Friday Photos

As usual, some pics of the Boom Doggie. We got him a new toy - a flying squirrel. Thanks Hannah for the recommendation! A flower picture or two as well. And a guest star - my niece who graduated from High School this weekend. Couldn't resist including the beach ball picture! Note - the pictures of my niece are the first I have taken with my big zoom lens - which does not have auto focus, so I did it manually - it was a learning experience. One thing I learned is that I focus better with my left eye than my right - not sure if that's do to my contac lenses or what.

Happiness is...

....a snuggly dog. I love it when Boomer gets snuggly. He's so cute, propping his little head up on my leg and looking at me with those big puppy dog eyes so that I'll pet him. He's sweet. He's quirky too. One night recently when it had rained - could be any night recently because it's rained 19 out of 24 days in June - he saw his reflection in the wet, shiny garbage bin. This was not something he was used to seeing - so he started posturing and leaning in trying to figure out what it was, and growling at his reflection. It was funny. Silly dog.

Friday Photos/Happiness Is..

A combo post! Last weekend was busy, with parties for my uncle's 100th birthday and a "welcoming" party for my new nephew. So, I saw lots of family - which is my happiness thing this week. We had 4 generations at my uncle's party. Cousins came from Florida, Texas and Alaska. And of course - a new baby is happy. It was a little sad for me - wishing for what I can't have, but he's a cool little dude. Here are some photos.

Friday Photos

As you can tell by the sunshine, these were not taken this week!

It's Goat Day and other thoughts

Well really, it's Farmers' Market Day here. We just call it Goat Day because there are often little baby goats at the market. It's still too early for the really good stuff, but I enjoy going. Today I got some breakfast cookies - yum. I also got a cinnamon swirl loaf of bread to try at home - hope A likes it. And I got a container of broccoli in peanut sauce - thought it sounded tasty. I'll let you know. There are a lot of tomatoes and lettuce out. I saw beets -ugh - and cauliflower too. Me, I'm waiting for the zucchini and squash!

Today was also asshole driver day. Today was just my day for it. The worst was this red Chrysler that was weaving in and out of traffic on I-95 at something like 90 miles per hour. In general, I get annoyed at the people who believe that their rights trump yours and show it with their vehicular behavior. Like the people who block the box. Or the ones who find that waiting in the left turn only lane is beneath them, so they drive up in the straight-ahead only lane and then cut into the left turn lane at the last possible minute - or worse, make the left turn from the straight ahead land just as you are making your left turn from the left turn lane. Love them. Or how about the ones who just think that the Stop line is just for decoration and stop wherever it suits them, making it near impossible for you to turn onto that street. Or the "so what you are going straight and have the right-of-way, I'm turning left now because I want to" folks. And then there are the people who think that the STOP sign is merely a suggestion. Last, but certainly not least, are the ones who get in the left lane and drive slowly, blissfully letting a line of cars build up behind them. Okay - annoying driver vent over. I've been wanting to do that for a while.

In gardening news, my coreopsis are blooming. They are way tall. I have to see what to do about that. I guess I need to stake them. My peonies have all bloomed and are now starting to lose petals. The lilies are starting to bloom and I keep getting roses. I don't think I mentioned this previously - I went into the garage for something one day and in one of the pots I had out front last year, there was a mum growing. It had sat there in the garage all winter and with what little light it got this spring, started popping up. So, I planted it in the garden and it's thriving! What a nice surprise that was. My maiden pinks have been going great guns. I think I will move some of them this fall. They would look nice along side the fence. I do have a fern growing that I planted two years ago and my lavender plant is getting ready to bloom. The rosemary plant didn't make it through the winter. I didn't realize it wouldn't survive outdoors up here. Oh well. I'll find something else for that spot. I have had great luck at Home Depot with plants - go figure.

Last thing for the day - I should finish up a bib I'm making for the nephew at lunch today. It's an "A" bib - very cute and clever. Then I plan to do another garter stitch one where the colors will be the interest in it. Bibs are fast! As part of doing the bib, I learned how to make an I-cord. Much easier than I expected. Pics will be posted when they are done.

Friday Photos

The two rose pictures are actually the same rose. One shot was taken first thing in the morning, the second taken later in the day after it opened it up. You can also see that I had watered it - the water drops are visible. Down at the end, the first twin blanket finished. And, as always, there's a Boomer picture. He's a very good poser.

Happiness is....

....birthdays. Today is A's 39th birthday. For real 39 - not like me with my anniversaries of my 39th birthday. So Happy Birthday Babycakes! I love you! (I'm saying that here even though he's not supposed to read my blog.) Who knew that 39 years ago as I sat in my 3rd grade class, my life course was being changed down in the delivery room in Norwalk Hospital!

Happiness is also a finished twin blanket! One down, one to go. I'll post pictures soon. My mother gave me the pattern last year when I wanted to make a blanket for my soon to be nephew, it's one she's used a lot. Then I lost it after I finished that blanket, so she read it to me over the phone before I started this one. Guess what I found last night after binding off! I did make a bit of a goof - but no biggie really. The blanket has blocks divided by seed stitch. The seed stitch was supposed to be p1, k1..... I went p1, k1. I don't think you could tell the difference - seriously. So now, on to twin blanket #2. This one will be a different shade of pink - and personally I think a much prettier shade - more vibrant certainly. I'm not going to do the same pattern. I saw pictures of another baby blanket by the same designer online and I'm going to kind of wing it. It's almost like a big basket weave pattern- a block of stockinette stitch, then reverse stockinette stitch. So - I want it to be a similar size to the one I just finished. I've done the math to figure out how many stitches and how many rows each block should be. So I'll cast on tonight. I recently taught myself how to do a long tail cast on, so I may try that out tonight!