Derby day

Yesterday was Cub Scout Pack 248's Pinewood Derby. Aidan was very proud of his car, Emerald Raptor:


Aidan designed the shape and look of the car and although James used power tools to cut out the car, Aidan did all the sanding and painting.

As always, there were many different designs and color themes:


Parents, grandparents, friends and Cub Scouts were excited about the races and the new track, which was purchased with money raised by the Scouts from the popcorn sales. Each car raced six times, one race per lane, and the match-ups were determined randomly by computer.

Here is Emerald Raptor racing down the track in lane 1:


Aidan anxiously watched his car:


In that particular heat, his car came in first. I was able to snap this photo of his car in another heat, this time in lane 6, heading to the finish line in first place:


It was a fun afternoon at the races; the Cub Scouts were well behaved and the adult volunteers kept the pace of the racing fast. Aidan had four first, one second and one third place finishes. His car qualified for the finals, which will be held on Tuesday night at the pack meeting. Go, Emerald Raptor!

Eye of the beholder

Just a simple U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail box ready to mail?


Absolutely not - this box contains a weight off my mind and a monkey off my back!

My January resolution was to finish knitting a vest for my mother, what I called the "bleepity-bleep" ribbon vest. Way back in August of 2010 during a visit with Mom, she took me to her local yarn store and showed me a vest that she wanted me to knit for her. It was made out of Cascade Egeo, a ribbon yarn, and although I had never worked with a ribbon yarn, I said yes. I was such a fool.

Knitting with ribbon yarn is very different than knitting with other yarns, I soon learned. I won't go into all the details, both because the details are boring to non-knitters and because I still twitch a bit when thinking about the yarn, but trust me when I say it is a PITA. I started the thing a half dozen times, only to drop stitches and have to frog back. I put it in timeout for months on end. I think I even threw it across the room a few times. Finally, I hitched up my knitting needles and just got down to business.

When Mom visited here over the holidays, I showed her the almost completed project and she seemed pleased with it, which made me all the more determined to get it done (not to mention that I could really use the bag it was in for another big project). So I promised my mother that she would have the completed vest by the end of January and I resolved to get it done.

And I did! Here is the finished project:


I won't lie; I don't think it looks nice at all and I see every mistake I made. But if my mother likes it, then what I think is totally irrelevant. And if she does not like it, I will probably never know; we moms tend to think that everything our offspring makes is wonderful.

It is such a relief to have that project completed, boxed and ready for the mail. Now back to knitting projects that I actually enjoy!

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Speaking of knitting, I somehow missed my fourth knitting anniversary on January 20 - I guess I was too busy swearing at the ribbon vest - so happy belated anniversary to me!

Winter walk

Today is breathtakingly beautiful - sunny and cold, yes, but with little wind. We bundled up and drove out to Beaver Lake Nature Center for a walk. We left the snowshoes at home because there isn't enough of a snow pack; we have only had about 26 inches of snow this winter season and periodic warm spells with rain have kept the snow on the ground to a minimum.

James sported the new hat I knit for him, using yarn that is 60% llama and 40% silk:


We enjoyed looking at the animal tracks in the snow:


The play of shadows across the frozen lake was gorgeous:


It was good to get out, stretch our legs, listen to winter sounds, and to enjoy the fresh air and bright sunshine. Many of our southern friends are surprised at the amount of time we spend outside in the winter; we do far more outdoor activities year-round here in New York than we ever did in previous locations. Once we got the proper boots and coats, we were good to go.

Now if we could just have some more snow, we could get out our snowshoes and even try out cross-country skiing. And, yes, you read correctly: we want more snow!

Snoozin' on a winter afternoon

I have often said that it is fortunate that Spenser cannot reach the thermostat and that he does not have an opposable thumb; otherwise, our heating bill would be astronomical. Now that we are having temperatures typical of central New York in January, he is very critical of the temperature at which I set the thermostat and he is very vocal in his criticism. Yesterday morning he followed me around the house, berating me and trying desperately to occupy my lap.

Once he finally tired of stalking me, he disappeared and I later found him curled up on our bed, behind the pillow shams:


At least he was finally quiet.

On strike

Today I am joining many others by protesting against SOPA and PIPA, two bills in the U.S. Congress that could lead to Internet censorship. If I knew more about how web pages work, I would take my little page down for the day...but I don't, so I won't, but you can play along by leaving my blog right now and reading about the web going on strike.

A big difference

Yesterday morning at 10:30, the temperature was 33 degrees Fahrenheit, and this was how it looked outside:



This morning at the same time, it was 12 degrees Fahrenheit and this is how those same views looked:



Welcome to winter!

Resolved

Happy new year! In case you were wondering, we did not stay up to ring in 2012...the new year is going to happen whether we are awake or not, so why go to the trouble of staying up late and feeling tired all the next day?

New Year's Day is one of my favorite days of the whole year. It starts with the annual viewing of The Tournament of Roses Parade (on HGTV - no pesky commericials!) and is followed by nonstop college football bowl games. It is one of only two days in the year where eating in front of the television is permitted in our house; the Super Bowl is the other occasion. I always prepare some kind of pork roast or chops along with Hoppin' John, which is black-eyed peas and rice; go to this page on Epicurious.com if you want to know the symbolism of eating those two food items on the first day of the year.

I was not a happy camper when I learned that The Powers That Be decided that the parade and the bowl games should not take place on a Sunday. I have heard two reasons for it, one being that Sunday is dedicated to the NFL games and the second being that the parade and games are just Never On Sunday. I think both reasons are stupid and I hate it when people mess with my holiday traditions. We will eat the pork and the black-eyed peas, but no parade or bowl games. Harumph.

Instead of being happily ensconced in front of the television in a bowl game coma, I am tidying up a bit, baking bread, planning knitting projects and contemplating new year's resolutions. I don't like resolutions because they seem flimsy and destined to fail; in past years, I have chosen to set goals for the year, sort of a yearly "to do" list. But even calling them goals hasn't worked well for me, mainly because sometime in early February I completely forgot what I resolved to do in the year.

So I am going to try something a little different this year. Instead of making resolutions for the year, I am going to make a resolution (or resolutions) for the month ahead, something that I want or need to accomplish. By putting it on my calendar as a "to do" item for that month, I have a very good chance of actually accomplishing it.

My resolution for January is to finish the bleepity-bleep ribbon vest that I have been knitting for my mother for months. While I am flattered that Mom asked me to make it for her, I hate the ribbon "yarn" with a deep passion. I am so very close to finishing, it is ridiculous, and yet I continue to avoid it. I showed Mom the pieces when she was here for Christmas and she was thrilled, which made me feel a little bit better about it. I told her then I would have it to her by the end of January, and I will. I have said it out loud, it's on my "to do" list and It. Shall. Be. Done.