Déjà vu

"It's like déjà vu all over again."
- Yogi Berra

Just about this time last year, I put the blog on hiatus while we wrapped up living in Georgia and moved to New York, and I am putting it back on hiatus again, albeit for a shorter period of time. We are scheduled to close on our new (to us) home in B'ville on Tuesday afternoon and the movers will deliver our household goods on Wednesday. That strange noise you may hear on Wednesday morning will be me expressing my great joy at being reunited with the bulk of our furniture and kitchen items!

Between getting everything in place and then moving out of our apartment, there is not going to be any spare time in my life to post. There is also going to be about a four day period of no Internet access; despite Verizon assuring us several weeks ago that it would be no problem to schedule connection at the new address within a week, it turns out that is not the case when it actually comes time to set the appointment. So why didn't we schedule the appointment weeks ago? Because we did not know until Friday morning the date of our closing, and therefore our move-in date. So unless I can piggyback on someone else's signal or I go sit in the library, the blog will be dark for a while. I am sure we will all survive.

We are excited about having our own place again, about not sharing walls or a parking area with other tenants, about having more than 800 square feet! When I return to the blog, I promise photos and details about the house. Until then, ciao!

Knitting bits

In the spring, I made a gorgeous Sweet Eleanor cabled hat and donated it to the auction for The Thacher School, which my friend Kelli's daughter attends. Kelli attended the auction and bid on the hat, but did not win it. I decided that I would knit a hat from the same pattern for Kelli's birthday in October.

I chose Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend and my oh my, the 70% Merino and 30% silk blend feels fabulous. Kelli likes earth tones and I think the colorway integrated beautifully many different earthy colors:


Here is a close-up of the crown, which has an interesting pattern that almost resembles a flower, or a star:


Kelli received the hat the day before her birthday and sent me a happy thank you text message. She lives in South Carolina, so it may be a while before she has the need for a hat.

This week I finished a quick little knit for me. I bought the yarn and pattern at the Old Forge Hardware and it was my first time to knit with Noro Silk Garden. Honestly, I was not impressed. It seemed very rough for yarn that is 45% silk (along with 45% Mohair and 10% wool) but it did soften a bit after it was soaked in Eucalan. It is more a decorative scarf, as in I will wear it indoors as an accessory rather than to keep warm outside:

I like the scarf just fine, but I definitely have the need to knit Noro out of my system.

Note: I used my neighbor Cindy's fence to photograph it - thank you, Cindy!

A Vagabond Song

When my friend Geri saw the photo of a glorious tree that I snapped the other day at Beaver Lake, she was reminded of a poem called A Vagabond Song. I am not normally one for poetry, but every once in a while I come across one that grabs my attention and my heart, and this poem did just that. I am so pleased that Geri shared it with me and now I am going to share it with you:

     A Vagabond Song
     By Bliss Carman (1861-1929)

     There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood --
     Touch of manner, hint of mood;
     And my heart is like a rhyme,
     With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

     The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
     Of bugles going by.
     And my lonely spirit thrills
     To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

     There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
     We must rise and follow her,
     When from every hill of flame
     She calls and calls each vagabond by name.

"The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry of bugles going by" - enough said.

A lovely walk

After running errands this afternoon, we went out to Beaver Lake Nature Center to stretch our legs a bit. The sun played peekaboo from behind clouds, but it was a lovely day.

There are some trees that are still showing some of their fall finery:


A large number of Canada Geese were on Beaver Lake, most of them honking loudly. Those tiny dots in the photo are some of the geese:


We also saw two deer and a rabbit during our meanderings, although I was unable to get any photos.

James told Aidan that when he was a boy, he used to swing on vines a la Tarzan. Thanks, James. The rest of the walk involved Aidan looking for vines and asking to swing on them:




In total, we walked just under 3 miles - not bad for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Done

We no longer own a house in Georgia - happy, happy, joy, joy. It took sixteen months, changing real estate agents and paying money at closing to do it, but it is done.

We sold for less than we paid for the house, we sold for less than we owed and we put a lot of money and effort into improvements over the years, but I refuse to add it all up to determine the total loss; sometimes not knowing is better. And while I normally don't believe that money buys happiness, in this situation, we definitely bought ours...and we satisfied our financial obligation and kept our good credit rating intact. All in all, we did okay.

The best part is that we can now close that unfortunate chapter in our lives and move on.

Halloween photos

Aidan surprised me when he announced that he wanted to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween. Again. I dug out the tunic and belt from last year, loaded up the light saber with fresh batteries and we were all set.

I went to his school on Friday morning for the Halloween* parade. It was pouring buckets of rain, so all the parents and grandparents were herded into the gym or cafeteria to view the parade. Despite being cheek to cheek, it was still fun to see the children in their costumes (although I had to wonder at the judgment of some of the parents, allowing certain costumes).

Here is my little Luke:


It was COLD on Halloween night, so Aidan had to trick or treat with his winter jacket over his costume. I took a quick photo without the jacket:


We went to Aidan’s friend Ryan's house for trick or treating; the boys walked around the neighborhood with Mike while Kelly and I shared a bottle of wine while handing out candy at their house. What a haul - we now have enough candy to easily last us until February of 2012!

*I was happy to see that in New York, Halloween is actually called Halloween. No costume parades or fall festivals, just good ol' Halloween.