Old Photo Friday

I love this picture, though it is also bittersweet.  This is my parents, and my two sisters - Mary Ellen on the left, and Nancy on the right.  I am not certain how old they are here, and the picture isn't marked.  But this is the only family picture that exists, and it was taken years before I was born.  I can remember after my father died, that my mother used to say she wished we'd had a family picture taken of all of us.

But the other thing about this picture is that it is four people who look truly happy, and who have so much to look forward to in their lives.  When the future was still full of hope and good things, and before there were any illnesses or tough times.

So, although it makes me a little bit sad that I'm not in this picture, it is still one of my favorites.  Seeing them all so happy and healthy makes me happy, and reminds me of how lucky it was that of all the families out there, I got this one.

Have a good last weekend of September.  Maybe take a family picture ...

At Long Last ...

Fall is here!  After putting up with a summer that was way too hot and humid (and that started in April), I have been looking forward to fall even more than usual.  I should say that August wasn't actually too bad, at least here in Philadelphia.  But it only made me happier that fall was on the way.

Granted, yesterday was 85 degrees here, but leading up to it, and then today have been the kind of days I most associate with fall.  Bright and cool, when even a walk to work is better because the weather feels so good.  And then cool enough at nighttime to want to cuddle under a blanket.

I'm also happy because today I felt like cooking, and it was a good day for that - turning the oven was not an event to be dreaded!  A couple of weeks back, we got a head of cabbage in our CSA shipment.  Neither of us were in the mood for coleslaw, which we'd made the last time we got one, but I got it in my brain that I wanted to make cabbage rolls.  So today, I got the stuff together and made ten rolls that I put in the oven on a relatively low temperature to cook for a while.  The house smelled so great, and they were yummy.  Best of all, there were plenty of leftovers, and cabbage rolls - like some other foods - taste even better to me the next time around.  I also used quinoa instead of rice just to see if it would make any difference, and though the taste was overall the same, the rolls stayed together better.  Though I couldn't swear to you that the quinoa was the reason ...

So right now as I'm writing this, I'm watching a football game (the Steelers vs. the Raiders - I started out watching the Eagles vs. the Cardinals, but something called karma seems to be doing its job on Michael Vick today, and though I'm all for that, I hate to watch the Eagles lose.  It's complicated).  Later The Tim and I will watch the Emmys and enjoy ourselves by mocking ahem, commenting on people and things.  Because of course we are perfect, and could do everything better, I'm sure ...

Of course, I'm knitting too - a pair of socks that have been on the needles way too long, but that are good TV knitting.   Earlier this afternoon, I finished a good bit of the knitted teddy bear I'm making for my newest great-nephew, Parker.  Hopefully I can finish in the next few days, and send it to him, so that he is not in college by the time he receives it ...

Hooray for fall weekends!

Furball Friday

These two!

Hope you spend your weekend with someone you love.

There Has Been Knitting ...

Just not really the kind I could share with you.  A friend recently asked me to do a test knit for her, and I thought I'd give it a try.  The pattern wasn't difficult, but the yarn had "issues," including that I didn't have enough to finish the sample!  But the ending result was pretty, and squooshy, and I'm anxious to see the finished item (and maybe even knit it for myself!).  That's really all I can tell you right now, but here are a couple of pictures of the first panel:

It's hard to see, but the yarn on the left side is a very dark blue, almost navy.  The finished panels are really so nice-looking, even if I do say so myself!

Now that I've finished my part of that, it's beyond time to get back to my own knitting.  I have way to many things underway, so I should really try to finish something.  And now I have another baby gift to knit, which is a good thing, I think.  Remember Doughboy's family, Ben, Halden, and little James?  Well, James became a big brother yesterday, when Paul joined the family!  I so wish I could see them all in person, but from all reports everyone is doing just fine, and at least right now, James thinks the new baby is quite exciting.  At the moment, I'm not sure what I'll make, but probably a hat of some kind, I think.  Maybe a pumpkin?

In other news, this past Friday night was Members' Night at work, which made for a long day.  We all had the option of coming in later, but I wanted to work the longer day so I could have some comp time.  Yesterday I was exhausted, and today I'm still tired and also feel like I'm coming down with something.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel back to normal, and the feeling sick was just a result of being overtired.

And that's the news of the day around here.  The lovely weather we have been having has been so nice, I hope it will stick around and we'll have a good fall season.  Spring and summer were just way too hot for me!

Have a good week.

Old Photo Friday

My parents, not sure the date.  But this is one of many pictures of them out someplace, and my mother used to say that in every one of the pictures, her mouth is open.  My parents were true extroverts, which was a good thing for them, since we moved around a lot.  Us kids would be lucky to know two other kids after a couple of months, but my parents would already have a group of friends to play cards with, go to dinner dances with, etc.  Especially now when I think of it, I'm glad they had such a fun time, since life was not all that easy for either of them.

I hope your weekend is full of friends and fun!

Remembrance

Here we are, another September 11.  Another beautiful, early fall day, when the sun is shining, and the world is full of possibilities.  But the date is now not just a date, but important for what and who it represents.  Anyone who was at the age of reason that day remembers it, the same as those who lived during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Even if you didn't lose someone in your family, you stop for at least a few seconds each year on this day to think about it.

There is nothing wrong with remembering. Just as there is nothing wrong with moving on.  Those of us still here, those of us living, should never feel guilty about it, but instead realize that the dear ones lost would not want us to be sad or static forever.   Because it is against everything that love is to stay in one spot, never ever letting time change, or change us.

In one of the stars, I shall be living,

In one of them, I shall be laughing.

And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look

 at the sky at night.

-- Antoine St. Exupery, The Little Prince

Furball Friday

Jetsam and Pip looking out onto the deck

I have no idea what (if anything) was out there, but it sure must have been interesting!

Have a good weekend - and hopefully it will be interesting as well!

September

Well, here's another topic that I wanted to take on:

Ten Things You Love About September

1.  During September (even if it is towards the end of the month), fall starts.  I love fall, particularly after the really-crappy-way-too-hot-and-humid spring and summer we've had.  YAY!

2.  More than January, September always feels more like a fresh start to me.  I guess it's the leftover school-starts-in-September thing.  But it's another chance to start anew.

3.  Sweetzels Ginger Cookies start to appear in the supermarket.  They are regional, I think, and soooo yummy!

4.  Things are a little quiet in the museum at work.  Summer day camps are over, so they aren't visiting, and school field trips don't start right away.  It's nice to leave the library and not be run into by screaming and misbehaving children, and their "chaperones."  (In quotes because, well, they don't seem to be actually paying attention ...)

5.  Apples.

6.  New TV shows.  I'm not one of those types who a) doesn't even own a TV, or b) only watches PBS.  Granted, there are not a lot of shows I go out of my way to see, but I like to check out what's new each year.

7.  Walking and bicycling.  Theoretically at least, the weather is nicer for enjoying these activities.

8.   Coziness.  Fall weather leads to the feeling of cozy, as far as I'm concerned.

9.  Better knitting weather.  It's more fun to knit a hat, or mittens when you can actually imagine actually putting them onto your person.

10.  The holiday season is not too far off.  I don't want time to speed by, but I really enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmastime, and once it's September, those - as well as our anniversary and the BD of The Tim - are looming on the horizon.

YAY September!!

Labor Day

What does labor want?  We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; 

more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities 

to cultivate our better natures.

-- Samuel Gompers