Woolly Mutts

A gentle Wednesday.

It's raining here today.  A gentle, steady fall of drops that the earth absorbs with pleasure.  I was planning to go over to the Edgebrook Farmer's Market and get a few things for a dinner salad, but instead I think I will stay home and light candles and read books.  Wednesday is the day of the week that I think of as my gentle day.  It's true that I need to cook a meal for family dinner night, and perhaps do a bit of house cleaning, but on Wednesday I try and let time go lightly for me.  The rain is a perfect compliment to that. Reminds me of that song that Tom Chapin sang "Let Time Go Lightly".  You can listen to it here. Always makes me smile to listen to it. (sending out some special love to Steve and Trina)

So, since I have nothing of worth to talk about today except rain and music about old friends I'll leave you with a the latest *Bump Watch* pics.  24 weeks. I know for sure that I was NEVer this cute while preggers.

Summer living

Last night we had some friends and family over for a cookout and bon fire.  Each summer I am newly romanced by our yard lit by candles and torches at night.  I could kick my house to the curb any day of the week, but the yard....I do love our yard. 

I pulled out the camera and decide to play a bit with the different settings.

The flash makes the pictures easy to identify, but distorts the ambiance of the evening.  That's Rick's foot and Dorene in the yellow.  You can see that we make use of every chair and eating surface we can muster for these outdoor events.  Nothing matches, but I rather like hillbilly chic.

So I try the twilight mode on the camera and find that one must hold VERY still to get a clear picture, which, as you will see, I cannot do.  After viewing the pictures I decide that I rather like the fuzziness.  It gives the pics a sort of surreal quality that actually suits the feeling of the night very well.  The mommy and daddy to be are over on the right.  The lights that seem to be floating in the sky are lanterns hung in trees. 

This picture makes me smile.  It's mommy to be, Kysa, holding a friends of ours little girl (who was the star of the show last night.  That girl can work a crowd and she's only 3.).  That's Sadira next to them on the bench.  Next year at this time Kysa will have her own little one to hold.

Karl is always our official fire maker.  That man has a gift for fire building.  This is somewhat ironic since he plans to be a fireman. Build them up and put them out.  Later in the evening a few of the younger crowd joined us to hang by the fire.  Just like old times.

We ate and laughed, lit a few sparklers and set off a few small rockets.  Marshmallows were roasted and life was pretty darn good.  I think we ought to do it again soon. 

Can you be patritotic and a global citizen at the same time?

Each year when the 4th of July rolls around I have a little mental dilemma.  Can I consider myself a citizen of the planet and still be all "USA! USA!"? 

I like living here in the US.  I like it even better now that we seem to have a Commander and Chief that has something resembling integrity, and I know lots of precious lives were given to keep this country free. But honestly, I've never lived anywhere else....who am I to judge?  Canada seems nice.  Norway, Scotland, Italy....lovely places to name just a few.  Could be that life there is fabulous.  And here's the thing; if you go around acting like you're better than every one else it ticks folks off.  It's like high school when the cheerleaders and the football players walk down the hall acting like they own the place and all the *normal* people get a little angry. "Here comes *those* people again."  Doesn't do much to contribute to any sort of peaceful atmosphere.  The location of your birth doesn't really make you anything special, does it?  It's simply the place you were born.  Not like you had much choice. 

So here I am, little Miss Keep the Peace and I'm thinking that maybe if we all considered ourselves to be living together on the same blue planet and not separated by borders that we might have a better chance at living on this planet without trying to kill each other.  Maybe there ought to be a day when we open our windows and shout "EARTH! EARTH!" and then set about taking better care of her and each other. 

It's a rainy 4th of July this year and in the city I live it is quite literally raining on the parade.  Maybe one day a year to show some USA pride isn't such a bad thing and I hope not to many people are waving soggy flags.  I only wish that while we are celebrating the freedom of our great country we remember that we are just one number in the equation of this world and while it's a big number, we are only as grand as our hearts and hands make us. 

The siren song of urban living.

Every now and then I get a bug to move to a city.  A big ol' city like Chicago or Minneapolis or NYC where I could have a grand  (more like closet sized on my budget) apartment with a view of the night lights.  A place where we could walk to our local grocer and get things for dinner or meet friends down the block in a cute little cafe where the owners know our names.  A walk to the subway or the museums or the trendy shops.  A place where I would not spend the better part of a day mowing or weeding or watering and could just walk out on the the patio and tend the pots of lovely things trailing over the rail.  I think I could enjoy this life for.....maybe 2 months and then the noise and population and lack of green space would suffocate me.  I suppose it's a *grass is greener* thing, except that the grass here in my little corner of the planet is very green already.

If I lived in a city I would miss moments like last night when all the baby toads emerged from the old pond to experience life on dry land.  They were so tiny and so eager to get off the lily pads and discover new ground.  I wish I would have taken a few pictures.  AH has purposely been keeping water in the old pond so the toad babies would have a place to live until old enough to move on.  Good timing on their part since excavation for the new pond has resumed.

A city dwelling would not have an abundance of these milkweed plants.  Many fuzzy bees were enjoying a morning drink of milkweed nectar this morning when I went out to check on them.  These plants are volunteers in an area that used to be a garden space, but too much shade took over and plants needed to be moved.  One day we will reclaim this area, but until we do the 5 or 6 milkweed plants are most welcome since in a few weeks the monarch caterpillars will come and make the change to butterflies right here in our yard. 

Mrs. Wren has made her home in the tail of our dragonfly again this year.  Wrens are funny little birds with big voices and I enjoy watching she and her hubby fly back and forth to the nest area with bugs for the babies which fledged early this week.  AH would have been able to get a better picture, but he was not here.  You can look right into the tail and see the nest.

Our large amount of land gives up a place to have a garden with plants like these roma tomatoes still dripping from their morning drink.

And the green beans working their way up the poles built just for them.  Their leaves begin this almost chartreuse green and then turn to emerald as they get bigger.  I say over and over, no once does color like Mother Nature.

And finally, city dwelling would not have space for our glorious pin oak tree that gives such joy to be able to stand beneath and gaze upward.  It was planted almost 30 years ago as a little tree and today it is SO tall and majestic offering home and shelter for birds and animals and wonderful shade for us.

I think I'll continue dreaming of urban living while being suitably grateful for the green life I already live.

The oddness of grief.

This week I can not get my self moving. It is only Tuesday morning so I should not be lumping an entire week into a day and a few hours of feeling meh.  But man, I feel meh in a sort of big way.  The heat has broken so that is no excuse.  It is an overcast day which usually rev me up, but no revving so far. Mostly a lot of meh.  (You know "meh".  It's the adult version of "whatever", or the hip version of general sluggish behavior.  Plus, it's just sort of fun to say "meh". Meh, meh, meh. Meh.) I know I should go for a walk, or something to get my arse moving, but I can't.  Not now anyway.

So yesterday I mention that this bout of *meh* has me a little frustrated and a wise person asked me how long it had been since my mother passed away.  Two months last week.  Well, this person says, what do you expect?  Grief is just going to disappear in two months?  Hmmmmm.  Some people are so darn smart. 

Apparently, grief hangs about for awhile, hiding in the background and then quietly, occasionally messes with the mojo so you get some days of *meh* and forget that something HUGE happened to your heart not so long ago.  Not that I should use grief as a constant excuse not to move my arse or participate in life, but now and then a few days of *meh* are ok.  I'm ok.

Speaking of, the angel-on-this-earth Hospice worker told me once that the words "it's going to be ok" are some of the most powerful words possible.  It might be hard, or painful getting through the rough patches of life, but in the end you will be *ok*.  It will be OK.  I will be ok.  Good even. 

I find this little journey that I walk with grief to be rather odd.  I expected the tears and the times of missing, but the depression (which is what I expect is really behind the *meh*) surprised me.  Live and learn and maybe pass the chocolate.

The tall, what my mother used to call Tiger lilies, are blooming right now,  I was standing on flat ground holding the camera at chest level when I took this picture.  They are SO tall and planted en masse like this they make quite an impact.  In other good news, the lightning bugs have returned to brighten the night hours.  Also, the Japanese beetles.  Always the good with the bad.

Saturday's highlights with special care to leave out the boring bits.

Amazing Husband has traveled to NC to spend time with his family.  New job and dog care kept me home which is ok except for the missing him part.  That part is SO not ok.  That leaves me with this whole big Saturday to spend as I wish.  Following are the highlights:

*Ate a candy bar for breakfast.  Also a multivitamin.  Realized later that I could have had chocolate pie.  Rats.

*Went to Walgreens and walked up and down the makeup aisle.  Purchased new eye shadow and eye liner.  Had a pretty good time doing this.  It's been ages since I really looked at all the new makeup in the drug store.  The fact that I almost never wear make up is of no import here.

*Spent quite a lot of time in Farm Town which I access through facebook, but maybe there are other ways.  Not sure.  This also presented a nice opportunity to message with AH for a few minutes. 

*Ate ham sandwich for lunch.  This time I remember chocolate pie.  yum.

*Went with good friend Diana to a garden faire at Windridge Herb Farm.
Brought this little dude home with me. About got a hernia carrying him to the car.  I just love these buddha guys.  Maybe because their bellies bear such a resemblance to mine. :-) 

*Also went to Kohl's with Diana and had a great time girl shopping.  Spent quite a lot of time in the baby department.  Sigh. 

*Came home and Samten barfed on the carpet.  Quick clean up reveals fur....hmmmmm.  Go out to move hoses so I can mow and discover decapitated bunny....hence the fur.  Yuk.  Why do dogs do that?  (rhetorical question.  I know why, but it still grosses me out.) Send bunny to it's final resting place by the creek.  Bunny grave with a view.

*Mow yard while listening to Finger Lickin Fifteen, by Janet Evanovich.  Laugh out loud repeatedly.  Audio versions of her books are especially well done.

*Contemplate what to have for dinner. Gonna storm soon, I think, so might be unkind to order delivery.  On the other hand, they need the money, right?

*Blog.

Life is good. Except for the missing AH parts.  That is not so good.

Keep the beads on the front.

With the blankets completed it was time to move on to smaller, faster baby knitting.  This is the Flurries Baby Beanie, Pattern 177 from Tilli Tomas. Ravelry page here.  Cute, huh?  It was a fairly quick knit, but I have to admit that I was pretty happy to cast off the last stitch.  If you've ever knitted with beads, or even an eyelash fiber, you know that the pretty bits want to end up on the purl side of the work so it's necessary to manipulate each little bead so that it ends up on the front side of the work.  I'm going to keep that in mind the next time I get a grand idea to knit beads.  If you're local, I bought the pattern and yarn at Loop in Milwaukee. Great store in a fun neighborhood.  I have the majority of 1 skein left so I'm on the hunt for a bootie pattern to use it on.

Close up of loopy top.

Gonna be a busy couple of days here so it might be quiet on the blog front.  Stay cool!!!

Stuff you should know

I'm an information junkie.  It's ok, I'll admit it.  Random information about ....well.....just about anything, really excites me.  Following leads on topics is a good time, I know...a little weird, but a good time none the less . The only person I know that might be a bigger information junkie than I am would be my Amazing Husband.  His search for information is a little more focused to the world of science and math, where my thirst is pretty generalized.  I'm on a civil war kick right now.  Could be the source of the Nile next week, who the heck knows.  My brain is sort of scattered that way.

So, being always on the search for new tidbits of info I listen mostly to talk radio (NPR you know I love you) and a fair number of podcasts.  Several of the podcasts are knitting related, or may be aimed at a favorite tv show, (Jay and Jack of the Lost Podcast rock), or possibly more girly like Lipgloss and Laptops.  Lately though, I have become a very devoted listener to "Stuff You Should Know" with Josh and Chuck.  The thing I love about Josh and Chuck's podcast is the diverse selection of topics.  One week it's Habeas Corpus, next week it's about Tesla and Edison.  Spontaneous human combustion, lobotomies, can lakes explode, how propaganda works.....random, researched information.  Josh and Chuck are pretty funny guys who work well off each other and work hard to make the information credible and interesting.  It's become my lawn mower listening for a several weeks and I can hardly wait for the next one.  I understand that the How Stuff Works people have lots of other podcasts with equally cool content.

A quick word about podcasts. I listen to my podcasts via my ipod and itunes.  They are free and can be subscribed to so that they download to your itunes regularly.  I believe that there are probably several other ways to listen, like directly from their websites, but I've never had that experience.  However you find most convenient listening for your life and schedule, podcasts are the worth doing some research on......and that might lead to research on toads, or why leaves are green, or where cotton comes from or the best dog food to feed, or....

Hitting the road on Father's Day.

Amazing Husband is not biologically a father, but he spent several of my kids....ummm...let's say...more interesting years as their step father.  They have a great Dad who I know they love bunches, but having AH in their lives has been an incredibly positive thing on all levels.  I always say that my kids can never have too many people who love them and that has proven true both in AH and in Denise, their Dad's wife.  My father has passed, AH's father is in far away Houston, so I asked AH how he would like to spend Sunday.  He wanted to see the movie "Moon" and the closest theater that it was playing in was Evanston.  What a hardship.

How many ways do I love Evanston?  Many, and for good reason.  Evanston is a northern suburb of Chicago that is about a 2 hour drive from our house, depending on traffic.  Historic, near the lake, home Northwestern University, diverse, great shopping.....an incredibly beautiful place.  We go there pretty regularly so that I can do some shopping in Vogue Fabrics.  Vogue Fabrics is this huge, discount fabric store that has everything you could ever want in the way of fabric.....you just have to be willing to look for it.  There are 5 rooms and most things are on rolls as apposed to bolts. Since we were heading that way we decided to make a quick stop there. In the remnant room I found some great batiks and a few light cottons to make some cuite-patootie summer things for Miss CJ next summer.  In the home dec room I grabbed a few cute patterns of oilcloth to make bibs out of. (remember you can click pics to see larger)  The street that Vogue is located on was having a festival so we had to park several blocks away and walk, which was actually sort of fun and gave us a chance to have a close up look at some of the historic homes. 

The movie was on Maple in the Century theater.  I did a quick look for a link that might have some info about the theater, but didn't have any luck.  You park across the street in a nice parking garage and then when you enter the theater you go up an escalator to get to the theater area.  On the right side there is an actual bar with sofas and eating areas where you can hang out before or after your film. There is a large piano and a pool table, too.  I guess they have live music on Friday's and Saturdays.  Nifty.  Now we know of another theater we can go to see the movies that NEVER come to Rockford.

*Moon* was a quirky little one-man movie.  It was good, and I'm glad we went, but it won't be for everyone. 

It is a day late, but happy Father's Day to all of you Dads.  We appreciate you!

Today's blog post is brought to you by the color purple.

*those of you that read these posts via facebook might want to head over here since I'm pretty sure fb is gonna reject the size of this one.

There is a storm coming.  The dogs are restless and the birds have changed their song from happy to slightly alarmed.  It's nicely overcast so I decided to head out into the gardens and see what was blooming before the wind and rain blow things around.  Lots and lots of purple.

This amazing delphinium is blooming near the back door fence.  It's poker straight, though it probably won't stay that way after the storm blows through.  Only nature could get that mixture of blue and purple so divinely perfect.

Near the old pond is this tiny forest of Veronica.  It's getting a bit lost among the bee balm so after it finishes blooming I might need to move it someplace where it can be the star of its own show.

The very last of the purple iris.  This one looks like it got munched by someone.  The iris were especially wonderful this year.

Spiderwort.  These are volunteers to the center garden that I don't have the heart to pull out.  They stand so tall above the lilies with those burst of purple blooms. 

Purple petunias in a pot on the deck.  Who does not love a petunia?  Happily blooming away all summer long.

My fingers after holding the spiderwort still to get an unmoving shot.

Looking forward to that first clap of thunder!!!