Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Fending off the Devil…

1 - They say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop.  I’m not sure I agree with that completely.  I believe that it is good for the soul to take a little time off now and then and just do nothing.  But I must say that it is difficult for me to watch television if I don’t have something to do with my hands.  I’ve quilted in the past, but these days I’ve been crocheting.  It’s just a bit easier and more portable than quilting.  I’m going to show off some of my latest projects here.

  2 - This is a scarf made from Red Heart Boutique yarn.  The color is "Parrot."  I like this yarn quite a lot.  It’s soft and comes in wonderful variegated colors.  This particular scarf is done in the alligator or crocodile stitch.  It’s a fun, easy stitch and goes together quickly.  I’m donating this project to an auction in May.

3 - A little while back, I picked up a book called Contemporary Celtic Crochet by BonnieBarker because I love the look of Aran knitting, but I don’t knit.  This book has some great projects in it and the instructions are clear and precise.  I’ve only managed to finish one project so far, but I had a great time doing it.  I used Caron Simply Soft yarn for this project.  This one I’m keeping for myself.

4 - Now and then, I go with my daughter Carrie to Webs Yarn Store in Northampton, Massachusetts.  OMG!  If you like yarn and you’re ever in Western Massachusetts, you have got to go to Webs.  Of course, you can order from them on line and here’s the link, but being there in person is just a yarn lover’s dream.  The colors alone knock me out!  And, of course, I have to touch everything.  The problem for me is that I can’t afford a big project with the yarn they sell there, so when I’m in there, I buy a few balls of something for a small project.  The last time I was there, I picked up this gorgeous Plymouth Yarn Monte Donegal to make yet another scarf.  It feels like heaven and it’s hand-dyed, so the color is fabulous!    I will continue to have the warmest neck in town next winter.  I decided that I would do it in a Tunisian stitch.  When it gets long enough, I will stop and go on to something else.

5 - Sometimes I think that Olive, the pug, sheds enough that I could probably make a blanket or something out of her leftovers.  She thinks I’m full of soup!

Linking up to A Rural Journal's Random 5 Friday!

And Around Roanoke's Willy-nilly Friday Five!

Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Spring? Maybe not...

1.  They say it’s the first day of spring here in the northern hemisphere.  While that may technically be true, it’s snowing here.  So what else is new, eh?  Well, to me that calls for a trip back to the Smith College greenhouse.  Sure it’s snowing out, but I’ve got my memories and my photos of those gorgeous flowers to hold me over until the local thing feels safe to pop its head out of the frozen ground.

2.  I love orchids!  They are such happy flowers.  Before I read the book The Orchid Thief:  A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean, I had no idea how crazy people could get over a flower.  But when I look at orchids, I can kind of understand it.  By the way, the book is a good read and the movie based (loosely) on the book Adaptation is worth a look, too, in my humble opinion.  I think I have a new favorite orchid and it’s this one:

3.  One of the things I truly love about spending time at a place like the Smith College greenhouse is seeing the grand variety in nature. Apples and oranges...succulents and orchids.  It's all good and it’s nice when people have taken the time to pull all these great elements together.  I appreciate it.

4.  But going from the relatively cool climate of the spring bulbs to the tropical area can cause the camera lens to fog up and the need for a bit of creativity in the photo editing department.

5.  No matter where your hallways lead, I hope you have a great Spring!

Linking up with A Rural Journal's Random Five Friday &

Around Roanoke's Willy-nilly Friday 5.  Thanks, kids!

Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Time for the Blues

1.  I’m continuing on with my 52 Weeks of Blue challenge.  This is what I am doing.  I am taking a photo once a week that has something of the color blue as its central theme.  Those are the chosen photos I’m posting today.

Week 6:

2.  Day before yesterday, I felt really weird.  After getting up at 7:30 am, I went back to bed at 10 am, slept until about 6 pm, got up watched the news, ate dinner and watched a couple of other TV shows and went back to bed around 9:30 and slept through the night.  Could this be payback for losing that one hour this past weekend or am I just catching up in some other way?  Who knows?  Weird, eh?

Week 7:

3.  Speaking of time, I still have that crazy atomic clock that sits next to my bed.  It is exactly 11 minutes slow, which means that it lost another minute in the last year or so.  It has no knobs or buttons for changing the time because it’s supposed to adjust to the atomic clock all by itself.  Every fall, it faithfully falls back and every spring, it faithfully springs forward.  It’s just 11 minutes off.   It may be something about me and time.  We apparently don’t mix.  I can’t wear a watch either.  I kill them.  So, if you want to stay current, I’d say you had better stay away from me.

Week 8:

This was taken in the window of the department store Faces in Northampton, Massachusetts,
which is closing after 40 years in business.

4.  My son Evan and I joined some friends yesterday evening and went to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the big screen at our local movie theater Cinemagic.  I haven’t laughed so much in a very long time.  The movie is forty years old this year, but I was surprised to see that easily half the audience, including my son and  four others in our little group, hadn’t been born yet when the movie was produced.  That must make the movie timeless in a way.

Week 9:

I have yet to lose my marbles completely.

5.  I was saddened to hear about Terry Pratchett dying.  In case you are unfamiliar with him, he was a writer of fantasy books and creator of the Discworld series.  I’ve spent many very entertaining hours with him over the last few years.  Pratchett had a rare form of Alzheimer's disease, which killed him at age 66 which was too young, in my opinion.  He said, “So much universe and so little time.”  He sure was right about that.  RIP, Terry Pratchett.

Week 10:

Happily hooking up with A Rural Journal's Random 5 Friday:

Around Roanoke's Willy-nilly Friday Five:

Willy-nilly Random Stuff: Squirrels, Pugs and Other Things…

1.  Our bird feeders had been squirrel-free since November 25th of 2011.  On that date, I had finally figured out a way to keep those little devils from cleaning out our feeders.   I know it was that particular day because I wrote a blog-post about it.   Well, the day before yesterday our squirrel-free streak came to an end and the snow is to blame.  The evil geniuses finally figured out that they could climb up on that massive pile of snow in front of our house and take the foot-wide leap to the feeder.  I hate to rain on their parade, but it is going to be warming up here this weekend and that jump is going to get wider and wider and eventually they will have to go raid someone else’s feeders.  But, you know, it’s been a tough winter.  I guess I can’t begrudge them a little suet to tide them over until they can find their nuts.

Thinking, thinking..

Making the approach...

Success!

2.  We’ve gotten a nice variety of birds hanging around this winter.    My favorite so far has been this red-bellied woodpecker.

3.  I have been feeling pretty bad for Olive, the pug, in this weather, so today I let her out the front of the house to give her a little more room to find the proper spot for her very important business.  It took her 285 pug circles and three tries before she finally decided on a spot.  She looked so relieved when she was finished.

Where's the grass?

Ahhhhh....

4.  Who’s watching Grantchester on Masterpiece Mystery?  I guess it's over for now.  I am sorry they’ve only made six episodes.  I am hooked on British mysteries.  I guess that’s because I fell hard for Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and P.D. James when I was younger and never let go.

5.  Looks like we’re in for a long stretch of snow-free weather and temps into the 40s coming up.  Yay!  I hope you all have a pleasant snow-free weekend.

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Random 5 Friday 

Random Happy Thoughts…

1)  We went to Worcester, Massachusetts this afternoon and wandered around with our son Evan looking at possibilities for apartments for him.  He recently got a “promotion” at work and is now a Learning Specialist at Quinsigamond Community College.  While it is STILL not full time, it is regular and steady hours and he will be making quite a bit more money than he was.  We are proud of him.  I have mixed feelings about him moving out because he is a quiet, helpful and nice person to have around.  But I know he wants to start moving his life forward and I fully support that.

This photo has nothing to do with anything.

2)  You all probably know that yesterday was the International Day of Happiness.  I didn’t realize it until a friend of mine who works at Clark University in Worcester posted a video on Facebook that showed people on Clark’s campus dancing along to Pharrell Williams song Happy.  A few clicks of the mouse and I was onto this website that shows people dancing to the song all over the world and for 24 hours.  I have to admit that it is kind of addictive.  I hope you all are having a happy day today.

This face makes me happy.

3)  One of the things I really like about watching those videos of people dancing is that they are just regular people – some can dance and others are rather awkward.  I am of the awkward camp and have never been comfortable dancing but I sure admire people who dance like there’s nobody watching even when they don’t seem to have a rhythmical bone in their bodies.  I think that is way cool!  But you probably won’t catch me doing it…ever.

4)  Something that has made my husband happy is that they are now selling Yuengling Beer in Massachusetts.  They started selling it on March 3^rd.  People were pretty excited at first, but I think the initial excitement has worn off a bit.  But I believe firmly that life is too short to drink bad beer so I will probably have a Yuengling or two before it's all over.

5)  I am happy for my friend, Karen Keough-Huff, who recently published a book with Sarah Craig called Sarah’s Hope.  Here’s a description:  “Sarah's Hope chronicles the challenges of an individual born with disabilities. From birth to the present day, Sarah Craig shares her life experiences through her writings, interviews, and journal entries. This book provides a rare glimpse into the thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams of a wonderful woman who has traveled a much more difficult path through life than most of us. Sarah's strength, perseverance, resilience, and faith should be an inspiration to all who read this book.”  I haven’t read the book yet, but I look forward to reading it.  Here’s a link to how to get a hold of it if you are interested.

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RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY!

Random Thoughts…

1)  Because it is 3.14, today is National Pi Day, as I’m sure you know if you hang out on Facebook at all.  Me, I would prefer it to be National Pie Day.  But nobody asked me.  Actually, a friend on Facebook informed me that there is a National Pie Day and it was on January 23.  Personally, I think that pie is good enough to have two celebratory days in a year.  If today was pie day instead of pi day, what kind of pie would you go for?  Me…I like my donuts plain, my coffee black and I go for that old standard, the American Apple Pie.  In honor of the day, we are having vegetarian pot pie for dinner.

I took this picture of pi in 2007 on a visit to the San Juan Islands in Washington state.  It's cool, but you can't eat it.

2)  We got more snow here in Massachusetts yesterday.  Wasn’t much, but it did neaten things up around the edges temporarily.

A little snow never stops the intrepid Chickadee for long.

4)  If you live in a cold climate, you’ve probably heard a lot of complaining about the weather this winter.  To me, it seems like a big waste of energy to complain about things over which you have no power to change.  I think that the people who celebrate winter deserve big kudos…like our neighbors who have an actual igloo in their front yard.  I think that is just cool!  Absolutely no pun intended.

5)  I’m on Day 263 of my Flickr 365 that I started on my birthday.  I haven’t missed a day so far.  Today’s entry was one of a series of “self-portraits” that I am doing using the ABCs.  I am on the letter K.  It wasn’t easy coming up with something for K but I did it.  K is for key and here it is, the key to my Toyota Prius.  I love that darn car.

5)  I will leave you with a random poem from one of my favorite poets of all time, Shel Silverstein.  It seems like it’s been a Shel Silverstein kind of week.

THE VOICE

There is a voice inside of you

That whispers all day long,

“I feel that this is right for me,

I know that this is wrong.”

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

Or wise man can decide

What’s right for you – just listen to

The voice that speaks inside.

Here's a raggedy Welcome to the weekend.  Have a good one, you all!

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RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY!

Random!

1)  There are many things I like about winter in New England.  We get snow, but we also get a lot of sunny days here.  Today is a notable exception, however.  It’s foggy and drizzly.  But on those days that are sunny, the sky is BLUE.  It is bluer in the winter than it ever is in the summer and that blue may just be my favorite color.

2)  The icicles this year have been really amazing.  I managed to catch a few photos of them before they began to drip out of existence.  While I’ve seen larger ones that I didn’t manage to capture, I think a one-story icicle is still pretty impressive.

I titled this "Sick of Winter."  This is the public library in Brookfield, Massachusetts.

3)  I’ve seen a lot of American Robins around in our yard this winter.  To me, that seems like a new phenomenon, but I have a friend who claims that Robins have always been around in the winter, they just change their habits and spend more time in the woods where they have more natural shelter and food and spend less time out in the open.  I truly believe Dianne because she tends to know about such things, but it still seems strange to me to see them wandering around the yard throughout the winter.  I grew up thinking of them as harbingers of spring.  These days they don’t really bring any good news with them.  Still, I must admit, they are nice little flashes of color when they are around.

4)  Yep.  It’s a foggy, drizzly and generally ugly day today in Central Massachusetts...a reminder that we aren’t really that far away from Mud Season.

5)  I am an exceptionally messy cook.  I definitely need an apron.  I used to have one.  What the heck ever happened to that thing??  Anyhow, I was perusing Crate and Barrel the other day and they happened to have one on sale.  I bit and ordered it.  Here it is.  I love it.  The fabric is a Vera design.  I think it might make me want to cook more vegetables and even if it doesn't, it will help save my clothes.

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Random Five Friday: Snow Days…

1)  We got around 10 to 12 inches of snow in this last round of wild winter weather.  But we were very glad that it was all snow and not the dreaded wintry mix.  Snow is much easier to deal with.

2)  The weather has caused us to have a couple of unusual visitors to our birdfeeders.  Yesterday and today, I saw what I think is a Carolina Wren.  I am not positive of the identification though so if you know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me.  We also had a crow who was slumming under our feeder but he wouldn’t turn around so I could get a good picture.

3)  Here’s what it looks like at the end of our driveway.  I feel sort of like I’m living in a shopping mall with that big pile, but my trip to the grocery today made me realize that there are much bigger piles of the white stuff around town.

4)  I like snow and winter but I find it rather amazing that there is such a HUGE difference in comfort level between 15 degrees and 30 degrees.  Today felt rather balmy around here and seeing the sun is almost always good.  I guess that shouldn't really be a surprise.  After all, there's a HUGE difference in comfort level between 72 and 85, too.

5)  So today is Valentine’s Day.  Do you celebrate it?  Early on in our relationship, Greg made it clear that he wasn’t one to celebrate “Hallmark” holidays, so it’s just another day to us.  I minded a bit at first, but it also lets me off the hook, so these days I am okay with it.

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Random 5 Friday!

Random Five Friday: Thoughts on Travel…

1)  Greg and I love the desert so we found the landscapes in West Texas fascinating and dramatic.  I will post a couple photos.  What do you think?   I know people who believe that if there isn’t water (preferably the ocean) within driving distance, it’s not a place worth going to.  I agree that the ocean is beautiful, but I think the desert has its own grandeur and grace.

2)  Being away from home for nearly a month is kind of weird. Coming home, it’s almost like coming back to a place that has been frozen in time.  Here’s what I mean.  I set the alarm clock on the phone last night because I had to get up this morning at eight and the phone is reliable whereas my actual alarm clock is not.  The phone asks for the date first, then the time, and then what catchy tune you want to wake up to.  I entered in the relevant information.  This morning, I woke up (thankfully!) and looked at the clock.  I had set the phone alarm for 8 am, but it was 8:06 am according to my clock that is precisely 6 minutes slow.  So I’m lying there at 8:12am trying to figure out why the darn phone didn’t sing.  What the heck??  Who needs a problem like that before they’ve had their coffee??  Well, long story short, when I checked to see why the phone alarm didn’t go off, it was because I set it for January 7 not February 7.   For me, it was like January hadn’t happened yet since we spent it on the road.  I have to get over that…and soon!

3)  Sometimes while traveling, you happen to have conversations with random strangers.  My favorite of this trip was when I ran into a young man at an overlook on the Rio Grande.  The view was spectacular and he was taking pictures.  He turned to me with a big smile on his face and I said, “It sure is beautiful!”  He grinned and told me that he was 28 years old and it was his first time there.  Up to then, he had spent his whole life in  Odessa, Texas, where it is very flat and he had never seen anything as beautiful as what we were looking at.  His enthusiasm for the natural beauty around us simply made my day.  This is what we were looking at:

4)  We did pass through Odessa on our way home and now I understand where he was coming from.  The Odessa area is not the most beautiful area of Texas.  But it does have its charms.  Like, did you know that there is a scaled-down version of Stonehenge on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa?  No?  Well, there is.  Odessa is also the home of the World’s Largest Jack Rabbit.  No lie.  I just love coming across that kind of stuff when we travel.

Stonehenge, Texas style.

The World's Largest Jack Rabbit lookin' pretty smug.

5)  Here’s a packing tip if you are going on a long trip:  Always take a couple of fashionable, colorful scarves along.  I didn’t and found myself wishing I had on numerous occasions.  They take up no space in a duffle bag and they can really spark up a t-shirt and jeans if you find that you want to go to a “business casual” as opposed to a plain old “casual” restaurant.  Doesn’t that sound like something you might read in Vogue or Elle?  I'm not sure since I don't read either.

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RANDOM FIVE FRIDAY!