BJ's Musings & Meanderings (& an Occasional Muttering for Good Measure)

From the 'they've thought of everything' division

2009-04-08T11:18:00.002-04:00

The wonders of technology, genealogy division!

2009-04-02T11:43:00.003-04:00

Genealogy geek alert!

Background: I've got a fairly complete picture of Francis McGee and Helen Cassidy after their marriage at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Edinburgh, 1848. He's born in Ireland (Donegal or Fermanagh, depending on which record I believe) while she's the daughter of Michael Cassidy and Mary Goodman, baptized at the same church in 1832. I've got them in various later censuses and details on several of their children, including my great-grandfather Peter who was adopted out, after his mother died and his older sister married and moved to Dundee. Despite having been poor Catholic costermongers (Francis was probably a famine immigrant who was likely too poor to pay for passage to the US so he went only as far as Scotland) in the tenements of Edinburgh, they did manage to leave trails in various record books.

(Side note: I'm very fortunate.... Scotland [Dad's family] and New England [especially MA; Mum's family] are some of the places with the best records for genealogists - both in terms of what's extant and in terms of what has been digitized and put on-line.)

(Second side note: on women’s names….. genealogists tend to list women by their birth name. This especially makes sense in Scotland, where women were much more likely to be listed by their birth name in records even after they married, especially before about 1865-ish. So it isn’t at all unusual to see records from say 1820 that say Robert Jamieson and Margaret Guthrie his lawful wife had a son Robert born and baptized.)

1851 census 685-1 Ed 3 p 6 (Lady Yester's)
231 Cowgate, Hasties Close.
Francis McGEE, head, 28, hawker costermonger, b Fermanagh, Ireland
Helen McGEE, wife, 20, hawker's wife, b Edinburgh, MLN
Margaret McGEE, daur, 1, ---------------b Edinburgh, MLN
--
1861 census 685-3 Ed 28 p 2 (Canongate)
341 Cowgate, Scotts Land.
Francis McKEE, head, 37, fishmonger, b Ireland
Ellen McKEE, wife, 27, fishmonger, b Edinburgh, Edin.
Ellen McKEE, daur, 11, --------------b Edinburgh, Edin.
Margaret McKEE, daur, 6, ---------b Edinburgh, Edin.
Edward McKEE, son, 3, -----------b Edinburgh, Edin.
(Daughters ages reversed on this return……)

Helen died in 1862, when Peter was not quite a year old. Francis didn't die until 1888, when his daughter Margaret (living in Dundee at the time; she was b. 1849 - I have the bp. record from St. Mary's) was the informant on the death cert.

I've found a couple possibilities for Francis on 1871 and 1881 but no one who is definitely him. For example, in 1881, there's a lodger listed at 65 Grassmarket as Frank with no last name, occ. fish hawker, 57 b. IRE, that I'm guessing is highly likely to be him.

Francis and Helen's son Peter (my great-grandfather) was born in Dec. 1861 in White Horse Close. He was adopted by James Jamieson and Margaret m.s. Guthrie of Leith when he was 6 or 7, so I'm guessing that happened when his older sister Margaret married in Feb 1868 and would have no longer been around to care for Peter.

In 1871, Peter is listed as a boarder with the family of James Jamieson and Margaret Guthrie.
Linden Cottage 3, Lasswade, Edinburgh, Midlothian
James Jamieson 50 boot/shoemaker Leith
Margaret Jamieson 51 Earlston
Robert G Jamieson 27 boot/shoemaker
Margaret Jamieson 18 paper mill wkr
Peter McGhee 9 boarder, scholar
Sarah S Richard 4 gradndaughter
Thomas Moffat 1 nursing

In 1881, he's with the same family as an adopted son.
Guthrie's Land, Old Sugarhouse Close, Leith
James Jamieson 60 Leith boot/shoemake
Margaret Jamieson 61 Earlston BER
Peter M Jamieson 20 Edinburgh adopted son sailmaker
Georgina D Jamieson 3 Loanhead adopted daughter
Robert Shepherd 40 boarder Greenock plater ship building yard
Janet Shepherd 37 boarder Leith
Hellen Newel 27 visitor Leith
Hellen Newel 1 visitor Glasgow

When Peter marries, he lists Francis McGee and Helen Norrie as his parents. (I'll come back to that bit about his mother's name.....) For Helen Cassidy, I had her parents' {Michael Cassidy and Mary Goodman} marriage in 1830 at St. Mary's RC church in Edinburgh, followed by the baptisms of Helen in 1832 and sister Jane in 1834. And then nothing until Helen marries Francis McGee in 1848.....

But I've had a couple (at least mini) breakthroughs in the least couple weeks! YIPPEE!

There are no further baptisms for the Cassidy family at St. Mary's, and I didn't see any the one chance I had to skim the Dundee RC records. I'm guessing that one of a couple possibilities happened:
a. they moved outside Scotland - maybe back to Ireland? And then back to Scotland with the famine in time for her to marry Francis in 1848.
b. one or both parents died, leaving 9 yo Helen to get skipped in the 1841 census. I've looked through many of the Helens (Ellens/Eleanors) born in the right time frame to see if Cassidy got completely mangled, or if there's a Helen with a last name that turns up in the various witnesses to family events.

So all speculation but fresh eyes do sometimes see something new. So I reposted the query about where Helen might have been in 1841 for the census at the TalkingScot forum, where there are lots of sharp-eyed researchers, one of whom (Sarah) posted this:

How about this one... (similar structure to the last name, even if the actual letters are different, and certainly initial C could look like G). Since I'm just looking at the Ancestry transcription, I can't tell if Gettany is for real.

1841
Giles Street, South Leith, Midlothian
Beatrice Thomson, 50, born Midlothian, Washerwoman
Agnes Thomson, 20, born Midlothian, Dressmaker
James Hermanson, 20, born Midlothian, Glazier I
Peter Saunders, 22, born Midlothian, Labourer
Ellen Gettany, 8, born Midlothian

Do you know anything else about this family, e.g. what happened to Michael and Mary and if wee Jane survived?

I note that on the free surname search on SP there is exactly ONE occurrence of the surname Gettany. Guess where? 1841 census, of course. So perhaps that's how they actually wrote it. It does suggest, however, that this was not the standard spelling of whatever her name was!
I think there's a good chance it's her. Who knows who answered the questions for the enumeration. The people in the household probably knew her mostly by her first name. Speaking from a phonetic point of view, every consonant is in the correct place in the mouth, just pronounced in a slightly different way. (e.g. you put your tongue in exactly the same place for "d" and "n" but just let some air out through your nose for the latter). Well, I won't bore you with the details but I found it quite convincing!

To which I replied:

Believe me, the details wouldn't bore me one little (glances at MA in linguistics hanging on wall..... ) and I think it is highly likely it is her....but figured some thinking out loud was a good idea, in case I'm overlooking something or my eagerness has me making leaps that I shouldn't - in which case, I'd hope someone would pull me back to reality.....tracing the wrong person/line is so annoying.

I looked at the actual return at SP; it does look pretty much like Gettany (surprise, surprise) but I'm still wondering if it might be her..... location not that far off, age is right, she appears at first glance to be an 'extra'* in the household, and I can see someone misreading Cassidy as Gettany when recopying handwritten returns (especially at the end of a long day....). I thought I'd looked at all the girls with something approximating the right name -- and esp. all those whose family names started with C, K, and G -- but I seem to have missed this one somehow..... eyes do cross after a while, I guess.
So, now the inquisitiveness kicks in.... random placement with an unrelated family? Or some relatives I don't know about? So many questions, so little time, Edinburgh (and its archives) so far away...... Thanks for looking - the new/fresh eyes are much appreciated!

* A scenario I was kinda sorta expecting, as I've found no trace of later baptisms after her sister Jane in 1834, which leads me to believe that one or both of her parents died in the mid/late 1830s if the family otherwise stayed in Scotland,
which seems likely, since Helen/Ellen/Eleanor/Norrie married there at the age of
16.... (and marriage quite that early also seems to suggest she didn't have much
family).

On Helen's name: she is also listed variously in assorted records as Eleanor and Ellen; her son called her Helen Norrie on his marriage record, so I wouldn't be surprised if she went by Norrie or Nora, either. But I'm also thinking that Peter was a bit fuzzy on names and relationships.....

On Peter's adoptive father's death record, he lists James's parents as Thomas Jamieson and (-----) Hislop. I've found no trace of a Thomas Jamieson who married a Hislop in the right time frame. But I did find a Robert Jamieson who married a Janet Hislop in Leith in 1819..... and had a son James in 1820. James and his wife Margaret Guthrie named their biological sons Robert and James, while their daughters were Helen Mercer, Janet, and Margaret. Margaret's parents were Robert Guthrie and Helen Mercer. So far, so good on the naming pattern. Second daughter should be for James's mother - so the Janet checks out. Third daughter is most likely named for her mother - so third daughter Margaret fits the typical Scots naming pattern as well. If James's father was Robert, then the first son should be named Robert, which he is. But Margaret’s father was also Robert, which muddies matters a bit and bumps naming a son after his father from the third son to their second son.

So I'm guessing that Peter messed up his adopted father's father's name just the way that he mixed up his mother's name ;-) What makes it all the more likely: it looks like Robert died well before Peter was in the picture, as Janet Hislop was described as a 'relict (widow) of Robt. Jamieson' when she married Gavin Chapman in 1844 in Leith. Janet Hislop Jamieson and Gavin Chapman are listed on the 1851 census at 11 St. Andrews St, Leith. She's 55, he's 45, b. Houston Renfrew, and a fireman.

Then the next breakthrough: the Old Parochial Register deaths/burials have now been digitized and they've gone live at Scotlandspeople. The OPRs are the records from before 1855, when Scotland started doing civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths. The OPRs are basically the records of the established Church of Scotland (a.k.a. Presbyterian) and so one mostly actually gets baptisms, banns, and burials, rather than births, marriages, and deaths. Since it is the established church, many people (Catholics and Free Church adherents being the prime ‘culprits’) didn’t bother to register various events. The baptisms and marriages have been indexed and available for years, but indexing the burials was proving to be a bit harder, as many as listed as ‘a child of Mr. Cameron’ or ‘old widow McDonald.’

So I took a peek. Since I wasn’t at home, I was working from memory, and I know the details of the Cassidy/McGee line pretty well, having gone over it lots. But they were Catholic, based on the records I'd found at St. Mary's. Was it worth trying?

Yup, it was. Occasionally one gets lucky!

There she was: Mary Goodman, age 29, wife of Michael Cassidy, buried 6 Sept 1835. So the theory that at least one of Helen's parents had died as the reason that I'd only found the two children's baptisms looks like it's true.

A remaining mystery: In January 1855, Francis and Helen have a daughter named Helen, and Francis toddles off from Hastie's Close, where they are living, to comply with the new registration law.

What caught my eye: the next line, child born same day as Helen and registered the same day, with the same witness to their father's marks. It's a James Callaghan, son of Thomas Callaghan and Mary McGhie, also resident in Hastie's Close. Aha, I think..... Any chance Mary is related to Francis? If not, it is quite the coincidence.

James's entry says his parents were married in 1844 in Dundee. Thomas, age 30 in 1855, was born in Co. Cavan, Ireland, while Mary was 38 and born in Donegal. James is her 4th child, with the previous three all deceased.

When I was in Scotland a couple years ago, I found their marriage record at the Catholic church in Dundee: 9 July 1844, witnessed by James Trainor and Mary Farrell.

Ancestry's 1851 census lists a Thomas 26 and Maria Kallican 25 at 89 Murraygate, Beattie Close, on the 1851 census, with a son Thomas aged 1 that might well be them. Hurrah for census searches that don't require a last name!

But I can't find them in the death records or later census returns. I've tried lots of combinations of spellings/Soundex/wildcards with no luck. Looked through the US census and immigration records, just in case, on the off chance that they immigrated and I'd manage to find them amongst all the possible spellings.

And in my wilder moments , I wonder if James and Helen were actually twins, with Francis and Helen not able to handle them and letting his sister and her husband adopt one. And in the really wild moments, I figure maybe someday I'll track down a direct male descendant of James to compare his DNA to the test my dad had done as a present for me.

Yes, the twin thing is waaaaaay, waaaaaay out there. But I'm sure you can see why I occurred to me, despite the am/pm difference - one family with 3 babies who've died, the other with (possible) twins and little to no income.

I think it is likely that there is some connection, even if my wild twin theory is wrong, as there seems to be some movement between Dundee and Edinburgh for both these families - plus there's a surname that turns up in baptismal and marriage witnesses for both that is a bit less common - McPhilips.

Too early and very much missed!

2009-03-20T06:04:00.003-04:00

I'm not big on memorials (pretty much a family trait*.....and I certainly wouldn't pay to put one in the nwspaper, as that would have totally appalled her!).....but......

Mum
b. 20 March 1939
d. 8 December 2004

Grief is a funny thing; you think you have a handle on it, then something jumps up and bites you.....

[I am very thankful that Dad has a camera club convention this weekend.....can't think of a better distraction for him grin]

* Dad and I discovered a few years asgo that his mother doesn't have a gravestone (his father does); it evidently got overlooked at the time of her death/burial and no one had gone back in the intervening 25 years to notice......

(Edited for typos and the like.....I should not be allowed to do anything before 9:15 a.m. or so.......)

Tremendous thanks!

2009-03-19T13:10:00.006-04:00

Sneaking a post in at lunch.... 'cuz I'm really trying to get caught up (and I didn't have the energy to go out, so I might as well use my time well).....

One of the drawbacks of extended not feeling well when one is already overcommitted is that the hole one ends up in gets very big very quickly......and one of the ickiest parts of that big hole is that I'm behind on thanking the wonderful people who have sent me fiber-y goodness...very bad on my part, I must say (Mum would be appalled.....)

So, flipping a coin about who goes first....

From a Ravelry group swap... theknitaholic sent me some wonderful squishy soft purple yarn..... and some adorable stitch markers. The picture doesn't do the rich deep color justice.....it is sooooooo yummy......

From SP13, a box of goodies from Penny..... some chocolate (looks yummy.....), some lotion, a knitting calendar, some fiber for spinning (haven't touched the wheel in ages.... maybe this gorgeous stuff will change that...).......

and an incredibly beautiful challah cover....... I always look forward to Shabbat - but this makes me want Shabbat NOW! NOW! right NOW!

I'm assuming that all that fibery goodness has distracted all of you - and that those of you still reading are shortly off to do something more worthwhile...but let me just say I'm really glad today for my Outlook calendar, as I misremembered the time of today's dr. appt. Fortunately, my oh-so-necessary external memory kicked in with a nice little reminder ;-) So, evidently, the last round of drugs did 2/3 of their jobs.... the throat and the ear infections are gone, as best he can tell. But the sinuses.... still an issue. Ugh. But at least that explains the continuing headaches that frequently feel like someone is sticking a stiletto from my right frontal bone through to the occipital, leading to only short spurts at the computer (as that seems to make it worse....). So a stronger anti-biotic and a different prescription decongestant are in my immediate future. Let's hope this decongestant doesn't make me as loopy as the last one.....as that would be pretty scary ;-)

Drive-by posting...

2009-03-18T17:53:00.004-04:00

Out tonight and the next two or three (plus the whole Shabbat thing) [well, assuming I have the energy... seriously considering skipping some stuff - missed last week's Hebrew class so I really need to go tonight....but I'd rather go to bed.....] .... but wanted to say that I got a secret pal package today and WOW --- just about even better than the Loopy Ewe gift certificate (which I haven't used yet....still way down on ability to concentrate.....). More when I find the camera ;-)

[Ugh... was tired and headachy enough that I'd forgotten no class last night.....so stayed home and went to bed early.....but I did find the camera, so will post pictures from the wonderful yarn swap packages I've gotten very soon -- maybe this evening, if I decide that I don't have the energy for knit night after today's dr. appt......]

Finally....

2009-03-12T17:44:00.002-04:00

Finally..... I'm actually beginning to feel better. Lots of antibiotics and various such drugs have -- after what seems like forever -- kicked in. For the first time in weeks, other than one day earlier this week (when I went to a megilla reading and Purim party but left early enough that I was home and in bed by 9 or so.....), I'm actually home from work at the regular time and haven't fallen asleep ;-) This whole flu and sinus/throat/ear infection has had me about the sickest I've ever been - as bad as when I had pneumonia a few years ago. Icky!

But I do think that I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel at last. No temperature today, throat no longer hurts to talk, headache-y but it's not pounding (yes, that's a decided improvement!!!!).

The bad news: I've run through way too much of this year's sick time at work already. I have pretty much not touched knitting needles in a month..... nor have I really finished a book.... I've read bits and pieces but I either fall asleep or can't concentrate and lose my place. Ugh. Missed several books on hold as I didn't get to the library to pick them up in the week they give you.

The good news: Seth didn't catch any of it, so he's been healthy. And, thanks to his assistance, I don't have any overdue library books nor is there too big a stack of laundry ;-)

Jez's view of the world: me getting well is not an improvement, as she has liked having a (100+deg) body curled up either on the den sofa or the bed to warm her old paws on ;-) Maybe I'll need to bribe her.....catnip and cheeseburgers both work.....

The what was I thinking of edition……

2009-03-07T19:45:00.005-05:00

I’m already overcommitted…. So why get myself involved in yet another long-term project? Don’t know….but I do manage to ;-)

All my current knitting projects are of the super-secret [future present) variety, so...... surprise... I’m going to share about my other (possibly even greater......but less visual and harder to describe briefly) obsession.

At the same time as I was a little girl intrigued by Mum’s yarn, I was also fascinated by how families were put together......by the time I was 4 or 5, I was trying to figure out how two people related to me were related to each other. The few times I heard the Biblical lists of begats (I grew up attending a UU church, so it didn’t happen that often...), I tried to follow closely. In grade 8, I was about the only one in my social studies class who didn’t fuss about the several-week-long family tree assignment. Not surprisingly, as an adult, my genealogy obsession has rivaled my fiber obsession for time, money, and storage space (genealogy can get very paper intense......).

When I started seriously searching, I was fortunate that my paternal grandmother had written down what she knew (or thought she knew; figuring that out may well turn out to be a post, if all of you dear readers aren't completely bored by this .... and maybe even if you are) about the Scottish side of the family and that a couple people on Mum’s side had done some preliminary research; my great grandfather was definitely more enthusiastic than rigorous in his research, but it did provide a starting point for me.

My mother’s family was in New England pretty much by 1650, except for one Dutch cluster who settled in NY in the 1650s and a very few stragglers to Massachusetts and Connecticut in the mid to late 1700s (we’ll get back to that momentarily......). My grandmother insisted I wouldn’t find any Mayflower ancestry; when I did, she dismissed it, as the first dozen or so Mayflower lines I found went through Gram’s great-grandmother, who had left her husband and two young children for another man in the late 1850s. Given Gram’s marriage history, that meant that Harriet Waterman Poor Abbott didn’t count... until Gram was at her little old ladies’ luncheon (her phrase, not mine......) and another little old lady was bragging about 2 Mayflower ancestors; needless to say, Gram was suddenly interested in her 11 grin.

Dad’s family – Free Kirk shepherds and Irish Catholic costermongers (potato famine refugees who were too poor to make it to the US.....) in Scotland –- has been more interesting to trace than Mum’s -- and overall much more of a challenge! As an example, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins likely have more than 2 million descendants living today; the chance that I’ll find something no one else has is quite small. A good chunk of the work on Mum’s family is taking one line from that article and another line from this book, putting them together, and rechecking older research from when standards of proof were less rigorous. So digging around original records for the scarce mentions of Dad's ancestors has been quite a challenge - although the traipsing around the Scottish countryside in search of the places that they lived was great fun (although one was remote enough, with no road, only a couple mile sheep track, that I didn't hike it as I was alone that day).

So, anyway, the main topic of what I’m working on: one line on Mum’s side of the family that has caught my attention has been her father’s straight paternal line. Latecomers to North America (at least by the standards of my New England Yankee family), the Learoyds arrived in 1802 (shipping news citation in the Morning Chronicle 9 Dec. 1802, on the Mars from Liverpool) and settled in Danvers, MA, where they married into local families, including the Putnams of 1692 witch trial fame (infamy?). Interestingly, Addison Putnam Learoyd (grandson of the immigrant John Andrew and father of the Albert I'm getting to) had no Putnam ancestors that I have found -- but his wife is the Helen who is circled on this chart (and his son Albert married the Jessie Sears on the chart):

A view of the Putnam-Learoyd cemetery (#11 at linked map), just off Route 1 and Rte 62 in Danvers, right next to the state police barracks:

Side note: in the above picture, the gravestone at the front left is for Elizabeth (Merriam) Putnam, who lived to be 103, and who was the mother of the Helen Putnam mentioned above.

Like most people whose names (Holroyd, Ackroyd, Oakroyd/Eckroyd, Boothroyd, Murgatroyd) end in –royd, the Learoyds were originally from Yorkshire (Bradford in the case of the Learoyds). Even in 1891, the majority of Learoyds were in the north of England.

One of the first ‘sources’ I had in my research was an old set of typed pages about the Learoyds, listing who had which children and which colleges the children has gone to (many of the U.S. Learoyds in the mid to late 1800s seem to have gone to college – even the women, attending Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia). No sources, a decided lack of places and exact dates....typical of the time it was likely written (around 1900, judging from the information given.....).

Since my grandparents divorced when my mother was a toddler (and my grandfather died when Mum was a teenager), I’ve only met relatives on that side of the family a few times, and I only knew a few snippets about them.

One example: before my grandfather was born, his parents (father pictured below) were involved in some interesting circumstances in 1896/7.....

Their hired hand William Kennedy thought my great grandfather Albert F. Learoyd wasn’t treating my great-grandmother Jessie (Sears) Learoyd as well as he (AFL) should, so he (WK) put some Rough on Rats in his (AFL’s) tea. Arrest and trial of William Kennedy followed, with interesting coverage in the Boston papers, as some of the papers tried to implicate my great grandmother to various extents. I'm not sure what the actual story was - I do know that Albert and Jessie stayed married, which is good, as my grandfather wasn't born until about 6 years after the trial.

So, to bring this back to the topic of me being overcommitted and not being able to say no to taking on things even with being overcommitted.....

I’ve recently (like several weeks ago......) joined the Guild of One Name Studies and I’ve registered an official one name study on the Learoyd family. In addition to my research on my direct family lines, I’ll be recording every occurrence of the name in all the standard genealogical sources I can get my hands on: census returns, vital records, military records, immigration records, ship passenger lists, and so on. I will skip the references in Kipling grin. This project is new enough that I’ve not finished the mini-web page I’ll be doing - soon, once I've dug out from the flu/sinus-throat-ear infection-induced backlog.

Learoyd is, in many ways, an ideal name for this sort of study: enough of them around to be interesting, but not so many as to be completely overwhelming. There’s a pretty good chance that all the Learoyds are eventually related to each other, so if you have the name in your family tree – hi, cousin!

Ummm... it's official: yuck.

2009-03-03T21:43:00.002-05:00

2 weeks ago: insomnia. Eight nights, average sleep: about 2.5 hours/night.

Last week: flu.

Now: throat infection, sinus infection, and the beginnings of an ear infection.

Yuck.

Can I just start the year over?

January - ugh!

2009-02-22T21:25:00.003-05:00

I'm not the sort of person to sit around on the beach. Don't like hot weather, don't like doing nothing, and my Scots & Yankee ancestry pretty much guarantees I end up boiled lobster red after a few minutes. There's a reason the family summer place is in the woods on a lake in Maine....

Oh, I like going to Reid State Park on an uncrowded day, as part of a day-long coastal trip. Time in Portland or at the Maine Maritime Museum, yarn shoip or 3, followed by 2 or 3 hours late in the afternoon (past the sun peak) walking on the beach, swimming (yes, I go in, even if the water is on 58 or 60 degrees), and climbing on rocks. That I like!

So it is a sign of just how I tend to feel through January that I spend a day or two at some point daydreaming about sitting on a Caribbean or Australian beach..... Most years, that happens around the 20th or so. While the days are a bit longer than in December, they are still short and the fact that it is still dark when I get home most days begins to get to me partway through January. Seasonal affective disorder strikes again......

In 2005, the month after Mum died, the daydreaming went on for a week and it started on the 4th. This year, it started on the 6th and lasted 4 or 5 days, which tells me that it was indeed an icky year.

And, like in 2005, the overall blahs extended into February.

But it's February, and even with the various icky things (Dad's diagnosis being the biggy, but there are several others.....), I'm back to my usual non-January cheerfulness/optimism....it helps that the never-ending cold has just about left and that last week's insomnia appears to be over.

Now if we'd only get some actual snow..... we've only had about 5 or 6 inches for the year. If I've gotta hput up with the short days, I want snow!

So... 200 posts

2009-02-17T17:00:00.002-05:00

When I logged in to work on a post that is still languishing in draft limbo (why don't the pixels arrange themselves into the way the thoughts are in my head?), way too early this morning (as in at 4:15 a.m.! Woke up and couldn't get back to sleep....), I noticed that I had 199 posts.

So this is number 200, if Blogger's computer has counted correctly (no, I haven't gone back and counted..... I'm not that compulsive!).

Seems like a fair number but it's been done in just over 3 years, so it's really only a bit more than a post a week. Yeah, I tend to be the shy introvert in the corner.......

However, I feel a bit of a need to celebrate. After all, I'm home from work and it is still light outside! (Side note: candle lighting at 5:26!!! this week..... more than an hour later than a couple months ago. Don't need to leave work early to get to shul so I'm much calmer -- meaning I can daven more intently.....yippee!)

So I'm going to give away some more yarn. Not sure yet what it will be but I'll try to not disappoint you ;-)

Same thing as before.... comment on any post between now and the end of the month. I'll choose a name from a hat on the 1st and send some yarn (and/or roving, if that's what you are into) to you (or a loved one if you don't knit/crochet......instant easy present grin). One slightly different bit this time: two slips into the hat with your name if you comment on actual post content, with one slip for just saying something like 'put me in.' (My judgement is final on which is which..... My game.... my rules grin )

Please - like with the last contest, I really want to aim this at the people who've been reading my blog, as I know that several dozen do from the stats report I get. So - if you are going to post about this elsewhere, please, please do me the common courtesy of at least letting me know before you do it - and asking would be better..... I can be found at the name of this blog (the first part of the URL) at gmail daht cahm. If you've come from such a posting elsewhere, I'll still gladly add your name to the hat, but - and maybe I'm old-fashioned on this - if you are going to post about this in a list of other such activities, notice to me before posting seems reasonable. Thanks!

[As a side note: if you came here first from a previous posting elsewhere about the last such bit I did and you've stayed to read, I am very, very glad you are here! Ceud mile fàilte! Pull up a chair and stay a while. If I could hand you a cup of tea and a homemade cookie through the 'Toobz, I'd be right on it! ]

If you have yarn on its way to you, feel free to try again.....And, yes, I will ship overseas, so don't let that hold you back. Only person not eligible: Seth (unless he designates someone other than me to receive it.... the point is to get it out of this apartment).

Off to drool over the Loopy Ewe a bit more..... still haven't decided what to get with that gift certificate from my (undoubtedly wonderful!) SP13 spoiler......choosing the yarn is going to take me as long as knitting it will ;-)

Coming out of hibernation....

2009-02-16T21:11:00.003-05:00

Coming out of hibernation....well, almost ;-) Still no there really healthy yet but the cold is almost under control. Beginning to actually feel almost human again. Seems like it's been forever.....

Trying to look at the bright side:

*Worked my way through the Miss Marple DVDs (both series - definitely prefer Joan Hickson as Miss Marple... and the the adaptations that are closer to the books that she starred in!), a couple seasons of ST:DS9, a season of Night Court, and I've just put in Space Cowboys (many thanks to the existence of Netflix for all but the last, which I actually own; surprisingly, it was Mum who bought it....used so it was just barely more than renting it but she bought it......).

*Got a fair bit of mostly mindless knitting (a.k.a. straight stockinette) done. Except for the baby sweater pictured below. A simple pattern, it was a joy to knit ;-)

*And lots of drooling at the Loopy Ewe..... how am I ever going to decide what to use with that wonderful gift certificate?

*Snuggled with the kitty a fair bit..... one advantage to older kitties is they often ignore yarn ;-) while the person whose lap they are occupying knits.

Made it to the post office today -- finally!!!! -- to mail the packages from those who won my blog contest. Gotta love automated postage machines. So those of you I won't see in person should expect boxes in the next few days or so. I hope you like what I sent.

Oh, wow!

2009-02-12T17:04:00.002-05:00

It's been a less than great last few weeks...... Dad's health issues, older relatives dying, the post-surgical blahs (yeah, it was minor surgery, but I've only just gotten out of the restricted lifting era, which was severely cramping my plans....), work issues, the cold that won't go away (I've been sick pretty much since New Year's.....already used up 1/3 of my sick time for the year.... yuck!).....all that combined with the usual January ickiness (seasonal affective disorder strikes yet again this year.....I like the cold, and love the snow..... but the short days get to me..... ugh!).

So I was even more cheered up than I normally would have been when I got the latest surprise from my SP13 spoiler. Well, not from her exactly....but an envelope from the Loopy Ewe ....... with a very, very nice !!!!!!!!! gift certificate in it.

Oh, my! The Black Bunny Fibers. The Fleece Artist. The Spirit Trail Fiberworks.

The Sanguine Gryphon (worth ordering for the name alone......), Farmhouse Yarns, Lime and Violet, Alpaca with a Twist, Yarn Pirate, Zen String, and so much more...... an absolute plentitude of amazing yarns.

Browsing and planning and speculating and re-planning is half the fun!

On the other hand, maybe my spoiler is just being a meanie..... making me strain myself choosing from all the Loopy goodness ;-)

Interviewed

2009-02-06T12:59:00.006-05:00

Prompted by seeing this at Marlyn's blog.....posting at lunch so I get it in before Shabbat.

1. What is your favourite guilty pleasure?
Oh..... I have so many..... really, I do (chocolate, expensive yarn....). Hard to decide. But I'll go with reading romances. The junkier the better. Most of my reading is high-falutin' serious stuff, and I can't veg out to the tv (have to knit or the like or I fall asleep....), so I read romances to completely veg out - the stage beyond unwinding with a cozy mystery. I completely let go of any critical reading skills (although I admit bonified in place of bona fide did get a second look.....)

2. If you could meet one person - who’s alive today - who would it be and why?
Another tough one... My first thought was a couple on-line friends that I'm really, really, really eager to meet -- people I've corresponded with extensively or run into on various websites for years. But I continue to hope that I'll meet them one day, so I don't want to list them (and I certainly don't want to list just one of them and slight the others).

Most Hollywood stars wouldn't interest me for long, and I'd likely spend the time giving various politicians (from all points on the spectrum) a piece of my mind....some a much bigger piece than others ;-)

So I'm going to go with the chief rabbi of the UK: Jonathan Sacks. I've read most of his books. Don't always agree with him, but he's got an amazing mind. Well educated in Torah and in secular topics, so I expect he would be an interesting person to spend some time talking to.

3. If you could have any profession in the world, what would it be?

Another hard question. Seriously.... a three part answer.

My goal most of my life was to be a homemaker/wife/homeschooling mother. Started wishing for a dozen kids before I was in high school (had names picked out for them, even...except for the oldest boy, who'd be a junior ; combination of biological and adopted - I'd read The Family Nobody Wanted about the time [summer I was 8] I'd read another book that really influenced me), then scaled that back to half a dozen when I hit 30 and was still unmarried. So that would be my first choice, although HaShem/the universe/etc. seems to have decided that's not for me.

The one that I could have done that I frequently regret not going into: I went away to university planning to major in anthropology. Ended up in a different slice of the social sciences spectrum (public policy studies), but still often regret not going into either physical/forensic anthropology or archeology..... or going further with my MA in linguistics. Lost of the serious reading I do is linguistics, osteolgy, forensic antrolpogy, and the like....

The one that I toy with still doing: genealogist. I have the background that I could get certified relatively easily, and I keep thinking I should....... I don't really have the right personality to do freelance work (too shy/introverted), but in my daydreams about it, I get a job at NEHGS or the like....

On the other hand, being an editor of a knitting magazine would work ;-)

4. I know you're a crafting person. What is your favourite craft?
Knitting, pretty much. Nice and portable, and always something new.

But with a side of dyeing yarn. I really love the whole process - I just haven't had the time to really get my Etsy shop going, and I otherwise dye at a much faster rate than I can use.

5. Where would you go, if you could go anywhere in the world? Who (if anyone) would you take with you?

Another three part answer......and that's really narrowing it down (as I could just as easily say Korea, Thailand, Turkey, somewhere with Mayan/Aztec/Incan ruins, or Australia.....)
Maine. Scotland. Israel.
Maine is a given. My favorite place to be.
But I also want to go back to Scotland and explore lots more.
Israel is obvious - even though I've never been there, it feels like it is as much the place of my spiritual ancestry as Scotland is my physical ;-)

Who would I take with me?
To Maine/Scotland: Dad. Seth. Ted.
To Israel: Seth, Yael, Chaviva, and their spouses/families.
Of course, I'd ditch all of them (well, except Dad and maybe Ted) for being able to take Mum along ;-)

For those of you who might want to be interviewed, here are the directions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions <grin>).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

More Facebook ooze....

2009-02-03T20:03:00.003-05:00

A friend (blog-less and Facebook-less!) emailed me this.....my answers are below.

Feel free to play along ;-) REPLACE MY ANSWERS WITH YOURS then post this on your profile... then tag me and anyone else you want to know more about...Have fun!!!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE:Yes.... after George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott. Well after all of them...... ;-) Oh, you mean was my name chosen to honor someone? Same first name as my mother; middle name is for an absolutely wonderful person who happens to be my dad's sister ;-)

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?Not sure…..

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?Sometimes

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT?Tuna

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?No.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?Maybe

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?me? sarcastic? never :)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?Uh, no. That whole fear of heights thing. And liking living ;-)

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?Cheerios (cold), oatmeal (hot)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?This question assumes I buy shoes with laces.....

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?Mint chocolate chip

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?Smile

15. RED OR PINK?pink

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?Too many to list ;-)

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?Mum

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?If they have fun doing it ;-)

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?Patterned denim skirt (tan with brown and blue flowers) and brown Crocs

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?Seth and Jez discussing whether she really needs to have her thyroid pill this evening

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?A deep rich purple..... or a dusty rose/mauve shade

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?Pine and/or ocean in Maine

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?Dad

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?Yup.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?hockey, swimming. Also like baseball in person.

27. HAIR COLOR?Some mousy shade of brown (since it's hidden under a scarf most of the time, it's gotten darker and the reddish undertones aren't as obvious as they were when I was younger)

28. EYE COLOR?Blueberry ;-) [actually, they are now a grey-ish/blue-ish shade]

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?Not now.... did for most of my 20s

30. FAVORITE FOOD?Lobster (ok, so it's not kosher and I don't really eat it anymore.......); of things that are kosher/kosher-able: bulgogi

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?Happy endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?Miss Marple's Sleeping Murder (with Joan Hickson, please.....)

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?one brown, one white (that whole underlayer thing to have a decent neckline....)

34 SUMMER OR WINTER?Winter (except for the summer weeks in Maine.......they are ok.....)

35. HUGS OR KISSES?hugs

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?trifle (followed by chocolate icebox cake or fresh blueberry pie)

37. IF YOU COULD MAKE A WISH...Find a cure for cancer (retroactive would be really nice.......)

38. WHAT (in general) IRRITATES YOU?people who don't know the rules for turning right on red

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
several:
Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean
Talking Hands
Your guide to the federal census for genealogists, researchers, and family historians
Pocketful of Rye
Mistress of the monarchy : the life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster
Three bags full : a sheep detective story
The age of homespun : objects and stories in the creation of an American myth

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?Oriental rug

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?Nothing.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?cat purring in happiness, water lapping against the rocks in Maine (loon calls optional......), well-played bagpipes

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?neither

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?Inverness

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?Not really.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?The PRC (the People's Republic of Cambridge, Boston's northern neighbor)

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?Anyone who chooses to answer

48. WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?Ohio Yearly Meeting

Oozing over from Facebook.....

2009-02-03T19:58:00.002-05:00

Typed this out for facebook, so i figured I'd cut and paste ;-)

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

1. I love classic mysteries…. Christie, Sayers, Wentworth, and so on. And Joan Hickson is Miss Marple.

2. I have a real love/hate relationship with tv. I’ve gone long stretches without ;-) and now most of my viewing is actually stuff from Netflix: BBC, PBS, old musicals. Good stuff to knit to.

3. Given that, it’s no surprise that I refuse to have a tv in the living room or my bedroom – nor do I have cable (although the upcoming switch to digital may prompt having cable or the like, as we don’t get digital PBS here). And I hate commercials....and the materialistic culture they glorify. Ugh.

4. I tend to have rather low impulse control when in yarn shops ;-)

5. I’m rather obsessive over genealogy. I love digging around in old records and can get compulsive about finding answers – for myself or random people I ‘meet’ at on-line forums.

6. My books often seem to multiply on their own. On the other hand, I will admit that I have a visual enough memory that I’ve bought a duplicate book several times because the reprint had a changed cover.... argh.

7. I never have only one book I’m reading in progress or one knitting project going……always have several of each.

8. Many of the employees at the local library know me by name – it’s not unusual to walk in and have one of them tell me I’ve got holds waiting…..

9. Maine. My vacation destination of choice.

10. I love traveling, but given limited vacations days in the real world, see number 9.

11. I like winter. I dislike hot weather. It’s genetic – there’s a reason dad bought a summer place in Maine.

12. I really miss my mother. She was a wonderful person as well as a great mother. Cancer stinks!

13. I HATE using the phone – I was an early adopter of email for a reason ;-)

14. I much prefer interesting ‘hole in the wall’ restaurants to fancy/trendy places or chains. Asian food is good.Very good.

15. I frequently tease Jez that I’m going to trade her in for a new and improved model. Somehow, after 20 years, I don’t think she believes me……

16. On Mum’s side, my New England Yankee family goes back to the Mayflower, despite Gram telling me otherwise when I started researching. However, Dad’s side has been much more fun to trace in most ways - more challenging for inquisitive me.

17. I’m an information junkie – which leads to joining lots of FB groups and email lists as well as subscribing to way too many blogs via Google reader.

18. I don’t know which is scarier: my Amazon wishlist (a main list and multiple topical sublists) or my Outlook email folder structure…...

19. If I were well off (enough $$ to live at an ok level, with health coverage, without working or able to totally telecommute), I’d likely winterize the place in Maine and live there year-round. I have enough hermit tendencies that I wouldn’t mind getting snowed (or mudded) in a couple times a year……

20. I was born in the ‘People’s Republic of Cambridge’ – one of the most liberal cities in one of the most liberal states in the US. My parents chose to live there for a reason ;-)

21. If I had my way, we’d have half a dozen (or more) kids. Drat that PCOS!

22. I’d rather be barefoot.

23. I’m a rotten typist. That’s made worse when the cat decides she wants to curl up on my chest or arms….. which happens frequently this time of year as she tries to keep her old bones warm.

24. I think my dad is one of the best photographers around. A few samples.

25. Sometimes I think I don’t really belong anywhere….. Dad and Ted are atheists and don’t get the religious thing. My work and other such local friends don’t get the Jewish stuff, or my non-conformist streak, while I live far enough from the synagogue that I’m not really as much a part of that day-to-day community the way I’d like to be. I'm pretty much Modern Orthodox in theological outlook but I mostly follow Sephardi minhagim. My UU upbringing (yes, there were cars in the parking lots that had "Question authority" and "To question is the answer" bumperstickers) has also left its mark. My views on political and other things are such a mix that I really don’t fit in any subgroup that way. Most people my age have kids. Seth and I are more alike than he sometimes thinks in our beliefs but there’s still the whole me no longer being a plain Quaker that he has trouble with…… So I guess that being a shy introvert is a good thing for me, after all ;-)

So I actually did it....

2009-02-01T20:37:00.003-05:00

I spent motzei Shabbos (a.k.a Saturday evening) and a nice chunk of today sorting stash...and only got through what's in the back room and not the bins in the corner of the living room (which are the ones I really want to deal with.....I hate having them in the living room.....). Argh. So guess what I'll be doing evenings this week (well, not Monday – that’s S&B night….) and maybe into next weekend?

It's been a crazy, icky month...... so the cleaning/sorting/destashing is good for me mentally as well in terms of making the apartment less crowded.

So, anyway, I am getting rid of lots..... and some of you, dear readers, will benefit ;-)

I put a name for every commenter on a slip of paper and stuck them in a handmade (knit by me with handspun yarn.....) hat. I did one round with the people in my S&B ('cuz I wanted to make sure at least one of them got something, since I see them twice a month grin), then another drawing with everyone except the S&B round winner.

If I've linked you below, please email me (killearnan at gmail daht cohm) or contact me through either Ravelry (user name the same as here) or Facebook private message if you know me there.

What I'll need to know: your name and address and your preferred colors and fibers (and if there are any fibers you are allergic to, so I can avoid sending them).

No guarantees that I'll be able to completely accommodate all color/fiber requests, but I'll do my very best. If I send something you hate, I apologize - and hope that you can swap it for something better or use it for gift or charity knitting ;-)

I hope to send packages out by early next week (allowing for time for all of you to email me, and for me to work out who gets what.....).

My S&B winner: Rosie (will you be there tomorrow? If so, I'll bring yours.....)

Jenny

JenniferQKW (no blog linked....emailed)

Jane

Turtle

Marlyn

RoamingKnitter

Phillyfarmgirl (and, yes, this was random.... no good friend preference! But I'll likely hand deliver yours, holding it hostage for a get-together..... grin)

I am so getting one of these....

2009-01-22T14:52:00.002-05:00

Take a look at this gadget...... will satisfy both the knitter and the gadget geek in me ;-)

Unfortunately, the 'buy one now' link leads to a page that says Available March 2009.......

Some smiles for an icky day

2009-01-22T10:17:00.003-05:00

First, an amusing look at the 'much ado about nothing' over the presidential oath mishap. (Well, OK... it's amusing to at least some of us those who've seen similar discussions on points of Torah.....)

And a cute LOL picture:

Car all packed for the tip to Buffalo - lots of knitting to be done at Roswell while Dad has his biopsy.....

Quiet weekend...

2009-01-18T19:03:00.002-05:00

Quiet weekend here....almost over this annoying cold..... seems like forever, although it's only been about 10 days. Miss Marple DVDs are a great invention ;-) Just enough intrigue to keep me from going stark raving bored, but not so much that my head hurts more than when I started the DVD ;-)

But I haven't blogged as much as I'd intended to -nor did I get to the stash-sorting I'd planned for this weekend. So I'm going to extend my comment 'contest' to the end of the month, as I'll be out of town next week (trip to Buffalo to deal with Dad's biopsy) so the sorting of the stash won't happen next weekend, either...... At least when I'm there, I'll likely manage the Lone Star run, possibly combined with a stop at a nice little LYS, and a couple hours at the BECPL's excellent genealogy collection -- always a favorite stop ;-)

Ugh.

2009-01-16T06:54:00.004-05:00

Winter colds. That won't go away.

Ugh.

Ten days.

Ugh.

Not quite sick enough to just curl up and sleep all day. But tired, lethargic, and fuzzy-headed. Complete lack of motivation for just about everything......

Ugh.

Go away already.

Please?

Edited to add: Did decide to stay home today after all. Slept most of the day. Glad for the invention of cold medicines. And Miss Marple movies ;-) Even the less-than-faithful-to-the books most recent version.......

Intellectual vs. emotional

2009-01-13T21:44:00.003-05:00

Just a reminder: if you knit/crochet/spin (or love someone who does....), I'm running the 'comment and I might send you some yarn/roving' contest through this weekend.

When my mother was a very young child, her father left my grandmother and Mum, remarrying and moving to NC. Gram went to work and then did something she was proud of for the rest of her life. She said to her younger brother that he should come visit her one day when she wasn't home. Doesn't make much sense, does it, until I tell you that 18 months later my mother was the flower girl when her uncle married her babysitter ;-)

So, not surprisingly, Uncle Roger was (in many ways) the closest I had to a grandfather (as both my biological grandfathers had died when my parents were teens, in addition to my maternal grandfather taking off for warmer climes). Aunt Harriet really liked Mum (well, most people did...) and was an extra grandmother for me.

So - despite his age (89) and state of health (poor) - it was a shock to hear he'd died when my cousin told me. And emotionally jarring....that side of the family is rather skimpy to begin with: Gram and Uncle Roger were the only two siblings, their father was an only child and their mother had only one sibling who died at 9 so Gram and Uncle Roger had no first cousins, Mum was an only child (for Gram; my grandfather did have 2 more children, one of whom is evidently still living, the other having died in a car accident in the 1950s) and Uncle Roger outlived two of his three children. Does make me glad I stopped to see him on the way home from ME in July - taking him out to lunch took some effort but it was worth it!

Then I had an interesting coincidence. Being somewhat of the inquisitive sort, and being of a genealogical bent, I checked the Boston Globe website to read Uncle Roger's obituary. Wasn't there (cousin didn't bother - just went with the Salem paper) but there was an obituary for the father of my first 'best friend' - and the rest of the family (Ellen was the 6th of 8 kids in a large traditional Catholic family) that I would wander away from the house to see. To those of you who are parents, imagine what my poor mother went through: at the age of 15 months or so, I figured out how to undo the night lock on the front door, and would head out to their house as fast as I could go - while avoiding the busy street we lived on and the pond out back. When Mum caught up with me, I evidently would look up earnestly and announce 'me go Petes' (a form of their name). After this happened a couple times, Mum took to putting the chain on the door as well as the night lock. So I figured out how to use my tricycle to undo the lock on the stockade fence that went around the backyard..... Guess it's no surprise that Mum once told me she loved me too much to wish for me to have a child like I was ;-)

Intellectually, I understand that - when one reaches ones 40s - the people who were in their 40s when one was a child will have high mortality rates. But still.... ugh. ugh. ugh.

I have the same intellectual/emotional dissonance when it comes to kidneys these days. I know we need then but.....

Dad is having a biopsy on Jan. 23 for a lump on his kidney. He's got a good doctor but the risks for someone with all his health issues (and the fact that he needs to be taken off a couple of his medications) mean that it's not as simple as it might be.

Then, to top it all off...... Took Jez to the vet last week. The physical exam was pretty much the same as it was in August - she's 20, skinny (despite eating much of what we put down), losing her sight (and a few teeth), and so on. This time, the blood work came back with the kidney and thyroid functions just off. So she can only eat fancy prescription food (and plainly cooked boneless chicken for a treat) and I need to give her half a pill (readings are just barely into the icky range, plus she is only 5 pounds, so even the smallest pill is too big) twice a day. And, yeah, it's me who is doing it..... Seth can't handle it ;-) He'll have to learn, since I'll be gone in 10 days for a weekend in Buffalo for Dad's biopsy (why couldn't it be in ME in July?).

Caught in the act....

2009-01-13T18:37:00.005-05:00

Battle over trifle....

Aunt Joni.... don't worry - Dad won; Jez just got a few licks of whipped cream ;-) when my back was turned.....

You'd never know she's supposed to be a dignified old lady ;-)

And she's absolutely kitten-ish over the evil 'nip:

Yet another quiz....

2009-01-13T18:35:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I'm a bit of a sucker for on-line quizzes.

So.... those who know me.... think this fits?

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations.

And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in.

You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now.

When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

Well, ok....

2009-01-07T10:35:00.002-05:00

Maybe.... except for the food part..... there my choice is the more exotic, the better ;-) One reason I love Toronto and NYC......lots of fun restaurants!

You Are a Cardigan

You are traditional, old-fashioned, and even a little conservative.

More than anything else, you are a creature of habit. You haven't changed much over the years.

You shy away from flashy ideas, people, fashion, and foods.

You have simple tastes. You go for established quality and longevity every time.

What Kind of Sweater Are You?

One thing off the to-do list

2009-01-04T21:31:00.004-05:00

I've mentioned my super-secret fall project a couple times. It is now DONE! DONE! DONE! and given to the recipient......
The stats:
2 skeins (with only about 10 yds left) of Kraemer Sterling and Silk in Princess (pink)
Pattern an adaptation of 'Road Not Taken' from A Fine Fleece - I made a few changes, such as making it an 18x36 repeat (as 18 is the numerical value of chai [life] in Hebrew), as that seemed like a good way to go for a wedding shawl (ok, so I missed her wedding - finished it in time for her birthday/Hanukah - or close enough grin).

Now on to the various other UFOs/WIPs I have..... and the destashing (reminder about my commenting nudge......help me de-stash grin).

OK..... a 'contest' kinda thing to start the year off right ;-)

2009-01-04T11:09:00.002-05:00

UPDATED: See this post for new deadline ;-) Best laid plans and all that.

So, I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, for a variety of reasons (the primary reason being I celebrated the new year that matters to me back in September....and then there's that never keeping them thing....).

But the 'holiday' season has meant I've had some time off from work, which means I've had some time to clean and to knit.....and to contemplate the state of my apartment. I've been feeling a bit crushed for a while.....I'm so SABLE it's approaching the ridiculous ;-) OK, it's not only the yarn that's the too much stuff issue, but the yarn is a big part of it.....

And I've had a chance to clean out the email inbox a bit, too..... including the notices for my blog stats - which say that 30 to 50 people visit most weeks.

So, to do what my mother called multi-bird killing (that old two birds with one stone thing.....), here goes:

If you leave a comment on any of my posts from now to January 18th at 9pm eastern time, I'll enter your name in a hat to win a package of yarn from me. No guarantees on exactly what I'll put in (I'll try to send colors you like, if you specify a preference in the email I'll need with a shippign address, but I'll say upfront that my stash is light on the ROY part of the spectrum......), other than it will be new and at least 200g/8 oz., not have any smoky smell, and be reasonably good to excellent quality. Oh, and if more than 25 people comment, I'll send 2 packages out ;-)

And if you don't knit/crochet? I'll send it to someone you know who does [so, yes, Chaviva, if you comment, it doubles Yael's chance to win grin]....or I can send it to you to give as a present (my low impulse control in a yarn shop can be your easy generosity.....)

You get yarn, I find out who some of my readers are..... win-win ;-)

UPDATED to add: If you spin or sew, don't feel left out......I've got roving and fabric to throw in a package, too....yup, packrat central here ;-)

Quick update/thanks!

2009-01-03T19:54:00.003-05:00

Dad's still here, so I've been just a wee bit busy, but I wanted to get a big THANKS in..... my SP13 spoiler sent such a wonderful package that I'm taking advantage of Dad's absorption in a football game to post ;-)

A nice mug (love the colors! and it's big enough for a decent cup of tea), a neckwarmer, a mystery I haven't read yet (excellent choice! and hard to find not yet read ones, too.....I'm impressed!), and some wonderful yarn....I love Fiddlesticks yarn! The color is absolutely wonderful. Oh, and Yiddish poetry magnets to go with the book lover and cat lover sets I already have. (OK, so it's not like I have room on the fridge for it..... but maybe the filing cabinet next to the computer... yeah, that would work.....)

My local megamarket isn't quite so bad...

2008-12-21T20:38:00.002-05:00

This picture is quite amusing.....Wegman's is {fortunately!} a fair bit better than that store.

However, I have gotten seder plates at a Christmas Eve sale at a TJ Maxx/Marshall's [they were in the same plaza so I don't remember which one......]..... guess the Hebrew all looks alike and some buyer had no idea what the plate with all the little indentations was ;-)

Chanukah sameach!

2008-12-21T19:35:00.003-05:00

One of the advantages of following the Jewish calendar is that December is a pretty calm month - not like the whirlwind of April-ish (Pesach and the cleaning thereof) or the marathon of September/October (Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur/Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah and maybe a couple other special days my ever more sieve-like memory is forgetting at the moment). Chanukah is a fun but minor holiday - especially if one doesn't have children and isn't trying to compete with the extravagance of Christmas.....

With the surgery (which was fairly easy; it was the week plus of not driving afterwards that made life interesting.....but not going anywhere has kept my usual December annoynce at bad Christmas music at a minimum. although the various medical offices I've been to have been playing it as well.....why can't they at least play the good stuff?), I've been even more laid back than usual. I have a personal minhag of adding a new hanukiah each year, but I didn't get one this year. No big deal, as I do have five ;-) Maybe I'll get one on sale next week, says the Scots/Yankee ;-) [Aunt Joni: don't worry - I did manage to get the ingredients for trifle for Dad......wouldn't want him to miss out on that.......]

Dad arrived yesterday, and the weather here was less than great, so his fatigue and the icy conditions (I want snow, please; lots and lots of snow - we dont; get much this far south...... ice stinks......) led to us having a nice lazy day at home...... Jez had no problem getting in the right mood:

On the knitting front, I've almost finished with the major secret project that I've been working on for several months, so I'll soon be able to post pictures and go back to showing an occasional UFO/WIP.

Going well.....and thanks!

2008-12-14T11:09:00.004-05:00

My recovery is going well. Not being able to lift anything is driving me nuts - when I can't do anything about it, I see all the clutter and other stuff I want to deal with. Ugh.

I have some great friends..... from last week, when I needed some cheering up, these two went to a yarn shop and a nice vegetarian/kosher Chinese restaurant with me:

Another friend sent me an adorable little purple teddy bear as a get well wish....While I'm not really a stuffed animal person, this one is adorable.

I did give in on the Chnaukah swap package - opened it as soon as Shabbat was over. Had planned on waiting but decided that I'd forego the delayed gratification and treat it as a combined Chanukah/post-op delight. It included some Kidsilk Haze in a very nice maroon, clear bead stitch markers, a berry-scented soap in the shape of a popsicle (neat idea!), a good thoughts book (again, not my normal style, but this one looks good! and with everything going on in my life, a good book to have over the next couple weeks), some Chanukah gelt (yummy!), some tea (already opened - delicious), a little knitted sweater charm, some Burt's Bees lip balm, and then the bit that has my fingers itching - some absolutely gorgeous purple yarn from Dragonfibers....... The tempation to put aside the current projects and start something with this is soooooo great right now - but I've told myself it needs to wait until Chanuakh. I'm thinking I'll start something with it on the 3rd night (as that's the anniversary of Mum dying by the Hebrew calendar.....and she'd approve of my getting some delayed gratification in somehow.....).

Then there's the cat....she doesn't get that the no lifting rule applies to her (anyone able to translate the post-op instructions to felinese for me?), and she still tries to use the computer as a heating pad......

Nice -- well, kinda....

2008-12-11T19:08:00.003-05:00

A couple new paperback books. Nice.

Two packages on the doorstep when I got home (one a Hanukah swap - think I'll make it 10 days before opening it? Yeah, me neither - and the other a little somethign from a friend, to be opened no sooner than tomorrow evening). Nice.

A new book from an author I like (whose talk last night, in lieu of my regular Hebrew class, which had been canceled so all of us could go hear Rabbi Aaron, was excellent and inspiring). Nice.

A new set of Star Trek DVDs (a bunch of alternate reality episodes). Nice.

A (purple!) lap desk to use for writing the holiday cards that I'll get out almost on schedule this year. Nice.

Good chocolate and some fancy tea. Nice.

A ride to the Chesco knitting group holiday party (I even get to share the car with an adorable baby!). Very nice.

Some new yarn to play with, bought last Sunday on a visit with two of the best friends a person could want. Nice.

A clingy cat to cuddle with. OK.

A quiet weekend mostly at home. Nice.

A quiet weekend mostly at home recovering from a minor operation Friday. Not so nice.

2008-12-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

With the recent news of Blowdryavich (as one blog I read called him.....), I'm guessing some Serbian Orthodox who were proud of one of their members reaching so high in government is like finding that your Mayflower ancestor is John Billington - yeah, you are eligible for the Mayflower Society, but he was the first Englishman convicted of murder in North America and the first executed for any crime in New England. Just a little bittersweet......(In contrast, Stephen Hopkins gets one not only Mayflower Society eligibility but First Families of Virginia consideration.....although Hopkins may not have been much better than Billington......)

(Side note: Billington's one of the few I haven't found in my tree.....of the 29* recognized passengers who've left descendants, I'm descended from at least 13, and likely more, as I have a few dead ends in the area.....of course, the latest estimate I've seen says somewhere between 10 and 35 million American can claim Mayflower descent [John Alden and Priscilla Mullins may have 2 to 4 million descendants themselves......], so it's not that exclusive a club....)

I did my undergraduate degree in Chicago, in public policy, and the current news has me almost nostalgic....... it was a great university and a great city to spend five winters in ;-)

Updated to add this link - I smiled at this one.....

Of course, if I were still in Chicago, I could hear Franklin speak more often ;-) Although, looking at the current schedule, living in Maine year round would do it, as well.... now that's an idea ;-)

*IIRC, the number used to be fewer, and it was all men, but it looks like they've added a few women.....although I haven't kept up enough to know why some wives are on the list and others aren't. For example, Mary (Norris) Allerton is listed, but all her children were with Isaac Allerton. So why not list Dorothy (May) Bradford, whose only child was with another passenger? Something to look into when I can't do anything else post-surgery this weekend...... Plus, there are some 'duplicates' -- if you are descended from John Alden, you are also decended from William Mullins, as William's only surviving daughter married John Alden. Ands why isn't Priscilla listed if her husbandf and father are? Hhhhmmmmmm....

Forty things

2008-12-10T09:41:00.007-05:00

Since I've seen this a couple different places (after clicking on emailed links from friends... thanks, guys......), here goes:

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes.

2. Have you ever done something you regretted? Who hasn't?

3. Do you own a gun? Never touched one; have no plans to ever do so. (Chicken or egg? this experience/attitude and 22 years of officailly being a member of one Friends meeting or another?)

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? Never liked it much; Mum didn’t believe in it, so we rarely had it. But it makes great yarn dye ;-)

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Kosher all beef, done on the grill in Maine.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Don't have one. Favorite holiday movie is Ushpizin (for Sukkot).

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Tea, Earl Grey, hot.

9. Can you do push ups? Yes.

10. Favorite hobby? Knitting and genealogy. Don't make me decide -- that would not be pretty. I would get all indecisive and pouty at having to choose….

11. Do you have A.D.D.? No.

12. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Too many to list ;-)

13. Middle name? Joan - for one of the most wonderful people in the world!

14. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? a) ugh, work b) a week without driving after the surgery? I'm such a good passenger……not! grin c) time for more caffeine

15. Name 3 drinks you regularly have? Tea, water, an occasional glass of wine

16. Current hate right now? People who spout off on Internet sites when they are completely ignorant of facts. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but not their own facts…….

17. Favorite place to be? Maine.

18. How did you bring in the New Year? Two days of synagogue, punctuated by lots of good food, and challah or apples with honey.

19. A place would you like to go? Only one? Hmmm…Maine's a given. After that…… Israel. Scotland. Korea. Turkey. Australia. Antarctic. Ireland. England. A tour of the Jewish neighborhoods of Europe - from Spain to Greece to Ukraine to Ireland - with an add-on of the historically Jewish areas of Morocco, Iran, India, central Asia, and so on…..

20. Name three people who will complete this. No idea -but have fun with it ;-)

21. Do you have slippers? No -- barefoot all the way.

22. What shirt are you wearing? Plain white blouse. But accented with a hand knit shawl/cape (a blue version of this -- a wonderful quick and easy knit - and very luxurious when done in 100% alpaca.....) to escape complete boring-ness.

23. Do you like sleeping on satin? Nah - flannel's nicer and cozier.

24. Can you whistle? Not well.

25. Would you be a pirate? Nah. I'd get a sore throat from all the arrrrrggggghs.

26. What songs do you sing in the shower? Have you heard me sing? No? There's a reason for that.....

27. Favorite girl's name(s)? Classics like Margaret, Catherine, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Caroline. Biblical like Sarah, Rebecca/Rivkah, Miriam, Abigail, Esther, Naomi, and Hannah. And some old-fashioned ones: Grace, Bethiah (used in both Scotland and colonial New England), and so on.

28. What's in your pocket right now? The earrings I didn't get in yet. And likely some lint and cat hair. 'Cuz the cat hair is everywhere….

29. Last thing that made you laugh? The video of the broccoli eating cat.

30. Favorite bed sheets as a child? Whatever was there....

31. Worst injury ever? Shoulder was hurt in a car accident 5 years ago (idiot driving an SUV paid no attention to stopped traffic and rear ended my car……) - still sometimes bothers me, despite 6 months of physical therapy.

32. Do you like where you live? Not really - apartment is ok, but I’d rather be closer to the city (less driving, nearer the things I want to do) or further out (have some space and a garden). But where we are now is convenient for getting to work……. And I really don't want to think about packing and moving all our books -- and the picture is just one small part of the collection…..

33. How many TVs do you have in your house? One. I have a love/hate relationship with TV - I've had long stretches without one, but I do like to watch some things (although the DVD watching is greater than the actual TV watching) while knitting.

34. Who is your loudest friend? Yael? And even she's not that loud in the overall grand scheme of things -- it's relative thing......

35. How many dogs do you have? None. If I lived full time somewhere like the Point, I'd have a couple bigger dogs (retrievers, setters, that sort of thing……I tend to like the big breeds that need a fair amount of space to run) But I'm much more a cat person.

36. Does someone have a crush on you? Not likely.

37. What is your favorite book? That's a mean question - I have too many favorites to list; which ones make the top 36 fluctuates with my mood…...

38. What is your favorite candy? Good chocolate. And I have a real soft spot for the mint Aero bars, which are (fortunately!) not easily available in the US [Wegman's has the regular but not the mint ones].

39. Favorite Sports Team? Sabres, Sox, Bills - pretty much in that order.

40. What song do you want played at your funeral? Everyone singing Adon Olam as loudly and enthusiastically as possible…...More here with audio here and here.

When Seth's away.....

2008-12-06T22:46:00.003-05:00

...... the cat plays - or at least she clings to me ;-)

She's decided that (if her favorite lap isn't home....) she will sleep on me - whether it's convenient for me or not.....

And if I'm not home? She'll sleep on the computer, if I forget to close the cover. This time of year, Friday is a bit crazy, with Shabbat starting so early. Since Seth wasn't home yesterday morning, in addition to regular Friday morning stuff (done before work, as I don't have time to stop at home before services), I took the time to feed Jez and such - so I managed to leave the computer open and on. She must have slept on it while I was out yesterday, as when I came over to my desk after Shabbat, there were multiple (like a couple dozen) Firefox windows open - and I was signed into AIM ;-)

The upside of an older cat? When she sleeps on me to keep herself warm while I'm knitting, she shows no interest in the yarn..... ignores it completely.

Otherwise, I had a nice Shabbat - started a new book and re-read an old favorite.

I did go to services Friday night, having debated whether I would (I was tired, and it's a long drive, and traffic was heavy, and I wasn't feeling great......). Attendance was light because of a national conference, but - as usual when I decide to go despite not being sure the hassle of getting there is worth it - it definitely was. So I was glad I went - and that happens often enough that it figured into the decision to go ;-) Need it most when I want it least......

Speaking of such things, I'm still a little disconcerted by the new synangogue building - it's just so much like the church I grew up attending...although the resemblance is a little less as the synagogue has replaced the wooden pews originally there with chairs. The pictures I've found don't show just how similar the feel is....still finding it a bit distracting if I let it be ;-)

Thanksgiving leftovers

2008-12-04T20:15:00.002-05:00

Bits & pieces.....

1) It's very nice to have a cousin who is an aftercare coordinator for a VNA - she can be reassuring and informative about what's going on with Dad -- and let me know what questions I should be asking. (Since I'm Dad's health care proxy, I do try to stay on top of what's going on.)

2) Seth's away for the weekend. Yippee and boo. Like the peace/quiet/time alone but also kinda sorta almost miss his presence ;-)

3) In anticipation of next week's surgery, I'm not supposed to lift anything over about 10 pounds. That's not much....and it's really cramping what I'd like to do (sort my stash and organize it, or alternately, add more books to LibraryThing) this weekend.....

4) December is my least favorite month. Short days (why can't we stay on daylight savings time all year? Really dislike getting home from work in the dark......). Crowded shops (I avoid them as much as I can, but we do occasionally need cat food). Icky traffic getting to the library (it's on the ring road around the local mall......). Anniversary of Mum's death (really yucky -- I'm not big into stuff like that, but this one still hurts....)

5) Knitting is good for my sanity.

6) Some good books (biography-ish division):
Sea Captain's Wife
My Cousin the Saint
Ghost Map
The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton

6a) More good books (non-biography-ish):
Talking Hands
Free Range Knitter
It's All Too Much
The Home We Build Together (ok, just starting this, but I've enjoyed everything else by him I've read - and his weekly commentary on the parsha is the one I make sure to make time for.....)
Continuous Cables

6b) But I like old favorites, too..... Decided to read along with the current LordPeter read-through of the corpus (havign not really done the last one), so just finished re-reading Clouds of Witness yesterday evening. Also re-read Henrietta Who in the same sitting. Nice easy comfort reads ;-)

7) Lobster prices are way down - $6.99 a pound for hard shells at Wegman's today. Fortunately for the kashrut status of my kitchen, they were sold out (except for one {not moving} critter on ice, not in water.....) when I got there.

8) The invention of the Internet would have been worth it for Ravelry and LibraryThing alone.

Sometimes....

2008-12-02T18:17:00.002-05:00

...... I just hate getting the news from Dad seeing to the doctor.

Sometimes, I just want to be a little girl again, with the challenges of aging parents so far in the future as to be unimaginable.....

Yup, a daddy's girl..... around 1970 ;-) up in Maine......Brought this picture back from the odds & ends we went through on the last trip to Buffalo, intending to post it, but hadn't gotten to it....

Monday morning

2008-12-01T06:53:00.001-05:00

Yup, it's Monday.

How I spent yesterday ;-)

2008-11-30T21:12:00.007-05:00

Yup, I watched Dad take pictures out in Lancaster County. He says he didn't get anything decent but we know how seriously to take that, right?

The next time a LYS employee mentions that Dad waits patiently (for all of 15 or 20 minutes.....) when I browse the wool selections, I will refer him/her to this post.

Motzei Shabbat, we met a cousin, her husband, and her daughter, starting with beers (except for the underage daughter, who had root beer; Rebeckah and I had Guiness, while Dad and Terry had paler beers) at a sports bar, then proceeded on to a very good vegetarian Indian buffet as soon as it opened. Very yummy! This was followed by a stop at the Chester County Book Company (a local independent bookshop with a wide selection of goodies, a few of which did come home with me - yeah, I know, big surprise there, huh?) and then a Miss Marple DVD while curled up with tea, trifle and the cat.

Today, I bundled Dad into the car and headed south, as we were meeting Ted and Kristin in DE, so I could pass Dad off for his return to the airport tomorrow. Had a very small brunch at a nice health food/organic oriented place (as they had lots of choices for the veggie brother). Ted was a good sport about the little teddy bear with golf club figurine that I'd found at a gift shop ;-)

After Dad was safely in Ted's care, I did a coulple errands and then headed for a Korean restaurant, where I met a fellow knitter/Dorothy L. Sayers lister (Miss de Vine, for those on LordPeter). An enjoyable lunch, followed by a stop at my (just about) favorite yarn shop for knitting, chatting, and yarn fondling.

So, a few more pictures to finish off the post:
The Amish farm Dad was taking pictures of in the first picture above - on a road with no power lines, much to his delight!

Inside of the meetinghouse (unusual for the era - no partition for separate men's and women's seating) - experimenting with the 'through glass' setting on camera, plus a shot of the exterior:

Ted, Dad, and Kristin at the cafe in DE this morning:

Wanna join us?

2008-11-28T15:58:00.003-05:00

We've got room..... see Shabbat table pictures below. I can always add more settings - and ther's plenty of (almost kosher) food. I don't often get to do a Shabbat table up fancy myself (I tend to go to services and someone's house...) so I'm glad for the chance to have fun with it.

Sneaking one last post in before I sign of for Shabbat.....

With yesterday being Thanksgiving (and an SP13 prompt as well.....), I've been thinking a fair bit about what I'm thankful for. The biggest one is all the wonderful people I've met in my life - as painful as Mum dying young was, it helped to know how many nice people she knew....

And with the news this week of Aunt Pat dying, I had a similar thought -- that it was a privilege to have known her.

Then I set the table for this evening - with dishes a friend gave me. A child of the 1970s, I'd always wanted a set of Pfaltzgraf (as at least one older cousin had a set when she got married), but I had never sprung for one - but she gave most of a set, which I've supplemented a bit from thrift stores. Thanks, Ann - you don't know how much I appreciate your generosity!

In the background in one of these pictures is our wedding certificate (the traditional Quaker type, where everyone at the wedding signs it) - filled with the signatures of lots more people I've had the honor of knowing. Some of since died, others grown up from the childish printing they used 11.5 years ago, and a couple I've lost touch with for whatever reason - but they all had a positive influence on my life.

Yup, I'm thankful for there being so many wonderful people in my life!

Oops.

2008-11-28T15:05:00.000-05:00

Oops.

More day off fun.....

2008-11-28T14:48:00.006-05:00

I think I'd be a very dangerous (a.k.a. voluminous) blogger if I didn't have that pesky distraction of a job......

The challah after baking:

My Scottish kugel (called that 'cuz there's oats in there.....). And that sounds better than 'clean out the fridge' veggie kugel. It's in a Bundt pan but I'm not sure it will have quite enough structural integrity to hold its form for serving. We'll see....:

Tonight's menu:
'Italian' chicken (crockpot chicken done in stewed tomatoes, with lots of basil and oregano added)
'Scottish' kugel (a.k.a. noodle casserole with veggies and oats)
challah
broccoli/carrot slaw
green beans
avocado/tomato salad
trifle

One nice thing about Dad being here: he likes good food. Seth can't tell the difference between a budget tv dinner and something I spend all day on (or - if he can - he doesn't care enough to actually notice.....), so having an appreciative audience is a really nice change.

May he be comforted....

2008-11-28T14:23:00.003-05:00

Baruch Dayan Emet. (Blessed is the one true judge.)

With the various bits of horrendous news from Mumbai, I've found my thoughts focused on the son (Moshe Tzvi ben Rivka) of the Chabad couple...... that poor little boy. May he be (greatly!) comforted among the mourners of Zion.

Another good post. I'm not a Chabadnik (I tend to see it as like pistachio ice cream - it can be really good ice cream, just not my taste.......) but Ron Coleman's point is a good one: this couple, while they had a religious motivation (bringing Jews to observance, preferably as defined by their particular hassidic group), devoted themselves to helping others have a good [kosher] meal and find their way physically and/or spiritually. I hope their families (and especially their son) find comfort in the success (from what I've heard) the Holtzbergs had in doing what they set out to do.

David Bogner, at his always enjoyable Treppenwitz, had two good posts on what's happened: what's not odd and parallels.

Moshe Tzvi ben Rivka and everyone else who has lost a loved one in these attacks: Hamakom yinachem eschem b'soch sha'ar availay Tzion v'Yerushalayim. (May Hashem, Who is everywhere, comfort you amongst the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.)

A day off....

2008-11-28T11:00:00.005-05:00

Having a day off from work has its pleasures.....

Chicken (whole kosher chickens were on sale the other at one of the grocery stores I was in) in the crock pot:

After Seth left for work (he's taking next Friday off to go to OH for something, so working today) and before Dad (visiting for the long weekend; since he's schedule is more flexible, we make him come to us grin) emerged from the bedroom, I started challah - one of those things I'd prefer to do every week but only seem to get around to on special occasions.....It was a wonderful experience this morning - peaceful and quiet....

While the challah was rising, I did some cleaning, sneaking off for a few minutes at one point to play at Geograph - link shows the shepherd's cottage my great grandmother grew up in. Now have three more bags of stuf for the dumpster or the Re-Uzit shop.

After getting dad's lunch, I need to decide if I'm going to a yarn shop or if I'm going snuggle up with a book in an afghan Mum made (Dad gave one to Ted and one to me on our last Buffalo trip.... he kept a couple for himself). She made lots of these, making up the pattern in her head as she went along.....hard choice I've got there ;-)

And how has Dad spent the morning?

So much for his supposed stance against spoiling pets ;-)

Most of the time....

2008-11-25T21:31:00.002-05:00

Most of the time, I love modern technology and the gadgets it generates. I'm at the point that I feel more lost than I should if I don't have my phone handy - although I use it to text, email, IM, and surf the 'Net more than I use it to call people (that shy introvert does make an appearance occasionally.....not a big phone talker....)

However, occasionally, it means standing in line at Wegman's (another modern convenience I'd hate to give up......yeah, I also shop at Trader Joe's, farmers' markets, and Amish farm stands, but Weggie's is the close/easy go-to choice for the majority of my food shopping) and getting an email that one of your favorite people has died. It wasn't unexpected, as she was in her mid-80s and had been sick for a while, but it still feels like a big part of my childhood has just died. Some of the best times I had growing up -- at least those that didn't take place in Maine -- involved her.

Oh, and in case you were wondering -- my mother, under similar circumstances - emailed my brother and me to tell us Gram had died. I come by the shy introverted non-phone person honestly. I'll leave it to you to argue nature vs. nurture ;-)

SP13 questions answered

2008-11-14T11:49:00.004-05:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I’m not a very picky person about yarn — I tend to match the yarn to the project. I do tend to avoid acrylics [100% acrylics - sometimes I use wool/acrylic blends or cotton for baby stuff] and fun furs (don’t like working with them and most projects I am attracted to don’t need those).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? A couple big plastic containers, with a few smaller container inside those to separate different types of needles. (I have my own needles, plus those I inherited from my mother……..). A nice binder with Knit One's holders for circulars best sytem I've found so far for them.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? 30+ years, although serious knitting has only been the last few years and a few similar previous spells. Intermediate level.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? yes - Amazon. Link is to main list, with all the sublists (by topic) linked on the left side. The things I’m most interested and/or those that don’t fall into my major categories that get a sublisting are on the main list. Plus, a decent chunk of my library (including all the knitting books) is listed online at LibraryThing (a resource which is worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet).

5. What's your favorite scent? Either subtle flower/plant smells (lilac/lavender) or ‘baking’/homey ones like vanilla, key lime pie, or apple cinnamon

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Yes. Chocolate (milk chocolate is the first choice, followed by white). Definitely prefer foods with hechshers.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? Have a wheeel - learning to actually use it. Would like to learn to weave; currently do some photography and sewing as well as soap and candle making.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Scottish folk, Jewish, some country, much classical. Yes.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? Love purple and mauve, with the colonial family [as I call it: sage green and slate blue] not far behind. Apartment is done in what I think of as dark rich colors: navy, burgundy/maroon, hunter green with bits of purple/lavender and mauve to lighten it up. Yellows/reds/oranges make me look like I died three days ago, so I tend to avoid them ;-)

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married, no children, one very cranky and very old cat

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to all but ponchos

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I’ll do just about anything.

13. What are you knitting right now? Shawl from Knitter’s Book of yarn (had put it aside for a bit and recently picked it up again); several hats; a couple baby items for friends who are expecting; a sock or three

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Depends on the project and the yarn. I use all of them at various times. Mostly use Knitpicks Options these days.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes to both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I’ve got a sweater that I’ve puttered on for almost ten years; I’d forgotten about it until I was rummaging for Flash Your Stash a couple years ago and found it at the bottom of a bin of stuff...... and I still haven't gotten around to finishing it yet ;-)

18. What is your favorite holiday? Pesach (Passover), although I also have a great fondness for Shavuot (who wouldn’t like a holiday that involves cheesecake and staying up all night learning interesting stuff?). What winter holiday do you observe? Chanukah.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Post-it notes with cute pictures/sayings, calendars, mugs, t-shirts and canvas bags with pictures of things I’m interested in (cats, Scotland, Maine, genealogy, Judaism) [I’ve managed to help Cafe Press’s business quite a bit.......].

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? See Amazon wishlist for books. No subscriptions - for magazines, I tend to buy only some issues with patterns I'm likely to make (need to control the clutter somehow.........)

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Fair Isle is next (one of these days…..).

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes. Wear a size 8 wide.

23. When is your birthday? May 19.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? Killearnan

A very nice end to Shabbat...

2008-11-08T22:44:00.003-05:00

This time of year, Friday afternoon is the Shabbat scramble - trying to get ready for Shabbat before the early sunset....not always wasy and often chaotic.

So I had a wonderful Shabbat evening - services were good as usual, the congregational supper afterwards was excellent.....and when I got home, there was a package waiting for me.

So, being good, I put the box aside to open after havdalah... the torment was exquisite, with it sitting there, knowing that it contained yarn.....

Fortunately, I had an invitation for lunch after morning services, which took me out of the apartment all afternoon, so I wasn't sitting here just looking at the box ;-)

Needless to say, as soon as Shabbat was over, I tore open the package.....which was wonderful. Thank you, Shannon! Two skeins of Louet Gems (fingering weight, in a wonderful eggplant...), wo skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet in a gorgeous teal-ish green, a skein of Rio de la Plata (superwash sockweight), a skein of Artful Yarns serenade (cotton and angora... yummy.....in pink and orange with touches of white), and one skein of Sugar & Cream - in nice spring colors.

Lots and lots of fun knitting time ahead of me out of that box, it looks like.... worth the torment of waiting until Shabbat was over!

Memory bit....election division

2008-11-04T14:39:00.002-05:00

Election day has a bittersweet element for me.....

Mum was a devoted voter. She voted in every election, no matter how minor or what the weather was like (yeah, that can be a concern in upstate New York in November or March - May not so much.....although I do remember one time it snowed on my birthday - just flurries but snow now the less). She'd walk the eight houses to the main street at the end of the block, cross the street, and go into the high school to vote - a strange and fascinating place to someone in primnary school. Sometimes, Dad went with her and they took Ted and me - memories of those curtains and the big lever to move it - with little levers for actually voting. Other times, they'd switch off and not take us.

Anyhow, the election in 1977 was a minor one - maybe mayor of Buffalo was the big prize? However, it was big for us in some ways. Mum had had a radical mastectomy the week before, and I was old enough to somewhat understand how serious breast cancer could be. Needless to say, Ted and I still went to school the day of Mum's surgery..... to allow otherwise would have been completely out of character for my parents ;-)

On Election Day, the surgeon released Mum from the hospital - he got tired of her not being in the room when he came to see but rather walking around. Figured if she went home, she'd have to make an appointment to see him. (As an aside, almost 30 years later, when undergoing chemo for the ovarian cancer that eventually killed her, she walked the 3+ miles home from Roswell Park more than once.....just like she'd walked to the hospital to give birth to her children - both of whom were a bit slow about getting around to things, so she was the better part of 10 months pregnant..........)
.
Did Mum go home and go to bed on that Election Day when I was 11? Silly question. Of course not. She went to vote as usual. Don't remember whether she walked (I'd guess she did...stubborn Yankee that she was) or if Dad drove her.

And voting wasn't the end of her day on that Tuesday in 1977 - she also made me a robe (in the evening, while watching the returns - she was pretty much incapable of doing nothing while watching tv....other than An Afffair to Remember, when her something else was weeping......) that I wore until I went away to college seven years later, when she decided that it was just to shabby to be seen in public - so it went to Maine for a few years.

Right, right, right

2008-10-25T19:19:00.004-04:00

I'm in Buffalo for the weekend, dealing with Dad, his health issues, and misc. stuff around the new condo. No real/fianl answers on his health stuff - just the usual getitng close to 80, with a bad heart, bad kidney, bad knee, and rare blood disorder..... but he's better than he was early in the week, so that's good.

Ted and I are soooooo happy he's come back to a palce without stairs - much less worrying!

It was late enough when I got here yesterday, I spent the last few miles repeating "right, right, right" to myself, as a reminder to turn right instead of left when I got off the expressway, as the new condo is the same exit as the old house..... didn't want to waste time going the wrong way out of habit ;-)

He's home now from the hospital, so we're trying to get him to supervise putting all the artwork he's collected in his life (we estimate it could fill 3 good-sized houses or so) in a 2BR condo but he's more interested in the political coverage on CNN.

An as the twig is bent, so the child is warped funny bit: Dad now has cable TV as part of his condo deal. He'd never had it before, on principle. Neither of his kids has it yet..... ted and I may be worlds apart on some things (religously, for example) but we are definitely alike (and our parents' children......) in others.

I think I'd gotten used to Mum not being at the old house. Here, I keep turning around to ask how she wants something done.....hard to believe it's been almost 4 years. She would have loved decorating here, as she and I both get itchy fingers for places like this.

I don't normally shop on Saturday but kivod av and all that, so I made a Wegman's trip this afternoon....was it ever crowded! I'd forgotten how bad Saturday can get at shops ;-) And checking the sodium, potassium, and everything else on what I was getting slowed the process even more...... But Dad now has a good week to 10 days of decent food in the pantry and fridge..... and he's getting fresh shortbread, too ;-) Gotta keep him happy [he's a pretty special guy -- and, no, Yael and Chaviva - you can't have him... he's my dad..... but I'll share {grin}]......and it's not quite time for trifle yet. Next month, I'll get out the trifle bowl ;-) and make a nice low sodium/low potassium dessert for him.

Sometimes, the universe seems to....

2008-10-22T19:47:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, the universe seems to either have it in for me or have a sense of humor even more warped than mine......

Twice in the last week, I've gotten one of those calls - a week ago, my husband ended up at the emergency room with a broken nose (which is still hurting him - but maybe now he'll be more careful in the decrepit old buildings that his work takes him to......*).

Then Dad on Monday; he's still in the hospital while they do tests and try to figure out what is wrong. Needless to say, he's somewhat discouraged ;-) and he hates the food - but they've got him on a special diet, so Ted (who happens to be in Buffalo for a conference) can't take him anything to eat.....

At work, I'm in one of four offices off a little side hall. Monday and Tuesday, three of the four of us had fathers in the hospital. I suggested to the fourth person that she might want to see if there were any vacant offices she could move to ;-)

I reminded Ted to drive carefully as he made his way from DC to Buffalo. I don't need another of those calls ;-)

*We gave him a hard hat one year for that late December holiday ;-) but I'm not sure he's ever used it.......

$3.37

2008-10-20T17:00:00.002-04:00

Yup, I went to Rhinebeck.

Yes, I stayed under budget (just barely.....). Thought about getting a note card or something to make it even closer but decided that would be pushing it.....

Full report after Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. (Yes, the end of the fall holiday marathon is in sight....tomorrow evening we dance!)

Oh, the drama!

2008-10-20T16:57:00.002-04:00

So I get another of those calls today.....Dad was taken to the emergency room for (among other things) shortness of breath.

I did just talk to him (he's still in a room in the emergency department, but the hospital patched me through to him) . He's still not sure what is going on, but I'm guessing they will admit him for observation. He sounded ok - coherent but a bit tired (and does he ever need hearing aids!).

for a low-drama kind of guy, he does provide a large chunk of the drama in my life.

Just when I thought I had it settled....

2008-10-13T06:31:00.003-04:00

Technology is great..... when it works.

So I finally get a new modem from Verizon and get it set up...... wireless and everything.....

And then Outlook crashes.....and, of course, it manages to crash during one of the busiest times of the year for me ;-)

I've installed an upgraded version of Outlook and gotten it set up (my email folder system is like my Amazon wishlist - either a thing of beauty or really scary.......), but I haven't yet managed to recover recent emails (mostly those from the last 6 months) sent to my non-Gmail accounts (fortunately, I saved Gmail stuff on the server, so I can get to those).

So if I owe you an email or three, this is why you haven't gotten it yet.....

Yom Kippur report

2008-10-09T22:47:00.004-04:00

Once again, and actually even more than usual, Yom Kippur was a tremendous spiritual experience.....some various impressions of the day for me...

The fast isn't all that hard.... some thirst before bed in the evening, then a bit of hunger at 10-ish, when I often have a morning snack and a cup of tea, then ok until about 5:15, when my stomach growls a couple times and I realize how thirsty I am....

Sappy story.....the rabbi started the day with a very sappy story. But it made me tear up....actually into the weepy stage....

It can be long......5 services plus Kol Nidre (which is often misunderstood by those who just seen it in isolation and without any background in halacha) - but by the end, only the hard-hearted aren't feeling lots......

The 13 attributes – for those of us who like a nice helping of tradition with our worship, there's not much more traditional than this: the 13 attributes of haShem are supposedly what haShem taught Moshe Rabbeynu after the incident with the golden calf. Actually sung in real unison, very powerful.

The line after the Shema that's only said out loud on Yom Kippur....makes it quite powerful as well.

Avinu Malkeynu and Ki Honay get me each time they are repeated....

The neighborhood that the synagogue is in is heavily Jewish and so very quite right around the time Neila (the last of the 5 services) ends with a blast of a shofar and the cry of 'Next year in Jerusalem' ..... and 15 minutes later, everyone is rushing home to break the fast.

The stamina of the men who lead the services.... while the fast isn't too hard for me, I'm not standing in front of 400+ people, singing loud enough to be heard with no sound system.....and some of them had the energy to dance at the end..... One of the rabbis was here from NYC, and is one of the few people who use the pronunciation Toy-rah whose Hebrew I can understand with my minimal grasp of the language.... the fact that he's funny and thought-provoking is a nice addition.

I love all the strollers line up outside the building... singles, doubles....lots of them. And the kids inside: some oblivious to the day and just happy to play with friends, some clinging to Abba/Daddy while he prays (even if he's one of the rabbis.....), or [in the case of one boy tonight] kneeling near the edge of the action taking it in all wide-eyed.............

The synagogue is now in a former church building – enough like the building of the church I grew up in that it feels a wee bit strange.....

Every year, I say I'm going to read the actual Hebrew well enough that I don't need the interlinear machzor the next year but I never quite make it. I'm almost ok for Shabbat with just the Hebrew/English but services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are different enough that I like the training wheels still ;-)

Mizmor Le Dovid

2008-10-04T21:50:00.004-04:00

It will likely come as no surprise to those of you who know me that my faith tends to be rational/intellectual rather than emotional or mystical in my primary connection to haShem. I have great admiration for those who connect with haShem through primarily emotional or mystical paths but the intellectual is how I usually connect.

But at kabbalat Shabbat (the middle part of Friday night services, welcoming Shabbat) yesterday, I had a few moments of connecting on a deeply emotional level. The shliach tzibbur (lit. community messenger, the one leading the service) was excellent, and everyone was participating; this time of year - the yomin noraim (high holy days) - is ripe for that.

So a couple hundred people were singing Mizmor le David (Psalm 29; more here; audio here and here - with a kol isha warning on the second for those concerned .....)..... and I had a few moments of amazing close emotional attachment to haShem.....and it continued throught the niggun-style addition at the end of the psalm......This is about my favorite of the psalms sung Friday night (if I ever convert, part of my Hebrew name will come from in it....), and so I always like this part of the service.....but last night was extraspecial!

This is why I try to go to services when I'm not sure I want to drive that far or deal with the crowds.....that's often when haShem's presence touches me and take me out of my intellectual understanding of faith and opens the emotional gates.

Mizmor L’David – Psalm 29
Mizmor l'David.
Havu ladonai b'nei eilim (2X)
Havu ladonai kavod va'oz
Havu ladonai k'vod sh'mo
Hishtachavu ladonai b'hadrat kodesh
Kol adonai al hamayim
Eil hakavod hir'im
Adonai al mayim rabim
Kol adonai bako'ach
Kol adonai b'hadar
Kol adonai shover arazim
Vayshaber adonai et arzei hal'vanon
Vayarkidem k'mo egel
L'vanon v'siryon k'mo ven re'emim
Kol adonai chotzev lahavot esh
Kol adonai yachil midbar
Yachil adonai midbar kadesh
Kol adonai y'cholel ayalot
Vayechesof ye'arot
Uv'heichalo kulo omer kavod
Adonai lamabul yashav
Vayeishev adonai melech l'olam
Adonai oz l'amo yiten
Adonai y'varech et amo vashalom.

There are times.....

2008-10-04T21:22:00.004-04:00

There are times.....that I really miss my mother. And the triggers that can bring the pain right to the top of things can be completely unexpected.

One of the results of my apnea fatigue was a lack of any attention to cleaning. Now those of you who have lived with me know that cleaning isn't my favorite activity (although I like the result), but I usually managed to keep things reined in enough to be livable. But the apnea fatigue defeated what little willpower I had for anything more than surface cleaning....

So I decided to take a good chunk of this weekend and try to tidy and get rid of stuff and generally make this place look a little less like a crowded pigsty. I'm definitely a packrat, so getting rid of stuff I don't use isn't easy for me..... so stuff builds up, and I lose sight of what's lower in a pile.

So I'm cleaning the second closet in the den tonight, and I find a pile of old purses. Now, I haven't owned that many purses in my life - I'm really picky about what I want, plus I spent much of my 20s either as a student or teaching, so I just used a bookbag for years.

But one of the purses in the pile made me laugh, then cry. You see, in two different states, without consulting each other, Mum and I bought pretty much the same purse a couple days apart. IIRC, hers had slightly fancier doodad on the handle, but otherwise they were exactly the same.

We found out we'd done it when we met in Pittsburgh for a weekend (a nice destination, as it was about equally distant for Ted and us to drive there, and for Mum and Dad to head down from WNY). I went to get something out of my purse, thinking it felt a little heavy, but not really paying too much attention.... until I opened it and it was different wallet ;-)

Yup, that mug that I have that says 'It's official; I've become my mother' had definite truth to it.

I've lost some weight recently, and may need to go clothes shopping at some point.....I'll have to drag myself, most likely.....as her presence was what made such trips anything other than just bearable.....even though we did have different shopping styles (she was slow and deliberate, I'm quick and let's move on, one of the few ways I was like my grandmother, whose birthday was yesterday; we didn't always get along but she was my grandmother and I loved her....). But Mum's company was worth the difficulties from the different shopping styles.

Hard to believe it's been almost 4 years....seems like just yesterday we were watching the Sox win their first title since Gram was a girl and planning an impulse trip to NYC (where we went to the Metropolitan Musem of Art [photos from a trip with them a few months earlier]- she was tired enough that October from the cancer that they drove into Manhattan to park under the museum; she went and had a nap in the car at one point while Dad and I kept browsing -- but she made the trip from Buffalo and then down here to PA/MD).

Twentieth anniversary

2008-10-03T09:39:00.004-04:00

Today's my 20th anniversary. No, Yael, you aren't losing it -- it hasn't been quite that long since we sat in your living room and talked about Seth and if he was really interested.

It's the twentieth annviersay of the day I went to the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago and brought one adorable little kitten home, who grew into the cranky beastilence I still share an apartment with. Through five states and numerous visits to scratched/bitten vets, Jez has been along for my adventures in life. She's definitely older (demonstrated by the fact that she can sit on my lap while I'm knitting and sleep, ignoring the yarn) but she still manages to get herself into places she shouldn't. I've teased her for years about trading her in for a new and imporved model but I'm guessing she doesn't take the threat seriously.

Jezebel about age 5:

Jezebel in the last few months:

Regular programming returning shortly....

2008-09-24T14:34:00.002-04:00

We've been having ISP connectionn issues at home, and Verizon has finally decided that the DSL modem has outlived its useful lifespan. Replacement scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow.

So a return to regularly scheduled blogging should occur by this weekend (allowing for however many phone calls to what passes for technical support at Verizon as it takes to gett he new one functioning.....)

And we're back....

2008-09-18T09:03:00.002-04:00

Life has been hectic for the last few weeks. But it's been good, too.

Trip to Maine (yeah) even though it means dial-up exile (boo!). Didn't take many pictures to share because I mostly stayed around the Point. Had friends over for our annual end of summer BBQ Labor Day weekend, which was great. I also dyed a bunch of yarn; I'll post pictures at some point.

Went to Buffalo last weekend to help Dad on stuff at the new condo. We're incredibly relieved that he's moved, and to a place with no stairs. Now we just need to finish unpacking books......maybe by this time next year ;-)

I've been knitting on a couple secret projects and finished a couple baby sweaters that I gave away before getting the camera out. The weather here has started to get reasonable in terms of temperature, so I'm hoping to get the dye pot out again, and maybe even the soap making stuff.

Life is good.

Cleaning out the draft folder.....

2008-07-30T19:56:00.004-04:00

I've got several posts in the draft folder, several of which are being deleted for lack of timeliness......

I am just about caught up from the chaos of May/June......not getting as much knitting done as I'd like, and what I am working on is in the category of super-duper-secret projects ;-)

So a couple older projects that I've set aside temporarily.....a shawl and a tank top/vest - both for me, me, me ;-)

And one bit I tried on my Maine sojourn --- yup, that's soap ;-)

Second kittenhood?

2008-07-30T19:48:00.004-04:00

Jez may have her 20th birthday next week, but she still manages to get herself into trouble (only one broken mug so far this week, though.........).

Observant readers will notice my swift and a knitting pattern in this picture, as well as the top of the UFO/WIP pile (under the back table - and quite large at the moment, gven how busy I've been {grin}).

She's also still quite in love with Seth......and spends every minute she can with him.....

Another SP12 question.....

2008-07-23T20:43:00.002-04:00

We are all creatures of habit and when it comes to sitting down to knit, it’s no different…

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit? and

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?

I'm actually not that much a creature of habit when it comes to knitting. I'll knit anywhere (car, restaurant, lunchroom at work, the sofa watching tv, and so on). The places I like the most are because of other factors -- the company means I like sitting in Yael's living room or at Barnes & Noble, while the location makes the porch at the cottage nice.........

Other than needles and yarn - well, again, I'm not picky. Obviously the accessories like stitch markers that I need for the project, and I usually have some sort of beverage around (but that happens whether I'm knitting or not.....). If I'm at home, I do tend to listen to the radio or watch TV/DVDs for longer sessions, but even that has exceptions.....there are a number of times I just like the quiet and some fiber ;-)

Then again, maybe I'm just so addicted that the setting doesn't matter ;-)

We interrupt these vacation ramblings.....

2008-07-09T20:12:00.003-04:00

......to say a big THANK YOU to my SP12 spoiler. Look at what she sent me:

Yummy! Absolutely beautiful - BFL in my colors........and even prettier in person than in the photo! Couldn't have chosen better if I'd done it myself! I can't wait to make yarn ;-)

SP12 question of the week

2008-07-09T10:31:00.004-04:00

[Back from dial-up exile - more soon on Dad's big move, Maine, and craft-y stuff {yarns and soaps and oh my.....}....but wanted to answer this.......]

Boy, time flies. Summer is when many of us head out on vacation/holiday. So, this week’s question has us wondering:
1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

My favorite place to go is Maine (duuuhhhh....), even if it does mean dial-up exile ;-)

But I really liked Scotland and would be glad to go back there. Ditto for Toronto and Boston - I never turn down opportunities to head to those cities. Didn't get to see as much of England as I'd like on my trips there, so that's on the 'return to' list..

Places I haven't been but would like to go? Israel tops the list. Korea is fairly high up there, too, as is Turkey. East Africa. Ireland. Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal). Finland and Norway. And Cuba might be interesting (Mum had been there as a college student......and various Canadian relatives have gone there for holidays). Australia and New Zealand, as well as various south Pacific islands (Fiji, Easter Island, Micronesia, and so on).

Closer to home, I'd love to do a kosher food crawl of Queens - Bukharan and other such exotic flavors. Savannah and Charleston look like interesting quick (long weekend if flying) getaway destinations.

And he's moved....

2008-07-02T18:47:00.001-04:00

We moved Dad out of the old house (the one I grew up in) to his new condo on Friday, then spent much of Saturday and Sunday getting things in order. Lots of hefting and hoisting and so on (and way too much squeezing books into too little space for them.............), but we made a good start on getting things livable by the time we left on Sunday.

[Place holder for pictures when I'm out of dial-up exile.......OK, back now - a small selection of highlights here while the whole process is documented here.]

Next post: yarn shop expeditions and moose sightings in the (almost) north woods of New England.

SP12 question of the week

2008-06-21T23:29:00.002-04:00

This week's SP12 question of the week: In many parts of the US and abroad, school's out. Take a walk down memory lane for Week Two's question: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

This is an easy one. 'Cuz it is still the same answer. I expect most people who know me could answer this one for me ;-) And that my brother and father have the same answer......

Maine. As soon as possible for as long as possible. My mother even ended a short story she wrote that was semi-autobiographical with the line "It's all about Maine." One of the first things I told Seth when we were getting to know each other was that I came with a place to vacation ;-)

Of course, now that we have running water and the new (and quite luxurious) cottage, in addition to the old cabin, we no longer have the potential spouse test of dealing with a vacation place with no plumbing that we had joked about for years........

A nice place to go, with nice neighbors and a town that has the essentials (book shop, yarn shop, natural food co-op, decent mini-mega grocery store, and a very nice library). What more could a person want? In my (admittedly biased and likely not so humble) opinion, there was no better place to spend childhood summers!

38 years, 7 1/2 months......

2008-06-14T22:47:00.004-04:00

38 years, 7 1/2 months...... that's how long Dad has lived in this house.

It's amazing how much one can acquire in that time. And Dad is quite competent in packrattery!

I'm here for the weekend - got a fair bit done, despite the time constraints. But no knitting :-( At least we haven't found any more yarn of Mum's - I think we have finally de-yarnified the house :-) However, in contrast, we have definitely not de-bibliofied the place......

SP12 answers

2008-06-07T21:46:00.001-04:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I’m not a very picky person about yarn — I tend to match the yarn to the project. I do tend to avoid acrylics [100% acrylics - I use wool/acrylic blends or cotton for baby stuff] and fun furs (don’t like working with them and most projects I am attracted to don’t need those).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

A couple big plastic containers, with a few smaller container inside those to separate different types of needles. (I have my own needles, plus those I inherited from my mother……..)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

30+ years, although serious knitting has only been the last couple years and a few similar previous spells. Intermediate level.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

yes - Amazon. Profile has links to all the sublists (by topic), while the things I’m most interested and/or those that don’t fall into my major categories that get a sublisting are on the main list. Plus, a decent chunk of my library (including all the knitting books) is listed online at LibraryThing (a resource which is worth checking out if you haven’t seen it yet).

5. What's your favorite scent?

Either subtle flower/plant smells (lilac/lavender) or ‘baking’/homey ones like vanilla, key lime pie, or apple cinnamon

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes. Chocolate (milk chocolate is the first choice, followed by white). Definitely prefer foods with hechshers.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I want to learn to spin and weave; currently do some photography and sewing as well as soap and candle making.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Scottish folk, Jewish, some country, much classical. Yes.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Love purple and mauve, with the colonial family [as I call it: sage green and slate blue] not far behind. Apartment is done in what I think of as dark rich colors: navy, burgundy/maroon, hunter green with bits of purple/lavender and mauve to lighten it up. Yellows/reds/oranges make me look like I died three days ago, so I tend to avoid them.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married , no children, one cranky old cat

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes to all but ponchos

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I’ll do just about anything.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Tank top/vest from the most recent Vogue; shawl from Knitter’s Book of yarn; a couple baby items for friends who are expecting; a sock or three

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Depends on the project and the yarn. I use all of them at various times. Mostly use Knitpicks Options these days.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes to both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

I’ve got a sweater that I’ve puttered on for almost ten years; I’d forgotten about it until I was rummaging for Flash Your Stash last year and found it at the bottom of a bin of stuff...... and I still haven't gotten around to finishing it yet ;-)

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Pesach (Passover), although I also have a great fondness for Shavuos (who wouldn’t like a holiday that involves cheesecake and staying up all night learning interesting stuff?)

19. Is there anything that you collect?

See Amazon wishlist for books. No subscriptions - for magazines, I tend to buy only some issues with patterns I'm likely to make (need to control the clutter somehow.........)

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Fair Isle is next (one of these days…..).

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes. Wear a size 8 wide.

23. When is your birthday? May 19.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? Killearnan

returning to our regularly scheduled programming....

2008-05-17T21:21:00.001-04:00

Having some energy is great - the C-Pap for the apnea (well, the resulting non-fatigue) has actually helped with some of the other health problems, too, which is a nice bonus.

Pesach went well......hard to believe that Lag b'Omer is this week.

Went to Maryland Sheep & Wool with friends - lots of good stuff, which deserves a separate post....

My brother and I have (FINALLY!!!!!!) convinced Dad to move out of the house Ted and I grew up in, so Dad has bought a condo about 5 minutes from the house. So we'll be spending Memorial Day weekend dealing with Dad's packrattery in anticipation of a late June move.

Solving my own personal energy crisis......

2008-03-08T19:59:00.003-05:00

Solving my own personal energy crisis.....

So, last fall, I complained to the doctor about being y-shausted (yanno, that stage beyond exhausted.....groan). First, he checked stuff like my thyroid function, then (when that came back normal), he said that (since women with PCOS have a higher risk of sleep apnea) he was sending me for a sleep study.

So it took a while to get the first consultation appointment (and then that was delayed because I had what was to that point the nastiest cold I'd ever had in my life), but after that visit with the sleep specialist, the scheduling for the two nights of the sleep study went quickly (except that the second night was delayed by the worst cold I've ever had - which developed into bronchitis - yuck and more yuck!).

Turns out I do have sleep apnea.....evidently, I stop breathing about every 4 minutes (on average....) when I'm sleeping. So I wake up at least part way in order to start breathing again..... which means that I wasn't really getting much sleep (maybe the equivalent of 2 hours when I though I was getting 7...) and that's likely been the case for years.

I've had issues with strange sleep patterns much of my life, but since my mother did as well, I'd always thought it was normal....either nature or nurture.

The net result: two weeks ago, I got a C-PAP machine to help me breathe at night. A bit of a bother, but less than I'd worried it would be (although I haven't tried traveling with it yet.......) -- and I am now getting close to a full night's sleep (and that is despite the adjustment period to the C-PAP.....and it does take some adjusting to the mask and the tubing to the machine being there) and I have lots more energy (AMAZINGLY more.........) and I'm in much less of a mental fog.......I've even waking up alert in the morning.

Last Sunday, after I got home from an outing with a friend (yeah! to yarn shops and Korean restaurants.....), I curled up for a late afternoon snuggle with a book and the cat (well, the cat for the few minutes I got with her before she went back to her true love........) -- and I didn't fall asleep.......which was an incredible surprise! I'm not sure I can remember another time that happened, that I curled up with a book on a weekend afternoon and didn't fall asleep..........

You've got mail!

2007-11-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

After being away for the long weekend (including holding mail while we were gone), I came home to two packages today......

First, my package for SP11 came:

- a Grafton Fibers batt (label says 3.5 to 4 oz. of Corriedale wool)
- a 4 oz. skein of Pagewood Farm sock yarn
- 2 50g skeins of Jojoland Melody superwash
- a little piggybank shaped like a sheep

My spoiler most definitely got the colors right - everything is purple.

My spoliee package is about to go out - just need to finish one thing.

The other package is one of those that makes me very, very happy that the 'Net was invented. Fabrics with Jewish themes aren't exactly common out here in the outer 'burbs......so (instead of running all over the inner 'burbs for the one or two types at each store), I plunked myself down at the computer and ordered this:

Two quilt hanging patterns (one is a challah cover, the other says Shalom) , four types of fabrics (one each of the alef bet, matzoh, Mogen Davids, and the Jerusalem skyline), and two styles of buttons...... icky picture but there they are:

Passport for dinner

2007-11-24T19:56:00.000-05:00

At Dad's for the long weekend. Ted got here late on Wed. and Seth & I drove up on Thursday morning, so we went over to Ft. Erie (in Ontario, so we all had to haul our passports) for Thanksgiving dinner, as we didn't want to rush cooking a dinner.

We've spent the rest of the weekend cleaning (Ted is definitely Mum's offspring in some ways.......) - even Seth, when we can pull him away from my cousin's puppy, Ted's current dog-sitting project.

I did get into a couple LYSs and made a few (small!!!!) purchases.....pictures to come when I get home to the camera cable. I did go out Friday a.m. for a small bit of shopping (oh, do I miss Mum; I am sooooo outnumbered by the non-shopping men in my family.......) but I went mostly because there are a couple stores I wanted to get to [if Northern Reflections would open somewhere in SE PA, this type of trip wouldn't be necessary......]and I figured that early Friday would be the least crazy.

Oh, and Aunt Joni - don't worry - even though we went to Ft. Erie for Chinese Thursday evening, we made very sure that we made trifle for Dad.....wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it - although we don't follow Grandma J's pineapple juice version; we get out the sherry.........

Wow, time flies....

2007-11-21T14:58:00.000-05:00

Time does fly.....whether one is having fun or not. Mostly Im having fun, so that's good..... I have several posts that I started and left as drafts but they are now pretty much outdated. Argh!

Work's been very (very! very!) busy and I'm talking a couple classes on-line (one on Jewish history and one on genealogy), so I'm even shorter on time than usual. Although the on-lkione classes mean I can sit around in my at-home clothes while learning and not spend lots of time stuck in traffic.

Planning on going to Dad's for the long weekend; I have mixed emotions about that - I really want to go, as there's lots to be done there, plus I want to see him - but I could sooooo use a couple days at home to catch up on cleaning, tidying, stuff for those classes, knitting, and so on. Maybe I'll make Seth drive so I can at least knit in the car..............

A second day in civilization

2007-10-27T21:59:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday, we once again headed into civilization (being east of the Hudson, in Mum's world view), to go to the New York State Sheep & Wool show, commonly called Rhinebeck by fiberaholics.

The color in the Hudson Valley wasn't as dramatic as we'd thought it might be - there were whole hillsides that were still green (and a deciduous green, not evergreen.......) but the scenery was still pretty.

We got to Rhinebeck just about as the fairgrounds were opening. It was a perfect day for such adventures - clear blue sky, somewhere between cool and warm but definitely comfortable.

And the fiber...... all sorts of it, all over the place.

Dad had a good time - taking pictures, watching a juggler, and sitting on a bench with a bunch of other men waiting for assorted female relations:

Yes, I bought some fiber (Did you really expect anything else?). Pictures of purchases and more general Rhinebeck pictures are in this Flickr set.

Civilization - twice in two days

2007-10-27T21:47:00.001-04:00

When I was growing up, when we headed to Boston/Maine/other New England points, as we crossed the Hudson going east, Mum and/or Dad would comment that we'd just re-entered civilization. And, conversely, as we headed west over the Hudson, one of them would comment about leaving civilization. One of many family jokes.....

Well, last weekend, I made it to civilization twice.

On Saturday, my dad (visiting for a bit) and I headed into Manhattan for a pifflefest with a piffler visiting from Toronto (definitely a place I don't get to often enough....) and 2 NY area pifflers. We went out to lunch and then sat in the Toronto piffler's hotel's lobby bar, for a nice long chat.

Dad at lunch in Manhattan:

We'd taken the train into Penn Station, and when I offered the subway to Dad as a way to get the 20 or so blocks we needed to go, since he'd said he didn't want to walk too much, he figured we could walk and get a cab if it was too much. But we made it all the way --- and all the way back. I think he liked being in the big city and walking through the crowds.

[I've really cut back on what I do on Shabbat, but seeing friends is one of those things that still sometimes {fairly frequently?} slips in......since I can't officially convert, I admit I'm more lenient now on certain defined categories like seeing friends and doing things with my dad than I've been at points in the past. It's a tricky balance for me mentally, but I think I've found a point that usually works.......]

So we then went out to a hotel in southern NY, to get a good start on getting to Rhinebeck the next day......

Three weeks, three men....

2007-10-27T21:35:00.001-04:00

No, not risqué.....two weeks ago, I was in DC with my brother watching the Sox play. Last week, it was with my dad in a hotel on the way to Rhinebeck, and tonight it is at home with my husband (watching him is almost as fun as watching the game - despite his stated stand against sports, he does watch with me and he gets quite involved.........).

Right now, it is 6-0 in favor of the Sox on Game 3.

Yippee from this 4th generation Sox fan (although Mum evidently flirted with the Boston Braves when she was younger - but she saw the light by the time I was around........).

Some of my happiest childhood memories are listening to the Sox on the radio on summer nights in Maine. We didn't have a tv up there until I was 22 (when dad decided that his childrens' characters were already built and, anyway, he wanted to watch the presidential conventions), so radio was the way to go.

Go Sox!

(Note, however, that I'm not a Patriots or Bruins fan; my loyalties in those sports -- the Bills and the Sabres -- reflect the WNY part of my childhood.......likely because we weren't in ME during those seasons and/or because Buffalo doesn't have a major league baseball team. And in my sports hierarchy, hockey way outpaces baseball or football..................)

Just a bit

2007-10-15T19:44:00.000-04:00

Just a bit..............'cuz I have new yarn to play with.

Had a busy weekend. Started with the Anne Arundel Highland Games, with lots of music and heavy athletics (big strong men throwing rocks and tree trunks...... yummy to watch!).

Spent the night with my brother, watching the Sox lose, then went to the Original Pancake House for breakfast.

And then on the the real highlight: Stitches East -- yarn and more yarn. Yes, I bought some. (That was obvious, right?)

Although not as much as might, as I'm planning (if all goes well) to go to Rhinebeck next Sunday for NY Sheep & Wool. Actually more my style, for 2 reasons:
1. I like good yarns but I'm fairly traditional in some ways - I don't really do fun fur or glitter, and lots of the yarns at Stitches seemed to be of the 'how much glitter can we fit in a yard?' I'd rather have plain wool or alpaca in gorgeous colors. I got to meet Lisa Souza - her colors are amazing. And Blue Moon Fiber Arts and Brooks Farm aren't bad, either. [grin]
2. I'm not one for big crowds and loud noise drives me crazy fairly quickly. Stitches East was at the Baltimore Convention Center, indoors - with not great sound baffling. At the outdoor events, along with a selection of yarn that is more my style, the noise is less overwhelming for me - and I find it easier to hide in a corner for a bit to get my bearings back.

So in the future, if Stitches and Rhineback fall so close together, I think I'll likely just go to Rhinebeck.

Dualities in life

2007-10-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

OK, not quite duality....but Sunday a couple parts of my life had their chance to be in focus.

I went to Bethlehem for the Celtic Classic. Good music (pipe bands and singers), although I noticed that (at least on Sunday) there wasn't a traditional Scottish singer. I sat and listened to music for several hours while I knitted. And for Scots-Yankee me, one nice thing - it's free.....

I did pick up some new music from Rampant Lion, about the best source around for Celtic music.......I've been buying from them since I lived in Chicago in the mid-80s, and I;ve never been disappointed with their recommendations.

This visit's haul:
Best of Battlefield Band
Stone of Destiny by Steve McDonald
Sea Fever: Songs of Ships and the Sea by John Roberts (Amazon doesn't have it - one reason I dragged myself up to Bethlehem to see the Rampant Lion booth)
Scottish Tradition vol. 21: Orkney - Land, Sea & Community from the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh
Gaelic Women: Ar Canan 'S Ar Ceol with various singers

I then went on to my synagogue's Sukkot carnival. Mostly aimed at kids/families but still fun - and nice to see all those kids enjoying themselves.

Speaking of children, I've finished a couple baby sweaters in the last week - and gave both away before I remembered to get the camera out.

SP11 contest

2007-10-02T11:44:00.000-04:00

I've not been in the right place at the right time to do Christine's previous SP11 contests, but I'm home sick from work today and looking for simple amusements ;-) to occupy my less-than-fully-functioning brain so here goes:

Name your favorite:

Actor/Actress - don't have great favorites in this area. Several people where I've liked enough of their stuff that I'm likely to go see anything new by default......Ed Harris, Chris Cooper, Edward Norton, Hugh Laurie, George Clooney.... blanking on other names (told you the brain isn't quite here today........)

Animal - kitties (that's an easy one.......)

Band - Battlefield Band. OK, so that's a bit of a fudge - but I don't tend to listen to the type of music that this question is getting at ;-) Then again, I could have answered these guys.

Book - making me choose is mean ;-) Really, really mean. This really depends on my mood - am I in the mood for inspiration (in which case it is likely to be something Jewish), a comfort read (Dorothy L. Sayers and her Lord Peter books), well-written entertainment (Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series)?

Bubble Bath - shower girl here - don't own any (does skinny dipping in the lake in Maine count? That water is as soft as can be.........)

Candy - Aero Mint bars (not available in the US - I stock up on Canadian and British trips)

Color - mauve overall, purple for anything I wear

Flower - roses

Food - lobster (ok, so it's not kosher - still my favorite.......). And I'd give just about anything to have Mum's blueberry muffins again, 'cuz that would mean that she'd be around to make them ;-)

Lip Balm - don't have one, as I don't use it

Lotion - whatever I can find in the apt.

Movie - like with books, depends on my mood. A few candidates.........Serious: Braveheart, Judgment at Nuremberg. Light entertainment: Ocean's 11 (the remake), Keeping the Faith (I did say light entertainment......)

Song - "Dumbarton's Drums"

TV Show - Law & Order of the current crop of shows (followed by Without a Trace and Cold Case plus Bones and House), Star Trek all-time

Vacation Spot - the place in Maine, although that kinda sorta qualifies as 'home' so I'll say as a second choice Edinburgh/Southern Scotland

1 down, 3 to go....... (for now)

2007-09-21T16:15:00.000-04:00

Had a very nice Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur starts this evening, then Sukkot/Shemini Azeret/Simchat Torah next week into the following week. In terms of Jewish holidays, this is the marathon. Pesach (Passover) a 10K run, while Shavous is a sprint. Hanukah is a nice evening stroll around the park.

I had a very nice Rosh Hashanah. Servcies were very good (good chazzan, excellent speakers, nice meals with friends).

I've been fighting allergies so haven't had as much time to read my usual erflective stuff ofr this time of year. Maybe this weekend. (Yeah for weekends!) If not then, I'll find some time during Sukkot.

Did go to a new (to me) yarn shop the other day: Stitches with Style. Very nice. I'll be back.

Shana Tova Umetukah

2007-09-12T11:29:00.000-04:00

L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem.
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.

[It's a three day yom tov {holiday} -- well, technically it's two days of holiday and one of Shabbat -- but you get the picture. Back in a few days........]

One more picture

2007-09-06T18:00:00.000-04:00

Aunt Joni, this is for you -- so you can see that your older brother is still getting around, despite the fall down the cellar stairs........

Took this last week at Five Islands, a place in ME on the waterfront that sells lobster and various other seafoods. We'd been to the Portland art museum to see a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit, then to a brew pub for lunch (Ted was with us), then to Reid State Park after a couple of yarn shops (see previous post.........). At Reid and Five Islands, Dad grumbled that he was sure he hadn't gotten any good pictures -- but by Saturday he was printing away ;-)

Yup, that camera provides a good incentive for keeping going.

Oh....and Aunt Joni, despite what Dad may have said, we did let him do a bit more than just pack his clothes in preparation for leaving Maine. In fact, we made him do the laundry while we took the boat out of the water, pulled the dock, put up windows boards, stashed Mum's 'gravestone' in the cellar, and everything else required for closing up. And we cleaned the fridge....both in ME before we left and in Buffalo when we got there.......

The Pile

2007-09-06T17:49:00.000-04:00

Just a tiny bit of a tease..... the pile of yarn I bought while in ME on this trip.

Yanno, I didn't buy that much at any one time. But stopping at several stores (and three visits to the Irish Ewe) does add up. More details and pics soon.

Four Nights, Four Beds

2007-09-04T19:41:00.000-04:00

Not quite as risqué as it sounds......but I will manage 4 different beds in 4 nights.

Saturday night, I slept in the new room of the cabin at the Point. (NB: the new room was built in 1977, but it is the newest room in the cabin, so we still call it that......)

Sunday night, we'd closed the cabin, so I slept in the back bedroom of the cottage. The most risqué bit of the post: I went in skinny-dipping (after dark, alone in out isolated corner of the lake) as a final goodbye to summer).

Monday, we did the final closing of the cottage and drove Dad the 10.5 hours or so to Buffalo (a precaution after the tumble down the cellar stairs that he mistook for the washroom one night -- the doors are next to each other, although at a 90 deg. angle -- and the resulting 10 days at the Maine Medical Center, including some short-term dialysis for an injured kidney). So I slept in what had been my childhood bedroom, although my perfect little girl pink canopy bed is long gone, my parents having replaced the by-then-falling-apart twin bed with a double futon when I got married.

Tonight, after driving the 6.5+ hours back to the Philly 'burbs, I will sleep in my own bed. I'm really looking forward to it......but really sad about having left Maine for the year. [pout, whine, pout]

More tomorrow about my various travels through Murphy'sLawLand and my vacation yarn purchases (since vacation yarn, like sock yarn, doesn't count, right?).

The 17 second update.......

2007-08-21T06:25:00.000-04:00

Sinus infections......ugh.
Sinus infections while work is already chaotic..... double ugh.
Sinus infections that wipe one out completely........ triple ugh.

Vacation starting at the end of the week...... nice. (And a bonus - whatever I'm allergic to that start the cycle to sinus infections doesn't grow at the the Point, so that should be at least as good as the antihistamine and the antibiotic and the anti-whatever.........)

True 50 years ago......

2007-08-02T13:27:00.000-04:00

And even more true now.........I'm guessing that the cost of current equipment is even more dramatic. At least on this, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a smart (and prescient!) man, saying this in 1953:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone.

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.

It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.

It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.

It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.

We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat.

We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.

This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace.

It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.

It calls upon them to answer the questions that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live?

I'm guessing Ike wouldn't be part of today's Republican party.

The numbers I've seen for the war in Iraq are varied, but what has been spent there could have paid to upgrade every bridge in the US (here in PA, 39% of bridges have been rated as in poor or worse condition, according to one report I saw a couple weeks ago - the worst in the US, with only DC scoring less well) and most of our crumbling schools and hospitals.

I haven't decide who I'll support in the next presidential election (way too early for that!), but I can say that it won't be a Republican (unless Ike is on the ballot) and it will be the person I think best understands that there are grave and difficult choices ahead for the US.

Tagged

2007-07-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

Well, Yael tagged me with the 8 things thingy, so I've racked my brain to come up with these.....She also tagged everyone I would have.........

1. I really dislike using the phone. Will go waaaaay out of my way to avoid it, if I can. Was an early adopter of email for that reason.

2. I'm a bit thrifty. Honest Abe's been known to scream when a penny is in my possession. I love thrift stops and I'll drive cars 'til they drop. (One of the hardest parts of Shabbat for me - skipping yard sales!) Interestingly, I'm as liable to get things for other people as myself when I paw through thrift shops.

Interestingly, the love of thrift shops is matched by an equal hatred for clothes shopping and I avoid it whenever I can. However, despite this, I have waaaaaaay to many clothes -- enough for me and my 7 closest friends. (How did this happen? The combination of liking thrift stores and the fact that when I do go shopping I tend to buy a fair amount in one trip so i can put off the pain for the next trip for longer. I've finally gotten to the point that I have enough that things rarely wear out now.)

3. I love floor plans. I have books with them and I look at them on-line. I've designed a couple hundred houses for myself since I started doodling when I was 8 or 10.

4. I'm mentally organized but the physical reality of getting things into the right place is often lost to more interesting things like a new book or some soft yarn.

5. I am able to go into a book or yarn store and not buy anything. Actually happens about 1/3 of the time.

6. I really like skinny dipping in the lake at the Point. The water is really soft and it feels amazingly good. (One of the first things I said to Seth not long after we met was that I came with a built-in vacation spot.........)

7. I love feeding people. I can cook for a couple dozen without thinking about it. But cooking for two is hard....and when the other half of the two doesn't really care about food, it makes it even harder......

8. I'm ambidextrous and tend to to things with the hand that the person taught me used. Irritated the instructor when I took tennis lessons as a pre-teen - I would switch hands with the racket instead of having a backhand.

Wow - time does fly!

2007-07-12T19:55:00.001-04:00

Time does fly when life gets crazy.....

Went to the Point for a while. Not long enough (never is.......). Got the place opened up, saw friends, had a spinning lesson at the shop in town, went to several yarn shops, swam (even a bit of skinny dipping [grin] -- one nice thing to being so isolated!), read, and overall had lots of fun. A friend flew up several days before I came home and then rode back with me, so it was great to have her around (and my dad likes her, so that means he's a bit less grumpy when she's around........).

While I was away, I also got the package from my SP10 (and Seth didn't bother to tell me about it the one time he called.........) . Turns out it was the same woman I was sending to, and she sent absolutely wonderful yarn, roving, and a gorgeous shawl she made herself. Will keep me busy for quite a while. But I left the USB cord at the Point [pout]. I'll post pictures as soon as Dad sends it or I find another one.

Layers of crazy....

2007-05-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

One of those convergence points..... with lots going on.

Shavuos has just ended. (I sometimes joke that it is the holiday designed for me.......staying up late learning and eating cheesecake {grin}....what could be better? Especially coming after Pesach and all its cleaning........). So now the next next holiday is several months away. Guess we'll just have to survive on having Shabbat {joke}.

Busy at work, busy at home. Crazy everywhere.

And the knitting schedule has gotten off track - mostly my fault, as I keep tinkering with the pattern I designed for a shawl using some yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool: Seduction (color: carbon dating) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Yummy. I also started another shawl in a gorgeous deep purple rare breed (Wensleydale) that I'm loving. Using the Landscape pattern from Fiber Arts that someone else in my knitting group had liked enough to use three times recently. Easy enough to be tv knitting but enough interest to make a nice shawl. But it is also off track because a friend had her baby 7 weeks early, so the baby stuff moved up the queue...... (Mother and baby are both doing well.)

Spent a good chunk of last week at a professional conference. Minneapolis was nice - mostly spent my time at the convention center but did get to see the Mississippi (not that impressive there, says the girl who grew up a stone's throw from the Niagara) and get to a yarn shop -- which was in a neighborhood with a heavy Somali population, so I had lunch at a Somali restaurant. Went to several interesting sessions, including one on what we can learn from road signs about how people negotiate the visual world. I've somehow gotten myself involved in a minor leadership position, so I did do a fair bit of shmoozing.......especially for me, shy introvert that I am! [I am too a shy introvert! (Yael, you can stop laughing now........)]

Went through O'Hare on the way back from Minneapolis. Realized it was the first time in Chicago since I graduated from college (all my other westward travel had either been direct flights or with connections in places like Pittsburgh, Detroit, or St. Louis) -- when Jez was an itty-bitty (and nice!) kitten. And she'll be 19 this summer...... Didn't get to leave the airport (an absolute madhouse!) but was really reminded why I used to take the train........

I'm discovering (well, rediscovering....) the joy of ebooks. Got a bunch recently, after none in a couple years, and so I now have about 90 books on the handheld that is smaller than one mass market paperback. Makes traveling light much easier! But I do still indulge in dead-tree books. Got a couple today, as a matter of fact. It just happened that there was the start of a long traffic back-up on the way home from work that just happened to be at the exit for the local Barnes & Noble.... the pull was just too irresistible {grin}.

Drat! The Sabres have once again exited the play-offs early.

Since it is going around.....

2007-05-22T12:56:00.000-04:00

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket (baby sized)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching

Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Hair accessories
Knitting in public

MS&W

2007-05-07T22:26:00.000-04:00

Went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool show today. (Oops......yesterday. Started post and didn't hit publish..........).

As always, overwhelming. No other word for it (well, maybe wonderful.) More yarn than you can imagine -- and then there's the roving, and the fleeces, and the live sheep and alpacas, and the baskets, and the other knitting supplies, and all the knitted things people are wearing...........Major brain overload.

More tomorrow.

Edited to add before hitting publish: Had a major fiber hangover today. Got home late enough and I was tired enough yesterday that not only did I not hit publish but I went to sleep early and didn't get to play with the goodies. So I went to work today and spent the day with fingers itching to fondle yarn and start on the pictures I have in my head. Had Chesco SnB tonight, with show & tell from everyone who went. So more fibery goodness. Now I just need to get enough sleep to get ready for next week's trip to Minneapolis......which I haven't thought much about at all, other than the plane & hotel reservations. Not how I like to travel. Don't even have a map yet......

Just because....

2007-04-23T15:33:00.000-04:00

Just because I ran into the file....... and it is only 13 days 'til I go to Maryland Sheep and Wool (although Dad took this at MA Sheep & Wool last year.....)

Just chugging along....

2007-04-22T21:50:00.000-04:00

It's been rather quite here, in terms of blog-worthy material. Lots of busyness with everyday life but not much of note.

Seth was away this weekend so I had a peaceful time reading, sleeping, and so on. Got some knitting in (but nothing finished.......) as well as a nice long walk, now that the weather has turned to summer -- it was 80 deg. here today.

Also managed to spend some time on genealogy - fun but not much progress. I really need to spend a day or three in Boston so I can look at some records that aren't on-line.

Just for fun.....

2007-04-22T21:49:00.000-04:00

You can take the girl out of MA but not the MA out of the girl.....

You Are 92% Massachusetts

Wicked pissa! Now go down to Dunkies and celebrate.

How Massachusetts Are You?

Secret pal goodness

2007-04-14T22:22:00.000-04:00

Had a wonderful Pesach (Passover) and in the midst of the chaos I got a wonderful package with this from my Lime and Violet message board secret pal:

A skein of Cherry Tree Hill in just my colors, a dishcloth that's also in just my colors, some chocolate (yum, yum) and some absolutely heavenly-soft roving.

Lots of hours of fun ahead from this!!!!!

We interrupt these Pesach preparations

2007-04-01T20:50:00.000-04:00

So I took a little time this evening from my Pesach (Passover) preparations to document my yarn stash for the annual Flash Your Stash (last year's is here). It wasn't a complete break from cleaning, though - I managed to get stuff more organized and labeled -- including consolidating enough that I've got one less bin around ;-)

Starting with one stack of bins:

We find this (with Jezebel supervising):

The spread on the couch doesn't include the contents of the bins with inactive WIPS (works in progress, a.k.a. UFOs - unfinished objects) or the to-be-dyed/already dyed yarns, such as :

It also doesn't include what I store in the back bedroom:

Which includes a couple baskets and their contents:

And some sock yarn:

With more in those bins I dodn't bother to take out and photograph, as I was running out of energy by this point..........

And then there's the future yarn, just waiting for me to get going with the new wheel:

Yael, please don't......

2007-03-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

Yael, please don't hate me ;-)

First, except for a couple things that I have scheduled for Sunday (car vacuuming and grocery shopping), my Pesach cleaning is done. Done, I say!

Second, I have the good fortune to have a couple wonderful knitting groups nearby. And one of the women from the geographically closer group offered me the chance to buy something that she'd picked up at an auction.

So I went this evening to pick up this:

Now I just need to re-learn how to use one of these things, as it has been the better part of 25 years since I've used one. ;-)

When you are having fun....

2007-03-18T19:45:00.000-04:00

Time does fly, doesn't it, when you combine fun with a sloooooowwww adaption to the time change......

Last weekend, a friend who has moved to Israel held a melave malka while he was in town. I went for part of it, but unfortunately, I decided to not stay the whole time, because some knitting group friends and I had planned a trip to NYC to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design, so we were scheduled to meet at 7:30 on Sunday morning -- bad on a regular Sunday, horrendous! for night person me the day we sprang forward.

But the trip was wonderful -- excellent company and an interesting exhibit. The exhibit focus was really more on the lace ascpect than knitting but it was definitely worth seeing. I really liked the video of the knitting done with cranes and the old car parts with pieces torched out for a lace effect. But I want to learn to do the dripped porcelain (think like a funnel cake for one of the pieces, while the other was in geometric outlines somewhat reminiscent of the shapes in Amish quilts)........

I was off all week because of the time change coinciding with one of my periodic bursts of insomnia -- had several nights in a row where I only got about 4 hours sleep - not conducive to productivity at all! Even put the knitting down Wed. evening when straight garter stitch proved to be mentally taxing ;-) Have several items at the 80% to 90% done stage - just need to find the focus to do the last little bits........

Didn't make it to services this week, courtesy of an ice storm. But I did make it to a rosh chodesh shiur the aforementioned friend gave today on the spiritual meaning of the month of Nissan. Well worth the time and drive to get there!

Dad's doing well. Haven't actually seen him in several weeks (he's planning a trip down next month, when the weather is better here, both in absolute terms and in relative-to- upstate/western-New-York terms.....), so he actually had to pay for a haircut. Doesn't sound like too much of an occasion, until you realize that Mum (and me after she died) had done Dad's haircuts since the last time he paid for one -- in March 1970. Yup, been 37 years since he forked over $ for a barber.

Lime & Violet swap answers

2007-03-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

Some overlap from the SP10 but here is is anyway....
1. What kind of fibers do you prefer? I'm pretty much an equal opportunity yarn collector. I’m not a very picky person about yarn - I try to match the yarn to the project. I do tend to avoid acrylics [100% acrylics - I use wool/acrylic blends or cotton for baby stuff] and fun furs/novelty yarns [don’t like working with them and most projects I am attracted to don’t need those].

2. What kind of weight do you prefer (sock, worsted, bulky)? lean towards sock to light worsted but I've used everything at one time or another (well, except super-bulky.....but otherwise I've used from laceweight to bulky, and I have some cobweb that's awaiting inspiration........)

On questions 1 & 2: I'm likely to be as influence by the feel & color of a yarn -- if I like it, I'll buy it and then find a project/recipient to match. I'm quite easily seduced by color: Love purple and mauve, with the colonial family [as I call it: sage green and slate blue] not far behind. Apartment is done in what I think of as dark rich colors: navy, burgundy/maroon, hunter green with bits of purple/lavender and mauve to lighten it up.Yellows/reds/oranges make me look like I died three days ago, so I tend to avoid them.

3. Do you spin? not yet; I started an Etsy store to help fund a wheel purchase

4. Do you crochet? just enough to finish knitting projects

5. Are there any books, patterns, magazines would you like to own that you don't? I tend to have rather low impulse control (Yael, stop laughing......) when it comes to books, but see the Amazon wish list

6. Are you participating in any themed a-longs like the Project Spectrum? Not this year - did several last year and got overcommitted, so I'm trying to just stick to swaps for now. But I'm sure something will tempt me at some point.......

7. Do you have a wishlist on Amazon.com or Half.com? (provide a link) Recently culled the Amazon wishlist a fair bit ('twas getting waaaay past the able-to-manage level), but there's still plenty to see And I try to keep my LibraryThing catalogue reasonable up-to-date with what I already have.

8. Any Etsy stores that you would love to get something from? Like lots of them, too many to mention

9. What other crafty things are you involved in (quilting, drawing, painting)? I want to learn to spin and weave; currently do some photography and sewing.

10. What is your favorite sort of scent? Either subtle flower/plant smells (lilac/lavender) or ‘baking’/homey ones like vanilla, key lime pie, or apple cinnamon

11. Do you have a sweet tooth and what kind of sweets do you like best? Way too much of a sweet tooth. Chocolate (milk chocolate is the first choice, followed by white). Definitely prefer foods with hechshers .

12. What kind of music do you like? Scottish folk, Jewish, some country, much classical.

13. What do you like to knit? And for whom? I like just about everything -- and I'm pretty free with spreading the woolen/alpaca/linen love around......

14. What sort of things do you like to collect?
Post-it notes with cute pictures/sayings;
calendars, mugs, t-shirts and canvas bags with pictures of things I’m interested in (cats, Scotland, Maine, genealogy, Judaism) [I’ve managed to help Cafe Press’s business quite a bit].

15. Do you want needles? And what kind do you prefer? I have enough needles for any three serious knitters.....seriously! Had my own considerable collection, then I inherited my mother's even more considerable collection -- and then I bought a set of Knitpicks Options. Although I wouldn't mind Options tips in mid-range (6 to 9) sizes or more shorter cables (24 and 32 inch)........

SP10 questions

2007-02-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

Secret Pal 10 answers (L&V swap answers to follow soon.......)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

30+ years, although serious knitting has only been the last couple years and a few similar previous spells. Intermediate level.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Either subtle flower/plant smells (lilac/lavender) or ‘baking’/homey ones like vanilla, key lime pie, or apple cinnamon

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes. Chocolate (milk chocolate is the first choice, followed by white). Definitely prefer foods with hechshers.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I want to learn to spin and weave; currently do some photography and sewing.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Scottish folk, Jewish, some country, much classical. Yes.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

Love purple and mauve, with the colonial family [as I call it: sage green and slate blue] not far behind. Apartment is done in what I think of as dark rich colors: navy, burgundy/maroon, hunter green with bits of purple/lavender and mauve to lighten it up.Yellows/reds/oranges make me look like I died three days ago, so I tend to avoid them.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married, no children, one cranky old cat

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes to all but ponchos

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I’ll do just about anything.

13. What are you knitting right now?

A couple baby sweaters, a couple scarves to give away, another pair of socks, a purse, and a lace shawl.... and a few other things I'm not remembering because they are in the knitting bag that is out in the car.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Depends on the project and the yarn. I use all of them at various times.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes to both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

I’ve got a sweater that I’ve puttered on for almost ten years; I’d forgotten about it until I was rummaging for Flash Your Stash last year and found it at the bottom of a bin of stuff...... and I still haven't gotten around to finishing it yet ;-)

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Post-it notes with cute pictures/sayings, calendars, mugs, t-shirts and canvas bags with pictures of things I’m interested in (cats, Scotland, Maine, genealogy, Judaism) [I’ve managed to help Cafe Press’s business quite a bit ].

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? See Amazon wishlist for books. No subscriptions - for magazines, I tend to buy only some issues with patterns I'm likely to make (need to control the clutter somehow.........)

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Fair Isle is next.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes. Well, actually, I’m learning to knit socks; I've finished a couple pair. Wear a size 8 wide.

23. When is your birthday? 19 May

Reconnected... and it feels so good ;-)

2007-02-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

After multiple phone calls, with people who were so script-driven in their suggestions that it was driving me crazy (if I've turned the modem off & on 17 times, I'm guessing doing it an 18th time while doing nothing else won't work, either.........), I think I have a stable connection back.

Lots to catch up on, but here's a rundown of the highlights:
-- the final secret pal 9 package came a few days ago. Picture and details as soon as I find the camera. (I spent lots of time while not connected cleaning...... lots of things I can't find now.....hoping the camera and my favorite scissors both turn up soon!)

-- Dad's doing well after the accident, but...... he's been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. We'll know more (we hope) after the next couple medical appointments. From the little I've read, it doesn't seem good, but I'm trying to be optimistic.

-- If you want to move to Israel, it helps to invite me for Shabbat lots. Seriously...... there have been 3 families that I've routinely had Shabbat/chagim meals with over the last three years; 2 have already moved to Israel and the third is planning to move this summer. When I get ther , at least I'll have lots of people to show me around ;-)

-- With the lack of stable connection, I've started work on getting ready to have an etsy shop. Nothing there yet (where is that camera?) but the dyed yarns are all lined up to be posted soon. I'll likely also post to the blog I've started to chronicle playing with yarn.