Friday Miscellaneous

Good Morning!

It's Friday!!!  And it is FOGGY outside, and damp.  Not trying to wish away my days, but today is my last day of work until October 9th!  Yup - I am on vacation once I leave the office this afternoon (hopefully early).  I'll be checking in on your blogs via my phone, but most likely won't be commenting much.  We are taking our camper and heading North.  Once again we will be in the Rhinebeck region of NY a few weeks ahead of NY Sheep & Wool, then heading further North into CT, NH and the coast of ME.  Hoping for gorgeous Fall colors and excellent weather for hiking and exploring.  Yes, I'll do a little yarn shopping, but I'd like to find some different stores/shops since we've covered this area in the past.  I'm sure I'll find something - lol.

Meanwhile, Colin was over last night and brought flowers!

Yes, that's my messy kitchen table (the garlic in the bowl is what we will be planting when we get back from vacation - the "we" is Fletcher - ha!).  The flowers are from Colin's garden at work.  He has had a garden at his corporate office for several years.  Since he and Mailing bought their house in February, he put in a large vegetable garden at home and decided just to throw a bunch of wildflower seeds in his garden bed at work.  He kind of forgot about it until earlier this week he was leaving a meeting and happened to glance out a window by the garden plots and saw a riot of color in his plot.  So pretty.

A surprise package arrived in the mail the other day from my aunt & uncle in Maryland.  My aunt does a lot of charity knitting, but sent me a scarf she knitted for my birthday:

Such softness!  And lovely Fall-like colors.  I think I'll take this along on vacation in case we have a chilly morning or night (I'm sure we will).  I'd best remember to pack some fingerless mitts too.

I have been able to knit a little bit at lunch the past couple of days so there has been some progress on the second sock:

I should be able to finish up the leg, do the heel flap, turn the heel (one of my favorite parts - always like magic!!), pick up the gusset stitches and head down the foot before we leave on Sunday.  There are some errands I need to run tomorrow (groceries for the trip), and cleaning before we leave, as well as packing.  And - most important - I need to decide what other knitting project(s) (and maybe some stitching??) to take on vacation.

Meanwhile, I smell bacon & eggs - the caterers just set up breakfast in our main kitchen at work.  I'm headed over there now.  Then a conference call at 10 and hopefully out of here by mid-afternoon.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead.  I'll be back here on the 9th or 10th.  Be well!

October Fun and a Wonderful Package!!

Well, I made it back safely and in one piece from my “Sisters’ Weekend” getaway.  The group is Leslie, my best friend for over 50 years (!!!) and her two sisters – one of whom is about 2 years older than us and the other one is a year younger and moi.  We live all over the Eastern half of the US and take turns hosting the weekend.  This year we were at Leslie’s in North Carolina (fortunately we were not at Merelyn’s in Daytona!  That will be our location next year.).

 

We shopped and played with Leslie’s granddaughter who has to be the cutest, smartest 4 year old ever.  She is a pistol.  And we cooked.  A lot.  We all love to cook and eat (and drink wine).  We had home-made pasta sauce, fresh salmon, home-made pizza, a pork loin which we used a dry rub on (fabulous) with roasted potatoes and baked apples.  And we went out to eat.  We also went to a spa on Friday and I had the best (and cheapest!!) massage I have had in years.

I didn't take any pictures (too busy talking/laughing/cuddling a 4 year old/consuming wine), but Janet took a bunch, so hopefully some will be e-mailed my way before too long.

 

A shout-out to Bob, Leslie’s husband, who put up with an additional 3 women in the house.  The estrogen level was extremely high, as was the noise level from chatter and laughter.

 

The time away was exactly what I needed.  Re-entry into the work world has been a struggle.  But I’m doing it and next week will be easier.

 

Now, look what arrived in the mail for me yesterday:

 

A little while ago I was fortunate to win a give-away that Bridget had.  She spoiled me with the most beautiful hand-dyed yarn (the colorway is “Estuary” - is that not a beautiful name for some gorgeous yarn??), some yummy smelling loose tea with an infuser that comes with its own saucer (so clever), a Barnes & Noble gift card (YAY) and peanut butter Kandy Kakes (my most favorite Tasty Cake) which Fletch has already made a move to take – lol.  And Bridget even sent treats for Tyg.  He hasn’t seen them yet because he was running around outside until after I went to bed and then went out early this a.m. before I even got a shower.  I just know he is going to go crazy over the food and tea bag catnip (again, so clever).

 

Thank you Bridget.  Your kindness has made this week of going back to work just that much easier and nicer.

 

By the way, after casting on new, plain vanilla socks to take on my trip I did absolutely NO knitting.  None.  Not even one row or even one stitch.  I have not knit since last Wednesday morning before I left town.  I’m hoping that I finally caught up enough on sleep that I can put in a few rows tonight…we shall see.