Massive Update

Yes, yes, it has been awhile. Suffice it to say that soooo much is brewing that I simply couldn't settle on what to feature that I would not regret months from now. So here is a safe update on all that's been cooking for the past few months.

#1 Son's Semester off

My oldest son is an actor. Has been all of his life, however, I wasn't one of those stage moms so he was not a profesional child actor or model. Last summer, as he was about to enter his junior year at college, he decided to actively pursue his career - for the summer. He was casted in a bunch of films and he was the standin for Corbin Bleu in a HBO tv series. Now he is working on another HBO show, How to Make it In America and I hope he gets on camara for that one.

#2 Son graduates high school and goes off to college!

The dreaded dorm shopping

Last day at a Savannah riverfront hotel before dorm move in

Vegas with #3 son

Jonathan played in a national basketball tournament in Las Vegas. That place is the debil.

Why does my child take coaching from his coaches with his full attention and I have to threaten bodily harm just to get him to stand still and listen?

A weekend vacation to French Town, NJ

I took a long weekend away to French Town. It is a really pretty place. I also drove to New Hope and Lambertville and they were nice too but it was in Frenchtown where I found this:

Visited the Spinnery

Spent quality time with dear friends

My Pal Phyllis and cat

My oldest friend, Amir

My buddy Deb

My foreign phantom friend Duma. I met Duma almost 30 years ago when he lived in the US in exile from apartheid South Africa. He returned after Mandela became president. Whenever he visits here on business, he always finds the time to give me a shoutout.

So you see, a lot has been going on. Have I been knitting? Oh sure,

Noro silk garden sock, yarn gifted to me by my pal Phyllis

A really grainy picture I took with my camera phone of my Malabrigo bolero. I love this! Fast and knit in one piece!

Whelp, that's it for now. Time does fly!

Jonathan, Marcus and Andrew - a long time ago

Marcus, Andrew and Jonathan - June '09

Garden Club event

My Garden Club hosted its Secret Garden Tour earlier this month.

This is the one time of the year that I feel like a little girl free to wander into strangers' yards and secretly smell all of their flowers.

This year we invited local artists to paint the gardens...








And while I got to enjoy the seasonal beauty of my neighbors' gardens, I couldn't help but wonder when I would find the time to finish my own...

Pool not opened, beds not prepared...

Sometimes the demands of life compete with all that I want to do in a day - reading, writing, gardening, knitting, laundry...

Only on the 7th day of June, it was no contest, I knew where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing...

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!

Lots of meetings mean lots of knitting

Even though it is Fall, there are some flowers that are still in bloom especially with this warm and balmy weird weather we've been having here in Jersey. In addition to the lack of any significant rain for weeks, some flowers, like this dianthus, seem to love the conditions.

I go to lots of meetings in the Fall, hours of them. I'm also on line a lot, at the supermarket, at fairs and in cars waiting for one child or another. I used to read during this time but now I find myself knitting.

I do miss the books though. There are two that I want to read right now, Arnold Rampersad's bio on Ralph Ellison and Philip Roth's new one, Exit Ghost.

Actually, I could read during cross country meets but there are no bleachers to sit on, you just stand out in a beautiful clearing in the forest and wait for the 100 or so runners to come out of the trees. Instead I find myself taking pictures, listening to birds and watching for something to happen in the air like...

feathers floating from trees

gazing into the sky

Or just looking about the forest floor

Knitting and Nursing

I recently read something about knitting in public and if knitting at meetings was "proper etiquette". Immediately I thought of the debate about nursing in public. Once 10 years ago, someone, a woman, asked me if I wanted something to cover myself while nursing. I asked her if she would feel better if I just shoved a rubber nipple into my baby's mouth - but I digress.

I was knitting at my son's Back to School Night and I got a dirty look from one of his teachers. I get those looks from coaches sometimes too. I don't knit during one on one conversations only at group events, like meetings and sporting events. Why do people get so preoccupied with what another is doing? I'm not making any noise, I'm not reading while they are talking, my ears are not plugged with headphones, I'm not plotting a coup or some sexual exploit? Anyway, I continue to knit and poof

A lovely, lovely cabled ponchette

Ponchette's are for us knitters with ADD who want something instantly at half the size! I'm not sure how they will look on, I'll have someone take a picture of me in one as soon as it is ok to wear wool in 80 plus degree October weather!

This is a cute little cell phone thingy I knit in line somewhere.

Oh, and I've been playing around with that Noro Scarf I finished. It can be lots of things, not just a scarf!

No Longer Stranded

There is some knitting I can only do in front of a tabletop. Stranded or intarsia patterns with a motif usually gives me crossed eyes. I used to avoid them like the plague. I made a bet with myself recently that if I could get over this apprehension, I could buy more yarn!

This is a Berroco bag pattern, Damask, done with Patons wool.

I now have to felt it and line it and find a handle. Maybe I'll take a trip over to Purlsoho this week.

Hats with no holes where the color changes takes some practice

I'm hoping to finish this by weeks end, let's hope it fits!

All in all, Fall so far, has been very productive for me. I've finished a novel, a history book, some nice knitting and lots of pictures (please, don't ask me about housework).

random street lamp, Paterson, NJ