Three!

My darling Kidlet turned three this morning. Wow.

I love you so much, sweet girl. Thanks for making me a Meema.

Deep freeze

Cold enough for you?
Yes, and thanks for asking.

I love living in Minnesota for many reasons, winter actually being one of them. I'm one of those people that needs to see distinct seasons change in her back yard. The cold weather is not horrid; dressed appropriately, most is bearable. I once heard a winter adventurer (my memory with names is appalling, sorry) sing the praises of wearing the three "W's" - a wicking layer next to the skin, a warmth layer to hold in heat, and an outer wind layer to keep the cold air from penetrating. Believe me, it works like a charm.

My knitting self practically laughs in the face of forecasts like tonight's:

Overnight: Partly cloudy, with a low around -20F. Wind chill values between -39F and -44F. Blustery, with a west/northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Have I ever mentioned my love affair with all things wool? If Minnesota had a state fiber, it would have to be wool.

Or maybe Thinsulate®...

One score and two years ago

Day 20 (28) of Blog365.

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred 22 years ago today - where were you? I was home sick from school, watching my favorite soap opera, and saw it live on television. I recall it feeling slightly unreal. It was hard to make an emotional connection right away; that changed in the following days.

President Ronald Reagan's national address that evening paraphrased several lines from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an aviator who died during WWII:

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

If you know me, you can probably guess my feelings about the Reagan years, but I feel this speech was one of his better moments.

Turbo, schmurbo

Day 19 (27) of Blog365.

photo credit: Reuben Lalish

And you thought you knit fast... See the story of the exploding knitting needles here. Who knew knitting could be a blood sport? Yowza.

Happy knitting, and, hey - let's be careful out there!

Church Choir and YOU

Have I mentioned that I excessively enjoy my church's parish choir? Yeah, I guess I have, but it bears repetition.

I always look forward to rehearsals on Wednesday nights. The choir has grown much under Going40's leadership, and serves as a family-away-from-family for its singers; a more supportive group of musicians I have yet to find. J'aime le St. Paul's Choir!

P.S. We don't actually wear Stetsons.
P.P.S. I don't actually speak French.
P.P.P.S. You figured that out all by yourself, didn't you?

Another one bites the dust

The season of landmark life events continues. J (Kidlet's other mommy) celebrated her big Four-Oh today, and just like Going40 before her, has taken the very round number in stride. Emphasizing the year gone by, Grammy baked large numeric cakes (which narrowly managed to be rescued from the jaws of an inquisitive cocker spaniel with a sweet tooth.)

Kidlet has grown adept in her position as Gift Wrap Removal Assistant; a moonlighting stint as Musical Card Appreciator is also figuring in nicely. As luck would have it, Christmas and J's birthday immediately precede Kidlet's (next week!), so her gift-unwrapping pump is primed and ready for more...

Looky there - the finished Wavy!

Bee is for Leo

Happy Birthday, Fuzz!

p.s. Note what has moved off my needles (finally). Woo-hoo!

The dairy princess

Kidlet has a way of injecting past events into daily conversation, to the point that if you're not intimately familiar with her daily goings-on, it leaves you a bit stymied.

Almost each day this month she has mentioned - with visible sadness - that she spilled milk on her "beautiful sweater," and it needs to be washed and dried, and she's sorry. This happened several weeks ago, but the remorse on her face makes it seem like last night.

(BTW, the "beautiful sweater" is her name for the Malabrigo cardigan I made for Kidlet at Christmas, a.k.a. the green button sweater. The first time I heard her use that name, I hopelessly wanted to drop everything and knit a trunkful of clothes and toys for her. She is the sweetest girl.)

H2O

Day 14 (22) of Blog365.

I like water. Most of the time.

Water - so elemental, so pure - has the power to unlock enormous potential. Note the humble Chia; when given its fill of the fluid, it grows like a weed (I'm sure it's a weed in someone's yard, somewhere). I am a much happier person when I, too, am fully hydrated like the Chia of Kidlet.

My kitchen walls, ceiling, and floor, however, are NOT aficionados of water in quantity. They are saturated to the point of dripping, thanks to the power of gravity and the ancient pipes connected to my upstairs neighbor's kitchen sink.

Meema is not amused.
Meema is not fond of water out of place.
[sniff, sniff]
Meema smells mold.

Oh, sing with me the lament of soggy lathe and plaster!

Of course, like all stories of this nature, the tragedy began on the Friday of a three-day holiday weekend. A weekend when the landlord was out of state with his family. He has since returned, made repair to the offending pipe, and is out of town again. My neighbor still has a barely functional kitchen sink, poor girl. Now we wait for one (?) or two (?!?) weeks for it all to dry out, then needs will be assessed and repairs begin.

The bright spot? Hey, at least I don't own the place. But Nana and Papa may have visitors this weekend...

Eight beautiful poets stand before me...

... but only one will be chosen as America's Next Blog Contest Winner.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist - "borrowed" that from Franklin à la Ms. Banks.)

The entries have been swept off to our judges (details to come), and results will be posted as soon as I am able. Thank you all for your participation, and good luck!

MLK, Jr.

Day 13 (21) of Blog365.

Some people will only see today as a vacation day from school, or as an inconvenience because the bank/post office/stock market isn't open. I encourage you to take a moment to listen to Dr. King's speech from the March on Washington.

And for bite-sized insight, visit this site to read ten of the many famous quotes of the late Martin Luther King, Jr.

Has anyone see my flock?

Here's my contribution to your day of rest. Visit their site to have a little fun!

Knitting bling

If you haven't explored Etsy, you are missing a great corner of the Internet; it is a wonderland of handcrafted everything. Yarn, paintings, notecards, jewelry - if someone can make it, there's someone selling it. Etsy is a great place to shop and support the small-scale independent artisan.

One designer that has me hooked (no pun intended) is Nancy Smythe Thompson of Sassafras Creations, a woman with aluminum knitting needles and a Dremel who makes some great accessories and jewelry. Have a look, and enjoy handcrafted shopping!

It's all relative

Day 10 (or 18) of Blog365.

Yesterday marked two weeks since Caytie and mWAK added Baby D to their family. Wednesday evening Cate and both kids visited our church choir rehearsal, staying for almost an hout. D even endured being passed through the alto section while we were making noise rehearsing. Perspective is an amazing thing: hearing D's stats right after he was born, I thought, "What a good-sized-almost-big baby!" But after living with and tossing around a 3-year-old, 8lbs 14oz is teeny, tiny, and downright pocket-sized. B impressed many by folding herself up into the baby seat - possibly a foreshadowing of vocation? Factoid: New Baby Smell has to be the most optimistic(?) smell around(to clarify, that's the smell on top of the head). Mmm.

Ch-ch-ch-Chia update: I'm almost afraid to sleep with my eyes closed, this plant is sprouting so quickly! As soon as it starts asking for blood sacrifice à la Audrey II, it's outta here.

Less and local

Thought for the day:

“We need to move away from more and global to less and local; from accumulation of unnecessary clutter to enjoyment of good things in life like art, music, friendship and free time. We need to shift from waste to frugality, from consuming to making, from illusion to imagination, from desire to delight and from consumption of natural resources to an appreciation of the natural.”

-Satish Kumar