Post Thanksgiving/Pre Christmas Blahs

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times. ~Kate L. Bosher

How well she put it! I get antsy this time of year, pressured, scatter brained, annoyed easily, depressed, nostalgic, melancholy, etc. etc. etc. Nothing can hold my interest for long. I want to work on something but when I start I don’t finish it. I can curl up on the sofa all day and watch movies and then freak because I didn’t get a thing done. I just knit a mitten and was getting ready for the decrease at the top. I asked the man what he thought of it and he liked it but I decided I didn’t and frogged the whole thing. The man just shook his head and didn’t say a word. I think he is use to my yearly angst by now and just suffers through it! Another quality I love in him.

Then you listen to the TV and if they aren’t trying to sell you something every two minutes they are reporting how people are kicking each other’s butts for a bargain, or how they are taking your identity off line…how Christmas-y is that!?

There are only 27 days until Christmas (clock here http://www.emailsanta.com/clock.html ) and I have bought three presents and I made two. The man hasn’t worked since May while building the house, which we won’t be in for Christmas like I had hoped, so money is tight. The kids aren’t worried about it but I guess I am.

In hopes of getting in the holiday mood I listen to…http://www.trans-siberian.com/multimedia/video.shtml . I love them, classical yet rocking. I would have loved to have taken everyone to their concert but it wasn’t in the cards this year. Maybe next year.

I normally snap out of this before Christmas so hopefully this won’t last long before I am my normal chirpy self in love with the holiday. . . I am in desperate need of a hoorah type of day.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace,
the celebration of work and the simple life...
a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons,
the beauty of seedtime and harvest, t
he ripe product of the year -
and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.
~Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

I take a lot of things in my life for granted. I don’t say things I want to say thinking that people know how I feel or that there will be time for that later. We are not a “mushy” family. But this year so many of my friend’s lost family members or had a family member that suffered an illness. Our own family is dealing with an illness that a short time ago we never would have believed possible. So this Thanksgiving I am going to tell those in my life how thankful I am for them.

So HAPPY THANKSGIVING and THANK YOU.

The Weekend Cometh

“There aren't enough days in the weekend.”
Rod Schmidt

Lately there just have not been enough days period. It seems like I am always running somewhere, which might explain why I like doing the more portable projects like socks,

and thrummed mittens and I have got to clean my lens because both of these pics have a blur towards the bottom left. The thrummed mittens are from a pattern on line but I didn't thrum from the wrist up like they said to do because everything I read said how hot they are and I mainly wanted his fingers warm. If I make them again I will do it the right way. The first one I made the thrums as I went but the second one I made them all in advance which sped things along.

Had it not rained the whole week we would have had the shingles on the house but this has now been planned for today and tomorrow and some where in here we have to go get a washing machine. I need (yes it surpasses want) a washer.

At the feeders we have been getting more visitors...we immediately got the chickadees and titmouse but the juncos started about two weeks ago and then the sparrows, a wren, the flicker, and the downy woodpecker with the cardinal thrown in for color. He doesn't come often and I have never seen the female. Some pose and others are of the eat and fly variety. And as I sit here I see a movement in the woods...two squirrels chasing each other and a deer is walking by. And as quick as that I realize I should quit my b*tching because as hectic as days can be I have the time to stop and watch natures antic's for a while. It brings it home just how lucky I am. I could be sitting in an office, working in a factory or living in a city. But no I do have the fortune of living in the country and not having to work so I am there to help family and friends when they need it. And now with my priorites righted I am off to chart my day. Have a good weekend.

The Sycamore

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.- William Blake, 1799, The Letters

I got up early on Saturday to help a friend. On my way to her house I was greeted by the sun rising over the river that seperates our homes.

Standing next to her family home is a Sycamore tree. I love these trees. Some people call them ghost trees because they tend to shed their bark down to a smooth white base. This tree is so old that only it's upper branches now shed their bark. The base of this tree is huge. I have pictures of her house from the 1920's and this tree was there then and was already bigger than the house. She is thinking of having the tree cut down as she is afraid it may fall on the house.

I can understand her fear but the tree is in perfect shape. I keep thinking that it has looked down on the four or five generations of her family that have lived in that house. It would be odd to look across the river and not see that tree there anymore.

Well with helping her and then having to take my laundry to my mother's to do (my washer got tired of keeping up with my kids) I have not had much time to do fiber. I did finish the second sock. I started a pair of thrummed mittens and I am up to the decrease at the top on the first one. I am still working on the afghan and I got to spin up some more of the cormo that I had dyed. I guess I didn't do so bad after all.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day or at least the observed day and my kids are going to school. I like that they go to school as they are learning about the day and honoring the veterans in a ceremony other than just sitting at home playing a video game.

Our school is honoring a local man that was killed in battle. His graduating class is dedicating a flagpole in his honor this morning and then there is a ceremony for all veterans this evening. Our school district covers almost 350 square miles but I was still surprised at how many graduates have served. They asked my daughter to come but she will not go. She feels she didn't do anything or do enough. I personally think what they do is amazing. I think of where our country would be right now had it not been for them. So Thank You Veterans.

Indian Summer

"From his pipe the smoke ascending
Filled the sky with haze and vapor,
Filled the air with dreamy softness,
Gave a twinkle to the water,
Touched the rugged hills with smoothness,
Brought the tender Indian Summer
To the melancholy north-land,
In the dreary Moon of Snow-shoes."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tomorrow officially starts Indian Summer. From what the weatherman says it is only going to last a couple of days but I will take that.


The Fog
Yesterday it was rainy and foggy so I rode with my daughter to have her car serviced. While she drove I knit. I was able to get to the toe decrease on a sock done. I finished that last night and I started the second sock this morning. I will have to put that aside now because with the rain from yesterday and the temperatures they are calling for I should be able to finish getting the gardens put to bed. This is the last chance I will get to prepare everything for winter.

"that wondrous second wind, the Indian summer, attains its amplitude and heavenly perfection, -- the temperatures, the sunny haze; the mellow, rich, delicate, almost flavoured air:
Enough to live -- enough to merely be."~ Walt Whitman

Election Day

So today is Election Day. In a little bit I will pick my mother up and we will go to vote.
On the up side all the ads will finally stop and peace and quiet will reign again. I would rather hear a soap/toy ad then people ripping each other apart. Guess I am not the only one...here are so Election Day quotes that I enjoyed.....


Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer

There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen. ~Author Unknown

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. ~W.C. Fields

And for those of you who think your vote doesn't count and don't bother to vote....

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote”
William E Simon

You don't have the right to complain if you don't vote.

Hunter's moon and little projects

The moving Moon went up the sky.
And nowhere did abide;
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside-
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)


Tonight is the full moon. This month it is the Hunter's Moon. According to the Farmers Almanac this is because with the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can easily see fox and the animals which have come out to glean. Last night we were out and about and I took some pictures of the moon. I like it when we have a full moon and there is snow on the ground. It won't be long before I get to see that. Yesterday the kids had another soccer game as part of their tournament. They lost and I know I am not a good soccer mom because I was not upset by this. The sitting in 34 degree weather with the wind blowing made me quite happy that they lost and that we didn't have to stay for a second game.

As it wasn't much warmer today I stayed inside and finished another apple dishcloth and two apple magnets for my apple friends Christmas basket. Then going with the Christmas theme, I knit a five pointed star. I need to work in the ends and block it still. I was looking for star stuff as my daughter is a star fanatic. I used the pattern found here... http://tiajudy.com/SnowStar.htm. The pattern was a 6 pointed star but it said it could probably be done as a five so I tried it. It called for size ten cotton but I used the white Christmas yarn with the silver in it and # 5 needles. I was thinking it could be made into an afghan. Something to think about for later.

I also tried spinning some silk sari waste this weekend. I bought this last year at Rhinebeck and just re-found it! I also found some dyed corriedale roving that I bought at the same time. I am so not organized but if you look at it this way it's a pay once and get excited about it twice deal. Anyhow back to the sari silk, I read how to do it on a couple of sites and sat down to try it. My yarn turned out more thready. I like the fact that once you start spinning it is a mindless spin where you can let slubs go for the texture. It probably wouldn't be so thready if I hadn't had been so mindless but hey it was fun. Just more learn as you go thing.

So this whole weekend was full of little projects, now I have to find something productive to do. I don't know what I want to start and I am still working on the afghan. I guess it is back to looking at patterns I have saved.

November

You have to love Maxine! I got her in an email! But moving on to blogger business....
Tuesday I didn’t work on anything fibery like I had wanted. The weather was so nice that I had to be outside. I worked in the garden and greenhouse for a while and then quit to make an early dinner before trick or treating.
Yesterday morning I got sick of hearing the news with the whole Kerry thing, followed by the none stop political ads so I went and set fire to the pile of weeds/plants I pulled the day before. I started pulling the rest of the garden but I hadn’t put on my gloves and I ended up with blisters.








To soothe my aching hands I got out the rest of the first finn fleece and washed that and set it out to dry. Then I pulled out the second fleece and sorted that. I have a small pile set aside to tie in bundles and wash it that way and see the difference. I love these Finn. I think it is actually softer than the cormo roving that I had my cousin pick up for me at the MD S&W.
I did get some weaving done ….

I know it is an awful picture (where is the color?) but I have appts today. I finished this about 10 PM last night. I need to full it, but right now it measures approximately 12 inches by 5 ½ feet. I am in love. I knew this was going to happen which is why I didn’t work on it…I don’t have time for more hobbies even if it is fiber related. I have lists of things I want to do in knitting alone and have so much fiber that needs carding or spinning. If only I could teach the kids to do the warping!!!!

Tonight is Halloween

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,

Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"

~Dexter Kozen

The kids were all excited about tonight. The little man is sick though and will not go, so he is upset. I know his darling sister will be glad to share her bounty but it is just not the same. It is not that we go far...we do less than 20 houses because of all the driving and in/out stuff... but it is something they look forward to each year. I like the costume part of it. They have gone as Pebbles and Bambam, bride and groom, towtruck driver w/ truck, shower and a bar of soap, Dorothy, a sack of potatoes and a table with head in frame to look like a picture. Tonight #2 daughter will go as Grandma got run over by a reindeer (her favorite song).

I have been having my own howling good time.....
Yesterday I spun up a bobbin of my own finn

wound it on the ball winder and plied it. I love it! I guess I have to wash up more of it. I spun it into a worsted weight yarn and it is sooo soft.

Then when I finished with that I started weaving on the loom. I am not packing the weft in tight because I want the warp to be seen. I have only done about a 3 foot piece on this before but I loved it. I have tons to learn which is why I haven't done much on it. Time is too tight to learn another addiction. But this goes so fast after you get it warped. I have an idea for a Christmas gift but I need to go buy cotton and finish what I have started. Hopefully it will be done tonight.

I have also started crocheting an afghan for my daughter to give as a present. I told her to buy the yarn and I would make it. I so seriously have got to shut my mouth. She came home with a bag full of yarn. Yes there is enough for an afghan but it is LionBrand Homespun. They make beautiful colors and it is soft, but I hate working with it. She is sending it to a friend she made years ago during basic training that has been sent to Iraq. They go thru a lot worse so I should just quit my b*tching.

Now I am off to get weaving so I can finish today. Happy Halloween!!!

Windy Weekend

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing the celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The severe wind that they are predicting has just started to blow. The rain was one thing but the wind makes you glad to be inside where it is warm and something good is cooking. In this cause it is haluski and homemade kielbasa. The kids will appreciate it as they had a soccer tournament in the rain today and they just got home all wet and tired. They have another round tomorrow at noon.

I have had a cold so I didn't go because I didn't want to make it worse. This cold was accompanied by a headache which was actually more irratating than the cold. But after I got rid of the headache I did get somethings done....

such as the trim on the tree skirt

another pair of mittens
and an apple dishcloth
and I got to spin!!! I spun up two bobbins of the gray mohair/BL and plid them and then I spun up the green/purple mohair/BL that I had died. I don't know if I want to navajo ply that or ply it with purple or just use it as a single. But more fibery new... today while the kids were gone I was able to do the math and cut the threads for the rigid heddle loom which I have wanted to work on but didn't find the time. Tongiht I want the man to help me warp it and then I can get working on it. I want to use the gray mohair/BL and I am using a softer gray wool as the warp. I hope it works out.

Winter is winning

“Winter is an etching,
spring a watercolor,
summer an oil painting and
autumn a mosaic of them all.”
Stanley Horowitz

Today fall and winter seemed to be battling. There were times of blustery cold wind and rain and then the sun would shine. The wind has just about blown all the leaves off the trees so autumns mosaic is almost done.

I started feeling sorry for the birds and put out their seed, hopefully the bears will leave it be. I think they appreciated the easy pickings because as soon as I came inside they were already at the feeders.
I have had a migraine that will just not go away and so I have just sat and watched them.

Mr and Mrs Cardinale showed up. She must have been having a bad feather day because she did not want her picture taken. Trust me I tried and tried and tried.

The little black capped chickadee

Is it a grosbeak, finch or a redpoll. Somebody please let me know.

The tufted titmouse

The thought of picking up the knitting just makes my head hurt worse. I did finish a pair of slippers which I gave to a friend of mine and I am now working on a pair of gloves. I just started the thumb gusset on the second one, so if I get rid of this headache today I should be able to finish them. So to have something fibery, I have been reading about Rhinebeck. I could have gone but I didn't. I didn't need anything but it is fun to go just to be by that much fiber all at the same time. Next year the house will be done and I can do MD, Endless Mt. and Rhinebeck till then we need to work thru the stash. So I need to go take a nap and get rid of this migraine so I can start.

Mr. D

Family faces are magic mirrors.
Looking at people who belong to us,
we see the past, present and future.
We make discoveries about ourselves.
~Gail Lumet Buckley

I think this is true of people who aren't family but have always been with you. Mr. D was a neighbor. He and his wife put up with me so much during my childhood. I was best friends with his daughter and I went out with his son and yet I have no idea how our families met. They were just always there. His wife (who is still alive but has alzheimers) I call Ma D.
Here is what has been bothering me since I got the call saying he passed away...Why didn't I call him Pa D? Dumb I know but still. My father died when I was nine. My mother is still alive and yet I called someone else "Ma" but even without a father I didn't call him Pa D. Why? He would have done anything for anybody. He never hurt me in any way shape or form. His daughter said I could do no wrong in his eyes. I even remember Ma D chewing my butt out for something I did and I pry deserved the chewing for and he stepped in and told her to leave me be. So why? I still don't know. But I hope he never took offense at that and thought he didn't earn the title because he did. So rest in peace Pa D you will be missed.

Horseradish

"The radish is worth its weight in lead,
the beet its weight in silver,
the horseradish its weight in gold."

Years ago http://riverrim.blogspot.com/ gave me some horseradish roots. I built a raised bed and filled it with a sandy soil and plopped them in. Whenever I harvest the roots I take the tops and replant them. Yesterday morning , seeing as we had a couple of mornings below freezing I decided it was time to do the horseradish. So at 25 degrees we went and stuck our hands in wet sand and pulled and pulled and pulled to get this....










Not much you may say but enough for us. So after washing, peeling and chopping into pieces we needed a box of these....










We put it in the food processor and ground it up then added a little salt, sugar and vinegar. We ended up with 5 pints of fresh horseradish. That last one was full but we took a 1/4 pint jar and put some in for a friend.











You can find lots of useless horseradish facts at... http://www.horseradish.org/homepage.html

The first time we made our own horseradish my uncle said he would be the taste tester. He said he loved horseradish. We gave him 1/2 a teaspoon to try and his whole bald head broke out in a sweat so we knew we did good!

Another time my oldest son had a cold and he hates to take medicine. He just kept sniffing and sniffing, which drives me nuts, and complaining he couldn't breath. I told him I had something for him and I gave him a teaspoon of horseradish. He had said "what's that gonna do" but then he took it and said in dripping sarcasm "wow mom that really worked" and went to his room. A short time later he came out and could breath just fine and admitted that maybe I did know something. (When your teenager tells you that you might know something you NEVER forget that moment) Now when ever he gets a cold that is what he uses to make him breath!

So after our hard work we rewarded ourselves with a ham dinner with potatoes, squash and yes we used some horseradish because Cyndy said it was really good on ham, and it was!

Weekend

Well the guys went fishing this weekend, leaving us girls all alone!! We went to the soccer game on Saturday and froze. It was 49 degrees with 10-15 mile per hour winds which means it felt like 36-40 degrees....cold. She quickly recovered from the cold and went with her friend to a school dance. I sat at home and thawed out.
Sunday, she went to her friend's bowling tournament and I walked up to the top of the mountain with my oldest daughter and my brother. The color's weren't there but the view was still awesome. Their is a small cabin on top of the mountain. In the early 70's a man from New Jersey bought an acre off my neighbor and my father put in a road thru our pasture to this site. The man built this kit cabin on a cliff. He probably wanted to get back to nature (no water, no sewer, no electricity or cable can get to it) but he was not a builder. He use to buy lots of firecrackers and throw them down thru the cracks in the floor to scare the rattlesnakes away. The road washed out time and time again and he had to walk up to his cabin. I remember he would park his car in the pasture and when he came back the cows would have licked the heck out of it! I also remember he carried a pistol and killed any snakes he saw on his walk to his cabin. This house was to be his retirement home but he never did retire there. Eventually my cousin bought the property as it abutted his, and they use the cabin to warm up during hunting season. Other than the running water I would love to live there. It has a field right behind the cabin for a garden and my goats could eat all the brush. My kids would hate it!!
But you ask did I do any fiber while they were gone...yes, I did. I had a pair of sideway gloves that needed to be sewn and I did that. Then I finished the main color on the tree skirt. I have to get the yarn for the trim to finish that. Then I picked up a keyhole scarf that I started and worked on that! I guess I am over the fiber funk!
And then you will ask did they catch anything...Well my brother did but he only wants a couple of steaks from it and gave us the rest of the 42 inch salmon. My boys had a great time. This was the oldest ones first time and he was awed by the size of them. The little man went once before and following tradition he spent most of this time in the water...they now call him Slip and Trip. They may go again this year depending on time and weather.
Well it is 25 degrees outside and since I am out of my fiber funk I need to go knit something to keep us warm!

The first frost

Jack Frost took his paintbrush
as he sailed across the sky
so every morning as the sun comes up
his artwork greets the eye
there’s reds and gold’s and yellows
all of a breath taking view
but no matter how hard he tries
he can never make leaves turn blue
so when you’re in bed sleeping
and outside everything seems faint
just remember at midnight
Jack Frost begins to paint
© By Carl Jessee

We have been very lucky this year and didn't have frost before now.
The http://riverrim.blogspot.com/ didn't get any yet but thinks they will tonight. Our average first frost date is September 24 but we have had it well before that some years. My sister who lives in Puerto Rico is up and it is quite the shock to her system! I don't think I have seen her with less than three layers on while outside. You would think we were in Buffalo with the 21 inches of snow!!










The guys have left on their salmon fishing trip to Pulaski and #2 daughter and I are going to have a girls night and watch the movie Click. Stay warm!

The last of the leaves

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the glad little songs they knew.
~George Cooper

We got rain this morning and a cold spell is coming so I decided to get what will pry be the last shots of the season. Unless I walk to the top of the mountain on Sunday when there are no hunters in the woods.

The reds...

The yellows...

The oranges...

The greens...

The purples

The white/tan

For your amusement, NOAA just released their predictions for this December to February (You can find your predictions here http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2716.htm ) My area supposedly has a 33 % chance of being warmer than normal. Now on the precipitation...we have an equal chance, which means there is a 33.3 % chance of it being wetter than normal, a 33.3% chance of it being drier than normal and a 33.3% chance of near normal, very decisive wouldn't you say!

On the fibery front...I finished the "Five hour baby sweater"It took more than five hours for me but it is done. Then I started crocheting a tree skirt. I am on a fiber blah. My mind is seeing all the good things to make, and I am feeling the wool and mohair and loving it but the doing it part has gone on strike. And I mean all parts of it, the knitting, spinning, crocheting, dyeing, carding, you name it. I actually force myself to work on the tree skirt in the morning and when waiting in the car for the kids. But the guys are going on a salmon fishing trip this weekend to Pulaski, NY and little girl wants to go to her friends house at least one night which means I will be alone with no demands for my time...hopefully I will be out of this funk and will get something done. And the leaves will pry be off the tree's and I won't be wasting my time getting pictures!!!