Well, life could be a little more interesting

Well I could tell you all sorts of wonderful things about snow, puppies in the snow and lovely rural life BUT the reality of the situation is that the puppy hates the cold and is not to keen on the snow ( she refuses to go and has taken to running away so she can pee on the new carpet every time we try to get her out the front door). Tai is indifferent to the weather and I am hoping that she adjusts the snow without to much trauma. As a result of the lovely winter weather that we had this weekend I spent 2 hours getting into the city this morning after I spent 2o minutes chipping ice off my car. I was late for a supply teaching gig at a new school ( not such a good first impression) and the parked in the wrong lot and got a ticket. It was not such a good morning.

Happier things than winter storms and the frustrations that they cause are...
- treats in the mail from Lanie last week - she sent some great envelopes and a cute note and I am horrible for not thanking her earlier. Thank You
- spinning up the roving that I got at Rhineback.
- being on the last ball of wool for the felted baby blanket.
- getting my SP packages into the mail with the completed annoying lacy scarf included
- asking for a spinning wheel for Christmas and having P look into finding one, plus he dug out his camera so I can play with some black and whites here on the farm in my copious amount of free time. I did have an abundaunt amount of free time but it seems to be getting eatin up and I am not sure where it's going.
- Getting all my Xmas shopping finished, wrapped and in the mail + I only have some baking left = happy J.
- seeing RENT with an old friend and enjoying it even if it did get lousy reviews. No I have not seen HP 4 yet, no I can't believe it either, maybe this weekend.
- being able to babble on the internet about things that may or may not be relevant to the world at large and having it listen to me



And on a more exciting note, my youngest niece is 2 today, she enjoys waving to adoring fans, elmo and throwing cake but not eating it - ain't she sweet

So much to do, so little time

I am sure that I am not the first person in blogland to feel like I have nothing to write about. Life is just moving along and there is nothing to exciting to tell you all about. I've been knitting (I can't discuss it... gifts), supply teaching a bit, and generally keeping myself occupied with a variety of things that fill my days but hardly seem telling the world about.

I realized this week that I miss the excitement of living in another country. I saw some job ads for Bermuda and it started me thinking. I am not going to go anywhere but I do miss the adventure, I miss the traveling to new and exotic locations. Ottawa is good but flying to a warm and sandy beach this winter is hardly as easy as it was last winter. Oh well, I will enjoy the coming cold, I missed the snow last year, I think that I will only be interested in it for a few weeks though and then the novelty will have worn off.

I must be off, I have been taking care of a friends munchkins for the last few days and they need to be picked up from school. Oh yeah the new puppy's name is Chudder - it's a long story - she is getting bigger by the day and is already able to leap over Tai without any effort at all.

Birthday Wishes

The beautiful young lady in this photo is my niece and today she is 9. I can hardly believe it myself, but it's true, she is growing up. She smart, talented and great at making me laugh. She lights up a room with her smile and excellent personality. She is an amazing older sister, a great cousin and I think the best niece an aunt could ever have. T, I hope you have a wonderful birthday, I wish I was there. Happy Birthday bella.

For your viewing pleasure, pictures of my babies



looking a little worried

This is there favourite game, one of them tries to get on the bed while the Queen of the castle tries to keep her off

This is the Lion King, she was not so happy when the babe figured out how to get onto the bed

A picture hardly does this justice, it was amazing.

My recent round of treats, lucky me! The sock yarn and book are from my great Secret Pal and roving and spindle are from Sara. I am excited to begin spinnning and I will knit some socks if it is the last thing that I do

Tai thought it might be fun to dress up for halloween, but with her costume on she would not sit still long enough for a decent photo

So we took it off and had a play in the leaves instead

Feelin better

Thanks for all of your support last week. I am feling a little more positive about the job search now, it was just one of those days. As promised the current knitting. The scarf is for my Secret Pal and is in Silk andBamboo from Alchemy and the blanket is for a wee girl who arrived on Tuesday, I guess I better get it finished. See you later with a Halloween photo or 2 after I type some more cover letters.

No one will hire me

Please excuse the regularly scheduled post about my current knitting projects, I need to throw a small pity party for myself.

Sung to the tune of " Nobody Likes Me"

No one will hire me,
So no one can fire me,
How am I gonna pay my bills, big ones, small ones, late ones, early ones - loans comin outta my ears.

Nobody wants me,
Nobody needs me,
I'm gonna keep on typin, resumes, letters, references, emails - I hate all these things.

Nobody like me
Everybody hates me
I'm gonna go drink Lattes.

- an original song written by a tired and frustrated unemployed teacher known in blogland as J.

I am know off to drown my sorrows in a Maple Latte and will be back later with a knitting photo, (I have a lot of free time on my hands) and hopefully feeling a little less sorry for myself.

Mmmm Maple

Okay so everyone is talking about Rhinebeck, I need to tell you about the Maple Latte from Starbucks. I had one today and I am addicted, they have a lovely maple flavour and come with whip cream and maple syrup on top, someone else has been going on and on about Pumpkin Spice Lattes but I think that these are better, sorry to those of you who can't try one, I think they are only available in Canada... they better stick around, they rate up there with Eggnog Lattes and I am so sad that you can only get those at Christmas.

So as if you all haven't read enough about the weekend in NY, here's another post. I had a fabulous time. We went with a car full of virtual strangers but there was no problem getting to know one another - amazing what happens when you are stuck in a car together for 9 hours. I think that fun was had by all and I must say that P was an amazing sport about the whole event. Here are some photos from the festival, when I charge my camera batteries there will be pics of my new stash, I did not buy to much but I stroked a lot and am dreaming of things to buy later when I have job.


Sheep... I think I need some myself

Can you spot the bloggers

Tara ( who has a great synopsis of our trip and links to many of the people we met up with), Me Christine and someone whose name escapes me at the moment

She was not to happy that we (3 of us all at once) took this, would you believe me if I told you that the bags belonged to someone else... No, I didn't think so

Spinning lessons, I watched so that when my spindle (cause she is sweet enough to send me one) arrives in the mail I'll be able to use it

not suprising there are more sheep pictures... we also saw

some of these... I'll reserve my comments

oh look here are some more, they're everywhere.

It was amazing, the friends I finally got to meet in person, the eats, the fiber, it was all just great. Many of the folks mentioned here have great details on their blogs - I am in a bit of a hurry today, sorry if I left people out, well not if I know that I did!

I want to be a part of it

New York, New York. We are off to Rhinebeck tomorrow. Who is "we" you may ask, well there is me, Patrick, Jo and her daughter, and last but not least Tara. It may be 6 hours in the car but I am sure it will be worth it.
If you are going to be there and we haven't exchanged numbers yet email me. Otherwise I will see you on Monday with pictures of the crew and their kidlets and a larger stash, I hope there is enough trunk space.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, happy knitting.

Content

Autumn mornings

are beautiful and my camera hardly does them justice. But it will have to do for today. I am spending this sunny Wednesday morning catching up on my blog reading ( there has not been to much of it lately), chasing Tai as she is up to no good at every chance she gets and enjoying some leftovers from dinner last night. It is nice to be able to cook again in a full sized oven with ingredenets that are easy to purchase and don't cost half a days pay. On Monday I made some great roasted veggie pizza and yesterday I made Starvin Guy Chicken Pie, it's a recipe from Looneyspoons and it is one of my favorites. I have to make a number of modifications to make it gluten free but it still tastes amazing.

The rest of my day is not as exciting as as my last 2 hours, I am off to do a little cleaning up, delivering of resumes to schools (so I can get some subbing work) and a trip to the cell phone store to nicely tell them that they are a bunch on twits (I will try to maintain my composure but sometimes that can be a challenge when dealing with someone who keeps tell you that you must be mistaken your phone works just fine). Then I get to go to Physio and exercise my grouchy thumb. I think that my morning of sunrises, yummy food and blog reading will keep me sane in the midst of a crazy day.

annoyed

I just 45 minutes of the time I had on the internet fighting with the stupid wireless network, now I have to go in 10 minutes and sadly don't really have time for any real news. Life is good, knitting is happening and Rhineback is in 12 days! I'll be back later in the week

A country girl at heart

I was born and raised on the westcoast of Canada, Victoria is a small city but it is a city none the less. It was never very big or exciting but it was not the country. When I was about 11 I had my first real farm experience when we drove to a family reunion in Saskatchewan. My great uncle still lived on the farm that he and my Nana had been raised on. It was a "real farm" with huge wheat fields, chickens and remnants of the old buildings that my great grandfather had built in the early 1900's. I was in love, I thought that maybe I could used to country life. There was something about the quiet, the peacefulness and the remoteness of the country life that was attractive to a little city girl.

So why the heck am I reminiscing about my childhood dreams of farm life... well fast forward 17 years or so and let me tell you about my my great weekend on the "farm". A friend of mine has a farm outside of the city and last weekend I got hear wolves calling in to each other in the wee hours of morning, saw deer grazing in the field outside the window and mowed the biggest lawn I have ever seen. I know that mowing the lawn is a chore that most people despise but when you get mow a lawn big enough that you do it on a ride-on-lawn-mower it completely changes the experience. Here is little old me, barely tall enough to reach the gas pedal on the mower, burning around on the yard having the time of my life. I was marveling at nature, the great weather and the joy of being in a space so large that if I hollered no one would hear me. I remembered as I was mowing that when I was little I thought country life would be great. It is great and after being in cities with millions of people the space of a farm is even more exciting

In retrospect I wish I had a taken a photo of me on that little red lawn mower so I could share it with you... maybe next time.

Not much to share on the knitting front, just pluggin along but Rhineback is in 15 days ( not that I am counting or anything)

secret pal 6

I have been meaning to get to this, things have been busy.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high- a nd/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I like just about anything but do tend to buy cotton based fibers unless I am planning on felting it. I have found some amzing stuff in my travels and am really fond of fibers I can't usually afford!
2. Do you spin? Crochet? Nope
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) I am not a huge fan of perfume and am allergic to smoke
4. How long have you been knitting?I I relearned about 3 years ago
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No, sorry
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Vanilla
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes, I love chocolate especially mint chocolate
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I scrapbook, cross stich a little and like beading
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like lots of different things, Indigo Girls, Spirit of the West, Jann Arden, most canadian groups in general.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? I am big fan of red and puple but not usually together, I also enjoy blues, especially indigo
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I have a dog named Tai who I brought back with me from Taipei
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) To see the world, I am on my way but there is still a long way to go.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Anything soft, the softer the better
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I don't know, anything that feels like plastic
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Quick projects that are portable so I can knit while I communte into the city.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Anything I can felt.
17. What are you knitting right now? A baby blanket and soon to be started a scarf and little socks
18. What do you think about ponchos? I wore them when I was a kid, I am not sure if I want to wear one again
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Circular
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? plastic or bamboo - the dog enjoys the bamboo ones though.
21. Are you a sock knitter? I would like to be
22. How did you learn to knit? My grandmother as a chid and then my sister and mom for a refresher course.
23. How old is your oldest UFO? 2 years, a blanket that I started for niece and never finished all the squares for.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? monkey's and pandas
25. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
26. Is there anything that you collect? No not really, but I do like magnets
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None
28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? hmmm sadly I have not had to much time to look lately, I am sure there are but I could not tell you what they are off the top pf my head.
29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another? Anything and everything Harry Potter
30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like? I like all socks, I have those average size feet, 8

Busy

Busy week here in my world... but it's all good stuff. I am going to SnB here in Ottawa tonight and I must say that I am looking forward to it. Having people to knit with is always good and it means that I will get some rows done on something that I am working on. I will let you know how it goes. Filling you in on the rest of week would probably bore you to tears so I won't bother. The only exciting thing I did was book rooms so that when we make it to Rhineback we will have somewhere to rest our heads. I am off to deal with some piles of stuff that I still have not unpacked from Taipei, I am the queen of procrastination.

I know that I still have to post the SP6 questionnaire, I promise today or tomorrow.

guess what

Here are the photos I have been promising. My last box of stuff arrived from Taipei yesterday, inside was Tai's favorite hippo. She carried it around all evening and then settled on her bed with it. It was very cute

Current knitting, a baby blanket, yes another one event hough I said was never doing it again. This one is in Lopi and I am going to felt it. It has moss stitch edges and I think when I finally get it down it will felt well. The pattern that I am using said to use Noro... I decided against using my precious Noro for a baby blanket

The next 2 projects that I was hoping to have on the needles by now... an eyelet scarf in purple bamboo from Alchemy for my secret pal and for me footlet slippers in Stampato Merino, it's so soft. I am looking forward to getting these going

Finally the treats from Kristin, yipee. A great bag that she made and some wool from one of her trips this summer. Thanks again Kristin.

SP6 - I will get my answers posted soon, I promise.
after some planning and juggling I'm planning on coming to Rhineback, yipee!

Happiness is...

I stole this post idea from Kristin - who sent me an amazing package of treats that I have still not posted a photo of, sorry - I think it is a great way to post a little reflection on being home.

- Waking up to birds, crickets and morning dew on the grass in the backyard instead of the screeching of horns and the sound of people yelling at each other.
- Long leisurely walks in grassy fields with Tai off her leash ( until the hawks started hunting that is, then she was attached to the leash) and not having to worry about anything running her over.
- Gluten free bread from the grocery store, saves time and tastes better than mine does.
- Becoming settled in my life back in Canada and seeing friends I have not seen 18 months or longer.
- Unpacking and finding clothes in boxes that I forgot I had, it's like Christmas.
- Putting out the word that I am looking for local knitters and finding out that there are some out there, even ones with blogs!
- Public bathrooms that are clean, have soap, hot water and paper towels - in Asia it is always hit and miss, you might get one or two of the 4 elements but never all of them in the same place.
- Being able to stop and ask the first person I see for directions - instead of trying to find someone who might speak English and know what it is that I am talking about.
- Busses that have seats available when you get on.
- Chips and dip, when I want them in normal flavors like plain, instead of seafood, cucumber, lobster or American (which were sweet and salty)
- Freshly picked fall apples, and the thought of Thanksgiving and Halloween just around the corner.
- Cool mornings, warm days and cool evenings, knowing that snow is just around the corner.
- Food that I can eat in restaurants.
- Not having to calculate the time difference every time I want to phone someone.
- Only having to think in one currency.

As you can see I have renamed my blog as well, because the adventure is over but so is the withdrawal. It's "After Asia" in so many ways, my time abroad changed the way that I look at the world and the way that I see things. Sometimes I feel as though I lived a whole life in the time that I was gone. I do miss Asia, sometimes a lot, I miss the excitement and the adventure of all the new things I saw. Yet I'm happy I decided to come home. Great things happen when you least expect them and my Asian adventure was not something I ever expected to occur and then it was fantastic ... there is something to be said for living in the moment and making the most of it.

Shhhh don't tell on me but I have been knitting - details later this week with the photo of my treats from Kristin.

The real world

I am heading back into the real world today.... the day after Labor day is the 1st day of school here in Ontario. Mothers are jumping for joy and teachers are drinking lots of coffee to make it through day one. I am sitting at home. I have mixed feelings about my lack of work but hopefully something will come and if not I will get lots of sub work.

I had a great weekend at the cottage and even managed to get in a swim on Sunday. The lake was not as cold as I thought it would be and after throwing someone else off the dock and running for my life I decided to get my suit and head in myself. It was great to be swimming in September in a lake in the Quebec mountains, going to the cottage is something I could get used to.

I hope the mothers out there are enjoying the first day of school and if any teachers need a coffee delivery let me know.

BTW - if anyone reads any Ottawa knitting blogs let me know, I have looked a little and haven't really found any but I know that there are some out there somewhere. I'm looking for some local knitters...

Thanks

Just a quick note, I am off to the cottage for the long weekend. I just wanted to say thanks to Kristin, she sent me some wool from Maine and bag. I will post a photo when I am back next week. Happy Labor Day - if your a Canadian that is.

No thank you

Well I appreciate that the physio thinks that knitting is not the best thing for my hand at this point but it is feeling so much better. I think that doing a little here and there really isn't so bad. She is not a knitter and I knit continental, it's my left hand that does all the work not my right one and I think that working on hat/scarf/blanket/bag (pick your project) really is not so bad.... shhh if you don't tell her I won't.

My hand really is much better than it was a few weeks ago, the exercises have helped a great deal. Today I am looking forward to an exciting morning of dropping onto schools to get on there supply lists so that I can hopefully have some income in my life once again. I got an email from a friend at the school in Taipei and it made me wonder what would be different if I stayed another year. I don't regret my decision to come home, but I do wonder how life would be if I was still there.

Oh my look at the time, I have to go...