Down on the Farm

OK, so these are in no particular order. We spent Thanksgiving in Vienna, Maine at Trevor's sister's house. They own an organic farm on Flying Pond. The farm is called, appropriately, Flying Pond Farm. The grow salad greens in the greenhouses year round. They raise chickens for eggs and eating. They have 2 Jersey cows for milk. There's also Charlotte, the Tamworth pig. And the barn cats: Trouble, Chaos, Snowball and Blizzard.

Trevor on the trail to French's Mountain. Yes, it snowed. It's Maine in November.

The view from French's Mountain in Rome, Maine. Those are the Belgrade Lakes.

Trail at summit of French's Mountain. That's Ben Grams in the distance.

The group at summit of French's Mountain, snowman included.

Flying Pond.

Barn kitten. I named them Snowball and Blizzard... can't tell which is which.

Barn kitten playing with Uncle Trouble.

Flying Pond.

Flying Pond.

Oak leaves under ice.

Cow. She has a name but I don't know which one she is.

Chaos. Momma cat to Snowball and Blizzard.

My Latest Obsession

This is my version of the Yarn Harlot's scarf. If you don't know what I'm talking about read her blog (to the right ->). She can't stop knitting scarves and I can't stop crocheting the Surfer Chick Quick Cap in the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet. This time I bought Artyarns Supermerino in color 111 (above). I love this yarn. It's super soft and so nice to work with. I'm making this one for a dear friend. I hope she likes it. Then I'm making myself another one with Berroco Jasper 100% Fine Merino wool. Then I have two small skeins of Ella Rae Palermo that would also make nice Surfer Chick caps...

Health Advice Just in time for the Holidays

Someone (my sister, Audrey, I think) sent this to me. I thought it was HILARIOUS. If you haven't seen this anywhere else here it is:

IMPORTANT HEALTH ADVICE FOR WOMEN

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?

Do you suffer from shyness?

Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Chardonnay.

Chardonnay is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Chardonnay can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.

You will notice the benefits of Chardonnay almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Chardonnay.

Chardonnay may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Chardonnay. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

WARNINGS: -

* The consumption of Chardonnay may make you think you are whispering when you are not.
* The consumption of Chardonnay may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
* The consumption of Chardonnay may cause you to think you can sing.
* The consumption of Chardonnay may lead you to believe that ex-lover s are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.
* The consumption of Chardonnay may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
* The consumption of Chardonnay may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

Now Just Imagine What You Could Achieve With a Good Dry Red!!!

Enjoy a few glasses with your turkey tomorrow!

West Beach

I was in the Boston area on Sunday, had dinner with my classmates (all 4 of us, plus kids and one spouse - not mine) from the Salem State College Geology Department Class of '98 in Salem on Sunday night and then spent the night in Beverly Farms at my friend Heather's house. Since I was so close to the beach (1/4 mile), and even though it was 37 degrees and very windy, I went for an abbreviated walk on West Beach on Monday morning. On my walk back I stopped and photographed this old pier. At least I'm guessing it was a pier at one point. What do you think?

Dear Lane Bryant,

Your new sizing system for jeans sucks. Now that you've made it impossible for us "women with extra padding" to simply walk into your store and find the size we always wear; try them on; buy them or not; I'm not even going to try! And what makes you think that we "fat ladies" want jeans in sizes that are single digits? Give me a break! If you're going to do that please provide a conversion chart. "If you normally wear a 16W you now wear a 2." And don't have your sales associates offer to take a "few quick measurements". Last time I checked we don't like to disclose those numbers. Those are private. I won't be attempting to buy jeans in your store until you join the rest of us here in reality where women like me buy jeans in double digits with a "W" following.

Sincerely,
Nancy Little
"Big Girl"

Surfer Chick Quick Cap

OK, some I'm not a surfer and would likely never even try surfing but I'd certainly make another one of these caps. The pattern is from the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet. It's very easy. It's mostly double crochet and chains. I made it on Monday. Maybe I'll try taking another photo so you can actually see the stitch work.

Making Progress (in some departments)

Wow! I've really been making a lot of progress lately! Since Sunday the 9th I've made:
4 hats
1 scarf
1 pair of fingerless gloves

I've started on a small pink hat made of 100% merino wool and discovered that I need more yarn!

Oh no!

Horrors!

I HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE YARN STORE!

If my camera were back I'd have already taken pictures and posted a picture with this post. Y'all just have to wait.

Right now I'm wearing today's creation - Surfer Chick Quick Cap from my new crochet book - The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet. I crocheted it from some really cool hand-dyed, variegated yarn I bought several years ago at the Sheep and Wool Festival in Cummington. The yarn is from my ancestral home of Dorchester, MA. That's right! There are enough sheep in Dorchester for someone to make yarn. It might even only take one or two. I have no idea. Any way, once my camera is back from the hospital, I'll take some photos and post them.

A brief update of my job search:
It sucks.

The good news is I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon for a "little job", as my mother would say, at Barnes and Noble in Hadley for the holiday season. I'll keep you posted. It almost sounds like I already have the job, judging from my phone conversation but I won't get all excited about working in retail again until I'm actually there.

Just imagine! Now I can blog about my "stupid customer" stories!

I've also made very small progress toward getting a position in a library. Possibly at the Springfield City library as a volunteer and this is extremely tentative and I really shouldn't even mention it here because Mom will think it's a definite. But it's not.

I had a very productive phone conference on Saturday with other members of the Alliance of New Church Women in North America Executive Committee, of which I am Madame President. The only weird thing about phone conferences is the disembodied voices, that's all. Otherwise, it's a great way to have a meeting with people from other parts of the country.

Reality Check Part 2

Back in August I whined about my current frustrations and most of them haven't changed except for the fact that my cat is getting fed a daily basis. I'm still unemployed, and still don't have a new PCP (that's primary care physician). That's mostly because I haven't chosen one. How do you pick one just based on name, anyway?

I recently got access to my Simmons College email account and discovered that I have 139 messages in my in-box. Great! Another inbox to check. Most of them weren't very important except for the one from Student Financial Services dated August 29th (I didn't even get the packet of info from Simmons until late October). The message from SFS, as they like to call themselves, said, "you haven't filled out your loan application". Well, duh! If I don't get the user name and password until late October how can I do that? Thankfully, it's not to late to apply for the loan.

Registering for classes at Simmons so was painless that I almost didn't believe that I did it. Huh? That's it. How can that be? No tears?

Thinking back to when I was registering as a transfer student (lowest on the totem pole) at Salem State College in late August of 1994... (let's set the way-back machine....): My co-workers at Spectrum Color Labs in Boston had given me a fine send-off at a really cool restaurant/bar in the South End of Boston. I, of course, drank too much! So I spent the night on the couch at my younger sister Wendy's apartment in the Fenway. Orientation/Registration was the next morning at Salem State College (and, I think, a math placement test). It was late enough in the morning that I knew I could take the train home to Salem, go to my apartment and change and head to SSC. Since I didn't know anyone yet at SSC it didn't matter what I looked like so once I got to my apartment I changed and drove to SSC. I sat in on really boring orientation for new Education majors (that's how I started) and was told what classes to register for. Once it was time for me to register I quickly learned that pretty much all the classes that I was advised to register for were full and I had to choose different classes. Due to a number of factors (mainly tiredness), I started to cry in front of one of the very kind woman who helps students register. She said to me, (I'll never forget) "If you survive this, you'll graduate." And she was right!

Camera Update

I got an email from the Canon factory saying that my camera will be back in 7 days. Can't wait.

A Yarn

I went to Webs on Saturday with Emily and Beki. Webs is "America's Yarn Store", the largest yarn store in the US and it's right in Northampton, 10 minutes from my house. Not only is the store huge but they also have the "warehouse" in the back of the store that's loaded with close-outs and sale yarn. We were there for 1 1/2 hours on Saturday and that wasn't enough time.

Jon, Emily's boyfriend, has been yarn shopping enough with Emily to understand how it really works. He summed it up pretty well, "Oh, this is soft and pretty, I think I'll buy it." Later (much later) you make something with it. Knitters and crocheters (or at least the ones I've met) rarely go to the store and intentionally buy yarn for a specific project. How boring! The point of buying yarn is to build your stash. Some people even blog about their yarn stash. My yarn stash is rather minuscule compared to some. There are even books about yarn stashes and what to do with them if you feel guilty enough.

As you can see in the photo, Beki is very concerned that she doesn't have nearly enough yarn in her stash. She's the one on the left. Emily is on the right. They just finished winding all of Beki's yarn into balls with Emily's yarn winder. A yarn winder is a handy little machine that winds a skein or hank into a center-pull ball. They're fun and useful.

Anyway, to continue with my yarn... when I got home I tried out my new yarn. I wasn't too happy with the way it was looking and so put it away and pulled out some nice fuzzy, warm, yarn from my stash (see how a stash comes in handy?) and started to crochet a hat. I'm almost finished with the hat. It's a pretty simple single crochet around in circle and if my camera weren't away at sleep-over camp in Illinois, I'd take a picture of it. For now, you'll just have to settle for "borrowed" photos from Facebook ;-)

My Camera went to Sleep-away Camp

I had to send my camera back to Canon because it's been misbehaving. It'll be gone for 2 to 3 weeks. Boo hoo! I'm really attached to my camera. In the meantime I'll be "borrowing" pictures to post here.

Why the photo of the snowshoe hare? When Trevor and I were in the NEK (that's Northeast Kingdom) we almost saw a snowshoe hare at Pete's as we walked around his property and checked some of the newer trails that he's cut on the 70 acres. The snowshoe hare was moving wicked fast so I'll just have to trust Pete that it was, in fact, a snowshoe hare. Zeb, the dog, stayed in Michigan this time. It was a rare opportunity to see birds and small animals that normally run and hide when Zeb's around. Thanks for staying in Michigan, Zeb. We missed your unique way of greeting us - maybe next time?

Halloween in the NEK

Motivated by the image of Chloe dressed as a Strawberry Fairy for Halloween, I made it a Top Priority to be in the Northeast Kingdom for Halloween. Being home for under 24 hours after 3 days in the Boston area (cleaning a grimy house - but that's another story for another day) did not deter me from packing my cold-weather gear and heading north for a few days. Their were rumors of SNOW on the ground but not even that was going to stop me from seeing the Strawberry Fairy! The creepy house (above) is in Island Pond.

Wendy's pumpkin arrangement.

Chloe, the strawberry fairy (left); Reeve, the firehouse dog (middle); and her big brother, Ian the firefighter (right). Reeve and Ian live in Island Pond not far from the creepy house. Trevor and I didn't stick around to go door-to-door with them. I just wanted to see the kids in their costumes.

Chloe's house. It's too rural here to get any trick-or-treaters so they travel to Island Pond.

The Strawberry Fairy waiting to leave for Halloween in Island Pond.

Special effects courtesy of my camera that needs to be fixed.

Strawberry fairies move so fast you sometimes have a hard time taking a photo of them. I just barely caught this one in the viewfinder. She was moving very fast.

After we left the trick-or-treaters in Island Pond, Trevor and I went to Pete's and hung out with him until the party came to him. We enjoyed pizza and beer with Wendy, Jon, Chloe (no beer for her), Luke, Kerry, Riley (too young), Mom (she had a soda) and Dad (he had many beers).