Saturday, June 30, 2007

This is fun...

Grab the nearest book.
1. Open it to page 161.
2. Find the fifth full sentence.
3. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.
4. Don’t search around looking for the coolest book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

The two closest books were - "Midwest Gem, Fossil and Mineral Trails- Great Lakes States" by June Culp Zeitner and "Midwest Gem, Fossil and Mineral Trails - Prairie States" also by June Culp Zeitner and both of those books only have about 130 pages - so I had to get up and find the next nearest book...

Which was "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath...

"The gray rock mocked me, bobbing on the water easy as a lifebuoy."

I never read this book - but I remember it being quite popular in the 70's. Gosh I'm old...

Someone gave me the book before we left SC - it seems like a sad book - maybe I'll read it...

New TKD Socks - AKA Vacation/Baseball Socks

Of course I did some knitting while I was on vacation - not as much as I should have done - I finished one sock - this is the "Vacation Sock"...

The Man-Cub's Tae Kwon Do instructors are taking the summer off - so there will be no Tae Kwon Do classes - Oh well - we have baseball though - so the sock that didn't get finished on vacation will henceforth be known as the "Baseball Sock".

My Size 3 needle sock pattern has 48 stitches - so I googled for 'knit lace pattern multiple of 8' - I also googled for multiple of 6 - but I found this simple pattern
Round 1: [Yo, k1, SK2P, k1, yo, k1] to end.
Round 2: K all sts.
So that's what I'm doing for the 5 inches above the ankle - then I'll switch back to the regular pattern.

Friday, June 29, 2007

...Home Again

I often use the word "home" to refer to two different places - one is my "home" of origin - so before the vacation trip "home" that's the home I was refering to. Then once we were "home", I started to talk about going "home" meaning coming back to the place where I currently live - sort of funny and confusing to people who can't follow my train of thought...

We had a wonderful time - visiting family and friends - it was relaxing and hectic at the same time. The mountains were beautiful. As we came out of Ohio into West Virginia - the Man-Cub commented on all the trees - it did seem a little strange to be so surrounded by green trees again.

Here are some scenes from the trip...

We always choose a hotel with a pool - so the Man-Cub has some playtime after the long day in the car - he's a really good traveler. We play a lot of games - hangman - I spy - ABC Cat etc. and he (unlike me) can read in the car.
Crossing the Mississippi...

My sweet sister brought the Man-Cub a robe from China - with a dragon on it - he loves it...

We saw some wildlife even though we did no camping - this is at the lake - they have a nest nearby...

Lots of time for "cousining"...

...and catching lightening bugs (Note - no bugs were harmed in the making of this blog - they were captured observed and immediately released.)

Several birthday cakes were consumed...

We visited a Gem Mine...

... and the Man-Cub (aka Rock Hound) found several "cuttable" stones - they are on the right hand tray - he chose a pretty dark amethyst to have cut - I'll post a picture when we receive the cut stone...

Mom graciously allowed Jack to use the pool along with us...

The water in the forest was icy cold but we braved it anyway...


Another pool shot - from the trip back home (guess which one)...

Monday, June 11, 2007

...On the Road again...

We leave this morning for vacation in the Sunny South. The final two days of Day Camp were very nice - highs in the 70s and nice and sunny. The Man-Cub had a blast and he made a new friend - Jacob - whose family owns a lake house here - so we'll be getting together with them later this summer.

Posts will likely be sporadic at best - but I'll be back in a couple of weeks - probably with a really long post...

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Soggy-Cold Knights

We spent the day at the Knights of the Round Table Cub Scout Day Camp. The high temperature today was about 46 and the wind and rain was gusting 40-50 mph. I teach Archery at Day Camp so I was outside in it all day. The other activities were all moved inside, but the lucky BB Gun and Arhcery instructors got to stay outside yelling over the wind all day. Needless to say the 1 1/2 hour drive home was a warm-up. I had to drive a strange SUV - I'm not accustomed to these behemoths at all and with the wind and the rain I'm surprised the trip didn't take twice as long.

OK - I'm through complaining - the Scouts had a lot of fun - and I'm really blessed to be able to teach Archery as it brings so much JOY to the boys.

I wasn't able to get many pictures of the Man-Cub - but here he is learning to fold a flag - we actually already did this as a den - but I'm sure it was fun to do it with real live soldiers.

One of the few crafts caught on tape - The Man-Cub decorates a Jumping Jack.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The Wall

One of the Man's favorite albums - Pink Floyd's "The Wall" - and our addition to the kitchen/living room floor remodel.

Progress on the wall continues - we finally got the paint to stick - so there won't be any more sanding on the kitchen side - YAY!


The Man-Cub is such a good little helper - he loves to paint and clean up paint - YAY!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

...walk the dog...

I've devised an ingenious and hands free way to walk the dog. Hands free is very important as I can now knit as I'm walking. Nothing that takes any concentration - just dishcloths or squares for a secret afghan. It has to be small and portable. I put an old belt around my waist and loop the leash and a knitting bag through it and off we go...

...notice that it's still cool enough for a jacket here...

Monday, June 04, 2007

Pool Party

The Man-Cub had a great time at the pool party - we rented 2 rooms and they played in the water from 4:00 checkin until the 11:00 pool closing - boy were there some pruned up fingers.

They got out once for cake and presents and then again for pizza.




They played diving games, keep the ball in the air games, and lots of races.



The Man-Cub says (as he does every party) - that was the best party EVER! (I wonder when the current party will cease to top a previous one - hopefully for him - never)...

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Pool Party Cake

The Man-Cub's birthday cake choice for this year is a pool cake. So we formed some characters - matching his friends - out of cookie dough. I used the vegan shortbread recipe here http://www.vegancooking.com/recipes/shortbread.htm but I didn't use any butter flavor - and I added some cinnamon.

Then the Man-Cub advised on how to decorate - the legs with the flames on the suit are his...

This is the finished cake - the Man-Cub really likes it - now we're off to the Fireside Inn for the party. I'll post about that tomorrow.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Rainbows

We've been having a rollercoaster ride with spring weather up here - but it was nice yesterday even though the meteorologists were calling for rain and thunderstorms all day - and we got a couple of ever-changing rainbows that lasted all evening. We watched them as the Man-Cub played outside.

Here are a couple of shots - it's the same rainbow.




The pool opened and we went for "family swim" - The water was really cold and the air temperature was 66 - fun-fun-fun - the Man-Cub met up with some friends from school and he really did have a good time - blue lips and all...

Friday, June 01, 2007

Pass To Purple


The Man-Cub got his purple belt last night at Tae Kwon Do - YAY! He was so excited/nervous all day - but he did a great job and the instructors said he had a lot of spirit. He knew his Korean vocabulary and recited the Oath perfectly.

He broke his board with a step-turn-sidekick - the first time he's had to take his eyes off the board and then refocus and break it. It took a few tries but he finally kicked it...

Now the old blue belt resides with it's siblings on the belt rack in the Man-Cub's room.