Thursday, July 31, 2008
One More Day ...
And it's going to be a long one. I changed my plans slightly ... since I didn't get everything done I wanted to get done last night, I decided not to try to go out to Pennsic tonight. For me to do that, I'd have to work today, then come home and rush like mad for the next several hours, just to get there (probably near or after dark), exhausted, and still have my bed to set up. (I didn't set it up last weekend because I was waiting to see whether my tent was going to leak).
I hate rushing around to get anywhere, but especially there - arriving already stressed and exhausted is no fun.
If I wait till tomorrow to go, then I can have a nice evening with Tyler tonight and do the last minute things I didn't get done yesterday, I can take my time getting going tomorrow, spend some time with Tyler at my brother's before I rush off, and still get to site with hours of daylight left to settle in and chill out.
It rained once this week on site, and my tent did have some minor water issues - apparently the seams didn't leak, but in one spot the side wall got so saggy (the tent is very old) that near the bottom it was touching the tent floor, water wicked in there, and created a small puddle. Greg said he'd see if he could figure out a way to get the tent pulled a little tighter on the frame, to alleviate that problem. If not, I just have to figure out a way to keep my bed away from the side walls (in a tent that small, it will be tricky). Everything else is up off the floor or in totes, so will be safe from getting wet - if I can just keep my bedding from touching the wall, wicking in moisture and getting soaked, I should be okay. Oh! I just had an idea - I noticed that for some reason I had an unopened plastic painter's drop cloth in my tote. I wonder ... if I spread that on the floor and up the side walls of the tent, then put my bed on top of it, during the day I could pull the plastic over the bed and protect it from any moisture, and at night I could just pull the plastic up along the walls, and ... figure out some way to fasten it to get it to stay there (only because I'd rather not sleep under a sheet of plastic if I can avoid it) ... then if the walls sagged the only thing they'd be touching would be the 'wrong' side of the plastic, away from me. That might be something to try.
Meanwhile, this is entirely creeping me out this morning.
He must have been busy overnight, this wasn't there yesterday. I try not to kill anything, but I can't have this thing making a web condo on my porch with me leaving for vacation ... it'll look like Shelob's lair when I get back. I'll either have to wait till he's out, or figure out a way to chase him off, and then tear down his handiwork. He can go build it somewhere else, more private.
I hate rushing around to get anywhere, but especially there - arriving already stressed and exhausted is no fun.
If I wait till tomorrow to go, then I can have a nice evening with Tyler tonight and do the last minute things I didn't get done yesterday, I can take my time getting going tomorrow, spend some time with Tyler at my brother's before I rush off, and still get to site with hours of daylight left to settle in and chill out.
It rained once this week on site, and my tent did have some minor water issues - apparently the seams didn't leak, but in one spot the side wall got so saggy (the tent is very old) that near the bottom it was touching the tent floor, water wicked in there, and created a small puddle. Greg said he'd see if he could figure out a way to get the tent pulled a little tighter on the frame, to alleviate that problem. If not, I just have to figure out a way to keep my bed away from the side walls (in a tent that small, it will be tricky). Everything else is up off the floor or in totes, so will be safe from getting wet - if I can just keep my bedding from touching the wall, wicking in moisture and getting soaked, I should be okay. Oh! I just had an idea - I noticed that for some reason I had an unopened plastic painter's drop cloth in my tote. I wonder ... if I spread that on the floor and up the side walls of the tent, then put my bed on top of it, during the day I could pull the plastic over the bed and protect it from any moisture, and at night I could just pull the plastic up along the walls, and ... figure out some way to fasten it to get it to stay there (only because I'd rather not sleep under a sheet of plastic if I can avoid it) ... then if the walls sagged the only thing they'd be touching would be the 'wrong' side of the plastic, away from me. That might be something to try.
Meanwhile, this is entirely creeping me out this morning.
He must have been busy overnight, this wasn't there yesterday. I try not to kill anything, but I can't have this thing making a web condo on my porch with me leaving for vacation ... it'll look like Shelob's lair when I get back. I'll either have to wait till he's out, or figure out a way to chase him off, and then tear down his handiwork. He can go build it somewhere else, more private.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Amazing. Totally Amazing.
You know, I revamped all my Pennsic planning and packing last year with the hopes of simplifying things, but somehow I didn't think it had worked out so well. For one thing, part of the scheme involved making sure things were all put away properly after Pennsic - but since I had such a crappy Pennsic, and we had Biblical-proportion rains and everything got wet, and I came home in such a bad mood, I thought I hadn't packed everything up the way I'd wanted to. I just didn't expect the scheme to work out very well.
Apparently it did. I have never, ever had such an easy time getting to Pennsic or such an easy and relaxing set-up weekend as this one.
Usually the week before Pennsic is a flurry of activity, scrambling around trying to find things and pack. I used to have a 'staging area' where I'd begin stacking stuff that had to be packed, either on my porch or in my garage, and it would be a mess for a week before-hand; then I'd spend hours trying to fit it all in the truck.
This year I did almost nothing the week leading up to the first weekend. I decided not to go out till Sunday, and when it came time to pack the truck, it took all of about 15 minutes. I just put in the totes and a couple of crates with miscellaneous stuff in, and I was done. Truly amazing.
When I got there, I set up my tent and little porch / pavilion, shoved the totes and crates in the tent, and was done. I actually had time to sit around and relax and enjoy myself. More amazing.
The only thing I did preparation-wise earlier in the week was pack my garb - it was upstairs hanging on a clothing rack, and I packed it in a giant Ziploc storage bag and tossed it in a tote. And normally I'd have spent time setting up the inside of my tent set-up weekend, but I didn't, because it had some leaks which I seriously seam sealed yesterday, plus coated the entire tent twice with Camp Dry - so I didn't want to unpack everything until it sits there through a rain or two this week and I see whether my waterproofing worked. Once I get back on site, I'll unpack and set up the inside - but I enjoy that part, so it's not like 'work' to me.
So anyway, apparently my scheme worked better than I realized, and knowing that, and seeing the fruits of last year's labors, I'm going to be more mindful of it this year when I pack up. It was well worth it.
Of course, this didn't count all the public 'camp' stuff, which is what is usually the major thorn in my side. Since Greg and I didn't go out together this year, I didn't end up hauling half the camp as well as my own personal stuff. Greg took less than usual because he only had the one truck to haul it in, which also helped make camp set-up somewhat easier than usual.
Granted, I had the supposed flurry of activity in recent weeks, but even that wasn't nearly as much as it's been known to be in the past. In the first few years, when I had little garb, and would of course wait till the last minute to make it, I'd be sewing till sometimes 11:00 or 12:00 each night in the weeks before Pennsic. I used to get exhausted and so sick of sewing. Nothing like that this year. I fixed and sewed a few things, but it was all pretty laid back and easy. I did fix the purple dress this past week, adding in the insert material.
I also pseudo-finished the pirate coat. I didn't get the embroidery anywhere near done, but I had stopped at a spot that let it kind of stand on its own for now, so I felt I could wear the coat as-is for this year. I sewed the cuffs on, hemmed it, and plan to wear it anyway, even though it has no buttons and the embroidery is only barely started.
That will eventually be a full compass rose with an outside circle and more points, and there will be a matching one on the other cuff. But I figured it looked decent enough for now to wear as is. When I come home, I'll carefully remove the cuffs so I can go back to work on their embroidery, and over the year add the other embroidery I want to do, and buttons. By next year it should be completely finished. But at least I get to wear it this year.
This week, though, is going to be busier. I have to go grocery shopping for all my food for next week (except the stuff I already cooked) and for Tyler's food; I have to cook up a batch of food for him; and I have to do some last minute packing of stuff I don't take till I go back to stay (books, knitting, shower stuff, etc.). And work's going to suck, since I usually have to get all caught up before I can go, but I'm so far behind this year there's no chance that'll happen, so I don't know how that's going to go over with my boss. And he's on vacation this week, which also adds to the mess at work right now. Oh well ... only four days!
And best of all, I love my little tent set-up this year! I didn't want to leave it yesterday, it's so nice. I put my pavilion / porch up in front of my tent, and it's truly perfect.
It gives me a nice shady place to hang out when I want some privacy but don't want to be cooped up inside a hot stuffy tent; it puts the side of my tent that's facing the sun in total shade, which should help keep the tent from getting as hot in the first place; and it's just a wonderfully cool place to hang out. It could use a little more esthetic appeal, but I can work on that over time -this is the first year I've tried this. I do have some pretty purple and green sheer material hanging on the sides, but it was blocking the breeze, so it's tucked up right now. This pavilion is on it's way out, it's ripping out in several places, so next year what I plan to do is salvage the frame, and use the current plastic-y pavilion top as a pattern to make a new cover for it out of canvas or duck cloth. Then I can make it more decorative and pretty. It'll be an ongoing project.
I'm seriously considering doing something similar with the tent, if I like camping in it this year and it's big enough (this is the smallest tent I've ever taken to Pennsic, only 7x9, but I needed a smaller one if I wanted to add the space of the pavilion to my camping area). If it works out and I like it, I'm seriously considering also making a canvas cover for the tent itself, to make a nice matching set-up. I figure if I'm not going to end up dropping $1300 for one of these ...
... then I'll do my best with what I have to work with. I'll call it the "White Trash Pavilion."
Apparently it did. I have never, ever had such an easy time getting to Pennsic or such an easy and relaxing set-up weekend as this one.
Usually the week before Pennsic is a flurry of activity, scrambling around trying to find things and pack. I used to have a 'staging area' where I'd begin stacking stuff that had to be packed, either on my porch or in my garage, and it would be a mess for a week before-hand; then I'd spend hours trying to fit it all in the truck.
This year I did almost nothing the week leading up to the first weekend. I decided not to go out till Sunday, and when it came time to pack the truck, it took all of about 15 minutes. I just put in the totes and a couple of crates with miscellaneous stuff in, and I was done. Truly amazing.
When I got there, I set up my tent and little porch / pavilion, shoved the totes and crates in the tent, and was done. I actually had time to sit around and relax and enjoy myself. More amazing.
The only thing I did preparation-wise earlier in the week was pack my garb - it was upstairs hanging on a clothing rack, and I packed it in a giant Ziploc storage bag and tossed it in a tote. And normally I'd have spent time setting up the inside of my tent set-up weekend, but I didn't, because it had some leaks which I seriously seam sealed yesterday, plus coated the entire tent twice with Camp Dry - so I didn't want to unpack everything until it sits there through a rain or two this week and I see whether my waterproofing worked. Once I get back on site, I'll unpack and set up the inside - but I enjoy that part, so it's not like 'work' to me.
So anyway, apparently my scheme worked better than I realized, and knowing that, and seeing the fruits of last year's labors, I'm going to be more mindful of it this year when I pack up. It was well worth it.
Of course, this didn't count all the public 'camp' stuff, which is what is usually the major thorn in my side. Since Greg and I didn't go out together this year, I didn't end up hauling half the camp as well as my own personal stuff. Greg took less than usual because he only had the one truck to haul it in, which also helped make camp set-up somewhat easier than usual.
Granted, I had the supposed flurry of activity in recent weeks, but even that wasn't nearly as much as it's been known to be in the past. In the first few years, when I had little garb, and would of course wait till the last minute to make it, I'd be sewing till sometimes 11:00 or 12:00 each night in the weeks before Pennsic. I used to get exhausted and so sick of sewing. Nothing like that this year. I fixed and sewed a few things, but it was all pretty laid back and easy. I did fix the purple dress this past week, adding in the insert material.
I also pseudo-finished the pirate coat. I didn't get the embroidery anywhere near done, but I had stopped at a spot that let it kind of stand on its own for now, so I felt I could wear the coat as-is for this year. I sewed the cuffs on, hemmed it, and plan to wear it anyway, even though it has no buttons and the embroidery is only barely started.
That will eventually be a full compass rose with an outside circle and more points, and there will be a matching one on the other cuff. But I figured it looked decent enough for now to wear as is. When I come home, I'll carefully remove the cuffs so I can go back to work on their embroidery, and over the year add the other embroidery I want to do, and buttons. By next year it should be completely finished. But at least I get to wear it this year.
This week, though, is going to be busier. I have to go grocery shopping for all my food for next week (except the stuff I already cooked) and for Tyler's food; I have to cook up a batch of food for him; and I have to do some last minute packing of stuff I don't take till I go back to stay (books, knitting, shower stuff, etc.). And work's going to suck, since I usually have to get all caught up before I can go, but I'm so far behind this year there's no chance that'll happen, so I don't know how that's going to go over with my boss. And he's on vacation this week, which also adds to the mess at work right now. Oh well ... only four days!
And best of all, I love my little tent set-up this year! I didn't want to leave it yesterday, it's so nice. I put my pavilion / porch up in front of my tent, and it's truly perfect.
It gives me a nice shady place to hang out when I want some privacy but don't want to be cooped up inside a hot stuffy tent; it puts the side of my tent that's facing the sun in total shade, which should help keep the tent from getting as hot in the first place; and it's just a wonderfully cool place to hang out. It could use a little more esthetic appeal, but I can work on that over time -this is the first year I've tried this. I do have some pretty purple and green sheer material hanging on the sides, but it was blocking the breeze, so it's tucked up right now. This pavilion is on it's way out, it's ripping out in several places, so next year what I plan to do is salvage the frame, and use the current plastic-y pavilion top as a pattern to make a new cover for it out of canvas or duck cloth. Then I can make it more decorative and pretty. It'll be an ongoing project.
I'm seriously considering doing something similar with the tent, if I like camping in it this year and it's big enough (this is the smallest tent I've ever taken to Pennsic, only 7x9, but I needed a smaller one if I wanted to add the space of the pavilion to my camping area). If it works out and I like it, I'm seriously considering also making a canvas cover for the tent itself, to make a nice matching set-up. I figure if I'm not going to end up dropping $1300 for one of these ...
... then I'll do my best with what I have to work with. I'll call it the "White Trash Pavilion."
Friday, July 25, 2008
It's Happening NOW!!!
(Those of you who have been here will get that title reference)
Well, it's officially Pennsic for another year. Troll opened today at noon, and the parking lot party will be ramping up about now. I opted out of going tonight. I thought about it a lot, and decided - meh. I knew, for starters, that I wouldn't get out there till midnight-ish. It's 10:30 and Greg just finished packing the truck about half an hour ago ...
... and only left a few minutes ago. It's an hour drive. And he had to make a couple store stops.
Then, the parking lot party is, to me, kind of boring. The first couple years it was incredibly exciting ... I simply could not wait to get on site, and would be there Friday evening without fail, stay up all night, even just to roam around in a big field lit by football-stadium-wattage floodlights, watch the sun come up over Pennsic, then go deal with the horror of trying to set up camp in the blazing hot sun and 180 degree temperatures with no sleep - and a hangover. Not even remotely fun.
The excitement waned, and though I still wanted to be there Friday night, I began to want to get some sleep around midnight or so (this was back when I used to be able to get there by 7:30 or 8:00). But with my truck packed to the rafters, there was no place to sleep except sitting up in the driver's seat. Not restful. Some people do set up tents for the parking lot party, but I could never justify the work.
Last year I couldn't go because I had no one to watch Tyler for the weekend.
This year when I considered going, I had decided to rethink my tent position, and take one of my smallest ones and my sleeping bag. But by this evening I'd cycled right on down to preferring to stay snugly at home, sleep in my own bed, kick back with a little Irish Cream, wake up refreshed tomorrow, and just bypass the whole parking lot party / setup Saturday thing entirely.
I will be going out Sunday - in part because I would like to go out for a bit this weekend, and in part because I need to get my tent out there so it can be fit into the overall scheme of the camp layout as early as possible. Plus I prefer to take as much of my other stuff as possible the first weekend, and get it all set up in my tent, so that when I come back to stay Thursday or Friday, I have little to do except show up and just start relaxing.
Sigh. Only another week. It'll be one very, very looooonnnggg week.
Well, it's officially Pennsic for another year. Troll opened today at noon, and the parking lot party will be ramping up about now. I opted out of going tonight. I thought about it a lot, and decided - meh. I knew, for starters, that I wouldn't get out there till midnight-ish. It's 10:30 and Greg just finished packing the truck about half an hour ago ...
... and only left a few minutes ago. It's an hour drive. And he had to make a couple store stops.
Then, the parking lot party is, to me, kind of boring. The first couple years it was incredibly exciting ... I simply could not wait to get on site, and would be there Friday evening without fail, stay up all night, even just to roam around in a big field lit by football-stadium-wattage floodlights, watch the sun come up over Pennsic, then go deal with the horror of trying to set up camp in the blazing hot sun and 180 degree temperatures with no sleep - and a hangover. Not even remotely fun.
The excitement waned, and though I still wanted to be there Friday night, I began to want to get some sleep around midnight or so (this was back when I used to be able to get there by 7:30 or 8:00). But with my truck packed to the rafters, there was no place to sleep except sitting up in the driver's seat. Not restful. Some people do set up tents for the parking lot party, but I could never justify the work.
Last year I couldn't go because I had no one to watch Tyler for the weekend.
This year when I considered going, I had decided to rethink my tent position, and take one of my smallest ones and my sleeping bag. But by this evening I'd cycled right on down to preferring to stay snugly at home, sleep in my own bed, kick back with a little Irish Cream, wake up refreshed tomorrow, and just bypass the whole parking lot party / setup Saturday thing entirely.
I will be going out Sunday - in part because I would like to go out for a bit this weekend, and in part because I need to get my tent out there so it can be fit into the overall scheme of the camp layout as early as possible. Plus I prefer to take as much of my other stuff as possible the first weekend, and get it all set up in my tent, so that when I come back to stay Thursday or Friday, I have little to do except show up and just start relaxing.
Sigh. Only another week. It'll be one very, very looooonnnggg week.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Garden Success; Some Knitting
Look what I found this morning.
How cool is that? My morning glories are actually blooming. I haven't seen hide nor hair of the moonflowers I planted alongside them since the first leaves, and when I look at all the leaves of the vines trailing up the trellis, they all look alike - i.e., one type of plant. So either moonflowers have identical leaves to morning glories, or they just never grew at all past those first leaves that sprouted from the seed.
But I'm way impressed I've got morning glories blooming, so I'll take that.
Here's the picture I promised awhile back about how well half the pond garden's doing.
The impatiens did astoundingly well here, so well that they got so large they're practically hiding the pond. In the hanging basket in the back I had planted two plants which would trail over the side of the basket, not anticipating the petunias getting this big. I think they've pretty well choked out the trailing plants (I can't really see them anymore, and haven't seen their dark purple blooms for awhile). If I had cut the petunias back from time to time, that might not have happened, but I didn't - I just let them run wild to see what they'd do. All well and good - next year I know that I really only need to plant petunias in there if I want something that will cover the whole basket and hang over the sides.
The fern's growing well too. But that's only one-half the garden. The other side pretty well looks like crap. The violets aren't doing well at all, and my perennials - those that lived at all - are tiny little things buried in weeds. Well ... baby steps, and a large learning curve. I'll keep working at it.
In between my other things I needed to get done, I actually did some knitting last night. I decided to go back to work on the sweater for awhile. I got a little concerned at first because I couldn't remember where I was, and the counter I had handy I thought was for the Snowdrop shawl, not the sweater. Eventually I sorted it out (that counter was for the sweater), and almost finished the front right. I have one more wrong-side row to do, then binding off, and it's done.
I don't know what I'm going to start next - the back, or a sleeve. Maybe the back ... the sleeves are going to require much thought, as I wanted to make them 3/4 length, which means I have to use my 'recipe' from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, but then do a bunch of math and figuring to determine how to adjust things to make a shorter sleeve. Not insurmountable, just some thought. And dreaded math. I'm sure I'll get to work on this quite a bit at Pennsic. I've kind of lost heart for the socks at the moment, though I'm sure I'll get back to them.
The Snowdrop shawl is on a break, as well, and I'm nervous now about getting back to that - it was going so well, but it's been so long since I worked on it - I just kind of assume I blew my window of opportunity, and when I go back to it, it'll be a disaster. I still remember what trouble I had with Triangles.
Anyway - time to make the donuts. Or at least, the lentil and sausage stew - I want to get that in the crock pot this morning, both for dinner tonight, and for packaging up and freezing for part of my Pennsic food.
How cool is that? My morning glories are actually blooming. I haven't seen hide nor hair of the moonflowers I planted alongside them since the first leaves, and when I look at all the leaves of the vines trailing up the trellis, they all look alike - i.e., one type of plant. So either moonflowers have identical leaves to morning glories, or they just never grew at all past those first leaves that sprouted from the seed.
But I'm way impressed I've got morning glories blooming, so I'll take that.
Here's the picture I promised awhile back about how well half the pond garden's doing.
The impatiens did astoundingly well here, so well that they got so large they're practically hiding the pond. In the hanging basket in the back I had planted two plants which would trail over the side of the basket, not anticipating the petunias getting this big. I think they've pretty well choked out the trailing plants (I can't really see them anymore, and haven't seen their dark purple blooms for awhile). If I had cut the petunias back from time to time, that might not have happened, but I didn't - I just let them run wild to see what they'd do. All well and good - next year I know that I really only need to plant petunias in there if I want something that will cover the whole basket and hang over the sides.
The fern's growing well too. But that's only one-half the garden. The other side pretty well looks like crap. The violets aren't doing well at all, and my perennials - those that lived at all - are tiny little things buried in weeds. Well ... baby steps, and a large learning curve. I'll keep working at it.
In between my other things I needed to get done, I actually did some knitting last night. I decided to go back to work on the sweater for awhile. I got a little concerned at first because I couldn't remember where I was, and the counter I had handy I thought was for the Snowdrop shawl, not the sweater. Eventually I sorted it out (that counter was for the sweater), and almost finished the front right. I have one more wrong-side row to do, then binding off, and it's done.
I don't know what I'm going to start next - the back, or a sleeve. Maybe the back ... the sleeves are going to require much thought, as I wanted to make them 3/4 length, which means I have to use my 'recipe' from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, but then do a bunch of math and figuring to determine how to adjust things to make a shorter sleeve. Not insurmountable, just some thought. And dreaded math. I'm sure I'll get to work on this quite a bit at Pennsic. I've kind of lost heart for the socks at the moment, though I'm sure I'll get back to them.
The Snowdrop shawl is on a break, as well, and I'm nervous now about getting back to that - it was going so well, but it's been so long since I worked on it - I just kind of assume I blew my window of opportunity, and when I go back to it, it'll be a disaster. I still remember what trouble I had with Triangles.
Anyway - time to make the donuts. Or at least, the lentil and sausage stew - I want to get that in the crock pot this morning, both for dinner tonight, and for packaging up and freezing for part of my Pennsic food.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Boat On The River
We had a good time on the boat this weekend. Tyler adjusted very well.
Of course he wanted to be the captain.
Then he decided someone else could do the work, and he'd sit back and sing pirate songs.
Finally he got tired of the whole thing, and took a nap.
View up the Beaver River from the boat.
Picture of the marina, Bridgewater Landings. Verra nice place. I forgot to take a picture of the boat we were actually on, but this was taken from it.
This week the getting-ready-for-Pennsic frenzy ramps up. Land Grab weekend is this weekend. I haven't decided yet whether I'll be going out this weekend, or when, but without a doubt I have a ton of stuff to get done in the next two weeks - and once again two of the four people at work have decided to take vacation time either this week or next, meaning I'll be expected to work overtime. Very, very bad timing. I may have to tell them no.
Unfortunately this has left no time for knitting lately. But I will be getting back to it, at least during Pennsic. I hope, anyway.
Of course he wanted to be the captain.
Then he decided someone else could do the work, and he'd sit back and sing pirate songs.
Finally he got tired of the whole thing, and took a nap.
View up the Beaver River from the boat.
Picture of the marina, Bridgewater Landings. Verra nice place. I forgot to take a picture of the boat we were actually on, but this was taken from it.
This week the getting-ready-for-Pennsic frenzy ramps up. Land Grab weekend is this weekend. I haven't decided yet whether I'll be going out this weekend, or when, but without a doubt I have a ton of stuff to get done in the next two weeks - and once again two of the four people at work have decided to take vacation time either this week or next, meaning I'll be expected to work overtime. Very, very bad timing. I may have to tell them no.
Unfortunately this has left no time for knitting lately. But I will be getting back to it, at least during Pennsic. I hope, anyway.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Summer's Ramping Up
It's starting to get busy around here. I had planned to spend this whole upcoming weekend working on my projects, and if I had, I might have made a huge dent in them. Not destined to be.
My brother has a boat. The marina where he docks it is having a dock party this Saturday, and he invited us, and we decided to go. We'll be going down Saturday afternoon, and spending the night on the boat. Me, Greg, the kids, and Tyler. Yep. This is going to be an Adventure.
I won't be home till sometime Sunday afternoon, and a good chance exhausted at that.
Which leaves me about 1 1/2 weeks of weeknight and one weekend to get Pennsic stuff done. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, Sunday - should have pictures from the dock party. And those promised and forgotten garden pictures.
My brother has a boat. The marina where he docks it is having a dock party this Saturday, and he invited us, and we decided to go. We'll be going down Saturday afternoon, and spending the night on the boat. Me, Greg, the kids, and Tyler. Yep. This is going to be an Adventure.
I won't be home till sometime Sunday afternoon, and a good chance exhausted at that.
Which leaves me about 1 1/2 weeks of weeknight and one weekend to get Pennsic stuff done. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, Sunday - should have pictures from the dock party. And those promised and forgotten garden pictures.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Back to Routine
I think this society is seriously lacking in ways to cope with an unexpected (or even an expected) death in the family. One week later everyone's expected to go back to their normal routine as if nothing ever happened, as if this person never existed in your life and their sudden absence from it should barely ripple the waters.
They say (whoever the hell 'they' are) that the best thing is to just get back to your normal activities as quickly as possible. Why? To purposely distract yourself?
Oh well, I guess I can't really complain. My loss here is nothing compared to that of my brother and nieces. I was just thinking about the fact that routine has resumed, I have to go back to a normal work week, my brother is planning to go back to work today, and ... everything just goes on. And it seems stupid somehow.
Anyway ... my "summer project frenzy" has pretty much hit a brick wall. I don't know what, if anything, I'll be accomplishing in the next couple weeks. Land grab weekend is only two weeks away, and now I'm down to just picking and choosing what (a) must be done, and (b) what else can realistically be done, now that my motivation has taken a nosedive.
I have to cook, that's a given. And I have to sort my Pennsic stuff and get things ready and packed. I have to seal the seams of my new tent (it pretty well leaks like a sieve, and if I want to take this one and not one of my older ones, this must get done) which also means a trip out to the sporting goods store or some place to get seam sealer - I don't think I have any.
Other than that, I'd like to try to finish the pirate coat, fix the purple dress, and make one more outfit - I already bought material for it, a pair of pants and a pirate shirt. Should be able to do that in a day or two if I just sit down and do it. Probably this coming weekend is the most likely time for most of that to get done.
Knitting's pretty much fallen by the wayside. I did rip out the sock I was working on, and re-started it sized for me. I got one toe done, but that all happened only because my boyfriend's band had gigs Friday night and Sunday afternoon, and I went to both, and wanted a project to take with me. I almost always take knitting projects to gigs, when I go ... I can't seem to just sit there and watch the show. Freak that I am.
And that's about it for the knitting for now. I probably won't get back to that until during or after Pennsic, with all the other things that are more urgently needed actually for Pennsic.
I'm out of time this morning, but later, pictures from the gig, and gardening - the garden, despite my recent neglect, has really taken off and now looks mostly the way I envisioned it back in the spring, you know, decades ago.
They say (whoever the hell 'they' are) that the best thing is to just get back to your normal activities as quickly as possible. Why? To purposely distract yourself?
Oh well, I guess I can't really complain. My loss here is nothing compared to that of my brother and nieces. I was just thinking about the fact that routine has resumed, I have to go back to a normal work week, my brother is planning to go back to work today, and ... everything just goes on. And it seems stupid somehow.
Anyway ... my "summer project frenzy" has pretty much hit a brick wall. I don't know what, if anything, I'll be accomplishing in the next couple weeks. Land grab weekend is only two weeks away, and now I'm down to just picking and choosing what (a) must be done, and (b) what else can realistically be done, now that my motivation has taken a nosedive.
I have to cook, that's a given. And I have to sort my Pennsic stuff and get things ready and packed. I have to seal the seams of my new tent (it pretty well leaks like a sieve, and if I want to take this one and not one of my older ones, this must get done) which also means a trip out to the sporting goods store or some place to get seam sealer - I don't think I have any.
Other than that, I'd like to try to finish the pirate coat, fix the purple dress, and make one more outfit - I already bought material for it, a pair of pants and a pirate shirt. Should be able to do that in a day or two if I just sit down and do it. Probably this coming weekend is the most likely time for most of that to get done.
Knitting's pretty much fallen by the wayside. I did rip out the sock I was working on, and re-started it sized for me. I got one toe done, but that all happened only because my boyfriend's band had gigs Friday night and Sunday afternoon, and I went to both, and wanted a project to take with me. I almost always take knitting projects to gigs, when I go ... I can't seem to just sit there and watch the show. Freak that I am.
And that's about it for the knitting for now. I probably won't get back to that until during or after Pennsic, with all the other things that are more urgently needed actually for Pennsic.
I'm out of time this morning, but later, pictures from the gig, and gardening - the garden, despite my recent neglect, has really taken off and now looks mostly the way I envisioned it back in the spring, you know, decades ago.
Friday, July 11, 2008
So ...
It's been a rough week. Wednesday was the calling hours and Thursday the funeral. We didn't have a ready dog-sitter, so we had to take Tyler with us. Due to several factors, we decided to get a hotel room Wednesday instead of driving back and forth, and instead of staying at my brother's. But check-out time was 11:00 a.m., and the funeral was at the same time. One of the points of the hotel room was to have a place for Tyler to be while we did what we had to do - but if we had to be out of the room at 11:00 a.m., that was no good. We asked about a late checkout, but they couldn't guarantee we'd get it at all (you have to ask after you've checked in, or the morning you need the late checkout, and if they're full up and somone has reserved your room, you can't get it), and even if we could, the latest they'd give us is 1:00 p.m. That wasn't going to be late enough.
So I gave in and booked the room for two nights. I knew we wouldn't be staying Thursday night, but that gave us use of the room all day long, for as long as we needed it, and I figured the convenience of that would balance out the extra $94 cost for a second night. Okay, maybe 6 hours of hotel room use wasn't quite worth $94, but it definitely was the most convenient way to do things.
It turned out that it really did work out well. Due to everything going on, we ended up not checking out till sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. But here's the cool part. The girl at the desk was the same one who'd checked us in, and she knew we were in town for a funeral, and had only needed the room the extra time for a place to keep the dog. When I went to check out, she decided not to charge us for the second night after all. So we got all the extra hours in the room we needed, for no charge at all.
I was beyond impressed, and extremely pleased. That was the Holiday Inn Express in Monaca, PA, and they get a huge batch of kudos from me.
Other than that, we went out on the boat. It was something my brother really wanted to do, so we did. We took Tyler. He really seemed to enjoy it. So that was his first time on a boat. He had an interesting little break from routine ... road trip, laying around on those big soft Holiday Inn pillows watching TV most of the day, then going for a boat ride.
At least someone had it easy. It was otherwise pretty rough. I wish I didn't have to go back to work today, but since I missed much of the week, I figure I oughta.
So I gave in and booked the room for two nights. I knew we wouldn't be staying Thursday night, but that gave us use of the room all day long, for as long as we needed it, and I figured the convenience of that would balance out the extra $94 cost for a second night. Okay, maybe 6 hours of hotel room use wasn't quite worth $94, but it definitely was the most convenient way to do things.
It turned out that it really did work out well. Due to everything going on, we ended up not checking out till sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. But here's the cool part. The girl at the desk was the same one who'd checked us in, and she knew we were in town for a funeral, and had only needed the room the extra time for a place to keep the dog. When I went to check out, she decided not to charge us for the second night after all. So we got all the extra hours in the room we needed, for no charge at all.
I was beyond impressed, and extremely pleased. That was the Holiday Inn Express in Monaca, PA, and they get a huge batch of kudos from me.
Other than that, we went out on the boat. It was something my brother really wanted to do, so we did. We took Tyler. He really seemed to enjoy it. So that was his first time on a boat. He had an interesting little break from routine ... road trip, laying around on those big soft Holiday Inn pillows watching TV most of the day, then going for a boat ride.
At least someone had it easy. It was otherwise pretty rough. I wish I didn't have to go back to work today, but since I missed much of the week, I figure I oughta.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tragedy
I have been putting off writing this, despite that I added the mourning ribbon yesterday ... it's just been too difficult to write about. But I had to get that last post off the main page, the one titled "Weekend Not Going As Planned." No, no one's weekend went as planned, not by a very damned long shot.
My sister-in-law passed away Sunday, July 6th. It was mostly unexepected, at least to me, and came as a complete and utter shock. She was sick, she had several serious health problems just discovered within the prior 6 weeks or so. But as far as I knew, treatments were taking place, and things were either stable, or in some cases showing signs of some improvement. There was no indication, at least as far as I knew, that something like this might be so imminent. I was planning to be down there the first of August, as they were going to watch Tyler while I went to Pennsic, and my brother had even said the other day he anticipated she'd be out of the hospital, stabilized and home for awhile by then.
I have no idea what exactly changed so drastically, but something surely did, and she passed away early Sunday morning.
Trish and my brother had been married 25 years this month, but had dated a long time before they got married (we used to tease them about that, in fact - when are you ever just going to give in and get married). She's been a part of the family for as long as I can remember.
I have been in such total and complete shock, it's hard to function. I'm sure it's nothing to what my brother and nieces are going through, which is part of my own pain - deep concern for them. To lose your spouse and mother anytime, but at only 49 years old, and so suddenly, is a tragedy that seems to me almost beyond enduring.
I am very glad I jumped on that first pair of socks so fast. My brother told me Saturday night (before all of this had happened) that they did arrive, and they did fit perfectly, and she was very happy with them. She probably only got to wear them one or two days, but at least I was able to get them there.
The first sock of the next pair is more than half done. I can't bear to look at right now, but when I can, I imagine I'm going to rip it out (which will be heartbreaking) and re-knit it into something that fits me. Not to sound crass - but I'm not going to keep the half-knit sock forever as such a painful reminder (there are other much more beautiful ways to remember someone than something ended half-finished, too soon), and I'm not going to throw it away. The best thing I can think to do is re-knit the socks and wear them in honor of Trish. Or re-knit them for one of my nieces.
Yeah, well, that all sounds fine, but I may not be able to do any of that, and they may well just end up getting stashed somewhere indefinitely.
I think that's about all I have to say for now.
My sister-in-law passed away Sunday, July 6th. It was mostly unexepected, at least to me, and came as a complete and utter shock. She was sick, she had several serious health problems just discovered within the prior 6 weeks or so. But as far as I knew, treatments were taking place, and things were either stable, or in some cases showing signs of some improvement. There was no indication, at least as far as I knew, that something like this might be so imminent. I was planning to be down there the first of August, as they were going to watch Tyler while I went to Pennsic, and my brother had even said the other day he anticipated she'd be out of the hospital, stabilized and home for awhile by then.
I have no idea what exactly changed so drastically, but something surely did, and she passed away early Sunday morning.
Trish and my brother had been married 25 years this month, but had dated a long time before they got married (we used to tease them about that, in fact - when are you ever just going to give in and get married). She's been a part of the family for as long as I can remember.
I have been in such total and complete shock, it's hard to function. I'm sure it's nothing to what my brother and nieces are going through, which is part of my own pain - deep concern for them. To lose your spouse and mother anytime, but at only 49 years old, and so suddenly, is a tragedy that seems to me almost beyond enduring.
I am very glad I jumped on that first pair of socks so fast. My brother told me Saturday night (before all of this had happened) that they did arrive, and they did fit perfectly, and she was very happy with them. She probably only got to wear them one or two days, but at least I was able to get them there.
The first sock of the next pair is more than half done. I can't bear to look at right now, but when I can, I imagine I'm going to rip it out (which will be heartbreaking) and re-knit it into something that fits me. Not to sound crass - but I'm not going to keep the half-knit sock forever as such a painful reminder (there are other much more beautiful ways to remember someone than something ended half-finished, too soon), and I'm not going to throw it away. The best thing I can think to do is re-knit the socks and wear them in honor of Trish. Or re-knit them for one of my nieces.
Yeah, well, that all sounds fine, but I may not be able to do any of that, and they may well just end up getting stashed somewhere indefinitely.
I think that's about all I have to say for now.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Weekend - Not Going As Planned
Well, things aren't percolating along as I planned this weekend. Yesterday I felt pretty blah most of the day because I stayed up way too late the night before (and had a leetle too much rum). I didn't feel like going anywhere, so didn't make it to the fabric store. I didn't feel like working on projects.
But the day wasn't a total loss ... I had gone upstairs to my hobby area for a bit, and suddenly got very fed up with the mess. I cleaned and rearranged that area last winter ...
... but over the course of use in the past few months, it had gotten pretty messy again. It didn't look anywhere near that nice yesterday. I decided to clean it up again. Which always mushrooms into a huge project. I have one of those big folding tables which I didn't really have room for, so I intended to keep it folded up out of the way except when I was actually working on something. Yeah, that didn't work - when in the midst of a big project, being able to leave it out and just go back to it whenever without an hour of set-up was important to me. So I began rearranging the area so I had room to leave the table set up all the time.
Then I decided I wanted my desk moved over there - it was something I'd planned from the beginning, but hadn't gotten around to. The desk was buried in another part of the upstairs, but I unburied it, dragged it down to this end of the upstairs, and got it in place. I did some general cleaning up and putting things away, and also threw away a bunch of stuff that I really didn't need, wasn't going to use, and was tired of cluttering up my space.
I didn't quite get it done, but I made a huge amount of progress on it, so I'm happy. The left side of the room still looks pretty much like that picture, it was the other side that I changed drastically, getting rid of plastic stacking shelves and putting the folding work-table along that wall.
I'm hoping that the more straightened up and organized the area is, and the easier it is to get to things I want to work on, the more likely I will be to get other, old projects completed, and be able to get new things done without it taking 16 years. I have a lot of languishing projects (the Tolkien quilt, for one) and a lot of new projects I'd someday like to try (landscape quilting, making a scrap quilt out of all my carefully trimmed 5" square scraps, more weaving experiements, not to mention all the Pennsic projects I have in mind, that aren't going to get done this summer, but I want to get done sometime). Having a good, convenient area to work on this stuff will, hopefully, enable me to start getting into some of those things.
Well, after this current flurry of projects is done anyway. I don't mind that I have an overwhelming number of things I want to do ... I live for my projects and making things.
Last night we had a dual fireworks display going on. The city where I live puts off fireworks in one of the parks, which happens to be situated in such a way that we can see them from the neighbor's back yard. So we went over there for the 'main' display, but some people one street over in the opposite direction had apparently used their stimulus checks and maybe the sale of a couple body parts to buy fireworks this year - they put off a display almost as good as the city's, and at the same time. We were constantly torn as to which way to face, and the yard was aglow with fireworks from both directions. Pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, it's 8:00 a.m. and I'm awake and energetic - good night's sleep last night - so I think I'm going to go get started on something.
But the day wasn't a total loss ... I had gone upstairs to my hobby area for a bit, and suddenly got very fed up with the mess. I cleaned and rearranged that area last winter ...
... but over the course of use in the past few months, it had gotten pretty messy again. It didn't look anywhere near that nice yesterday. I decided to clean it up again. Which always mushrooms into a huge project. I have one of those big folding tables which I didn't really have room for, so I intended to keep it folded up out of the way except when I was actually working on something. Yeah, that didn't work - when in the midst of a big project, being able to leave it out and just go back to it whenever without an hour of set-up was important to me. So I began rearranging the area so I had room to leave the table set up all the time.
Then I decided I wanted my desk moved over there - it was something I'd planned from the beginning, but hadn't gotten around to. The desk was buried in another part of the upstairs, but I unburied it, dragged it down to this end of the upstairs, and got it in place. I did some general cleaning up and putting things away, and also threw away a bunch of stuff that I really didn't need, wasn't going to use, and was tired of cluttering up my space.
I didn't quite get it done, but I made a huge amount of progress on it, so I'm happy. The left side of the room still looks pretty much like that picture, it was the other side that I changed drastically, getting rid of plastic stacking shelves and putting the folding work-table along that wall.
I'm hoping that the more straightened up and organized the area is, and the easier it is to get to things I want to work on, the more likely I will be to get other, old projects completed, and be able to get new things done without it taking 16 years. I have a lot of languishing projects (the Tolkien quilt, for one) and a lot of new projects I'd someday like to try (landscape quilting, making a scrap quilt out of all my carefully trimmed 5" square scraps, more weaving experiements, not to mention all the Pennsic projects I have in mind, that aren't going to get done this summer, but I want to get done sometime). Having a good, convenient area to work on this stuff will, hopefully, enable me to start getting into some of those things.
Well, after this current flurry of projects is done anyway. I don't mind that I have an overwhelming number of things I want to do ... I live for my projects and making things.
Last night we had a dual fireworks display going on. The city where I live puts off fireworks in one of the parks, which happens to be situated in such a way that we can see them from the neighbor's back yard. So we went over there for the 'main' display, but some people one street over in the opposite direction had apparently used their stimulus checks and maybe the sale of a couple body parts to buy fireworks this year - they put off a display almost as good as the city's, and at the same time. We were constantly torn as to which way to face, and the yard was aglow with fireworks from both directions. Pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, it's 8:00 a.m. and I'm awake and energetic - good night's sleep last night - so I think I'm going to go get started on something.
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