This and That

I guess I have a few little things that Jim would describe as minutiae. So here goes.

First of all, check out the size of this carrot that came from Maryanne's garden! The base of it was as big as the can of black beans. I put the whole carrot in a beef concoction that I put together in the crockpot. The carrot was very tasty-thank you Maryanne!

I had my second basket making class on Thursday night  and each of us made a round Muffin basket. In the photo below, Sue is putting the final piece of lashing around the top of her basket. My basket is the one farthest to the right in the photo. It was another fun class and we were there only a half hour longer than we were supposed to be instead of the hour that we went over the first class. Next week we are making a 2 handled bagel basket. 

Today was a rainy, dreary day, as predicted. I went to the Farmer's Market and am now wondering if this was the last Saturday for that. In previous years it has ended right after Halloween. Time will tell. I had about 5 other errands to do this morning so I was in and out of the car in the rain. Days like this make me appreciate my raincoat! 

I went to VanPutte Garden Store and bought 3 amaryllis bulbs. I decided to start them nice and early this year so maybe they would be blooming for Christmas instead of for Valentine's Day, as has happened in previous years. 

I made another peck of our apples into applesauce this afternoon and have one peck to go. If you come to my house for dinner, you may be served applesauce as my freezer is overflowing with it! I also used some of our apples to make an Apple Crisp for a birthday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight. Below are 2 photos from the festivities. Jim and Grandpa are wearing the party hats that Jim made out of the pot holders that were left on the table after we cleared away the serving dishes!

Jim's birthday is Tuesday and we started celebrating last night when Gram and GrandDad had us to their house for a birthday dinner. GrandDad grilled some brats and knockwurst and Gram thought to include Jim's favorite~baked beans! So we've had two nice birthday dinners with the parents and I didn't have to cook!

Tomorrow Jim is going to Ithaca to run in a race and immediately after he crosses the finish line he will jump in his car and drive to the Rochester airport, where he has to catch a 2:30 PM flight to Kansas City. He will be home on Tuesday.

Have any of you been watching the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update on Thursday nights? There is one skit that just cracks me up, to the point that tears are running down my face. It is the skit I refer to as "Fix It." Here is a link to the first installment of "Fix It":

Fix It clip

The actual Fix It clip is from 2:25-3:45.

I saw this past Thursday's SNL Weekend Update and they did a follow-up Fix It and once again it tickled my funny bone! So here is that clip if you are interested.

Fix It 2

The actual Fix It clip is from 12:05- 13:40.

Humor is an interesting thing. What makes one person laugh, leaves another wondering what the big deal is. What makes you laugh? 

The baseball game is in a rain delay so we have the Ohio/Penn State game on the TV. Thanks to all of you who voted in the World Series poll. 

We talked to Corey this afternoon. He had texted us earlier in the day wondering what size pants he wore! Apparently he was at the Mall and was shopping for much needed pants but was missing one crucial piece of information when buying pants. During his call he reported success in acquiring a new pair of pants and he even got a bargain! 

That's all the minutiae for now. I guess if you were bored out of your mind, you will not have gotten this far in today's entry. 

I hope you can find something that makes you laugh today.

Hope all is well. 

Tuesday Trivia

Tuesday's are long days because I have a staff meeting at 7:30 AM. And today I got an even earlier start because the district offered an opportunity to get a flu shot, starting at 7 AM. I got to the flu shot site just before 7 and was finished and back in my car just after 7! As I was leaving I saw Mrs. D. from Odyssey Music and she asked about you, Tucker and Corey, and said to say "hi". 

I did the final clipping on my debut basket tonight and present it here for your perusal. As I look closely at these pictures I see that I need to trim some of the fly-away edges, so I will take care of that before I go to my next class

Tucker just called and we had a nice conversation with him. I guess it is too early to start counting days until he comes home!

Taking advantage of the slump in the stock market we are now the proud owners Apple Stock. Of course Corey told us to buy this stock years ago after buying his first iPod and recognizing its greatness! So I will now encourage you to go buy a Mac Book, an iPod, iTouch, or iPhone!!!

The Dancing with the Stars results show starts in a few minutes and you know what I am hoping will happen! Did you see Derek's and Brooke's dance last night? It was incredible!

Who do you have in the World Series? I will put a poll up in the left corner of the blog and you can vote through Friday afternoon. 

Hope all is well. 

Rhinebeck and More

I love fiber festivals! I love the anticipation of going. I love the yarn. I love the roving. I love seeing people wearing their wonderful works of art. I love the animals. I love the lamb food choices. I love seeing new things. I love being surrounded by the fiber world.

So, now you know I had a great trip. Here's how it played out.

Sally and I left Rochester at 2:30 PM on Friday. We arrived at Jenny Lake at 6:40 PM, after being completely amazed at the fall colors along the Sacandaga Lake. The sun was setting and it was illuminating the trees along our route so it looked like we were driving through a tunnel of fire-all brilliant reds, oranges and yellows. It just kept getting better and better with each turn until the sun finally set behind the hills. We quickly unloaded our stuff into camp and headed back to the car for a trip into Corinth for supper. We had a quiet dinner at Jack's reviewing the maps for our drive the next day to Rhinebeck.

When we returned to camp, we got the space heaters going and I built a fire. By the time we got camp warmed up it was time to go to bed. Thank goodness for electric blankets. It was a cold clear night and the temp was around freezing when we got up at 6 AM. 

It was a 2-plus hour drive to Rhinebeck, which is in the Hudson River Valley. The day dawned clear and cool (frost on the ground, until the sun hit it) and was perfect weather for our new sweaters.

We arrived at Rhinebeck at 9 AM, and were part of the first group through the gates. We started going in and out the many vendor barns. Sally quickly found some lovely torquoise yarn, to coordinate with the current sock project so she was happy with her early success. I discovered some dark green fiber and fell in love with the other subtle colors running through it. Since I have little experience buying fiber to spin for a sweater I had no idea how much to buy. This fiber was bundled in half pound hanks. I knew my spinning teacher was at the festival, helping out at one of the booths. I also knew that she would be able to tell me how much fiber I should buy. So we set out to go through the remaining vendor areas, looking for my teacher, Deb. We were lucky in that we found her in the next barn and she gave me the info I was looking for (2.5 pounds). So I quickly went back to the vendor with the gorgeous fiber and fortunately no one had bought it out from under me. So now I was really happy with my purchase. One of the things I had looked for at the Maryland festival in May was roving from a Blue-faced Leister sheep. I have heard and read that this is wonderful fiber to spin so I wanted to try. Later in the afternoon, I found a vendor with a bag full so I bought 2.5 pounds of that too. I had better get spinning!!! I did buy one skien of the softest silk yarn, thankfully that does not require spinning, only knitting.

We bought a bread bowl filled with lamb chili from the local 4-H kids and shared that for lunch. We were "guarding" that "blooming onion" in the photo for a couple we shared the table with, but they had to leave for a minute and we said we would watch it!

We sampled a variety of NYS foods and wine being offered for sale-Sally bought some maple cotton candy. Can you guess which bag has the cotton candy and which one has my BFL roving?




We both had on new "Rhinebeck" sweaters, and got many compliments on them. We also gave out many compliments to things other folks were wearing. We saw some amazing projects-always inspiring!


When our feet were tired and we were satisfied with our acquitions, we decided to call it a day. On our way to my car, we saw this license plate and it put a smile on our faces. 

On the way home, Sally suggested we stop at the Finger Lakes casino in Canandaigua. I lost my limit within the first hour and Sally was having some luck so played for another hour and came away with some gas money. We got home just before 10 PM, after a wonderful day with the sheep and fiber. 

Today was another beautiful day. We slept in until 8:45 AM which is unheard of! We both did wake up early in the morning when the newspaper man threw the newspaper against the house. We heard the "whack". When Jim got the paper he discovered that the paper was thrown so hard that it bent the metal cross-bar behind the screen door! Now I have to call the paper and complain about that. 

But it was a good day none the less.  Jim picked 5 more pecks of apples and I gave one of those pecks to a neighbor that was walking by.
I guess I will be back in the applesauce business. I also did some work outside, mostly blowing the tiny locust tree leaves off the driveway. 

I got some spinning done this afternoon and tonight have started knitting on a moebius scarf. More about that another time.

Hope all is well.