Yarn Along

I'm joining Ginny again this week, but I don't have a photo of the books I am reading. Sorry, it's late and there's very little light.

The Elder and I have been reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the past week or so, but that was supplanted today by Because of Winn-Dixie. That's the selection for this month's Mother/Daughter book club and it came in the mail today.

The Younger and I are still reading How to Train Your Dragon, we only have a couple of chapters left, and then I don't know what we'll read next. Maybe we'll get going on Farmer Boy, that's been on my list for months.

I found my copy of To Kill a Mockingbird this week as well, so I was able to squeeze in a page or two for myself. Such a beautiful book. Harper Lee just pulls you in and makes you know these people.

As for the knitting, I am clicking along on Peasy.

Quite a satisfying knit.

I am always a little wary of knitting a sport weight sweater for myself, even though I know it will be a joy to wear, because I feel like it's going to take forever.

That feeling makes me bring the knitting with me everywhere, and I end up making tremendous progress.

The yarn I am using (Thirteen Mile Sport Weight) has some variation across the dyelot, so I am ending up with less yarn than I thought that matches well. At this point the sweater looks a little short, but I am going to finish the sleeves before I add any more length.

We'll see how the finished product ends up. I think I'll still love wearing it, and the color is really one of my favorites.

It's a lot brighter than in the photo, I have yet to take an accurate photo of the color.

Anyway, what are you knitting and reading lately?

Summer Colors Week

Pink today, Blue tomorrow.

Summer Colors Week

Yellow Today Pink Tomorrow

Running the Gauntlet

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny again for Yarn Along.

Last week I saw someone else in the Yarn Along reading a book about the wives of Henry VIII and I realized that I had The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser sitting on my bookshelf, and I hadn't ever finished it.

So, I started it last Wednesday or so and I am almost finished with Catherine of Aragon. It's a great read. I'm really enjoying the glimpse into the lives of these long-dead ladies.

I started a new sweater last week too. This is Peasy by Heidi Kirrmeier (also known as Pipibird).

She also wrote the Vitamin D pattern that I finished up last week.

I love her style. It's so fresh, yet traditional. I have a few more of her patterns on my wish list, and they should both help use up my stash and get me fully outfitted for the fall.

What are you knitting and reading lately?

Strawberries!

The last two weeks of June and the first two weeks of July are my favorite time of year.

Not only is my birthday, and the birthdays of both of my parents-in-law, during that stretch of time, and the catalpa trees are all a-bloom, it's also Strawberry Time!

It was a little gloomy yesterday morning, the perfect kind of weather to go berry picking.

My friend Nancy and I brought most of our kids and went to my favorite berry field.

We picked for about an hour, and then we said our goodbyes and set off home to process our harvest.

I made some freezer jam, which didn't set up but is still quite delicious. We had it on pancakes this morning and it was a taste sensation.

Since the first batch is more like strawberry sauce, I will just have to go back and pick some more berries and try again.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Early Morning Bike Ride

I woke with the little birdies singing this morning, and since I couldn't fall back asleep I took a little morning bike ride.

4.123 miles

It was a nice way to start my day.

Grown-Up Week End

My children are not here.

They are visiting their grandparents at the lake. Fishing, swimming, roasting things and a giant slide are all on the itinerary.

As we, the adults, were not invited, my husband and I have been party-ing like it's 2002.

We went out to two movies last night, with dinner between, a dinner sandwich if you will, and we plan to go out again tonight.

We saw Super 8

and Bridesmaids

So good.

I cried a lot, and now I have a crush on Chris O'Dowd.

There were some bizarre similarities between those movies, beyond their cinematic excellence.

Both had a small role for Michael Hitchcock (some of my favorite moments from A Mighty Wind are of his interaction with Bob Balaban), the name of the town in Super 8 was Lillian and that was also the name of Maya Rudolph's character in Bridesmaids and both featured projectile vomiting (which had me roaring with laughter every time)

Bridesmaids was so real, and so funny.

I used to be kind of a gregarious person in high school. My friends and I would talk and laugh loudly and act foolishly often, in public, and without care, and a little exhibitionism, if the truth be told.

I thought that part of me was buried (or that I was more mature than my 16 year-old self) and maybe it was the margarita I had with dinner, but I was pretty uncontrollable last night. I haven't howled and roared with laughter in a public place like that in some time. (I don't really think it was the margarita, since Brian was just as out of control himself)

But then, balancing the insane hilarity was a tender story line about a woman who loses everything and then tries to reassemble her life.

And Super 8 was just exactly what I had hoped it would be.

Part ET, part The Goonies, all J.J.Abrams.

J. J. Abrams is my new favorite director. All the imagination of George Lucas, with none of his tendency to overpopulate the screen with useless and irritating characters.

The storytelling was lean, the children who acted in this movie were so talented, the suspense worked really well and the payoff was perfect. This movie was exciting, and a little over the top, but just enough to be fun.

When we were dating, Brian and I would go to the movies every Friday, sometimes we'd see more than one in a week if the schedule was promising.

As we grew closer to the birth of The Elder, we realized we were going to have to make some major changes in our leisure time activities and going to the movies was high on the list of things to cut out of our plans.

About a week before she was born we went to 3 movies in one day, since we knew it would be our last time out for a while -

Master and Commander:The Far Side of the World, The Matrix Revolutions and Love, Actually.

We got burned on that movie marathon day. Matrix Revolutions was so bad, I still want those 2 hours back. We should have just stuck to the other two and that day would have been as fun and satisfying as yesterday was.

Sunday it's back to our summertime plans, lots of park time, lots of visiting with friends we only see in the summer, it will be fantastic. I miss the kids, and I miss doing the kids' favorite things.

Until Saturday afternoon, though, the clock has been turned back and we are probably going to go to the movies again tonight! Unless the weather turns around and then maybe we'll have a quiet dinner out.

The possibilities are quite endless.

Have a great Friday

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny in her Yarn Along.

This week came with good and middling news on the sweater front.

The good news is that I finished my sweater.

The middling news is that I wore it all day yesterday, despite the fact that it is 100% wool, it was the last day of school, and June 14th.

Brrr.

I haven't been reading for myself lately, but I have been reading with the kids. How to Train Your Dragon and Stuart Little.

What struck me most about How to Train Your Dragon is how it is 98% not like the movie.

Only the names are the same.

I understand that there will be some deviation from the source when someone makes a movie, but so very much was different.

The thing is, I love the movie, and we watch it often, so I can't really complain about the choices made.

The kids are out of school, so I will be spending more time than is prudent cruising around to everyone else's Yarn Along posts today.

Ah, Summer.

What are you reading and knitting today?

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school for both the Younger and the Elder.

No more pencils, no more books...though you know these ladies never gave anyone a dirty look.

Have a great summer!

Treasure Island

Last week when my husband went to pick up the Elder from school he saw this -

Someone set the playground at my daughter's school on fire.

A few days later they came back and everything in this photo was burned up in the second fire.

I can't understand the reasoning behind arson at a school, but maybe that's because it's not something that can be understood.

Please visit Give MN if you'd like to donate anything to help us rebuild the playground.

Lego Table

Longtime readers might remember that I received an awesome gift from Santa for Christmas of 2008. For various reasons it's looked like this since then.

Until today, that is.

I had a couple of good reasons to let my new toy out of its box.

First, my band saw was acting up and second, I had a really fun project to start.

In March there was a series of boy-related projects on Made By Rae called Celebrate the Boy. The one project that most caught my eye was an amazing tutorial for building a Lego table, which you can find here.

I bought the lumber a couple of months ago, but the days have been really rainy, and I had other projects both knitting and sewing related to finish up.

Yesterday I sent the family to the Lego store for our final supplies and this morning the Elder and I whipped this up.

It's basically a frame with feet, and it came together pretty easily (except some bad measuring that I did and then had to fix.)

It still needs painting, and maybe a little more sanding, but the kids are still very excited about it and the Younger is on his way to build right now.

What's on your to do list this weekend?

Giant Blooms.

In my younger, more foolish days I dug up our peony bush to make room for something else.

I may rectify that bad decision this year.

These came from the farmer's market, and they smell amazing.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Visit Amanda for more moments

Big Weekend

In the past 5 days the members of this family have attended (together and solo) -

1 neighborhood potluck/soccer league meeting,

2 school fun fairs,

1 birthday party,

Grand Old Day

(at which we saw a parade,

a community band,

random musicians

and the kids got to bungee jump)

and an end of year potluck with my Caritas friends.

Super fun, and now I am super tired.

I hope your weekend was fun too!

June!

It is, in fact, bustin' out all over!