New Year - New Start

The last time I posted here was July 2, 2013 and life was very different. My blog abandonment wasn't intentional. Like so many things, it just sort of happened.  I took pictures on July 4th, during my college trip with DQ, during softball, and so many other times. I mentally composed posts and some of them were damn good. But I never posted a thing.


But things change and change again. Yesterday I returned from one of the best vacations that I've had in years.  It was relaxing, and fun, and filled me with a sense of renewal and inspiration. Right before we left I read several good books and I even finished a few knitting projects.  So now, exactly 7 years after I first started this blog, I'm returning to it. I don't even know if there's anyone left out there to read it. If there are then welcome back.

Consider this blog open for business.

Tree Sweaters

I obviously went to Bloomington for the family time but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t check out the fiber situation there ahead of time. I found that there were at least 2 yarn stores there and made a mental note to check at least one of them out. On our first stroll through town we encountered this and all of us were kind of blown away by the coolness.

There were several trees that had sweaters. Some were just pretty and many had themes. We all grinned at the one above with it’s decidedly adult theme. There was also one covered with knitty sea life. We all had fun searching for Nemo who was hiding in some knitty coral.

I took a picture of this one on that initial viewing. I thought that it was lovely. It wasn’t until the following day, when I visited Yarns Unlimited, that I found out that this one was not supposed to be quite so short. It had been vandalized! How sad.


It was a very nice surprise to find the tree sweaters. I may feel a little inspiration coming on. Hmmmm…. There are trees behind my house that may be cold. Maybe I should use a bit of the yarn I brought home from Bloomington with me. It was from a local Indy dyer so it would be very appropriate.

Last Gasp of Summer

As we end the first week of school it seems like it's now or never for the vacation pictures I promised a while back.  Family stuff - fun & not so fun - ate most of my vacation time this year so our vacation was limited to a long weekend in Williamsburg.  It rained but we made the most of it and i think it was actually quite successful. Here it is in pictures.

Marissa's first amusement park ride!

Celebrating the milestone with her big sisters.

Loving the carousel
 

In Colonial Williamsburg with Miss M

Proof of family fun
 

Let's hope that I get to write my next post on my new laptop!

Huntington Harbor

There were so many good things about my holiday in NY and one of them was a little side trip that Bruce, the girls, and I took the day after Thanksgiving.



We headed up to Huntington to wander around a bit. We started at the harbor where I got my water fix. It's no secret that the thing I miss most about Long Island itself is the easy access to the water. So many of my childhood memories are tied to a beach or a harbor or some other body of water.



DQ wasn't feeling the pull of the water and elected to stay in the car with a book but Stinkette happily joined Bruce and I walking around. She even brought her camera out and took a few pictures. I love watching her with her camera.



It was an over cast day but we had a lovely time anyway.



After a while the cold got to us so we got back in the car and headed to downtown Huntington, where Bruce and I met there 18 years ago. We window shopped, and had a lovely lunch. I really need to work more little side trips to the I loved as a kid into our NY visits.

Val Kill

It shouldn't be surprising to hear that my trip to Rhinebeck included a little bit of solo touring. Last year you may recall that I went see Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt country home, and Springwood which was the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Apparently I'm in a Roosevelt state of mind because I went to Sagamore Hill (Teddy Roosevelt's home) last November and now I've been to Val Kill which was Eleanor Roosevelt's (ER) place.



It was an overcast day on Friday so the pictures are kind of moody. They really don't reflect the spirit of ER at all. The more I hear about her the more I admire her. She was so determined and brave. Remind me the next time I plan a fantasy dinner that she would certainly have to be at my table.



Val Kill consists of 2 buildings. Her actual home isn't terribly pretty at all and from the outside it looks very much like the factory that it once was. On the inside it's very cozy and filled with pictures that tell the story of a wonderful, full, life full of friends, family, and accomplishments.



This building is called the stone cottage and it's much more attractive from the outside. It was initially the place where the Roosevelts would go to kick back and relax. Later it became the full time residence of 2 of ER's closest friends, Marion Dickerman, and Nancy Cook. It's about to be restored and opened to the public again after years of use at the offices of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill. I hope that you get to see it when you go because it's a lovely building.



I really loved touring the Hudson Valley homes that I've seen so far and I was even happier to pass plenty of signs pointing to other historic homes in the area. I may need to go back and see more of them. There's Olana and Clermont and Locust Grove and Boscobel and Kykuit and Sunnyside and ... apparently there's still quite a bit to see.

A Week With The J-Man AKA My Staycation

I'm back in my office today and predicatably I'll have quite a bit of catching up to do. I usually check in on things during my vacations but this time I really unplugged. I didn't pay much attention to the news or the mail or the blogs. So although I stayed home, mentally I was pretty much checked out.

So while I'm catching up I've got a quick post on what I learned over the past week. Really, it can be summed up in 3 words - boys are different. My nephew was visiting last week. I mentioned this before the vacation and referred to him as the J-Man. It turns out that he liked the name so it stays.

For the J-Man everything is better with Starbucks - especially site-seeing. He get's that from his mom.



Boys have lots of energy. They tend to bounce off of and over things. Even walking down a sidewalk gets very interesting and the brief stairs at a bowling alley become very amusing.



J-Man was easily converted to a Nats fan. Sitting 7th row behind the Nats dugout and scoring 2 Nats shirts (1 was a giveaway and one was caught by Bruce) at the game helped a lot!

On a related note, Stinkerbelle tried out for a select, travel, softball team over my vacation - and she made it! We are so proud and excited.



The Newseum is a great place to get lost. Even though the kids were both lukewarm on going, they got really into it when we got there and we spent way longer than expected. Re-doing their news report 3 times contributed to the fun.



These two cousins are very silly and get along great. There were rough moments but most of the week was spent like this...



Laughing a lot and thinking of ways to make me crazy.

It was a great week but it's really nice to have both of my girls home again. I selfishly plan to keep them there for a while. Getting back to school and our regular, crazy, schedule sounds really good right now.

Mountain Weekend

I'm home again after a brief vacation in the Mountains of North Carolina. My inlaws took a house there for August to escape the Florida heat. I'm thankful for that because it's a gorgeous area and I was lucky to experience it.



It's pretty much all beautiful up there. This picture was taken in the pool area. There is a landscaped hill with a waterfall there. I took a boatload of pictures.



That wasn't the thing that had a smile on my face for the past few days though. The best sight I saw over the weekend was this...



and this...



It was so good to see my girls again.

These last two pictures were taken at Linville Caverns. It was pretty cool there both literally and figuratively. Now I'm trying to get caught up on everything that happened while I was away.

Last Weekend of Freedom

This was the last weekend before my girls come home. Bruce and I can certainly say that we made the most of it. We went to New York City! Here is our weekend - mostly in pictures.

We took the subway into the city. I love the NYC subway! Not only because it's less expensive and more reliable than the Metro. I love the subway art that gives it so much character.


We exited the subway and found ourselves in the middle of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts. It was very nice.


We chilled out in the pedestrian sections of Times Square. They've painted the street and set up chairs and tables. Bruce relaxed and I wrote some postcards to the girls there.


We were in NYC to see American Idiot. If you like the music of Green Day and you have similar political views then it's a great show. Thankfully I can answer yes to both of those. It was energetic and well-staged and choreographed. The only problem was resisting the urge to sing along with the lyrics I know so well. That'll wait until we see the band in a little over a week.


As if spending the day in NYC wasn't enough, that evening we went to see the Mets with my sister, Brother-in-law, niece, nephew and my grandfather. It was a great game and my voice was suitably hoarse from screaming the next day. Oh, yeah - and the Mets won!


The best part of the game was laughing with my sister and her kids and watching Bruce and my grandfather really enjoying the game that they love so much.


Now I'm tired and I think I've had my share of fun. Despite the note I got the other day from DQ telling me that she's not ready for camp to end - I am more than ready to go get my girls. Is it time to go yet?

Roanoke

Today I've got a little travelogue of our annual pre-camp detour. The destination was Roanoke, VA.


I'm sure that there are great things to se and do in Roanoke but the girls and I were really in the mood to chill out and soak up the atmosphere. The girls and I enjoyed the small town feel.



As we wandered through galleries here and there we saw certain landmarks featured again and again. Like the neon star on the hill. Sadly I took my picture during the day when it was unlit.



The Dr. Pepper and H&C Coffee signs too.



One of the first things we saw was the market square. We went downtown to see what the Center in the Square had to offer but found ourselves wanting to walk around and see the city rather than focusing on one of the museums in there.



It was a Saturday and there were vendors lining the sidewalk. We bought some homemade soap that smelled divine and after carrying it home in my duffle bag, all my clothes smell fabulous too. Kind of fruity.



We saw a movie while we were in Roanoke too. Stinkette really wanted to see Despicable Me which was playing in 2 places - a big multi-screen venue and the smaller and way cooler Grandin Theatre. Without a doubt we made the right choice. It's an old building with character that's locally owned and run. Very cool! The movie was really good too.



After dinner downtown in the market we found our way back to Pops, a little spot around the corner from the Grandin Theatre for dessert. It was such a nice surprise. Aside from serving delicious sundaes it had the authentic feel of a neighborhood soda fountain which really charmed the girls and I. There was a dj spinning old vinyl in one of the bay windows and lots of folks coming and going and having fun.



Roanoke was just perfect for us. Relaxing and charming.

Beyond Barbeques

I have had plenty of rest now and pleanty of time to recover the weekend. Although I'm not sure I'll ever be able to look at a hard bench without shuddering again and I've got quite a few bug bites I'm otherwise ok.

We did have a big BBQ on Saturday. It was not the same cast of characters that we usually invite (we like to mix it up occasionally) but it was a good group and we had some *ahem* lively conversation. As usual I made a bit more food than was needed but that's a good thing because I was a little preoccupied with preparing for the other big event of the weekend and didn't do much food shopping for the house. Leftovers for all!



Here are the fancy accomodations where I spent the balance of my weekend. Girl Scout camp out! Woot! Ok, ok so they cabins we stayed in weren't that fancy. They were way better than the bathrooms. Ew. So glad I brought an air freshener spray for my girls to use. They're a little princessy.



This was my first camp out as a leader and I think it went very well. There were a few snags like the girl who missed her parents in the middle of the night, and the endless stream of girls who cut themselves while cooking. Thankfully nobody had anything that a normal bandaid couldn't handle and after a while the girls thought it was funny that they all had small injuries. It could be so much worse.

The best part of the trip was having both my girls with me. I am Stinkinette's troop leader so I stayed with her group but DQ was there with her troop too. They're pretty tight and have been camping together for ages. They envisioned spending the weekend sleeping late and relaxing around the campsite. Unfortunately the other adults looked at them and saw a few extra pairs of semi-adult hands to help out. The girls were pretty good about pitching in when they weren't napping.



It was exhausting but really fun. I love camp fires and the songs the girls sing. I loved seeing my girls grow and do things they never thought that they could do. And at then end I was more thankful than ever for my little house with indoor plumbing and hot showers and comfy seating that didn't make me ass hurt. It's the small things.

Morikami Gardens

I won't have any fabulous Cherry Blossom post this year. I totally missed them! These sad little flowers that were barely hanging on were all that remained on Yoshi when we got home. There weren't even any petals left on the ground around the tree. I guess they blew away.

Never fear, we got a bit of Japanese culture while we were in Florida. On Friday, after Bruce's sister and her family left, we went to visit Morikami Gardens with my M-I-L. She was thrilled when I suggested it because it' one of her favorite spots and it was really close too.

The gardens are set along a path that circles a lake. It winds and meanders and along the way there are statuary, and bridges, and lovely little spots to stop and listen. You can hear the bamboo clicking as it sways in the wind and smacks against itself. I found the sections where the pine needles were caught in the trees very interesting.



Being in the gardens reminded me of some of my favorite blog friends too. Like this large rock garden reminded me of Margene. It was such a tranquil spot. They change the patterns in the rocks many times each week. It's supposed to be a great spot for meditating.



And gorgeous views like this reminded me of Carole because I'm sure she'd love taking pictures here. I can just see it now.



There were also turtles that reminded us of our Frankie who was home in her tank watching over our house. I'm sure that with us away she was every bit as relaxed as these guys.



It was such a lovely day. We wandered through the gardens and the museum stopping along the way to appreciate the quiet and the sense of calm.



I can see why my M-I-L would love a place like this.

Spring Break in Pictures

You probably guessed from my Eye Candy Friday picture that I was on vacation last week. It was Spring Break for my girls and we did something rare for my family - we went to Florida. It was prompted by my M-I-L's illness but a trip to Florida is a trip to Florida no matter what the reason. There was lots of sun and fun and relaxation. Now I'm back to the real world and catching up so here is my Spring Break in pictures.

Before we left town we saw the Bon Jovi concert. That little speck in the bottom right corner is Jon. Yeah, our seats were that good. They still rocked though.



One of the three pools we enjoyed. This one was in the courtyard of our hotel.



We also went to the beach. We're extremely fortunate that Bruce's aunt has an apartment right on the beach in Boca Raton. I'm not a huge fan of Florida but I could get used to this view.



We didn't just look at the water either. Some brave souls actually went into the frigid water. DQ and her dad can debate anywhere.



We did a wee bit of site seeing too. We went to Morikami Gardens. It's one of my M-I-L's favorite spots. It's so peaqceful - I can see why. More on that later in the week.



We had such a good time.