Major Knitter

Imagine my Christmas Like This

We had a wonderful Christmas at home with lots of friends joining us.  We celebrated Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Christmas night.  Unfortunately, I didn't take more than two pictures.

Christmas Eve started when our friends arrived from Brazil just before lunch.  Rather than cook, we went to our local Japanese restaurant for lunch.  It was the perfect choice.  They have two boys the same age as my two boys, so that was great.  All four speak Portuguese and English - so they had a lot to talk about.

[Imagine a photo of eight of us at the Japanese restaurant eating everything from sushi, sashime, teriyaki, hibachi and more]

Some of us went to the Christmas Eve Mass at my church where Jose Feliciano sings.  It's always a treat and the church is always jam packed.  The entire Feliciano family participates from singing to the eucharistic ministers to being an alter boy.  It's a great way to start the holidays. 

[No pictures here either, but here's a link to Dan Woog's Merry Christmas post with Jose Feliciano singing Feliz Navidad.   BTW, BF read a factoid to me that most American children learn their first bit of Spanish with Jose Feliciano through this song.  How cute is that!?]

  

After dinner, we came home and had a traditional Christmas dinner with a slightly Brazilian twist - Roast turkey, rice, farofa, roast root vegetables, asparagus and more.

Aha!  This is one of the few pictures I took of Christmas.  I set table on the 23rd so I was able to snap a photo before the festive frenzy set in.  I think that explains why I only snapped one picture.

After dinner, we cleaned up, and got ready for Christmas morning brunch.  We had 16 people for Christmas morning.  Our menu is an odd mixture of Christmas, Hanukkah, Brazil and US customs.  We had a honey spiral ham with sauteed kale, bacon, overnight baked challah french toast, potato-parsnip latkes with sour cream and my homemade pear-applesauce, the pineapple fruit tray, mixed berries, and lots of beverages.

After brunch, we exchanged gifts - first with friends - and then after our friends departed, we had our family gift exchange.  Everyone got gifts - even the puppies.  Or shall I say, especially the dogs.

Wilma loved her new squeaky toy reindeer which is nearly as big as she is.  This photo pretty much sums it up - we were all wiped out after the festivity and called it a night pretty early.  This much celebrating can wear a girl out.  

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!
 

 

Time Flies

It seems like yesterday I was just sending them off to school for the first time.  Now my boys are grown men.  They've been taller than me for many years now.  I see my neighbors with their small children and I wax nostalgic for years gone by.

My knitting friend Lisa K. had a great frame for school pictures for her boys that I admired a few years ago.  When I was out shopping last year, I stumbled across the same style of picture frame and immediately bought two.  Fast forward at least 12 month (or even more) and I decided to try to fill the picture frames.

I'm missing 1st grade, 10th grade and a baby picture for Primogeniture.  I'm not sure what I'll do about 11th grade as he didn't order pictures that day.  I'll find one from my stash and use that instead.

 

Secundogeniture is missing 3rd grade, 7th grade, 9th grade and his baby picture.  He's a junior this year, so I'll have to wait until next fall to complete his picture frame.

So now I've really got my work cut out for me.  Where in the world could I have hidden their school pictures?  I hope it's not too difficult to find them. I'd really like to have a complete ensemble as it's a wonderful journey to see all these snapshots of their life in one frame.

It's really hard to believe they're almost all grown up.
 

 

Rainy October Day Fun

My sister and her husband are visiting from Nebraska this week and on our list of things to do was apple picking.  Saturday morning's plans got trashed due to the rain, rain and more rain.  So Teresa and I decided to brave the elements and head out to my favorite spot for apple picking in Connecticut - Beardsley Cider Mill and Orchard in Shelton, Connecticut.

There's my sister halfway down the aisle between macoun and jonagold apples (with a random crabapple tree  on the left).  You can't see it in this picture, but it was 100% precipitation.  We picked our apples in the drizzle and outright rain.  It didn't matter.  It was fun.

My cap is soaking wet and I was dripping from the brim of the hat.  It was hilarious.

See, even with the rain we were both smiling!

After we paid for our apples and stored them in the car, we headed into the store where we purchased everything apple - hot apple cider, apple cider donuts (THE BEST!), apple pie, apple cheese cake, a few gallons of fresh apple cider, apple crumb pie and more.  I bought a few pies for the freezer as they are a favorite in my family.  Teresa and I were really smart... we put all the goodies in the back of the SUV for the half hour ride home... otherwise the donuts we bought for the family might have been in jeopardy.  They're that good!

If you're looking for some great apple picking this fall, check out Beardsley Cider Mill.  Tell me what you think. Don't forget the donuts!

 

 

Major, Major, Quite Contrajor, How Does Your Garden Grow?

OK - Contrajor isn't really a word, but it rhymes with major... and contrary doesn't.  

But this is the story of two great Scouts and a Dad who brought my Square Foot Garden and assembled it.

The boys pulled things out of the truck - and helped Dad assemble the raised bed and fill it with four bags of the official Square Foot Garden soil.

Seriously, these Scouts were amazing. They were here for less than 30 minutes and I had my Square Foot Garden bed ready to go.

I did some online research and decided to plan out my SFG before heading to our local nursery.  I used this site to help me figure out how many plants to purchase.

BF and I went to Gilbertie's Nursery in Westport and purchased cherry tomatoes, garlic, onions, kohlrabi, collard greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, and arugula.  Some of our other choices weren't available.  We didn't purchase others because we belong to the local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and have been members of the Stone Gardens Farm share for about 6-8 years.  We get a lot of vegetables each week - and may not need to much.  I hope to start doing more canning and dehydrating in the years to come.

Oops - I had planned to add marigolds to my SFG, but I ran out of room.  I'm pretty certain I can find a spot for these in the yard somewhere else.  Now I just hope the critters don't eat my new garden.  Please keep your fingers crossed.  I may be from Iowa, but this is my first attempt at growing my own food.

 

Happy Mother's Day to All the Scout Moms Out There

My local Boy Scout Council - Connecticut Yankee Council sent a great Mother's Day greeting today to all the Scout Moms in our Council.  They included this link "Ma, You Earned Your Eagle!"  I suggest you grab a box of Kleenex before watching.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  Thanks for everything you do to help your children grow and thrive... whether it's in Scouts or not.  Enjoy.

P.S.  The formatting doesn't really let you expand to full screen - so click on this link to go directly to the YouTube video.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where
The flowers is.

My Grandma Grace used to say that little poem every spring.  It brings a smile to my face and I say it every spring, too.  

Yesterday I spotted this gorgeous magnolia tree in full bloom and couldn't resist capturing its glory against the deep blue sky.  It's one of my favorite trees.

Happy spring everyone.  I hope you can enjoy this nice weather over the weekend.  I'll be camping - of course.  

Spring Cleaning

My happy place, otherwise known as the Knit Nook, was looking a little sad.  She was in desperate need of a thorough spring cleaning.  And by thorough, I mean drastic.

I removed ALL OF THE YARN from the shelves and filled about 20-25 kitchen sized garbage bags of yarn.  Then I washed all the shelves - top to bottom and side to side until everything smelled and looked good as new.  Unfortunately, I forgot to snap pictures of the emptiness, probably because it looked so dreary. *CORRECTION - I posted pictures of the empty Knit Nook HERE.  Even BF who sometimes takes phone calls in the Knit Nook commented that it wasn't very cheery without the yarn.

Yesterday, I set out to finish my field day of the Knit Nook.  The happiest part of the entire room was reorganized and categorized in ROYGBIV order (sort of).  My 200+ palette yarns just bring the room to life.

 

Happy, happy.

Curious George doesn't look so crowded anymore.

I even found some hidden treasures.  I really need to knit these Scouts in Boy Scout and Venturing uniforms.

And the baby yarn section and special projects area are manageable once more.

I set aside three bags full to donate to local knitting charities; this batch to put in my more permanent storage (e.g. plastic bins in the basement with lavender sachets for extra protection).  I also have one bag of various yarns that is going into an auction basket for our Boy Scout gala silent auction next week.  

So there you have it.  My Happiest Place on Earth is back to emitting joy and happiness to everyone who sees it.  My neighbors comment on it when they see me.  All their daughters want to come knit (and I openly invite them to stop by for a visit).  My girlfriends all want to show their husbands - probably to say "See, I ONLY want one bookshelf for my yarn stash... not an entire room!"

I probably should have waited until daylight for better photos with natural sunlight, but I was so excited about the spring cleaning that I had to share this with you.  Want to come over to knit and sit a spell?





 

Crafty Boy

I'm not the only one with a talent for handicrafts in my house.

Primogeniture enjoys woodworking and has recently made a slew of handcarved wooden pens.  

I think the creative process is very important and I enjoy seeing loved ones taking part in this process.  I think handicrafts work the brain in ways that are different than schoolwork, physical work or just the normal hanging out watching TV or playing on the computer.

Secundogeniture makes the pens for himself; for gifts; as a way to say "thank you;" or to help raise funds for our local Boy Scouts.  I just love that he makes a difference with his own two hands.

 

 

Auld Lang Syne

My friends were visiting this weekend with their twin five-year old boys.  It made me miss my boys at that age.  Yesterday you got a shot of Secundogeniture enjoying pancakes at age five.  

Today you get Primogeniture at approximately age seven.

 

TBT - Tavern on the Green 1999

Secundogeniture was just four or five months old.  My sister was visiting from South Dakota.  

 

It was Easter Sunday and we went to celebrate in Central Park.

We look just the same.  OK, except Secundogeniture is now more than six feet tall.  

*Blink*