Memorial Day

San Joaquin National Cemetary

Still Knitting!!

 This is a pair of socks I'm knitting for a friend of mine who has offered to house sit so D and I can go to Washington for a memorial service for my mother's sister who recently passed away. It's a pretty big favor she is doing for us so the least I can do is give her a pair of hand knit socks. The fact that I have a bit of self striping yarn that is holding my attention helps. A lot. This is actually the first sock but I have finished it and have completed the leg, heel, and gusset. I'm currently working on the foot. Now that I look at the photo the current sock is just a stripe and a half further along than this photo. And the socks will match each other pretty darn close.

 This is the pair I made for myself. Look Shannon! They match each other. See I can make them match, I just choose not too. It's more fun if they don't. At least for me. But I have to admit that there is a certain amount of satisfaction in achieving a matching pair.

And here is our first tomato of the year. It's not big and I may have picked it one day too soon. But it's pretty. I shared it with D. It was okay. I'm sure the ones coming up will be tastier.

Weather Report
It's been windy here. All. Year. I am tired of being gritty all the time. No sense dusting because it looks like I never did. Even the kitchen counters are covered in dust/dirt by evening if I don't wipe them down during the day. They are warning people with breathing problems to stay inside. It's that bad.

Here is my problem. I like open windows. I like fresh air blowing through my house. It freshens it like no chemical spray can. I don't like dark, closed, stuffy rooms. So even though it's not all that hot out there I'm finding I have to keep most of the windows closed or I'm coughing and hacking all day. I hate it!

When I go outside to feed the horses the wind blows hay inside my shirt and bra every time. I don't know how. I can't keep the plants and grass watered. The wind blows so hard that my clothes tangle on the clothes line. And I get smacked in the face with wet laundry trying to hang them up. The good news is by the time the second load is done washing I can take the first load off the line. Assuming they haven't been blown off by the wind.

We aren't talking breezy like the weatherman says. We are talking 15mph and up constant wind. I don't bother with makeup because I'm so gritty all the time I'm constantly washing my face and hands. There isn't enough moisturizer in the world to help. I've used up one and a half Lo Lo Bars on myself. I'm even using it on my face because after it soaks in it protects my skin to a small degree.

And there is always noise. Not just the noise of the wind. There's always something banging, clanging, or swooshing against the house. Last night the wind died down to a breeze in the evening for a while. But by the time I got up at 5:30 this morning (don't ask) it was already screaming.

Don't get me wrong. I know we live in a windy area. But this is not our normal windy. This is over the top, all the time, 24/7 wind. My hair always looks like I just got out of bed. There is trash blowing all over the place every Thursday, garbage day.

So, Mother Nature, how about a nice cool breeze? Say 5-7mph? I wouldn't want you to go cold turkey. A few nice breezy 80-87 degree days would be perfect. Whadda ya say? Pleeeaaaase!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

So, two of my aunts passed away very recently. I was able to attend services for one just last week. I could not stay for the whole thing because I had promised to help a friend of mine with a small seminar she was putting on. Her 90 year old mother had a stroke just the week before and my friend was very worried and upset. I figured it was not a good time to bail on her.

I loved my aunt very much. She was especially important to me when I was very young. She was a good mother to me. She was the one who taught me my love of hand crafts. She taught me to sew and to embroider. Her kitchen always smelled of something good cooking. I don't remember her ever getting upset at a kid. And she smiled. A lot. I will miss her and regret that I didn't see her in recent years. Life has a way of distancing us from people we should never distance ourselves from.

My other aunt is not here in California. We will head up to Bellingham, Washington to share memories. We have another good friend who will stay at the house for us and take care of all our critters. It's very difficult for us to get away without farming everyone out and having someone come in to care for the horses, fish and bird. We are lucky to have such a good friend that she will leave her animals in her husband's care for a few days. I don't know how to thank her.

It's a busy month for the whole family. There are graduations all over the place, and a wedding. It's nice to have happy things happening along with the not so happy.

I have two more orchids blooming! I can't figure out why they are blooming for me but I have five orchids that I purchased in bloom. I've had these plants for at least a year and some far longer than that. And I've killed other plants but these orchids have decided to give me some beauty in my life and bloom.

On the knitting front; I cast on a pair of plain socks in self striping yarn for myself. I'm getting kinda low on the hand knitted socks in my drawer so I thought I'd better whip up a pair for myself. They are self striping yarn so that makes them go fast and keeps it interesting. I still have a beaded scarf to pick back up and knit. I may do that before I cast on for a t-shirt type shirt. Of course that won't keep me from dragging out patterns and trying to match them up to yarn in my stash. So far I don't believe I have purchased any yarn this year. I'm using what I have. Each visit to the stash reveals I have some very nice stuff in there and it's such a convenience shopping at home.

I haven't done any spinning. I need to do a little sewing. Vacation is sneaking up on us and I have some shorter pants that aren't short enough. I don't like the capri length on me. Pedal pusher length looks a little better. I have reached the age where shorts are not such a good thing in public. I wear them around home but not out. I have these two pairs of pants that are a little short for capri's but too long for pedal pushers. I like the way they fit so it's just a matter of hemming them up some. They have these funky buttons on the side and that slit there will allow me to hem the pants without worrying about the leg taper. And the funky buttons will be gone. It's a simple job. I just have to uncover my sewing machine. It's got a protective layer of knitting stuff on it but I am certain it's still under there. I could just hem them by hand but I have two pair of jeans that are just  a tiny bit too long. D says I should leave them and let the backs wear out. He thinks it's cool. I may leave one pair long and shorten the other pair. I need both of them for vacation.

I think three pairs of jeans is all I'm taking and two pairs of pedal pushers. I have to have jeans on the bike but it's nice to have something a little shorter for warm days in camp when we don't go anywhere. There's a laundromat right next to our campsite, so I'm not worried about it.

Three weeks! Three weeks on vacation! Three weeks on a motorcycle! I am so looking forward to this. And I've figured out how to blog with a tiny netbook and my cell phone  for  photos. There's wifi at the campground so I think I'm set. If you don't hear from me during the first part of August you will know why. But I think I have it covered. Can you tell I'm starting to get excited about the whole thing?

D is now riding our mustang, Stormy. He's done all the ground work and now he can walk, trot and canter on her. She kicked up a little yesterday but I think he has it figured out. So now we will have three broke horses. He swears next year it be Roxie's turn. Darryl is getting pretty good at this horse training stuff. I will try to get a photo of him on her. I'm never in the right place at the right time. When he first started riding her I'm telling her what to do and he is just sitting on her. But after a week under saddle she's getting the cue's down so he doesn't need my help as much. So maybe I can get a decent picture.

We will see.

Oh yes, I  agree with others that have posted about Blogger changes. They suck. I'm hoping with enough complaints they will change some of it back.  I can get the pictures up but placing the text correctly has been a pain. Keep your  fingers crossed this post goes okay.