Blog chow

Ok, so it's more like a TV dinner, but it's something. Actual knitting content to come in the next 48 hours, I promise.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Here's a preview

We started in Vancouver. The terminal has a wonderful native art area, set as a nature trail, and I only got a couple of good photos, but this is one.




















Granville Island is one of the coolest places I've ever been. The market is superb.




















Juneau Public Library; some of the ever-present flowers in Alaska.



























The islet was near Sitka, seen while we sought (and saw!) otters.
The stand of trees is at Icy Strait Point on a short trail not too far from Hoonah.
Our party agreed that Icy Strait was the best stop on the cruise--I spent ten minutes after this short trail standing beside a small pond, giving myself whiplash trying to look at and identify all the birds that I'd never seen before. It was fabulous.









As I mentioned, there are a few more photos in my Flickr set if you're interested.

M is off to Oregon with Seth's folks tomorrow, and Seth and I are still deciding if we are going to San Diego for the weekend or just hanging out at home. Both options sound good, and from what I hear, the weather is about the same either way! The fact that we have friends in SD who we've not seen in some time may well tip the scales.


And here, because all of you fashionistas DEMAND it, is herself in the latest summer coif......enjoy.

Honey, I'm home!

(Blogger won't let me post photos right now....ok, FINE)

Ok, here I am! The trip was wonderful, relaxing, stress-free and COOL!

Vancouver was as delightful as I recall it, and the people were just as kind, too. I love Canada. I speak Spanish pretty well, so I'm about ready to tackle French so's we can git on to the eastern parts of the Great White North as well.

The ship was wonderful. My hubby used to work for Holland America, and it was very interesting to see him go aboard as a passenger this time. He took the change quite well, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the captain was someone he'd sailed with (and liked) before. He went fishing and two mid-size halibut are flying here as we speak. YUM.

The Inside Passage is just stunning. We had great views of the land all the way along, and the naturalist on board said that we were getting to go more slowly and see more than most ships he'd been on previously. I'd been lucky enough to take that same trip almost 10 years ago, and my memory served me well. It was just as gorgeous, and all the towns along the way (Ketchikan, which has a SUPERB yarn store, Juneau, Sitka, and especially Hoonah) were terrific.

My photos are none too good, but you can see them on my Flickr set. For anyone who wants truly spectacular Alaskan vacation photos, may I please send you post haste to Siri's blog? You will not be disappointed.

Anyhow, the return to the heat and the mountains of laundry (both clean and not) have slowed my blogging return, and we may well pop out of town for a few days this weekend, so fear not iffen youse don't hear from me for a few days again. I am trying desperately to catch up on everybody's blogs, and falling far short. But oh well.

Talk more at you later.

Auf Fwee Gogh!

Heading off for about 2 weeks--

VACATION! YAY!

Photos and stuff when I get back.

Party on, dudes & dude-ettes!

Probably more than you want to know...

For the August Birthday Swap!

(And if my partner is a tech-minded person, I'm not ashamed to say I'd love a tutorial in saving the birthday button from Abigail's blog! You can tell by my rag-tag collection that I have yet to master this part of blogging.)

What day is your birthday?

August 6th. My 44th this year, and I'm not ashamed to tell anyone!

Are you crafty?

Well, I like to think so. I'm a dabbler and I do like to try new things. Knitting is something I've really stuck with, and I like playing with wire for jewelry and figures, and noodling with wood is an interest as well...

Would you enjoy things like: Buttons, ribbons and embellishments?

Yes! I'll find a use for almost anything.

Do you dye your own wool?

Haven't yet, but I'm game.

Do you like to scrapbook or make homemade cards?

No on the scrapbooking, yes on the cards.

What small project would you be interested in making?
Socks, mittens, scarf, hat, baby items, wash cloths, doilies, shrugs etc

I'm still working on my first pair of socks, but anything in the list would be worth a try.

What are your favorite scents?

I haven't yet found a cologne/perfume that I like for me, but I'm partial to citrus-y scents, and I like things that have really clean, cotton-y smell.

Do you like stationary and cards?

Yup.

Do you like hand lotions or soaps?

Soaps, yes. I'm picky about lotions--most are too strongly scented for me.

Do you like to sew or embroider items?

I'm in remedial sewing with my very patient mother-in-law as my mentor, and I'm starting to embroider, so yes (with training wheels).

Do you like beads?

Yup.

What kind of mail-able snacks do you like to eat?

Salty, crunchy or nutty things. Can't really mail chocolate here this time of year (sob).

Do you like to wear costume jewelry? Necklace, earrings, bracelets etc.

I have a few pieces of jewelry that I wear every day, so not really, but I'm always looking for interesting earrings, so they're a possibility. I like small ones and mostly wear the French or fishhook style.

Do you like to play cards or board games?

Yes!

What are your favorite colors of yarn?

Greys, greens, deep reds and purples.

Do you like solid, variegated, heathers, or self striping yarns?

All of the above.

Do you like kitchen magnets or key rings?

Yes to the magnets, but I'm well-covered in the keychain department!

Do you like picture frames?

Yes, if they aren't too fussy or foo-foo.

Do you like to make/or use stitch markers?

Yes.

Do you collect anything?

Elephants (again, not so much the fussy or uber-cutesy ones) and things with realistic leaf motifs or designs.

Do you have any allergies?
Smoke, food, fiber, pets, etc..

The best birthday present I ever got is one I get each year since I was pregnant. My husband quit smoking. Can't stand cigarette smoke.

Do you have any hobbies?

I putter in the garden, I birdwatch, I play softball. I have a concertina, but haven't noodled with it in some time. Like to doodle, knit, read and spend entirely too much time on the computer perusing interesting blogs!

Do you like scented or unscented candles?

I'm not a candle collector, but probably would go for unscented if the candle holder was attractive.

Are you a fiber snob?

I guess I'm becoming one. I like wool, and I like having the option to felt or not to felt. I'm starting to use cottons as they are a good desert option. Wouldn't complain about any natural fiber--would love to try hemp.

Too Fun To Pass By

Go visit Pea Soup for the geneology of this once. Heck, go anyway, 'cause Suse is hilarious and someone I'd love to sit and yack with if only the mighty seas wouldn't keep us apart...*sniff*...

YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME
(grandfather/grandmother on your father's side, your favorite sweet/lolly):

Eileen A. Roca (nee Toffee)


YOUR FLY GIRL/GUY NAME (first initial of first name followed by "izzle", first two or three letters of your last name followed by "dizzle"):

Kizzle Murdizzle... 'nuff said.


YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favourite color, favourite animal):

Brick Elephant, or perhaps Leaf Seahorse.


YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters of your name- last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name repeated twice):

Katler Spospo (That's MRS. Spospo to you, buster...)


YOUR SUPERHERO NAME ("The", your favourite color, the automobile you drive):

The Grey Mighty Max. And you'll never, ever see me without my super X-ray specs, so don't even try to catch a peek...

Margarita

My first attempt at the bottlecap pincushion.

I'm a believer now! If you haven't seen this
wonderful tutorial, go NOW!!!!

Book Meme:

a) pick up a book which is the closest to you at the moment

b) open page 123

c) find the third sentence

d) post it in your Live Journal (plus the instructions)

e) don't choose the book, just pick up the one closest to you


Ok, today we bring you:

Barnes & Noble BASICS: using your digital camera

written by that huge literary wunderkid, Dave Johnson.

"To find them, look in the menus of your image editor and keep an eye out for words like Filters or Effects."

Once upon a time, on the way to Mongolia....

Friends like to cuddle warmly and share a good book.

















What a useful thing is a horn!























This little piggy is happy that someone will go
to market in this sweater without shivering.





















A boy and his dog read about "The Long Winter."























The elephants like people to think that they
are twins, even though they are not.


















More books about peoples of the world.


Happy Dulaan Project, everyone!
(Click on Ryan below if you need an explanation)
Ryan, feel better soon.
Pam, thanks for sharing the yarn.
Love and peace and Arizona warmth to all.

Just a few thoughts

It's very hot here. 109 today. Oh well, it'll only last until October or so.

Miss M is trying a week of summer school at her new school. We've found a private school that all of us like, and she's having a great time with "Science Week". They made ginger ale, salt and sugar crystals, and today she came home with a big Ziploc baggie full of "Gak", slimy white ooze. She loved the fact that it caused me to shriek lots of comments like "Eeeeeeeew!" and "Yuck!" and "Get that stuff away from me!" I'm glad she seems to be enjoying this place.

I really need to turn off the computer and go finish seaming up the sweater. Last year, M saw a play in which there was a knitting giant who was covered in tangled red yarn. He said, "I like knitting, but I hate casting on!". Substitute seaming for casting on for me, please. Must fill box for Dulaan Project and fling it up to Flagstaff.

There's a box of Cheez-Its sitting on the kitchen counter. Bad husband. He knows I could easily ingest the 3-pound double-bag pack from Price Club (I'm NOT going to call it Costco, thank you) in one sitting, and yet, he still buys them once in a while. I love him.

I am so ready to not do what I do for a living anymore.

The dog has now had all four feet trimmed, and looks very sheep-like; tiny feet and a furry, unkempt body. Will attempt to get the rest of him shorn this weekend.

Impending sewing adventure; my mother-in-law is going to tutor me through the process of sewing a scrub top. I am very particular in my fabric likes and dislikes, and she swears it shouldn't be a difficult project, so I've found some batik (complete with 40% off coupon!) and am hoping to start it up this weekend.

That's about it for now.

red

I find myself drawn more to red as I age.
The deeper ones; brick, maroon, poppy.
I don't have jammies like these,
and I dunno what we'll do when she
outgrows them.

Red silk pyjamas, sumptuous, made more so by the
Sylvester and Tweety-Pie print.

blue

My hubby gifted me with a bottle of Partida tequila blanco.
I love the little birdy logo.
The glass bottle is pretty, too, and has a tinge of azul in it.
The tequila is delicioso.

Grey

I love grey clouds, grey birds, and grey critters.
I don't even mind my grey hair!






















Seth gave me this little pachyderm long ago.
She landed an important job as my fixation device
while I was in labor, and now she lives on top of my
clock-radio where I can see her at the start and
finish of each day.

I love our patio. When we extended it, I stole the
idea of putting plant impressions into it from our
wonderful botanical garden.
The guys pouring the concrete thought I was
nuts, but it turned out well. This is a mesquite
cutting. I have different plants or seed pods
all around the edge of the patio.

Brown

A comfortable color.

Today we showcase brown PEI yarn
(soon to be Mongolia-bound),
brown bamboo salad bowl,
brown bamboo cutting board
(a new acquisition!)
held by my favorite
MERmaid whose hands are
sun-kissed brown, and
brown bittersweet chocolate.

Yum entirely.

White

Color week! Thanks for the invite to play along, Stephanie!














My two favorite serving dishes. I don't get to use them that often as they are large, and we don't entertain a lot, but they make me happy. The bowl has cheery flowers, and the leaf platter is really wonderful.

9

No photos today, but here are 9 things that have happened since my last post:

• Found my summons for jury duty which is coming up later this month.
  

• Gave the dog half of his summer haircut. It's amazing how much hair spaniels produce, and since I'm just using scissors, I've only had time to trim his front legs and part of his chest.

• Have finished and halfway seamed the first Dulaan sweater, finished and not yet seamed the second Dulaan sweater, and finished another Cloud Hat for the Dulaan box. I did up the top while waiting for Marion at ballet yesterday, and was helped by an eager young lad of 2 or 3 whose mom kept inexplicably apologizing for his interest in what I was doing. Heck, we had a great time; I dunno what she was so wigged out about.

• Seen my father-in-law (inadvertently) shower my mother-in-law with windshield wiper fluid as she and I stood chatting beside the car. He was in the car already and obviously didn't realize how poorly the fluid jets are aimed. (hee-hee)

• Participated in my 4th co-rec softball game. We've won 3 of 4--Go BlackSox!

• Gotten very fond of some fine blogs: this one, this one, and this one in particular.

• Came home from work early last week Thursday utterly exhausted and somewhat dizzy. Fell into bed and neglected to get up again until Saturday. Felt much better then.

• Gotten myself invited to a sleepover at the Desert Botanical Garden tomorrow night with the childie. It's the culmination of her first week of camp, and we are both very excited about it despite the warm weather.

• Arrived at work yesterday to see a huddled lump of feathers in the parking lot. Immediately started the "please don't be dead" mantra, and after parking, walked over to find a very stunned-looking young dove. It was so dazed it let me pick it up, and I kept it in a box with a warm water bottle until I could take it to a volunteer rescuer's house at lunchtime. Thanks for not being dead, little one. Thanks East Valley Wildlife!

Ballet recital Saturday. Expect plotz-inducing photo next week. Maybe some documentation of the Dulaan goodies a'fore they head up to Flagstaff. Have a delightful weekend, please.

Summer's Here!

Random photos from my in-laws wonderful back yard.
Although I am not a pink-loving person,
bouganvilla leaves do make striking photos.
As does the mimosa blossom.

Feliz Dia de Las Madres!

Here is my wonderful
Mother's Day gift. I got it
this morning along with
breakfast in bed.

Delightful!











This, however, is
the finest ever
Mother's Day gift
I've ever gotten.
I got it nearly
9 years ago, and I
still think it's my
favorite.



Thanks for
making me a
mum, Marion.
I love you.

And Mom, thanks for having me and for giving me lots of good examples of what a mom should be. I love you! And Fran, thanks for being a great mom and a great Mother-Out-Law. I love you!

Icebox cake and ironwood blossoms

The first half of this post is dedicated to Zoe, whose posts I miss of late! I hope she is settling into her new abode and can soon resume her blogging. Her creativity in baking and crafting is wonderful to see and I surely do appreciate her sharing with us. Thanks Zoe!

Icebox cake!



This is my favorite birthday cake. It's also a perfect Arizona summer dessert as you don't need to heat up anything but your mixer! The recipe is on the box of wafers, but here's my version:






Famous Chocolate Wafers (I buy two boxes--there's always some breakage)
whipping cream (2 small cartons-*see note below)
vanilla (preferably Penzey's Double Strength--ahh, bliss!)
granulated sugar

cake plate or platter
toothpicks
plastic wrap

You can, of course, make it even simpler by buying prepared whipped cream, but it's so easy and tastes SO much better to make your own...

Whip the cream, adding vanilla and sugar to taste. I've never measured, I just shoot for making it taste the way my mom always does, but I'm approximating 2 or more teaspoons vanilla and a tablespoon or so of sugar per small carton of cream (you know, *the size of the milk cartons we used to get in school).

Spread a dollop of cream onto a wafer. Put another wafer on top and spread it with cream. Repeat until tower threatens to topple, then set onto plate. Make several smaller towers (3-4), connect with more whipped cream. I usually make two long cylinders from a box. (It might be fun to try to circle them!) Cover the entire thing with whipped cream. Stick several toothpicks into cylinders, leaving most of the pick poking up. Cover with plastic wrap, letting the toothpicks support the wrap. Refrigerate for several hours or freeze for at least an hour.

When you're ready to serve (or in my case, devour), you'll want to have it chilled but not frozen, so let it sit for at least 15 minutes or so of you've frozen it. Cut at an angle and garnish if you like with some chocolate shavings.

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And for the second half of the post,
here's some magic from my front and back yards:

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Empty-nest syndrome

*sigh*

Yup, they're gone. Hope they have wonderful humming-birdy lives.

Meanwhile, back at the out-of-sorts ranch, my addled brain has cooked up:

The "What's IN Your Bag?" meme.......

I scrabbled through mine the other day and was astounded at the amazing things buried within. Ok, I'll show you mine, and you show me yours!

Here's the first layer, the outer crust, if you will:
















And if you dig down (and you must), you will reveal THIS amazing mass o' stuff...








Ok, here's the challenge.

Firstly: SHOW ME THE INNARDS OF YOUR KNITTING/CRAFT BAG! I want to see entrails...



Secondly: Name three things in there that you can't do without. Here are mine:

1. My lambie tape measure (thanks, Della!)

2. The Crystal Palace size 8 bamboo needles. These are turning out to be my failsafe "I have no current project and all this yarn and what am I going to do with...Oh, wait, I can...." needles.

3. My toolkit: a metal box that housed a small flashlight which now holds my pins, stitch markers, scissors, tapestry needle, etc. It has sharp edges so it's cocooned in an old sock until I get around to knitting it a proper felted case.

Thirdly: Name three things in there that either shouldn't be there or that you forgot were in there. Mine are:

1. A Starbucks gift card I got for my birthday last August.

2. A very sweet note from my dear mother-in-law.

3. Ticket stubs from a AAA baseball game we went to last summer in San Diego.

I would love to have any and all play along, but as I don't think that there are too many readers of this here blog, I'll tag a few. (If I don't call your name, please join in anyhow and leave me a comment so I can come see what 'cha got!)

I hereby tag: Della, Moose & Bella's mum, Kim, KT, and Barb. Come out and play!