Tangled Threads and Seaweed

Cascading Leaves Socks

Here's my latest sock project:

The pattern is called "Cascading Leaves" and is by Jeannie Townsend. (link is to her Yahoo Group, which you must belong to if you want her patterns)

I love this pattern! It is SO easy to knit. I wish I'd carried the leaf pattern down the top of the foot though - it would not have been such a tight fit. I'm getting an incredible 9-10 stitches per inch for gauge - I could have used size 2 needles instead of size 1.5 needles. I'm loosening up my tension a bit for the rest of the sock foot, and will relax a little on the 2nd sock! I will definitely knit this pattern again - its a fun one to knit!

Here's a glimpse of what's going on in my garden this spring -

Isn't the clematis beautiful? It was just planted last year and I'm glad to see it bursting forth!

Not a great shot of this - one of my favorite tangerine orange irises. These iris are huge - almost as big as a grapefruit. And they are really an electric orange color.

This is Arizona - the open blooms are huge and bright orangy-pink. All of my roses are going crazy with blooms this year.

I don't have to see my oncologist until the end of September, which will be the 1 year checkup. At that time, I'll go off the thyroid medicine and have a body scan in November. YAY!

A Post Without A Title

I got word today that I'll have the diagnostic body scan next Tuesday (13th).  They use a different radioactive isotope than what they'll do the treatment with; it has a much shorter half-life and will be out of my body in a matter of hours.  The reason they do this is to identify how much thyroid tissue is still in my body, theoretically to determine how much radioactive iodine to use in the treatment.  They really have already decided to use a big dose, similar to carpet bombing (LOL) but they have to do the body scan first.  And I'll be having annual body scans for the next few years, so... anyway. At least we're doing something, finally. 

Here's my "scrappy mountain majesties" quilt top:

I need to find some border fabric.  There is obviously potential for this to be a seam-matching nightmare; if you make one of these, follow the pressing instructions and PIN the rows on every seam.

And on November 8, Joe's birthday (he's 52 today!) here is one of the roses on a bush I planted this year:

Its a climber called "Crimson Sky".  I planted two of them next to the sewing barn.  *smile*  Roses in November!!!

It Was a Wonderful Wedding

Kevin and Tara's wedding on 8/18 was absolutely perfect.  The weather was sunny, the church and reception hall decorated beautifully, and a good crowd in attendance.  The kids were obviously on cloud 9, enjoying every minute of their special day.

For some pics, go to www.lissaanglin.com and click on her blog, then scroll down to the entry for kevin+tara.  You'll see - this gal takes some AWESOME pictures. 

The kids didn't get to go to Jamaica for their honeymoon - thanks to Hurricane Dean - but they decided to drive back to Alaska instead.  They took their little dog Bella, and headed north on Monday morning (the 20th) and were in Anchorage Saturday evening (the 25th).  It took several long days of driving but they were so glad to be home. Tara doesn't start work till the 10th of September so she's been busy unpacking things and setting up the house the way she wants it.  They have a lovely park across the street from their home and they've had fun taking little Bella over there to run and play.

They will get to take their Jamaica trip later on - in October - so its kind of like getting 2 honeymoons! We're going to fly up to Anchorage on Sept. 14th to visit for a week or so (coming home the 22nd) and I can't wait to see them. I already miss them.  Kevin calls every day when he's heading home from work at 5:30 (which is 8:30 in our time zone), which is great, but its not like being there in person.  :)

Joe continues to struggle with depression, though the Cymbalta does help.  Thankfully, it also seems to be easing the physical pain from his back injury (pain relief is a known side effect of this drug).  I think I've spent most of the summer sitting with him and talking, holding his hand, trying to comfort and console him.  We've spent many, many evenings sitting in our back yard, talking and reading, crying and hugging.  All I can do is encourage him that the next day will be better, and hope that it is. The therapist he is seeing is helping him learn to cope with the feelings he's been holding in for so long. (the "I'm a tough guy" attitude that makes men suppress their emotions) Even though its mentally exhausting to go through this every day, I am so grateful that he is finally getting help.  He's starting to be more thoughtful, and is making the effort to tell me (and Kevin, and Tara, and his friends) that he loves and appreciates us, often on a daily basis. 

Yesterday he had a dr. appt. and when he came home, he brought me an inexpensive little book about identifying caterpillars and butterflies.  It was so unexpected and sweet... he was not happy about all those little cats eating our sunflowers and other plants this year, but I was fascinated with them.  I had learned that they would be butterflies, and I really enjoyed watching them decimate our flowerbeds and then come back to feed and lay new eggs to start the cycle over again.  I enjoyed this so much that I want to plant more "host" plants for the butterflies next year.  When we've gone out in the yard over the past few days, we disturb a flock of birds that are eating seeds from the dried sunflower heads, so I guess its about time to cut them down.

Last Friday I went for my annual checkup.  My doctor found a "mass" in the left side of my neck, and sent me immediately to the hospital for a sonogram.  Tuesday I had a CT of my head and chest.  I have an appointment next Wednesday (the 5th of Sept.) with a surgeon who is an oncologist.  The scans all suggest its a benign tumor, since there are no other suspicious areas.  Its not on my thyroid, and its not in the muscle, but it is pressing on the jugular vein; I don't have any symptoms of any kind of disease.  It looks like a wholly-contained blob on the scans, kind of like an egg or a hunk of putty or something. At least it isn't an octopus-like tumor with tangled roots - that would be hard to get out.  I hope they will schedule a day-surgery to get it removed pretty soon, before I go to Alaska, or maybe it can wait till after the 24th when I'm back home. 

The hardest thing about this is trying to keep it from bothering me, because Joe is so upset about this, as if he needs something to worry about.  I've told him it doesn't help to worry, because we won't know what it is until the pathology is done, and he has no control over that.  In fact, I didn't really want to even discuss it with anyone except my immediate co-workers in my group and with my sister.  I think he must have talked about it with everyone he knows over the past few days, because people keep asking me "how are you?" in that funny way, and I'm like, "fine, I think"...  so I decided I better tell Kevin in case he heard it through the grapevine.  This is a small town... I would have rather not talked about it until the surgical consultation was done, but the cat's out of the bag now.  So, hopefully everything will turn out to be ok.  I know that whatever it is, we will just deal with it and that's all we can do.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can get some time to sew.  Its selfish of me to think that when my husband is so needy, but I need my space sometimes to de-stress.  I hope it will come someday soon, even though I don't have a creative thought in my head, and haven't for at least a couple of months. Its funny how people say they can't wait for life to get back to normal, but we don't really know what normal is anymore.  :) 

A Word from my Garden

In the summer time, sewing takes a backseat to gardening at Chez Seaweed.  I still sew, but I play in the yard a whole lot more often.  Gotta pull weeds!  Gotta water the seedlings! Gotta take a break and have a beer!  :) 

  this picture of part of my "pot ghetto" was taken about a month ago. Everything is growing so well - you can't see some of the pots anymore.  I have several of the "pot fairies" that I move around from place to place.  Here's a pic from last winter -

  funny how much things change, isn't it?  I think she likes summer time better.

  This is "Barcelona" - a very fragrant red rose.  Not a fabulous pic, but it was slightly breezy when I was trying to take it.  Look at the number of petals!

  This rose is called "Freedom's Ring" and is very hard to find now.  I think I ordered it through a Good Housekeeping or Better Homes & Gardens magazine offer, at least 10 years ago.  I think its supposed to be more of a red & white, but this ol' gal lives in a shady bed and I think that's why she's pink.  This one blooms its fool head off. 

  Another picture from the pot ghetto - see the tomatoes?  And the salvia and petunias are going gangbusters.  They love the heat and are easy to grow. 

We went to the airshow in OKC a couple weeks ago.  It was at Tinker AFB (y'all, that place is HUGE).  We saw some fantastic planes, and some really weird ones too.  Check out this one - its called the Guppie - its a transport plane that breaks open behind the cockpit.

   

And here's one of Mr. Scooba -

 

Tara's first bridal shower was last weekend.  Her church hosted the party - the decor was shabby chic.  It was precious! There was an old window frame with pictures of Kevin & Tara when they were little kids, and several old frames with b/w pics of the parents' and grandparents' wedding pics in them on various tables.  There were peach and white roses in bowls on each table for centerpieces, and pretty things like strings of pearls and white ladies' gloves on the tables too.  It was really sweet.

Tara in the brown dress, with bridesmaids.

  with her fat ol' M-I-L.

  with her grandmother & mom.

  presents!

She got lots of great stuff - a crockpot, a toaster, a mixer, mixing bowls, bakeware, a pizza stone, kitchen utensils, a lamp, candles, sheets, an electric blanket, bathtowels, some lingerie, kitchen towels, mattress pad, and her bedspread.  (she's chosen black & white for the master bed and bath) She probably got more things that I can't remember now.  It was a nice shower.  She has already shipped most of the stuff to Alaska. 

Oh! She also has a job! On September 1st she starts working at Providence Hospital in Anchorage, as a RN in the cardiac unit.  She got a daylight schedule with one weekend per month.  And, she got a super signing bonus/relocation package, so she's planning to ship her car up there.  That could still change, since they are discussing the merits of buying a second set of wheels/snow tires for her car, at a tune of $1500-$2000.  The car is 6 years old and is worth about $4000-5000 so there's some debate about buying a 2nd vehicle up there, such as an older 4WD pickup for Kevin to drive so Tara can have the Tahoe. I guess we'll see what happens...

I will have to stop for now. I've got lots to do (as always) and must get back to work.  Love and hugs to everyone!

Another day, another dollar

So, things are more or less back on an even keel at Chez Seaweed. Right now, the nice weather is winning and Mr. Scooba is spending lots of time outside piddling around in the yard.  He's staying busy trimming stray branches from our overgrown trees, and thinning the overgrowth in his bed of grapevines. He also enjoys dragging the waterhose around to water the plants.

Mother's Day I got four new rosebushes, and we planted those as well as some other miscellaneous patio pots.  He took over the patio pots this year by putting tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and petunias in all of them except my 3 geranium pots.  His petunias are looking leggy and probably would benefit from being pinched back, but he thinks everything is fine as long as it blooms. 

Gardening is good therapy for the blues.  The first summer after our oldest son passed away, we had the most fabulous flower beds around.  We've always grown things, be it a 30'x30' vegetable bed or planting new trees every year.  This year I've got lots of flower seeds coming up in the front beds, and we put in some new clematis and some elephant ears. I realized I have a lot more shady areas than I thought I did - I must have been thinking about how it was years ago before some of those trees got so big! 

I counted 12 rosebushes in my yard this weekend.  The new ones are Outrageous, a peachy Floribunda;  Arizona, a peach colored Grandiflora; Mr. Lincoln, a red hybrid tea; and Oklahoma, a red hybrid tea.  My other ones are another Mr Lincoln, a Baronne Prevost (dark pink), a Barcelona (dark red), 2 unknown reds, a Peppermint Twist, and the wimpy climbers Blaze (red) and Seven Sisters (pink).  My two climbers must be in the wrong place, because they are just "there" - not really even growing despite water, fertilizer, and sweet talking. If there isn't an improvement this season, they'll get moved.

My new washer and dryer were delivered yesterday. Oooh they are BIG. I got Samsung front-loaders with the pedestals underneath so Mr. Scooba can now reach into the laundry without bending.  It is amazing how quiet they are when they are running.  I did three loads last night.  I wonder if they're going to start missing me at the laundromat?  :)

Signs of Life

I live in one of the places in our country that is experiencing spring weather. Gosh, it has been gorgeous this week...  my apricot trees look like they are covered in popcorn.  Here's a couple shots:

And the peach trees aren't very far behind:

I am SO happy to see these buds on the trees, even though I know that we'll probably not get much fruit. Between the birds and the squirrels, we'd have to stand guard 24/7 to protect the crop. 

Monday evening Goofy and Gracie ate a whole bag of Hershey Kisses with Coconut Cream filling.  I knew something was up the minute I walked in the door - Goofy tells on himself by going to stand in the corner by the front door and he won't look at me.  Jeez it made me mad; I had just opened the bag and only had 3 of them before I went out for awhile, and I put it way back on the breakfast bar.  I admit, I didn't even think of the thing about dogs and chocolate until the middle of the night.  See, Goofy was buzzing from the chocolate (the theobromide in the chocolate is a stimulant - and the content is much higher for dark and baker's chocolate). We were up and down all night long - he was hyper.  The next morning they both seemed fine, and ate like normal.  The only other adverse reaction was that Gracie threw up mid afternoon, and there was a significant amount of blue and silver foil in it...  I did call the vet that evening, just for peace of mind, and was reassured that because they weren't even solid chocolate that there was probably nothing to worry about.  (good, because I wasn't really worried anyway)  It just made me mad that good chocolate went to waste.  (probably better than going to my waist, huh?)

I (Heart) Noro!

Y'all remember the Noro color 90 ribbed scarf I'm knitting?  Oh, its luverly... I am so stoked.  I'm halfway thru the 2nd skein and the scarf is about 24" long. My only gripe (and I recently read this on someone else's blog too) is trying to join 2 skeins of yarn and keeping the flow of colors. I did not do so well with skein 2, but I've already done some unwinding and know that #3 will attach without a flaw. Anyway, I know my sis will love it, and if she doesn't I have a lust for it myself.  This is an easy, fun knit.   Y'all know what a 2-ft-long scarf in progress looks like, so no picture for now. 

Its been really hot here lately.  My flowerbed is suffering from the heat, such poor little limp things that they are.  I don't know if I water too much or not enough, but I wait till they're a bit wilted and then soak the soil.  When we go on vacation week-after-next, they'll all probably die anyway.  My roses sure have a lot of ragged leaves.  I think the grasshoppers are having them for a snack - there are perfect circles bitten out of the edges and they look like Swiss cheese.  *sigh*  I don't like to spray them - who needs more chemicals? - so I'll live with them as they are.  Roses do so well around here that I doubt there will be long-term damage.  I still need to find that "perfect" mix of perennials for my flower bed though - I can't seem to keep some of the things I plant.  For instance, I love alyssum, its a great edging flower, but it shrivels up and dies in no time flat.  I've got it in  morning-sun in the front flower bed, right next to dianthus, petunias, and vincas (which aren't doing so well themselves).  On the other hand, I've got bell-flower, snapdragons, columbine, veronica, salvia, and some kind of daisy that are all doing great, along with the afore-mentioned dianthus and petunias.  Herbs (rosemary, thyme, and sage) are also doing very well.  I'm planning to gather seeds from my mom's beds - blue flax, yarrow, tickseed (like a yellow daisy), and allium - to plant next year.  Since they're going to seed right now, I should probably go ahead and get them and scatter in my beds, since this is the natural time of year for them to drop.  I'm also going to transplant her daylilies, iris, and columbine to my house when fall arrives.

I've recently stumbled upon a new knitting magazine from the UK - I believe its called "Simply Knitting".  While it may not appeal to veteran knitters, I think its a great resource for those new to the craft.  Personally, I love it - I'm always thrilled to find it at my local bookstore.  I missed the May issue (#2) but will backorder it;  I just got the June (#3) issue last night. 

Next on the needles will be some baby booties - Kevin's girlfriend's sister is having her first baby (in February - she just found out she's expecting) and I bought a skein of some acrylic baby yarn (so soft!) to practice with.  I may even try a sweater or a kimono style jacket.  I also intend to knit socks before the summer is over.  (I know, I've been saying that for a while now.....)

So, that about covers it for today.  I'm not even going to comment about the crazy world we live in.

Lazy Saturday

I went out early this morning and shot some pics of things blooming and growing in my yard.  Here's our "Prairie Spy" apple tree in bloom.  It is so pretty, you just can't believe it.  This tree usually just bears a handful of fruit - maybe 12 apples - but I like it anyway.  I'll put more pics of the apple tree blossoms (and other stuff) in a photo album. 

I also love this picture of our honeysuckle:  This is in the corner of our front yard.  I  have a wishing well sitting near it, which I plan to get flowers planted in next weekend.  Gardening is still kind-of difficult with my knee problems, but I still intend to put out some flowers.  I have a paver-stone patio off my front porch that I keep potted flowers (geraniums, miniature roses, petunias, moss-rose, etc.) on, but its definitely in the "before" stage right now!  I've also got roses with a ton of new growth and my peonies are up about 10" so maybe I'll have flowers for Mother's Day.

Here's one of my new roses from last summer.  It's called "Seven Sisters" and is a pink climbing rose.  (seven sisters is the name of an old quilt pattern)  There is a clematis planted to the left of the rose, and some columbine in front of it.  This is in a very protected area of my front flowerbed, just off my front porch.  It gets some morning sun, and is shaded from about 2:00 pm thru the rest of the day.  I hope the rose and clematis grow so much this year that I'll have to put in a bigger trellis!  I'd love for these to climb up to my porch roof.  I'd also love to be able to remember what color the clematis and the columbine are - I had a plan, but I've forgotten the specifics.  All of the flowers in the bed were pink, purple, blue, and white last year... and I don't remember which are perennials that will be coming back.  *sigh*  I'm kinda half-assed like that. 

I got a real surprise in the mail yesterday.  One of my quilting friends from Florida mailed me a little quilt made by my dear friend Judy, who passed away last September.  There were a group of us that had a retreat in Florida in March 2004.  One of the girls taught a class called "Petite Topiary" using the fusible grid to lay out the body of the quilt "picture".  I was making one, but Judy hadn't signed up for it, so I convinced her to do it.  She chose a red kit (mine was autumn) and we sat together working on this for one afternoon.  It was so much fun, and she was really proud of the little top when it was sewn and borders added to it.  After she died, several of the Florida girls got her sewing fabrics and projects and began finishing them up to give to her quilting friends.  This was the piece they sent me, because they knew I'd have fond memories of making this project with Judy.  Isn't that sweet?  I got weepy when I opened it, because I had no idea they were finishing her projects, much less that I'd get something to remember her by.  (specs: its about 18" square - give or take - and is machine quilted in gold metallic thread in a cross-hatch pattern)

I've also got some new pics of the dogs.  Here's Goofy.  He's starting to look a bit ratty - he needs to get a haircut in the next week or so.  He is as goofy as he looks.  Its difficult to get a good picture of Gracie.  She is very shy and turns her head at the last second.  If you do catch her looking at the camera, she has that weird yellow-eye thing happening that makes her look possessed by the devil.  I've tried the red-eye adjustment in the photo editing software, but it doesn't do much good removing that "evil glow".   

I believe I will take an afternoon nap now - they don't know its Saturday, and they got me up at 6:30 am.  As a matter of fact, they are a pain in the butt sometimes, but I love 'em anyway!

I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better.    George Bird Evans