I’m still feeling kind of random so I stole this idea from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe.

Three things I’m happy about:

1. Family Day at Hannah’s college is Saturday. Dale and I, along with Jessica and Patrick, are going for the day. Can’t wait to see my girl and show Jess and Patrick around Hannah’s school.
2. The return of Grey’s Anatomy. It was a long summer without my favorite show and I’m so glad it’s back.
3. I’m cooking a turkey on Sunday. I love the smell of roasting turkey and I love gathering family around the table and I love that it will create leftovers for the week ahead.

Three things I’m concerned about:

1. Someone is talking about me behind my back. It’s work related and I hate it.
2. Finding time to plant the big ass order of bulbs that came on Tuesday. I’m always way more enthusiastic when I order them in the spring than I am when I hate to plant them in the fall.
3. I haven’t touched my spinning wheels in months. I am hoping that the cooler weather will inspire me to start spinning again.

Three things I love about the fall:

1. The gorgeous color of the leaves.
2. No humidity! I love summer and heat but I’m definitely not crazy about the humidity. I love the warm and dry days of early fall.
3. Apple pie. This goes with the third thing up there – roast turkey and all the fixing with apple pie for dessert. Now that’s what I love about fall!

Got three things to share?

It’s Wednesday and I’m a little scattered and without a good cohesive post so let’s be random!

• This Friday is October 1st. That means it’s time for Socktoberfest. It also means it’s time for a new pair of Through The Loops Mystery Socks. I’ve knit these the last 2 years and really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to it again this year and think I may even use a skein of the coveted Wollmeise to knit these socks.

• Speaking of Through the Loops, that Que Sera is just about killing me. It’s not a reflection on the pattern or the design, it’s definitely me but man alive I am sick of this thing. Just to add insult to injury I have had to reknit the sleeves because, of course, I screwed up on sleeve #1 but didn’t realize it until I started working sleeve #2. I am so sick of this sweater and want to be done done done.

• Part of the reason I’m so anxious to be done with this sweater is because I want to knit mittens. Specifically, the mittens in The Red Collection. There are the Drifty Mittens and the Ziggity Mittens and the Radio Frequency Mittens and I want to knit them all!

• I’ve been watching Dancing with the Stars. I wasn’t going to get sucked back in but I did and here I am. I was not sorry to see David Hasselhoff go and I think Jennifer Grey is a great dancer although I do wish she hadn’t changed her nose all those years ago. Also, Kyle Massey is adorable and Florence Henderson has terrific legs.

• By now you must know that Bloglines is going away on November 1st. Despite it’s issues I was a devotee of the feed reader until the last few weeks when I realized it was time to get used to Google Reader. And now that I have, I must admit that it’s way better than Bloglines.  Once you set it up with your subscriptions to show in an expanded format it’s pretty much the same. And I like that it doesn’t automatically mark a post as read when you click on it. There’s definitely a bit more flexibility with this feed reader and it is much faster to pick up a new post. I’ll miss you Bloglines but buh-bye.

• The daughters of commenter extraordinaire Mary K. in Rockport have started a blog about books called Goldfiles Books Reviews. Books are good – go and read their blog.

• Have you heard about One Day On Earth? I hadn’t until yesterday but I signed up. On 10.10.10 I will be photographing a wedding (no, I’ve never done this before and yes, I’m nervous as hell) and I think that’s a great example of a wonderful day on earth. You should sign up, too.

• The other night I had a dream that Hannah was kidnapped from her college and taken to Portugal. The school knew she was gone and didn’t tell me but I looked on the webcam for her classroom and could tell she wasn’t there – even though they said she was. She was rescued but then they told me she had to go into the witness protection program and I thought I’d never see her again. Do you think I might be having some separation issues? Ahem.

• And, finally, how is your Red Scarf coming along?

You know I love to eat and I love to share recipes and I love to talk about food. So this week’s topic is all about food. At least I hope it’s about food since it’s 10 Things in Your Refrigerator Right Now.

1. Leftover beef stew. I made this for the game on Sunday and we’ll be having the leftovers for dinner tonight. Like any good stew, it will taste even better today, I’m sure.
2. An oven-stuffer-roaster. This is for dinner tomorrow night. I bought the smallest roaster I could find and couldn’t help remembering the days when I used to buy the largest.
3. Zucchini. Our CSA is just about over but we still got some zucchini last week.
4. Three pickling cukes. Again from the CSA.
5. Milk. I don’t drink it (ever!) and it’s 1%. I’m trying to convince Dale to drop down to skim but he’s resisting.
6. Butter. Real butter. Not margarine and not butter flavored crap but real butter. I’d rather use less and have that taste then use more and have it taste like chemicals.
7. Eggs. They are from the store right now but I like it much better when they come from Sharon’s chickens.
8. Cheese. Probably too much cheese. I’m pretty sure right now there is American and Swiss along with Extra Sharp Cheddar and some Pepper Jack. We love cheese at our house.
9. Beer. Goes without saying, doesn’t it?
10. Stuffed quahogs. I bought these to eat while we watched the football game on Sunday but we stuffed ourselves on potato skins and stuffed mushrooms and that was before we even had the beef stew so the quahogs are waiting for another time. I love them with lots of Tabasco sauce!

That’s my fridge. One of these days we’ll have to talk about the freezer, too.

Yeah, we did it again. We spent Saturday evening in Plymouth.

We didn’t intend to but when friends suggested we meet them for drinks to watch the sunset over Plymouth Beach, well, I couldn’t resist.

Of course, the sun was setting behind us so we couldn’t actually see it but we had drinks and music and good friends.

What more could you need?

Last Thursday I read about migrating butterflies and that it was the peak time for this in my area. I came home and found this guy hanging out on my asters. Coincidence? I think not!

I’m looking forward to a beautiful fall weekend. Hope you are too!

Some of us at work have been to a few weddings lately. Some have been wonderful and elegant and lovely, like Brian and Pilar’s. And some have been, well, not.

Like the one in a farm field where the farmer was supposed to close the farm stand down and move the 1972 Winnebago out of the way and clean things up . . . except that he didn’t. So there were people eating lobster while other people were buying pumpkins. And then there was the pile of manure . . .

Or the one where some people at the reception were seated in the dining room and received dinner and others were seated in the “pub” and didn’t get any dinner. As in, nope sorry, you’re in the pub and they aren’t paying to feed you. Yikes.

There was a story about some people being invited to the ceremony and reception and other people being invited only for drinks and dancing. They were all expected to bring gifts, though, to help pay for the entire event. Oh my.

And then there was the one where the father-of-the-bride had a special bottle of Crown Royal that he brought to the after wedding party. He had been saving it for just this occasion . . . and one of the guests stole it.

We’ve all got wedding stories from hell. What’s yours?

My dear friend Brian (son of my dear friend Lois) married his soulmate, Pilar, on Sunday. Dale and I were honored to be included in the small circle of friends to celebrate with them. I was especially honored to knit the bride a shawl to wear for the wedding.

I sent Pilar several pattern links to choose from but we both quickly agreed that Romi’s Fiori di Sole shawl was the perfect choice. Kim helped me choose Zephyr Laceweight Wool Silk for the yarn and I set off to knit. I knew my deadline was tight and I was a little nervous but I finished right on time, taking exactly one month from start to finish. Whew!

I took a few photos in the back yard before I gave the shawl to Pilar, not being sure how much of a chance I would get to photograph it at the wedding.

The full back view.

And the beautiful scalloped edging.

Finally, a folded shot.

Luckily for me, I also managed to get some beautiful shots of Pilar wearing the shawl at the wedding. The color of the shawl really highlighted the beading on her gown.

She had it beautifully draped over her shoulders.

And it looked elegant when it slipped down over her arms.

It was lovely against the ruffles of her gown.

And it was so photogenic I couldn’t stop myself from taking several more photos.

Pilar was so gracious about the shawl and gushed about it’s beauty and how I had created a family heirloom for her and how much she loved it and me.

Brian is a like a little brother to me and I’m so happy for them and the new family they have created – I couldn’t have been happier to have my hand knit shawl be a part of their special day.

Today is my 45th birthday and today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is completely self-serving. Let’s talk about 10 Ways to Have a Happy Birthday . . .

1. Be kind to yourself. Remember that your outlook will greatly determine the way your day goes.
2. Treat yourself. It’s wonderful to get gifts from friends and family but I’m a firm believer in buying something special for myself, too. Last week I visited the Clinique counter and bought a bunch of new skin care products. Some of them may have even been anti-aging type stuff. Ahem.
3. Do what you love. Knit, spin, read, talk on the phone, watch reruns of Grey’s Anatomy – do what makes you happy!
4. Be with the people you love. My person is going out tonight but we celebrated last weekend with dinner together and reached a compromise which leads me to
5. Eat what you love. I let Dale off the hook for going out this evening by getting him to promise to bring me sushi. Sushi makes me happy.
6. Reflect. Think about the year that just passed and the things you’ve done, the times you’ve laughed, the happy memories you’ve made. Remember that the good (almost) always outweighs the bad.
7. Plan for the year ahead. Birthdays are kind of like your own personal New Year’s Eve. If you want to change some of the things in your life your birthday is the perfect time to do it.
8. Buy yourself some flowers. Fresh flowers in my house makes me really happy.
9. Laugh. Find something funny and just laugh. Laughing is so good for you!
10. Eat cake. Or a cupcake. Or even a slice of pie. Whatever you choose, put a candle in it and and make a wish and blow out that candle.

Happy Birthday to all of us!

Our plan for Saturday was to work at the town’s business expo (Dale with the band and me with Kiwanis) and then head to Boston for the afternoon and evening. I thought it would be fun to wander around the Back Bay, an area we aren’t particularly familiar with, and then have dinner to celebrate my upcoming birthday, and then head home.

You know what they say about the best laid plans, right?

By the time we left the business expo I was beat. Manning the club’s popcorn machine for 3+ hours is hard work. I also smelled a lot like popcorn. We headed home and sat around and kept trying to think of something to do that didn’t involve a lot of walking. I kept saying I didn’t want to go to Plymouth because, as much as I love it, we always go to Plymouth. Finally we just got in the car and did the errands we had to do and waited for inspiration.

Dale’s inspiration struck in the form of an old-fashioned Sunday drive. Sure, it was Saturday, but that was okay. We checked out some local fields for critters and we enjoyed the scenery. It was beautiful.

And then I said it: take me to Plymouth. I know, I know, but I wanted cupcakes for my birthday. And I wanted dinner at my favorite restaurant. And I wanted to see the ocean.

I guess there’s a reason we always wind up in Plymouth.

It sure it’s starting to look and feel like fall around here. And, while I don’t mind fall, I’m not thrilled with the prospect of winter looming closer. Boo to that, says I!

I guess it really is time to make the most of these beautiful weekends while we can! Hope yours is a great one!