Sweet Dreams

For the last two or three years, I have had frequent dreams that my fully grown-up children are babies and toddlers again. Some of the dreams have only one child, some have more. Most of the time, they are cute and cuddly, running around and playing nicely, sometimes they are bratty and whiny and crying (just like they were then). Last night's dream involved only one baby - a sort of composite of all of them. I was first holding him on my lap, and then he was drawing nicely with crayons and paper, sitting in a high chair. A sweet dream, and it was nice to be a young mother again briefly.

Two of my boys have birthdays this month, so that childhood in my dreams is getting even further behind us. Doesn't it seem strange sometimes to look at these adults and realize that you have actually created them, that you brought them into the world, changed diapers, rocked them to sleep, helped with homework, and so on and so on. And you never stop worrying about them.

Yes, I know there are only 4 kids in the "before" pictures, but Son3 (the big guy in the white shirt) only came along 6 years later.

March in Like a Lion

Today is March 1, a day I love because to me it means the end (almost) of winter. And what is it doing outside today? Snowing like mad.

Hubster and I live in a condo. Our back deck looks out over a small wetlands. It's lovely in every season, and and beautiful when it's snowing. Here's two photos of the back "yard". The birds hadn't arrived at the feeders yet - we did have bluejays today - the first time I've seen them this year (and for several years actually). Hubster tells me that the bluejay population in CT crashed several years ago for some unknown reason, but they seem to be coming back.

The next photo shows our not-so-lovely front yard. Our condo is the end unit, and the snow gets pushed all the way down the driveway to end up in front of us. So there's this big ugly pile of sand-covered snow all the time confronting us when we look out the windows. We have one parking space in front (which we can't use now since it is covered by the snow pile, so we have to park one car several distances away), and if we have one more snowstorm, we probably won't be able to get in our garage unit as well. The joys of winter!! Although it is really beautiful today.

I'm working at the antique shop today - I'll be leaving in about an hour. We will be open, but maybe we'll close early if no intrepid customers show up.

Fine Oscar Moment

I saw the Academy Awards on Sunday evening, and the high point of the event for me was Javier Bardem's acceptance speech. Short, to the point, and emotional. I loved that after a few brief thanks, he first apologized to the audience for speaking in Spanish because his mother doesn't understand English, and he then spoke directly to her in the audience for several moments. It must have been something special because he had her in tears. It was a lovely and gracious tribute, and I can't wait for his next movie.

Heeeeere's Meme!

Here's my Meme, and the rules for passing it on. (I hope I did this right, Marcy.)

The Rules:- Link to the person that tagged you.
I got this meme from Marcy at http://myquiltsnstuff.wordpress.com.
Post the rules on your blog.Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.Let’s go:
1. During the week, I practically live on crackers and cheese. (We cook only on weekends.)
2. I love murder mysteries, especially the vintage ones like Nero Wolfe and Miss Marple, also Lovejoy (combining antiques with murders).
3. A great sandwich is peanut butter with bananas on toast. Peanut butter is also great added to BLT sndwiches
4. I often start conversations with comments to previous remarks, long after those remarks have been forgotton. Drives Hubster crazy (probably why I do it!).
5. I can’t stop the habit of biting my nails. At least, I stopped sucking my thumb when I was seven.
6. I don’t like air conditioning (although I do relent when it’s 95 degrees/95 humidity). I believe summers were meant to be hot.

Now I am tagging Debbie at www.calicokitty6.blogspot.com, Cindy at www.cindyknits.blogspot.com, Kimberly at http://www.somebunnyslove.com, Judy at http://smatterings.typepad.com, (I met you once at the RI knitting guild meeting), Barb at http://knittingrandma.blogspot.com (because I’m a Grandma too and I went to Nashville once), Honore at http://www.bygoneknits.blogspot.com (because I’m an antiques dealer and love vintage fashion). Feel free to play along with this meme.

My Meme - Wait, Not Yet!

I must be a real blogger now - I've been tagged for a meme! "Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself". Well, first of all, I have to think hard about this - after all, my quirks are very important and thinking of six could be difficult. I know - I'll ask Hubster - he could think of a dozen quirks of mine in a New York minute. So that issue is solved. Now to find time to write them down and think of six other bloggers. That'll have to wait until next week. I'm working at the antique shop today, then comes the IRS and their darn taxes, then I'll be away for the weekend doing an antique show in Holliston. Even my on-line shop will be "on vacation".

Tonight is Knit Night at the LYS. I plan to go for a couple of reasons (actually three reasons). First, to knit (duh), also to interview Jen and take a few pictures of the shop for the RI Guild newsletter, then to find a copy of Ann Budd's sock book. Everyone else is knitting socks, why not me. I did knit a pair of wool argyles back in the very long past day, but none since then.

Now a couple of pictures of knitting progress.

This is the first sleeve of Hubster's Cobblestone. I had about nine inches done and he tried it on and decided the cuff was too loose. So I frogged it and started over with 14 fewer stitches, did the garter stitch cuff, and added back the 14 stitches in the first stockinette row. It actually seems to match the cuff width pretty well - amazing how that garter stitch expands horizontally.

Here's Maisie dress. The bodice is finished, only the straps to knit and sew on. Oh, and the hem to fold up and stitch. And one final photo - this is the moon eclipse, taken from my back deck about 10:00 PM. Not much of a shot, but what can you expect from a small digital camera? (Note: I did use the zoom feature!)

Blast from the Past

I received a Mary Maxim catalog a few days ago - probably got on their mailing list through other magazines I subscribe to. I used to get this catalog years and years ago (maybe 40) when I was a young wife, and apparently they're still going strong. In fact, I could swear that some of the embroidered tablecloths, afghan kits and latch-hook rugs are still the same. Seems to me they used to have a lot of colorwork sweater kits with animals and other patterns, but I only saw two or three in this catalog. But now I know where to go to get that paint-by-number kit for Hubster's birthday (not!). Lots of new stuff showing they're keeping up with the times, but it was like an old friend come to visit.

Humming Engelbert Today

You know, I never was a big Engelbert fan when I was a teenager - I was actually a Tom Jones kind of girl. But his performance Thursday won me over. Today I find myself humming his songs ... Every day I wake up, then I start to break up..... remember that one?

Engelbert Sings Again

Last night Hubster and I went to a performance by Engelbert Humperdinck at Mohegan Sun casino. I made a comment to someone I met in California that we had tickets to this, and she commented: "Oh, I saw him when he was young!". Well, we saw him when he is "old", and he's still got that great voice and all the right moves. It was a great show, lots of his oldies and some standards, and a few new things. He made some jokes about his appearance - his hair is pretty thin on top and he's a little bulgy at the waistline, but you forget all that when he sings. Even Hubster enjoyed himself - laughing, applauding, even whistling a time or two until I made him stop. And I even came away with $9 profit at the poker machines!

Home Again

After a very long day-and-a-half of travel, I got back home at noon on Saturday, and I've been trying to catch up every since. There always seems to be too much to do after two weeks away from home. So here's a few pictures from the trip.

First was four days in the Seattle area visiting S1, Tod.

One thing I wanted to take back from this trip was Debbie Macomber's pattern book based on her novel "A Good Yarn". She lives about 20 miles from S1's home and I was sure the local yarn shops would have it. Well, no luck. One shop was closed, and two others didn't have the booklet I had my heart set on, so I'll have to get it from her website. However, I did buy yarn, as you can see.

This is recycled sari silk - it's rather heavy and stiff, but I loved the colors. It might be good for a small purse.

This is Ritratto, a mohair/synthetic blend, also with gorgeous colors. It's lightweight, maybe for a lacy small scarf or neckpiece. Then a trip down the coast to Los Angeles, to visit D2 Diane and cutie GD5 Maisie.

This is Maisie holding up the cotton sundress I'm knitting for her. I've almost finished it now, just a couple more inches to add to the top, plus the straps. Would you believe the only day it rained was the Sunday morning we had planned to go to the Ventura Flea Market. But we found plenty of antique shops in Ventura anyway. This is the beautiful mission of San Buenaventura, and below is the altar. You can also see parts of the side altars and the lovely painted beams. It's still very much in use as a local church.

The third part of the trip was an Elderhostel tour with a group of 28 others. I've always had a good time on these trips - this was my seventh. We've gone to England twice and Canada twice, plus two US trips. This one featured a boat ride to Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of California.Here's one of the dolphins who swam alongside our boat for a while. The tour also took us to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. I've got lots of pictures but it's impossible to choose one that shows everything, so I'll show just one - my favorite place. This is the inside pool, completely surrounded with blue tiles, including the ceiling and the sides and floor of the pool. Marble statues accompany the swimmers. My mind is still boggled by the beauty of this watery room.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous, these are male elephant seals on the beach at Piedras Blancas. There were hundreds of them, males, females and newborns, sunning/mating/fighting/nursing just 10 feet from the walkway at the edge of the parking lot. They have no enemies on shore, so are absolutely fearless and simply ignore all the people watching them.

The cobblestone sweater for Hubster is on hold until I finish the purple sundress.

I almost forgot to show a picture of the airplane knitting I did on this trip. It's the Rowan Kidsilk Haze which I bought in Edinburgh. It's a very simple pattern, 2 knit rows, 1 purl row and 1 pattern row, repeated.

It's good to go away, but it's better to come home.

California with Love

I'm in sunny California (and it really is sunny) after snowy Seattle.  We didn't get to Mount St. Helens as planned because it was snowing in that area and access would be limited.  Got to a couple of antique shops and yarn shops.  I wanted to buy Debbbie Macomber's pattern book, but the shops didn't have the one I wanted.  I'll get it from her website.  I bought another Debbie book from a used bookstore though - she mentions knitting in it but only a little bit. 

I'm glad I brought my granddaughter's sundress to try on before I started the top, as I had to add 2 more inches to the skirt - she's taller than I remembered!  I took a photo of her with it, but can't figure out how to get photos onto the blog from my daughter's computer, so that will have to wait until next week when I get back home.

I have sold my loom since I've been gone - a very nice woman from Maine emailed me about it (had seen my ad), and she picked it up from the Antiques Marketplace shop where it was in my booth there.  She got a good bargain on it - about 1/3 what I originally paid, but it was time to let it go.  

That's all for now - we're off sightseeing.