“If at first you don’t succeed . . .”

Still knitting.  Or would that be knitting again?  I’m not sure.  Probably a combination of both.  Yesterday, I worked like a fiend on my entry for category three of the contest.  Maybe I should have left well enough alone at two entries.  Project three was cute, but I hated it.  Something was off and I wasn’t satisfied.  I went to bed and decided tothink about it as I drifted off to sleep.

New day, new beginning, so I started over on project three.  It’s not done yet, but I got past the part that didn’t look right to me yesterday.  That’s how designing goes.  I may have forgotten to mention that I’m not following patterns for this contest.  I’m designing my own.

Good thing I had to start over!  (I grew up watching Pollyanna, hence the positive attitude.) I didn’t write the pattern as I knit.  I should have, since project three has some stuff in it that I would elope on the way from short term to long term memory, like what I ate for breakfast.  Today’s version and notetaking are going much better.

Looks like Goodnight and I might actually be on the talent side of the Talent (or Not) Show for the coming weekend.  I forgot about her flute.  When I finish project three, I’m going to get my keyboard set up and we’ll practice a tune to play together.  Would that be “Jam with Gram” time?  Anyway – that’s the talent plan for now.

Back to my needles!  I’m in the home stretch of this marathon.  Ham/barley soup simmering on the stove.  Goodnight is on deck to make the biscuits for our dinner.  Just the thing for a chilly day.

Wishing you well.

Talent (or Not) Show

Goodnight and I received a packet of information about our upcoming ‘gray-cation’ with other grandparents raising grandchildren.  It’s a winter camp get-together.  The letter accompanying the packet said the camp was booked full of us oldies raising youngsters.  I am looking forward to it.

The camp get-together begins next Saturday morning – arrival between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m.  Stowing gear, checking in, etc, then just in time for lunch.  Love it!!!  Gram is off the hook for cooking for the entire weekend!!!

There are helpers who will attend the weekend, having activities with the children so the caregivers can talk if they want to.

Here’s the deal, Saturday night – after the second meal I don’t have to prepare – there is a Talent (or Not) Show.  The families can present something, anything for the entertainment of the group.

Goodnight and I were talking just this morning about what we should do together.

Goodnight sat down in the chair and said, “That’s easy, Gram.  Knit, knit, purl . . . . knit, knit, purl.”  She’s a pixie, but I was laughing with her before she got to the second ‘knit, knit, purl.”  Do you think she’s trying to tell me something?

So, today and tomorrow we are going to try and come up with a talent.  If we can’t, I guess we’ll be part of the ‘or not’ group.  Whatever way it goes, we’ll have fun doing it.

My weekend gray-cation with Goodnight is actually going to start a little sooner than she thinks it is.  We’re heading down on Friday to stay overnight with my mother.  From her house it’s less than 20 miles to the camp.  Friday night in Smalltownville there is a Girls’ Chocolate Night at the city library.  Yup!!! That’s what they advertized.  Now I don’t eat much chocolate, but I like the notion of supporting my childhood hometown library’s summer reading program.  (That’s my story and I’m stickin to it!)  Sounds like a great start to a winter camp outing, don’t you?

In the meantime, it’s cold here in “Seven Hills”.  Goodnight has choir practice today and then we are going to make a toy drop.  I decided it was my turn to pick the location.  We are going to attach the toy drop to signs at a nearby church that notes two parking spaces reserved for single parent families. It’s not the denomination I attend, but I have a great deal of respect for the signs they posted.  Goodnight’s childrens’ choir sings for services tomorrow and I am . . . . . working on my entry for a third category in the contest.

Oh dear!  As I typed that last paragraph, I just realized that I have a Prayer Shawl in progress that has to go with me when I visit Mom.  She takes them to church and they are given to people who need them.  Mother told me that the last one I donated was given to the wife of a teacher who works in the high school where my dad taught for his entire career.  I had planned to remain anonymous, but the lady who gave it to the woman knew I grew up in town and mentioned that fact.  It was quite touching to hear the story via my mother.  So, of course, I decided to make another one.  Looks like another busy week . . . . . Knit a million, purl a million?   ;-)

Knitting Madly – or Mad (as in crazy) Knitter? You decide. ;-)

Seems like AGES since I posted, but in reality it hasn’t been.  I think the reason that it seems longer is because sooooooo much has been crammed into this past week.  Wait!  That’s passive voice.  I crammed too much into this past week.  That’s more truthful.

But it was a mad kind of fun. . . .

Less than a week ago, I found out about a not-too-little contest and I decided to enter.  If it has anything to do with yarn  or knitting, I’m game for a go-round.  Only glitch was that I found out very late and the deadline is February 1, 2010.

“Huh!!!  No problem!” thinks overconfident gram!  I’ll just whip something up!

I went to the store to buy the yarn for my project, but guess what?  I hadn’t even decided on a project yet.  So I bought a total of FOURTEEN different colors thinking that something would come to me.  It was on sale as a two-fer – if that makes you feel better.

Something came to me . . . . so I started clicking.

Well – ‘whipping something up ‘ isn’t always as easy as it sounds.  I have been working at a frantic pace since last Saturday. . . . because . . . . well, I wasn’t content to enter ONE of the categories.  I had to go for TWO because I finished the first project in three days.  The second one took three days, also.

Lest you think I’ve been ignoring Goodnight in the process – uhhh, that’s a negative!  I got up at 3:30 in the morning and knit until it was time to get ready for work.  Then I would knit after work, dinner and homework with Goodnight.  For all the time I had, I thought I could make a third project, but I am a knitter who likes the finishing work of projects, so I tend to design things that take more time to finish.  Such was the case.  So two projects it is. (even though I have two more full days til the deadline . . . . . . .)

So, whew!  Photos taken, patterns typed, entries submitted (thank-goodness it could be done electronically).

I’ll show pictures when I get the chance. I used all the colors but one!  Fun.  Very, very fun.  But my knitting needles need some sleep.  

Gray-cation to Deadville – Humble Lesson

Goodnight keeps me humble.  I never thought I knew everything as a parent, and I certainly don’t think I do now that I’m raising another generation.

Case in point – cemeteries.  This is not a morbid or sad post, so no worries.  At least, I hope it doesn’t sound morbid or sad from your side of the computer monitor. 

My timing was off, I’ll admit it candidly right at the start of this post.

Goodnight’s mother died in the summertime.  Goodnight and I would take flowers there once in a while, but nothing obsessive.  I work in the education field and in the autumn, we have statewide education conferences.  Classes are cancelled for Thursdays and Fridays and that gives me a four-day weekend.  That first autumn after my daughter died, I decided to take Goodnight on a short road trip.

When I have only a short time away from work and I want to get away, I drive to the next state to the east.  That’s where my folks were from and I spent much of my youth making a similar drive.  It has fond memories for me and I love the scenery.

I packed the car and decided to make the trip again.  I called my mom and told her what I was going to do,  I wanted to visit the town where my Dad grew up and then find my way to the cemetery where his mother was buried.  I hadn’t been back there since the beautiful fall day we laid her to rest.  I only remembered the hill and the drive, but I had no idea where it was.  Mom helped a lot with that information.

Then I wanted to visit my grandfather’s grave as well.  He wasn’t buried in the same cemetery as my grandmother.  I never met him because he passed away long before I was born.  Mom helped me with that information, as well.

So . . . Goodnight and I had a beautiful drive, found the cemeteries, laid flowers, and I told her what I knew about everyone, and shared stories that I loved about my grandmother.

That was the first day of the trip.  The second day was the next leg of the journey and that was to the town where my mother grew up.  Again, there was a trip to a different cemetery and the HUGE family plot there.

Thank goodness for cell phones (or maybe not) but when I got to the cemetery, I couldn’t find the plot.  So I called my mother. (Yes, from the cemetery. . . )  She talked me right to it.  Then she stayed on the line and kept talking about everyone who was buried there.  I relayed the stories to Goodnight.

I walked around the plot and spotted a stone with not enough time between the birth date and the date of death – a baby.  I asked Mom about that and she told me that story too.  Again I relayed the story to Goodnight.

When I disconnected the phone, I talked with Goodnight and tried to explain that we all have histories and it can be a scavenger hunt to discover them.  I wanted her to know that just because her mother died she wasn’t lost or alone.

Well . . . what do I know?  She turned to me and said, “Thanks, Gram.  Wow!  I really do have a BIG family!  Too bad they’re all dead.”

Poor thing!  And that was before Officer Friendly died!  We left the cemetery, went for ice-cream, and walked out to the end of the pier to watch fishing boats coming and going.  I read to her until the sunset, then we went swimming in the motel pool.

I’m telling the story to remind myself of the lesson I learned.  I’m OLD and I have more history behind be than in front of me so it’s easy to get lost on a journey back in time.

Not the same for Goodnight.  She’s young and needs to look ahead.  She needs to see possibilities and dream her dreams.

I certainly didn’t mean our autumn trip to be a gray-cation to deadville, but from her perspective it must have seemed the pits.  But I made up for it by circumnavigating the entire perimeter of that BEAUTIFUL state during the peak of the autumn colors, and tucking Goodnight a little more securely into my heart.

And on my daughter’s birthday . . . yesterday . . .  I went to the cemetery alone.  But I didn’t stay long because I made her a promise and I had to pick up that promise from school.

Goodnight will raise herself despite my bumbling . . . .

“Roman Needles”

I love hanging around the ‘wee lass’ and just listening sometimes.  I NEVER know what I will hear.

I took Goodnight out to eat last night at a little Italian place close to home.  We got there early so there was no one eating in the back room where we like to sit.  Good thing – because the following would have caused a small embarrassing scene.

She brought her electronic game so she could play while she waited for her order.

When we got there, we passed the dinner buffet and took a peek.  I asked her if she wanted that.  She looked at me with her BIG eyes and said, “Gram, if we get that, then we don’t WAIT for any food and I can’t play my game.”  Good point, Goodnight!  So we ordered from the menu.

I tend to ask Goodnight the same questions at some point after I pick her up from school.  How was your day?  How was your lunch? etc.  I ask because I want to make sure that she is eating with friends, meeting new classmates, having a good time during her lunch.  Kids live for the breaks at school, so I don’t want those times to be difficult for her.

So I asked her how her lunch was. 

(Goodnight nonchalantly) “Well . . . after I got the food out of my nose, it was great!”

(Gram raises eyebrow) “You had food in your nose?”

(Goodnight, animated) “Well yah!  My friend came to sit with me at my table and she saw what I had for lunch and said, “Whatcha got for lunch.  Is that Roman Needles?”

Even in the re-telling, Goodnight was already snorting.  I knew what I had sent for lunch – at her request – and was starting to snort, myself.  Goodnight’s classmate had mixed up her words as she spoke, but didn’t realize it.  Goodnight caught it and so did I.  Gasping laughter ensued.

Know what she meant?  Ramen Noodles . . . . .

Good thing Goodnight told me that story BEFORE our order came, or I may have had to remove food from my nose, too.

Take This Tune

After I shared such a SAD story for the pervious Take This Tune theme, I thought I better make up for it with the lighter side of love – the new theme at: http://takethistune.blogspot.com/

The lyrics for my lighter side of love are from an Irving Berlin classic.

Officer Friendly was a big old retired police detective.  He was a very stoic man – I’ve mentioned this before.  But as his wife, I felt it my duty to ferret out his lighter side.  I did it with a game I called, “Bet I can make you laugh!” (Please note: this is not to be confused with “Bet I can make you pee” – the game I play with Goodnight when she starts her little kid giggles.)

We used to love going out for breaksfast.  Both of us were morning people and we looked forward to a regular Saturday morning breaksfast date.

One morning he was a little more tired than usual and not so ready for getting the fireplace seat at the restaurant.  I turned to him and said, “Bet I can make you laugh!”

He always said the same thing . . . “Ok?”  It was his way of telling me I couldn’t do it.

I took the challenge and I belted out the following tune – I mean loud!  Officer Friendly was an Army guy, so by the time I got to the chorus, he was belting with me.  After this first time, we belted the song often on Saturday mornings . . . . the whole song!!! 

Oh! How I Hate to Get Up In The Morning

Words and music by Irving Berlin
© Copyright 1918 by Irving Berlin
© Copyright Renewed
International Copyright Secured
All Rights Reserved 
 

“Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning,
Oh! How I’d love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all is to hear the bugler call:
‘You’ve got to get up, you’ve got to get up,
You’ve got to get up this morning!’”

Someday I’m going to murder the bugler
Someday they’re going to find him dead
I’ll amputate his reveille and stomp upon it heavily
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

A bugler in the army is the luckiest of men
He wakes the boys at five and then goes back to bed again
He doesn’t have to blow again until the afternoon
If ev’rything goes well with me I’ll be a bugler soon!

“Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning,
Oh! How I’d love to remain in bed
For the hardest blow of all is to hear the bugler call:
‘You’ve got to get up, you’ve got to get up,
You’ve got to get up this morning!’”

Oh, boy! The minute the battle is over
Oh, boy! The minute the foe is dead
I’ll put my uniform away and move to Philadelphia
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

One Hundred Already???

This is my one-hundredth post.   I added the newest 100-something photos under the blinky 100. 

Thanks for your greetings.  My friend Carol E at http://giraffedreams.blogspot.com/ sent me this photo and caption about 100 quilts:

“On November 20, 2008, medical workers of the Hainan Provincial Hospital for Gynecology and Obstetrics donate 100 new quilts to the earthquake-hit areas in Wenchuan, southwest China’s Sichuan Province. ”

And Travis at http://www.travsthoughts.blogspot.com/ posted a comment below about keeping in shape with 100 push-ups and sit-ups everyday.  He included a link to this photo of a push-up.

 

I’m still knitting left-handed mittens!!!  I’m going to do it all day today.  Nope!  Not knitting 100 of them!  But while I knit, I decided to throw myself a 100th-post party.  Welcome!! 

I grabbed all of these images from the internet.  Join the party and send me the link to something 100.  I’ll edit this post and add your images.

100 cars

100-children tapestry

100 pennies

100-tulip bouquet.

I invited Ben to celebrate with me . . .

I have . . . have you?

Fairy Mitten and Other Lovlies

I actually wanted to title this post “Pretty Dang Good Knitter” after I read Trav’s comment on my January 13 Post  at:  http://goodnightgram.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/vacation-is-but-a-sweet-memory/, but I decided that Trav gets to be Trav.

Here’s a photo of the smallest mitten I ever made.  It is proportionally accurate and I did it on knitting pins.  They don’t call them needles when they get that small!  I did it just because I can, I suppose.  I have always schemed ways to challenge myself and basically never tell anyone what I can do.  I just do it. This was one of my self-challenges and it was fun.  I call it my Fairy Mitten.   Cute little bugger, eh?

I had to pass through the welding shop at work the other day and I noticed and empty container in the trash.  It was a plastic container that held welding rods.

A thought occurred . . . .

I asked one of the welding instructors if I could have it.  I told him what I wanted to do with it and he let me have it.  Here’s what it looked like before I modified it.  It was nearly three feet long.

But I’m a pretty serious knitter and I had other plans for that green case.  I cut it down and made a travel case for some of my knitting needles.  Here’s what it looked like after I cut it down.  Nifty!  Thrifty!

Thanks for all your good wishes for Goodnight.  She’s been back to school all week.  But I did get a lot of knitting done over the weekend as I sat in the rocking chair next to her bed.  She didn’t have a terribly high fever, but it hung on for longer than grammies want them to.  Poor lil’ lass.  (Read those last three words out loud – then laugh.  It’s a Goodnight blooper.)

The first thing I finished was a scarf.  I’ve just been digging through my stash.  Knitters tend to age their yarns like wine – yah - that’s what we call it right?  But I am in a ‘Stuff from my Stash’ phase.  The maroon and pink wools are sport weight yarns so the scarf is light and more like one of the trendy fashion scarves so popular now.  It’s not red, so the scarf doesn’t get to travel to the Orphan Foundation of America for Valentine’s Day care packages. 

The next thing I finished was a tiny baby doll for the Toy Society Toy Drop.  This little cutie has a bib, bonnet, blanket, baby bottle, and dress.  The doll is smaller than my hand from fingertips to wrist.  Shhhh!  She’s sleeping.

Goodnight dropped it at the apartment complex where she was living with her mom.  We dropped it early one morning before I took her to school and it was gone in the afternoon when she wanted to go check on it.  We may not hear about that one being found, but Goodnight picked another great drop site.

Here’s the toy drop at the apartment complex door.

The next project I finished was a stocking cap for Goodnight.  She has hats – but hey – my mother always said, “Charity begins at home.”  So Goodnight gets this BRIGHT orange sledding cap.  It matches the snowsuit that my mother gave her when we went to Smalltownville for Christmas.  The snowsuit was really a flight suit.  Dad got them when I was a kid.  Mom had one left and asked me if Goodnight could use it.  I LOVED mine when I was a kid.  I loved that orange thing!

But if one has a very bright orange snowsuit, one needs a bright orange cap to go with it, right?  At least I can spot Goodnight on the sledding hill . . . . . easy peasy in her new get-up.  Just in time, too because we have this winter sledding/camping gra-cation coming up in a couple of weeks.

Goodnight is back in the pink and I’m happy about that, though I miss sitting in her rocking chair and knitting.

I knit three mittens after dinner last night.  I plan to knit even more mittens today.  I hope to finish at least five.  So far, they are all left-handed!!!

Hmmmm . . . . What could Goodnightgram POSSIBLY be up to???  ;[)

Summer Angel

I wear Officer Friendly’s wedding band on a chain around my neck.  It’s a big ring.  He was a big guy.

When he asked me to marry him, he invited my mother and me to lunch.  It was the day before New Year’s Eve – so December 30.  Mom was visiting me because she and I were going to volunteer for a big New Year’s Eve event together and was already at my house.  When OF called to invite me to lunch, I said,

“Honey, I can’t.  Mom drove up early and is already here.”

OF replied, “That’s okay.  Bring her along!”

OF and I had a regular place that we went to eat because that’s where he took me on our first date.  Mom and I got there before he did because he was coming from work.  I happened to have the day off.

When OF arrived we ordered our food.  He ALWAYS ordered the same thing: soup, salad, pie.

While we waited for our food, we were having easy conversation.  OF had met my mother several times before this lunch date so was very comfortable with her.  But he got quiet and pulled something out of his pocket.

He looked at me and said, “I just don’t want the sun to go down on one more day without asking you to marry me.”

I was TERRIBLE when I responded.  Instead of even talking to him, I jabbed my mother in the side and said, “Huh, he missed it by one day!!!!”  I knew my dad had proposed to my mother on New Year’s Eve and that’s one of the reasons I invited her to be with me because dad had already passed away and Mom gets a little sad on Dec 31.

Like I said – I was terrible.  I turned to OF and said yes, of course.

Before we were married, I had his wedding ring engraved, but not with our wedding date.  I had it engraved with the words ‘Summer Angel’.

I called him my Summer Angel because we met in the summer.

The first time I saw him, he was sitting at a picnic table along side the Mississippi River and peering through field glasses.  I was taking my morning walk along the river.  I guessed what he was looking at, but wanted to make sure.  I walked up to him and said, “Whatcha looking at with those things?”

There were some peregrine falcons nesting under a bridge that spanned the river.  OF started talking about birds.  I stayed to listen because I had promised myself to learn more about birds as I got older.  OF knew a lot and I had a lot I wanted to learn.  That guy loved birds!

Each day for most of that summer, I took my daily walk, and would run into OF.  Sometimes he’d be walking, but mostly, he’d be sitting at the same picnic table and watching the birds.  After we were married, I named that table the Officer Friendly memorial picnic table.

Near the end of that summer, I got pneumonia and wasn’t able to take any walks along the river for quite some time.  By the time I was well enough to walk the river, I was back at work and not really thinking about OF.

Quite a lot of time passed before I ran into OF again.  When I did, he officially asked me out for dinner.  We went out that same day!

That led to the December 30 proposal and our wedding at which I presented him with the band that I still wear on a chain.  When I showed him the engraving, “Summer Angel”, he asked me why I engraved what I did.

He knew that he had poor health.  I told him that if he died before me, I wanted to engrave something that would comfort me if I had to wear it around my neck.  I wanted to remember how/when/where we met.  I met him in the summer and ever after called him my Summer Angel because he changed what was rather a rather long and boring time away from work into something interesting and fun.

So, Summer Angel it was, and is . . .

Today is the anniversary of his death.  I’ll go three places.  First, the cemetery – but I won’t stay long.  There is a TON of snow out there and the Christmas wreaths are still row upon row and it’s too sad.  Second, the place where he took me out to eat on our first date and the day her proposed to me in front of my mother.  I will order soup, salad and pie. Then I’ll have a quiet sit at the ‘memorial picnic table’ beside the river that brought us together.

I’ll take my field glasses, but somehow, I don’t think I’ll be looking for the falcons . . . .

Guest Blogger – Carol E

Hi all,

I had so much fun last week when I asked Goodnight to write a little guest blog, that I decided to add Guest Bloggers as a new category to my site.

Today’s guest blogger is my friend Carol E at http://giraffedreams.blogspot.com/  I invited her to write something and I didn’t give her any guidelines or limit.

Before I post what she wrote, I want to share a photo of something I’m not sure she has a photo of – a quilt she made for Officer Friendly and me in honor of our marriage. 

Thanks Carol E for the quilt and for being my guest blogger and friend. 

And now . . . Carol E

Hi, Gram. Thanks for the invitation to be your Guest Blogger. I am happy to
“come into your home” and visit for a while.

I want your readers to listen in on our conversation, so they can hear
about how we met and what I know about you. Well, as you know, I
work in a different program, doing a related service. At one time I was
stationed full time in your program, while I was employed by my program.
That’s how we met! I noticed right away that you were a person of
integrity, and a person with a HUGE heart. Also very creative. Your
creativity inspires me.

I was just learning how to quilt back then. And I had tried knitting over
the years but never progressed very far. So I was totally in awe of your
knitting skills (still am. I can hardly believe how fast you are, and how
beautiful your work is). My daughter had taken up knitting, and when you
gave her work a compliment, she was so pleased, because she knows your level
of mastery.

I was lucky enough to meet your daughter, and  from you I heard funny
stories about Goodnight when she was a little kid. (She called your place
of employment “Tickle College.”) You and your daughter had survived some
very tough times. With smiles on your faces. Impressive.

Then the worst blow came when your daughter got sick and did not survive
her cancer.  I think of her and of you and Goodnight very often. I send you
heart hugs often, too, without telling you. I hope you can feel them.

I know you are a very private person, so it was a surprise when you started
a blog. And such a pleasant surprise!! I LOVE reading your stories. They
are good enough to be published, I think (with just a little
publication-worthy tweaking). You have a lot of stories to tell that people
could learn from. Unless you decide they are just too private, which I
understand. But wouldn’t a little book of essays by you be such a gift to
the world??

I am glad some of the blog world has gotten to know you and is discovering
all that you have to share. I hope more people drop by for a cup of tea and
a chat. I think I have talked your ear off long enough for today.

In closing, I’ll list the things that we do in common, or that we learned
from each other and are now both doing:

1) blogging
2) making red scarves for the Teen Foster program
3) making toys for The Toy Society
4) making and donating LOTS of our artsy/crafty work to various charities
and our churches – I have loved finding a kindred soul who loves to give
away as much as I do.

Carol E.
http://giraffedreams.blogspot.com