See? I told you the leaves were starting to turn already. Although, thanks to Maryse and NPR at least I know I’m not old.

I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer so I’ll be making the most of this long Labor Day weekend. Hope you do, too.

Some of you are pretty clever. You saw my ad selling my Hitchhiker Wheel on the Spin Sales list a day after you saw Adrian’s ad selling her Kromski Polonaise and you put two-and-two-together and came up with four. And your math was correct. Bye-bye Hot Lips and Hello Pollyanna.

For those of you who like the details, you can read about her particulars here.

Isn’t she lovely? The finish is walnut and she came with a matching stool, too.

She spins like a dream and, while I can’t imagine loving any wheel more than I love my Reeves, I think Pollyanna is going to give Rosie a run for her money.

Of course, I didn’t need another wheel, but I just couldn’t resist this one. And, let’s just say that Adrian made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. She’d make a good godfather, that Adrian.

Can I milk another blog post out of my weekend? Of course I can, because the other thing I did over the weekend (Thursday night is the weekend, right?) was go to the Marshfield Fair.

We all just love the Marshfield Fair because there’s something for everyone.

There are giant pumpkins. That’s Hannah and her friend, Gianna, posing so graciously.

And crazy vegetable creations. This corn and cucumber canoe was really clever. Aren’t the asparagus oars the coolest?

There’s a demolition derby and that’s my favorite part of the fair. Well, that and the beer, but they sort of go hand in hand, don’t you think?

There are model trains. I think Dale would still be standing there watching the train go ’round if I hadn’t enticed him away with promises of more beer.

There are even things for my blog friends.

Swine for Ann.

And an AssWatch of a different sort for Dave.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you the one other teensytinylittle thing I did last weekend.

Back to school preparations continued on Saturday with the dreaded back-to-school clothes shopping trip. However, thanks to Dave, it wasn’t as bad this year. You see, Dave emailed me Saturday morning to ask what I was up to for the day. I told him I had to take Hannah shopping for school clothes and he said, “Can’t you just give her $50 and drop her off at the mall?”

The $50 is a pipe dream and dropping her off at the mall isn’t very practical since it takes 30 minutes to get to the mall from my house but I was inspired to try something new based on Dave’s suggestion. I gave Hannah $100 and told her I was going to sit and knit on one of the couches in the center of the mall while she did her shopping. I gave her some basic guidelines and said if she bought anything inappropriate then it would be returned and she wouldn’t be allowed to choose a replacement but that if she chose wisely and bought good things then I would reward her.

So I sat outside Charlotte Russe and American Eagle and worked on my Monkeys. Hannah shopped long enough for me to get to the toe decreases and when she came back she had bought a pair of jeans, 3 shirts, and a bracelet. Everything was appropriate and I rewarded her by taking her back into one of the stores and buying her two more pairs of jeans.

So, where does that leave us?

Haircut? Check!
Shoes? Check!
Clothes? Check!
Monkey socks? Check!

I’d knit these again in a heart beat and now I understand the love of this pattern.

For those wondering, the yarn is Yarn Love Juliet in the colorway Belle from where else but The Loopy Ewe. It’s a great match for the pattern and I’m very pleased with these socks. They are for me, of course.

After all that back to school prep, I think I deserve a reward.

On Friday I took Hannah for her back to school haircut. Truthfully, she didn’t come out looking all that different than when she went in, but she’s happy and in the life of a teenager that’s a very big deal. So while I sat and waited for her, I was knitting. And I overheard this conversation between one of the other hairdressers and her client.

Client: Look at my daughter’s black eye! The Harry Potter book fell of her bookshelf in the night and hit her in the face.
Hairdresser: Oh my goodness. Looks like Hermione is coming to get you, sweetie. (she hums the Twilight Zone theme at this point.) She wants to take you to Hogwarts with her, I bet.
Client: You know, one of my friends visited Hogwarts.
Hairdresser: It’s a real place?
Client: Oh yes! The name is different but it’s a castle just like in the books and they teach magic to young witches and wizards.
Hairdresser: I had no idea. Well, my brother actually has copies of all of the Harry Potter books from the 1960s when J.K. Rowling originally wrote them.
Client: Really?!?
Hairdresser: Oh yes! They aren’t in book form like we see them now, they are, what’s that word? Manuscripts! Yes, manuscripts. He has manuscripts of all seven books from the 60s.
Client: Wow. That’s really amazing.

Ummmm. You can imagine the difficulty I had keeping my mouth shut. Hogwarts is a real place? The hoopla over Bridges of Madison County being “real” was bad enough. Now people are claiming that Hogwarts is real? Oy. Copies of the books from the 60s? J.K. Rowling was born in 1965. Is she supposed to have written the books when she was a toddler?

How stupid can people be? Discuss.

When I picked up our CSA share this week I was told I could pick all the zinnias I wanted. They were so beautiful and I felt like I was being a zinnia hog so I stopped at one bouquet. But now I wish I had picked more!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Presenting: Eye Candy Friday – The Thursday Edition. Because, truly, I have nothing for today. Besides, if Kristi can do ECF early then so can I.

I took this photo last week at the Cape. At the beginning of our week we vowed to take a walk every night but between a bit of rain or a bit of company we didn’t actually do it every night. The nights we did were wonderful, though.

Time for a new edition of Things That Make Me Go Hmmm, kids.

~I am very sorry to have missed the Fiber Revival. I’m also sorry to have missed an afternoon in Boston with Dave, Sandy and Norma. Could you all please remember that I go on vacation the second week in August and not plan anything fun while I’m away? Thank you.

~I am participating in Dish Rag Tag and my team’s name is Rag Racin’. As Team Captain, I got the box first. I knit a dish rag that night and mailed the box off to the next team member in the morning. Right now we’re about half way through the race and most of the teams seem to be in about the same spot in the relay. Wish us luck as we race to dish rag glory!

~Dale’s routine colonoscopy screening was yesterday. Everything is A-OK and he doesn’t have to go back for another one for 7-10 years. This is a good thing since colonoscopy prep in a one bathroom house is rather challenging. Ahem.

~There is still time to sponsor me in the 2007 Massachusetts Race for the Cure. Several of you have already donated and I thank you – I’m halfway to my goal! And I know there are a lot of worthy causes out there, including Norma’s Red Scarf Fund and Cara’s Spin Out fund raiser for Heifer International. Nevertheless, if you can spare a few dollars, my teammates and I would greatly appreciate it. You can click on the button in the sidebar to make a donation. Thanks.

~I started Weight Watchers online again. This may or may not be directly related to my commitment to the Race for the Cure. Heh. Anyway, I lost 5 lbs before vacation and didn’t gain any while on vacation – something I consider to be a huge accomplishment. I’m taking it one day at a time and so far, so good.

~There are many trees in my area that are already starting to display their fall colors. Ummm. It’s August. WTF?

~Tonight will be the first Wednesday night quilt night since Debbie’s death. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends but I’m dreading it all at the same time. Think of us, okay?

In my world, vacation knitting is all about the socks.

So, even though I cast on for a Baby Surprise Jacket at the beginning of the week I quickly abandoned that project for socks.

I got my groove on with plain stockinette in Claudia’s Handpaint. These were great for martini drinking, chatting, and knitting.

And I monkeyed around a bit, too. These saw the most attention in the morning while everyone else was sleeping.

But, that’s not all. I finished two! yes, two! pairs of socks.

My old standby, feather and fan. The yarn is Cider Moon “Icicle” in the color Sweet Potato Pie. I love this yarn so much. It’s squishy and soft and the colors are fabulous.

And a pair of Charade socks, too. The yarn for these was a gift from Hillary and it, too, is wonderful but I don’t think it’s available online.

I still love summer the best and I don’t want to see it end, but at least when the fall arrives I’ll have some new socks to wear.

Our vacation on Cape Cod was wonderful. We spent our days at the beach and our nights on the deck of our rental house. We relaxed and laughed and truly enjoyed being together as a family. It was just what I needed.

Please indulge me as a share a few of my favorite photos of our week.

The beach. I love the surf and the sand and the sun. I love packing a lunch and spending the day just hanging out, swimming, body surfing, and soaking up the rays.

Hannah loves it, too. So long as she has her cell phone and her iPod.

Of course, getting to the beach with 5 people, 2 boogie boards, 4 beach chairs, 3 beach bags, and a float – all in a Jeep – can be tricky. But we managed.

When we weren’t at the beach we were hanging out on the deck. Doing a little drinking. That’s my martini that Jessica is holding. It’s the closest I got to any photo. Heh.

And for Dale, a little pipe smoking.

Truly, it was a really wonderful week. Even the traffic on the ride home was okay. Yes, my friends, that’s okay traffic. You don’t want to know what bad Cape Cod traffic looks like!

Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you my vacation knitting.