Blithering Knitiot

Snow Day

'Nuff said....

December

Hi All!  It's been a while, hasn't it?  LOL.  Things here in Pauly World have been scary-busy this month.  High School concert last week, elementary concerts this week, high school musical auditions after school today, tomorrow and Thursday, and I still haven't done much Christmas shopping.  I'm thinking that Christmas packages to go in the mail will shortly be "New Year's Packages".  Christmas with the family in Pa. is this Saturday, so I guess major Christmas shopping is going to happen Friday night.  Oy...  I don't know how I do this, but this is typical for me in December.  I may get Christmas cards out before the end of the week.  We'll see...

Oh, and I'm starting a new little adventure in January (like I don't have enough to do with musical rehearsals or anything).  I applied for an adjunct professorship at a local Jr. college to run a college/community chorus - and I GOT THE JOB!!!!  I will need to do some recruiting, both internally with the school, and outside to the local communities.  I have no idea what I'm going to get handed student-wise with numbers and talent, but we'll hit the ground running and make some sounds.  Basically. I get to build the program and take it anywhere i want to.  It's not a music school, so this, like the other ensembles, are extra-curricular, and we get what we get.  Adding community members who sing will be a big help musically.  It starts near the end of January, so I have lots of work to do picking out music and writing a syllabus.  I think it's gonna be a lot of work, but also the little challenge I need to get out of my little rut.

Like everyone else in the northeast, we've had a little snow.  These are a couple of views from my apartment from Sunday:

Have a great day!!

Frost...

I did a little swatching with some Noro Blossom that I picked up in New Haven last weekend.  I think it's telling me it wants to be a bias knit scarf.  Film at 11:00...  ;-)

Home...

..from a little weekend jaunt to New Haven, Ct. with my soap-making friend Maggie and her puppy, Atticus Finch - seeing friends, meeting new people, food and shopping (I did score a couple of skeins of Noro Blossom in a terrific red colorway) and LOTS of rain (which did not dampen our spirits one bit as we walked from store to store in the wind and wetness).  It was a very good weekend in spite of the weather, and has done MUCH to brighten my spirits.  I'm thinking that little trips to New Haven are definitely in the future for me.

Atticus Finch is a terrific little puppy of three months, and spent the day wandering around New Haven either walking on his leash or being carried around in a large handbag, which didn't seem to bother him one bit.  He rode very well in the car, and seemed to be very comfortable wherever he ended up, which for much of the time was behind my head stretched out across my shoulders...

Yes, that is his head and little nose resting between my head and the head rest.  Good thing he only weighs 7 pounds.  He seemed to be quite happy there, and crawled up there every chance he got.

Update: Sorry I left this out, but Atticus is a Lhaso Apso/Schnauzer mix. And yes, adorable as all get out!!   He's a great little guy.

I hope you all had a great weekend...

Saturday Sky

It's a cool, crisp autumn day here.  Finally Fall!

I finished the Rhinebeck Scarf.  The week has been cloudy and rainy, so since today we have some sun I got a couple of pics of the finished scarf:

The colors are a little washed out in these pics.  The colors are closer to this:

I will be wearing this scarf at Rhinebeck next weekend, so look for it if you are playing Blogger Bingo!  Have a great weekend!

The Weekend

This weekend was the start of a vacation from school.  A gathering of several of my brothers, my Mom and I happened Saturday night to see a concert at the Scranton Cultural Center.  The program was a Tribute to Benny Goodman, performed by Canadian musician Bob DeAngelis.  What made this event special is that Bob is the brother-in-law of my oldest brother, John and his wife Lenore (Lenore's sister Joni is married to Bob, and is his manager).  Phenominal musician!  We all went out for drinks after the concert, and had a great time together.  I'm very lucky that my family does get along and we have a lot of fun when we're together.  I've not seen Bob and Joni since my brother's wedding 19 years ago, so it was really wonderful to get to spend time with them.  Awesome people!!  Friends of John and Lenore from Pittsburgh also joined us, and there was LOTS of laughing and silliness.  Again, I'm very thankful for good friends and family.  Most of us then gathered Sunday for breakfast before everyone had to go their seperate ways for the start of a new week.

Sunday evening brought lots of snow - wet, heavy snow.  About 8" of the stuff.  Sometime during the night we lost power, phone and cable services.  Walking Lizzie this morning looked like this:

And now that the power is on, cable and phone are working normally, the news of the tragedy at Virginia Tech is all over the news.  May we keep the families and friends of those killed and wounded in our prayers.

Happy Valentines Day

Good morning!  Where to start....  Well, yesterday I did take a much needed "mental health day".  I slept til 8:00, walked the baby, had a large pot of coffee and got lots of stuff done around the house.  I had an eye appointment in the afternoon, and I decided to go back to contact lenses (I ripped a contact in half two summers ago, and as I'm inclined to not being great at doing things for or taking care of myself, I started wearing my old glasses again and never had the contact replaced).  Along with the new contacts, I also needed to get a pair of magnifying glasses for reading and knitting (It seems that focusing on things close up has become a little bit of a problem as of late...).  I liked this option more than bi-focals.  And I missed my contacts - especially when it's really sunny and I can't wear sunglasses, or when it rains and my glasses get covered with little drops of rain and then I can't see.  So, I have the contacts in for the first time in almost 2 years, and they're really comfortable.  And I did get a pair of magnifiers at Walmart yesterday.  And since today is Valentine's Day, I also picked up a dozen peach colored roses for myself while I was there.   

And today we have snow.  Lots of it.  About 12 inches this morning when I got up to walk Lizzie (after getting up at 5am, and seeing that school was canceled for today and going back to bed.  YAY!!!!  ANOTHER DAY HOME!!!!!).  It's still snowing, and they're calling for over 2 feet by the time it stops later this evening.  I decided to take a couple of pics this morning from my bedroom window:

The house across the street:

Looking North (and yes, Dave, the little red house has sold):

What I call the "Currier & Ives House" across the street, cause it reminds me of their prints:

And looking south:

And it's still snowing...  And I'm still sipping coffee...  And I'm still in my jammies...  And I really should get a little knitting done this afternoon.  We'll see after I've taken my afternoon nap...  LOL!  Have a great day!

UPDATE!  6:40pm - I just got a phone call from a colleague - NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!   Imma gonna sleep in AGAIN!!!!!!   Sometimes life IS good....  Have a great night!  *muahhhh*   hehehehe...

After rain

Mostly cold today.  We had sun for most of the morning, then the afternoon got very cloudy and we had periods of rain.  Our high school hosted a regional cross country invitational, so I volunteered to help tabulate scores, which was really fun.  Then it was home to warm up and do a little knitting and getting caught up with the Eastenders.  Dontcha just love British tv?

Monday Morning

So, after having a nice weekend, attending a gathering of friends way out in the country on Satuday, an open house to celebrate a new home for an administrator I work with on Sunday, I wake up this morning to a raging headache and sore throat.  Yuck.  So, I guess today is laying low, swatching some Brooks Farm "4 Play" to figure out what the next project may be, and probably getting the guestroom ready for Sprite's visit later in the month.  It's a small-ish room, so it shouldn't take too long, or too much exersion on my part.  Then swatching a bit more and napping.  That's pretty much my Columbus day.  No big deal.  No big whoop... 

This was the view from my kitchen window this morning after walking Lizzie.  Enjoy!

Have a great Columbus Day!

P.S.  In New York, Columbus Day is a holiday, so just so you know, I'm not playing hooky.  School is closed for today!

Some more...

Here are a couple of more shots I took today:

The temps were in the 70's today.  Yeah, it's kinda pretty out here in the sticks...