Major Knitter

Mini-Vacation in Manhattan

BF and I had a gala affair in NYC on Thursday, so we stayed overnight and met up with many dear friends in the City.  My first stop was my favorite hair salon from my working days.  Then after that, we walked across town and I spotted this treasure.

How cool is Lady Liberty as a New York Mets fan?  I'm holding my first square of the Knitting Central Sampler Afghan. 

We also walked past this classic sign.  Don't you just love it? 

.

.

.

.

.

.

We spent a lovely afternoon at the Central Park Zoo and Children's Zoo with our personal zoo guide and friend Judy.  She's been volunteering at the Central Park Zoo for 18 years, which is saying something since the zoo is going to be celebrating its 20th anniversary very soon.  My favorite part of our visit was the puppet show about bats.

Bat and Bat Boy - daily shows at the Central Park Children's Zoo.   Stop by and get your seats today.  This is definitely an Off-off-off-off-Broadway show you don't want your children to miss! 

Here's me hatching out of a turtle egg at the Children's Zoo.  I was going to try to get a knitting shot here, but trust me, just holding this pose required all of my attention.  How do you like my new purple patten leather purse/knitting bag?

It was a great mini-vacation in the city.  Do you ever take a vacation in your very own backyard?

Scouting Weekend

I took the Scouts to North Haven and Hamden, Connecticut this weekend for a campout and a bike ride.  We toured the Hamden, CT Rails-to-Trails where we had a great 25-mile bike ride.  Unfortunately, I must confess that this was the first ever scouting event that I went on and didn't bring my knitting.  It was completely an oversight on my part, I assure you.

Here's a picture of me taking a picture of one of the dads during a tire repair demonstration.

Here we are heading on the trail.  What a great experience!

Unfortunately, there was poison ivy all over the campground.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the scouts (and me, too) managed to avoid contact. 

At night we retired about a dozen tattered and torn American flags.  Here we are during our Flag Burial Ceremony.  It was a wonderful patriotic experience.  I think the Scouts enjoyed it.

This was an amazing campout.  If you have a Rails-to-Trails path near you, I highly recommend you go biking there.  I have never been before and I had a blast.  I'm already planning a return trip.

Congratulations Eagle Scouts!

Today was a three-way Eagle Scout Court of Honor for three senior Scouts in our Boy Scout Troop.  Each one is an incredibly talented individual who adds so much to our Troop, Community and Country.  I'm so very proud to know each and every one of them

The three Eagle Scouts are surround by 4 Scoutmasters from the Troop's history.  These young men will really make a difference in their world today, tomorrow and well into the future.  Here is a brief example of the good work they did through their Eagle Service Projects:

1. This Eagle Scout organized, publicized and held a successful food drive in the late spring / early summer for the local food bank.  We are fortunate enough to live in an affluent part of the country, but this Scout made sure his community was aware that hunger is something that can affect anyone.  This is an even bigger crisis now that gas prices have gone through the roof.
2. This Eagle Scout used his special skills in cinematography in conjunction with the local fire department to create a 20-minute fire safety DVD for seniors.  It was utterly amazing.  I learned some fire hazards I commit on a regular basis.  Oops! 
3. This Eagle Scout has volunteered as a junior EMT in town since his freshman year of high school. His experience made him aware that seniors make up approximately 75% of the ambulance emergency calls - many from falls in the home.  He set up an instructional campaign in senior communities, neighborhoods, apartment complexes and the senior center to make seniors aware of basic safety precautions they should take.

Don't you wish you had one of these Scouts in your neighborhood?  I am amazed by their goodness each and every day.

Happy Memorial Day

The boys and I marched in the local Memorial Day parade. 

That's Primogeniture carrying the flag.  He's thrid from the right.  I can't believe how tall and grown up he looks.  It seems like just yesterday he was a little Cub Scout.

That's me at the end of our Scout section.  Don't I look adorable in my little Scout shorts?

I also took all the boys to the Weston Memorial Day Fair.  What a great way to spend the holiday.

.

.

.

.

.

Segundogeniture and I played the arcade games while Primogeniture and his friends rode the rides.

.

.

.

Sedundogeniture won 2 goldfish and I won the big red bulldog.  The teenagers had fun meeting up with friends and riding the older rides.

Wilma's not too sure what she thinks about a new bulldog addition to the family.  We ended the evening with a BBQ with the boys and friends.  It was a hoot to sit around and listen to five 13-year old boys talk about the kind of stuff teenage boys talk about.

I must confess, not a stitch of knitting was accomplished this day.  lt was a fun day all about the boys.  In fact, it's a day to remember all our service men and women serving our country - especially those in harm's way. 

Please keep my nephew Javi in your thoughts and prayers.  He's currently serving in Iraq.

A Wicked Wild Weekend for Wilma

Doesn't everyone love all the social aspects of a long holiday weekend?  We sure do at our house.  A holiday weekend usually means a golf tournament, a scouting event, lots of sleepovers and a house filled with kids.  We hosted the Boy Scout troop at our house on Friday night to watch Hoot as part of the Citizenship in the Community merit badge.  Wilma was thrilled.  There's nothing she likes better than a house full of boys.

See.  Look how much fun she had.

Wilma is doggone tired. 

The Best Mother's Day Ever!

This weekend I took not one, but two boys, on a Scouting adventure.  We went to White Water Challengers to go White Water Rafting on the Lehigh River in White Haven, Pennsylvania.

Here we are rafting down the river.

It was such great fun.  It was the coldest rafting trip we've done to date.  The temps only got into the high 50s/low 60s and the water was a chilly 40 degrees.  We paddled for 5 hours and worked up a hearty appetite.  Look what these ingenious Scouts prepared for dinner.

The Scouts cooked delicious Corn Chowder - part homemade - part store bought.  It's a packaged soup mix by Frontier Soups.

My mother's London Broil Recipe with tin foil sweet potatoes and green beans.

Each campout our chef Scout prepares a "Scout Surprise".  This time our gourmet chef made these delicious Campfire Bananas Foster by Major K Wood (another Scoutmaster).  It's absolutely delicious.  We substituted the pound cake with Nilla Wafers to make it slightly lighter fare.

We stopped for Sunday brunch at the Hibernia Diner on the way home and I realized I hadn't snapped a Scoutmaster Knitting photo - so we took this one at the diner.

It was a great Mother's Day weekend.  The whole family is taking me out to dinner now... so I'll leave you with this.  I hope you had a fantastic Mother's Day.

Knitting While Earning Citizenship in the Nation

I took the Boy Scouts to Philadelphia yesterday as part of their Citizenship in the Nation merit badge.  I decided to make another poncho for my American Girl Doll on this trip.

Here I am in the visitor's center with a period player posing with my knitting.

Our Boy Scout Troop in front of the Liberty Bell. 

Here's one of Benjamin Franklin's quotes that fits me to a "T" - I've always been this way as long as I can remember.  I think it's one of the reaons I enjoy knitting so much:

"Be always ashamed to catch thyself idle"

The liberty bell was one of the stops on our visit.  Betsy Ross's house was another.  I was fabulously impressed by Betsy Ross and her industrious entrepreneurial spirit over 200 years ago.  She was truly a woman ahead of her time.  She sewed our nation's first flag at a time when to do so was a crime of treason.  I like to think of myself as an empowered woman, but I doubt that in 1775 I would have had the courage or gumption to do something this amazing.  If you are in Philadelphia, I highly encourage you to visit Betsy Ross's home.   

Of course, on every Boy Scout adventure there is always some Scoutmaster Knitting.  For this outing, I cast on for this Striped Poncho for my American Girl Doll when we boarded the train in Stamford.  I knit all day as we walked around Philly (about 6 miles).  Shortly after we got on the train to head home I had finished knitting the poncho.  Now I just need a little bit of time to weave in the loose ends and add the fringe.  It was a great trip and a wonderful learning experience.

Opening Day at Shea

BF and I went with our friends Bethany and Damian to Opening Day at Shea.  We had great fun.  I knit on the train into the city.  I brought along some Mets colored yarn and knit during the game.  Here's a picture of my finished sock watching the Mets lose to the Phillies

Yes.  You would be correct in guessing that we sat with the REAL fans in the nosebleed section.  In fact, we sat in the second-to-last row.  It was above home plate and we had a great view (my fear of heights not withstanding).  We had a great time.  You can see the new ball park under construction in the background.  The construction workers all took a break to watch the game.  Yeah.  True Mets Fans!

In the end, I did a RAOK with this little sock.  I saw another woman in the Upper Deck with a hand-crocheted METS blanket (it was pretty cold in the upper atmosphere).  As I passed her on the way up to my seat I commented on what a lovely blanket it was.  On the way down, I passed her the finished Mets sock.  She said she'd put it on her Christmas tree. 

The Peeps Are Back!

I finally added the Easter picture of my Peep Show.  Check it out HERE.

Hoppy Monday.

Palmer's Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe

I decided to offer my boys a sweet diversion this morning after all the sadness of the week.  It was fun trip down memory lane for me, too.  We went to the local candy factory in Sioux City called Palmer's Old Tyme Candy Shoppe.  We had fun looking at the candy factory antiques

My boys were, well, like kids in a candy store

It was a great trip down memory lane in this hometown favorite. 

Celebrate Easter with the Major Knitter Peep Show!

I hope you like my Peep Show.  I made it to wish you all a Happy Easter.

UGH!  I'm having major technical difficulties.  Trust me on this one.  The Peep Show is great.  I worked on my own Peep diorama for your enjoyment.  I'll have to work out the problems of the camera and try to repost the picture.

March 30 - I finally fixed the glitch.  Here's the close-up of some examples of my handiwork.  Look!  My Peeps are knitting.

I obviously don't have enough to keep me busy.

International Food Fest

Monday night was our Court of Honor at Boy Scouts.  We had three Scouts achieve the rank of Star Scout (including Primogeniture) and one receive his first Eagle Palm. 

It was quite a night.  Each time we have a Court of Honor, we try to have refreshments.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day we decided to celebrate every Scout's heritage with an international food fest.  Yummy! 

Brazilian Guarana soda, German kielbasa, Irish soda bread, Jewish rugulah, Brazilian pao de queijo (cheese puffs), Belgian cookies; Brazilian brigadeiro (fudge bon bons); Belgian chocolates; Irish/English scones; Brazilian coconut kisses (coconut bon bons); Jewish kugel; St. Patrick's Day shamrock cookies; Brazilian passionfruit juice and more.  It was a great night and the Scouts and families seemed to have a great time.

Here's Primogeniture showing off some Brazilian Brigadeiro and Beijinhos de Coco.  Yummy.

Great Day for a Hike

It started raining on Friday night in Westport.  It continued through the night.  Saturday morning I woke up to more drizzle.  Fortunately, the forecast said it would stop and by 10:00 it would be party cloudy with the skies clearing up and turning warm (low 50s) by early afternoon.  Can I just say that I love it when the weatherman is right?  We had our 10-mile Boy Scout Hike.  We had a small turnout, but it was wonderful.  We started at the Westport Historical Society where Susan Gold gave us a walking tour of downtown Westport

We walked around and the Scouts took turns taking pictures of the historic buildings in town - many built in the late 1700s.

   

.

.

.

.

We also discovered some great artwork inside some of the shops in downtown Westport.  The Banana Republic has these great murals on the wall that were uncovered during the building's renovation.  The store embraced the local art and they are now displayed on the main wall.

Can you find the pickpocket? 

After our downtown tour, we hiked down to Compo Beach, going through Longshore, through the Compo Beach parking lot, to Mill Pond Road and back to the Westport Historic Society.  It was a very long hike, but I was very proud of how well the Scouts did.  They even managed to have some fun along the way.

Of course, when you have boys and things to climb on, the inevitable happens

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

As for me, I did manage to knit my Regia self striping sock while hiking.

It was a great day for exercise, knowledge, sunshine, team-building, fresh air, camaraderie, esteem-building and even knitting.  Can you hike and walk at the same time?

PS:  Want to know what the best part of the hike was?  When two of my Scouts asked me if I would knit them some wool socks.    : D

Good Friends Are So Much Fun!

Today my girlfriends (forever known as the "Kindergarten Moms" despite the fact that our kindergartners are now in 4th grade) threw me a bridal shower.  It was an afternoon high tea complete with cucumber sandwiches, tea, scones, clotted cream and these pastries

 

What do you get the girl who has everything?  Well, lingerie, of course.  I will spare you all the photos of the gorgeous items I received (there are just some things I want to keep a secret about my personal life.)

Thanks to my many friends who have been helping me celebrate finding the love of my life since my engagement.  It means so much to me.

Music to a Mother's Ear

Today was Secundogeniture's first orchestra concert at school.  It was lovely.  You know, in the way that only a Mother can appreciate.  All his buddies are playing the cello this year.  Why?  Because one of the boys' older brother played cello last year and told everyone how much fun it is to whack your brother with a cello.  Sigh!

Fortunately, no brothers have been whacked with a cello (to my knowledge).

The Pictures Are In! The Pictures Are In!

I just got the pictures from this past weekend from Cynthia.  Go check them out here.  I'm so happy.

Do Nothing Campout

This weekend I took the Boy Scout Troop on our famous "Do Nothing Campout".  True to its name - I did nothing on this campout.  No knitting (except while waiting at the parking lot for everyone to arrive).  No photography (perhaps that was because I forgot the memory card at home.  D'oh!).  No hiking.  Just hanging out, stoking the fire, chatting, cooking, cleaning, sleeping and getting more firewood (at 4:15 a.m.).  The boys went sledding and had great fun in the snow.  Our newest Scout was an excellent chef.  He prepared a delectable menu with everything from roasted chestnuts, to watercress salad, steaks with parmesan olive oil mashed potatoes, garlic asparagus and hot pear sauce for dessert.  Yum!  Not a hot dog or s'mores in sight.  This was gourmet camping.  One of the other parents had a camera, so I hope to get some pictures to share with you.

P.S.  I just got the pictures from Cynthia.  Doesn't it look like a great campout?

Sledding in a foot of snow.

Chestnuts (on the left hand side in the tin foil) roasting on an open fire

Here's our gourmet meal - on a Boy Scout campout.  Not bad.  Not bad at all. 

Taking the Plunge

Well, it is definitely going to be the year of the caper for BF and me.  We're already well into our Culinary Caper.  Now we've added crazy challenges to the list.  Here's what we did this morning.

We went to Compo Beach to take part in the annual January 1st Polar Bear Plunge to raise money for our Westport-based Save the Children.  Here's a great pre-plunge picture from our local news site - WestportNow

Here we are getting ready to run into the chilly Long Island Sound.  C-R-A-Z-Y C-A-P-E-R!  I'm glad we did it.  Oddly enough, I was colder before jumping in the water than after.  Have you ever done anything like this before? 

Happy New Year!

Wilma's wishing you the very best in 2008.

Sleet Day - School Canceled!

School was canceled in most of southeastern Connecticut today because of the snowstorm despite the fact that there was NO snow on the ground this morning.  There was nothing... and then all of a sudden at about 11:45 a.m. it started coming down hard with only about 25% visibility.  That was right about the time I was out and about with the boys.  Now it's sleet and freezing rain - and I'm very happy that the boys aren't coming home on a school bus now.  During this nasty bit of weather, I managed to get some knitting done on my mistake rib scarf today.

I also knit some more miniature socks and even ordered a whole bunch more.  When I took Wilma outside today, she wasn't so sure she wanted to be out in this kind of weather.  In fact, as soon as the freezing rain hit her, she tried to run right back inside.

No girl.  Give it another try.

"Maybe if I get a running start, I can race right by that lady" - Nope.  It still didn't work.  She's so funny in the elements.  I think it's all a ploy so she'll force me to knit her something to wear in this kind of weather.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you had a wonderful day.  We had a marvelous meal and both boys helped cook.  Primogeniture made the buttermilk brownies and Secundogeniture made the pumpkin pie.  It was 63 degrees today and I snapped pictures of the autumn leaves outdoors.   

Farewell James!

James took the 8:57 a.m. train into the city with Angel and Erik this morning.  He's off to Queer Joe's for the weekend and I know that Joe has a great yarn crawl planned. 

Here we are.  I'm wearing a Vogue Knitting sweater from 1987 or 1988.  Yes - it's slightly felted, shrunk AND outgrown but I had to wear it just the same.  It was a fabulous few days with James.  Joe - you're going to enjoy our Kiwi friend.  Have fun James and Bon Voyage.  We'll see you someday soon in New Zealand.

How I Survived Halloween

It all started when I helped host Secundogeniture's school Halloween Party.  He was a nerd.  So I decided to be a nerd.  You'll be glad to know that no photographic evidence remains that I was ever a nerd.  Here's Secundogeniture.

It's scary that we found everything he needed for his nerd costume in our closet.  What does that say about us?  Don't answer.  It was just a rhetorical question.

Anyway, there was too much sugar, too much candy, and too much fun.  I crashed from the sugar overload and had to take a 2-hour-nap to recover. My goal is to rid the house of the leftover Halloween candy as soon as possible so I can get back to normal.  Wish me luck!

Do A Good Turn Daily

Our Community Service project to honor the 100th anniversary of the founding of Scouting was to cook steaks at the local homeless shelter in town.  The whole community is so generous.  The local grocery store gave us a great price on New York strips which allowed us to buy 24 steaks and not break the budget.  The Boy Scouts lit up the BBQ grills (what is it about boys and fires?) and were master grillers. 

In addition to that, they made my favorite salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts, blue cheese crumbles and sliced Bosc pears.  We steamed asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes and made a homemade apple crumble with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was a delicious dinner.  After serving the homeless, we went home for grilled cheese sandwiches.  Somehow I think that is truly poetic.

A Deluge of Delight

It was a Boy Scout camping weekend which was mixed with Friday night's deluge of water from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.  That didn't dampen our spirits as Saturday morning broke with sunshine and unseasonally warm weather for late October in New England.

 

I wasn't the only one doing handiwork.  One of the other moms joined us on this campout and she brought her sewing kit to sew on patches to the Scout uniforms.  The Scouts also worked on basic skills during the course of the day.  Some of the dads showed off their Dutch oven cooking prowess with things like prime rib, apple cobbler and homemade cheese bread.

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

It was the first time that Secundogeniture went camping with Mom and the Boy Scouts, which was a nice change of pace.  I think he had a good time.  The campfire was especially enjoyable. 

We played a game called "Are You Smarter Than a Scoutmaster?" which had us all in smiles.

Happy Trails to you! 

Even First Aid has Knitting

I took my Boy Scout Troop to the local EMS today for CPR training for part of their First Aid merit badge.  They did a fantastic job.  The EMS instructor is also our Troop's very first Scoutmaster from a few years gone by.  It was wonderful to learn all the terminology - especially my favorite.  Did you know that when a broken bone mends it's often said to "knit a bone together"?  I did not know that. 

Here's our group photo after we were beginner experts in the art of CPR.

And while I didn't knit any bones together, I did manage to make a good start on my Knitting Central Sock Club socks.  More pictures later on the knitting front.  If you haven't had a good first aid class or CPR in awhile, I highly recommend it.  I am so glad I got my CPR certification this summer.  Primogeniture got his Lifesaving merit badge.  These are just some great skills to know.  I hope we'll never need to use them, but at least we'll have the skills in the event we ever do need them.

Boys in the City

It's non-stop adventure at my house.  Today was Rosh Hashannah and the boys didn't have school.  During the summer when my niece and nephew were visiting from the Midwest, we were on a very hectic teenager schedule which was difficult for Secundogeniture who only wanted to go to Nintendo World and Toys R Us.  I promised him his own special day in the City one day soon that he could schedule.  Today was that day.  Secundogeniture invited his brother (how sweet), his brother's friend Guerric, and his friend from school Colin.  We had a blast. 

We went to Nintendo World, Central Park Zoo, Toys R Us, Emporium Brasil and back to Nintendo World.  With all that time spent in the video game store, I managed to knit up almost one entire sock with the Regia Stretch

It's hard to see the sock contrasted against the textured clouds, and cool rocks that the boys climbed in Central Park, but I was inspired by this little number by Atu.

Here's a shot of the boys in the subway station at the Port Authority.  I just love this colorful mosaic.  It's one of my favorite spots to snap a picture.

It was a great day.  Guerric was fascinated by my knitting on the train ride home.  Secundogeniture feared I would make him try it on in public.  Primogeniture just played his latest Nintendo DS game.  Both Secundogeniture and his friend Colin played with their newest purchases from Nintendo World