Mid-August Blues

I always feel blue in mid-August. The summer is going too fast, with too much work and not enough time to do it all and still have lots of quiet time, knitting time, do-nothing time. If I steal the last three, there is guilt because I was raised not to waste time. (This computer thing gives me lots of guilty moments). And yet I know I have chosen this work. I don't need a huge garden, or 30 flower pots, or too many flower beds, or the acquaintance of the Alpaca Man, or a 60-foot strawberry patch, or all those raspberries.... But an excess of honest work has been the hallmark of my life. Maybe it was my pioneer upbringing, or the childhood poverty.
When I was teaching, the reality of the end of summer was even more pronounced. Teachers had to come back the Thurs. and Fri. before Labor Day for organizational meetings and Prayer Service. Although I loved teaching, I loved being home and with the kids even more. I used to get really really blue in those days.

As I'm composing this, I realize that it isn't the work done that's tiring and saddening, it's the unfinished stuff.

Much as I mourn the passing of summer, since I retired, I have developed a love of autumn. I never saw much of autumn, since the beginning of the school year was always so busy with long after-school hours. Now I am aware of the smells, the sights, the changes, and I love it. But not quite yet.

One thing I like to do is to go for a walk
and talk to my Maker about my stresses
and feelings, and thank Him for His
blessings. One of my favorite places is
the patch where the Angelica plants grow
(also known as Garden heliotrope). It looks
like Queen Anne's Lace, but is 5-6 feet tall.
If you sniff the flowers they stink, but in the evening they infuse the entire yard with the most heavenly scent.

Back to reality--if you look closely, you can see the Angelica amid the tenacious Canada Thistles. My hands have become so tough, I can pull Canada Thistle without gloves--no word of a lie!





Today we had new (wider) eavestroughs put on, along with a cover called "Gutter Guard". With all our trees it was a real chore to keep cleaning the gutters (they get dirty even if there is no rain), and we're not spring chickens any more. That will remove one summer chore from my list. (Or Kubota Man's list).

I've been stealing time. Here are the
Mary Maxim Bamboo socks in the
color "hyacinth". They are soooo
pretty. The dark line looks black, but is a soft brown. It blends in quite nicely, although in the picture it shrieks out. These are MINE!

And I've finished the fronts and back of honeycomb Sweater #2, in charcoal grey alpaca. Will finish most of a sleeve tonight.






This is the commissioned chenille
sweater that I've just finished. It is
for a lady who runs a local appliance repair shop and appliance outlet. She
donated a lot of yarn to our Prayer
Shawl Ministry, and some lovely quilt fabric remnants from which my friend Jeanet made a double-bed quilt which we raffled for our Women's League fundraiser. This sweater is a Mary Maxim kit. It worked up quickly, but shed a lot of dander, so I had a lot of sinus problems for a while. It was so furry, I couldn't see the individual stitches, so counting was horrendous. I'm glad it's done.
BTW you can just get a glimpse of a wall of my newly-renovated sewing room.

Alpaca Man came this afternoon and dropped off 2 big boxes of alpaca yarn (looks like worsted weight) in both black and white. Lots of designing to do now.

We've still had no rain. It takes the whole morning to water the potted trees and shrubs. Kubota Man has just about finished rebuilding the damaged greenhouse--just has to figure out how he wants to set up the chimneys, then we wait for calm days that the kids can all come home at the same time so we can put the plastic sheeting on, and finish everything off--clean up and wait till February, when we start up again.

Tomorrow I am going on a field trip with Mom and the Handi-Bus. We are going to Muttart Conservatories in Edmonton. This site consists of glass pyramids, each with a different eco-system environment: I don't remember them all, but there is a desert one, and I think a tropical one. You get the idea.

I have to start thinking about completing the deck renovations. Our deck is huge. In 1987 it started to be 8'x8', just a big porch at the back door on the east side of the house. While it was still in the planning stages, I thought another 16'x22' on the east side would make a nice sitting area (in full sun). So then I thought 8'x30' more along the north (front side) of the house would give us a nice shady spot. So Kubota Man, in fear of a house totally surrounded by decks, ordered the lumber. Now, we each have our own unique skill-sets. He is an excellent structural builder and framer--I have the patience and meticulousness for finishing work. So we did what we do best--divide the labor. He built the sub-structure (it is quite high off the ground) including the floor joists. I did the floor planks and the railings. In 1987 pressure treated wood was prohibitively expensive, so we used just spruce and kept it stained. Two years ago we replaced the decking and last summer I ripped off the rails, saved the decorative slats, and re-built the frames. Now the wood has dried, so I need to take the mill glaze off, and stain the whole thing, then replace the little slats. I'm looking forward to it being all finished. I will do it in stages: wash all the rails, stain. Wash all the floor boards, stain. Wash the fence under the whole deck. Stain. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ I'm worn out already, and I haven't even started yet. But at least I have the stain so I don't have to shop--my least favorite activity in the world.

Till next time: Grandmother and grandchild discussing a common interest are exactly the same age (Duane Birch)

Summer is Going Too Fast

This week is going too fast, as always. Sunday's lunch with the priests was great. All three of them are from India. We learned a lot about their culture(s), since they are from different parts of their homeland.

On Saturday Kubota Man Jr. and Kubota Kid (Carter), along with Carter's dad had a camp-out at our place. Carter got a lot of tractor driving in. Their campfires made a bit of a dent in out pile of downed wood from the storm.

Daughter #2, Shelley, surprised us. She works at a very intense job as a team leader with our Immigration Services. She works off her stress/energy in her yard. She has decided to make a huge perennial bed, so she needed perennials and shrubs. We raided some of my own perennials, and she bought a real nice selection--she insists on paying her own way, so I convinced her that we are having a 50% off sale. She went home with a truckload, and even some gooseberry bushes for our favorite SIL, Scott the Plumber.

Kubota Man has been working hard on the greenhouse reconstruction. I've been trying to rescue various parts of the yard from weeds. I cleaned the strawberry patch--the sheep got 5 full loader buckets of weeds. They sure appreciate those.

It's still dry. Rain is predicted for tomorrow. But I'm going to put the sprinkler on the garden anyways.

This cutie's name is Noah. He lives with his parents in Passau, Germany. He is wearing the Blue Baby Hoodie that I sent him along with some other "Welcome" gifts. It took 2 months for the parcel to reach him, because the postal codes had been changed and I had sent it to the old postal code (although I had the correct street address). Noah's parents came to Canada on vacation about this time last year.






These are the "Spring Posies" socks that I just made out of the blue, because I didn't feel like doing anything else. When the yarn is so pretty, I just make my basic sock pattern.

I'm also working on a pair of plain socks in Mary Maxim's Bamboo sock yarn, color Hibiscus, a beautiful design in various shades of rose and pink.






The Alpaca Man (The friend for whom I knit alpaca sweaters) came on Sunday, and took a box of finished sweaters with him. He will be bringing me cones and cones and cones of yarn within the next couple of weeks. We discussed new designs, and I recommended another spinning mill he might try for this year's shearing. I also suggested he acquire sample bottles of Eucalan Wool Wash, and give them away with each sweater purchased. He liked that idea. I showed him the finished Honeycomb Sweater #1, which he really liked, but I didn't send it because I hadn't washed it yet.

Here's another glimpse of it. I wish I could show you the whole thing, but I'm sure I'm going to submit the pattern somewhere, so I don't think I'd be allowed. Because I'm making them for sale, I think I will make some changes to the style before submitting it.







Ooooops Time!
It's a good thing that the Honeycomb#1 sweater wasn't washed yet. And a good thing that I didn't give it to Alpaca Man. Because it has a great big OOOOPS in it. It's hard to tell from my grainy pictures, but the honeycomb pattern has little diamonds that alternate. (The July 9 post has a good picture of the pattern stitch.) Two pattern repeats below the shoulders on the back piece, I didn't alternate the peaks. There are two peaks on top of each other. I don't think the picture below is clear enough to see that. I entertained the thought of just leaving it, but the sweater will be quite pricy. It would be like leaving the scene of an accident.
The sweater has a button/buttonhole band that is only a couple of garter sts. wide. So, my plan is:
a. Open the seam of the top only of the sleeve cap, down to just past the BooBoo.
b. Open the cast-off edge of the button/buttonhole band. Put the sts of the band on the fronts onto a circular needle for holding. Unravel the garter rows over the back neck sts and the shoulder seam.
c. Open the shoulder seams.
d. Frog the back down to the Boo Boo. (making careful note of everything I've frogged.)
e. Reknit the back correctly.
f. Reassemble everything.
g. Give thanks that it wasn't further down in the sweater.
h. Check the whole sweater carefully for other Booboos. ( Maybe that should be done first).

















I'm excited because I might get to personally meet another fellow-blogger--Mrs. Spit. I have already met Mrs. Needles
Till next time: Because grandparents are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations. (Jimmy Carter)