Friday Update

Friday night~12 degrees outside and I am taking a break from my knitting to update the blog. I have been spending lots of time knitting on my shawl and I love how it is coming along. I am 150 rows into 206 rows, which are followed by some edging, so although I am making good progress, I still have a ways to go. I currently have 312 stitches on the 40 inch circular needle and will need to get a longer needle if I want to manage the 485 stitches that the shawl ends with . So here is a photo of my progress.
The name of this shawl pattern is Seascape Shawl and for the photo, I stretched out one section of the shawl to show the the different shell patterns that I have completed so far. Starting from the top there is the Cone Shell Lace, then the Sand Dollar Lace, followed by the Scallop Shell Lace and at the bottom, the Starfish Lace.

So on to other things for you non-knitters. It is very cold here, not a lot of snow though. The lake effect has been pumping out some heavy periods of snow, but I think the wind has blown it all away. I took this photo last night when I got home from school when a band of Lake Huron lake effect snow and another band of Lake Ontario lake effect snow were giving us the double whammy!

Jim is in Mexico with Tucker and Alison. The only e-mail I have received from them mentioned snorkeling and fishing! They are off the grid, so I really don't expect to hear much from them.

Corey is in Boston this weekend to run in an indoor track meet. On a related Syracuse note, have you noticed how well the SU basketball team is doing so far this year? They have been fun to watch. Hopefully this comment won't jinx them!

Tomorrow night I am going to the RIT hockey game with Bob as Sally is also out of town. The game should be interesting because there is a Make the Rink Pink promotion which is raising funds for cancer research. RIT is encouraging its fans to wear pink instead of the usual brown and orange and the players will be wearing pink jerseys! I'll get some photos! I don't know if I can convince Bob to wear pink, but I will try!

Good Luck to our Tennessee family as they are getting hit with a big winter storm with lots of snow!

Hope all is well.

Memorial Service

A Memorial Service was held for Jim's Dad on Thursday, January 21st and it was a beautiful celebration of his life. Jeanne, Michal, Terry and Jim all wrote and read very moving tributes to Porge. Corey and Tucker sang two Grateful Dead songs, Ripple and Bird Song, in honor and memory of their grandfather. If you would like to see and hear their musical tribute, click here. About one minute into this YouTube video, it gets a little jiggly. That is because I was crying too much to keep the camera steady and Jim had to take over as videographer!

Many of Jim's relatives came into town for this service and it brought us great comfort and joy to be surrounded by so many family members who had so many fond memories of Porge. After the service all these family members were joined by many friends for a meal and a chance to share memories at our house. It ended up being a very joyful celebration and a reminder of how many lives Porge touched. Here are some photos from the party here at our house.

We are very grateful to all of our friends and family who helped to make this event such a success. We love you all.

Friday morning we all went to say one final good bye to Porge, husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, son, uncle, brother and all around good guy.

This weekend, Jeanne, Jim and I took advantage of some beautifully frozen ice at Canal Ponds and went for a skate. Jeanne had to wear Jim's skates and he wore Porge's old skates, but we all had a great time!
So tomorrow we return to our everyday lives of jobs and responsibilities, knowing that we all have one more guardian angel watching over us.

Hope all is well.