Saturday, July 07, 2007
Gone Fishin'
This morning we are off to the Northwoods of New Hampshire on our annual fishing trip. We will see lots of moose, deer, loons and maybe even some lake trout and salmon. Some days we take a boat out onto the lake, and some days we just stay near the cabin and read books and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
I love to wake up early and go out to the porch and knit while listening to the loons, watching the lake change colors, and just enjoy the solitude. This will be our fifth year of going to the cabin, and we always have a great time, rain or shine.
The weather there comes down from Ontario, so it is often cooler than Boston, and the weather can be changeable. There are always a few rain clouds, but seldom a whole day of rain, and this year it is suppose to be mostly sunny with a 20% change of thundershowers some days. We bring rummy, scrabble and a deck of cards in case of really rainy days, but we never have had a day where it rained all day long. It is so beautiful up there!
We do a lot of birdwatching and George brings suet and a feeder to hang in the tree outside the cabin. There is our resident chipmunk who eats our peanuts. We take drives around the beautiful lakes and rivers and look for loons and foxes and other woodland creatures. Although there is no cell phone or internet, there is swimming and picnicking and we take drives to town for groceries and laundry. For some reason, I enjoy going to the laundromat when I am vacationing, something my brother always thought was very weird. The nearest town is 30 miles away, and if there is rain or a sprinkle, we often take off for town to have lunch or look around. George discovered to his delight that there is a library in town that has computers and I can log on to check my email and Ebay sales. So...there is civilization not too far away. We like solitude, but it doesn't have to be desolate!
The rivers in this part of New Hampshire are some of the world's best for flyfishing. I take my flyfishing rod, and consider it a success if I don't catch the fly on the tree behind me. Catching a fish is practically an impossibility, but it is fun to explore the back roads and get out and enjoy the scenery. Some day I would love to go to flyfishing camp, where I would really learn what I was doing. Since I don't have waders, we often just go by the covered bridge and I fish from the shore. The rivers are fast moving and beautiful and there are many scenic covered bridges to explore as well.
The car is packed up and we are almost ready to leave. I have packed some jewelry making supplies, some peyote bead work, some knitting projects, and a lot of library books. We also have good food and meats for barbecuing, and yesterday I made homemade barbecue sauce that tastes really yummy.
Have a great week and we'll see you on the 15th!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Funny cat
This is my friend's pet, Crystal. She sent this picture to me today. After a serious brushing Crystal was plain worn out!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
4th of July socks
I finished this pair of socks today while watching the movie Letters from Iwo Jima. These socks are fun because I finally managed to control the yarn variation so that the stripes match! That is a feat I have not done before and I am rather thrilled with them, if I say so myself.
The movie was good, the socks turned out nice, and it's on with the fireworks!
Have a great evening.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Deck flowers déjà vu
George and I brought a New Guinea Impatien plant in a pretty planter to Michelle and Michael for their deck. We liked it so much that we we got home, we bought one for ourselves too. Here is a picture on a very sunshiny day.
Monday, July 02, 2007
4th of July
It seems strange to have the July 4th holiday right smack in the middle of the week. I imagine that lots of people will take Thursday and Friday off and head for the hills. George and I are going to be quiet and calm. We will cook out on the grill and stay out of the traffic.
Traffic to the Cape and to the Maine Coast can be really brutal and it is best to stay out of it. I never knew about traffic until I moved to Boston. Boston traffic is like that fair haired little girl: "when she is good, she is very very good, but when she is bad, she is horrid!" Holidays tend to bring out the "horrid" around here, and long lines of hot cars going nowhere is the norm.
The best Fourth of Julys were the ones that we celebrated when I was a little girl of six or seven. My brother is eleven years older than me, so he was in highschool and very competent to handle fireworks at just the age when I was ready to enjoy them. My little brother was a baby at this time, so he was just mewing in mom's arms, but I was fascinated with 4th of July fire.
Every year we would go to Albert and Ella's farm near Union City, Oklahoma. They had a small acreage and Albert had cows, chickens and pigs. Ella wore house dresses and took care of the chickens and the cooking. They didn't have any children at home when I was small, so I had the run of the place. My brother taught me how to shoot cans off a fence railing out on their farm, and I spent many Saturday afternoons with him holding the rifle on my shoulder while I tried to aim at the can. It was very exciting. They didn't have an indoor bathroom, but a little old outhouse with the moon cut out on the door, just like the picture books. It was fun and scary to go out there at night and my mom would have to stand on the porch and wait for me. Albert smoked cigars and the living room was a small dark place that had a brass vase on the floor for spitting tobacco and the room smelled funny, so I didn't like to go in there. Their bedroom was separated off the living room with a curtain and was barely big enough for a double bed. They didn't have much money, but I didn't know that at the time.
Anyway, back to the 4th of July. My brother would shoot off the fireworks after dark. We would have our picnic dinner of fried chicken, potato salad and watermelon and then we would all line up our lawn chairs out there on the lawn facing the pasture. The stars were out, the evening was warm, the land is flat and simple, and the lightning bugs were out. My brother rigged up some of the fireworks on the clothes line, and the twirly rings of fire would shoot back and forth along the line to whoops of joy from me. Then he would set off the Roman candles and the big black booming firecrackers and scare everyone with delight. My mom and dad were very cool and let my brother handle the show. He didn't seem to need any advice or warnings, and always had things well in control.
After the big show I got to run around with sparklers, one after another, and chase the lightning bugs with some lightning of my own.
I always remember those long evenings on Albert and Ella's farm. I think of them often. Albert actually fought in World War ONE, and had awful stories of trench warfare. I didn't understand then how unique it is to even KNOW anyone who fought in that war. Ella was round and cuddly and sweet and happy in her little farmhouse. Union City was blown off the map in l973 by a mile-wide tornado that leveled the town the church, the schools, everything. (It has since been rebuilt.)
One time we brought home a kitten from their farm. The kitten was black and white, and I was very excited. In the car, on the way home, we talked about what to name him. Mother said that she had heard it was an Indian custom to name children after the first thing they see. So...I named the kitten Schoolbus...because that was the first thing I saw. That poor cat kept the name Schoolbus, and even today I see black and white cats Schoolbus descendents around the neighborhood near mom's house.
So many fun memories of the 4th of July.
Have a good one!
Traffic to the Cape and to the Maine Coast can be really brutal and it is best to stay out of it. I never knew about traffic until I moved to Boston. Boston traffic is like that fair haired little girl: "when she is good, she is very very good, but when she is bad, she is horrid!" Holidays tend to bring out the "horrid" around here, and long lines of hot cars going nowhere is the norm.
The best Fourth of Julys were the ones that we celebrated when I was a little girl of six or seven. My brother is eleven years older than me, so he was in highschool and very competent to handle fireworks at just the age when I was ready to enjoy them. My little brother was a baby at this time, so he was just mewing in mom's arms, but I was fascinated with 4th of July fire.
Every year we would go to Albert and Ella's farm near Union City, Oklahoma. They had a small acreage and Albert had cows, chickens and pigs. Ella wore house dresses and took care of the chickens and the cooking. They didn't have any children at home when I was small, so I had the run of the place. My brother taught me how to shoot cans off a fence railing out on their farm, and I spent many Saturday afternoons with him holding the rifle on my shoulder while I tried to aim at the can. It was very exciting. They didn't have an indoor bathroom, but a little old outhouse with the moon cut out on the door, just like the picture books. It was fun and scary to go out there at night and my mom would have to stand on the porch and wait for me. Albert smoked cigars and the living room was a small dark place that had a brass vase on the floor for spitting tobacco and the room smelled funny, so I didn't like to go in there. Their bedroom was separated off the living room with a curtain and was barely big enough for a double bed. They didn't have much money, but I didn't know that at the time.
Anyway, back to the 4th of July. My brother would shoot off the fireworks after dark. We would have our picnic dinner of fried chicken, potato salad and watermelon and then we would all line up our lawn chairs out there on the lawn facing the pasture. The stars were out, the evening was warm, the land is flat and simple, and the lightning bugs were out. My brother rigged up some of the fireworks on the clothes line, and the twirly rings of fire would shoot back and forth along the line to whoops of joy from me. Then he would set off the Roman candles and the big black booming firecrackers and scare everyone with delight. My mom and dad were very cool and let my brother handle the show. He didn't seem to need any advice or warnings, and always had things well in control.
After the big show I got to run around with sparklers, one after another, and chase the lightning bugs with some lightning of my own.
I always remember those long evenings on Albert and Ella's farm. I think of them often. Albert actually fought in World War ONE, and had awful stories of trench warfare. I didn't understand then how unique it is to even KNOW anyone who fought in that war. Ella was round and cuddly and sweet and happy in her little farmhouse. Union City was blown off the map in l973 by a mile-wide tornado that leveled the town the church, the schools, everything. (It has since been rebuilt.)
One time we brought home a kitten from their farm. The kitten was black and white, and I was very excited. In the car, on the way home, we talked about what to name him. Mother said that she had heard it was an Indian custom to name children after the first thing they see. So...I named the kitten Schoolbus...because that was the first thing I saw. That poor cat kept the name Schoolbus, and even today I see black and white cats Schoolbus descendents around the neighborhood near mom's house.
So many fun memories of the 4th of July.
Have a good one!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sharing the news
Every time I go to Michael's house I learn a lot. This trip he told me about google.com/reader, which assembles news stories by source. You subscribe to the sources you want to read and you can click through the headlines and get all the news that's fit to print, and more besides, in a very short time. And you get to choose the news sources based on the subjects that interest you most.I have my settings on recipes, the New York Times, The Boston Globe, Google news, Yahoo news...well, you get the idea.
I'm now addicted to my Google/reader. Every morning I go to the computer to check on my Ebay sales, and now I also click through all my chosen news stories as well. I can scroll through national and international news in a jiffy, and catch news about politics, the supreme court, and all the important news tidbits that make up our world. And I don't have to read a single thing about Paris Hilton unless I want to!
It may not be ALL the news, but it is darn close. The feature that Mike and I like is SHARE, where you share the stories that you think are important with others. Michael may not think that my recipe for grilled corn on the cob is the most important story of the day, but I bet he learns from it, just as I learn when he sends me stories about technology and iphones.
Today I subscribed to DIGG, which is another site where you can read a story and either send it to someone to share, or blog it. My blog has the google/reader news on the right column now. There are news stories that I think are important, or fun, or interesting, and now they are there to share. You don't have to read them, but I did, and I liked them enough to share. Information is coming to us in waves from all over the globe, and now we can share what WE like...and take control of where we hear about it.
Thanks Mike for teaching me one more thing!
Have a great day.
I'm now addicted to my Google/reader. Every morning I go to the computer to check on my Ebay sales, and now I also click through all my chosen news stories as well. I can scroll through national and international news in a jiffy, and catch news about politics, the supreme court, and all the important news tidbits that make up our world. And I don't have to read a single thing about Paris Hilton unless I want to!
It may not be ALL the news, but it is darn close. The feature that Mike and I like is SHARE, where you share the stories that you think are important with others. Michael may not think that my recipe for grilled corn on the cob is the most important story of the day, but I bet he learns from it, just as I learn when he sends me stories about technology and iphones.
Today I subscribed to DIGG, which is another site where you can read a story and either send it to someone to share, or blog it. My blog has the google/reader news on the right column now. There are news stories that I think are important, or fun, or interesting, and now they are there to share. You don't have to read them, but I did, and I liked them enough to share. Information is coming to us in waves from all over the globe, and now we can share what WE like...and take control of where we hear about it.
Thanks Mike for teaching me one more thing!
Have a great day.
Friday, June 29, 2007
George and I watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. I had moved this movie to the top of my Netflix list. This movie is dark. We were both very captivated throughout, but we both commented as we were watching it about how "dark" it was. I think I expected something fanciful and fairy-tale, but what I didn't expect was the deep element of evil that surrounds the characters, whether in real life or in the Labyrinth. George said at one point that there was no relief from the bad stuff...that it was all bad upstairs and down.
I think it is a wonderful movie. I went to the website today, Pan's Labyrinth.com, and was amazed at all that is there to see. If you have seen the movie, please go to the website and see all the comments about how the movie was made. I love the website and it is obvious that everyone who was connected with this movie was really in love with it, including of coure, the wonderful director Guillermo Del Toro. Don't miss the INTERACT feature, Guillermo Del Toro's Sketchbook! It really is incredible, and they know it! Even the music behind the website is wonderful and usually I hate music on websites.
The characters are incredible and the art direction is amazing. But don't expect a light and frothy fairytale. This is NOT a children's movie.
After I watched it, I decided that I wanted to know more about the Spanish Civil War and the fight between Franco and the rebels in Spain. This is the war that Ernest Hemmingway and other famous Americans signed up for. This movie makes you think as well as feel. I was fascinated by the rebels and their bravery in the face the of the brutal Captain Vidal. And I was fascinated by the cast of characters in the labyrinth. It is all brutality, murder and mayhem and a lot of red blood handled in very artistic ways. And it is beautiful. It is almost impossible to imagine writing such a screenplay...much less making this fantastic vision into a movie.
Have a great day.
I think it is a wonderful movie. I went to the website today, Pan's Labyrinth.com, and was amazed at all that is there to see. If you have seen the movie, please go to the website and see all the comments about how the movie was made. I love the website and it is obvious that everyone who was connected with this movie was really in love with it, including of coure, the wonderful director Guillermo Del Toro. Don't miss the INTERACT feature, Guillermo Del Toro's Sketchbook! It really is incredible, and they know it! Even the music behind the website is wonderful and usually I hate music on websites.
The characters are incredible and the art direction is amazing. But don't expect a light and frothy fairytale. This is NOT a children's movie.
After I watched it, I decided that I wanted to know more about the Spanish Civil War and the fight between Franco and the rebels in Spain. This is the war that Ernest Hemmingway and other famous Americans signed up for. This movie makes you think as well as feel. I was fascinated by the rebels and their bravery in the face the of the brutal Captain Vidal. And I was fascinated by the cast of characters in the labyrinth. It is all brutality, murder and mayhem and a lot of red blood handled in very artistic ways. And it is beautiful. It is almost impossible to imagine writing such a screenplay...much less making this fantastic vision into a movie.
Have a great day.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Teenagers behind the wheel
I am trying to be upbeat, but it is really a problem about teen drivers. I think that teenagers don't have enough common sense to really know how to drive well, and especially when there are other teens in the car. I think that the desire to impress others, or peer pressure, makes teens not think straight. It is hard enough to drive alone for most of us, and I would imagine that inexperienced drivers really have a hard time with other teens in the car--they just don't know it!
I am so saddened by the loss of life when five teenage girls died in upstate New York this weekend. They were passing a van, and hit a truck coming from the other direction. If only the driver had stayed where she was, went a little slower, and followed the van for awhile until she was sure. But, as a teenager, she was not sure, and she passed that van anyway.
What is the answer? Do we take drivers licenses away from teens? I am not sure, but I do know that if I had a teenager, I would try very hard not to let him or her drive with other teens in the car.
Recently I saw a TV show about seat belts. They interviewed a mom who seemed very close to her daughter, who insisted that HER daughter always used a seat belt, that they had talked about it many times and that her daughter never would go anywhere without one. She was very positive about this. Then they showed the mom a video that was taken of the car that her daughter was driving. She was with a group of girls, and none of them were wearing a seatbelt.
Taking away privileges isn't something that I take lightly when dealing with teens. My parents always gave us the benefit of the doubt and I was given my first car to drive when I was 16. Did I take chances? Yes. Did I do stupid things? Yes. Did I die? No, but almost. So....what is the answer? I guess all we can do is pray.
Have a great day.
I am so saddened by the loss of life when five teenage girls died in upstate New York this weekend. They were passing a van, and hit a truck coming from the other direction. If only the driver had stayed where she was, went a little slower, and followed the van for awhile until she was sure. But, as a teenager, she was not sure, and she passed that van anyway.
What is the answer? Do we take drivers licenses away from teens? I am not sure, but I do know that if I had a teenager, I would try very hard not to let him or her drive with other teens in the car.
Recently I saw a TV show about seat belts. They interviewed a mom who seemed very close to her daughter, who insisted that HER daughter always used a seat belt, that they had talked about it many times and that her daughter never would go anywhere without one. She was very positive about this. Then they showed the mom a video that was taken of the car that her daughter was driving. She was with a group of girls, and none of them were wearing a seatbelt.
Taking away privileges isn't something that I take lightly when dealing with teens. My parents always gave us the benefit of the doubt and I was given my first car to drive when I was 16. Did I take chances? Yes. Did I do stupid things? Yes. Did I die? No, but almost. So....what is the answer? I guess all we can do is pray.
Have a great day.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Oh, Raspberries!
This beautiful fruit was in someone's community plot. Left ripening, right by the fence, and no one would even think!!! of picking any. Community gardening is so great!
Poppies!!
(Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both sleep and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of their (commonly) blood red color. In Greco-Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies are used as emblems on tombstones to symbolize eternal sleep. This aspect was used, fictionally, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to create magical poppy fields, dangerous because they caused those who passed through them to sleep forever.) From Wikipedia. How did we live without Wikipedia???
Flowers and a bumble bee I didn't see until I saw the picture
(Echinacea is a genus consisting of nine species of flowering plants in the Family Asteraceae, all native to eastern North America, and often known as the purple coneflower.) People think Echinacea has healing powers, and can be a cure for colds.
The Spirit of St. Louis - no windshield so Lindbergh had to use a periscope to see forward!
(My mom always talks about Charles Lindbergh with a special tone in her voice. She said that when she was in highschool in Minnesota ALL the girls were IN LOVE with Lindy!)
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