Happy Festivus!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday! We are still in south Florida waiting for my parents to arrive out of Denver…tonight if everything goes well. The first few days here we had nice weather, so we’ve been to the beach and drove down to the Everglades. In the Everglades we saw lots of alligators (some even really close!) and dolphins uh, frolicking in the waters the bay just north of the gulf of Mexico on our boat tour of the 10,000 islands in the Everglades National Park. Since then we’ve had two days of rain, so had a low key Christmas day including a delicious mixed grill dinner and shopping in the rain today.

Since the rain has kept us in for the last two days, I’ve gotten lots of knitting done on my kitty pi bed, I might even be ready to felt it when I get back. Though I might need to make it a little bigger than the pattern as Loki is a husky cat (he’s just big boned, really!). We also played Euchre, which is a northern midwestern game, which Indiana people take pretty seriously and I think is designed only to confuse me!

Am thinking of my friends and family near and far. I hope all of you had the holiday of your dreams.

Tricked II

This time we got tricked by the weather. My parents were scheduled to fly on Friday, but haven’t yet made it out of Denver due to the huge blizzard. Their flight was cancelled for Friday, and were finally lucky enough to get their flights changed, but not until Tuesday, so we’ll just have to celebrate Christmas late. My mom and I were lucky enough to get our library shifts covered on Saturday (thanks Mimi!), and get our flights changed, so we can extend our holiday a little bit and I can show them around south Florida. Neither my mom or Andrew has been to FL before and after all that snow, I’m sure they could use a little beachy weather.

While we are missing Loki, my inlaws got a mini white schnauzer named Gabe who is very cute. We’ll have to take lots of doggy photos. Actually he is still quite a bit of a puppy with all the hilarity that ensues from that. I brought my knitting project with me and after searching down a knitting store here for the right sized circulars, it is going pretty well. There is a lot of sports on this weekend, so it will be perfect to curl up in the same room and just knit.

Today we went to the beach, saw some dolphins and ate lunch at our favorite waterside restaurant. Tomorrow? Maybe a trip to Tim’s favorite…the Everglades.

Trickery

Tricked! I don’t think that it was allergies at all…but insead a cold that never left me feeling sick except for the…well…extreme congestion in my face and chest (I know you came here for phglem stories!). Still taking the claritin as a precautionary measure, but feeling much better.

I got the last of my holiday crafting done this morning…can’t put up photos until that gift is given, but I do have another holiday quilt on my flickr page that has been received and hopefully used already! After the New Year I am all set to sew Ashley’s quilt together as all the pieces are cut and ready to go (well except for I have to trim the framed blocks to 16 1/2 inches which I was all set to do the other night except for I remembered that they also needed ironing before I trimmed and the thought of plugging in the iron…was. just. too. much. after I had already ironed and trimmed 40 4 1/2 inch blocks for the inner border.). Thien also helped me start knitting a felted bed for Loki at our recent knit night at our local coffee shop/bar Ruta Maya downtown last week. That might be my project for the holidays to keep my fingers busy, though somehow, somewhere I need to track down size 11 24′ circular needles before I go too far.

The leaves on all the trees are just turning and falling, but at 80 degrees it doesn’t feel like Christmas yet!

They’re back!

Yarr. They don’t usually appear until later in December, but a north wind yesterday brought some cedar down from the Hill Country. I am not looking forward to the next three months of allergies. IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. Really.
But I do love the cold weather and wearing scarves and sweaters and thick socks. It means that it is really soup season. In south Texas, soup season is precarious two month affair, so I have to take advantage. Not that I am above making hot soup in 90 degree weather. I love to cook, and there is nothing I love to make more than soups. One of my favorite wedding gifts (which ironically is one of Tim’s least favorite because it is really heavy when you are cleaning it) is a huge bright yellow Le Creuset pot from my aunt Jean Marie. Other than the pot love/hate conflict, I would have married Tim for no other reason than he loves eating soup, and will happily eat it almost every night. This week I am trying a new Cream of Broccoli recipe.
There are also lots of quilts to make, books to be read and cards to mail. I did get all my packages out in the mail today, so that was exciting. Events this week, and mailing the packages all over the country made me wish once again that everyone I loved lived in one place. We are all so spread out, and it would be nice to be close to everyone that you love for the holidays, for hard times and for laughs. But a far away relationship takes work, and maybe that can sometimes add to the quality, strength and depth to that relationship.
Anyway, I am trying to get Tim to add a photo element to my posts which would be very exciting. That way I can show you all the little photos that I take that don’t really always add up to a whole set.