Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Birthday Happy Feet and other knitting goodness




I finished the birthday socks for Michael in the nick of time (read 2 hours holed-up in the bedroom knitting fiercely to get these puppies off the needles and ends woven in. The pattern is Thuja. They knit up quickly to make a nice cushy, chunky sock, great for hanging around the house in slippers or clogs, not necessarily scrunched into work shoes. I knit them in a silk/alpaca blend and they are yummy! Michael loved them and wore them immediately. (Thankfully, the cold snap in the air that morning made it all that much more appealing.)

We celebrated the day with an official "Do Nothing Day" followed by a delicious and decadent dinner at the awesome Lumiere Restaurant. Well worth the price for locally and sustainably procured deliciousness. We left happily sated from corn fritters, fabulous mesclun salad, grass-fed steak and an incredible chocolate torte. Wonderful! And a fitting way to celebrate an auspicious birthday event for the most awesome and inspiring man I know. (Sorry, for the gushing, but I can't hide the fact. I adore him) Happy birthday, Michael. You are da bomb!

In other knitting news, meet Tito, the elefantito that I just finished for my little friend Mariana who just turned two. He is a spanish elephant (a very unusual breed) knit from this Safari Friends pattern. He is unaccustomed to this strange New England weather, and immediately requested a scarf. I hope Mariana will approve. The pattern is from Knitting at Knoon which has great patterns and wonderful tutorials. This is a perfect pattern to use for gifts for little ones.






And a little something for me...



No, despite the slightly sinister look. This is the first of a pair of Maine Morning Mitts (scroll down to the bottom of the link to download the free pattern), knit it Noro Kureyon. Now if only the cold snap would return, I'd have a chance to give the completed pair a run.

And in non-knitting news, we had our first Home Study visit today. We scurried around all weekend, madly organizing, and bringing the house to a new level of order and cleanliness, not seen since we moved in last year. Neither of us had a great night of sleep, what with the stress of not knowing exactly what sort of meeting lay in store today. Happily, all went well and our social worker really put us at ease. She did leave us with homework (a letter to write to the Expectant Mother and a photo album to assemble). After today and 3 more scheduled meetings, she'll write up the home study report and we'll become "waiting parents" gulp... Another check on the adoption to-do-list and on we go!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Singin' in the Rain

Well it has been awhile since August 16th. I guess time has gotten away from me a little bit lately. Or more accurately, time has got me firmly in it's vice-like grip. And it is hard to wrestle myself away from it. Between taking a little trip to New Jersey to visit my mother, and much time spent working on tracking down adoption paperwork, I haven't had much time for writing.

So, that is my reasoning for taking so long to post about our latest festival. Michael and I are a folk duo, singing in and around the Boston area whenever we get the chance. And we were booked to sing at the Annual Peach Festival for the Church of Our Saviour of Milford, NH a few weeks back. Never ones to turn up our noses at singing old-timey music on a truck bed stage, we jumped at the chance. We were excited and ready for some sun, some good songs and the fruits of the harvest. What we weren't quite expecting was the rain. Or to be more precise, the thunder, lightening and rain. Not my favorite combination when standing on a damp floor (truck bed) surrounded by electric sound equipment.

When we arrived the skies had opened up and it was pouring and crashing down thunder. We left the guitars and CDs in the car and ran to the tents to get the lay of the land and wait for instructions. It was hard to miss the very damp and slightly forlorn looking performers sitting on the stage waiting for the rain to stop. I feared that did not bode well for our stint on the stage. We met with the organizer, Lisa, standing soggy but cheerful under a tent, who pointed towards the couple I'd already seen, and said "I think you guys are next"

So, we grabbed our gear (no roadies in this outfit) and headed over to the little damp square of tent behind the truck bed that made for the "green room." Where the musicians get themselves prepped and ready to go on. I was awfully glad I'd chosen to wear boots with my outfit for the day. Much easier to slog through the puddles. But, I'm afraid that my straw cowboy hat may have seen it's last gig.

Anyway, the show must go on as they say. And it did, and we did. These shots were taken during quick gaps in the rain.


Sadly our audience was mostly deterred by the torrential showers and electrical storms that kept sweeping through. Don't know if you can see the puddles on the empty seats. But, the folks munching away on BBQ and peach cobbler under the dining tent did give us much praise and appreciation when it was all over.

We sang and glanced nervously over at the sound man, Dan and his son and assistant Adam, every time the lightening got close. But, they just kept cheerfully giving us the thumbs up! So, we sang on.




We did get a few brief moments at the end of our set. Just in time to see my cousin Maryanne, and her husband Dave, showing up to cheer us on.

We were fed BBQ and sent on our way with delicious peach pies and peach preserves, with many thanks and the hopes for a sunnier festival next year. This and the telling, are all that remain of our set at the 2008 Peach Festival Fund Raiser. Everything was delish!