What I Did With My Extra Hour Today

Oh my, it's been too long since I've paid attention to you.   October got away from me without a single post.   For me, writing is like exercising.  If I am not disciplined and diligent, I get lazier and lazier to the point of inertia.
Since we turned the clocks back this morning, I have this extra hour to spend, so here I am.
I am sitting in my lazy chair, the one I mold into when I'm obsessively knitting, just one more row, just one more row.  Before I know it, it’s too late to go to my aerobics class.  Inertia.
My lazy chair is a well-worn high back wing.  It's in front of the fireplace in our living/family room.  Although this morning there is a little nip in the air, it’s not chilly enough for a fire.
Our fall weather has been perfect.  Cool mornings followed by cozy sun-warmed afternoons.
I am wrapped up in my soft fluffy red robe.  My knees are propped up to provide a lap for my laptop.
My Contigo tea mug with the blue top is tucked into the corner of the chair.  It's filled with "Relaxing Honey Vanilla Bliss" by Teekanne Herbal Wellness Teas.
Now and then I take a thoughtful sip pondering what the heck I am going to write about.   As I sip and ponder, I gaze out the front door sidelight windows,  hypnotized by the gentle swaying of brilliant ruby and gold maple leaves.
I must admit I am doing more gazing than writing.
Ross is in the kitchen fighting with Rico.  It's medicine time.  "There's no biting!" Ross admonishes.
Pretty soon I will have to move to the kitchen.  Rico won't eat his food unless I am sitting at the kitchen table.  It's one of his quirks.
Lately, I've been doing a lot of knitting. Truth is, knitting is and has been a big part of my life.  For me, I suppose it's similar to blogging.   It satisfies a creative need.  Many times it has been an emotional support for me.  Like bloggers, knitters also have a supportive community. I am a member of a website called Ravelry.

Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.

Ravelry has 6,597,646 registered users. 981,114 Ravelers have been active during the last 30 days.

Wow, huh?  Over six million knitters and crocheters.

Now, within the knitting community, there are the knitting podcasters.  They are also a tight-knit  community.
I have become obsessed with watching knitting podcasts.  There are hundreds and hundreds of them on YouTube.  I find it interesting  that they all follow the exact same format.  I wonder why that is.
Anyway, I fantasize about doing one myself.  Then, I wonder why I want to do one.  Hmmm, lots of introspection surrounds that question.
Perhaps I feel that venturing into the knitting podcast world would provide the same comradery for me that being part of my bloggy family has.
You see no one close to me is a knitter.  None of my sisters knit.  My daughter doesn't.  I tried teaching my granddaughter but she's into other things, which I thoroughly understand. 
Actually, my knitting companion happens to be Ross.  He encourages me by oohing  and aahing about my latest projects.  He is genuinely interested, but he refuses to learn how to knit!
I do belong to the needlecraft group in our community.  They are a great bunch of friendly and welcoming women.  They all do beautiful work.  Even though I am around the same age as most of them, they are of a different knitting generation than the Ravelry and  Knitting Podcast folks.  By that I mean they are used to doing things the way they always did and seem to be hesitant to try new things.  Which is okay.
But, not only do I want to talk about what I'm working on, I also want to learn about the newest techniques, where to find the finest hand dyed yarn, and what the latest designs are.
That's what the knitting podcasters do.  I guess that's what I want to do.
Okay, I have to come clean, I, well Ross and I, do have experience with podcasting.  Our "show" is called Sundays With Lynda & Ross. It is mainly entertainment.  Since we don't have a lot of viewers, it mostly for our own amusement.  And perhaps our great-grandchildren might come across our videos one day.
But, to go solo with a podcast, For this shy introvert, though, it might be a stretch, a real reach outside of my comfort zone.  If I can summon up the courage, I'll let you know.
Anyway, my free hour is up.  I think I'll get dressed and instead of gazing out the window, I'll step outside the door.
By the way, I realized something just now, I missed you! :)

Tears Falling On The Feathery Fringe of His Black & Gray Scarf

Ten years ago, to give as Christmas presents,  I ordered tee shirts and scarves, custom embroidered in red, white and green lettering with "Christmas 2006 Proud Member of Priscilla's Clan".
 Priscilla is my mom.
We gave each of her children, sons and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and step grandchildren one or another of the embroidered items.  I think I remember Mom being surprised about the whole thing.

Last night Anne asked me if I'd like the "Priscilla's Clan"  tee shirt, the one I gave to Joe that Christmas 10 years ago.
"Oh yes," I said.
"You know I had to empty the attic because I was having some work done," she explained.
"I had boxes of Joe's clothes stored there.  They're downstairs for now.  There are other things if you want to...," her voice trailed off.
I hesitated for a minute, trying to emotionally remove myself from what she was asking.
She got up to head to the basement.  She turned towards me with a hesitancy of her own.
Unspoken words floated through the air between us.
I followed her, distracted by her red strappy heels as she carefully made her way down the steps.
The boxes were stacked, one on top of another.  Clear plastic ones, with colorful tops.
The kids were down there playing.  Domani chattering away with his cousins.
I would glance at the boxes, then look away towards Domani, smiling at his antics.
Now, as I try to recall what I was feeling, I have an image of  myself, alone, sitting on the floor, as I carefully take out each piece of him one by one, hold each one next to me in an embrace, not wanting to let go.
I remember the last night I was with him.  We were all there.  All of us who achingly loved Joe, none of us, not one of  wanting to let him go.
I will always regret that I didn't have my alone time with him that night.  Perhaps I thought I would have more time.  He promised me that, you know.
Now, as she and I were focused on the boxes, but not really on the boxes, I felt awkward.  I think she sensed that I might want to look through the boxes.  She took the top off of one.  My eyes were instantly drawn to feathery halos of soft gray fingers of fringe laying somewhere near the bottom of the box.
She began to gently lift the rows of neatly folded items, looking for the Priscilla shirt.
She found it and handed it to me.   I took it and held it close.
She told me that she had already picked out a group of his tee's.   She was going to have a quilt made for Domani.
I liked that idea very much and told her that.
She was about to put the lid back on the box.  "If there's anything else..."
I asked if she knew about a scarf that I had made for Joe, all the while knowing that it was the one down at the bottom of the box.  The one that the halo of gray fringe was attached to.  But I didn't want to intrude.  Funny, now that I think about it.  How reserved I am.  How reserved Joe was.  Too polite to ask, "Would it be okay?"
She said she didn't recall.  I slowly reached into the box and pulled out the gray and black scarf, the one with the feathery fringe.
"Yes, this is the one," I said.
I remembered the last time I saw him wearing the scarf. He walked into the room and I immediately noticed he was wearing the scarf.  It made me happy.   He wore it around it neck, hanging down loosely, making a fashion statement.  He was cool that way.  I believe it was at Domani's first birthday party.  The only birthday party Joe would get to spend with his son.

But now, I began to cry, softly at first.  She came to me comforting me with a hug, tears falling on the scarf and the Priscilla shirt that we held between us close to our hearts.
Domani stopped playing.  His little face became flushed.  "What's the matter?" he wanted to know.
"Grandma is just sad," she said.  She leaned down next to him and whispered something to him.
"You understand, don't you?" Anne said to him.
He looked at his mother, then at me and solemnly nodded.

Notes and Notables and a Rico Update

Notes and Notables

Ross and I had stuff going on the past few weeks and the stuff will continue into the next couple of weeks.
Some of it is hum-drum, some not, but all noteworthy.  At least I think so.   And since it's my blog I guess I get to decide.

So, the painter, after a 6-week delay due to a family thing (his family) will start painting our house on September 19th.  Last week we went to the paint store and picked up a half dozen quart cans of various paint colors.  We currently have patches of paint samples on our walls all throughout the house.  We probably started applying the patches of paint too early because the more I look at the decisions I've made the less I like them.


Picking colors for an entire house is hard!

In June of this year, our area was hit with a hail storm.  A few weeks ago we noticed some of our neighbors were having their roofs replaced.  At first, we didn’t think anything of it.  The houses are in our community are starting to age.  The older ones were built about 20 years ago.
Ross stopped to talk to one of those neighbors and found out that their roof was damaged during the hail storm.  We decided we should have someone check ours.   Apparently, according to the roofer,  our roof has storm damage.  We contacted our insurance company.  The adjuster came out last week.  Now we are waiting to see if our insurance will pay for a new roof.

Okay, this one isn't so hum-drum and in fact, it was quite scary. Ross spent a good part of his early days outdoors, life guarding in the summer and skiing in the winter.  He admits that he was never diligent about applying sun block.  Last month he noticed a few suspicious looking areas on his skin.   He went to a dermatologist who removed and tested several spots.
One of the tests came back positive for squamous cell carcinoma.   On Thursday Ross had surgery to have it removed. The doctor also took out part of the area around the original spot and had that tested.    That result was negative and the doctor said it is unlikely to recur.  Whew!

Last week I met my long time friend, Cathy for breakfast.  Cathy and I have known each other for 60 years.  Although we only meet every couple of years, we have managed to keep up with each other's lives.
A few days after our meeting, I received a thank-you note in the mail,  my actual mailbox!  I don't remember the last time I received something in my actual mailbox that wasn't a bill or an advertisement.  It was a nice surprise.
"I know we'll continue to keep in touch and am truly happy that our friendship has remained steadfast all these years and will continue to do so."






How lovely is that!

Last weekend Ross went up to his hometown, which is about 100 miles from here, to attend a 55th high school reunion committee meeting.
After the meeting, one of his classmates took him aside and told him how much she enjoyed reading my blog.
That next day I received a note from Kathy (yes another Kathy).  Even though this was an electronic note, it was just as much of a nice surprise.
"Hi Lynda, I asked Ross to tell you but wanted to let you know myself that you are an amazing writer. I don't follow blogs or do much on the internet but I read some of your blog and was blown away by it. Keep it up. You have a real gift."
Wow, Kathy, I am shyly and humbly appreciative.   Makes me want to resurrect "Me and Marymae".

Yesterday we had what we hope to be the start of a regular thing.  A once a month Sunday dinner with the family.   We all have busy lives.  Well okay, Ross and I not so much.  After all, we are retired.  But making time, like we did yesterday, was a special treat.

Up and coming:
Perhaps a new season of “Sundays with Lynda and Ross”.  Maybe after Labor Day.  
Ross' 55th high school reunion is at the end of September.   I'm not sure I will accompany him.  I haven't decided yet.  But most likely not.
Last week we found out that a favorite aunt, my mother's sister, is ill.  She is in our thoughts.  I hope to get over to see her this week.

Also, we are planning a long overdue visit to see Ross' sister Joan.  Maybe in October.  That might depend on how Rico is doing.

Speaking of Rico,  he continues to have sleeping issues but at least not every night.  Although, one of those nights was last night. It’s one of the reasons I had time this morning to write this post. Since I was up with Rico at 3:00 a.m.,  I overslept and missed my 8:30 aerobics class.
I feel, at this point, it seems that Rico still enjoys hanging out with us and...well it’s hard for me to think of the alternative.

So that's it for now.  In my next post, I am going to address how I feel about Facebook and the way it has changed so much in the last couple of years.

Legacy Fiber Artz - Etsy

I am also going to talk about my addiction to YouTube podcasts, knitting podcasts in particular, and why it has started to become a very expensive hobby habit.

Toad Hollow