Not participating in the holidays

I haven't been blogging lately and this will most likely be my last entry for a while. Next tuesday I am getting two new knees so I will most likely be busy with rehab. I have been knitting away as it is all I can do right now. My house has been taken over by a small covey (herd, flock, swarm) of jellyfish. They are living on the piano, the spinning wheel, any empty shelves they can find.

I have told everyone not to expect anything of me this christmas. I will not even be making many cookies altho I am going to try and make a few batches before I go in the hospital. And yes, I have a knitting project just for those hazy hospital, rehab days when the brain is not fully functional.

Well this boring blog is over.

Very Quick Update

Well I can't believe that I did not remember what the fingerless glove yarn was from. Although I did vaguely feel that it had something to do with my way out west friend. And I can't believe that the kid I made the sweater for is in middle school now. It does not make me old, it makes me very experienced. Also, the yarn I am using to make the next pair of fingerless gloves is not from my grandma's afghan, it is one I made for myself! I was on a kick, for quite a long time, where I was rocheting these very intricate fisherman knit pattern afhhans. After making 4 of them I got it out of my system, but they are gorgeous. I should take a picture of mine and post it.

Anyway, I am glad a few people read this blog

I started my leaf pattern sweater and it is going to be great. I had to cast on 3 times because first I twisted the cable (which I only fully realized after knitting 3 rows), then I somehow managed to pull the needle out after casting on 260 stitches. The third time was the charm. I got the first leaf motif finished, 5 rows. It just didn't look right to me. So I read the pattern about 50 times and then the light bulb went off above my head and I head to tink 9 rows which took me all afternoon. I was not going to go back to the cast on. So yesterday I got the first little motif done and started the large leaf pattern and then stopped knitting, not wanting to press my luck! The real point of this is that I really like the pattern and it is going to look great when it is done. I am off to take more pictures.

Another Luka Story & My Fingerless Gloves

I finished these gloves a few days ago, and I finally got the pictures on my computer. I am very happy with the patterns, there is a nice simple cable on the wrists & back of the hands, and then stockinette stitch across the palms. But the yarn I used, although very pretty, is too stiff. I am going to make another pair out of a softer acrylic yarn from my stash. I have several skeins of purple heather that I think date back to my grandmother making me an afghan when I was in grammar school. We don’t want to calculate how many years ago that was.

One day this past week everyone was out of the house for several hours as eldest son was working and I had several errands to run and BG kindly chauffeured me around the state. When we came home someone (whose name is spelled L-u-k-a) had gotten in the garbage, leaving some chewed up foil in the living room. BG suggested that we put her down stairs for a couple of hours so she would get the message. So he called her downstairs and shut her into the back room. Sophie kept coming to me telling me that something was amiss, but I was firm and Luka stayed until dinner time. I gave Sophie her dinner, which she completely consumed (not something she always does as she is an indifferent eater). Then BG went down stairs and released the penitent. Luka came running up the stairs and Sophie chased her around the dining room table 4 or 5 times, growling and barking at her the whole time. I only hope that she does that when Luka raids the garbage and we are not home. After a few rounds around the table, I fed Luka her belated dinner, she dove in and I went into the sun room. Luka walked over to me about 30 seconds later looking forlorn. I looked up and there was Sophie eating out of Luka’s bowl. I walked over and said, C’mon Sophie, that’s Luka’s dinner. I pushed the dish away from her with my foot and she determinedly kept eating. So I said, well, Luka, it’s a doggie thing, next time think twice before you eat the garbage.

After finishing her second bowl of kibble, Sophie lay down in the dining room and did not move for the rest of the nigh. I thought I heard her moan a few times.

Ta-Da!

I finished Mom’s sweater in record time and it looks great. The pattern is February Lady’s Sweater from Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/february-lady-sweater#

The pattern is Pamela Wynne’s adaptation of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Almanac baby sweater, which she generously posted on Ravelry. Which my California, former new Jersey, former Michigan knitting friend told me she was knitting and I just had to make one. The Ravelry pattern calls for 3/4 length sleeves, but I knew my always-chilly mom would want full length sleeves. I particularly like the detail just above where the garter stitch meets the gull pattern. And of course the gull pattern is great. And so much fun to knit. You can see I don’t have buttons yet. My local Conglomo-Craft Mart has a lousy selection of generic buttons and there are no close by nice little knitting or sewing shops. Ebay to the rescue once again.

My new box of dreams will be here soon. Translation: yarn order. Can’t wait.

Knitting With Dogs

For Christmas last year my sister gave me Sox Stix, 5 wooden sock-size needles in a cute little fabric bag with a drawstring. It was a much appreciated gift as I certainly knit enough socks and one is always misplacing those tiny little skewer-like needles. As a matter of fact (sidebar) once when visiting a friend for a few days, and, of course, knitting together, she told me that she found one of my sock needles in a kitchen drawer. Her housecleaner had found it and assumed som dope had left a skewer in the living room.

Back to this story: a few days after last Christmas. I had put my new Sox Stix in my knitting bag in anticipation of making yet another pair of baby socks and my knitting bag was in my home office. I was working (or playing) on the computer and I gradually became aware of a noise that sounded like a dog chewing wood, not a sound I ever wanted to hear. I turned around and there was Luka chewing on my brand new bag of Sox Stix! I yelled, grabbed and she ran from the room. She had actually gone into my knitting bag, rooted around under several skeins of yarn, taken the little drawstring bag out and was happily (and somewhat daintily) chewing on them through the bag. After my initial surprise I examined the needles and found them remarkably intact. The bag was fine (a little soggy) and there were a few minuscule dents in the needles. All in all, no harm done although I certainly was puzzled as Luka had never shown any interest in my knitting before.

Fast forward to last night, eight month later. I am using the Sox Stix to make a pair of Almost Fingerless Gloves. http://fiberfiend6891.blogspot.com/2007/12/almost-fingerless-gloves-free-pattern.html I am using 4 of the 5 needles and the remaining needle is in the bag on the coffee table two feet in front of me along with the usual detritus, phone magazine, notions box, TV remote. The gloves were in my lap and I was talking to RG, not paying attention to the coffee table. Out of the corner of my eye I see Luka’s head on the coffee table. I quickly turn my head and see that she has ever so carefully taken a corner of the bag in her front teeth and is s-l-o-w-l-y pulling it off the table. I yelled. She jumped. What is it about that little nylon bag? I told her to go away. She did. And about 10 minutes later (I guess she gauged it the optimal amount of time for me to cool off) she came over and all 70 pounds of her climbed into my lap and she was contritely licking my face. Sigh. Knitting with dogs, always an adventure.

Finally

Finally for a couple of reasons. First, I FINALLY finished my Sweet Allysum shawl. And I love it. It is cuddly and warm and really lovely. And I have decided that I really like lace knitting. However, how many shawls and scarves can you use or foist on your family and friends? So now it’s time to pick out a new pattern and buy some more yarn, always an exciting proposition. I think I am going to make a turtleneck with a pattern of leaves along the bottom hem and a little border of leaves on the turtleneck. I also think I will buy a couple more skeins of kid mohair and make something. I really just love lace knitting. I won’t get sick of it too fast as I can only do it during the daylight. And I have made countless socks and I am far from sick of sock knitting.

The other finally is that I finally got on line. Excitedly, I downloaded the pictures from my camera this morning so I could put them on the blog. My personal computer tech has told me a million times that I have to tell the computer that I am removing the outside device so it (the computer) doesn’t get confused. So I did. Then when I tried to get on line again. Nope. Tried and tried. No luck. So I waited for my personal tech guy to get up. Turns out I disconnected my broadband connection, not the camera. So I am not a computer tech I can knit and spin.

The Luka Chronicles -chapter 3 - Who Is That Good Dog?

It is October and the tomatoes are all picked, the houseplants are ready to come inside, and I am totally uninspired, so its time to pull out the old Luka Chronicles. So here goes:

Luka had her third class last night and I knew it was a red-letter day when we WALKED into PetSmart. It is the first time EVER that we walked into the store. Actually it is the first time ever that we walked anywhere in a calm & sedate manner. On all previous occasions I was sliding in on my heels as Luka dragged me. I felt quite grand just walking in with my obedient and alert dog at my side.

For another milestone, Luka's teacher used her as a demo dog for "come." When there are treats in hand Luka "comes" very well. This has nothing to do with the new harness, but I did not mention that. And Luka's teacher does have the best treats. She had liver bites and lamb trachea crunchies. (I really didn't like being in the same room with lamb trachea crunchies!) But what self-respecting dog could resist? On the subject of treats, the cat treats were also a hit with Luka. I had thought to try them because they are tiny & stinky. And despite my son’s concerns, the other dogs did not make fun of her.

Luka only barked a few times and, miracle of miracles, she was not the worst dog in class. There was a long-haired Chihuahua who was cutting up quite a bit and making trouble with his neighbors. But not Luka!

We practiced “come” and “down” and “settle.” These “come” and “down” are things Luka really knows well and if bribery is involved, she is quite amenable. When we were practicing "settle" our neighbor Snoopy was told by his mom to look at how good Luka was!

Still glowing with success,

Patty & Luka

Luka's Big Adventure

Sigh. Nothing else to say about that. I am not one of those people who look forward to the leaves changing, the frost on the pumpkin, and all that crap. It will get progressively colder and the days get shorter & all you can do is hunker down in front of the wood stove in your long underwear. And wait for spring.

A friend of mine came up with the best description of Luka. I can only wish I thought of it. I sent her a picture of Luka dancing around with Sophie. She said Luka looks like a slightly chubby ballerina who ate too many Dunkin Donuts. In this picture she is wearing a Mobius scarf I made and she does look like she stuck her head in a stray tutu.

Anyway……On to Luka’s Big Adventure. Poor Luka had one of the worst night of her life last night. Our basement is ¾ finished, carpeted recess ed lights, ¼ is unfinished, cement floor, water heater furnace, boxes, boogie man. Luka is very curious and always the first to dash through any opened door. Unfortunately, last night she forgot to dash out. BG & eldest son were searching for a large bag of rice that disappeared (don’t ask) and of course the dogs were helping. I got up this morning stumbled to the back door, let Sophie out, let Sophie in, And said “Wait a minute. I have two dogs.” I checked the garage. No Luka. Maybe she ran away last night when the garbage was put out on the curb. No she would have been waiting by the front door. She knows were her kibbles live. Finally I went down stairs and Sophie ran to the far door to the unfinished part of the basement and I let Luka out. Sophie proceeded to jump on her and bark at her as we tripped up stairs. Then Luka climbed into my lap on the sunroom loveseat (strictly forbidden) and told me about her horrible night on the cement floor with the boogie men. Life is very scary and uncertain for Luka.

In my continuing canning adventure, I canned pickled green tomatoes this week. I did not taste them, but they smelled like my friend’s bread & butter pickles so I have high hopes. Another cooking adventure: I made reconstructed chocolate chip cookies. I truly think that the traditional toll house chocolate chip cookie is pretty close to cookie perfection. I make lots of different cookies, but always come back to chocolate chip. But I always experiment and I thought I would melt the chocolate chips and swirl the chocolate into the batter. Sounds pretty good. I made the batter. I melted the chips in a double boiler. The melted chocolate seemed a bit clenched so I added some cream and it smoothed out nicely. When I added it to the batter it just melded into the batter and I got chocolate cookies with a few caramel colored swirls. The cookies came out really flat, but surprisingly good and chewy. I think next time I will add less cream. All in all a very good experiment.

Mid September Corrections

BG recently (finally) checked out my blog and he pointed out that I did not mention him in my profile. I corrected this oversight this morning. He is my rock start, the love of my life, my best friend, my boyfriend and my rock. And he does his best to drive me crazy, which is only fitting as I do the same to him. He also pointed out to me that the profile page sounded like I was looking for a date and if I put down that I was 14 years old I would get more hits. I am not 14 years old, nor would I be 14 years old for anything. Some things may not be great about being in your 50s, but being comfortable in your own skin and having the perspective of half a century (did I say that?) is priceless.

I am making green tomato pickles today; I have never made them before but I have high hopes.

Time in Dog Years

One of my friends recently informed me that one of her dogs just died and it made me think of how our lives are defined by the dogs who trot by our side. I don't have pics of my other dogs on the computer, something I will have to rectify. When I was single then first married and with little kids were the Rozie years, a sweet retriever mutt who used to follow me into town with a kid in a stroller. All the shopkeepers in town knew her as she would eagerly wait at my side and then grab my bag to carry home. All the people in my mom's neighborhood knew her as she used to visit all the houses on the block (never crossing the street), particularly when they had picnics. People used to drive by and great her by name and I would ask my mom who they were. She didn't now either, but they were friends of Rozzie. Rozzie also was the shadow house, whose greatest pleasure was to stand outside on a sunny day and chase bird shadows. Also, she smiled. A big, toothy silly grin. Rozzie was a sweetheart.

Britty was my spirit guide. She came into my life and truly guided me past some crossroads and through some very difficult times. She was the dog the kids mostly grew up with. And I couldn't think of a better dog for two boys to grow up with. She was very, very special. I often told the kids that she was going to be the dog they told their grandchildren about. We were all with her when she died, one of our last times together, and we were al heartbroken. I still miss her guidance and calm presence.

Sophie & Luka - well we have the Luka Chronicles. They are good girls and keep me laughing and happy.

Here's to the dogs of our lives.

Who is This dog?

Ok, she looks like a poodle/wolfhound/afghan. And Luka looks like Luka. This is a warning. Take heed. This is what happens when you don't brush your briard. She doesn't like being brushed, so I put it off and put it off. Usually I am fairly disciplined and brush her once a week no matter what, but this summer I just kept putting it off until it was impossible to get through even with the mat cutter - so out came the clipper. Oh well, it will grow back.

On a more positive subject, my Ladies Sweater is coming out great! As you can see, I decided to knit one side at a time, I am almost done with the right front. Another 2 inches I think. And I am going to make full length sleaves instead of the 3/4 sleeves in the pattern. I like the look of the 3/4 sleeves, but this sweater is for my mom and I know that she will not be happy without a full length sleave.

End of Summer

It has been several weeks since my last post. I have been a busy bee. I canned 4 ½ quarts of tomatoes! I also mailed for many seed catalogs as I want to get good seeds next year; no more Big Box Store seeds. I was particularly looking for heirloom seeds. This week I am going to dry some flower seeds, my sunflowers and marigolds. Can I find portulaka seeds? At first I was disappointed that I got the smaller sunflowers this year, but now that they have bloomed I am very happy with them. I saw some on a garden show that were huge, 6-7 foot stalks with many flowers all the way up the stalk. I will be on a search for them for next year.

I also have been knitting like crazy. Finished the Mobius scarf, very cool, I will get a picture next post. My mom’s sweater is coming along very nicely. I had a slight meltdown when I first separated for the sleeves, but after pulling out a few rows and putting my usual spacers in (every 14 stitches instead of every 20 stitches as it is a 7 stitch repeat), and I also am not knitting all the way across as there is too much tangling with 3 balls of yarn attached. In case you haven’t guessed, it is a top-down sweater. I am about 8 inches down the right front side and it looks pretty good.

On the Boy I Should Be Ashamed of Myself front: I have so neglected brushing Sophie that I finally gave up yesterday and took the clipper and shaved down her neck, behind her ears and her muzzle. I missed a few spots and didn’t want to torture her too much at once. I will take another go at it today. And brush another section of her body. Her body is pretty bad, but I can get through it, I don’t have to totally cut her down. My goal is to have her totally brushed by the end of the week and give her a bath! She looks kinda silly, but kinda cute, she looks very much like a poodle or a wolfhound. It’ll grow back. That is something that it took me many years to realize about myself. Remember how mortified you were when your mom cut your bangs?! It took Forever to grow back! If your mom didn’t cut your bangs or if she was a hairdresser and actually could cut your bangs, you missed some important angst in your adolescence.

Hot on Knitting

It was a record day yesterday. I got my box from patternworks which is always an exciting day. I nicely posed this pic showing the grass green worsted yarn that is going to be my mom’t Christmas present (keep your fingers crossed) and the bamboo silk that I am going to use to make a Mobius scarf. I also happened to score the other day four skeins of Patton yarn, 25% cashmere. 4 skeins = 2 scarf presents. And very cool presents indeed. I also finished the 2^nd sleeve on my cotton sweater so I could start my Mobius scarf. I conquered the Mobius. I intelligently decided to use some yarn from my stash before using the bamboo silk or cashmere. It is not really difficult, but there are some ah ha moments when it falls into place. I will post the finished Mobius when the practice one is done. And I still have to sew together my cotton sweater. That is a good rainy day project.

Part II of yesterday’s excitement was that I canned my pickled green beans. They are one of the few things the groundhogs left me and I know why. They are rather tough and tasteless. Next year I order seeds from a catalog. Anyway, I helped my friend Carol can years ago but have not done it since, so I looked on this as a learning experience. I figured if I pickled them it would a) add some flavor and b) soften them a bit. It’s only 2 ½ jars so if they are not too tasty, no great loss. And yes I know you have to fill the jars for safe preservation, the ½ jar is in the fridge. Next, tomatoes!

Knitting (its about time)

This blog is supposed to be somewhat about knitting. I finally finished the front of my summer sweater. I already picked out my next sweater, a cardigan that I really like, but I don’t much wear cardigans so I decided to make it for my mom for Christmas. It may snow in August since I am a perennial late Christmas shopper. She wears a lot of cardigans and I think she will really like it. My only problem is the perennial one of getting excited about my next possible project before I finish the current one, which leads to MANY unfinished projects. I promised myself that after I finish the front and back and am well started on the sleeves I would allow myself buy yarn for the Christmas sweater. Here is a picture of the front of my summer sweater and I think you can see the design pretty well. It is cotton, which I usually don’t much like working with, but this knits up like a dream and is very soft and luxurious and of course the color is luscious.

On another knitting note: Yesterday morning (at 6 a.m.) I saw the end of an episode of Knitty Gritty and they were knitting a Mobius scarf. I have been trying to get that pattern for free for ages. I downloaded the pattern from the website, however, I only saw the end of the episode and the directions for the cast on are kinda complicated. One of BG’s favorite resourses is You Tube so I did a search on You Tube and I got a little video that very clearly shows how to do the Mobius Cast on.

Ok, I am not sure how to copy a link to this blog, so just go to You Tube and put Mobius cast on in the search box. I have two skeins of mohair that just cry out for the Mobius treatment.

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

I know blogging is supposed to be for yourself, but it is also to share your viewpoint and thoughts with a world that is just on the edge of its seat waiting to read your most profound thoughts. Is anybody reading this? I do enjoy posting, but I read other blogs and you see occasional comment from faithful (or otherwise) readers. I have to teach Sophie how to type.

Sunflowers

Last year in the very early spring, in a fit of hope and optimism after a difficult and very long winter, I went to Home Depot and bought a dozen packages of sunflower seeds, all different kinds. I planted them everywhere on our almost acre of property. I planted them all around the house, in the rear of every flowerbed, in my vegetable garden, and along the back fence that separated our dog yard from the lower 40. For weeks, I walked around in happy anticipation of the glorious riot of happy sunflowers that would surround us all summer; bringing hope and happy visions to all. Well, I guess I brought a lot of hope and full bellies to a lot of birds because not one came up. Not one. For several days I walked around the property thinking maybe there was a scraggly stem coming up in some hidden corner. Telling myself that this really wasn’t a sign of gloom and doom to come, just a sign of hungry birds. Finally, one morning when I thought it was all over, I saw two tall stalks growing in front of the back fence. I didn’t need a whole field of sunflowers for optimism; I would be able to see these two tall sentries every time I walked out my back door. It was enough.

Two days later our gardeners cut down the “weeds” growing along the fence.

This year, along with my very ambitious vegetable garden, I planted just a few sunflower seeds. A couple of days I noted that one of the taller weeds had a golden flower head with a dark eye that follows the sun. I finally have my sunflower.

Lazy, Hazy Daze of Summer

It has been hot, hot, hot and I have been lazy. It is amazing how enervating this weather is. I have not even made cookies in weeks. The only constructive thing I have been steadily working on is my cotton summer sweater. Maybe it will be done before September. And I do have some incentive to finish it. I have a new pattern picked out to make my mom a cardigan for Christmas and I will not allow myself to buy the yarn until I finish the front and back of this sweater and only have the sleeves to knit.

Not one new pictures. Even the hummingbirds are lazy. I was spotting them a dozen times a day coming to my feeder, but since the Rose-O-Sharon in neighboring yards came into bloom, it must be easier to buzz around several big bushes than fly all the way up to my deck.

My garden is still doing great. The tomatoes are so big that they knocked over all the tomato cages! BG kindly pounded in some tall stakes and I tied up the cages and stray tomato stalks so now they are growing upright. While tying them up I found what I thought was a melon vine (my melons are quite healthy) which was growing up one of the tomatoes is actually a cucumber. So one of my cukes escaped the marauding hoards. I also have quite a few either beans or peas. I think beans. I actually picked my first cherry tomato yesterday. And I bought mason jars in anticipation of canning my tomato bounty.

I promise to take more pics today. I spotted several plants that looked interesting and camera worthy, but yesterday I was too lazy!

Hidden Treasure

We are in the middle of a delightful stretch of summer weather, hot, but not too hot, not too humid, sunny. Who could ask for anything more? When wandering around my yard last week, taking pictures of flowers, I came across this tiny perfect orange flower and immediately went inside to look it up. It is a scarlet pimpernel! How cool is that? The flowers are barely a quarter inch across and hidden between some big bushy decorative grasses. My theory on weeks is if it has a nice flower and does not completely take over a flower I planted deliberately, it stays.

Darn These Pictures!

Obviously I do not know how to manage my photos on this blog. The best picture I wansted to post got cut off. So here it is in its very own post. Sophie delicately smelling a hibiscus flower.

Garden Catch Up

I am including a few pictures of my garden and of Sophie, cousin to Ferdinand the bull.

After a week with a combination of rain/thunderstorms, feeling under the weather and stifling heat, I finally got outside yesterday morning. It was cloudy, but surprising cool and no threat of immediate rain. I weeded all my flowerbeds and planted the few last minute pots of annuals I had purchased. I will NOT walk through Home Depots Garden Center again, I will NOT. I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of my tiger lilies, planted this spring, are sending up flower spikes. I did not expect to see any flowers till next year. The best surprise is how lovely the portulacas are. I really bought them because I remember my dad planting them and I liked the fleshy leaves. Well, they are the loveliest little flowers. I looked them up and they are also called moss roses and I can see why. They are bright colored jewels of all different colors. They will be on my permanent list of annuals from now on.

I saved the vegetable garden for last. It was decimated by a marauding gang of ground hogs and their chipmunk flunkies. Then totally overgrown by a week of neglect and rain. I managed to clear out the front section and found rows of flat leaf parsley and cilantro. I planted a pot of each to give the little seedlings encouragement. I found half a dozen carrots that fought their way through the purslane and crab grass. I looked up purslane and it is a very healthy salad plant and it is quite tasty. I am thinking I should just abandon the garden to its whims. However, the tomatoes and hot peppers look like they will march up to the house and demand to make sauce out of me. You can see them in the picture on the far right) I guess that Miracle Grow was worth it.

Chapter 2 – I Paid For These Classes, We Are Going!

I am posting the second chapter of the Luka Chronicles as I had a 36-48 hour bug that knocked me on my ass, literally. I was so dizzy I was bouncing off the walls like a pinball on my way to the bathroom . Fortunately I slept through most of it. 'Nough said. Here is chapter 2.

Acting on the suggestion of several people in my dog obedience class when we chatted across the nylon fence, I took Luka to the dog park for "socialization" on Sunday. Once again the sight of other DOGS put her into a frenzy of baking and straining at the leash. Luka is a smallish (50 pound) Shepherd/Lab/something-odd mix, but she is a
powerful and strong for her size. When she saw a dozen or so dogs behind the fence, she gave a mighty lunge as if pulling a sled out of a quagmire and yanked me off my feet on and dragged me for about 15 feet on my back on the ice to the great entertainment of the entire park. Once we got through the fence and the people stopped laughing, I let Luka off leash and she had a fine time running with the packs of dogs. When I finally called her & snapped on the leash, my white dog was mostly brown. The field was slightly snow-covered, but mostly churned up mud. I did find out something interesting about Luka’s coat. She has doggie Scotch-guard. At home I vigorously toweled her off before letting her in the house. She was only partly clean, but I wanted to go inside. About an hour later I looked at her and she was completely white again. Hmmmmm. Perhaps I could patent this and make up the cost of collars, classes and incidental chewing accidents.

After this fun day I swore I would get her a pinch collar. I did and we walked several times this past week with the pinch collar (on Luka) with reasonable success.

Last night Luka had her second obedience class that I really was not looking forward to. I put on my leather gloves and after dragging me through the store, we were able to actually enter the ring with the rest of the class. I just dragged her out when she started to bark, but she was a million times better. However, she still could not pay any attention to me with all those other DOGS to sniff and jump on. After about 15 minutes, the teacher asked me if I wanted to try a Gentle Leader collar. That is one that has two loops, one goes around the neck and another goes around the muzzle of the dog. I had noticed that several other dogs in class had them, but they just looked like quite dogs with silly collars. Boy was I wrong! The trainer put the collar on Luka, she jumped up twice, pawed at her nose once and then walked perfectly at the trainer’s side. My mouth fell open. She handed the leash to me and said if she paws at it, give her a treat and say, “lets go.” It was like she handed me a different dog. Luka did not pull and paid attention to me (pretty much for the first time in her life) the whole rest of the class. I would not have believed it if someone told me. At the end of the class she asked me if I wanted to purchase the harness. Well duh.

I can't wait for lesson 3!!!

Patty & Luka, the perfect dog

Random Thoughts

This is why I like photography so much. You take what you think will be a nice picture and circumstances and sunlight you would not get at any other time and chance make it a great. This was taken on our deck, under the picnic table. The vertical bars are the deck rail posts and the horizontal bars are the house siding.

Say what you will about smoking, and I am a former smoker, there was something very sexy about a man lighting two cigarettes and handing one to a woman. (Bette Davis and Paul Henreid, Now Voyager). Or a man lights a woman’s cigarette and she steadies his hand holding the match as the flame touches the end of her cigarette. What a potentially intimate moment between two people who barely know each other. Do not get me wrong. I am glad that people in general do not smoke as much and there is no smoke in restaurants. But, an occasional nostalgic glimpse of the past ……

I was looking through some photo albums the other day, one with pictures of my kids when they were very young (and so was I). The other one is one of my favorite presents from my mom. One Christmas she made personal photo albums for my sister and me, each with pictures of ourselves growing up with pictures of various relatives. She gave them to us many years ago, but I now and then pull it out and have a nostalgic moment. I happened to look through both of these albums because I had dug them out from the many boxes of unpacked books in the basement. It seems every time we move that stack gets bigger. Anyway, I was feeling a little nostalgic and talking to BG about it. And that brought on conversation about our kids when they were toddlers. I said that it was pleasant to look at those pictures, but sort of sad. No not sad, nostalgic for simpler times with simpler problems? Nostalgic for just being younger? I couldn’t quite put a word to the feeling. Definitely a little sad, but a pleasurable sad. Bobby told me that he realized a long time ago that no one gets to be 20 for any longer than anyone else. Wow. I never thought of it that way before, Duh, but it is SO true.

The Luka Chronicles- Chapter 1 - Dogs Aaaarrghghgh!

As promised (or threatened), here is my first rerun. I had to search through three computer memories to find this. Do you think we have too many computers in our houehold? In rereading these chronicls it certainly brought back good memories and quite a few laughs. And, by the way, Luka, while fairly good on a leash, still jumps in the air in a demented ballet chasing bugs, still chases her tail (she hasn't caught it yet) and still will get up suddenly, run into the living room, grab a rope toy and shake it wildly while growling her silly growl/moan. And we love her more every day.

I took Luka to her first obedience class last night. Just getting out of the car was a challenge. I had a martingale collar on her as I knew from talking to the teacher when I signed up for the class that they only used “humane” collars. I could not ever use her choke chain and I suspected that if I walked in with her wearing a pinch collar I would have been booed out of the room & had positive reinforcement pamphlets thrown at me. Note, however the key word here is “walk.”

Luka dragged me at full speed into the store. I knew from previous experiences walking her that I needed to wear leather gloves or the leash would have shredded my palm and fingers. Luka barked and strained at the leash at every dog & person she saw. We managed to get up to the dog training area but we never even got into the ring! She barked incessantly, almost pulled my arm out of my shoulder socket, and was so excited she was not ever interested in food treats; the most food motivated dog I have ever known. The trainer kept telling me to walk her around the store to calm her down.

I walked about 5 miles around PetSmart that evening. However, by the end of the class she would stop barking if I just walked her to the end of the short side aisle. I did get to listen to the trainer for a few minutes at a time and I got Luka to sit and down twice. These are things she knows very well, she just could not even look at me as she was so excited at all the other DOGS. I kept reminding myself that this is why we were there. She needs to learn to listen even with distractions as huge as a dozen DOGS. The trainer promised me that the next week we would actually get into the ring. We waved to the other dogs and dog owners and left store at a slightly more controlled pace. We were both exhausted when we got back to the car, but Luka and I have high hopes. One of my hopes being that our goals will converge by the end of the session and we will both find paying attention to each other and working like a finely oiled machine an end in itself.
Those goals hardest to reach are the most prized.

Exhausted,

Patty & Luka

Tennessee Waltz

When we moved we had a piano given to us. The movers actually picked it up on their way to our old house so it was on the moving van before anything else. BG was an awesome guitar player inn his previous life (before we met) and played in bands up and down the east coast. He also went to Berklee College of Music. I can turn on the radio. BG did not know much piano technique when we moved, but he can’t resist walking by a piano in a store, so he has been playing a lot with one in or living room. And I love it. I’ve always loved it when he played guitar and I love to hear him at the piano. The kids used to complain loudly, run to their room and shut the door when he cranked up the electric guitar, but I always found it soothing and delightful and very special.

I told BG that since we have a piano taking up all this room, I wanted to learn to play. So BG has become my music teacher. BG also recently heard an interview of a doctor who wrote a book about keeping your brain healthy and vibrant, especially as you age. This doctor said that exercise was very important (along with some specific vitamins), but not just physical exercise to increase blood flow. You need to exercise your mental abilities and one of the best things for an older person is to learn to play the piano because it is a completely different thought process and really exercises those neurons. That explains the smoke coming out of my ears when BG explains music theory to me.

Anyway, after a few weeks, I can do scales (both hands!) and some basic chords and arpeggios. Cool. BG has been teaching me some snippets of songs, but yesterday he decided I should learn The Tennessee Waltz as it is a simple song, but one that we both think is very pretty.

Well I can now play a one-handed simple version of Tennessee Waltz. Linda Rondstadt eat your heart out!

Spinning Update

Well, I know how to upload a picture, I think. Here is a picture of the shawl I am making using the pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. I made this shawl previously using a lighter weight yarn. This time I am using Briard hair that I spun. I wanted a warm, cozy, comforting shawl for those dreary winter days when it seems that spring will never come. The briard is my Britty, passed on over 3 years ago, but I have bags and bags of her hair. My son told me that I can never come to his apartment and tell him he is a bad housekeeper, no matter how many dirty socks are on the floor or dirty dishes in the sock. He does not and will not keep bags of dirty dog hair in the closet. And I have six or eight.

Anyway, the brown is Britty hair. The green is from some odd roving I had picked up somewhere or other. It was actually an incredibly ugly green and gray, but it spun up beautifully. And the red is brown sheep's wool that my sister sent me a ton of because she met the sheep and it is really soft and wonderful wool. But it's brown. So I dyed it brick red (color choices are limited when the base is brown). And I think it came out pretty nice. most of the shawl is straight knit in the round, but I am throwing in some knit 2 together then yarn overs. and some rounds I am doing a gull stitch. That and the color changes makes it kinda nice. At the moment I am out of yarn. And as soon as I finish the spool on my wheel of lambs wool, I will start another spool of Britty yarn. Looking at the picture, it looks a little bit like a large brown turd, but I am knitting on circular needles and I am not about to take some hundred odd stitches off the needle. You can get the idea. It is basically a big, round shawl that you fold in half when you wear it. And the Britty hair is wonderfully soft and luxurious.

I also filled in some of my profile and uploaded a picture of me on the couch in my old house with Sophie & Luka. It is one of my favorite pictures. I used to have it as my desktop picture at my last job.

First Thoughts - Thanks Laura

I saw a hummingbird moth yesterday for the first time. Talk about an animal made by committee. It gave the general impression of looking like a bumble bee, of which I often see visiting our deck, but it flits around at speeds that would give a slow, thoughtful bumble bee heart palpitations. Its speed and darting action gives the impression of a hummingbird, but the size is too small and the color is all wrong, again, bumblebee like, black and bright yellow, but the configuration is slightly off. I spent a pleasant two or three minutes watching this visitor to my hot pink geranium. I keep the hanging basket not hanging, on the picnic table on the deck, in my direct line of vision when I sit in the sun room. The colors make me happy just looking at them, and I was sure it would attract interesting visitors. And it did.

I have decided it is time to set up my blog. Ok, I am the last person on the block to do so, but a couple of years ago I had a semi-regular series of emails I sent out to all of dog people I know. I enjoyed the writing and it was satisfying to share the loopy puppyhood of the silliest dog I know. Luka was describing on her rap sheet at the shelter as a “shepherd-lab” mix. She looks like a beautiful white german shepherd. Boy did she pull the dog fur over our eyes. Her face is 100% shepherd, but her personality is 100% silly lab and she has some strain of husky (I think) as no lab or shepherd every had that silly curly tail. I am noticing that I cannot describe Luka for three straight sentences without using the term “silly.” In the Luka Chronicles I went on to write about the addition of a Briad puppy to our household (our second Briad) and it petered out when puppies grew up and settled down.

So I will start this blog with some reruns. Hey, we live in a rerun world. With current non-events as they happen and as I ge the urge to write.

So, here goes!

Now, how do I post pics? Another day.