with the doorsill. And every time he sits down on our floors, his hips slide out from under him until he’s on his stomach. And did I mention the puppy bumbling run he’s got, his paws flying in all directions and his middle swaying from side to side? Precious!

(Hey, you know … a Mom can’t help but feel a little indulgent on her boy’s birthday….)

• Tags: Chappy, Family • Permalink:7 on 07-07 // 9 Comments »

Yep. Today we celebrated Chappy’s turning 7. (Although his actual birthday is Monday–and his Party Invitation/contest is still open until then.)

Naturally, the birthday boy got a cake and was sung to. Though, no, he did NOT blow out his candle on his own.

He really enjoyed the cake, though.

Carrot cake, with buttercream icing–his choice.

And there were presents.

He thought this toy from his aunt, uncle, and cousins was particularly fun–it “crinkles” in the middle, like a soda bottle or a milk carton–and since he adores playing with empty milk cartons, this made him very happy.

Really, we all had a good time–though special thanks go to my brother-in-law,  nephew, and sister for doing weeding and yardwork before the rain really started to come down.

His friend Cindy came for dessert, too, which made Chappy really happy.

The only real disappointment of the day? The weather didn’t cooperate, but who can control the weather?

About the fire in Vineyard Haven yesterday? There’s video of it on Plum TV, and it’s just so heart-breaking to watch. According to today’s update, the Bunch of Grapes bookstore looks to be a total loss–in terms of stock, if not the actual building. Susan said on Ravelry today that, “It was a bit of a down day on the Island. Pat and I just walked by BOG after getting coffee at Mocha Motts and it was so sad seeing all the smoke damaged books in the window and the postcards on racks.” Poor Martha’s Vineyard!

On the plus side, she also said on Ravelry today that she’s raised $3000 for her uncle’s wheelchair. Don’t forget, you, too, can be eligible to win her entire stash of yarn (that didn’t come from her own sheep and goats).

• Tags: Chappy, Family, Friends, General, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Chappy’s Birthday // 12 Comments »

Hi. Chappy, here.

I don’t know if you all know, or not, but next week is my birthday and I want to invite you all to a party!

No, really. I love having guests, and the more, the merrier, I always say.

Mom, though, told me that our house isn’t big enough for ALL of you, and suggested a virtual party, instead. Well, it’s not the same thing (is there cake at a virtual party?), but if it’s the best I can do, I don’t want to complain. Because, I want to celebrate! (wag)

So, here’s what I thought we could do. I’m going to invite you–right here, right now–to help me celebrate my birthday. Since you can’t bring biscuits or toys to a virtual party, and since Mom said that it would be conceited of me to ask you all to say nice things about me, what I want is for each of you to tell a cute, happy, funny, sweet, or just generally good story about one of the fabulous dogs you know. (Because, you know as well as I do that my species is just wonderful, right?)

What if you’re a cat person and don’t know any good dog stories? Well, first, I personally don’t understand how you can BE a cat person, but Mom keeps telling me that cats are perfectly nice and that if a person can’t have a dog, it’s still better for them to have some kind of furry, four-legged creature to love which, I suppose, is true. But still, you have to understand that I AM a dog, so if you’re a cat person, I want a funny, possibly even embarrassing, story about a cat you know. Because, they just are all so smug and think they’re so perfect…. (Oops. My prejudices are showing.) But, you know, nothing bad, but something a little embarrassing, like the time they ran nose-first into a mirror. (Be quiet, Mom!)

What if you’re not a cat OR a dog person? You poor, poor human….just do the best you can, and we’ll try to make allowances. (wag)

So, tell me your stories here in the comments on this post and Mom promised that there would be a party favor for at least one lucky person. I’ll personally take time out of my celebrating on Monday (the seventh, my actual birthday) to select a winner, but your story has to be HERE to be eligible. (I’m bred to be a hunting dog, but Mom never trained me to hunt anything more complicated than crumbs on the kitchen floor.)

Isn’t this exciting? I love parties–especially when they’re all about ME. Though, still, I wish there were some way you could send biscuits over the internet…

Hope you can come! My tail is wagging already!

• Tags: Chappy, Family, General • Permalink:Please R.S.V.P. // 26 Comments »

Don’t ask me what it is, because I’m really not sure yet myself, but it’s something, anyway.

It’s being made in the Saffron yarn I got from the MV Fiber Farm at the Festival last month. Isn’t it lovely? 70% kid mohair, 30% cormo and so, so soft. Great color, too!

Okay, so that problem I’ve been having with my keyboard? It’s not going to be bothering me for much longer. Mom’s computer has been visited by the Blue Screen of Death. Tradition for the last, oh, four or five computers has been that when I get a new computer, I pass my old one to Mom. We’ve both been very happy with this arrangement, and with the exception of my D and S keys, and the fact that the battery doesn’t last for much more than 30 minutes, I wasn’t in any rush to get a new computer. Especially when you consider how awful the money situation is. But, then the BSOD struck and since I am (sadly) the family “expert” there appears to be no way to salvage the poor thing. So, as of tonight, I am the preumptively proud new almost-owner of a HP Pavilion DV6871US which should arrive on Wednesday. Mom will then get this computer and since she never unplugs her computer to take anywhere, and she always uses a separate keyboard, the two things that are annoying me shouldn’t be a problem for her.

Now I just have to hope and pray that Vista doesn’t cause me problems. And that the new keyboard has a good “feel” to it (and that all the keys work). It’s a gamble, ordering one without ever having seen it! In the meantime, I’ll make sure that MY backup is current so my files are ready to transfer. Luckily, I was able to get Mom’s computer up in Safe Mode and got her pictures and such copied off the hard drive. And I back up my own computer fairly regularly, AND even signed up for Mozy. But, folks, if you don’t regularly do backups, DO THEM NOW!

Oh, and sadly, this article explains the traffic, flashing lights, sirens, and helicopters this morning. What a sad start for tonight’s high school graduation.

• Tags: Family, General, Knitting/Spinning, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Blue Screen of Death // 8 Comments »

Well, I didn’t get to knit in public today, because we were celebrating my sister’s birthday.

All in all, that seems like a perfectly good reason, don’t you think?

The only bad part? Thunderstorms, which Chappy did not enjoy. They started at my sister’s around 2:00, and more or less rumbled all afternoon. We drove home around 5:00 and got “ahead” of them because it was still perfectly dry here when we got home … for about half an hour, and then it started rumbling here, too. Chappy is SO glad that part is over!

We even lost power for about 5 minutes, right in the middle of a big storm scene in the movie Mom and I were watching. The Black Stallion, from 1979, with Teri Garr and Mickey Rooney. Some of the most beautiful scenery, and, really, what a gorgeous horse. Great music, too. Who cares that they made Alec about 6 years younger than in the books, and put that ridiculous helmet on him in that race at the end? I haven’t seen that movie in years, but I really enjoyed it. I couldn’t help but think, though, that that movie would never get made now. A children’s movie with all those long, quiet scenes of just a boy and his horse? The slow-moving plot with stretches of silence? Not nearly action-packed enough, and yet I’d be terrified to see how they’d “adapt” that book into a movie these days… tiny quibbles or not, the 1979 version is just beautiful. (The sequel, though? Equally beautiful to look at, but baaad.) Hmmm. Come to think of it, it’s been a really long while since I read the book, too….

• Tags: Family • Permalink:KIP (Knitting in Private) // 4 Comments »

Continuing the family “Birthday Season,” today it’s my sister’s birthday.

Now, I took this picture last month, when we were up for my brother-in-law’s birthday. I love the way my sister looks–confident, happy, striding forward with a flower in her hand … but the original picture wasn’t exactly the most flattering for the rest of the group. So … I cropped Patty out and let her be the focus of the picture. I mean, it IS her birthday, doesn’t she deserve to be the main feature for the day?

Of course, I couldn’t leave it there…. We’ve never been on Martha’s Vineyard together (no, really, never), so I tried to find a picture of me that she might like to visit, but the proportions were all wrong … this was the best I could do. (She’d obviously gotten bored with the photo shoot and was wandering off to enjoy the view.)

Anyway, happy birthday to my big sister. I hope you manage to stay cool today!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Happy Birthday! // 4 Comments »

Today, we had a quiet, little birthday celebration for my niece and nephew. Here, Chappy and my nephew are waiting for dinner (the lasagna I made yesterday) to be served.

After dinner, the boys went outside to scrub the deck clean. It’s true, it mostly, really, still needs a power-cleaning, but at least it’s not disgustingly dirty any more (grin).

Chappy really had fun with that (look how skinny his legs look!)….

Or, at least, he mostly had fun!

(Okay, he was just reaching for the rubber broom, but my, doesn’t he look viscious?)

In fact, let’s take another look at that. Oooh … mean doggy! (Just kidding.)

The cake was lit, as was the biiiiiig chocolate chip cookie my sister brought.

Candles lit, and then blown out.

(Most of them.)

I got some knitting done on my cardigan, too.

I’ve got both sleeves started–here’s a close-up at one of them. Stitches picked up along the armhole and joined to the bottom as each of the beginning rows was knit. From here on, the sleeves are knit circularly. I’m working from both ends of the same skein of yarn and now need to decide whether I want to knit the sleeves at the exact same time or if I want to “tag-team” them, where I’ll knit, on 10 rows on one sleeve, then 10 rows on the other, working individually, but without either of them getting too far ahead of its friend. Because they HAVE to be the same length and I CAN’T afford to run out of yarn on either of them. Doing them together is just the safest thing to do. And it’s a comfort having the button bands done and not having to worry about them.

And now we’re all just happily tired. Especially Chappy, who is just exhausted from all that scrubbing!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Birthdaying // 5 Comments »

And, today, my niece is nineteen. Nineteen! How did that happen?

It seems like about 5 minutes ago that she was just a teeny little person. I’m pretty sure I’ve made it clear, over the years, how proud I am of her. She and my nephew both are pretty impressive young adults–and how fantastic is it that they’re part of MY family?? What luck!

They’re coming down tomorrow for a birthday celebration (since my sister only just threw a party two weeks ago), an we’re all looking forward to seeing them.

Chappy helped his grandpa sweep the deck. (Which really needs more help than just sweeping. It’s filthy, but we don’t have a power washer and Dad insists that it’s not worth even bothering using the hose. Whatever.)

I made lasagne for dinner. Mom was going to put it together, but she was helping Dad with something else and I needed to be in the kitchen anyway, so I volunteered.

I, of course, was making something to go into the cake box.

Oh, so while my supper was cooking, I figured I’d run outside and take a Saturday Sky picture–something I haven’t done in a while. So, I stepped out to the front walk, aimed my camera, took a couple pictures, and turned for the door….

And, suddenly, I wasn’t alone anymore. There was a dragonfly, brazenly trying to break into the house in broad daylight! Naturally, I opted NOT to put my hand there to go inside, but of course I paused to take his picture. You know, so that when I file the police report, I can give them a good ID on the almost-intruder. Then, while he wasn’t looking, I snuck around to the garage and came in that way, hurriedly stirring my dinner on the stove before tiptoeing to the front door and making sure it was locked–just in case!

Chappy, I want you to know, completely ignored this entire incident. What kind of watch dog does that?? Of course, he might have been busy writing his guest-post for his grandma’s blog….

Anyway, happy birthday, niece!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Nineteen // 6 Comments »

Happy 15th Birthday to my long, tall nephew. I just can’t believe how fast he’s growing up. Well, years-wise, he’s got a few more to go, but height-wise? I’m not quite sure if he’s caught up to my brother-in-law yet, but he’s at least six-seven inches taller than me, now. He’s funny and smart and loves being outdoors, preferably on his bike.

He loves dogs–though Chappy is (had better be!) his favorite–and he hasn’t convinced his mom to let him have one. He has a bunny named Snowshoe, though, so there’s at least some pettable fur in his life. (Funnily, he didn’t get an angora bunny–why get a bunny if you can’t get spinnable fiber from it? But maybe that’s just me?)

I love watching him with his little cousin Kaitlyn, too. Last year was the first time I’d ever seen him around a baby, and being a teenage boy I expected him to be awkward and stand-offish around a baby, but he wasn’t at all. He was entranced, and I was enchanted.

He’s come a long way in the last fifteen years, but as always, I still think he’s the coolest thing in nephews.

Speaking of cool things, my temperature seemed to be more or less normal most of the day until about 3:00. I came home, said goodbye to the parents (who were going to a picnic in the rain) and then promptly fell asleep for over an hour and a half and right now, my temp is somewhere around 100. Now, naturally, since I was feeling better, I didn’t call the doctor today, but now am thinking I probably should have gotten an appointment, but it’s almost 7:00 so calling will have to wait until tomorrow. I’ve eaten supper (an egg for protein and a waffle with strawberry sauce–using the extra waffle batter from Sunday) and am about to take my shower, and then we’ll see how I feel about knitting for the evening.

Because, I didn’t knit at all last night. I was going to start the sleeve on my sweater, but the next bit requires thinking and I didn’t WANT to think–so we’ll have to see how well my brain is working an hour from now.

I did watch the House season finale last night and it almost made me cry. How I Met Your Mother was a decent episode, too (and Mom and I love the Big Bang Theory). And, no, I am apparently one of the few people in the country who is not watching Dancing with the Stars, and tonight is the Reaper season finale. Even though I kind of lost interest during its long break, I am kind of curious as to how they’re going to tie things together–when they made the finale, they didn’t know if the show would be renewed or not, so I’m expecting a decent amount of closure. So, anyway, it’s possible that I’ll spend my evening with the television and my book instead of my knitting. (Because, of course, if I’m not doing anything else in front of the tv, I’m reading. Because you know me, I’m always reading!)

Anyway, happy birthday, nephew!!

• Tags: Family • Permalink:Fifteen // 9 Comments »

Today was a surprise party for my brother-in-law, who turns 45 tomorrow. We were there, his brother, sister-in-law, and niece were there, and his aunt and his cousin were there. Chappy and 18-month old Kaitlyn were adorable together and a good time was had by all.

And, naturally, I had my new camera with me (grin), and I may have taken, oh, 200 pictures or so … Here are just some. Or, okay, a lot, but, well … it was a good day!

And, yes, Chappy WAS in the crate while Kaitlyn was smiling into it, and he did kind of wonder why she kept shaking his back paw to say hello. And I love the picture of Betty taking the picture of Kaitlyn and Chappy–I was disappointed I was behind them when I realized that the best shot was of the mom TAKING the picture. Love that.

Great day. Tired now….

(I went back to add a picture of Kaitlyn inside Chappy’s crate. She liked it in there!)

• Tags: Family, Finished Knitting • Permalink:Surprise Party // 6 Comments »

I just added a link to Dad’s site, Inhale Now into the sidebar. You can read more about it here. And, send good thoughts, would you please? He lost momentum while he had that bad cold a couple weeks ago and needs some good vibes.

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Inhale Now // 1 Comment »

Look at what I found when I came home today. Two VHS tapes of John Adams, thanks to Jessalu. (No, really, thank you, Jess!) And, of course, she was so concerned about their safety, that she padded the box with a little yarn. Smart thinking, huh?

(Really, sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who’s considered this an excellent–and fun–use of all that novelty yarn. To pull the skeins apart and use it to stuff the corners of boxes. Sure, it would tangle, but who wants to knit with that much novelty yarn?) (And, please, if you would, don’t leave me nasty comments. I just don’t happen to like it myself, is all.)

Anyway, now I’m all excited about watching John. I just have to find a good night to start–one where Mom will be sufficiently awake and interested (grin). I mean, why rush through a tasty treat?? It’s just so nice to have it!

It’s May 5th, as you no doubt already know, and that means it’s the anniversary of the day we lost Muppy. She was our very first dog and died on the day she turned 5 1/2, poor thing. She was a miniature wire-haired dachshund with the prettiest colors in her fur and we are all forever grateful that we took her along to the photographer when we had a family portrait done around 1982 because she pre-dated the good family cameras, and this is by far the best photo we have of her.

It’s a milestone, though, because it was 25 years ago today that she died. A quarter of a century–how is that possible? I remember so many things about that day so clearly, including the silly giggling when I told my best friend on the bus on the way to school. I knew she would think it was a joke, and her laugh was so infectious that I was laughing in self-defense as I told her the awful news. (And, no, she did not laugh. In fact, she cried.) Then, in speech class, my teacher started the class by griping about what an awful morning she’d had–little, normal things like running late, needing gas for the car–then, to change the subject, she asked me how my day was going. “My dog died this morning.” Lordy, she felt just terrible! My father didn’t go to work that day, either–which was one of the first times ever that that happened–and when I got home from work, all the drapes and shades were drawn in the house. It was just an awful, awful day, but at the same time, a really beautiful Spring day, much like today.

After she died, we had her cremated (as the town required), and then buried her in the backyard with a dogwood tree. A pink one (because she was a girl.) It’s looking quite lovely right now, too.

• Tags: Family, General, Katy, Jilly, Muppy • Permalink:May 5th // 8 Comments »

I don’t have much else to show today (since the sweater doesn’t look that much different than it did the other day), but we do have lilacs. Amazingly early, too–usually they bloom right around Mother’s Day which is over a week away. I took that first picture through the screen on my bedroom window, and then opened one of the windows without the screen to take the other two.

Note the pink dogwood tree in the background–that’s Muppy’s tree. She, you may recall, was our very first dog, and when she died, we buried her ashes and marked the place with a dogwood tree. A pink one. Because she was a girl. (Of course.) She’s blooming early too, this year.

Otherwise? If you’re interested, head over to Punctuality Rules and tell me what you think. I wrote a post months ago about a book and misremembered one detail, which was taken as a springboard for somebody else’s post pretty much saying I don’t know what I’m talking about … which I didn’t want to let go without some kind of rebuttal.

And then, thanks to Chris, I just read this fabulous article about the extra space we’ve had taken up in our brains by decades of sitting in front of the television, so that now we have a “cognitive surplus” that we’re trying to fill by interacting.

• Tags: Family, General • Permalink:Lilacs // 8 Comments »

So, you don’t think Chappy should be blond, huh? Well, what about these options?

No? Not even a cute redhead?

I guess we’ll just have to stick to the original.

I mean, really, how do you improve on THAT?

My mother had a fabulous time last night at the Carly Simon concert but today, she barely has a voice. It was scratchy and cough-y from the cold before she left the house yesterday, but after the concert and all that “so loud you have to shout” chatting with her Carly-board friends, today, she sounds just terrible. Poor Mom! Though, I told her you can’t go to a fun, concert event with friends and have a fabulous time on top of being sick and not have to pay for it. Well, today, her throat is paying, poor thing. Still, it sounds like it was well worth it–she wrote about it and posted pictures on her blog, so go take a look!

And it’s lucky, too. Even though I knitted for an hour last night, my sweater doesn’t look that much different than when I posted my last picture….

• Tags: Chappy, Family • Permalink:Warhol // 7 Comments »

Well, Mom has definitely caught Dad’s cold and has been more or less miserable today. I spent most of my day either in the kitchen (waffles for breakfast, pot roast and baked potatoes for supper), or reading. (A book on photography, that book on Photoshopping pictures, and I’m still working my way through the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters.)

Here’s a really interesting article about how shoes are BAD for our feet. Fascinating, and similar to something I read a few months ago. It’s just a shame that I really hate going barefoot (grin). Stepping on a bee, more than once, in a summer when you’re about 5 can have that affect.

That book I bought yesterday, about Photoshop tricks for digital photos? Oh, my. SO worth the money. Look at some of the touch-ups I’ve done with its tips.

Improved the colors:

Improved over-exposed flash photos:

Brightened too-dark photos:

Click for bigger, as always. Already, this book (here’s the link again) is well worth its money. (These changes–practically effortless–and the tip on renaming batches of photos in Photoshop en masse is like a dream come true. I think I’m in love.)

Oh, and then–speaking of reading–there was this.

Speaking of reading, look what I got in the mail yesterday. A bookplate signed by one of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey. I read about the possibility of getting one a while ago and sent an e-mail just gushing, to ask for one.

I … have been hooked ever since. In fact, I just re-read the Pern books last week because, well, that’s what you DO with favorite authors. (The people who don’t understand the concept of “comfort reading” clearly are not real readers.) I have a copy of the Dragonriders game stashed in a closet, too–that old one, with the cardboard markers of each character … You get the idea. I like the knitting references, too, because I’m a diehard knitter and spinner myself. I saw on the blog that Anne doesn’t knit much anymore, but quilts these days, even though she has a stash of needles and patterns in the attic. Well, be still my heart! The very thought makes me drool. And then, of course, there are the other authors that I’ve found because of Anne McCaffrey. I would never have discovered the Liaden series if I hadn’t seen it mentioned, and if she hadn’t written the intro to the multi-volume books that were published a few years ago. She had a blurb on Sharon Shinn’s “Archangel,” too, which has since become one of my favorite books. Really, the number of hours of sheer reading pleasure I’ve gotten either directly from Anne McCaffrey or from virtual recommendations of hers are uncountable. So, while entirely understanding if it’s not possible because of sheer numbers and fatigue, well, I had to at least ask, right?”

But when the envelope came yesterday? Who do I know in Ireland, I wondered. Imagine my delight when I opened it. So cool. Now I just have to decide what to do with it!

And meanwhile, hope that Mom gets better FAST. She’s got someplace she needs to be Tuesday night and has to be better for it! Send her get-well vibes, would you please?

• Tags: Family, General, Reading • Permalink:Sunday Snippets // 12 Comments »

So, that nifty medicine the vet gave us to help counteract Chappy’s car-sickness? Well, five minutes after I gave it to him this morning, he spit up on the kitchen floor. And then again ten minutes later. And again ten minutes after that. And once more just before we got into the car to leave.

As you can imagine, we were feeling REALLY confident when we left the house this morning. We even got all the way out of the driveway before Mom pulled over so that I could get in the backseat with him. He relaxes a bit more when he has somebody to lean against, to help absorb the turns and bumps.

Luckily, he did not actually get sick in the car, though he looked a little queasy for the first hour. Now, the vet had said to give the medicine to him two hours before travelling, and granted, I was only able to give it to him one hour before, so I don’t know if it actually kicked in, or if he finally just relaxed once we were on our way. But either way, that first hour? Um, I’m a little hesitant to try giving it to him again on Monday!

In other Chappy news, the GOOD medicine that the vet prescribed for his diarrhea issues the other day? Somehow that got left at home. I hope he has enough in his system to take care of the problem! Of course, he basically fasted all day—he got a biscuit at a café around 3:30, but otherwise, nothing else before he got his supper at about 7:00. He was hungry!

Anyway, the drive up was uneventful (which is good). The weather is perfect (which is even better). We caught an earlier ferry–which is entirely normal. I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually rode on the ferry over that I had tickets for (grin). Our first stop was Mocha Motts café for a snack and a chance to just not be in the car. Chappy made friends with a little German girl about 3 years old who was so eager to pet him.

The inn we’re staying at, Brady’s, is right near the water, and our room has a beautiful picture window with a window seat. How perfect is that? I’m sitting there right now, looking out at the full moon.

Our room is a nice, large old bedroom. White bead board on the walls, old wooden slats on the ceiling, and some interesting angles in the corners from the peaks of the roof. Lots and lots of pictures on the walls—old photographs, maps, paintings. There are piles of books everywhere, and even an old, manual typewriter perched on top of the desk. Of course, there are so many books piled on it, it’s pretty much impossible to use it as a desk, which is also one reason I’m typing this over on the the window seat. That, and the fact that I just adore window seats.

The inn—which is also Brady’s house—also has a beautiful, wrap-around porch outside which is just beautiful. We sat out there for a little bit this afternoon after we checked in and I was thinking how wonderful it looked for spinning. If I hadn’t been so tired, I might have brought my spinning wheel out there for a while—although I’ve never tried to spin while sitting in an Adirondack-style chair.

The inn also has a resident dog—Amie—a little, 10-year old spaniel who was very hospitable, greeting us today. And who was very helpful about offering to clean Chappy’s dinner dish. While also being very polite about not trying to insist. (Isn’t that helpful?) Also, while we were waiting for our supper tonight—we had placed an order at the Newes and was waiting outside with Chappy for our takeout—a little boy came outside to ask if he could pet Chappy. Turns out, he has a dog at home in Vermont … named Chappy! Such a surprise—good thing my Chappy had a name tag around his neck or the little boy might have thought we were making it up.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a wireless connection anywhere nearby, so I’m typing this on Friday night but don’t know when I’ll be able to post it. For all I know, I’ll be posting everything about my trip on Monday or Tuesday after I get home!

• Tags: Chappy, Family, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:MV Travel Day // 4 Comments »