Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year.I’m further along than this.  I have 2/3 of one sleeve to finish and then the washing, blocking and weaving in.  The yarn comes from a small collective in Mongolia.  It doesn’t feel like much in the ball but once it’s knit up, wow.  What a transformation.  I put it away for the warm weather and now I have the boring boring boring part of just plain knitting around and around....  I looked a long time to find a pattern that would work with my yarn.  I wanted enough design to make it interesting but not too much so that the yarn itself didn’t shine.  It’s too much to carry to work for my lunch time knitting or my knitting group, so I should be faithful and work on it at home every night until it’s done.  The operative word in that sentence is should.  

Friday night, Pk and I went on a date.  We had dinner and a concert of old folk singers.  The dinner was unforgettable but not because it was good.  The concert was wonderful.  Chris Eberhart, Patti Larkin, Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka and Christine Lavin.  Not heard of them?  I’m not surprised.  They are singer/songwriters and they have stories to tell.  John Gorka is a NJ native.  He won the night with his song, “I’m from NJ”.  The chorus is, “I’m from NJ, I don’t expect too much.  If the world ended today, I’d adjust”.  Of course at a concert in NJ, that would go over well.  We were in a small, old theater which added to the charm.  We got lucky and the 2 seats next to me were empty and I could move over so we had some extra room.  The seats were close together and build for a population that was less broad in the beam.  It was interesting to be in an audience full of white haired people watching a stage full of white haired people.

Yesterday, I was productive.  All of the laundry got done and put away, the bathroom got cleaned and I spent a good part of the day cleaning our bedroom.  It really wasn’t a mess but we have a tendency to just put things on shelves and in the corner and eventually it piles up.  I cleaned up my little shelving unit of yarn/wips and what a difference.  I stirred up a lot of dust which made me sneeze.

I wanted things straightened up because I want to put some holiday things in our room as well as the rest of the house.  I ordered a duvet cover with snowflakes (we have a duvet and are waiting for our everyday cover to come.  It’s a new thing for us).  I also got a holiday shower curtain.  For some reason, I am feeling very holiday like this year.  I can’t wait to have Thanksgiving dinner and then perhaps go out to Lancaster for the day after to do some holiday food shopping.  That weekend will be decorating time.  

I slept for 10 hours last night.  I must have been more tired than I thought.  Today is a low energy day.  One of the ways I am always reminded that I am no longer 18 is that if I spend a day doing physical work, the next day is a slow day for me.  I don’t mind.  I watch movies, listen to books and knit or spin.  Today it’s Star Wars.  I can do the boring sleeve knitting and say the lines along with the characters.  

My car is back from the shop (again).  This time for a brake line.  Sigh.  It’s time to put it out to pasture and look for a newer car.  I really don’t want another car payment.  We have 2 years left on our Rav4.  It would be nice if my old car could last til then

.  Our grandson has decided that he is a superhero. He likes to have his blankets tied around his neck.  His mother thought she would be smart and made him a cape with some of his favorite fleecy material.  Does he use it as a cape?  Nope.  He goes for his blankets instead.  He is growing up so fast (I know, I know, they all do).  He’s a superhero to me.

Well, time to go back to my sleeve.  Soon it will be time to start the jambalaya for dinner.  A perfect dish for the cold grey day we are having.  

Have a superb week.

Guess who is 62 now?  That’s right, it’s this woman.  I wore my witch hat for Hallowe’en and my tunic with stars and had my familiar with me.  I enjoyed the day.  We had a party at work and then I came home and gave out candy to the few kids who came to our door.  There are fewer and fewer houses participating and fewer and fewer kids.  

We had a Chinese food celebration on Saturday night and the girls came for my birthday.  I got to introduce my grandson to fried dumplings and udon noodles with chicken.  He was more interested in playing with the noodles than eating them but he did a good job managing the little fork to pick them up.

Monday was my actual birthday and Elanor sent me flowers at work.  They’re just beautiful.  Daisies (one of my favorite flowers) and pink roses and pink polka dotted ribbon.  She knows me well.

We have begun the quick slide into the holidays.  I absolutely love this time of year.  I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner, even though it will be just 3 of us.  The number doesn’t matter, it’s the ritual of the baking of the pies, the making of the fruit relish and the baking of the cornbread for the stuffing.  I have one month to practice baking in our new oven.  It’s been a long time since I really worried about something splattering in the oven or boiling over on the stove.  Now, I feel honor bound to scrub all the messes up right away.  I know the time will come when we pay less attention to these things but the stove is still new and shiny.  

Our stove hood should be delivered next week and then we have to choose tile to go up on the wall behind it.  Slowly but surely, we are doing the things we’ve wanted to do but have not been able to since Pk’s job was not secure (it still isn’t secure but it’s less insecure now than it was before).  Being a contractor is not conducive to long range planning.  

We have to wait to see how Kate and Patrick want to work out the holiday visitation schedule.  James has 5 grandparents who would all like to be with him for Christmas morning.  There is just not enough room and it would be too much commotion with all of us and the dogs.  We figured, Kate will let us know what’s best for Jamie.  

I got Lindt chocolate advent calendars for the girls for December, Peter Kevin got one from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (it’s a pop up tree with 24 little birds to put on, one for each day) and I got a yarn advent calendar.  24 little skeins and then a pattern to use with them at the end.  

We wrapped up the fig tree and are putting the garden to bed for the winter.  There are 2,000 bulbs waiting to be planted for next spring.  Pk does not do things halfway......

One more hour and I can head home.  I have 10 more angels to finish for the ornament exchange and if I’m lucky, I’ll finish them today.  The crocheting is all done, just the assembling has to be done.  

Aren’t they adorable?  Otherwise, I have no firm plans for holiday knitting.  If I finish the Swedish Fish socks, I’ll wrap them up for Pk, I have some other things otn that may become gifts.  I haven’t done much spinning lately.  I think I might enjoy that for a while.

How about you?  Are you making plans?  Are you already in the midst of preparations?  Do you enjoy this time of year?

Bye for now!