Home Alone

The rest of the family is off to a baseball game this evening. At the last minute, we discovered we were given four tickets instead of three ... so I could have gone, but being the homebody that I am, and being quite desirous of some hours at home by myself (which has not been doable since the children's midweek church program finished for the year), I stayed home.

I've just about polished off my list of Things To Do, too! The last event is the Kitchen Floor Scrub. After that comes crafting, which is not an event. No, siree ... it's leisure! I think I'll listen to the next lecture in the Ancient and Medieval Church History class too, from Covenant Worldwide.

My son has been using the camera more than I have lately. I have socks on the needles - but no pictures. I have the Spring Fling on the needles (last sleeve) ... but no pictures. What I do have pictures of is the lovely outdoors.

We have baby grackles traipsing around the yard...

There are baby bunnies hiding in the yard (especially when their momma takes off when I'm 30 yards away, sending one little one flying. I think he may have been nursing. Another little one scampered across the street.)


We've been spending most of our lunches on the front porch. It's not very large, nor picturesque, but it's big enough for us to sit and eat at. I think my son especially likes having a large area to roam while I read to him. Sometimes he roams with a camera. (And gets the First Decent Picture of the Spinnery Jacket ... still without any buttons).

Filia has been in a knitting mood lately. First, she made a baby hat for a local shelter, using the Sugar on Snow pattern (with modifications, of course ... she's my daughter!) . Npw she's working on the Baby Bog Jacket, and is past the neck split. She tells me she's taken to knitting when she can't fall asleep at night. Could I possibly be raising a night owl?

This past Tuesday I got out my loom, vacuumed it off, dusted it off, scrubbed the crayon off (it was used as a car when my children were 2 and 3 years old, and I think they decorated their vehicle), oiled it, and took a picture. It is now sitting in a fiber studio in the town south of us, looking for a new home. If anyone wants to buy a Harrisville Designs T6 loom (36" wide, 4 harnesses) with all the accessories except for the hot chocolate, drop me a note!

I'll toss in a free knitting lesson.

As far as the green banner goes ... Theresa is the closest. And she doesn't even know about my 'other life' which is necessitating the banner. I'll post a picture when it's finished.

Firewood, anyone?

There's still not much happening here, but I did upload some photos of what happened Sunday morning during church.



























One of a few trees that lost some limbs or trunks in my mom's yard. Fortunately, they also missed the house. The 60+ mph winds did in enough of her garage shingles that a new roof is in store, however. We didn't lose anything major in our yard, but we have a few gross of pinecones laying around.






















































And a cute dog photo. Meet Sarge. Katie, his housemate, is totally uninterested in the tree. You can see her in the yard to the right of my mom. Sarge is too young to be disinterested in anything yet. He likes exploring trees, especially when they're close to his height. Wandering out from the confines of the fence they destroyed and coming in the front door is even better.


One last photo ... any ideas what this is going to be?

Not much happening here

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Amazing ... I've never tried one of those 'cut and paste' quiz things before. It seem to work!

It feels like summer today. The window thermometer tells a false tale of temperatures in the low 100s, and a person sitting outside near an open window would feel a cool breeze emanating from the house. Rhubarb Tapioca is cooling in the fridge, and football-playing boys have been warned away from punting practice in my already-planted garden.

I am currently trying to read Boswell's Life of Johnson. I am finding it incredibly dry going, and almost read myself into a nap this afternoon. The book is a biography of sorts, but I am caught in the nitty gritty and not learning much, except that Johnson seemed to be having a hard time ekeing out an existence translating books and writing freelance while having seizures and an incredibly undervalued intellect. From the praises I've heard sung of him, he seems to be a pattern for anyone who would wish to be educated ... but the book isn't giving any useful support for that. A good bit of the problem is likely my total lack of appreciation for nuances in poetry and his skill in translating Homer. Here's a sample of the book: It has been circulated, I know not with waht authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him, "Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties." That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram, and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him." (Here follows an example of his correspoendence with him, which references 4 individuals I've never heard of and Johnson's publisher, plus a word from the vocabulary quiz above.) I hope the book gets better.

Meanwhile, I read the whole of Henty's The Young Carthaginian. I hesitate to think what the book would be like if written in Boswell's style.

Knitting proceeds apace. The back of my Pink Thing is completed, the front has languished while I read Henty, and the Danish Socks are 1/8th done.

For profound things to think on (and how beneficial the lack of electricity can be), I will point you to Cindy's blog entry of a few days ago. The electricity part comes in because we had no power for half of church on Sunday, and it was delightful. I'll be the first to admit that electricity and electrical gadgets come in handy ... but the world is a lot less busier without them in my opinion.