Halloween: In Retrospect

Here’s hoping you had lots of trick-or-treaters, didn’t eat too much candy and weren’t too scares on Halloween.

Above is a shot of our very traditional and very typical pumpkin.

Directionless

I’m not sure if it’s catching, I am not sure if it’s a stage in life or perhaps I am just getting more comfortable talking about it with others. It seems that several of those around me, including myself, are feeling a bit directionless, lost and in search of something else. I find myself having several conversations of a similar nature.

That’s left me feeling a bit blue not only for me, but for those that I care about. Watching them struggle in the same way is comforting in some ways, knowing I am not alone; but it’s disturbing in others as I hate to watch anyone wrangle with something and be unhappy.

Surely this isn’t midlife.

By the way, my car just hit 100,000 miles, so I took a pic. It’s the little things, isn’t it?

Weekends “at home”

We’ve been on the run for the past several weekends, so when this one rolled around, all free of schedule and appointments, I wasn’t sure what we’d do with our time away from work. It wasn’t long until, however, we’d filled it quite nicely. Not with chores. Not with house cleaning. Not with tv.

Instead, yesterday began with a little sleeping late, a nice autumn walk, and a late breakfast. I did a little errand running and before I knew it, we were headed for a day trip to a nearby town for lunch at Cynical’s favorite place, a little shopping and some Christmas gift investigation.

I had gone shopping because I am in need of clothes. Hard to believe, eh, a girl in need of clothes. I must confess, most of my fall and winter clothes are nearing their life expectancy and what’s left leave me looking like a librarian with poor taste. I also must confess that after several hours of shopping, I came home with one sweater. Yep, one sweater. Nothing fit, nothing was appropriate, nothing I liked. It was a bust. I should have bought sweat pants and fleece and called it a day; since I won’t be able to leave the house in what remains in my closet.

But, of course, there are the new pillows. Cynical and I are hard on pillows, you see, and we had been talking about the need for new ones for some time. I’m not sure what we do to them, but I suspect we sleep hard. Ours were “flatter than pancakes”. The new ones, much fluffier and “taller” are taking some getting used to.

We’d been invited by our neighbor to help christen his newly constructed fire pit, so we joined him and some others for hot chocolate, apple pastry dessert and marshmallows around the fire; a wonderful way to celebrate autumn and get to know our neighbor a little better.

Cynical and I also met up with a friend for coffee and knitting. (We knitted, Cynical browsed books.)

We slept in again this morning and I am not sure what the day holds, but I am thinking perhaps, a little errand running , some time on the porch and maybe some podcasts. It promises to be a beautiful day.

Photo:

Another shot from our venture to the local orchard/produce spot.

And we’re back to Monday

The problem with weekends is that they typically only last two days and then you are back at Monday again. . . working toward the next weekend.

That’s how I am feeling after our all-too-short weekend. You see, we headed north to the annual Cache Slash Fest (the last one in fact) to not only (of course) cache, but also to visit with friends, hang out, eat warm foods and lament the end of one of our favorite autumn events.

We left on Friday later than anticipated, but made it in due time to see all of the crew: Needlefingers, Pilot, Brando, Rudy and those adorable kids (the littlest of which wasn’t feeling well, poor thing.)

The next morning meant event set-up for the boys, while the girls awaited a super-duper, stupendous fiber box buy on etsy. Needlefingers, quick on the draw, got her fiber box quickly, but I stalled and was left empty handed. (Never fear, we tried again later at the 5 p.m. posting and even though I once again failed to snag one, Needlefingers channeled her super powers and got one for me. She rocks.)

Afterward we joined the crew and lots of others for the vampire-themed Cache Slash Fest 2009. Cynical and I cached a big, nabbing 10 of the 15 before heading back after being chased by a farmer, Cynical injuring himself on a thorn, and being creeped out by pot-smoking, bow-wielding hunters. (Please note the over-dramatization of each of these events.) We were lead to some incredible views, got to meet some fellow cachers and added some to our overall tally as well.

Later, we played a few games, but failed miserably in each game of skill; but had fun anyway.

Some warm soup, lots of sweets and enough Smarties to send me into a sugar-induced coma, along with a roaring fire wrapped up the evening.

We lolly-gagged around on Sunday, trying to make our visit last a little longer before heading home. The drive seemed to last forever and the warm sun finally showed its face making us sleepy as we meandered home. We wrapped up our weekend with some tv, pizza and knitting.

How many more days to Friday?

Photos:

A sweet sheep we spied while caching.

Caching often takes to the most wonderful vistas.

The coordinates were dropped by an ultra-light plane. How cool is that?

Weekend Update: without the witty host

I love October. I love autumn and I tend to overbook myself this time of year because so many of the things I enjoy occur around now. However, I don’t mind one bit.

Last weekend I went to a much-anticipated baby shower for my brother and his bride. I so very much love both of them and am so very excited about the baby they’ll be sharing with us in December. And I truly enjoy her family as much or more than my own, so a chance to get together with them was much welcomed.

I left very early on Saturday to make the two-hour drive as I had also manage to schedule some precious time with perhaps one of my closest and dearest friends. I think I’ve mentioned her before on the blog: the one person in the world that I feel truly accepts me, warts and all. The drive was beautiful, as the trees have begun to change and thanks to a handy borrowed GPS unit, I was able to maneuver pretty much everywhere we needed to go. She and I met up at a Half Price Books (my new favorite bookstore) before finding a spot to sit, sip and visit. We rambled and interupted and giggled and confessed. It was truly a wonderful visit. Soon thereafter we meandered to the shower where we oooohed and aaaaaahed over all of the sweet baby gifts and marveled at my beautifully pregnant sister-in-law.

Afterward we made our way to a knit shop and eventually found ourselves on her farm, mooing at the cows, nibbling at her children and getting a tour of the place. They just moved to the more remote area and it’s gorgeous, with rolling hills, beautiful trees and multiple ponds. What a wonderful place to raise children. What a wonderful place to live.

Eventually it was time to make our way home and I regretfully left behind my sweet, sweet friend, full of memories and in dread of the seemingly long drive home. However, I missed my Cynical and I was growing tired.

After a review of the day and a good night’s sleep, I was ready to get busy on Sunday. Cold weather has forced me to dig out my winter and autumnal clothing a little earlier this year, so I spent most of the morning boxing up summer items to make room for fleece, long-sleeves and thick sweaters.

After blocking a shawl and knocking out a few small chores, Cynical and I decided to make the most of the beautiful day and drove to a nearby farm to choose some pumpkins. It’s a beautiful spot in one of the few hilly areas of our county. I could have wasted away my afternoon there, but instead, we meandered through the rows of pumpkins, made our selections and were ready to go, but not after we had some home-made fudge, local orange cola and an Ale 8.

This weekend we’re off to another favorite spot (any time of the year) to visit our friends and attend a geocaching event. I am hopeful for beautiful weather and a good turnout for our hosts.

Photos:

At top: a shot from our parking area at the pumpkin farm.

Center: Food at the shower. Mmmmmmmm. Love party food.

Bottom: Rows of pumpkins.

 

 

Knitting update

I have done a little knitting lately and thought I’d share a few quick pics. As always, the details are in the 2009 page link at the top.

First up:

Shalom: Easy knit. Had to rip it completely out after I realized it was much too small. Ended up adding 10 or so stitches to the cast-on and five extra under neath the arms. I also eliminated the decreases and I am pleased overall. Used Cascade  Eco-Wool, tad less than one skein. Wishing it was a little longer, but got nervous about running out of yarn. Still need a button. Have considered several, but one just hasn’t suited me yet. Tad concerned that this might be an unflattering knit. I’ll have to wear it a bit and see.

Multnomah: Whenever I saw Multnomah on Ravelry, I knew exactly which yarn I’d be using: some stuff I picked up at a fiber fair from a indie dyer called Carpool. This was an easy knit, but after I had a major yarn snarl, I lost my enthusiasm and whenever I made a minor mistake, I ended up ripping the whole thing back even though I was through five repeats of the lace panels, with only five more to go. I am glad, however, that I did, because I am pleased with the product. I may just be addicted to small shawls right now, partly because I am too lazy to commit to a big one and and perhaps because I love the idea of wrapping them around my neck beneath my coat.

Before and after

I had promised you a little before and after action concerning our $3 yard sale purchase table. So, here you  have the before.

and here you have the after:

I have a bit of a confession. My bargain table, while a bargain on its own, wasn’t quite the deal of the century. Took 4 cans of texturizing spray paint at $6.48 a pop. Hmmmm, still worth it to me. I chose the texturizing gun metal version of the paint as I knew, after sanding quite a bit, that my surface was far from perfect and I think that the texture helped mask it a bit. Limited my color choices, but I think it was worth it in the end. And the tray was a Target buy, just something functional should we want to serve beverages on our porch.

Sad thing: it’s too cool now for us to even sit out there. However, Jenny from the Blog got to use it a bit during her recent visit.

Pout

Last week we spent a lot of time thinking about, planning for and being excited about the impending visit of our dear friends from the north: Needlefingers, Jenny from the Blog and Pilot. Shopping, meal planning, cleaning and preparing were all part of the excitement. I even broke out the floor steamer in anticipation of our special guests. Day dreams of long conversations, serving meals, venting sessions, knitting, porch sitting, cat snuggling and laughing.

So, when we got a call from Needlefingers saying that the trio were having car trouble and turning around, our first thought was of angst for them and a fear they’d be stranded; our second was of disappointment, we wanted to see our friends. Our third thought was, what are we gonna do with all of this food!

Then we used our best improvisational skills and called some friends who we thought might be able to join us on short notice and were willing to eat up some chili. And they actually came. Our little dinner became quite the eclectic chili supper. I love to meld groups of our friends. I love to watch them find common ground and laugh together even upon their first meeting. I love for our home to be filled with those sorts of memories and I think that happiness is absorbed there for us to call upon later.

Our travelers managed to make it home and transfer into another vehicle and they headed our way. Upon their arrival, they joined our other chili stragglers and we visited a bit more of Round Two of supper. I was so happy to have them there safe and sound.

The rest of the night, over margaritas and chili (I’m still cleaning up the salt), we caught up, laughed and visited the night away.

On Saturday we went to a disappointing library book sale before heading to do some Halloween shopping and grabbing lunch at a Japanese restaurant. We drug our tired selves home soon thereafter and sat on the porch for a bit until the cool wind drove us inside. Darkness came far too soon and our plans for grilling gave way to recycling the prior night’s meal into chili dogs and such. We did, however, make a grand escape for ice cream. Mmmmm.

Sunday came around much too soon and we opted to spend our day of rest hanging out and eating a little more, of course. Cynical’s family joined us as well and before I knew it, our guests were packing their car and heading home. I literally stood in the drive-way and pouted as they pulled away.

It’s amazing how different your home feels when it grows ever so quiet after being filled with so much laughter and discussion. I had planned to fill the evening with chores, but instead sat in the living room and recounted the memories we’d created and pouted a bit more over the fact that the past few days had gone by so quickly. I, once again, wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

What was old is new again

I doubt there is anyone out there that would describe Cynical and I as “handy”, but sometimes we make a real attempt at it. I kinda enjoy home improvement projects, particularly when I can take something old and make it functional and aesthetic.

Before

So, on Sunday, I tackled not one, but two projects that had been on the “to do” list for some time. The first was a chair gifted to us by  Cynical’s mother. A strong piece of furniture, but it never quite “fit” in the house. I’ve moved it around several times, but realized that it simply needed a facelift. A trip to the fabric store and an innaugural use of my electric staple gun made all the difference in the world. (The fabric, a remnant, was marked down to $7 a yard, but on Sunday it was 52 percent off that. So, for about $3.50, we had a newer and more fitting chair.)

After

Next up: a table for our porch. At the incredible neighborhood yard sale we went to a few weeks ago, we found a small metal table in pretty decent shape for $3. Literally the first buy of the day for me and it was barely daylight. The plan was to sand it, paint it and use it on our screened porch as sort of an outdoor bar/beverage center. I feared, however, that it would simply find a permanent spot in our garage. The improvement bug that bit me Sunday saved it. I sanded and sanded and have already used two cans of paint on it. It’s a textured paint and the key is layering it to get a slightly pitted appearance, so I am back to grab another can and make another pass at it tonight. Wish me luck. (I have to confess I really wanted it to be a grass/lime green, but the selection of spray paint was limited, so I went with a more neutral look.)

Here’s the state of the table before I started; I hope to have some pretty shots of the finished project.

Before

Margaritas and spinning wheels

On Friday I e-mailed Cynical and asked him to pick up some margarita mix. It had been that kinda week. The kinda week where you just want to spend  Friday night sitting on your porch with a margarita in hand and pretend that it never happened. The work week had been so unpleasant, in fact, that Cynical joined me and had a little beverage himself. And so a crappy few days were put to bed and  we awoke this morning ready to start anew.

I spent my day, per an invitation from Needlefingers, at a meeting of a local spinning guild. It was their annual dye day. And even though I neither spun or dyed, they let me play along. I knitted and watched as the spinners used fluid, peaceful motion to make beautiful yarns; I knitted while artists painted and dyed incredible yarns and rovings. Pretty stuff all around.

There is something about being in the community of those with a common interest that inspires me. Makes me want to knit, spin, dye, paint, deliberate, plan, execute and make.

It was a beautiful day, so the inspiration was only enhanced by the wind in the trees, the sun shining through them and the feel and smell of autumn.

Somehow a margarita and a beautiful day among creative people on the first weekend of autumn were all I needed to forget last week.