Stop Right There

Zipping right along with the blocking on my Deep Purple sweater, I had visions of picking up neckline stitches and finishing the thing Today! But instead, my knitting gadget box said no.
Not today. Why? I seemed to have left my darning needle in an extra suitcase that I took with me to Guatemala. I'm sure the suitcase is at church somewhere, but the darning needle is definitely not in my knitting bag. Doggone-it!! Rats!
So at least I got some eagerly snapped pictures this morning, before I went out for the day. Here's why you block a sweater, and I didn't do a good job, by the way, so please don't pass judgment. (At least I blocked it!)
If you start with curled up edges, your piecing together won't be very smooth. The sweater front ( photo left) has not been blocked. The back (on the right) and two sleeves (above) have been blocked. Much smoother!
So, when I go out again, I'll pick up another darning needle and finish this thing.

I've also been busy this week in the garden. The Nashville flood nearly took away all my little garden. The lettuce and spinach survived but I lost most of the improved soil surrounding the plants and pretty much all the top layer of soil.
I had to replace what I could and while at it, my husband and I picked up the fixins for this stand alone planter, made by my father.
There's an open space at the bottom of several inches with the soil suspended by a small platform inside. It's an ingenious method for growing vegetables and my dad seems to have had great success with his, as did my sister.


I also planted some melons and peppers in the garden and added a little row of marigolds to keep away the pests. Funny how that works! A few flowers, so to speak, can really keep the bad things at bay. A few kind words, a thoughtful act, or even a prayer lifted on someone's behalf, can really make a difference!

Dye Job

Recently a friend loaned me a book about hand dyeing fiber. There is probably not a better resource on the subject, as it is full of pictures, instructions and inspiring ideas.
She loaned me this book as I was trying to come up with some ways to use the dyes I bought in Asheville last month.

Here's what I started. The purple was dyed from this white wool.


The teal is dyed using gray/brown wool.
Both batches turned out beautifully but the teal looks more blue than green. Sorry. It's been a little cloudy lately which makes my feeble attempts at photography look all the worse.
Sunshine makes everything better!

My kids have been around lately and that is as good as sunshine to me. My son was here last night helping his dad with some business, and his fiance (today's her birthday!) asked me to come along with her and my daughter to the dress shop the other day to get my daughter's bridesmaid dress. We had a fun time and all went to eat later. These times are precious to me.

I realize the more we talk, at how far I've come emotionally from the days when I was getting married. I am so much more laid back about the future and things that really stressed me way back then. Even my daughter paid me a compliment about my work skills. She's working part time in the office where I used to work and has had the opportunity to see much of what I did while I was there. She said, "she had no idea what all I had done". Validation!

Growing pains

There hardly ever seems to be a time when life is static. Things are always shifting, changing and growing if they are alive.
When my kids were small, they had all sorts of aches and pains during growth spurts. This summer my son will be getting married and he's immersed in preparations for that. Some of it is difficult, but it will be worth it in the end!

My daughter and her husband are here for several weeks. They are taking a summer break from his school and her job (she'll be working at my old office for part of the summer!) and are in a bit of recovery from many months of 'growth'. He has one more year of school to go.

My husband's office has recently moved to some newly built spaces that are more modern and efficient than their previous facilities. I'm sure it will take a while for him to get settled in!

And I have begun my foray into a new phase of life. Life is good and change is normal. As I said to my husband a couple of days ago, Life is a Special Occasion. I don't want to miss one single drop of it!!
I watched one of my favorite movies last night, To Kill A Mockingbird, and knitted away on the Deep Purple sweater. Armhole decreases for the front and I've already got the nervous, I-hope-there's-enough-yarn-to-finish-it feeling. I'm sure there is!
Before leaving a couple of weeks ago, I spent an afternoon dyeing some wool, but have yet to pick or card it. Some is lavender and the other is gray wool I dyed a rich teal. Beautiful!! If I have time today, I'll get some shots of it to post next time. Oh, the possibilities!!

Hello world!

The night before we left Guatemala, we were warned that a little stowaway might be found amongst our things when when got back. I found it. I'd now like to lose it. Send it back. Most of my team mates have found the same little stomach bug and we're all eager to send it back.
I can see why they ask you so many random questions about plants and farms when you go through customs. America is the land of the free and home of the healthy - and they want to keep it that way!!
A few things I did stow in my luggage are hand made items sold by the women and children in the markets. I got a great blouse for $10, a table runner for my mom, and some doo-dads that were just too cute! It was sooo hard to resist the smiles and broken English phrases of the children poking you like little puppies, asking you to buy something, "good deal for you" or, "something for your mother?".
Precious women hunched over or carrying piles of woven goods, trying their best to make the meager seventy-five cents a day, that they live on. Corn tortillas are the staple, along with fruit they pick from their trees. Sounds rustic and cool, but everyone was malnourished and poorly dressed (by our standards).

I was completely overwhelmed my first day in the market. All of us were moved to tears and sobbing; all of us had to step aside and pull ourselves together. It's not that you felt guilty for being blessed, you just couldn't believe how little it would take to make their lives different, and better.
So, I had to buy a few things early on. My last day I left all my money at the hotel so that I could truly say I had none. Lots of corruption and superstition keep the people from prosperity. Only prayer and smart thinking will circumvent the continued misuse of these wonderful, generous people. DO PRAY for Guatemala!

Another thing we were warned about was being alone. It was simply not safe for an American (especially a woman) to be alone in the streets. So we were all assigned a travel partner, that we were to stay with when 'out and about'. Mine, I'm thankful to say, was a soldier and a firefighter, so I felt pretty darn safe no matter where we went. He kept an eye on me like no other, and I'm extremely thankful for that. God bless you, Brian!!

And finally, we were encouraged to play down our role as missionaries when going through customs. Harassment and unfair scrutiny were possible, especially in light of the Times Square bombing. Thankfully on my trip back into the US (Dallas), the gentleman checking my passport was kind to alert me that I'd put the wrong flight number on my re-entry papers. (two legs, the latter flight number was what they wanted). I know he thought, "this lady could never be a terrorist, she doesn't even know what flight she's on". And the fact that I tried to convince him that I was just a tourist when I was wearing my church mission team t-shirt. (was there a giant "L" stamped on my forehead??)

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

To market to market to buy a fat pig, home again, home again jiggety jig.
After being out of the country for over a week, I am settling back into my home-comforts nicely. I had an adventure worth telling over and over again, but when all is said and done, there's no place like home.

In Guatemala, you can't flush toilet paper or even depend on soap in restrooms, roads are free of nuisances like traffic signals, and communication with the outside world is extremely limited. At least where we were, in a remote village in the mountains.

I still hesitate when refilling my water bottle or brushing my teeth (don't drink the water!) Almost all of our team suffered a bout with Montezuma's revenge. And yet I have come from my experience feeling like I've been to rehab. Letting go of the things that felt so crucial, and embracing what definitely matters most. Intangible things that can be ignored if you're not careful.

Here are some photos that stand out to me. First, the one and only weaver I saw in a country whose main export is probably fiber.
A small hank of yarn or thread was only about a quarter.
Here are some shots of our accommodations and our hangouts.

Dining room where we ate breakfast and dinner every day.
Patio where we had morning prayer (and coffee) before breakfast.
My room.

It took hours to get anywhere and we usually rode in this bus. Affectionately known as the chicken bus!
Breezeway where we played with the local children.
I will surely post more soon, but it begs to be mentioned that I never once knitted a stitch. Not once. We were busy all the time and when we had free time, it was spent resting and trying to gather news from home.

I live in Tennessee where the worst disaster since the Civil War occurred in my absence! And we barely heard about the car bomb in Times Square. It's hard to believe how disconnected I was from "civilized society" but those things just didn't seem important where we were.

We gave medical care and comfort to people who live with dirt floors in houses equivalent to our lawn mower sheds. Those Central Americans really didn't care that music stars lost their precious guitar collections. The concerns seemed more to center around hoeing their garden; their single source of food, period.
We Are A Blessed Nation.

The Friendly Skies

I'm almost done packing and have to take care of some last minute details before leaving for Central America. The excitement is mounting!

Yesterday I finished my job and they brought some pastries and a bouquet of flowers for me. I spent some time doing the final training with my replacement and left to go meet some friends after work for a bite.
Done. And on to some other, very different things. But I will not, no matter what, stop my knitting. I have already packed the Stoney River socks and would like to take my spindle and some wool if they bag doesn't weigh too much.

I've got my Kindle ready, prepared some lessons for the children we'll be working with, and replaced the batteries in my camera.

I will try to take some good pictures and will try really hard to get at least one of me knitting in Guatemala. Wow, that would be so awesome! I've heard it's a beautiful place, and the lack of phones, computers and files sounds great. Down to earth experience with people who have no where near the affluence of the country I live in. I am looking forward to hearing some neat stories and getting to know how people function in their daily lives; with family, friends, church and community. I love the whole idea of different cultures; surely there's a lot for me to learn.

A post with no name

In 2006, my youngest graduated from high school and I decided to go back to work. I looked for a job all spring, thinking I would go back to work that summer. I kept on looking into the summer, interviewed a couple of times, but still had no job when fall came. I really wanted to be working when school started in the fall, to help with college tuition. I finally got the call back for the job I started in November of that year; the call to work at a law firm in the greater Nashville, TN area. My girlfriend from church worked in the same building, and she's the one who told me about the job. It was a newly created position and would eventually expand to be much more. Even at the beginning, the job was very different from what I imagined it would be. But I was learning and I was back in the work world after almost 20 years. I figured I'd stay at least 4 years, if they'd have me and contribute sufficiently to my kids' college education.

On Monday, our staff all went to lunch to honor my departure. Four attorneys, an accounts person, a receptionist and the lady I'm training to replace me. It's been a great place to work and I've learned a tremendous amount while there. Even more than most college degrees could have taught me, and I'm very, very thankful for the opportunity.
My daughter is now married and my son is engaged. So that brings me to next week.
I will no longer be employed by the law firm, but will be in......wait for it......Guatemala!
On a foreign missions trip! My last day is Thursday and the flight for Miami leaves Saturday morning. Not exactly the two weeks of vacation I've been waiting for, for the last couple of years. I haven't had a whole week off since about 2007.

But with the trip to Central America, and all the accompanying miracles that go along with my actually being able to participate in this adventure (that's another blog altogether!) I will tell you about my plans for the next week.
Our mission team will arrive Saturday afternoon and make our way to the mountain region where we will be staying. A sweet man with no home will hopefully have one when we leave the following weekend. Countless children should be given some kind of medical care and encouragement. Moms and dads will look at our fair skinned American complexions and smile. And I will (I pray) get to see some awesome wool at a world famous market. I have an issue of Wild Fibers magazine that highlights the weavers of the country and their patterns, specific to their regions; kind of like Scottish plaids.

I will be taking my spindle and some knitting but probably not the purple sweater. It's on metal needles and I don't want them confiscated. Instead, I'll take the UFO - Stony River socks on bamboo dpns.

It is a lifelong dream of mine to do mission work and I had given up that dream long, long ago. I can still hardly believe I'm going. We had a commissioning prayer the other night and I headed home in a daze. The Lord is sometimes slow in answering our prayers; sometimes He even takes 25 or 30 years to answer them. But He does indeed answer them.

I just want to celebrate, another day of knitting...*

Spinning group is always a treat, especially when you get to not only see your friends, but get inspired about what projects they're working on. I love to be challenged to try new things. I'm ever impressed with the skills of my friends and here's the proof. Look at these babies!
That center square is started on the diagonal, with picked up stitches along the sides, creating triangles that wrap around each subsequent square.

This sweater was commissioned by a gentleman who showed up at our meeting one day with a fleece. He asked if it could be spun and knitted into a sweater.
Brenda M. spun the wool and Sally B. knitted the garment. It's almost ready; just needs some buttons! It looks similar to Susie's sweater above.

And to make us all tremble at being in the presence of a star, here is the fleece from Florence, featured in this month's Spin Off Magazine! Susie bought the fleece, combed some for a sample and spun a little bit. You can't see it very well but there is the proof in the April issue. (not a centerfold but a very distinguished looking lady.

While in NC, I took some photos of something else that elicits respect. A large blanket knit by my husband's grandmother. Orange was very 'in' in those days so just admire the skill and beauty wrought by this little lady's hands.

Last night my husband and I went to the funeral home to see our friends, Ron & Cathy. Ron lost his mother this week, unexpectedly. I have another friend who lost his dad this week. And yet another friend whose daughter lost a baby days before her husband lost his job. Some things happen when you are not at all prepared for them. Somethings happen after you've been waiting for years to see them come about. Both require a life well lived; focused and ready. Whatever the case, we should celebrate the day we have, doing the things we love and blessing those around us in the meantime.

What's going on?

There's a lot going on lately and I feel like most days when I get home from work, I have zero brain power left. As I've been training my replacement, I am reminded why that is. It tires me out just telling her what needs to be done each day, each week, each month, each year. Whew.
I got home tonight to an empty house so I did not cook a thing - last night I had a little car misadventure in rush hour traffic and still had to come home and put some fish in the skillet. (Eating healthy takes more work than fast food; I don't know why........)
I have eaten a microwave baked potato, spun some wool and started my TiVo'd episode of Castle. Here's the finished back of the purple sweater and the start of the front waist band I'll be working on.
We took a little weekend off to see my father in law and visit my favorite store in Asheville, NC, Earth Guild. I bought some Cushing Dyes and can't help but notice the tactile nature of the color names.

While there, the shopkeeper explained why the police had blocked off a nearby street. A city bus had swerved and ran right into a store. The whole block was shut down due to a busted gas main and someone may have been killed. This was literally a couple of hours before we arrived downtown. Strange.

I got some great shots of the scenery on the drive there (detour due to rock slide which we barely missed on our last trip to NC!) Detours are made to take you off the beaten path, and that it did. Beautiful little mountain hollers and a gorgeous waterfall that I could not get a picture of, but we saw it nonetheless.

Note the clouds!!!!!!

Lots of flowers in bloom in the mountains, and I had to share a few.



Plus one of my own back yard - Snowball Tree.
I am thankful to be surrounded by beauty all the time. Some times I think I'm one of the lucky ones. Life is full of near misses and I'm very aware of the protection of the Lord, almost to the point of feeling like Mr. Magoo sometimes. Stumbling through life with calamity all around, yet I'm taking pictures of clouds and flowers!!!!

Judas and the Woodpeckers

I've almost completed the back of my pretty purple sweater. On the drive yesterday and into the evening, I knitted away with my terrific Addi turbos. Greased lightning, kind of.
The armhole decreases are straightforward and easy. The joins should go pretty well.
I need to bind off for the shoulders and neckline and then I can start the front.

I'm convinced that no matter where you go, there will be a Judas Iscariot in the mix. No kidding. It never fails that there's always someone who will bring up the negative side of every single thing that is said. SNL calls it Debbie Downer. Whatever you reference you choose, it's inevitable that you will have to deal with this person; someone who outwardly doesn't break the rules or cause physical harm but who will always and forever leave everyone in the group in a bad mood.
For the longest I couldn't understand why the Lord didn't fix this glitch. But now I think I know why they're there. Just like Judas, who WAS one of the disciples, they serve a purpose. Trying to get rid of them, or tell them 'exactly what you think of them' does no good. It's better just to accept their presence and try to make the best of things.
My daughter has told me of someone like this that drives her crazy. I can think of ten different "Judases" who I've known. At least! Yet their demise will come. But know this: resistance is useful if channeled in the right direction. Let it have it's work in your situation. Let the resistance be your chance to improve, learn and be a better person. The Lord will take care of that Judas, in due time. It's probably not your job to bring them down.

When I arrived yesterday, at my little retreat destination, I immediately went outside to walk around and listen to the wind in the trees. There was a definite tapping that I realized later was a woodpecker. I never could see where he was, but I heard him. In fact, when we woke up this morning, (the windows were open) I heard him again. Lots of other birds were chirping and singing, but the woodpecker was still at it. I figured once again, this little guy serves a purpose, whether I know what it is or not.

Road Conditions

Every time we take a trip, I look forward to two things. (Not eating out or sightseeing!) I love deciding which book(s) I'll be taking to read and I love picking, sometimes by default, what I'll be knitting. Since I'm clearly on a roll with the deep purple sweater, I will definitely take it with me.
I have switched to my Addi turbos though, just for convenience sake.
Traditional straight needles start to get in the way when the sweater gets bulky. This makes it much faster and hopefully I'll be in the armhole decreases soon, which will really make me glad I switched.

As for my book, I haven't decided yet. I do have a paperback I borrowed from a friend. It's written by a mutual friend and is her 'true' story. Not really a biography, but a book about some pretty stressful events in her past.
I think everyone should write a book. Most people have at least one really interesting story to tell, and we usually never hear about it. Her's is a sad story, at least so far, and all too familiar, I'm afraid. Abuse in the church, which is a really hot topic these days.
So, I'll probably take this book, and get a new Kindle book. My latest audio book is Folly by Laurie King. I've always wanted to read it and I started it last week on my iPod while working in the yard. Laurie is a famous writer and I have one of her Mary Russell books in paperback. Folly is a real departure from the rest, IMHO. So far I really like the main character, who although a bit odd is funny and real.

I'll also be taking the new Spin Off. It has a great little one page article on wheel maintenance. Plus some goodies that keep me inspired.

Rich beyond measure

On a day like today, words fail to describe the feeling of complete blessedness I have. Two days in a row, now, I woke up to look at my bedside clock and smiled. It's been a very long time.
My entire morning has been spent in the yard, again. I love it! Flower beds neglected for two years will come back to life this summer. I trimmed the pampas grass, dug up old day lilies and peppermint gone wild, and trimmed (hacked with the electric shrub-killer) the forsythia bushes that have become larger than most small cars. Ok, not really, but they needed to be cut back.
It's almost time to go buy tomato plants and petunias; just a few more days!

Yesterday was equally fun for me, getting to work in the flower beds all afternoon and clipping my salad greens straight from the back yard.
My husband smoked some tuna steaks, a whole chicken and a pork loin for the coming week. I had one of the tuna steaks with my salad. We ate while watching the fourth installment of The Pacific. Episode three was way, way more racy than I bargained for, and I was relieved that last night was better. (We don't normally have HBO but subscribed so we could watch this series. Now I remember why we don't have it all the time!)

I worked on the Deep Purple sweater while watching TV, and finally finishing the Leroy Brown socks. I am very pleased, in spite of all my mistakes. I am Smitten with Knittin!

Now, I want to show you a picture that will blow you away. Here it is.....
I know what you're thinking. The same thing I thought when I saw it. NO WAY! That CANNOT be the Whirling Butterfly plant from last year! Nuh uh. But there it is. I spent a lot on those plants and fully expected to have to buy them this year as well. But the Lord has blessed me once again. I am so rich, I never had to even open up a seed catalog. These aren't supposed to come back but they did. So now I have my favorite plant of all time, again, for free!