makING my excuse

The Vacation


Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.

He went flying down the river in his boat

with his video camera to his eye, making

a moving picture of the moving river

upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly

toward the end of his vacation. He showed

his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,

preserving it forever: the river, the trees,

the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat

behind which he stood with his camera

preserving his vacation even as he was having it

so that after he had had it he would still

have it. It would be there. With a flick

of a switch there it would be. But he

would not be in it. He would never be in it.


--Wendell Berry



He said it better than I. I would like to think this is why I only post pictures from Google Image. Although, maybe it's because I always forget my camera....

Oh! And before I forget , feel free to vote in this month's poll (to your right).

anticipatING

Well, I'm back.. We have finally adjusted to life with a puppy...I think. :)

I'm so enjoying my summer, but there are so many things I'm excited about. Here are a few, in no particular order:

1. The school year.

I know, I know, I couldn't wait for it to be over, but this coming fall seems exciting to me. I will be in advanced study which mean I am in a "cohort" with all the other future middle school teachers. I think calling it a cohort makes it sound like we are up to trouble (which we probably will be) but what it really means is that we have all of our classes together, and have only about 5 professors that will be teaching those classes. It has a very "Hogwart's" feel to it (I know, that's a very very geeky reference to Harry Potter, but still). I'm anticipating getting to know fellow teachers, getting to know our professors, and spending a lot observation hours in actual school classrooms. Hooray!

We also get out own lounge/study rooms which has a fridge, a microwave, tables to study, "teachery" supplies like paper cutters, hole punches etc.,  and shelves containing copies of all of our textbooks, just in case we forgot. Maybe it's dorky, but I'm excited. Super excited.

2. Dave and I have our 2 year anniversary!

It's not until July, but I still I can't believe it. It's flown by and at the same time I can hardly remember what life was like before being married to Dave. I know that sounds super cheesy, but it's true. Everyone talked about how hard the first year would be for us. When it wasn't, they told us how bad the second year would be. I can honestly say we've spent the last two years enjoying each other. We laugh together everyday.  We almost feel ready to duck because it hasn't seemed "hard" or "bad"...whatever that means.

I'm happy to celebrate the time we've spent together and happy to look forward to the time we will spend together.

We aren't sure what we are going to do yet. It could be anything to a weekend away, to an Indian's game (I'm thinking the all-you-can-eat seats....as romantic as that sounds, I love baseball food). Sometimes the planning and anticipating is just as fun as actually getting to do whatever it is we end up doing.


3. Summer

I know, we are already in it! I guess not technically, but the temperature and the time off says otherwise. I love that I have most of the summer still ahead of me. I love that summer comes with, hot days, stormy days, goodness and green trees,  gardens, hikes, swimming, slushies, putt putt (Dave won our first game of the season) and many more wonderful wonderful things.

Anyway, sorry this post probably isn't interesting to most of you, but it's just a few of the things I'm so excited about. I love having things to look forward to. What are YOU looking forward to right now???



Image Credit: All images from Google Images.

sayING "hello" to the new addition!

So...I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been kind of busy....



playing outside...

 

 

keeping the peace....

playing tug o' war...

fending off  "vicious" predators....

and catching some Z's...when she'll let me...

Everyone, meet Luna!

I actually have a few other things I would love to make a post about...soon, I promise. :)

votING results!

Ok. So first of all I am so sorry it's taken me so long to create a post about this. Second, I'm sorry that this will definitely be a short post. Life has been busy with  visiting friends from out of town and friends from out of town visiting me, which is a good kind of busy to be. :)

Anyway....I know you can all just look to the right and see the results, but for the sake of fanfare...drum roll please:

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The winner, of the mohair election
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is.
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in a landslide victory
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The cowl!!!!!

I'm honestly not sure how many votes there actually were because blogger lost a lot of them when they were down a while ago, but I can say that almost entirely throughout the voting process, the cowl was always winning.

Now, to be honest, I'm also not sure if I really am going to knit a cowl or not (kind of seems like a  real presidential election now doesn't it???).

I probably have enough mohair to make the two things I am now most torn between, and that is still the cowl and the wrap.


Anyway, thanks for all your participation, votes, and suggestions! They will all be aptly (is that actually a word, and is it the right word for what I'm trying to say???) considered.

knittING decisions...help! (take 2)

Ok, lets try this again....last time blogger somehow deleted the whole.entire.post.....and poll. Sigh....

Anyway. Remember this?

The kid mohair from Maryland??? Well, I'm super excited to knit with it, but I'm quite torn about what exactly to knit. I'm feeling very conflicted over this! Now, I realize that I have 1200 yards of the stuff, but still, this is a big decision! There are basically three things I can't decide among and they are:

A cowl? Picture it all wrapped around the neck, you know....to get the full effect.

 A scarf?

Or...a wrap???

These are the big three. What do YOU think? I've provided a poll and would love your input. I may not use those exact colors and patterns, I'm just looking for a general idea.

If you choose "other" for the poll, please put suggestions as comments on this post. I'm open to just about anything, although there are some things a person just doesn't knit. ;)

I would LOVE your input! :)

Image Credits: All except top picture are from etsy, click on descriptive word for specific shops/sites. Top image from Google Image



geekING out in maryland

I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first??? Well, you don't actually get to answer, so I'll get the bad news over first--I forgot my camera this weekend. :( So no pictures from me, but I'll do my best to search online to find some good ones (probably better than I would have taken anyway).

Ok, ok , that's over with so here's the good news--I don't think it would have been possible to cram more fiber fun into one festival. The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was even better than I could have imagined. We left Friday evening arriving in the DC area that night, spent a marathon day at the festival, and then the evening in DC eating really great food (more on that later) and seeing things like the White House (Obama didn't wave, I was disappointed). On Sunday, we had quick (but tasty) brunch, and headed home. The weekend was a whirlwind, but it was a blast! :)

Here are some quick takes of the festival:

There were so. many. people. I was shocked. I mean, anyone I told that I was going to a sheep and wool festival looked at me like I was from another planet. Apparently, there are lots of other people from that planet. They were all great too (except some of those pushy people with strollers, a stroller is not a license to shove!). Anyway, my favorite was this old man I sat down beside in the heat of the afternoon. We started talking and he was a history and civics teacher for years in Michigan. We talked about teaching and how it's changed, we talked about history, we talked about SB 5, women's roles in modern society, and the fact that even I am now getting old because I don't like modern music (That was his theory, once you start thinking the best music was from 10 to 20 years ago....you are getting old. We laughed). The guy knew everything. He had  a BA, two masters degrees, and PhD in history! I learned so much.

Lamb Gyros! Ok, I didn't actually eat one. The lines were too long and I had too much to do, but don't they look tasty?

I think this guy is called a Cotswold sheep (I might be wrong though). He was my favorite when I walked around the barns. He was extra soft, and how do you not love all that wool in his eyes?? All the shepherds were more than willing to talk about their animals. I wish I could say I remembered more of what they told me.

 

Vendors: there were tons! Selling everything from yarn, processed wool, unprocessed wool, spinning wheels, looms, needles, finished knitted products, felting supplies...you get the idea. I managed to actually not go broke while I was there. My favorite purchase is a 1200 yard skein (that's huge in case you were wondering) of kid mohair for just 30 bucks! It is white and soft and wonderful. You just want to bury your face into it and smell it's sheepy smell ( I realize how weird that is, but I love the smell of sheep) . It looks like this:

All in all--it was fabulous and I can't wait to do it again. Besides what is pictured, there were folk bands, Celtic music, TONS of food, sheep shearing competitions, herding dog demonstrations, auctions, and so, so, so much more!

I totally plan on going next year and I hope, that I by then, I will be in the market for knew spinning wheel! :) I fully plan on learning to spin this year.

 If you like knitting, crocheting, or any other fiber-related craft even a little, it's completely worth going to. The countdown to next year begins....now!



Image Credits: Because I forgot my camera, all images are sadly from Google Images. :(

gettING through...

...finals week.