Fall Friday Cat and an FO

Computer cat--I guess he's my Friday Cat this week! He really loves to perch on the mousepad and paw at the screen if there's something there he likes. Cards, for instance--playing solitaire is fun when you have a kitty kibitzer telling you what to play.
Not so much fun: trying to write an email when the mouse is being "hatched" by a furry hen!
My FO!! Ta Da! Cue the trumpet voluntary! Drum roll!

She finished a 12" square. Even got it washed and blocked! Now to get it dry so it can get mailed off. It's going to go to NETA to become part of an afghan which will be raffled to benefit the Ships Project.
Yarn is Bartlettyarns in cream, the pattern is my own combo of Horseshoe Lace and a 3x3 cable.

Hey, a homesick New Englander has to do what she can to keep herself feeling New England-y! Especially since my trip east was cancelled. No fall foliage for me, sigh.



Since I'm really missing fall this year, I thought I'd try to see what was available in my yard to make me think it's autumn.

The Christmas cactus is budding out.

There are leaves on the ground. The color isn't spectacular, but it is color.

Out here, we take what we can get!

You can also see the sad state of my lawn. St. Augustine grass (semi-domesticated crabgrass) and assorted weeds, kept mowed.

Apricot tree leaf.

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

Trick or Treat?

For Halloween, we celebrated at the home of a very pregnant ladybug:


Or , as one of her coworkers put it, lady beetle. She said she kind of walked out halfway through the entomological lecture. (Her antennae were tired, but they are up there.)
Dr. Grandcarrot was there. So was his daddy-the-referee. Mom was a rather glamorous witch, but she'd had it with the hat by the time the camera came out to play.
There was an interesting person waiting outside for the trick-or-treaters. I wish I had been able to capture all of the decor, but, well, it was dark out there. Daddy-to-be Ladybug loves to decorate on Halloween and has a great assortment of props. There's a little pirate guy, and a skull that rotates, and a sound system to play chilling music, as well as an air gun that blasts loud noises. It's remotely operated, though, so the littlest kids don't get it.
The Lollipop Guild checks out the scene. They were rather tired, and really really sick of posing for pictures, so these were the best ones I got.

Three adorable little boys in cute costumes, plus pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream--what more could you ask for on Halloween?







Now for some treats:
the garage door is in!
Yay!

The mechanism that makes it go up and down. Yes, that is an orange extension cord. Right now, I have a choice of raising/lowering the garage door or using my laundry equipment. This will be corrected next week, when I get a return visit from the House Medic.
I wish I could say the cobwebs are just atmosphere for Halloween, but they're not. How does one dust the rafters in one's grungy garage anyway?
The boxes on the rack? That's part of the glass collection, and all needs to be repackaged. Fun days ahead!
Garage door from inside. It lets in a lot of light, which is what I was hoping for.
It also will keep out the critters, which will be even better.

And, lastly, from outside. Next week, the framing will get painted--or at least primed--so it will be ready for winter. It will be interesting to see how the new driveway handles the rainy season, always assuming that we get rain. We need it badly, but of course it will also cause problems in the burned areas, so if and when it comes, it will be a mixed blessing.

So, that's the news from here for today. Sorry for the lack of knit content--hopefully, the needles will come out tonight. I've got a project that is approaching FO status, and I have to block my square.

Meantime, I hope you're enjoying All Hallows Day, and here's to a good Dia de los Muertos for tomorrow!

Is It Knitting If...

All you do is rip? And then don't even take pictures? Yeah, that's what I thought, too.

Today was Knitting Day and I went, actually did a little knitting on the Chevron Scarf (it's actually Feather and Fan but it's easier to write Chevron) and then, when the felting gurus arrived, I pulled out the Giant Purple Boot and the felted swatch. What? Didn't I talk about the Giant Purple Boot before? Oh my. Well, fear not, it is no more. The general consensus was that the boot wouldn't felt down to a size that would fit any normal female foot, so I spent the rest of the session frogging it.

(Cue the music: "A Froggy Day... in Pasadenatown...) I wasn't the only one frogging, though. Mary's scribble lace project didn't inspire the love, so off it went to the frog pond as well. No pictures of that, either, so you only have my word for it that these projects ever existed.

So the purple (actually, Plum Heather) Cascade 220 is now back into a couple of very large balls, and I'm going to break out the Felted Clog pattern and turn it into a different style of slipper. Hopefully, the friend I'm making them for won't mind clogs instead of boots; knowing her, she's going to love them and is too nice in any case to say anything but how thrilled she is!

Distraction from lack of real knitting content in the form of cute cat photos: Hi-Hi with one of the spiders that came in the Socks That Rock package this month.



Rest assured that the stash is safe from spider incursions.





The other ongoing project around here is Garage Door Renovation. Today was Stage One: demolition of the old door. (Okay, so Stage One was probably cleaning out the garage, but that doesn't really count, does it? Except in sore muscles and sweat?) Tomorrow the new door comes in. Want to see some in-progress shots?

I thought you'd never ask! Warning: graphic content ahead!

For instance, dry rot and centuries of old paint on the base of the framing:





Pretty, no?


No.





Top headers and the bottom of the garage door itself. One thing I learned is that this wasn't the original garage door--which I had figured, since the house was built in 1921.


The original door would have opened from the center, like a barn door. They showed me where the hinges likely were--the patching still showed.

And, of course, back then the owner probably wouldn't have had a couple of cars. Maybe an early version? Or would this have been a place to keep the tools needed for the nursery?

Stuff headed on out of the garage and out of my life! Yay! The rocking chair that collapsed under me one day when I was quietly nursing D3... buh-bye!







Also, there's my old stroller. Gee, since the youngest of my kids is now getting ready to welcome her own baby, I guess it's time to say adieu.


The remains of the door. And yes, that's my contractor over there in the corner, sweeping up after himself.

Can you believe that before he left today, he had even hosed off the cement slab, so it all looks clean and nice?

Gotta love a tidy man! (Hush. He's younger than my sons!)



The newly framed opening, ready to get the new door installed tomorrow.





Then, next week, some electrical work (takes juice to run those motors to open and close the door, woo hoo for automatic doors!) and a coat or two of paint on that raw wood, and the job will be done.

More pictures at Flickr.

Isn't it amazing how doing a couple of things stirs the juices to do even more?

Tonight is Halloween, and we'll be at D5's for dinner and fun and games. I've been told that a certain Dr. M will be in attendance (aka my grandcarrot) as well as the Lollipop Guild. Photos tomorrow!

Actual Knitting Content

Believe it or not!
Of course, since I'm leading off with flahrs, you can be forgiven for wondering. However, I just suddenly realized that this was happening right next to my front porch, and I wanted to share it!

Yes, this is my earliest camellia. I do not know what variety it is--I suspect that, like a lot of the camellias on this property, it is a one-of-a-kind hybridized by the original owner of the house (ca. 1920-21) who owned a nursery which covered most of the blocks around here. At any rate, it's about the only sure sign of fall here: the camellia begins blooming, and the liquidambars turn gold and drop their leaves. Of course, when it's been hot and dry the way it has been lately, with the devil winds blasting us, the leaves go directly from green to brown shriveled things all over the lawn. They still crunch nicely, though, and I get lots of opportunity to crunch them since I have to be out watering!
We didn't get much from the fires, thank God, other than a sprinkling of ash. I just can't begin to fathom how it must feel to be away from home, not knowing if you have a home to go back to!

Another sign of fall around here. (Yeah, I know it's backwards. What can I say? Flowers are supposed to mean spring!) These are little purple oxalis flowers--kind of like a cute oversized clover, and related to the noxious weedy oxalis, but much prettier. These little bulbs dry up and disappear during the summer months, but as soon as the air cools down they sprout again.
Minor interesting factoid, at least to me: this property grows purple oxalis. Our former house (about 3 blocks from here) had bright pink. I tried moving some of the pink ones over, but they didn't take. I've planted white and more pinks, but only the purple will grow and thrive. I guess they are Debby-flowers!

At last--yarn!! And what luscious stuff, too!
This is Lotus Yarns' lovelies, two skeins of Nirvana (and it is!) and one of Aura. The pink is called Love My Way and both skeins of pink are the same color but different yarns. Can you see the lovely sparkles in the Aura? It's merino, silk, nylon and pure silver! The red is Nirvana in Ruby Soho and this entire purchase was promulgated by Dim Sum Mary, who waggled a skein of the Ruby Soho under my nose at knitting one day. I love love love this color. Well, can you tell? it's posed on my bathmat... which is, sigh, dark red. (I will treat you to a digression one of these days about living with a bathroom that's tiled in pink. But not today. My stomach isn't that strong!)

Then there's my Yarn Pirate Killer Bees. Nifty nifty stuff. I can hardly wait to see how this is going to work up.
Have I mentioned that I love Yarn Pirate yarn?? Oh, is it that obvious?

Next up, the newest STR yarn. I love this colorway! I want a dozen skeins of it so I can make myself a sweater! I want to knit thousands of teeny tiny stitches and fondle this gorgeous stuff every inch of the way.

It's called Lenore. I love the Poe reference for Halloween! I just hope it doesn't mean that they are making this colorway just this once, and then... nevermore.... Please note, I did find a pink towel to pose it on!

There was a spider in the package. It fell out and startled me. Not that I thought it was real or anything...no, not at all.
Although this house does grow huge mutant spiders.

Enough spider talk. I'm spooking myself!


For Madgik, who wanted to know what books I had just gotten:

These...
and these...
and these! The newest Discworld novel--I am addicted, I admit it--and what is probably only the first book about Dan Brown's new thriller-to-be. One of my guilty pleasures is reading semi-trashy novels, and I got a lot of mileage out of The Da Vinci Code with like-minded friends. I'm particularly thrilled when a book purports to explain a book that isn't even out in galleys yet... Isn't that the definition of chutzpah!

More yarny goodness! One skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Lapis. This skein leaped out at me when I was in Unraveled a couple of weeks ago, but I resisted. Womanfully. Strongly. I was in charge. But ET was also hanging around, so I didn't have a chance. I had to make another trip for it!
Oh, way to go,posing the Skye Tweed on a bathmat that's almost the same color. That's to fool La. It's camouflage. That way, when she breaks in here (assuming Attack Cat will let her) she won't be able to find it!
Next up, my score (or should I say, ET's score??) from See Jayne Knit. From the top: Waterlilies (100% mercerized wool), Espressoberry (100% Peruvian wool), and Meteor Shower (70% cashmere, 30% wool). These are incredibly luscious and soft and wonderful. I especially love that Jayne does a heavier yarn, since it gives me some versatility in projects. Still great yardage and wonderful colorways. (Yeah, I know. The Espressoberry should have posed on something else for best results. When it's an FO or WIP I will remember that!)

Finally, this is my "free gift" for subscribing yet again to the Rowan magazine. I love the Rowan books, and a subscription is about the same price as buying them individually, less the cost of gas to run around from store to store, less the heartbreak of realizing that due to busyness or illness or whatever-ness, I've left it too long and the new one is nowhere to be found.

I'm almost done with a project, which is a 12" square and you'd think would have been a quick easy knit. Well, it's nearly done, and when it's washed and blocked it can have its turn on the bathmat before it gets mailed off. I am pretty pleased with it so far. (It's going into an afghan for NETA, which will be raffled off to benefit the Ships Project. As a Navy mom I am all about the Ships Project!)
There's another project underway, too, some house renovation. I've done the before pictures and will be taking progress shots along the way. If you can't stand the suspense, or want to see some truly repulsive dry-rot pictures, they're up on my Flickr page--just click on the badge on the right.
And now to go curl up with my quilt, my cat, and find out what's happening in the Discworld. I will let you know what I think about that book, too!

Thursday Book Review: The Reincarnationist

The Reincarnationist

M.J. Rose

What do you look for in a thriller? Is it a clever, original premise? Something that makes you think, along with the suspense and chills and quick action? Characters who are believable, who come across the page and into your mind and heart the way real people do?

Well, if that's what you're looking for, look no further! The Reincarnationist features smart, likable protagonists, an exciting hunt for legendary artifacts, as well as a fast-moving and original plot. Comparison to The Da Vinci Code are inevitable; the novel is, after all, set in Rome,
site of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. The plot moves along just as quickly, and it features a very similar blend of history, mythology, and suspense. However, the comparison isn't fair to either author: both of them have strengths of their own.

I'm not going to recap the plot here: for one thing, when reviewing a thriller, it's all too easy to give away plot points without meaning to. After all, just because some particular circumstance didn't strike me as a spoiler, doesn't mean that it won't be one for someone else. Besides, the novel has been extensively reviewed and recapped on sites such as Amazon.com and the MotherTalk bloggers who are joining me in reviewing this book. By the way, do follow the link to MotherTalk for the backstory on the book--it's fascinating!

Do you need to believe in reincarnation to enjoy the book? I'd say not. Even after reading the book, and the author's website, I'm still skeptical. She does a wonderful job of marshalling her evidence and presenting it in a way that makes suspension of disbelief quite enjoyable. I'd have to say, following the previous comparison, that I thoroughly enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, even though I don't believe in its basic premise of marriage between Christ and Mary Magdalene. So I'm one who can read a book, not necessarily take its premise literally, and still enjoy it. (Would I love the Discworld novels if I couldn't?)

And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There was some nail-biting, of course, which is what you'd expect from a thriller. I thought the historical scenes were well done, without modern-day anachronisms creeping in. Josh Ryder is a believable protagonist, Gabriella Chase is a well-drawn foil for him, and the supporting characters all have real personalities.

The book is available on Amazon, from your local Book Sense independent store, (including Vroman's!), your local superstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders (whose website is linked to Amazon).

For more information, and if you're a website junkie like me, you can check out the author's blog and the podcast interview here. Also, I'd love some feedback on how you like this review. Want me to do one every week? I certainly read enough books to be able to do that--and here's a teaser, I just got 4, count 'em 4, new knitting books this week! A very different kind of thrilling!

AWW

That title today has a double meaning. First we have the cuteness of carroty goodness:

A boy and some punkins. Also doing his Lily Tomlin imitation. He really really liked the rocker, and it was kind of hard to persuade him to vacate it. The pumpkin display, on the other hand, didn't hold his interest t hat long--I think the hay bales tickled his legs. These pictures were taken at the Apple Farm, which is one of my very favorite places. And SLO is a great place to stop when you're heading to Monterey from L.A.--it's far enough to top off the tank, and of course lunch/dinner/breakfast at the Apple Farm is always a treat. No, they didn't pay me to say that!



Next part of AWW is this (with apologies to Dave Daniels, the originator of AWW):
and a view of the whole horse. (Taken outside of PF Chang's in Monterey, where we did NOT eat dinner that night since the wait was going to be over an hour and The Carrot was already fussy-hungry. California Pizza Kitchen had no wait and they bring the baby's food out pronto so he can start eating right away!)
Or as Col. Whozits on MASH used to say, that's one heckuva horse's patoot.
Some carrot-buns.

All together, now:

AWWWWWWW!

Showers of...?

May you live in interesting times. This is supposed to be an old Chinese curse, and while I don't know about the "curse" part, I do know that the "interesting times" certainly is a good descriptor for my life.
Take this rather sullen gentleman on the left. (Or wherever, depending on Blogger's whimsical placing of my photo.) This is Padua. He's 16 and one feisty survivor of a cat. When I came home from my nice relaxing vacation, I had approximately half an hour to get my gear in the house and get ready for the quilting class that night. (Teacher shouldn't be late, it sets a bad example.) As I was rushing out of the house, I stopped to feed the cats and this guy didn't come out for his meal. Now, this is highly unusual since this cat is an appetite with legs and teeth, so I called him. He finally wobbled out but wasn't at all interested in eating. I called D5 (who had just been telling me about her latest dr. appt, which you can read about here) to ask if she could take him to the vet ASAP. Turned out to be a good thing she was able to, as the poor guy was suffering from urinary blockage, plus an infected tooth and an elevated white cell count. (I checked with D4 after the fact; she said he'd been fine when she left for work in the morning, woke her up to feed him and gobbled his breakfast as usual.) So, several days later, he got to come home again, with instructions for sub-q IVs, antibiotics, special food, and (of course) a nice addition to the credit-card bill.
He seems to be doing fine. He learned how to walk right out of the IV needle (I felt pretty silly standing there holding a spurting needle while the cat walked out of D4's grip, and yes I was holding the needle in place) and I was the one who got stabbed. Suffice to say, I am not going to get any gold stars for kitty IVs any time soon. His grumpy look above is what he's been treating us to, when he's not stomping around demanding his next meal. He eats all his special food and then cleans out Simon's bowl.
I think he's going to be just fine. This cat is wasted in his current "housecat" role, I think; he should be a mighty hunter or a barn cat or something where he could stalk other things than the refrigerator and the carton of catmilk.

So the weekend brought much happier things:
(funny thing, at the end of the shower the fruit plate was a picked-over mess but no one had eaten any of the letters!)

a shower for the impending arrival of "Baby A" aka Courtney's sweet-pea-to-be.
This was going to be a shower without a theme. (Can you see the little peas on the bottom edging of the cake?)

However, from the moment the shopping crew found invitations (here) with a pea-in-the-pod motif, the wheels started turning.

Favors became green bags holding shower gel and lotion, decorated with a sweet pea-pod baby. Oh, and a clear plastic peapod filled with "peas."

So, green and pink colors, pea pods everywhere.

Flowers everywhere too. Centerpieces had pink roses in a pink baby carriage. Pink tablecloths, except for the green one on the cake table.
Just a few baby presents. The bookcase is from Leigh and Mary U., the cradle is our "family heirloom" one. It was purchased just before my first child was born. 44 years ago this month. All my babies came home from the hospital to this little bed. Now the tradition continues (though with new bedding!) for another generation.

See? Pink!

Pinkalicious!

More pink.

Refreshments for everyone--lemonade, ice water, champagne in a bucket.
Lots more photos on my Flickr page--just click on the badge in my sidebar.

The weather cooperated, after giving us a bit of a scare with rain all night Friday and sprinkles Saturday morning. By Sunday, though, it was bright and clear and sunny; the lawn was dry, the temperature mild. A perfect summer Sunday in the middle of October!

Today, of course, dawned grey and overcast. We are now hoping for more rain since this state is parched and the water situation is not looking good. Grey overcast suits me, makes me feel energetic and ready to get down to business. Whatever (monkey) business might come up! Actually, after a week of vacation, sick cat, shower prep, and general busy-ness, the house needs a lot of attention and the cat-boys do too. It's nice to be loved... but really, shouldn't I be able to turn around without tripping over one cat or another??