Considering that I thought I had a really quiet day yesterday, I did a large number of things. (not in time order)
I had a nice breakfast & went to Church.
Had a chat with my Mother as we left(unexpected that she should be there at that time)
Back home I called S. to wish her Happy Birthday.
Cooked & pickled a lot of beets.
Started the drying 6 mos worth of hot peppers in the oven. (strung them today)
Washed sheets from the 2 visitors.
Listened to 3 hours of book on CD while I embroidered. Robin Cook Foreign Body
Went to the groc. store for pickling spices and vinegar.
Brought hot peppers to my brother (said Hi again to Mom who was there)
Read the Sunday paper & did the sudoku
Updated pictures on my blog of projects that I've finished recently
Progressed my pogo games & facebook entries
Made dinner- Curried chicken
Started fancy socks for the grand-daughter. They will match the fancy hat.
Web cam visited with two distant girls and their children.
Read some of the odd book that J talked me into reading - Darkmans, Nicola Barker
Still. It seems like a nice peaceful day.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Knitting Production
I've been working on several sets of socks lately and have reached a picture point. About 200 grams of wool are bent into shape here. Don't ask about the time it took to do it. The blue ones were quick and the brown ones slow
The pinwheel is a set of socks worked from the toe up for my daughter, my self and two of her sons. The third son already has his. They match the red socks. I've gotten to know this particular toe-up pattern pretty well now and it's ok. I'm not sure that the ankle shaping is as elegant as most of the top down patterns but you can't have everything I suppose.
The other picture is of a pair of socks made for my husband. He has very long feet so to get a pair of socks from 100 grams of fingering weight wool I need to make the leg part a little shorter than usual. This was a good thing as while the pattern is good looking and stretchy it is composed of 2/3 pearl stitches so takes a long time to accomplish. Here they are in all their sober brown glory
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Impulse Turtle
I was Shopping today at Costco and could not resist this garden sculpture
. I've never been a great fan of turtles but I could not leave this one in the store. I'm not sure if he belongs in the front or back garden. I'm open to suggestions.
. I've never been a great fan of turtles but I could not leave this one in the store. I'm not sure if he belongs in the front or back garden. I'm open to suggestions.
Debate Snoozer
Well after all the hoopla about a presidential debate I sat down to watch it with four people in the room.
15 min later 3 of us were napping.
Now they had good reason to nod off. They had all had a hard day out in the wind and rain running a sailing regatta. It was warm and dry inside and they were tired. But still you would think that with 2 such candidates, each controversial in their own ways that they would have managed to keep motivated people AWAKE for their debate.
NOT.
The candidates were mostly polite, occasionally showed annoyance at each other and sort of answered the questions. They didn't really answer the hard questions, either of them. They had very similar answers to some of the questions and resorted to (politely) calling each other names. (naive, etc)
Overall, I'm slightly more inclined to vote for McCain after watching 90 min of the two of them or maybe I'm slightly less inclined to vote for Obama. It's still an open question for me although I don't know why I'm worrying about it NY hasn't voted anything but Dem. for several elections now and it doesn't look to be changing now.
15 min later 3 of us were napping.
Now they had good reason to nod off. They had all had a hard day out in the wind and rain running a sailing regatta. It was warm and dry inside and they were tired. But still you would think that with 2 such candidates, each controversial in their own ways that they would have managed to keep motivated people AWAKE for their debate.
NOT.
The candidates were mostly polite, occasionally showed annoyance at each other and sort of answered the questions. They didn't really answer the hard questions, either of them. They had very similar answers to some of the questions and resorted to (politely) calling each other names. (naive, etc)
Overall, I'm slightly more inclined to vote for McCain after watching 90 min of the two of them or maybe I'm slightly less inclined to vote for Obama. It's still an open question for me although I don't know why I'm worrying about it NY hasn't voted anything but Dem. for several elections now and it doesn't look to be changing now.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Quiet Rainy Friday
So far today I've had a long chat with daughter #1 and signed up for Facebook.
Later I'll go to my Tai Chi class.
After that I get to face the eternal question of what's for dinner. That last one is more of an issue than normal as we are hosting two very pleasant and interesting gentleman for USA Sail. They are in town to judge a big racing regatta. The regatta is suffering from overly high winds and/or rain. Today the wind dropped and they are sailing in the rain. The rain is stopping as the afternoon goes on so they ought to get enough races in. But what they are planning for dinner is still a mystery. The first night there was dinner at the Club. Last night they took us out to dinner. Sat the thing is finishing with a formal dinner at the Club but tonight is a big unknown.
More later
Later I'll go to my Tai Chi class.
After that I get to face the eternal question of what's for dinner. That last one is more of an issue than normal as we are hosting two very pleasant and interesting gentleman for USA Sail. They are in town to judge a big racing regatta. The regatta is suffering from overly high winds and/or rain. Today the wind dropped and they are sailing in the rain. The rain is stopping as the afternoon goes on so they ought to get enough races in. But what they are planning for dinner is still a mystery. The first night there was dinner at the Club. Last night they took us out to dinner. Sat the thing is finishing with a formal dinner at the Club but tonight is a big unknown.
More later
Thursday, September 25, 2008
16 days where did they go?
It seems like just a couple of days ago I was blogging about the non-event tropical storm. Here we are with a non named storm on the way that looks to be worse.
A few things have happened I suppose to make the weeks fly by.
This afternoon is the 3rd meeting of the girls scout troop I lead with my sister-in-law K. The girls are all in 4th grade this year and impressed with themselves as sooo much more grown up than last year when they were Brownies. We are doing things a little differently too. We are going to Badge workshops with only the girls who are interested in that particular one rather than bring the whole group everywhere whether they are interested or not. We will see how that works in the next few weeks. The worst case scenario is that it turns out that all 14 want to go to both workshops this month. Then we need more transport as well as more funds. The other new thing is that the girls are fixing their new vests themselves instead of just sending home all the stuff to the parents. We hover over the irons but they are working at it too. Takes time but that's one of the things we are here for.
On the Aikido front there is a new early morning class. 5:30-6:30 on Thursdays. It's a bit of a challenge to get up early on Thurs as well as Tues for Tai Chi. I think it's worth it though. It looks like I will attend 10+ classes this month. So I am on track for a Shodon test by the time I'm 60!
Last Sat I went to an SCA event and joined in the tournament and had fun. Got a few new bruises and possibly handed out 1 or 2.
The computer has worked well for seeing the offspring of 2 generations. The babies sit on the Mommies laps and 'chat' while the toddlers run in & out of the camera view. Web chats are not as fulfilling as in person but they are a lot better than nothing. At least no one needs to travel.
On knitting. I finally finished the brown socks for P. Next time I consider a pattern I will check to make sure that it is not more than 2/3 pearl stitches. They are handsome and take almost exactly 50 grams of wool each. If I find the camera I'll post a pic in the next day or so.
With luck I'll post again in less that 16 days. Less to catch up on that way.
A few things have happened I suppose to make the weeks fly by.
This afternoon is the 3rd meeting of the girls scout troop I lead with my sister-in-law K. The girls are all in 4th grade this year and impressed with themselves as sooo much more grown up than last year when they were Brownies. We are doing things a little differently too. We are going to Badge workshops with only the girls who are interested in that particular one rather than bring the whole group everywhere whether they are interested or not. We will see how that works in the next few weeks. The worst case scenario is that it turns out that all 14 want to go to both workshops this month. Then we need more transport as well as more funds. The other new thing is that the girls are fixing their new vests themselves instead of just sending home all the stuff to the parents. We hover over the irons but they are working at it too. Takes time but that's one of the things we are here for.
On the Aikido front there is a new early morning class. 5:30-6:30 on Thursdays. It's a bit of a challenge to get up early on Thurs as well as Tues for Tai Chi. I think it's worth it though. It looks like I will attend 10+ classes this month. So I am on track for a Shodon test by the time I'm 60!
Last Sat I went to an SCA event and joined in the tournament and had fun. Got a few new bruises and possibly handed out 1 or 2.
The computer has worked well for seeing the offspring of 2 generations. The babies sit on the Mommies laps and 'chat' while the toddlers run in & out of the camera view. Web chats are not as fulfilling as in person but they are a lot better than nothing. At least no one needs to travel.
On knitting. I finally finished the brown socks for P. Next time I consider a pattern I will check to make sure that it is not more than 2/3 pearl stitches. They are handsome and take almost exactly 50 grams of wool each. If I find the camera I'll post a pic in the next day or so.
With luck I'll post again in less that 16 days. Less to catch up on that way.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
More Rain than the last Hurricane
It's Tuesday mid day and raining harder than it was during Hurricane Tropical storm actually, I guess) Hanna's sweepthru Long Island. Ironic.
Spent a pretty quiet Sat. Out to dinner. Sunday we sailed in a Pursuit race. Good race even thou there were only 2 boats in it. The lead changed several times. We actually came in second by a minute or two. Very athletic. The wind came up during the race. It started out very mild but was blowing great wind by the end. Could have used a third on board. 350 lbs was not really enough to keep her even.
Sunday dinner was fast as we needed to get to S's for a birthday celebration. M is 26 and the big news is that she is engaged. To the long term BF so not a real surprise but welcome is any case. He bought her a beautiful ring and she was walking on air.
Monday was mostly prep for the kick-off Service Unit meeting for the local Girl Scouts. As the Registrar I need to collect the annual registrations and that means a lot of explanation to new leaders. Long meeting. It's been all summer and there are 2 product sales starting so we can fund the troop activities.
Today is much quieter. I started early with the 6am Tai Chi class and need to keep going for a meeting tonight. Maybe a nap? We'll see.
Until next time.
Spent a pretty quiet Sat. Out to dinner. Sunday we sailed in a Pursuit race. Good race even thou there were only 2 boats in it. The lead changed several times. We actually came in second by a minute or two. Very athletic. The wind came up during the race. It started out very mild but was blowing great wind by the end. Could have used a third on board. 350 lbs was not really enough to keep her even.
Sunday dinner was fast as we needed to get to S's for a birthday celebration. M is 26 and the big news is that she is engaged. To the long term BF so not a real surprise but welcome is any case. He bought her a beautiful ring and she was walking on air.
Monday was mostly prep for the kick-off Service Unit meeting for the local Girl Scouts. As the Registrar I need to collect the annual registrations and that means a lot of explanation to new leaders. Long meeting. It's been all summer and there are 2 product sales starting so we can fund the troop activities.
Today is much quieter. I started early with the 6am Tai Chi class and need to keep going for a meeting tonight. Maybe a nap? We'll see.
Until next time.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Waiting for Hannah
The most noticeable thing about today has been waiting for Tropical Storm Hannah. It was supposed to arrive aroud 2pm. About 3 it started to rain and has continued to rain since then. Not very heavy rain but consistant. Wind is up some but nowhere near hurricane.Last nights birthday party was very good. J made awsome hamburgers and even better cake. Lots of good presents. I don't need to go geta new fall wardrobe.
Here is a moderately composed picture of the lovely roses S sent for my birthday.
Made it to Aikido this morning and am getting back into the swing of it. Very odd not having D teach on Sat. She is still coping with the massive onset of MS.
No more knitting done yesterday but finished my current book Magic Time- Angelfire by Marc Zicree and Maya Bohnoff. Middle book of a trio. Have requested the 3rd book on inter library loan. It shoul dturn up in a few days. The reviews seemed to like the 3rd book best. It's a very outre fantasy but well written. Archtypes win again as good story lines.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Fri's Political rant
I think I suggested the other day that I might have something to say about political matters. Well, there is something.
I've heard both of the major candidates acceptance speeches now and I am massively underwhelmed.
Obama is a great speaker. No question about it he can work a crowd and take them off with him to never never land or anywhere else while he is pouring out the eloquence. OTOH governments run on stuff other than oratory.
He has a sparse record in the Senate and little other governing experience or even management experience. (I suppose managing a campaign or 2 counts but there are a lot more competing interests in a country. ) I think O has a grasp of the problems in education, health care and economy. But to suggest that somehow electing him means that we will all be better Fathers is a stretch.
With one breath he is promising to reduce taxes on 95% of working families and with the next he calling for Federal increases of school teachers salaries and building more schools.
He thinks he can fight the special interests? I'm not sure he knows the names and faces of the special interests.
I'm not sure that the decline in school standards has an awful lot to do with teachers salaries or even class size and equipment. Yes you need a minimum of all of it to even get going but when I was in school my teachers were badly paid, barely trained and teaching 35 - 40 per class. Yes it was the height of the baby boom in a Parochial school. I got an excellent education. Went to a competitive High School and was accepted to College a year early based on SAT scores. No one was doing remedial reading and writing classes in colleges. They were not needed. If you were accepted to college you could do the work.
In the 60's parents and teachers worked together to maintain focus and discipline in classrooms. Most kids had a place to go to after school where doing your homework was a priority and there was space & quiet to do it in. For me & my friends it was home but there were other arrangements. Teacher's were allowed to discipline kids although in my personal experience no one ever got slapped or otherwise physically disciplined in my school. Glares were enough.
The curriculum had the usual 3R's and not much else. Music & Arts yes weekly but we did not have lengthy sessions of DARE programs or other socialization programs.Anyway, these are educational issues that are not directly manipulable by Federal legislation. If the Federal government tried to micromanage schools to this extent then we have a major problem on our hands. The local School Board is a governing entity that is VERY dear to most Americans heart (even though they rarely want to sit on it)
McCain is only an average speaker. He did well and covered all the bases. He has the experience in government but just how much he would really do differently is a BIG question. His being part of the business as it has been is worrying. CAN he actually govern differently? (Can anyone)
The VP's are cute but they do not have much of any real power.
At least Palin has actual related experience. She has dealt with budgets and I bet it's pretty hard to tell the local fire dept that they can't have everything they want because the school needs a new roof this year or the hospital is in danger of loosing accreditation if they don't upgrade something. (I'm just making things up here. I have no knowledge of the actual stuff that went on when Palin was Mayor. But these are the kinds of considerations that really do happen)
Biden is good looking to in his own sort of way but another careerSenator? really how much extra input can that give?
I've worn my fingers out for now. Maybe if there are some comments I might have more to say. Give it time & I'm sure I'll have more to say.
I'm completely undecided on the better choice in November. Part of my problem is that we have so little real data to work with. Both candidates are careful to craft their speeches to tell us what we want to hear. It has little to do with what they are likely to really do. We've all played the "yes them to death and do what you like" game and that is what I see both of these guys doing now. It dosen't make for intellugent decision making.
I've heard both of the major candidates acceptance speeches now and I am massively underwhelmed.
Obama is a great speaker. No question about it he can work a crowd and take them off with him to never never land or anywhere else while he is pouring out the eloquence. OTOH governments run on stuff other than oratory.
He has a sparse record in the Senate and little other governing experience or even management experience. (I suppose managing a campaign or 2 counts but there are a lot more competing interests in a country. ) I think O has a grasp of the problems in education, health care and economy. But to suggest that somehow electing him means that we will all be better Fathers is a stretch.
With one breath he is promising to reduce taxes on 95% of working families and with the next he calling for Federal increases of school teachers salaries and building more schools.
He thinks he can fight the special interests? I'm not sure he knows the names and faces of the special interests.
I'm not sure that the decline in school standards has an awful lot to do with teachers salaries or even class size and equipment. Yes you need a minimum of all of it to even get going but when I was in school my teachers were badly paid, barely trained and teaching 35 - 40 per class. Yes it was the height of the baby boom in a Parochial school. I got an excellent education. Went to a competitive High School and was accepted to College a year early based on SAT scores. No one was doing remedial reading and writing classes in colleges. They were not needed. If you were accepted to college you could do the work.
In the 60's parents and teachers worked together to maintain focus and discipline in classrooms. Most kids had a place to go to after school where doing your homework was a priority and there was space & quiet to do it in. For me & my friends it was home but there were other arrangements. Teacher's were allowed to discipline kids although in my personal experience no one ever got slapped or otherwise physically disciplined in my school. Glares were enough.
The curriculum had the usual 3R's and not much else. Music & Arts yes weekly but we did not have lengthy sessions of DARE programs or other socialization programs.Anyway, these are educational issues that are not directly manipulable by Federal legislation. If the Federal government tried to micromanage schools to this extent then we have a major problem on our hands. The local School Board is a governing entity that is VERY dear to most Americans heart (even though they rarely want to sit on it)
McCain is only an average speaker. He did well and covered all the bases. He has the experience in government but just how much he would really do differently is a BIG question. His being part of the business as it has been is worrying. CAN he actually govern differently? (Can anyone)
The VP's are cute but they do not have much of any real power.
At least Palin has actual related experience. She has dealt with budgets and I bet it's pretty hard to tell the local fire dept that they can't have everything they want because the school needs a new roof this year or the hospital is in danger of loosing accreditation if they don't upgrade something. (I'm just making things up here. I have no knowledge of the actual stuff that went on when Palin was Mayor. But these are the kinds of considerations that really do happen)
Biden is good looking to in his own sort of way but another careerSenator? really how much extra input can that give?
I've worn my fingers out for now. Maybe if there are some comments I might have more to say. Give it time & I'm sure I'll have more to say.
I'm completely undecided on the better choice in November. Part of my problem is that we have so little real data to work with. Both candidates are careful to craft their speeches to tell us what we want to hear. It has little to do with what they are likely to really do. We've all played the "yes them to death and do what you like" game and that is what I see both of these guys doing now. It dosen't make for intellugent decision making.
Just another day (almost)
As birthday's go this one is shaping up to me a nice quiet one.
With all the travelling and social stuff this summer 'ordinary time' has been in short supply and I appreciate a day of it. Here I am at home covering the work phones. Sorting out a billing issue and making time to blog.
This afternoon I have a Tai Chi class and this evening I expect much of my local family to come by and help me eat cake and drink wine. Not too bad. I guess I'll at least talk to each of my daughters and J is planning to cook dinner. I think gourmet hamburgers are on the menu.
With all the travelling and social stuff this summer 'ordinary time' has been in short supply and I appreciate a day of it. Here I am at home covering the work phones. Sorting out a billing issue and making time to blog.
This afternoon I have a Tai Chi class and this evening I expect much of my local family to come by and help me eat cake and drink wine. Not too bad. I guess I'll at least talk to each of my daughters and J is planning to cook dinner. I think gourmet hamburgers are on the menu.
I've finished the pair of socks for S and started B's ones. I wonder if B would like it if little C had a similar pair to his? Maybe B's Mom would have some insight.
Lovely roses came from S for my birthday. They look good and have recovered from their very warm trip in the Fedex van.
Went to Aikido wed eve, Good to be on the mat again but had enough muscle reaction by Thurs to postpone fight practice Thurs night.
The weekend is full of boat stuff. I plan to Aikido Sat am and help with the Catboat regatta dinner in the evening. Sunday is a Pursuit race if the weather permits. then we start another week.
Til next time
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Whose life is boring?
New Year New effort at Blogging (I know it's Sept. It's a personal quirk)
Circumstances have rolled around so that my blog is in front of my face. It's been some time now that I've maintained that my daughter should post regularly to her blog even when she thinks her life is boring. I don't think her life is boring and neither do lots of people around the world who read her blog.
It's time to take my own advice.
August was a weird month of vacation and travel. Good things but far from my usual active schedule. I haven't practiced Aikido in weeks and only done a bit of Tai Chi. Even Sca fighting has been off the schedule since Aug 8. With the new month I'm back to my regular schedule.
Yesterday early AM I was at TaiChi again and tonight is an Aikido class. I look forward to practice again even tho I dread the getting up to speed physically after a 6 week break.
Thursday should be fight practice. The armor is all cleaned up from Pennsic. No mold allowed!
Friday is my birthday. Tai Chi and family party.
J has started back to classes and S has started back to teaching.
Next week is the first Junior Girl Scout Troop meeting of the year. A bakers dozen girls. I look forward to what we will be doing this year. They are all so much more grown up than when we started.
What else, books - I just finished reading a book that ought to re-write the history of global exploration. 1421- the Year the Chinese Discovered America by Gavin Menzies. Check out the story on www.1421.tv it is amazing.
Also knitting - almost done on the Mother part of the Mother-Son set of bamboo socks. I'm working with a toe up pattern. Its better than the previous one that used an afterthought spiral heel but it's not perfect. Will do a few more in the pattern before I make a final assessment. After all B needs a pair to go with T & S's only a different color.
I'm also looking at knitted beads. The originals look crocheted but they ought to knit Ok they may want felting. I'll try.
That about wraps it up for now. I'll tackle politics and world events another day.
Circumstances have rolled around so that my blog is in front of my face. It's been some time now that I've maintained that my daughter should post regularly to her blog even when she thinks her life is boring. I don't think her life is boring and neither do lots of people around the world who read her blog.
It's time to take my own advice.
August was a weird month of vacation and travel. Good things but far from my usual active schedule. I haven't practiced Aikido in weeks and only done a bit of Tai Chi. Even Sca fighting has been off the schedule since Aug 8. With the new month I'm back to my regular schedule.
Yesterday early AM I was at TaiChi again and tonight is an Aikido class. I look forward to practice again even tho I dread the getting up to speed physically after a 6 week break.
Thursday should be fight practice. The armor is all cleaned up from Pennsic. No mold allowed!
Friday is my birthday. Tai Chi and family party.
J has started back to classes and S has started back to teaching.
Next week is the first Junior Girl Scout Troop meeting of the year. A bakers dozen girls. I look forward to what we will be doing this year. They are all so much more grown up than when we started.
What else, books - I just finished reading a book that ought to re-write the history of global exploration. 1421- the Year the Chinese Discovered America by Gavin Menzies. Check out the story on www.1421.tv it is amazing.
Also knitting - almost done on the Mother part of the Mother-Son set of bamboo socks. I'm working with a toe up pattern. Its better than the previous one that used an afterthought spiral heel but it's not perfect. Will do a few more in the pattern before I make a final assessment. After all B needs a pair to go with T & S's only a different color.
I'm also looking at knitted beads. The originals look crocheted but they ought to knit Ok they may want felting. I'll try.
That about wraps it up for now. I'll tackle politics and world events another day.
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