New pink and purple hair

I’m too old to be afraid anymore.

E.B. in progress. Looking good, eh?

There will be only one more Friday night before the pool closes for the season. And yes, I do feel a bit cheated of summer still. But at the same time I am looking forward to chilly fall evenings with steaming stew pots and comfy sweaters. I have to remind myself that except for when it is senselessly, bitterly cold, there are good things about every sort of weather, so I shouldn’t really look upon this time as a sad thing. There are many good things yet to come.

So once again, my DH’s camera provided the photo for this entry, as it did last week. But I realize now that I didn’t say why. My camera broke. My beloved, new camera that I just got for my birthday last month. The LCD screen somehow got damaged from the inside, and of course, Canon decided that such damage is not covered under their warranty, so my brand new camera just had a $150 repair, despite being less than two months old. Sigh… I hope I continue to get lots of use out of it and love it as I had so far. It has turned out to be one very expensive camera.

And so I’m knitting. I’m making it a point to knit some on the mystery project every day. But now, I’m getting sorely tempted to take a break and knit at least one pair of funky, wonderful socks. Why? Because I feel like I’ve hit a knitting jackpot, that’s why. I saw an ad recently on Ravelry that Lucy Neatby, yes THE Lucy Neatby, is coming to a shop about an hour from my house for an entire weekend to teach a series of knitting workshops. I had to jump at the chance. So, ok, what did I do? I signed up for a 6-hour sock workshop, so I can learn from the master. “But, wait,” I hear you saying, “You don’t knit socks.” You’ve said it at least a thousand times, right here, on this very blog. What gives?”

Well, I have knit socks, but generally I find them intimidating. So, it’s confession time. I have never felt confident enough to knit socks. So, I am hoping that learning from Lucy Neatby will inspire my courage and inspire me to become a true sock knitter. I have a whole bin full of crazy sock yarns just waiting to be knit up. All I need is a little inspiration and a lot of courage. I can do it. And what better way to get started?

Of course, as luck would have it, this once-in-a-lifetime knitting-Nirvana experience would have to fall on my 18th wedding anniversary. But, I’ll deal with that little issue way later. Right now, I’ve got to keep knitting.

Trish Knits at the swim club

Knitting.

Except that I haven’t even done much of it this summer, knitting by the pool, and now the summer is drawing to a close. Too quickly. I am finding myself to be grouchy and said about this. It’s been mostly the weather, this hot, disgusting summer. I feel robbed of summer, and angry that this pleasant evening which was at last not too hot, is one of the few memories I will have of enjoying these last few months.

But, this evening was one of the finest. I got several rows done while listening to a Nora Roberts romance novel from her “Chesapeake Bay” series. It was great. And tomorrow is knit group, and then an evening at the pool again. It’s going to be a good knitting weekend.

The Smithsonian Community Reef

Annette Carr's Toxic Coral

So the exhibit has now been all over the world and is coming to Washington. My co-worker Annette has gotten excited about the project and has begun making pieces for the reef. The Community Reef will showcase three types of reef: Healthy Reef, Bleached Reef (unhealthy) and Toxic Reef, which is reef that has grown up and around trash and other found objects that lurk in our oceans. Annette’s pieces, which I have photographed here, are examples of toxic reef. Water bottles, credit cards, used auto parts… these are all things which ocean animals must contend with and try to survive in spite of. I’m betting Annette’s piece made with the used auto air filter is going to find a prominent place in the exhibit. It’s a strange beauty.

So, if you’d like to participate in the project, and there’s still a little time, you can join the Ravelry Group or by e-mailing the project coordinator at sicommunityreef@yahoo.com for more information. I’m of course busy on my mystery project that I must remain loyal to until it’s done but I’m wondering how I can squeeze at least a couple of corals in. I think I want to be part of it. You should, too.

Mystery Project in Progress

I hadn’t decided how to do the color changes until I actually got to them. But, rather than continuing right along with the cable and double moss stitch pattern, I put in a “transition band” of reverse stockinettte with the chocolate color, and then am continuing with the blue. Then before I go back to the cream again I will put in another band of chocolate. Then at the moment I am thinking of an applied garter stitch edge or maybe an i-cord edge. Something simple, not lacy, given that I want the attention to be focused on the stitching in the main bands. I feel like I’ve made lots of progress while at the same time I have miles to go!

I can’t believe it’s the middle of August already and that summer is almost over. By now usually I’d have been to the pool lots and have been caught up on listening to podcasts and done lots of knitting by the picnic tables. But not this year. We’ve had a ridiculous, relentless heatwave all summer that has made us not want to spend much time outside. Every week we were sure that it would be over the next week, but it just went on and on, and now here we are. I feel like I have lots of summer to make up for in just a week! The kids go back to school on the 23rd and 25th this year. I know we started going back to school before Labor Day even back when I was in school, but I never thought it was right and I still don’t. It’s still summer, dangit, and I’m not ready for it to be done.

Thankfully, today is a nice day and so we’re meeting family at the pool for the afternoon. I’ve got my knitting ready, and some trashy romance novels on my Kindle. It’s going to be a good day.

I’ve been knitting a lot. On the stealth project known only as “E.B.” Here’s a stealthy photo:

I’ve been knitting on this thing like crazy, and I’ve made steady progress, but it’s slow. Really slow. Something tells me it will be a while before the intended recipient of this gift will actually see it. Which, is why, in a way, I tackle such large projects when I set my mind to do a gift. It is, at least, the sort of gift that doesn’t have an expiration date, just in case it really does take me forever to finish it.

I’m almost done with the first white band and hope to finally be starting the color pattern before the end of the weekend. Nothing fancy, since there’s already a textured pattern going on, but just some really wide stripes.

Tonight we went to the pool with one kid in tow and I got to sit and relax, and knit. The boy child has mastered the high dive this summer, and I’ve been promising him I’d shoot him in action, so here goes:

And here’s a couple of flower shots:

white flowers

pink flowers

I’m still really loving my new camera.

I’m itching to write lately. I’ve had a story dancing around in my head for years. I’m thinking I’m going to take the next step and do an outline. And then this winter, I’m going to write it. Stephanie Meyer once said on Oprah that she started writing the Twilight series in chapter 12 of the first book. I’m in the same sort of situation in that the characters I’ve been dreaming of have quite an intense scene that plays out somewhere in the middle, but I’m not quite sure how the story starts or ends. This should be interesting… wish me luck! It’s been a long time since I’ve attempted some serious writing.

School starts in two weeks. I’m not ready for the summer to be over. But please, don’t tell my kids. It’ll be our little secret. Knit group is tomorrow and if I don’t go to bed now I’ll be falling asleep in my tea again. Wait, it is tomorrow already. Uh, oh. I’m in trouble. Until next time…

No joke, this is the real temperature today.

You know? I think I was the only person not complaining about the snow when it was falling back in February. Of course, I didn’t have to shovel it, and I was perfectly cozy in the house for two weeks with my knitting and hot chocolate. Now, it’s too hot to knit, too hot to cook, too hot to eat even if I did cook. It’s basically hot, pissy, sweaty, hot. This fat girl’s so over it… so wanting to declare that it’s Ice Cubes Under the Armpits Day, and not come out again til Fall.

Who’s with me?

I think our cat, Zöe, has the right idea.

It's a great day for a cat nap.

So, I had an adventure this week. My faithful old computer, which admittedly had been on its last legs for some time.suddenly died. It went swiftly in the end, leaving me dumbfounded and without saying goodbye. Not even a too-highly-paid-for-not-much-real-help Geek could make anything happen. So, I had to get a new PC, in a hurry. I prefer to take my time, spec out what I want, and wait for the UPS truck. Usually consumer retail is giving up too much in performance for my taste, but this time I had to make do with something off the shelf. I chose an HP machine that wasn’t going to break the bank, and at the same time, had most of what I wanted.

Got it home, set it up, upgraded to Windows 7 Professional, and all was well as I went to bed Thursday night. Then Friday evening when I got home, my daughter turned on the PC and nothing happened. I called HP, who literally instructed me to take it all apart, take the chips out, and unplug all the components on the inside, one by one. After two hours and much cussing by my husband, HP could not identify the problem. They said I could send it in for service, but why would I want to do that, when I could just take it back to the aforementioned retail store?

New Gateway Computer

Luckily I kept my data files on external hard drives. Except for my Outlook data files, which means I’ve lost all my contacts. That’ll take forever to fix. Wish me luck.

Anyway, so that’s what’s happening here in Hades. I hope you’re cooler than I am, wherever you are.

That’s not news around this blog, I know, but this is a special project. And I will finish it. I have a deadline in mind, and it’s a gift. So, when I talk about this project from time to time, you’ll probably only see stealthy little glimpses, like this:

Closeup of cables

And this:

Another closeup

This project is so secret I can’t even tell you its name. For now, I’ll refer to it as “E.B.” I’m enjoying it because every row keeps me busy. I’m just hoping to get it done soon, like maybe sometime this fall. Before Thanksgiving would be a personal victory.

It’s large, too. I always go big.

Stay tuned!

Trish with Yarn Ball Birthday Cake

My mommy made me a birthday cake in the shape of a yarn ball! How cool is that?

The baker at work:

Mom Icing the Cake

Eat your heart out, Buddy! Great job, mom! And it was delicious, too!

Seriously, having a birthday on a Wednesday in the middle of a wacky work week is no fun. It was an especially awful day at the office. But, to offset the bad parts I literally had over 100 birthday wishes on Facebook today–overwhelming! I am gobsmacked. Then to come home to a yarn ball cake? Well, is it too corny to say that that was just the icing on the cake?

I feel very loved tonight, even if I feel a little older. So, I guess I’d better sign off and get to bed–the beauty sleep is getting harder to come by at my age.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to drop me a note and think of me today. It was wonderful. I love you all!

For the longest time I’ve always had trouble saying what I want for my birthday. Sure, I usually come up with something, but it is a question I dread from my loved ones each year. This year was no different, but then last week it hit me. One of my favorite things that I own is my digital camera, which, literally, gets nearly daily use. My camera is a really nice one, but now it is a few years old. And, the technology has improved a lot in the last few years. So, even though it feels frivolous, when my husband asked me this year what I wanted for my birthday, I told him that I’d like to upgrade my camera.

He readily agreed, and three days later, voila! Amazon delivered.

Canon SX20-IS

It’s the Canon PowerShot SX20IS Digital Camerawhich is an upgrade of my older camera. It has twice as many megapixels, can use a larger SD card, is even more light sensitive, has a longer zoom, has a hot shoe, and can shoot HD movies. Those are just a few of the new or improved features. I’ve liked this camera because even though it is a digital camera that can be used as a point and shoot, it does so much more, and allows me to make all kinds of adjustments for different photo effects. I especially loved that my camera was really light sensitive, meaning that I can take indoor photographs without having to use the flash very often. This is important for photographing yarn, as regular readers of this blog will know that I do quite regularly. I really don’t like using the flash because I love the effects of natural light and the prettier colors and skin tones that I can achieve.

So the camera arrived yesterday, and even though it wasn’t my birthday for nearly a week, I had to open the box. My husband didn’t really expect that I would wait! He knows me too well. Much of the camera feels familiar, though it is slightly larger and considerably heavier. It has many of the same functions and works a lot the same way as my older camera, given that they are close relatives, and yet, I found myself getting frustrated with the minor changes and having to slow down on the learning curve. But, here it is only a day later, and I’m already getting the hang of it. I think I’m going to love this camera as much as I loved its predecessor. Here’s one of the first pictures I took with it:

cherries

I keep thinking of the great Erma Bombeck, who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?. The cover of that book, when I had it as a kid, had cherries in the background.

So then, to add to the birthday joy, my mother-in-law called this afternoon and asked if she and the F-I-L could come by tonight to celebrate my birthday, since they’re getting ready to go out of town. We had just been planning to have pizza and an easy night anyway, so I invited them to join us. She brought cake! It was my favorite cake from the local Amish market. And then they presented me with this:

rainbow-y and pink yarn

Yarn! Can you believe it? They went on a European holiday this spring, and while visiting in the Netherlands, they came across a lady selling yarn in a market. My mother-in-law said she saw the woman making a scarf with this very yarn and she thought it was neat and that I’d like it. She took a picture of that scarf in progress to show me. it sort of knits up in solid pink and rainbow multi stripes. I think I will enjoy knitting this!

Of course, Tegan had to check out the yarn for herself:

Kitty wants the yarn

Finally, here is the first movie from my new camera. It’s nothing special, except that last week when I was at the Amish Farmer’s Market I fell in love with these really large wind chimes. They sound like bells, and are perfectly tuned to each other so that they actually make music when they move. They’re stunning.

That, or I’m easy to please.

caramel popcorn and Twinkies

I’m a smart woman; I really am. I know what I should put in my body and what I should not. I actually like vegetables and fresh fruits, and relish the summer months when these things are so readily available. One of my favorite things is to go to a farmer’s market and load up on veggies. And I can do alright for a number of days or weeks without my sugar consumption being out of control. But when the stress hits? I turn into a sugar-craving monster and go out of control. It can be work stress, or home stress, or exhaustion or even extreme elation. And once I get on a bad streak, it’s really hard to come down.

Why?

Why, when I know what this dangerous drug, sugar, can do to me, do I continue to abuse it? On the logical side it just doesn’t make sense at all. So I know there must be some deep-rooted emotional reason why I routinely engage in self sabotage. It’s not just a Twinkie, or a Reese’s cup, or the dreaded Caramel Macchiato. Those are the things which are one by one, shortening my life by hours and days… and years. I know this to be true, but so far, I have not been motivated to change my eating habits. I need to find out what my “currency” is, as Dr. Phil would say, and use that. I know.

I have been lacking motivation to change. I know that the sugar itself can be affecting my motivation. So, it’s a vicious cycle. And help! I want to get out of it. Have any of you beat the sugar monster? If so, how did you do it? How do you keep your resolve?

I look forward to hearing your stories.