I could get used to this kind of Monday

I got up early and took the girlie to her cello lesson. Stopped off at home for camera and dog.





More of our walk here.

Here's part of my Halloween costume, pre-felting.
(Inspired by Anna and Seth's great pics here)

Here's another part, still in progress.

Any guesses as to what I'll be?

What did I see today?

For a better look, go here.

Brittania RULES!!!!!!

Mr. and Mrs. R. Robot, late of the U.K. arrived in Redmond, WA last week. They settled in quickly and comfortably on the loveseat in the family room and bade us unpack their traveling case. We happily complied.........

Holy Mackerel! Lovely postcards of their native land, a wonderful letter from Lindsey, a Dr. Who robot chocolate lolly (!!!LOVE Dr. Who in all his incarnations....) and some lavender stick-ons for de-stressing after a rough day at the hospital. They also brought a bag of sweet beads and trinkety-bits which look just right for accessorizing some bracelets I'm noodling with, and a powerfully minty bar for strength! Just the thing for tucking in my pocket the next time our Spot takes us to the enormous dog park for a day's hike!

My DH has already put dibs on the sweet little Rosie Lea teabag to be this year's new Christmas tree decoration. And the cake is so sweet, I hate to think of sticking pins in it...but we'll see.

The Robots are reminding me that there was also a box of special McVitties Jaffa cakes (with orange!) enclosed, but it seems to have disappeared. This is not surprising as the plain McVitties have a history of being inhaled as soon as they've been purchased, and these were SUPER special ones...

Lindsey, thanks so much for all the fun goodies! You've spoilt me terribly! (And my family as well--S asked me what my next swap was and when I said I wasn't enrolled in any new ones at the moment, he sounded like a little boy of about 5 when he said, "None? Really?")

Clare's idea for the R.O.B.O.T. swap was a real winner. Thanks, ladies! You're tons of fun.

Remember when I used to knit stuff?

Last Saturday was the shower date for friends of ours.

I thought this would be done and in L.A.by then.
Garter stitch, you know.
Lucky for me, baby is due in October.

M and my redhead helped choose the button today.
It was fun trying different ones.
We agreed on this beauty.

Mason-Dixon pattern from Book 1
(can't wait to check out book#2)
superwash heavyweight sock wool instead of cotton
My seaming isn't great, but not bad.

I'm going to miss the button.

Fishies! (click on pond to feed them--they're hungry.)

R.O.B.O.T. swap!

Claire sponsored it,

Lindsey is my partner, and here's what I sent her.

It was lots of fun making them.

She has fun arrival photos here.

Knitting has been happening, truly, and photos will show up within the next few days, I promise.

Now and Then

I'm finding more and more that I'm a creature of habit.

I didn't really know that about me. I'm starting to understand how much comfort I take from patterns in my life. Some people would say it's boring, but I'm enjoying the cycles, with their sameness and their small changes. Much has changed since last year, much has not. The important things that haven't changed are my dear redhead, our wonderful girlie, and our loving families. I feel very lucky all in all.

Here's Marion's favorite to give you his take on my theory.

Here's some photos to show my theory.

Spot, healthy and happy in our backyard this week

Spot, soon after his major surgery last November

A tree-ful Redmond twilight last week

A fiery Arizona sunset from last summer



Ferris wheel and totem poles at Evergreen State Fair last Sunday

An ostrich at last year's Maricopa County Fair

My treasure flying at the fair

Same treasure at the Grand Canyon spring 2007

Not bad, not bad at all.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

quick notes from a too-short vacation

I had 3 days off. I bracketed a weekend. It was wonderful.

I had lists. Some things got crossed off as done, some did not.

going to bed without setting alarm clock--done (would like to do nightly)

shirts to dry cleaners--not done

attend Prairie Home Companion's Rhubarb Tour show date here--done

hem pants--not done

return green jacket--not done

bathe Spot--done

go to Saturday market--done

check on different schools for M--done

bird walk in Juanita park--1/2 done (I stayed for 2 of the 4 hours--will stay longer next time)(willow flycatcher, osprey. gadwall ducklings, downy woodpecker, charming birders)

closet organization--not done

slumber party with M--done (popcorn, viewing of Ratatouille on portable DVD while cuddled up eating popcorn, chocolate ice cream--great party, lousy spare bed)

zoo--done

knitting--not done, but ready for Dish Rag Tag box to arrive

start work on robot swap--done

here are some random photos; the squirrel is for you, Barb.

we tasted it and it was good.

see how it's a monkey?

see the darling froggie?

tee-tiny bug in a lacy cocoon in my kitchen sink.

we relocated him.

see Barb, there's food for all, even

if you have to hang upside-down by your toes to get at it.

no, this did not come out of the lacy cocoon.

I'll try to post some knitting/making photos soon. Anyone still out there?

and now for something completely different....

Take the Quiz here!

Yaaaaaar!!!!

Squirrels

Our birdfeeder has become a much desired commodity in the yard. Before...



And after...

this and that

don't know why these are so pixilated. flickr shows them off much more flatteringly.

a rose by any other name...

There was a staff rose show at work last week. Since the house we're renting has several rose bushes and several of them still have their ID tags, I entered a couple of blooms. It was really interesting to see the variety! A co-worker who has been there for many years told me that the judge takes it all very seriously; many of the entries have comments like, "bloom past prime" or "petals could be longer". My yellow got twitted for the lack of leaves--something I'm not sure how to control! It was fun, though, and everyone got a little lapel pin and ribbons. More photos on flickr.



This rose has no ID tag, but I love the apricot color. I dubbed the resident "Garbo" because she ran away from the camera more vigorously than Spot! She's a crab spider of some type, and I'm hoping she'll hang around a while. There are a few more quickly-captured clicks of her on flickr, too.

The odd thing about all of this is that I have never really had a fondness for roses, aside from the Grateful Dead connection. I am, however, flexible enough to say that if life is going to strew my path with something, I'd rather it be roses than something else less pleasant.

Off to see what else Sunday has in store.

weekend snaps and a Father's Day goodie

My redhead bought wildflower seeds and they're doing very well. Many more photos on flickr.


He thought he was well-hidden behind the planter, but alas! I found him and took his picture! Poor Spot. New "stuff on nose" photo on flickr, too.


I was helping M get ready for bed last night, and suddenly this angry chair appeared...


And I've had this chap around for a long time, but I've never documented his grumpy mug before.

We're going to a Mariner's game tomorrow for Father's Day! Here's a little ditty that you should feel free to pass along to any Dad's who might enjoy it...just click and then press the red circle to play.

Happy Father's Day!

On the water

I've mentioned looking at the marshy little islands as I cross Lake Washington on the bus, yes? Seeing the beaver dams and birds and interesting footbridges in spitting distance of the freeway bridge upon which I travel?

Well, turns out that you can rent kayaks at several places 'round these parts. Me and the girlie gave it a go in a two-seater last weekend. Now we want to
BUY ONE!!!

(for clearer photos with less pixilation, go to my flickr site.)



Houseboats on Portage Bay. Pretty. Crossing Portage Bay was, for me, the only sort-of scary part of the trip. Just wanted to make sure we got across "when the shipping lanes were clear"....we did.




There's a bald eagle on the left in the tree. There was a very determined raven trying to persuade the eagle that he really didn't want to be there. The eagle demurred. Marion spotted this one. (I'm so proud! She's a birder!)




Paddling down a neat little waterway clogged with seeds. Wood ducks sucking them up like a rare delicacy. Guess they are, kind of like early springtime skinny asparagus. Anyhow, the ducks were pretty and this shot does them no justice, but oh well.





Lots of what I suspect are yellow irises. There's a beaver dam to the right of this shot. I like the birdhouse.








And this is my adventure gal. She was game from the word go, put in a great first-days paddling, screeched with joy as we bobbed in the wake of the bigger craft coming through the Montlake cut, and was disappointed when we had to head back.

We're conspiring to take her grandpa out in a three-seater this weekend.....

meme mosaic

meme mosaic
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

Seen at Pea Soup. Couldn't resist. Click on it to see larger vesion.

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

Going kayaking tomorrow. More on this as it develops.

meme seen on Sandy's blog (but with my answers)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was giddily pregnant and growing huger by the moment. I'd just had an unsuccessful attempt at an amniocentesis (my father-in-law said, "The kid paid for the room for 9 months; don't bug 'im") which my doc ordered due to my "advanced maternal age". We didn't want to know the sex anyhow, so that was ok by us. I was readying to take a cruise to Alaska with S who was still working on the "Dam ships" (Holland America Lines). It was a wonderful trip. We were home-ported in San Diego and I was doing the eyeball tech thing. It was a terrific time in my life.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
(There's only half an hour left in today, so I'll give you a combo-list...)
1. Eat something sweet
2. Brush my teeth
3. Go to bed and snore loudly
and on the morrow
4. Make time for a peer-to-peer audit at the hospital where I work
5. Ask my nice bus driver's name before he changes to a different route next week *sniff*

3. Snacks I enjoy
Cheez-Its, bittersweet chocolate, ice cream in many (but not fruity) flavors, potato chips (most any potato product), cupcakes, cookies, nuts (but no macadamias!), dill pickles, guacamole, bacon.

4. Places I've lived
Arizona, California (north and south), Illinois, Japan, New York, Missouri, Virginia.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
Pay off bills for myself and my family, travel, buy Marion a horse, travel, find several places to set up housekeeping, travel, throw a huge party with a massive fireworks display for S and travel. Oh, and donate lots and lots to worthy, underfunded causes which need assistance in helping people and animals to have happier lives.

I'm also copying Sandy in not giving direct tags, but if anyone out there is reading this, please play along and leave a comment to let me know that you did!

Clover chain mini-tutorial

inspired by the amazing Bella Dia


Clover blossoms
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

pick them as close to the ground as possible

tie a loose slipknot

tie a loose slipknot
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

in the end of the stem away from the blossom

slide the next stem through

slide the next stem through
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

and tighten the knot (gently) if needed, but keeping it loose enough to slide the blossom next to the knot. Continue until you have the length you like, then tie the last stem around the first blossom....