Thursday, June 12, 2008

Today started out as one of "those" days. If I picked it up, I dropped it. If I walked by it, I knocked it over. I was tired and felt like someone had beaten me up in my sleep. (I had a zombie dream so maybe that was partly true). It was a true low energy type of day. And it was looooonnnnnnggggggg.



I started making the courtesy calls for my clinics next week. You know the kind "Hi John, this is Donna Lee. I'm just reminding you that you have an appointment with Dr. S on Monday at 1." I called a woman who I enjoy seeing when she comes in and she started telling me what a lovely day it was outside. Now, I am still in the closet on the third floor as they finish the rennovations on our second floor offices and I cannot see the outside and have no idea what kind of day it is. I decided then and there that we were going to have a picnic for dinner.


I called Kate and asked her to bake some chicken for chicken salad and to bake some brownies. I finished up my work and headed home. Kate not only cooked the chicken, she made the chicken salad. Yay Kate! We made sandwiches, packed up drinks and napkins and of course the brownies, stopped at WaWa for some ice and chips and were off to Red Bank Battlefield National Park. It's on the Delaware River and one of the most peaceful parks I know. It's across from the Phila airport and you can watch the planes come in and the barges on the river. That's Philadelphia there in the distance. The river is a major port/harbor and you can see the crane for loading/unloading container ships. There is also the James and Anne Whitall house. You can see their initials and the date on the side of the house. J W A and what looks like 1748.(or maybe 1798?) It's really in good shape for being over 200 years old. We ate our sandwiches and talked and just enjoyed the smell of the river and the peace. The park was almost empty which was surprising but in a nice way. I started a pair of socks for my supervisor, the River Ripple socks from my pattern-a-day calendar. I'm using the bamboo/wool yarn that was May's Artwalk sock yarn. It's soft with a subtle sheen and the colors (an orange color and purples) mix together much better knitted than I thought they would. I've only finished one repeat of the pattern so far and it looks pretty good. I think she'll like them. I've also finished the Lily of the Valley socks. I wore them today and took off my shoes at every opportunity to show them off. They are the socks I was working on when I was spotted knitting at work. I wish I could take better photos of my feet! I have very round toes and the toes on these fit just right. I like the lacy look of them. I am doing the toe decreases for the Online socks and they'll be done. Just in time to get ready for the Tour de France kal. My yarn came in the mail and I have my pattern and needles and stitch markers all together and ready to go on July 5. There's still time to join. Check it out.
One of the best (probably the only good) parts of my job is the connections I make with people. Some of my clients are so overwhelmed by their mental illness that they are not able to make relationships and they come in and get what they need and go home. But some are able and willing and Tuesday I had one such person in the clinic. She is an art student and the doctor was telling her about my knitting. The young woman asked me if I could knit something for her. She's always wanted a felted bag and offered to trade me a painting for a felted bag. I am intrigued by this and although it's probably against all the rules, I agreed. So, I am going to knit her a large red bag and felt it and she will trade me one of her canvases. I'll let you know how this works out as I have never felted anything on purpose before.
Tomorrow is Friday (YAY) and I am ready for a weekend. We are going to a barbecue with some friends and cleaning out the pool. (The dead squirrels are all gone). It will probably go all too fast. And this weekend is Father's Day. The girls and I have come up with a terrific gift for PK but it has to remain a secret because I know he reads this when he's bored at work. I hope you all have a great weekend!

7 comments:

amy said...

Have a great weekend! A picnic is such a great idea for dinner on a nice day, especially when you're cooped up in a closet all day. Thanks for the view of the river.

Olivia said...

I miss summer. Your dinner picnic sounds great and I love the photos. Lovely socks too. Good luck with the felted bag. I haven't done any bags yet (have a few in mind though!). Might be a good idea to knit & felt a swatch first, because it will probably shrink in one direction more than the other.

Rose Red said...

Oh a picnic - what a great idea after a lousy day. If that house (which is lovely) was built in 1748, it is older than white settlement of Australia - bizarro!

Good luck with the felting - I think that is a really cool thing to do, whether it is against the rules or not.

Bezzie said...

Great picnic idea. We should do that.

On the plus side, felting is hard to mess up since it's based on basically messing up (shrinking!) knitting to begin with!

Anonymous said...

Nice Photos, I've heard of that park but I've never been there. I love the river and theres not too many places in Philly to go see it.
Have a nice weekend,
Steve

Galad said...

The picnic sounds lovely and the park a great setting. Just the kind of life you need at the end of a long day.

Amy Lane said...

It will mean a lot to her--every time she uses that bag, she'll think of that human connection! And your socks are lovely--everytime I see what you've knit, I want to knit more socks!

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