Busy,Busy, Busy!

Busy-that describes the past 4 days! I've been out every night, sometimes later than I had planned.

Thursday I had my last basket class. Here is a photo.

It is my least favorite one of the 4 I made, but I am very glad that I took the class. In addition to having 3 new baskets (remember, Corey has one), I had a lot of laughs with my friends. 

Friday morning when I came down to the kitchen this is the view I had out my window! What do they say about pink in the morning!

Last night we went to a 50th birthday party for Tony V. , a running buddy of Jim's. And because he is a runner he was thrilled to be turning 50, which puts him at the young end of a new age group! We had a nice evening, even though we didn't know many people at the party.

Today was my spinning guild meeting and it was also the weekend of the semi-annual spinning retreat at Camp Stella Maris, hosted by my spinning guild. I chose not to spend last night or tonight down there, but drove down this morning for some serious spinning time and for the guild meeting. I look forward to these meetings because even though spinning is an individual sport, I learn so much from the more experienced spinners and get lots of encouragement for what I am doing. The retreat/meeting was held in the Wegman House at Camp Stella Maris, which is on Conesus Lake. This is the view from the wrap-around porch:

And this is the main room in the Wegman House where the spinners and knitters congregated. That is my bright blue raincoat near the center of the photo.

My spinning teacher was very impressed with the orange and blue yarns that I spun and then had me participate in the Show and Tell portion of the meeting. I stayed until 2:15~ 4 hours of spinning is about all that my shoulders can take. I drove home in the rain with a stop in Henrietta to buy gas for $2.25/gal.

Jim and I just walked over to the mall and  look who has arrived! Santa!

Corey and Tucker-do you have a Christmas Wish List? Santa wants to know!

Tucker sent us a series of photos that I will pass along to you. The first photo shows him playing guitar on the edge of the bluffs overlooking the Dolores River.

The next photo is of Tucker and 2 of his friends making music in front of their house while they were working in La Sal, Utah.

And the last photo is of an "epic" thunderstorm that rolled through.

Remember, usually you can click on any of these photos to enlarge them.

Here is a bit of exciting news: 2009 has been declared the International Year of Natural Fibres by the United Nations! Watch for further details. Leave me a comment on how you plan to support this yearlong event!

Tomorrow Jim is off for another XC race, this time at Finger Lakes Community College. I plan to sew on my new polar fleece bathrobe. We are going out to dinner with Bob and Sally.

Veteran's Day

There was no school today because of Veteran's Day. I was encouraged this year because when I asked my students on Monday why we had the next day off, they were able to tell me. I've had years when the kids really didn't know the significance of this day. 

To all the Veterans who may be reading this, we pause to honor you and are grateful for your contribution to the greater good.

I got a lot done today. I rinsed my new skeins of yarn and they are now hanging in the bathroom, drying. After some research, I decided to sew a new robe for myself. Today I cut out the fleece fabric for that project. Hopefully I can do some sewing this weekend. After a trip to Wegmans, I made chicken and rice soup for dinner for the next 2 nights.

I also had an interview today. No, I am not looking for a new job. This was an interview for a possible volunteer position at Park Ridge Hospital (Unity Hospital). For awhile I have felt like I wanted to do some volunteer work, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and how much time I would have to give. I decided to look into opportunities at the hospital because it is close. My interview with the Director of Volunteer Services was pretty casual and she told me that when I was available to volunteer (after school hours), there were really only two jobs available-working at the Information Desk or in the Gift Shop. Before I can volunteer though, I need to have a physical with my doctor!!  I guess they do not want me needing the hospital services while I am volunteering! So, we'll see how long it takes me to work through this process to become a hospital volunteer. 

Jim joined me at yoga tonight, which is always entertaining! 

Corey sent me a photo of the basket that I made for him. Notice the orange and blue accent colors on the basket.

I go to my last basket weaving class on Thursday night.

Jeannie sent us this photo from her recent birthday party. With Jeannie is Mark and Elizabeth, Michal's bride.

Tucker called last night and it was nice to catch up with his activities. Because he doesn't have a TV he had to dig out his old clock radio and listen to the election returns. Thank goodness he now has cell service in Bluff, because phone conversations with Corey and Liz kept him up to date too that night. 

Jim and I have to blow up 28 balloons tonight because I will use them in my PE classes tomorrow. Balloons are a great way to introduce "striking a moving object" to my young students, plus it gives the gym a real party atmosphere!

Time to knit. I'll tune into Dancing with the Stars in awhile to see who gets voted off tonight. Did you see Brooke and Derek dance last night? They were wonderful!

Hope all is well.

November 9th

How's that for an attention-grabbing title for today's entry? I guess my creative juices have dried up for tonight!

This weekend has been about errands, football and time with my spinning wheel. Once we got a bunch of errands done on Saturday I settled in the living room with college football on the TV and my spinning wheel in front of me. I have been spinning some fiber for a scarf for Corey for a long time and decided I could finish the spinning if I made one concerted effort.  I need good light to spin so have not been spinning at night, after the sun has set. However, late yesterday afternoon I had Jim move my "natural" light out from behind the couch and out by my wheel and that allowed me to spin no matter what the sun was doing. Last night I filled the second bobbin with a navy blue single. Today I took my 2 bobbins of singles and plied them together making 2 nice skeins. See the photo below. I am quite pleased with how the yarn came out and will start to knit once I "set the twist" by soaking the skien in water and letting it dry. I may take my orange and blue skeins to my spinning guild meeting this next Saturday for "show and tell." Spinners bring new fiber they purchased, yarn they have spun and finished projects they made from handspun yarn for show and tell. It is always interesting to see what other, more experienced spinners are doing.
 

Jim and I raked up more leaves on Saturday. There are still some leaves on 3 of our trees, but I think we have the bulk of our leaves up. Of course, I'm sure we will get a strong wind from the south, blowing all of the leaves in our neighbor's yard into ours, giving us another chance to get some exercise! It happens every year and I believe our neighbor is amused by this. 

Jim went to Vernon/Verona NY today for a XC race. He ran well, winning his age-group, and then stopped to see Corey on his way home. Jim reports that while in the Vernon-Verona area, he found and bought gas for $2.36/gal, on the Indian reservation! Jim's race is run on a high school campus right behind the Turning Stone Resort/Casino, which is Indian owned and run. In year's past, Jim and I have stayed at the Resort the night before the race, enjoying a nice dinner and donating some money to the slot machines. Last year when we did this, the smoke in the casino was so overwhelming that I quickly lost $20 and we were back in our smoke-free room in about 15 minutes.  It was at this point that I decided that I did not need to go back to that casino.

I took a couple of photos of my current knitting projects because the sun was almost shining so I could take the photos outside and not need the flash. So here is the start of Jim's sweater.

And here is my scarf. I think there is more purple in the yarn than shows in the photo.

Jim delivered a grape pie to Corey so that makes 6 pies that I made in one week-an new personal best!!! I hope you enjoy it, Corey!

Amaryllis update-one of the bulbs has a new bud just starting to push its nose up! I'll get a photo of it when it grows another 1/8 inch!

I bought Sheryl Crow's new Christmas CD at Hallmark yesterday and it has some lovely songs on it. 

I read that American Idol runner-up David Archuleta has his debut CD coming out on Tuesday. I hope it is great-I'll get mine from iTunes and load it onto my iTouch ASAP. 

Hope all is well.