One on one with #3 son

This is my darling 3rd son.

Many years ago, while the two older boys were away at school for the day, he and I would hang out in my garden.

He is now 14 1/2 and nearly 6' 1" tall. We don't spend a lot of time one on one anymore. He will not even play one on one basketball with me anymore!

A couple of weeks ago, I kidnapped him and took him out to dinner. Just the two of us. He spent most of the time asking why I was doing this and the other half of the time txting his friends. I resorted to other diversions...



The two girls in the booth in front of us were the complete opposite of us. While my son barely spoke to me at all, one of the girls in the booth in front of us NEVER STOPPED TALKING! I couldn't help myself, I had to film it. As you can see, it did get Jonathan's attention.

Even though the outing didn't go as planned, it went far better than this disaster, below:

Silk garden socks, way too big!

What if.....

Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

My Favorite MOTHER'S DAY video

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Diversions

bootie experiment

My knitting habit(s) is becoming more and more bizarre. I think it is because of the election. I'm trying so hard not to get too hopeful but I can't help it. Our country is in bad shape. I've almost run out of ways to explain it all to my teenage sons. I'm now resorting to these lame remarks:

My response to College son when he asks about the economy: "Well, the Great Depression was pretty bad."

My response to High School son when he asks about the whittling away of our civil liberties: "Well, slavery sucked and Jim Crow wasn't fun either."

My response to my Middle School son when he asks about why we are hassled when we travel: "Think about Ann Frank, she couldn't leave her room... "

The dozen or so projects I've got going keeps my mind off such depressing thoughts. I've got a variety of things on the needles: baby stuff, garments, bags, scarves, hats, dishcloths, toys (why?). I've got to get some order to this stuff.

My First Sophie bag

And, to complicate things even more, I OD'd on that bag sale at my LYS. I'm ashamed to say how much of a haul I have but suffice it to say I won't be buying any yarn for a few years, at least!

Play date Diversions
A couple of weeks ago, I got to hang out with two blogger buddies. I met fellow knitter, Nancy, at Expressions Yarns in Englewood. She is a professional singer.

One of Nancy's album covers

She was at Expressions finishing up the most beautiful burgundy mohair coat. That's right I said coat - floor length! Later, that week she called to invite me to see Mos Def at the 92nd Street Y.

It was fun. I really enjoyed his talk and it was a blast to be with such an eclectic audience. Thanks Nancy for getting me out of the house and into the New York City for some non-knitting fun!

And more Diversions still
My button stash was kind of low so I was eager to visit my town's annual antiques fair to replenish my supply.

whimsical buttons from Modern Yarn, Montclair, NJ

Hope is a blogger buddy I met at the same yarn store as Nancy. She recognized me from my blog! She joined me for lunch and a trip to the fair and we both ended up buying tons of vintage buttons!



Diversions as Delusions
Well, life goes on even if something as personal as religion has become a central focus in a country that is supposed to separate church from state -



Well, I guess, at least, we are now talking about the hard stuff.

But no Diversions here
Spring break has just ended for my gone-off-to-college son. He was happy to just come home to eat.

I was too happy to oblige and not have to worry about having to find him hung over on some far flung beach!

Diverting our Attention
So far, with all of the problems in our country, the robins still migrate in spring. They don't care if I've cleaned out my flower beds or not. Mother Nature never waits for me, nor does time, history, or the facts of life - even if I don't have the answers yet...

God don't like ugly

I don't get to watch a lot of TV. I prefer watching a movie and I almost always knit through it. I do watch Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report and the occasional network news performances but for hard news, I prefer to get serious analysis from the internets. There is one tiny exception to all of this, I watch Larry David when I want to laugh out loud.

Well, last Friday night, my boys didn't have any scheduled basketball so what did they want to do with all of their spare time? Go see some basketball. I managed to get last minute, cheap Knick tickets (yes, they do suck) and I grabbed my knitting bag and we rushed for the 6:50 to New York City.



It was on the trip home, that I got some excitement. When former New Yorkers are sequestered too long in sterile suburbia, we tend to marvel at the pageantry of strangers. So when this lady grabs a seat across from us with this little chihuahua tucked in a bag, I perked up and got ready for the show. As she fussed over the dog getting him comfortable, I noticed that she and the dog had matching knitwear! My children are always eyeing me when we are in public. They like to get some indicator before they think I'm going to embarrass them. My sons saw me looking at the lady and noticed the knitted garments too, gave me the signal - "pleeeeze don't say anything to that lady about her and her dog's scarf."

"I'm not going to say anything but can I at least admire it?"

Then the lady pulled out a book on Freida Kahlo. I just thought the whole thing was so cool so I started to take pictures. My children, who only lived in New York for a couple of years, had the nerve to tell me that I was being rude and that everybody knows that you don't take pictures of strangers without their permission. I told him that those rules don't apply in New York. Wink, wink.

They begged me to put the camera down. I obeyed only because at that moment I remembered that Larry David episode, Rat Dog and I started to laugh out loud!

The boys knew exactly what I was laughing at as if they dreaded the moment when I would see the coincidence beyond the knitting and told me to be quiet. I told them that as a former New Yorker, I knew personally that people can be anything they wanted, act anyway they wanted and certainly laugh at anything they wanted without the fear of drawing attention to oneself. So there.

They were rescued by the conductor who called our stop and the boys bolted for the doors. I hurried after them and LEFT MY CAMERA ON THE SEAT!!! Fortunately, a man ran off the train with it and kindly handed it to me. I stood there in shock, the end of my photographic life flashing before me.

That's when my son, not missing a beat, said, "tsk tsk, I guess God don't like ugly."


Where do children get the nerve?? Anyhooo, how can you not take pictures of that face!