Teacher gifts

Aidan's last day of school is Tuesday. Well, it is his last HALF day of school since they are dismissed at 11:30 am. Just what is the purpose of attending less than three hours of school?

I wanted to knit his classroom teacher, Mrs. Madigan, a gift; she has been so patient and kind to Aidan since he transferred to the school midyear. I chose to knit a scarflet, which is a nice little project and a practical one in central New York. Aidan informed me that pink is Mrs. Madigan's favorite color, so I chose a pretty pink variegated yarn, Crystal Palace Panda Silk Print. It is 52% bamboo, 43% Merino wool and 5% silk, but it feels to me like 100% silk.


Aidan also formed a close friendship with his music teacher, Mrs. Schmid. They got off to a very rocky start but Mrs. Schmid took the time to get to know Aidan, devise a way to work with him, laid out the law to him, and they got along smashingly thereafter. Aidan is very sad that Mrs. Schmid is retiring this year, and asked me to knit "something special" for her. I chose to also knit her a scarflet but in a different pattern than the one I knit for Mrs. Madigan, and Mrs. Madigan helped find out Mrs. Schmid's favorite color, peach.


The photograph does not do the color justice at all; it is a lovely light peach color. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk, which is an even blend of silk and alpaca. It is luscious to touch and has a lovely light sheen to it.

I hope these two very special teachers like their end of year gifts, and understand just how important they are to Aidan.

This and that

From the lack of recent posts, you might think that nothing much has been going on at our house lately, but you would be incorrect. Plenty has been going on and we have been making our usual weekend excursions, and there is probably a really good reason for why I have not wanted to take the time to write about these goings ons, but I certainly can't think of one right now. I think I have just been just plain lazy. I said it, not you, so no worries.

Following is a very brief accounting of some of our latest activities.

Syracuse Chiefs baseball game on 5 June - we went as part of Boy Scouts of America night, and the scouts paraded around the field prior to the game. The tickets were free but the seats were for general admission, which meant we sat in steerage. The ballpark is lovely and it was so wonderful to be at a minor league baseball game, but I will not do general admission again; I am a reserved seat in a covered section kind of queen.

Parade of scouts:


Wind, wine and a waste of time - the day after the baseball game, we drove up to Chimney Bluffs State Park on Lake Ontario with the intent of doing some hiking. That was the intent but in reality it was a lousy day to hike: raining, temps in the low 50s and ferocious winds. We drove to the park, but I refused to get out of the car because it was so nasty outside! We will go back on a calmer day and see the amazing views.

We followed signs for a winery and found that just down the road from the park is Thorpe Vineyard. We tasted both white and red wines, enjoyed a chat with Fumie Thorpe, the owner, and bought a bottle of her Vidal wine.

From the winery we drove in a round about way to Oswego to have a late lunch at Rudy's Lakeside, which was described by several of James' employees as a great seafood and hamburger place. Let's just say that we will not be taking restaurant recommendations from those people in the future.

Best in bass - last Saturday the B'ville Chamber of Commerce held a children's fishing derby. It did not look good when we got up, because the rain was coming down hard. By the time registration started, it had let up considerably and was only drizzling a bit, so the derby went on as planned. Each child received a free fishing pole and soon Aidan and our friend Kennedy were putting their new poles to good use. James was kept busy baiting hooks and untangling lines! Aidan was so excited to reel in his first catch, a six and a half inch sunfish. He ended up catching three sunfish, one bass and even won a prize, a soft-sided tackle box. After a trip to the sporting goods store, the tackle box is now outfitted and Aidan is eager to do more fishing.