Swinging in a tree

You know? I've never grown out of my need for a good swing. Not the dance type, but little kid swinging. Of course this is really hard to do on a little kid swing set, and even when we upgraded to the really cool wooden structure with swings, (that I help build, thankyouverymuch) I wasn't able to really swing the freeing good swing I crave.


My husband, John, he really loves me.


A lot.


So several years ago we bought a hammock swing and my loving husband installed it into our sweet gum maple tree.


I LOVE my swing, but of course, it became absolutely everyone's favorite swing.. I have seen several kids on that swing at the same time. Finding time to go to my swing is really hard, but I try to get out in the back yard when I can.

My swing's looking a little worse for wear. My garden is a box full of weeds, my house is not perfectly clean,(not even close) and frankly, although my laundry was done to the last stitch of dirty clothes Saturday, there is now at least 5 more loads to do.

But oh! Just a few minutes of time under that tree!

Lookie, Look! See what I see when I swing under my tree! (wish the photography was better, but I think you get the idea!)

A trip back east.

A trip back to Eastern Oregon, that is.. that's a good eight hours east traveling in a car with the whole family and a dog... really, that's east enough for me. This time the whole family got to go out and see Grandpa and Grandma, and it was much warmer! See this is what Dad's place looks like in the summer..

















The high desert is a beautiful place. In the bottom picture are the foothills of the Blue Mountains.. just without the snow this time. Dad and the boys spent some time four wheeling. The boys are just starting to learn how, and neither one of them will be doing it alone, Sam from over cautiousness, Ben because, (as my father said) he has no sense of danger.... (this is so true, not only would he not be afraid of a dragon in his path, he would absently pat it's head as he walked past it and comment on it's lovely coloring.) Not because he has no fear, but because he would not realize there is anything to fear. (Mother sighs deeply, shakes her head and mutters "Bloody Wolverine.")
Ben was Dad's shadow while he was out there, anywhere in the desert Dad was going, Ben was tagging along. If it was outside, and with Grandpa, he was there. They both loved it, but it tired them both, we got home Wednesday, and Ben spent the day needing "alone time". I think that he would live out there full time if he had the chance.
Sam was happy to see everyone, but was not at home. If the whole world could just come to him, in his own space, he would be pretty comfortable to visit. In this Sam and Grandpa are just alike. This is why we go to visit Grandpa, and not the other way around.... Sam loved seeing everyone, but was very ready to get home to his own room and his own routine. He handled being away from everything much better than he used to. He does, happily, go through the uncomfortable sensation of being away from home to see Grandpa and Grandma, he loves and misses them.



Here are Grandpa and the boys. Grandma had gone to work before I pulled out my camera, otherwise I'd have Marcie right there with them.

Here is Grandpa, the boys and Mr. Meta. (that would be short for Metamorphosis, Dad's sense of humor is as warped as my own.) That tortoise is 45 years old, and just in the prime of his life. He is a favorite attraction for anyone that visits Dad.

Lastly, here is a picture of myself and Dad. My heart always aches when I leave. It doesn't matter how long I get to visit, or how pleasant it's been (and it was lovely) it's never enough time.

Hobbies, or ways that our children are allowed to reach maturity

So first of all, it occurred to me that I have not taken pictures of knitting for a while. I do not want to misled anyone into thinking that just because I have started to torture my children with my violin practice, that I have stopped playing with yarn... it just ain't so. (I would never say the word ain't, but it looks so right there in that sentence.) Anywho, so remember when I said last summer that my goal was to wear only my own knitted socks this winter? Well, I was successful. I had the most comfortably warm feet all winter long. I have more than enough pairs, but I cannot stop. I have a red "flame" pair that I'm working on now.. Here are some of the newer socks..


It's hard to see the colors as they are on the computer, but you get the idea.

I'm going to have to do a pink pair after the red, or repair the pink pair I have (or both) as the cabled pair that I did 2 years ago is starting to wear thin. Now think about that for a moment. This is one of my favorite pair of socks, and I've worn them a lot. I knit them the summer I broke my shoulder, which was 2008. These socks are just starting to wear thin. That means that these socks were built to last sister!

Now I count 15 pair here, and I have one on the needles now. The two on the bottom I don't wear much, the blue and red pair is a really thick boot sock (I need to make more of these, I have the yarn, I'll do them before winter this year to wear with my boots....of course!)
It's a crazy obsession... I just can't stop. Luckily, I don't have to.

Now I'm not just knitting socks, I have a cotton hoodie sweater that I'm knitting/designing and I have just one sleeve and the hood to go. Then I have another summer sweater to make. THEN, I have the perfect pattern for a darling winter hoodie that is just all classic lines. My neighbor, Marla and I are both going to make this one. We went to the yarn store, saw it on display, and Oh Boy!!

But a lot of the time that I would be spending knitting has gone into violin practice, so the projects are moving slower than they normally would. On the other hand I can actually play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and This Old Man on the violin, and scales.. lots and lots and lots of scales. I play scales so often apparently, that Sam said to me yesterday while I was playing them, "Hey mom, I recognize that song." geesh.

Don't get the idea that I play them well yet, they sound as laborious as they are played but I am loving every (nearly) minute of the time I spend trying.

Just as an aside, Pam, if you haven't already seen the show, you really need to check out "Big Bang Theory" this is like having a camera in my house 10 years from now, except that the exclamatoins of "My Seat!" happen now. This is Asperger's 101, in it's funniest form. We have the 1st two seasons on DVD and have been watching marathons of the show...

Wolverine's Birthday

So today at 1:12 pm, that is 13:12 for you military people, 10 years ago I gave birth to my youngest son, Ben. He has always been my sober child, but he still knows how to laugh. Actually both of my children could tend toward the brooding side of life, but my husband and I are too full of mischief and humor to let that happen overmuch. But when I say that my Ben is wolverine, what I mean is that he seems to have been re-incarnated from an old 1940's movie. The strong silent type that all the women wanted and the other men wish they could be.. you know. He is, even at 10, the one who prefers to be working with his hands, doing a job, outside if he can manage. I wish, often, that we were living in eastern Oregon with my family, as he would have so much more to be doing everyday, He would love it.



Ben's grin is infectious, really downright impish, irresistible. And, because he is surrounded by his slightly insane parents (actually just me on that one, John is very sane) his sense of humor is developing quite nicely. I think that he will be just as perfect a deadpan humorist as his father.. they both just have me rolling all of the time. (Sam is more like me, we're apt to howl at the moon as not. Good thing we have them to round us out. )

I have to work today, one of the draw backs to Ben having a birthday on July the 3rd, is that work does not want to give me time off the day before the holiday... no matter how long I've worked there, so .. I have to see him after his exact time of birth. Dang it.

Happy Birthday Ben, I was determined to have you, even right after Sam was born, not even an hour after, I told your father.. We're having one more! I knew you would be ours even then. Life would not be right without you!