No Longer a Mystery!

For months now -- months -- I have been staring at the southerly night sky, seeing the same two celestial bodies night after night, the larger and brighter of the two above the other, the smaller and lower most often twinkling a fabulous red. I've looked on my star chart and tried to figure out just which two bodies they are, but I've never come to a firm conclusion.

Until tonight.

Jupiter and Antares.

Two more faces I can put names to in the night sky. Too kewl.

Reruns...

As I prepare to shut down my old blog, I'm going through my old posts and am publishing here a select few that are worth keeping out. They'll be back-dated to the time of their original posting. If you choose to read them, enjoy.

Recent Knitting

A couple projects from off the needles recently...


Sweater for my grandson. I'm really enjoying sweater knitting. I could never have imagined I'd be able to make sweaters! They seemed to me like they were something that only the most skilled of craftspersons could create. Here it turns out that even someone like me, with enough knitting know-how to be dangerous, can create a reasonable sweater. It's just like my dad told my mom when they first got married: if you can read, you can cook. Well, if you can read a pattern, you can knit a sweater! In this case, if you can read a pattern and switch sizes on the fly, you can knit a sweater that will not look like your grandson is wearing a dress. Because I was not in the mood to start completely over, this sweater was knit width-wise in one size and length-wise in the next size smaller, with some parts falling somewhere in between. But it fits him perfectly and hopefully will last him through the winter. (And doesn't he look stylish modeling it for me over top of his shorts and tank top?)

Next, the felted cottage tea cozy. I'm not so into tea cozies (or any cozies, for that matter), but when I saw the pattern for this in Knitter's Stash, I had to make it because my friends, Will and Becky, lived in Ireland a couple years ago, and the cottage they lived in looked remarkably like this one (only it was not made of wool and the roof was actually not thatched, though it could have been at one time because the cottage was several hundred years old). Anyway, I decided it would make a great birthday gift for Becky, thus I commenced knitting and felting and knitted up the roof, doors and shutters. Then the darned thing sat for a couple of months because doing all of those embroidered silk ribbon flowers? Not a fun time. It was really hard to pull the needle and ribbon through the felted fabric, so I could only work on it in very short amounts of time lest my finger tips feel like they were going to fall off. (I probably should have felted the fabric a little less than I did, but I'm still a felting novice, so I'm still learning these things.) But I got it done in time to give to her at the end of August, so all was well. I have no idea if it actually fits her tea pot, but honestly? I don't care. It's their Irish cottage, in wool, and as far as I'm concerned it is as much a piece of artwork as it is functional, so...whatever. LOL

Here's a close-up of some of the details...

Foggy mountain morning...

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago as the kids and I were on our way home from visiting friends in the Shenandoah Mountains of western Virginia. It was a foggy morning, and the roadside vistas were just beautiful. This was taken on Monterey Mountain. The kids have done enough roadtrips with me that it is de rigeur for Mom to stop on a dime and hop out with the camera.

Madeleine...

What a loss the world has suffered this week with the passing of Madeleine L'Engle. She has been my favorite author for many years. Her Crosswicks Journal series is at the top of my list of most-loved work from her. I have some tapes of talks she's given at writers' conferences, and though I've listened to them multiple times, they never cease to inspire me anew every time I hear them.

I had the pleasure of hearing her in person, as well, and at one such event I got to meet her. This is where I tell my funny Madeleine L'Engle story. She was speaking at a local university one day, both morning and in the afternoon. However, I was only able to be at the morning session. Following her morning talk, she was signing autographs, and I stood in line waiting my turn with a friend. Just as I got to the front of the line, her assistant apologized and said that Madeleine was done signing, she needed to eat lunch, but would be back in the afternoon to sign again.

I'm not a pushy person by nature, but I think I offered a fairly pathetic whimper and explained to the assistant that I could not be there later in the day and I loved Madeleine just so, so much and could she pleeeeease just squeeze me in? (I'm not sure I whined like that out loud, but it's what I was thinking inside.) The assistant motioned to me and said, "Follow us." She whisked Madeleine out of the lecture hall and down a corridor as quickly as she could go (this was shortly before she went in for knee surgery, so moving quickly wasn't so easy for her), not to her awaiting lunch but instead to the ladies' room, which was apparently what Madeleine was needing more than food at that moment. Once inside the bathroom, Madeleine very graciously took my copy of "Two-Part Invention," asked my name and autographed the book for me. I thanked her (and her assistant!) profusely and then left her to her business.

This all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to be embarrassed about it all until after I'd left the bathroom. I'd just stalked Madeleine L'Engle to the toilet. At least she was kind about it. :)

I'll miss you, Madeleine.

About me...

For me, life is not complete if it doesn't involve creativity. However, I don't just dabble. I dive. Most recently, my passion has been knitting. Hats, scarves, mittens, socks, sweaters, shawls, ponchos, tea cozies (ok, just one tea cozy)...I'm into knitting 'em all. Helping to fuel the passion is my part-time job at a yarn shop just minutes from my house. Can we say “employee discount”? Gotta love that, though I'd love the job even without it. It's a great place to work.

Other favored creative endeavors include photography, writing, and spinning (as in yarn, not bicycles) as well as various paper-based crafts, such as scrapbooking.

I live in rural-ish southwestern Pennsylvania with my husband and two youngest kids (whom we homeschool), along with a cat, a dog and a freezer full of formerly living pets that we keep forgetting to bury during the warm weather months. I love fresh flowers but hate to garden. I spend more time outdoors at night than during the day because I'm obsessed with staring at the moon and stars.

I've recently developed an affinity for white merlot, which joins my previously established enjoyment of Yuengling, Jameson Irish whiskey, rum and coke, and Chili's Presidente margaritas (though never all at the same time, thankyouverymuch).

I love to travel. I am in love with Ireland. I live with the sad irony that my husband works for a Japanese company yet I've still never gotten to go to Japan with him. I share my kids' love of Naruto, both the manga and the anime series. I think Hannah Montana, Ned's Declassified and Drake and Josh are some of the funniest shows on TV. I also love Survivor and The Amazing Race. I'm fascinated with Big Love and watch it despite its ability to totally stress me out and make me worry and then I have to remind myself that it is just a TV show. I love to read. I think The Alchemist is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read.

I love to Google. I'm a trivia addict. Wikipedia is set as my browser home page. I love Dictionary.com. I’m a writer at heart. Words fascinate me. I love thinking of new names for colors, such as "spawning-male-salmon red". I love playing with color and texture in all of my artwork.

I turned forty last year and decided to quit living my life based on rules grounded in good intentions and fear. I'm a recovering conservative. Recently reading Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church has helped save my sanity. I like living life outside of the box. I try to live with intention and integrity. I believe a life without passion and adventure isn't worth living.

The last page...

2006 will come to a close in soon. How crazy is that? December 31 always feels to me like the last page of a book. For two years in a row now, I've finished a journal right at the end of the year and started my new one at the beginning of the next. That seems so fitting.

Every year I also think that something really notable should happen as the year passes from one to another...some sort of sonic boom or something...because it is a monumental thing! (I guess my neighbors shooting off shotguns at midnight will have to suffice!)

In the absence of sonic booms, I am sitting here trying to think of something noteworthy to say to bring my blog year to a close. I don't really have anything profound to say about the year that is about to begin, as I haven't finished formulating my thoughts about the New Year (other than my reading list). But I can reflect on this year.

2006 has been a good year. A truly good year. After three years for storms and challenges, it was a year of relative calm and joy and peace. It had its bumps, but they did not outweigh the good this year held.

I didn't set lofty goals or resolutions last year, but last January I laid out a set of overall intentions to guide how I lived my life. And unlike the goals and resolutions of the past -- the ones I'd look at in December and feel angst and a sense of failure -- I feel like I did a good job of living according to my intentions this year.

I tried to live gently.

I tried to be genuine.

I tried to live creatively.

I tried to let go of anger and frustration.

I tried to be flexible.

I tried to be who I am, to live my life and my art without apology, to quit hiding behind myself.

I tried to look at things from new perspectives, to find beauty and goodness in unexpected places.

I tried not to be judgmental.

I tried to be present to my life and to those in it.

I tried to remember to breathe and to be.

These were my intentions, in a nutshell. I imagine they'll be somewhat similar for 2007, because they all still apply.

I am so thankful and happy to be at this place in my life right now...to be (mostly) content, to not feel the urgency of wanting what I can't have or the restlessness of something missing in my life. It may not be perfect or easy all the time, but I can honestly say that I have a good life, and I am so thankful for that, and most especially for the people with whom I share it.

May you all experience your own sense of contentment with your life in 2007. Peace.