Right! I've got lots of bits and bobs to cover, and no way to get it all to fit into one coherent post, so we're having a random post today. With pictures. Lots of 'em.
1. Phil's kite!
A few of you mentioned you wanted to see Phil's latest kite, the 500 square foot monster that invaded every livable space in our home for more weeks than I care to remember. These ones are for you!
Not too shabby, eh?
2. Garden update
Stuff is growing! Stuff we can actually EAT! Really! On Friday, I turned this:
Into this:
Which later became this:
Kids hated it, of course, but Oh. My. God. My mouth is pulling a total Pavlov just LOOKING at that picture.
3. Sewing!
I started a new quilt! I joined the We Can Do It! Skill Building Sampler, and so far we've made 2 blocks. The QAL is going to take a year, with 3 blocks a month, each month focusing on a different technique. We've made 2 blocks so far, and I'm really enjoying it! It's a nice change from the blue and green of my "main" quilt WIP ;-)
4. Emilie !
School's out for summer, and Emilie will be moving on to second grade in the Fall. She's starting a horseback riding day camp on Monday. We bought her a pair of riding pants and boots today, and she Could. Not. Wait. to wear them. Excited? I think so!
There you have it. You're now officially in the loop about the goings-on chez Dear. We shall return to our regular semi-coherent posting après le weekend.
Well, we're back in our casa sweet casa. Getting here didn't go quite as we had planned, of course, but that's what you get for having a 6-day getaway without the kids, right? You've got to pay for it at some point, heh.
Our original travel arrangements had us flying out of Cabo on a 7:30 AM flight to Houston, then catching an afternoon flight to Montreal after a cushy 3 hour layover. However, a little dude with a bug up his arse had other ideas. His name is Alex, maybe you've heard of him?
Diligent, prepared, seasoned travelers that we are, we arrived at the airport at 5 AM, only to find out our flight had been canceled (something about Houston airport being completely flooded... wimps!). Luckily, they were able to put us on a flight to Chicago at 1 PM, but the catch was that we would only have a 50 minute window to: get off the plane, pick up our luggage, go through customs, re-check in our luggage, then find our gate.
Yeah....
Well, what the heck, right? We confirmed the new travel arrangements, then caught a taxi back to our hotel... We did NOT want to spend 7 hours in the airport! We begged them to give us our room key back (check-out wasn't until noon, after all), made ourselves a cup of coffee, and headed down to the beach to watch the sun rise. And dudes.... it was worth it.
I don't know about you, but I rarely get to watch the sun rise over the crashing waves of the sea of Cortez... I'm glad for the opportunity (even if I DID have to wake up at 4:35 AM....)
This isn't the end of the story, the day had a few more surprises up it's sleeve... But it's late, I'm beat, and I need the blog fodder, heh.
Since apparently I can't be bothered to blog about knitting (insert sheepish grin here), how 'bout we talk about traveling?
Greetings from sunny, beautiful (and friggin' HOT) Mexico!!! Phil and I are in Cabo San Lucas for a kite festival, and while he's been flying kites, I've been focusing on getting some sun whilst looking fabulous, sipping the occasional margarita.... and EATING!
We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon, and have been having a lovely time with Phil's kiting friends. The weather is magnificent, the ocean is lovely if somewhat foreboding (can you say strong undertow???) and the food is wonderful. Ahh..... all-inclusive resorts, where have you been all my life?
Sometimes (like tonight, for instance), I wonder how the heck my daughter got to be such a colossal drama queen. Then I look in the mirror and think "Oh. Right."
*Sigh* It's been a super busy week. I'd like to say that I've been working non-stop on my Ravelympics Honeybee cardigan, but I really haven't. The pattern, while beautiful, is quite fussy, and it's taking me entire evenings to complete 12 rows. So yeah, it's going to be a while...
I'm also quite busy at work, and super happy with my new position and getting to know my colleagues. I realize this might qualify me for total geek status, but I get SUCH a kick out of doing real "librarian" stuff like reference interviews and cataloging and such. And the fact that I get to casually throw around words like "randomised controlled trials" and "antenatal" (apparently, prenatal is SOoooOOO passe) and MeSH terms makes me feel like a total frickin' Ninja Librarian.
Oh, before I forget! Check out Phil's new kite!
11 x 14 feet in size, still missing a proper tail, but apparently the darling of the Festi-Vent nevertheless.
As I was telling the owner of a LYS here in Montreal today, I really try to stick to a particular narrative flow when I write for the blog. I try not to let too much "routine" stuff creep in, even though it's not only a knitting blog, but also an outlet for the stuff that's going on in my life. I'm coming up on my 2-year blogaversary this week, and I'm just so thankful that I'm able to share this experience with you, my readers. I really enjoy it, and I hope you do too :)
Sadly, today's post doesn't have much in ways of narrative flow, I'm afraid (hah!). But there ARE a few things I wanted to catch you up on, things that are worthy of mention. The first of which is my proudly showing off my talented husband's latest finished kite:
Phil used a birthday card my cousin Jessica gave me this year as the template for the design, and I've got to say, it's one of his most spectacular kites yet. He tends to stick to large (I know, this IS large) flow-form designs (that'd be kites without spars [or sticks]) for you newbies...), but I really love it when he does this sort of detailed appliqué work. Apparently he was the talk of the kite festival last weekend with this beauty. Way to go Phil!
A number of you have been asking me how my training regimen for the marathon has been going. It's been going very well, I think. It's a bit difficult to stay motivated, despite my success and my weight loss and all that. It's just... really tempting to stay on the couch and knit, you know? Especially when it's really hot and muggy outside, like today!
before the run...
After the run :)
I'll end this post with some yarn pron. I visited a LYS today on my lunch break because I needed some dpns to work the sleeves for Amelia, and came out of there with some Rowan handknit cotton as well. What?!?! I HAD a Gift Card, Okaaaay???
I think it'll be good for a few baby and/or hat projects I've got in my Ravelry queue...
Hey y'all! Phil and I are back from Florida. We had a wonderful time at the festival yesterday, and we've got the sunburns to prove it! It really was another great day for kite flying , and even though I didn't get to spend as much time lounging around as I had planned (they put me to work yesterday), it was a blast.
So, as I mentioned in my last post, Saturday morning began with a hearty breakfast of cheesy eggs, raisin toast and GRITS at the Waffle House!
We had seen these restaurants all over the place (no really, there was one on both sides of a 500 metre long bridge, I couldn't believe it), and given the secrets of Southern cuisine it promised to demystify, we just HAD to go. Unfortunately we didn't have the greatest waitress, but the food (once we got it), was pretty good. I wouldn't say I'm heartbroken that grits haven't made it as a breakfast staple food in Canada though.
After that, it was off to the kite field to put up some big ass kites!
The Manta Ray. See how small Phil looks?
The one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater!
Betty-Octo-Boop. See her garter?
As you can see, at one point there were many kites in the sky. This wasn't the biggest festival I've been to, but seeing all those kites in the air, right on the beach, was really something. It's an experience Phil and I will cherish, and we're so grateful to our wonderful friends Barry and Karen for inviting us down there.
As fun as it was, it was a loooong, hard day. Putting on a show like that is a lot of work! And those kites may be fun to fly, but they're a pain the arse to put away! But hey, we were there to work, right?
It didn't stop me from taking a break to take a dip in the ocean though! Most of the group thought I was nuts (it was a lottle cold), but one flyer, Matt, came with me. We were on the frickin' gulf of frickin' Mexico, dudes, and by Golly, I was going to swim!
That night we were just plain beat, so we decided to just stay in the condo (some of us - PHIL! - even stayed in our jammies). I talked Star Trek with a cool young lady (Hi Savannah!) and everyone just had a swell time.
It's back to reality today, of course. We were glad to see the kids, and we'll be glad to sleep in our own bed tonight (though perhaps not to go to work tomorrow!). Thanks again Barry and Karen! And thanks to my Dad and Margot for coming and babysitting the kids. We're so very fortunate that you are able to come here so we can take these trips together.
We'll return to our regular blog fodder next post! Until then, Happy Knitting Everyone!
Apparently this is all quite normal for Spring in Florida. In the space of 24 hours, the weather went from this: To this:Yesterday could NOT have been a more perfect day for kite flying. Or for just lazing around and looking fabulous on the beach. There was enough wind for the kites to go up and STAY up, which allowed Phil to sit and enjoy and relax instead of run around, trying to get the silly things up in the air again.
Yesterday was only for fun, since the festival really only starts today. They're going to be putting the REALLY big kites up today. Should be a hoot. :)
Have a good day everyone! I'm off to have grits and cheesy eggs at The Waffle House. I've been told it's an absolute must when in the South.
Hello! My goodness, it's nice to have the condo to myself for a few minutes! I can finally sit down to blog! Yay!
Not that there's much to tell, I'm afraid. The weather has been bloody awful the past 2 days, complete with storms and friggin' TORNADOES touching down all around us last night. But the Spring breakers, God bless their silly little heart, were still outside in their bikinis. They were in Florida, darn it, and they were going to effin' FROLIC!
We arrived safe and sound on Wednesday afternoon and, after some initial false starts, finally found our way to the condo our friends have rented in Fort Walton Beach. It's right on the beach, really quite lovely. Or rather it WOULD have been, if it weren't so cold and rainy. I thought Florida was supposed to be sunny???
Of course, as soon as our bags were in the room, Phil wasted no time in getting to the beach and trying to get a kite up in the air.
He wasn't very successful, I'm afraid. The wind, which had been fairly steady when we arrived, naturally died the second the kite was out of the bag.
That night we went out to dinner with our friends at a local seafood joint, AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar. Mmmmmm, seafood.
As I mentioned, yesterday's weather was just plain miserable. So the boys went to a kite store in Pensacola, and Karen and I went to have manicures and pedicures at a local spa. Well WHAT? We had to do something, right???
We met up with the boys for lunch at a local BBQ place, and then Phil and I did some shopping. We went to Target to pick up a few necessities, and then to a huge antiques store to look around.
Then last night Barry and Karen took us all to a very nice steak house (they're from Texas, y'all understand the allure of the steak, right?), and we stuffed ourselves to the gills.
And today it's finally sunny! So off I go to don my brand new bikini and soak up the sun. Although, all the eating I've been doing lately, I'm starting to rethink the whole "bikini" thing. Oh well!
Oh! Before I forget, I'm happy to report the the stole was a big hit with Karen. She wore it that very night, and it looked beautiful on her. I'm so glad!!!
I can't believe it's already Tuesday! Apologies to those of you who have been waiting to hear about the rest of our Niagara weekend with bated breath. When we got back Sunday night it was a mad rush to get everything ready for the coming week, and with choir practice last night, I wasn't able to get a proper post out.
OK! Dinner with the kite bigwigs Friday night. (Again, let me stress what a big deal this was to Phil. I really had no idea who these people were, but if the kite world had a king and queen, 2 of our co-diners, David and Susan Gomberg, would be it.)
Our patrons took us to a swanky steakhouse restaurant in the Niagara Casino. Sa-WAN-ky, I tell you. We had a private room, champagne, and ordered off a superb menu where everything was à la carte (cha-CHING!). I had the filet mignon with fresh asparagus. It was heavenly.
Dinner and company were so enjoyable that we missed the fireworks, but we retreated quite happily to our king sized suite (yeah, they booked us a suite - grins sheepishly), and were up at the crack of dawn (maybe even before that) to get ready for a day of kite flying.
The day's flying was at Reservoir State Park, a short drive away from Niagara Falls. It's a really large, flat fairground, perfect for flying really big kites. Unfortunately, Fūjin was not smiling on us Saturday. The rain held off but the winds were sporadic at best, and it was up, down, up, down all day long. Still, Phil got his Jordan 200 off the ground a few times and was able to test out his new koi fish, a birthday present he picked up from himself to himself with love.
Saturday evening there was a flyers reception shindig planned at an abandoned train station in Buffalo, New York. Yes, you read that right. Abandoned. And without heating. In a reaaaalllly bad part of town (think crack houses). That should have been the first clue that the evening would not go well.
Phil had offered 2 of the people who were also at the previous night's dinner a ride to the station, since the bus that was taking most of the flyers to the reception wouldn't be making it's way back until midnight. As we left the hotel to follow the bus to the station, one of the gentlemen, Alan Sparling, tripped on a small step that the designers of the hotel apparently thought would be a good idea to stick right in the middle of the parking lot, and anyway, he went down like a TON of bricks. The ppor man literally took a header, falling face first on the pavement and scraping his forehead, nose and glasses RAW.
We called an ambulance, and when they were finished wrapping him up, I swear the poor fellow looked like Imhotep. Our friends accompanied him to the hospital (he only ended up needing 2 stitches, but Man! That was a nasty fall), and we left with our lone remaining passenger for the station.
Of course (of course!) we got lost, and spent a friggin' half hour zipping back and forth along crack-house lane, trying to find this station. After stopping at a local firehouse and asking the friendly fireman for directions (whe I told him where we wanted to go, he looked at me and said "you SURE you want to go there at night?"), we finally found it, and DUDES. It was friggin' creepy. VeryGotham city. I kept expecting the Joker or the Riddler or even Batman himself to step out of the shadows. (Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks that, as according to Wikipedia, it was used as a location for such fine films as Prison of the Psychotic Damned and The Eldritch: A Tale of Erotic Horror. Nice.)
Anyhoo, we basically went in, took a look around (Freezing. Port-o-Potty. Stay in lighted areas or you may get mugged. Cockroaches.) and left. We had dinner with Barry and Karen (our patrons) at the Red Coach Inn, and it was delicious.
So all in all, a great weekend. We met great people, made new friends, and left with some interesting stories to tell. Can't wait to do it again.
I didn't get as much knitting done as I would have liked, unfortunately. I spent most of Saturday walking around, getting lunch and fetching drinks for everyone (I say fetching, but I was happy to do it. These people were working HARD!). The important thing is that I got my 2 main projects cast on and off.
Maxime was this thing where he sort of growls when you say either the word Monster or Dinosaur (I'm going to try to get him to say "brains.... BRAINS!!!", but it'll do for now). So when I saw this hat, I knew I had to make it for him.
Knit with Cascade 220 using 4.5 mm needles. Very quick knit. Lots of fun. I highly recommend it. I was worried about sizing, because the pattern says if for either an adult with a small head or a child with a large one, but it fits him perfectly. Both my kids have large noggins. I knew this.
I think you all know how much Émilie loves frogs. Seriously, she knows more about frogs and I ever cared to know. She knows their names, where they live... she just loves them. So when I saw this hat, I knew I had to make it for her.
It's been a bit of a challenge (ahem!). The actual making of the hat was super easy (it's pretty much all double or single crochet), but I've had issues with length and eye placement. When I put it on her yesterday morning, I felt it was too long (it covered her eyebrows) and the eye placement wasn't right (the frog was looking sideways rather than straight ahead). So I skipped Curves yesterday, ripped out 3 rows, re-did the band, sewed the eyes in place. No problem.
This morning I put in on her again, and this time it's too SHORT. Aaaaaaaack!!!! I'm going to have to rip it back, add maybe 1 or 2 repeats, then redo the band AGAIN. The trouble is that yesterday I chucked all my remaining purple because I was SO done with this project, and now I'm afraid I won't have enough. I hate this frog. He's giving me a dirty look with his google eyes. Smug bastard... We'll see who gets the last laugh!
I'll end this post with a video of Phil, taken on the drive back from Niagara on Sunday. I think you all know how much Phil loves the game Guitar Hero III? Well, he loves it so much that he even had the music blasting in the car! There may not be a Wii in the car, but that didn't stop him from playing up a storm. Enjoy!
Yup, to my shock and dismay (OK, not really dismay, but I was definitely startled), the Kite Festival is in Niagara Falls New York. (By the way, it really is true what they say. The Canadian site is totally the better side! :)
We left early this morning after dropping off the cherubs at daycare, where they'll be picked up by my parents this afternoon. Got some great knitting time on the ride down, but I had to put the needles down when for some reason Phil objected to driving the entire 7 hours. Grumble grumble. As soon as we checked into the hotel, Phil wanted to check out the kite flying area of the day, which was on Goat Island, a short drive from where we're staying. Unfortunately it turned out that most of the flyers were already packing up for the day, but that didn't deter Phil one little bit!
When we arrived in the area, we kept on commenting how strange it was that we couldn't see any kites in the air. We quickly discovered why!
The wind was really erratic, and the mist being thrown into the air by the falls made it really difficult to fly anything. And as for knitting? Fuhget aboud it...
We were a bit bummed, but decided to make the best of it by seeing the sights! On top of the list of attractions is the Cave of the Winds, which takes you right up to the American Falls (as opposed to the Horseshoe Falls, which we Canucks are accustomed to seeing from the Maid of the Mist). Before you embark on the tour, you're given these garbage bags/raincoats and flip-flops, and are warned that your clothes "may get damp". Uh, yeah, UNDERSTATEMENT!
I think there's a perpetual rainbow at the foot of the Falls
Rock on, Phil!
It's called the Hurricane Deck for a reason!
Totally awesome. Now we're back at the hotel, and we're having dinner with a bunch of kite bigwigs tonight. I have no idea who these people are, but Phil tells me that it'd be like meeting up with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi, Anne Hanson and Norah Gaughan at Rhinebeck. He's pretty stoked.
After dinner there will be fireworks at the Falls. Should be a good time.
Into this:
Which later became this:
Kids hated it, of course, but Oh. My. God. My mouth is pulling a total Pavlov just LOOKING at that picture.
4. Emilie !
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