Sunday, May 27, 2012

Afternoon at Lake Pepin





Such a beautiful day.
We spent it on the road.
We traveled to Lake Pepin and had a wonderful time throwing rocks and burying our feet.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

My Two Ladies

Here they are, enjoying the lovely Spring weather.

Yarn Along

Yarn Along time! 
I finished the sweater I started last week. It came out pretty cute, if I do say so, and I hope the customer likes it. 
In literature news, I finished A Girl of the Limberlost, and I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 
A Girl of the Limberlost was an interesting read.
It was almost like two separate books, one about the main character Elnora's relationship with her mother, and a second one about her efforts to get into college.
Limberlost was written in 1909, and it is always fascinating to me to read books written in a different era. 
I love the view of daily life of the time that comes through the writing.

I have so thoroughly enjoyed the new Sherlock series on Masterpiece Mystery and it sparked my interest to read the original stories. 
The first story I read was short and fun and I can't wait to read some more.

What's on your needles this week?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Baby Worship

It's been a while since I shared any baby photos.
So here are a few that my friend Anna took yesterday at our Choir School concert reception.

Those beautiful grown-up people are my parents, and the Youngest sure thinks they're great!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Yarn Along

It's been a couple weeks since I had anything to Yarn Along, but this week I have been busy with a new project. In the last few months I have been the repair person at the yarn store where I work. It's challenging work, and I really enjoy it. 
About 3 weeks ago I repaired the sweater that you see in the photograph. It had a couple of holes, and it needed a button moved. 
The customer also wanted me to knit a facsimile for a 1-year-old. 
I took some reference photos and got going on this little one here.
Since I have been making it up as I go, there have been some setbacks. 
I have had to do some serious ripping, mostly due to my not thinking through the nature of cables, or the requirements of sleeve shaping. 
Even so, the process has been interesting and I think the final product will please the customer, which is the only consideration on my mind.
My book right now is A Girl of the Limberlost
I remember liking the story when I was in Jr. High or so, when there was a t.v. movie of this book on PBS.
It's a lovely read so far. 
It may be the hormones still raging through my 5-week-postpartum body, but the story has had me choked up more than once so far, and I am only about 1/3 of the way in. 

It's so fun to be back Yarning Along with Ginny
What's on your needles today?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Out to the Ballgame!

The Younger's entire kindergarten was offered free tickets to attend a Twins game, and who could say no to that?
The Younger got to hang out with friends,
we all ate lots of really bad for you treats, 
and we even got to see a home run and everyone went a little crazy!



The Youngest was not too impressed with the limited skills of the home team, when we left they were losing 6-2, but we had a swinging time anyway, and I got some knitting in to boot!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Into the Woods

I had a pretty stressful last 4 days, and today I got an injection of calm when I went into the woods.
Some of my stressers were big (stolen bikes, work problems) and some were small and/or absurd (couldn't buy my groceries because my check card was in a different purse, couldn't collapse my stroller after a walk and had to drive the 10 blocks to my parents' house with the stroller in the front seat and the front door open) but all of it melted away when I got here and listened to the birds and the wind in the trees and smelled the river and the freshly growing green things all around.







I had this in my head while I was walking along, which seemed perfectly appropriate.



Just remember, someone is on your side.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Another Busy Weekend

I don't think we could have crammed more into this weekend, good and bad.
Saturday the Elder and the Younger had 2 birthday parties (they attended one each), swimming lessons and a dance recital (I had hoped to share some photos, but they didn't come out, it was dark in there), and I started teaching a new knitting class.
The class was extra fun for me as my friend June was there with her daughter, and also one of the other students turns out to live very close to me and has kids of a similar age.
That morning started off, unfortunately, with the discovery that someone had opened our garage and stolen our bikes with the help of a bolt cutter.
Yesterday began with the first trip to church as a family since the Youngest was born.
It went pretty well. The Youngest slept most of the time, and was adored by all of the folks who had seen me lumbering around vastly pregnant these past few months.
The one moment of the morning that bummed me out was that I was snubbed by the mother of one of my choir students. A few months ago she had some pointed criticisms of my teaching style, and we did our best to apologize for the things she didn't like, and made some modifications to address her concerns.
It turns out that she had a son the day after the Youngest was born, and I saw them in the sanctuary and greeted my student and pointed out the new baby to the Younger. The mom grunted a greeting, but just swept past us as quickly as she could. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
In the afternoon the kids had another performance of their recital, which I was unable to attend as I was singing a concert with these fine folks.
I was sad to miss the dancing, but we sang a good concert, with a great audience and we raised over $2300 for a program called Project Home which is an overflow homeless shelter that rotates locations throughout Saint Paul at different churches.
Caritas has a concert next Sunday in Apple Valley, for you local folks, and we're singing for another wonderful local non-profit group - Southside Family Nurturing Center.
Come and join us, if you're in the area!
I'm looking forward to the rest of the week which is looking much calmer and less full of commitments.
As a bonus, the weather is perfect. Maybe I can even try some gardening...
Enjoy your Monday!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Actual Productivity!

This sweet lady having a sweet little nap has allowed me to finish up all preparations for dance recital dress rehearsal this evening.
Shoe elastic is sewn in, sparkly costume is hemmed and sleeves are shortened.
We even made a trip to target to get a rubber duckie for the Rubber Duckie number.
I can't watch the dress rehearsal tonight because I have a singing gig, but I hope that all goes well and I'll send the Dada with a camera so we can have some documentation of the insane cuteness of the Elder and the Younger doing their dances.
It feels pretty good to get even a couple of things crossed off the to-do list. It seems like quite a while since I was able to devote any time to to-do-ing.



It's May!


My favorite month, my favorite day!
Happy May 1st!