Looking Back: February 2020

March 4, 2020 By Carole

I’m keeping with the same format for presenting my photos and videos as last month, showing you a photo mosaic, a one second daily video montage, and answering a few questions. Here we go!

What did I learn? It’s possible to have a very mild case of the flu, if I hadn’t seen the test results with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.

What was my greatest accomplishment? Planning and executing (with plenty of help from my family and friends and community) Randy’s memorial service

Where did I go? Nowhere. As often as possible. Ha!

Who did I spend time with? And what did we do? There was lots of family time in February, plenty of evenings at home with Dale along with a vacation to New Hampshire with the kids. We played games, we had cocktails and snacks, and we laughed.

What brought me joy? Seeing all 4 of our kids together for the first time in 8 years was the most joyous moment of the month for me.

What do I want to remember? All of it. The sadness and tears as we remembered Randy. The joy of having Brant with us and seeing other friends who live far away. The flowers, the knitting, the family dinner the night before Randy’s service, the snow, the mountains, and more.

We’re on to March!

Our Vacation Video

February 25, 2020 By Carole

You know how vacation weeks go by super fast? Nothing drives that point home like a 1SE mash up. Here’s our 5 days in New Hampshire in 1 minute and 14 seconds:

Fast but fun, that’s how we roll.

Vacation Snow Day

February 24, 2020 By Carole

Hello, hello! I said I’d drop in and blog last week and then . . . I didn’t. I’d say I’m sorry but the reality is that we were relaxed and happy and blogging felt too much like work. I have a bunch of videos to pull together and some photos to share of food and drink but in the meantime I’m sharing these photos from last Tuesday.

It snowed all day long and it was beautiful. We had planned ahead and laid in supplies (wine and beer) and and the fixings for a pot roast dinner. Around mid afternoon, though, everyone was feeling a little restless so we headed out in the snow to get some fresh air.

It was snowing hard and we had a great time trudging around the neighborhood. And when we came back in the smell of pot roast filled the house and the warm air after the cold air helped Jackie go down for a much needed nap.

It was a perfect day.

Weekending

January 27, 2020 By Carole

I had a whirlwind of a weekend, friends. I spent it in Boston at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Conference. It was a terrific conference and a great opportunity for networking and learning. I went with colleagues from my hometown, where I serve as selectman, but also met up with colleagues from the town where I work, and I saw many former colleagues and friends from other communities.

The highlight of the conference for me was the WEMO (Women Elected Municipal Officials) Lunch. The speaker was Jackie MacMullan, sportswriter and NBA columnist for ESPN. She spoke about how difficult it was to break into the field of sports writing as a woman and it was riveting. I also enjoyed hearing our governor address us at the annual meeting. He ended his talk with a plea for us to put aside political affiliations and work together to do the best we can for our communities. To that I say, hear! hear!

Dale was able to join me for the weekend and that made it even better. Once my conference responsibilities were over we were able to hang out and people watch, eat some great food, and enjoy the view from the 22nd floor of our hotel room in Boston’s Back Bay.

It was fun to get away but, as always, it was even better to come back home. I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon reading (and perhaps napping) under a blanket in our sunny living room. We ended the evening watching Joker. Not my favorite movie, that’s for sure, but Joaquin Phoenix gave an incredible performance.

How was your weekend?

Weekending

September 30, 2019 By Carole

Happy Monday, friends! It was a busy weekend of socializing here at Carole Knits and I’m happy to share it with you today.

There was the usual Friday Night Snacks.

We’re so grateful to still be enjoying at least part of our evening on the deck. The heaters are invaluable now and make it cozy and inviting and do a good job of keeping the chill away.

On Saturday morning I met a friend for coffee. She’s establishing a photography business and killing it and we talked about pricing guidelines, local politics, juggling work, family & motherhood and more. It was a great visit.

Dale’s class reunion was in Plymouth and, since he had a band job in the afternoon that was closer to Plymouth than home, I had a friend bring me to the hotel and then Dale met me there later. I had a wonderful few hours to myself in the afternoon in that hotel room, knitting and gazing out the window and just generally enjoying some time with nothing I had to do.

The reunion was delightful. Dale’s class is small and I know many of his classmates from other gatherings over the years. I enjoyed catching up with friends and particularly loved hearing from so many of them about what a kind person Dale was in high school – and still is.

On Sunday morning we had brunch with everyone and then stopped at the beach before heading home.

I do love that portrait setting on the iPhone. I took a photo of Dale.

And Dale took a photo of me.

We spent the rest of the day catching up on football (Yay for another Pats win!) and even managed to enjoy some more time on the deck before heading in to watch the season premiere of This Is Us. I can’t say yet how I feel about these new characters but I’m hoping it will all come together in a good way that only that show seems to be able to pull off.

And that was my weekend. What did you do?