No woman no cry

Yup, it's been an adventure this summer so far and it's only early July. I've wanted to post many times but first I had to clean out the hard drive in order to load more pictures.

So what happened?

It started with a ginormous oak falling in my front yard. No detailed pictures, too depressing. It was 9pm at night when I heard this loud crack and bam! I guess I should be glad that it didn't fall on the house but at the time, I sincerely thought that it fell on something - a moving car, a couple walking a dog... Fortunately none of that happened but it did cost nearly 3 grand to get the dang thing hauled away and get the cables to the telephone and internets fixed.

all that's left

I think I told y'all that I have a mouse. Well, obviously there is no such thing as a "1 mouse" infestation but I can't even go there right now imagining the possibilities. One night, I think, a mouse got into my bird's cage trying to rob some seed and, I think, the male bird fought it back because the next morning the PETA college son (who is responsible for me not calling in the exterminator in the first place) woke me up yelling that something weird happened to the birds. The male was really beaten up. His wing was hurt and all of his feathers on the injured wing was gone. Who the hell knows what really happened but that adventure cost me $175 for the vet.

happier times

I finally got to open the pool. The pool guys informed me that the chipmunks turned my heater into a chipmunk hotel. It is totally destroyed. The little buggers chewed up and redecorated everything inside. A new heater will cost me $3 grand but guess what? WHO CAME UP WITH HEATED POOLS ANYWAY? Pools are for cooling off. It ain't a bath tub! My boys will have to get used to swimming in a chilled pool.

With all of that going on, my hubby had nothing better to do but to paint my house. On a Monday morning these guys show up and commenced to totally destroy all of my flower beds around my house. Hydrangeas, specially selected hostas, perennials, roses - all trampled over or splattered with paint.

Even with a gorgeous face like that, he can make me so mad!

And, if that wasn't bad enough, it was the sulky 13 year old's graduation day and last day of school. So all of my last day of school/graduation preparations plans got shot to shit because I'm fuming over painters.

Graduation or the NBA draft? You don't want to know what I went through to get him to tuck his shirt in and take off that do-rag!

In order to prevent myself from totally wigging out, I decided that I required some pharmacological intervention. I reached for the Ativan. But, as I was so blind with rage, dumb me swallowed a couple of Ambiens instead! I don't need to tell you what happened at the graduation not that I could anyway because I have absolutely no recollection!

It was all a blur...

Several days later, the painters return. This time with power washers. They are now going to power wash the deck. Now the perennials in my flower beds are destroyed - coreopsis, lavender, dahlias... too many to list. I am now in the market for zoloft...

Then my new friend, Beate, tells me that she is moving back to Denmark. There was so much going on but I had to find the time to get together one last day to knit with her. Here we are with her friend Erin.

Erin then organized a group dinner where we could all say good bye.

Beate

So, have I been knitting. Yes, absolutely. How else would one survive?

Dream in Color's Smooshy

These are Kirsten's Achillea.

Interweave Knits Cable Rib Socks in ONline Supersocke Cotton color Beach

What else? I'm also almost finished with my pinwheel sweater that I frogged, I made a nice lace cotton scarf and I finished my mother-in-law's shawl. I'll show you when I take more pictures.

Oh, did I mention that the painters destroyed the cables to the internet, the tv and the telephone. At first I refused to intervene and have it fixed. Let the hubby painter/contractor deal with it. But then the children waged an insurrection and I had no choice (and no zoloft) so I called in the repairs.

When I was talking to my pal Phyllis about not knowing what to blog about because so much crap has happened, she suggested I keep it simple and show you my socks. But, alas, I need pity. So, here I am, trying to survive summer with 3 teenage boys and two teenage nieces (a whole 'nother chapter I'll talk about later) and a hubby who feels he can now (after 20+ years) "get involved" with fixing up the house.

But, when I tally it all up something so simple made all the dilemmas worthwhile.

A lovely yellow finch. I'm so easy to please!

What season is this?

When I was single and living in New York City, I didn't pay attention to the seasons as much. I knew that winter was coming when the heat came on (thank you landlord); I knew that spring was coming when I got more requests for dates (you know, spring fever); I knew when summer was imminent when my coworkers began plotting planning their weekends at the shore and each morning in the fall, it was actually glorious to go out to work with the bright skies and colorful leaves - central park was a painters palette of beauty.

Now, in the suburbs running a household you are supposed to be acutely aware of Mother Nature and HER schedule. Yes it is fall, but just because there aren't many leaves actually falling doesn't mean you get to goof off.

For example, my pal Phyllis knew what time of year it was when she showed off her pumpkin patch that had overrun her deck at her lake house

She was also hip to the season, regardless of the weather, when she showed off her newly minted sweater made with the lovely Louet Gems -

It was Halloween and she was playing around

But me, I'm a romantic (and lazy I reckon), I was swayed by the balmy unseasonable weather and, well, you know, the need to knit. Last week I did do something seasonable, I hauled in my tropical plants because the weatherman said Jersey was going to go frosty overnight.

Otherwise, nada. I haven't done much seasonably. Oh, I did buy bulbs but I haven't put them in the ground as yet. I haven't had the sprinkler system winterized (shush, don't tell the insurance company), and, one other kinda major thing I haven't attended to -

I haven't closed my pool!

I keep telling myself that I'm mentally fatigued from the drama with sending off my first born to college, AND living through two other major milestones - turning one child 13 and another one 16 all in the same year! Poor family planning...

Anyway, if I give you pleasant proof why it has been easy to forget about fall tasks, will you think kinder of me?








Freesia still in bloom in November - amazing!