Who's Hat is That?

I finished this beautiful hat for Uncle Paddy and put it on and ran into the bathroom to admire my handy work. I don't normally toot my own horn but I really dig this hat and I thought it looked great. I was pretty pleased with myself and so off I went to give it to Uncle paddy who was in his favorite spot amongst his tools in the basement.
"I finished your hat! It's really cool! I love how it came out! Isn't it awesome?" I say.
"Wow, that's really nice. Thanks." He says.
"I love how it looks. You try it on" He dutifully puts on the hat.
"It's really soft. It's nice, Thanks." He says.
"I just love how it came out! I just love it!" I exclaim.
I go back upstairs and he comes up a few minutes later and checks out the hat in front of the mirror. I secretly think that it looks better on me. We go into our office and I put the hat back on and I maybe make a few more statements about the wonders of this hat.
"I think you should keep the hat." He says.
"No, I made it just for you. I finally made you a hat." I say.
"I'm giving it to you. It looks better on you and you can make me another hat next year." He says.
"No I can't, I made it for you. I finally made a hat for you. I think it looks good on me though." I say.
"It's for you. It's yours. You can make one for me with just the charcoal and grey. I don't really like the colors. You keep the hat." He says.

And, so I did.

Photo of the Day

What is this thing growing from the snow in my yard?

For those of you that have been waiting for Uncle Paddy to put an entry on his blog here it is: http://unclepaddy.blogspot.com .

Spring is Here?

Ahhh...Springtime in Maine. Snow and rain mixed together, cold winds blowing and the dreams of warm days yet to come. We can't wait. This is a shot of L and the dog running back from taking the garbage out to the compost bin. All of us are longing for some warm weather. To have sun on our shoulders, bare feet in the grass, sleeping on cool cotton sheets with the window open, green, swimming at the pond and on and on it goes. I can dream...

Uncle Paddy's Hat

I am finally working on a hat for Paddy. He has been very patient but recently I have gotten the impression that now is the time for him to have a new hat made by me. Here it is. I love how it is coming out, I can never be sure how colors will look knit together in a pattern, it is fun to watch as I go. The great thing is I already had this yarn in my various knitting bags. I was going to buy one skein of green for a nice contrast color and then someone (thanks, anonymous!) gave me just the little bit I needed. I have found my inpiration and more from a wonderful Norwegian book called Setesdal Sweaters, check it out if you get the chance it is amazing.

I must go, I am off to work on a busy (hopefully) Friday night at The Video Shop. Have a great weekend.

Connections

We were away this past weekend attending the funeral of Paddy's uncle. Although it is a sad event when someone dies, it is lessened by the fact that he lived a good long life and was surrounded by loved ones.

The funeral was lovely. The party afterwards was actually quite fun. There were so many people there it was amazing! I saw people that I see often and people I see a couple of times a year and there were people that I had not seen in 17+ years.

It is an indescribable experience to spend time with people that you haven't connected with in such a long time! So many people had changed and well they look so different...a bit older and I know that I certainly look older,too. But it was more than that-making a connection that has been broken for so long.

I talked to a lot of people this weekend; sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, nephews, and friends. I had some great conversations this weekend, I was given artwork, someone burned a CD for me, I spent an afternoon at an old friend's house when we should have been on the road home. I made some real connections, it felt good.

Sometimes it feels so good to have grown up enough to have some life experience and knowledge and to just spend some time just spending time.

Simple

A simple bowl of soup.

Sometimes that is all I need to bring me back to earth, back from being too busy while ill, back from working hard, appointments, missed appointments, my messy house (see photo) , feeling terrible about missing my Aunt's funeral because I was feeling so poorly and on and on it goes. All of the things I do and don't do that are constantly rolling through my brain in an unending litany of voices clamering for my attention. Whew.

A homemade chicken soup, made by Paddy, soothing and delicious and just what I need at the end of the day, the end of a too busy week. Thanks Paddy

View from Across the Universe, or at least Across the Couch

Pretty exciting, isn't it? This is how I have spent the last several days. I watch a lot of TV when I'm sick and tired. I started with Veronica Mars a show which I loved but most people have never watched. Then, I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and well my first impressions of it proved to be correct, it seemed cheesy and kinda meaningless. Now I know lots of people who love this show and think it is the greatest so I thought I would like it more than I did. I gave it a fair shot and watched 8 episodes. I guess it's not for me. Then it was on to the Gilmore Girls which is an old favorite of mine, something to take my mind off of how I felt and yet I could sleep through it and it wouldn't make any difference.

I decided to watch Across The Universe which I have heard many good and bad things about. It is a musical and most often when I hear that it is not the choice I make. Although there are exceptions Mulan Rouge and Bride and Prejudice are both movies that I really enjoy. Across the Universe is not your typical musical. The story is told roughly through Beatles songs, the story itself could at times be vague but once I realized that it was more about the music than the story and that the music was awesome, I just went with it and enjoyed. Great music, great costumes, and great cinematograghy. I decided to let L watch with me, it's PG13 and so I wasn't sure but I thought it fine, there was some nudity but it was like an art piece and some references that went over his head but no big deal. It was a suprise to me that Bono was in it, he looked so different I wasn't sure it was him, Eddie Izzard is there, and Joe Cocker shows up too. Now the funny thing was that L really liked it and this child is not much of a music fan. This is the kid who at age 2 would take his tiny little hand and cover my mouth up if I tried to sing him a lullaby (I know my voice isn't that good but the other 2 loved it when I sang to them). So anyway he really liked it, we then proceeded to watch all of the second disc full of extras. I am giving it my recommendation!

I am thankfully on the mend. I have lots of work to catch up on and now am on my way down to Portland to drop off my oldest son Corwin he is on his way back to N.C. after a very brief visit with us (he spent most of his time with his friends). I'll be back soon.