Random Meanderings at Middle Age

Pumpkin Night

This was the pumpkin (s) I carved this year.  I think it was pretty successful.  It's from an idea I got from my friends Mike's daughter and it's supposed to be a cannibal and the other two are running away screaming. 
John did the intricate ghosty one.  We also had a bat, zombie, classic jack-o-lantern and a RIP gravestone one.

Much candy was handed out.  I was indeed Tigger and my children were a Pirate Lass and The Grim Reaper.  Sigh, gone are the days of cute little bears and fairies.  There were some interesting costumes out tonight, a rubik's cube comes to mind.  The Grim reaper has apparently been cloned many times over and our town apparently has a serious pirate problem.  amoung the younger crowd princesses were still in as were various Spidermen, Power Rangers and the like.  One group came as an enitre Wizard of Oz ensemble.  The Wicked Witch in that group wanted to hug Tigger.  Tigger explained he(she) was not into hugging and in fact was not even all that bouncy-I probably ruined her childhood dream of Tigger. 
I also picked up a huge mess o books at the library and now realize I have 13 library books and  24 'to be read" books I own and of course countless mags piled up including the latest interweave Knits!
I forgot to read it to my kids tonight and will do so tomorrow but here's one of my favorite poems and it's best if you read it out loud:

Hist      Whist

       

E. E. Cummings

hist      whist
little ghostthings
tip-toe
twinkle-toe

little twitchy
witches and tingling
goblins
hob-a-nob     hob-a-nob

little hoppy happy
toad in tweeds
tweeds
little itchy mousies

with scuttling
eyes    rustle and run     and
hidehidehide
whisk

whisk     look out for the old woman
with the wart on her nose
what she’ll do to yer
nobody knows

for she knows the devil     ooch
the devil     ouch
the devil
ach     the great

green
dancing
devil
devil

devil
devil

        wheeEEE

Halloween?

Ack!  I just realized October somehow snuck past me and is nearly over.  I have bought the candy for our trick or treater friends.  The kids costumes are all set (mostly store bought-ok- all store bought but not all this year).  I will wear the Tigger suit I wear every year since 1996.  There will be pizza, chips, mulled cider and over 100 kids will be ringing the bell if past years are any indication.

And then I get to enter into my favorite time of year (if you're reading this Mike stop now!): watching the weather for news of snow!!  I live for snow days and cocoa and sledding and snow ball fights and snow men and mostly in snuggling back into the warm house with cooking, knitting, quilting, reading , spinning , board games etc.

Of course, this means we really, really need to get those air conditioners taken out of the windows. 

And for those who keep count-no, we haven't turned the heat on yet.

Sox won. Season ends. Much to do.

I stayed up until the last out and watched the Red Sox win the Series again.  Great game. Lester was amazing.  Lowell was awesome and now with the season over I know that the really cold weather is here.   That means it's time to shake the last remaining vestiges of summer from my brain and get to work.

Today's list of things to do:

• Organize all the clothes in my bedroom (especially the swapping of summer/winter w/ the caveat that I need to retain clothes for the trip to San Diego in December)
• purchase 100-200 daffydill and crocus bulbs
• plant the bulbs
• put the gardens to bed
• purchase 5-10 pumpkins for John and the kids to carve
• try to finish the reorganization of the craft room (which means taking care of the stuff in the music room)
• try to cach up on The New Yorker (6 behind) and The Nation (4 behind)
• Knit,Quilt, Create
• If too cold to walk for an hour in the woods than get to swim class

Now, just writing that has exhausted me.  I need a little lie down.

(yeah, I know, for some of you this is very deja vu)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go...

but I think I ended up where I needed to be." (douglas adams)

Which is not only true in my life (hence the post before this and I must say if I had remembered the Doug Adams quote then I could have made a much shorter and more coherent post!) but true in my knitting!  I should have been working on the shawls (ha!), or the baby jacket (ha!) or John's sweater (haha!) or any number of unfinished objects but instead my heart and my hands embraced the wonder that we call Ruffly Fish.
The pattern is a freebie from Schaefer Yarns, called Lola Rainbow Fish  and it was great fun to knit.  I have an urge to make a whole mess of these in different sizes and colors and then hang them from my ceiling.  I used some Knit Picks Dye-Your-Own that I had dyed using kool-aid and a microwave last summer. 

However, it's time to buckle down and get to the holiday crafting.  I found a great pattern The Felted Gridlock Scarf  that I think might make some great gifts.  I want to make a few hats (mostly whimsical) and other smallish things for family and friends and have already completed a few.  The book  Knit Noel has some great projects and my goal this week end is to pair the projects I want to make for gifts with the fiber in my stash and then do each project (or finish in the case of those already started) one by one.  Wish me luck!

We welcomed in Shabbat last night with what will probably be the last outdoor grilled meal of the year.  We use a charcoal grill (I hate gas) and it just gets too snowy, wet and cold to cook in Late Fall and Winter.  Last night's dinner was:

• chips with guacamole
• apple glazed chicken wings
• balsamic vinegar and olive oil grilled veggies (squash,zuchinni,eggplant,green pepper and onions)
• teriyaki flank steak
• red velvet cupcakes

"Intolerance lies at the     core of evil.
    Not the intolerance that results
    from any threat or danger.
    But intolerance of another being who dares to exist.
    Intolerance without cause. It is so deep within us,
    because every human being secretly desires
    the entire universe to himself.
    Our only way out is to learn
    compassion without cause. To care for each other
    simple because that 'other' exists."

 

   

-  Rabbi Menachem Mendle

   

---

dream small.

Often the sentiment is to dream big, to visualize great things, you can do/be/achieve anything.  It's all wonderful and often true and yet I was thinking about it.  The flip side is I've often heard laments from people who feel they have somehow missed out, or life has passed them by or they just haven't done enough.

Today's epiphany, and it's not earth shattering and pretty much keeps pace with other similar posts in the past, today's epiphany is that achieving the small dreams is pretty wonderful.  Actually, I don't consider the dream of having a family, home and good friends-in short a good life to be all that small but there's nothing splashy about it. 

I like just puttering along, enjoying the kids, exchanging my tired banter with family and friends (well it's actually very witty banter but I'm being modest), knitting, quilting, gardening, cooking, reading, arguing, hiking and all that stuff. 

I like not doing too much and having time to be with the people I love.  Why is just living our lives not enough? 

Dream small.  I can live with that.                                                                                                                

"Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to in the strongest conjuration." charles dickens

Random Thursday

1. Met with my endocrinologist this week at the Joslin and I continue to do very well.  My A1C is 5.8%.  I've lost another 22lbs.  I am off the blood pressure and cholesterol meds. My humalog ratio (this is my rapid insulin) is now 1:10 (it was 1:1 less than a year ago).  My Lantus  (base line insulin, taken at night) is now 18 units (it was over 40 units less than a year ago).  I am more physically active than I have been in years.  Yay me!
2. The foliage has been stunning.  It seems that every year autumn comes a little late or a little early and the colors seem delayed and then wham! it all comes together and New England remains the best place in the world to live.
3. The first game of the series was fun.  I am nearly done knitting my ruffly fish and it's the perfect project for game watching.
4. I am downloading the charts for the two secret shawl KALs I've joined but have not had any time for lace knitting.
5. I have also dropped the ball on holiday knitting and need to resume that.  This of course means that with in a month my shoulder will be out and I'll be on the KDL (knitters disabled list).
6. Ack!  We have a Bat Mitzva coming up in less than 6 months!!  Ahh!!! (Runs around screaming)
7. The new LKH novel, A Lick of Frost is here and it's 9:45am and I have to be at work by 1pm.  I'm hoping she's posted another excuse note on her blog.
8. My "friend" Mike mentioned a series by Phil Folio, Girl Genius.  I've never really liked Mike.
9. The kids are great. They did great on their MCAS (which we are proud of, however we loathe the MCAS).  Emily is currently reading Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials series and Noah is reading Erin Hunter's Warriors series and now that his sister has finished the first Pullman book he'll be reading the Golden Compass as well.  I'm not sure what John is reading, probably something he's read before.
10. Halloween is almost here.  I've put my foot down and insisted that costumes be recycled, updated and created with stuff we have.  I have fabric, fiber, sewing machines and ephemera galor-how hard can it be?
11. Catch you on the funway!

when fall comes to new england

"Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it in all at once.  "

Noah and I spent the day in Lincoln, Ma at the Decordova Museum and Sculpture Garden. 

Swarming masses of scary ladybugs descend upon us...

but I'm not blogging about that.  Nope.  I'm in denial.  I have a meeting to go to after supper and fully expect them to be gone when I return.

In the meantime I've had two walks today, sent the socks of doom off to their victim (and no socks arrived today so I have survived at least one round in Sock Wars!). 

Oh.  I also went to the library, hung out with the kids after school, bought groceries and the like, but who wants to hear about that stuff?

Knitting Drama?

Well, actually it was knitting drama per se, more like various dramas got in the way of knitting.  As I mentioned the other day I'm participating in Sock Wars II and I received my pattern and target on Friday evening and began knitting the socks right away.  By midnight I was about to turn the heel, but my shoulder and arm were really hurting (my guess is between the lace knitting and other knitting against the clock endeavors of late I'd strained things again).  I decided that seeing as I couldn't mail anything until Monday my goal would be to finish the socks by Sunday and that it was doable.  Heh.  Saturday I was zipping along the foot of sock 1 when I decided to take a little nap.  After all, I was on schedule and had all the time in the world!  I was woken from my nap by my daughter who was yelling something like "wake up!  Daddy's bleeding and has to go to the hospital!".  I established some quick facts (the ABCs as it were, he was breathing, the bleeding was being controlled and clearly he had circulation) and actually dressed (quickly), brushed my teeth (quickly) and um dropped the knitting in my bag as I ran to take him to the hospital.  He had managed to cut into his leg (or rather a 2X4 with a piece of metal attached did) while dismantling the Sukkah.  I manipulated the pic above (taken just before the stitches were put in) so that the less attractive parts aren't showing, his ankle and foot don't actually glow!).  You'll note I was able to work on the sock in the hospital. John will be limping for a bit but is fine, nothing important was sliced through. However, because of the time involved in that, a dinner party that evening and exhaustion when we got home there was no more knitting on Saturday.  I worked until nearly 2 on Sunday and wasn't able to knit until the evening but did finally finish sock 1 and started sock 2.  My goal now is to finish it today and mail it tomorrow morning.  Of course, it's possible that at some point today the doorbell will ring and fedex will deposit my socks of doom on my doorstep.

All this means that the second clue for Secret of the Stole has not been worked.  It also means that the thrummed mittens have not been finished and neither has anything else.  I did get to my sewing machine for a little bit on Friday and made a new robot for Noah, a bag for Em and an apron for myself.  I put the camera somewhere safe the other day when cleaning and can't remember where so no pictures.

OK, back to the socks!!!
 

Some stuff.

Cat Bordhi's new and revolutionary sock knitting book arrived today (Thanks Denny!).I've only had a chance to glance at it but cannot wait to start pushing my sock knitting skillz to the next level.  
I've also finished knitting clue #1 on Secret of the Stole and plan to start on the second clue as soon as it arrives in my inbox tomorrow.  That said, Sock Wars will commence on Saturday and will be receiving my Target and pattern along with the other 160+ participants.  Game on!

I can't remember if I've mentioned one of the unexpected but really welcomed benefits of my weight loss.  I can take baths in our tiny standard size tub again.  I usually drop in a bath bomb from LUSH and  read and what a delight it is to soak in a scented tub for a long time.  Happy sigh.  Tonight's bath bomb had to poems in it...very lovely.

Oh and it's raining and pouring and we have really needed it .  I walked for 40-45 minutes in the rain when I got home tonight and it felt great (and the hot tub felt even better afterwards!). 

Very, one could say horribly, random Wednesday.

I'm not entirely sure how it happened but I am now convinced that summer has come and gone and it has done so with remarkable speed.  It seems like we just loaded up the van for the move to the Cape and now the kids are back in school, I'm back at work and Autumn is truly here.    I guess I was in denial.  Hey, I love the fall but am looking out at the cold, wet morning gloom and wishing it were a beach day.  We had many good beach days. Sniff.

I am nearly done with clue #1 of Secret of the Stole.  The KnitPicks Shadow (in Vineyard) looks lovely and the glass beads are fun.  The beads are nearly the same shade as the deep purple yarn and I have discovered I love beading, something I have avoided learning until now.  Having the deadline of the next clue hanging over my head has given me the motivation to work on the one project until it's done.  Well, work on it when I'm home and have some quiet time.  I can;t talk and do lace.  My travelling or tv watching (mostly House, I've started with season 1) knitting has been old UFOs, socks and the like.  I also need to finish the border and do the icord on the baby tulip cardigan.  I think I said this all just the other day.

O.K.  In reading news I am devouring Steve Almond's latest essay collection (subtitled: rants,exploits and obsessions),(Not That You Asked).  I'm loving it as much, if not more than CandyFreak and fully expect to finish it this morning.  Which means I won't be knitting lace this morning.  Or tonight because I have a board meeting and know better than to bring a lace project.  I'm also reading the latest trashy, werewolf/vampire romance, this one Keri Arthur's Embraced By Darkness (and how odd is it that there are several trashy werewolf/vampire romance series out there so one needs to be clear).  Finally, I picked up The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.  So really, I'm poised for a nice, day off, cold fall morning after all. (and i'm sparing you all the boring I also have the visit with the specialist later today..blah, blah, tmi, blah)

                                                  

Knitters Coffeeswap 3

Hi!  I've joined a lovely swap for the fall, Knitters Coffeeswap 3.  I'm looking forward to gifting my recipient with the amazing hand roasted beans from  a local coffee roaster,Armeno   (they also have a really great wine cellar).  Often, I will start the dough for challah rising just after the kids head off to school on a Friday morning and then hop in the car (still a little flour dusted) and head over to the farmstand and then Armeno's for coffee and wine, the smells inside the roasting area are so heavenly!!

In any event, what follows, as it often does when one joins a swap are the answers to the questionarre posted on the swap blog.

Here are the questions:
QUESTIONS
1. Whole bean or ground? I prefer whole bean, but sometimes in the interest of effeciency (our grinder is small) will buy some ground for an automatic coffee maker.
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully loaded, of course.
3. Regular or flavored? We lean towards exotic regulars but some of the flavored coffees are fine.
4. How do you drink your coffee? Ah, confession time.  I, to be honest, do not drink coffee, although I love smelling coffee.  I live with coffee drinkers and they like cream and sugar in their coffee (which I think is wrong).  I love tea.
5. Favorite coffee ever? Ethiopian Yergecheffe Free Trade from Armeno's, their Indian Monsoon Malabar is a big hit around here as well.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? This households coffee drinkers are often fussy about coffee in the home, but oddly love to grab a cup at Dunkin' Donuts when commuting to work.  Go figure.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Muffins, dark chocolate
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
9. Yarn/fiber you love? Sock yarn (hand dyed), Cascade220, Mission Falls 1824 wool
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Novelty and most acrylics
11. What's on your needles? Secret of the Stole (almost done with clue 1!), Thrummed Mittens and socks using one of this years club colors from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  Oh and the Baby Tulip Cardigan and my husbands Icelandic.
12. Favorite colors? I love all colors, especially brights!
13. Allergies? Bees.
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?No, I'm good!  I think this will be a fun swap and am looking forward to putting together a fun package for my recipient!

Signal to Noise

Emma Bull's wonderful lyric from The Flash Girls, The Return of Pansy Smith (I guess you could say my walk today was brought to you by this album).

Drinking coffee, have to stay awake and think of you
Aching awfully, knowing my perceptions aren't true
If you were what I've made you, not as your acts betrayed you
How could I keep away?
But things still lead me on, a word and then it's gone
What lives here and what's stray?
Tell me please, what's signal and what's noise?