Knittinggarden

It's gotten a bit chilly here in the desert; even some frost!  Today is a picture postcard kind of day with snow in the closer mountains.  It rained last night, which is great for this region.  I started making myself some fingerless mitts yesterday and hope to be done by Saturday when we have to stand outside in line for a movie at the film festival.  Why buy something when you can stress yourself out trying to make it, right? Wishing everyone a safe, happy New Year's Eve.  We're looking forward to a good and healthy new year.

Christmakkuh.  Well, not really but I'm doing my best.  I love lights and used to have them up all year on the bushes in our driveway island in Seattle.  Here in the desert it just doesn't seem like December when the sun is out every day.  We had a couple of days of clouds and drizzle but it's still pretty warm.  So in this gated community, I'm doing the best I can. Lights on a potted palm.  Very festive, don't ya think? Happy holidays to all!

and through the desert to the Princess' house we went..... Not quite to Grandma's house, but better.  Even though I arrived on Tuesday to help prepare and cook, Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by the Princess and Prince Charming this year.  Although lack of leftovers is a problem, using someone else's house for the big dinners is always good.  And getting to spend a couple of days with grown children who we rarely get to see was wonderful! I drove from Palm Desert to Las Vegas on Tuesday, DH flew in on Wednesday after dialysis, Mr. Hollywood and his gf drove over from LA and my sister and brother-in-law flew in from Seattle.  We enjoyed having dinner on the dining room table we had sent down to the Princess when we got ready to move last fall and also relaxing on our old sectional.  Old memories were enjoyed and new memories were made. DH helped Prince Charming with his barbeque technique and a fabulous turkey was the result.  Here they are in their ma...

The good news is that the Princess was released from the hospital on Tuesday and she's able to eat fairly normally.  The bad news is that I came down with an illness (not surprising since I was in that hospital so much and barely eating).  I've changed my plans to go home about five times and now plan to drive to Palm Springs on Monday. See, the complication is that DH  recently started dialysis and I can't be around him with a low grade fever. Luckily the kids seem to  like having me around so it hasn't been bad. I finally went to urgent care yesterday after neti pot and other home remedies resulted in my fever going up and got some meds. I think I will be able to leave on schedule now.  In knitting news, I finished the big sweater and everyone is really happy with it. It's plenty oversized now that my 5'9" Princess has shrunk to 105 pounds or so. When she's back to normal it will still be great as it fits me with plenty of room, too. iPad photos in th...

So I've been a good girl for awhile; no refined sugar, no gluten or much grain at all, no dairy, no alcohol, exercise. Did I lose any weight?  No.  Here's the method that works. Fly at short notice to Nevada to keep your DD company in the hospital. She has a flare up of IBD and can't eat, so she's skin and bones. I sit here and knit (that's going well) and try to find palatable and healthy food to eat. That's apparently impossible in a hospital :). So I seem to have lost about 3 pounds since Friday. Not the most recommended way, but hey whatever works!! ( I'm not really serious here, ya know.) The Princess is managing well, her pain has lessened, but she can't tolerate food. So we're in a holding pattern, waiting to see what happens. I've been knitting her a big cardigan sweater and am almost done. It was going to be a surprise, but I showed her and she likes it. We've been planning a bright color for the pocket linings so I'm going to ...

I'm busy finishing up things here in the Northwest so I can head down and join DH in the desert in a little over a week.  I got a bit distracted this morning by the Great Blue Heron who stood motionless on our beach for a long time waiting for a chance to catch his breakfast.  I had to photograph him from inside the house so as not to open a slider and scare him, but I did the best I could.  He was big and beautiful.  (Heron's gender is chosen arbitrarily as I don't really know that it was a male!) I think he was unsuccessful in his fishing here and majestically flew away after spending at least a half hour here.  His wingspan was very impressive as was his graceful flight over the water. In crafting news, I've been working on a big sweater called Warm Wishes .  It's going to be big and cozy and a gift, so I won't say more about that.  I'm using Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted in the Thunderstorm colorway.  This yarn is amazing and I've al...

The hordes have been clamoring for a blog update (well, two have anyway) so here I go.  What's been going on since I last provided any real information?  A lot, which is probably why I fell down on the job of reporting. My last informational post was last March (!) and a couple of weeks after that, DH suffered a stroke.  Fortunately it was mild as strokes go, but boy do you learn to appreciate the ease of thinking, walking, speaking, and writing when those things become difficult.  He started therapy right away and after a couple of sessions, was released to follow up on his own.  The warm pool at our condo complex in the desert was great for him to work in and he did that regularly until we left to come up north.  His first goal was to play golf and dance at his son's wedding on May 17th.  I'm happy to report that he did both. He's doing pretty well now, in fact he put together numerous Ikea chairs and bookcases as we furnished our new house i...

It's been a long time between posts; not altogether my fault.  I tried to do some updates from my iPad during a recent road trip but the darn thing wouldn't let me post any of my photos.  I had done it before but just couldn't figure it out this time, so I packed up my crayons and went home.  I'll be back with some knitting updates and road trip adventures, but I saw something the other day that made me laugh.  And I don't think you have to be a grammar queen to appreciate it. DH and I have been settling into our new lake house in the Pacific Northwest, and a couple of days ago a house two doors away went on the market.  I walked over and picked up a flyer to see the price.  It was your average sales flyer with photos, price, and description of house.  The last item on the bulleted statements amused us to no end. - Bald eagles souring overhead, while drinking your favorite beverage. Can't you just picture those eagles soaring sourly with wine gla...

Yes, the title is a bit of a joke, as I am in sunny Palm Desert and their idea of a big storm is the wind blowing and the temperature dropping to a chilly 75F.  I've been here since January, my first official season as a "snowbird."  We are due to head back north to the Pacific Northwest in May.  Number One son is being married mid-May and we need to arrive ahead of the other kids to get the rooms furnished in the new house that I moved into right before leaving town.  DH and I will spend the summer getting things squared away there and landscaping done but for now we need to have appropriate sleeping places set up for the other kids who will be arriving to stay with us before the wedding. I've been knitting and spinning here, but kind of lost my mojo for a little while.  It's been warmer than usual and my winter knitting just didn't seem to interest me.  I did reconfigure a sweater that I made last summer, the Brynna cardigan .  I didn't like the wa...

GO HAWKS!

Making breakfast in my new kitchen and looking out at the ducks.  Pretty great.  The only thing that would make it better is if my family were here with me. I'll see them all soon!