Memorial Day III

   Today turned out to be wet and quiet.  Our family dinner was yesterday and it was on the quiet side, too.   I had received the sad news that my cousin, Jerry Paul, had died the night before.  He was one of the 'big kids' when I was growing up...eventho he was only 2 years older than me.  Maybe that's the hard part...he was only 2 years old than me...that leaves me the oldest cousin left in that generation.  His family is planning a service for later this summer, maybe in the Adirondack. It seems the only family reunions we've had lately are funerals.
   This was Old Timer's Weekend in Cooperstown and the shop did well.  I got wiped out of baseball hats and sold a couple of flower hats, too.  And a sweater sold, too, so I'm pleased with the weekend's sales.  I got busy and managed to do 4 baseball hats (3 of them today!) besides finishing a baseball

sweater. It's a size 6mo, raglan sleeved cardigan with a V-neck and 4 baseball buttons.  It's done in a gray heather acrylic on US 5's and 7's and is machine wash and dryable. The hats are also acrylic done on US7's.  I'll take them all to the shop tomorrow.  I'm not really looking forward to be down there all day.  The weather is suppose to be wet and cool and I don't think there will be many tourist.  This is one of those times I wish the shop had WiFi...but it doesn't.  Oh, well, I'll take some knitting and a book and I'm sure I can entertain myself until 5pm.  I think I can.  I hope I can.


   I want to thank anyone who added my college friend to their prayers this weekend.  He had his gallbladder removed and then had to have a 2nd procedure to retrieve a gall stone that tried to get away.  Everything worked out well for him and he's now on the mend.

Memorial Day II

   I spent part of this morning delivering flowers to the cemeteries.  My 1st stop was at my parents' grave in St. Mary's Cemetery up the road from our house.  The grave was cleaned off of winter debris and all I had to do was pop the statue of the Virgin Mary into the pot and rearrange the flag behind it.  Perpetual care means something at St. Mary's.

   The 2nd stop was Calvary Cemetery in Herkimer.  This is where the majority of my family is buried but I had only 2 deliveries to make...my cousin, Jim Morgan and his in-laws, Mary and Frank Fiala, one of my mother's older sisters.  Calvary doesn't clean the graves quite as neatly as St. Mary's does so I was happy I had grabbed a pair of garden gloves when I left the house.  Now all three graves are ready for summer.  The clump of daylilies on the Fiala grave originally came from their backyard.  Uncle Frank was an accomplished gardener and he gave Mom many plants when my parents bought this house 55 years ago.
   The only complaint I have about delivering the plants is that the graves are all quite a walk over uneven terrain from the road.  I have enough trouble walking on even sidewalks but carrying a full flower pot is something else.  This year I set a new record...I did not trip or fall!!  Maybe I'm finally learning how to walk.
   My next stop was Walmart and it took a couple of turns around the parking lot to find a parking space.  And of course, what I was looking for was located at opposite ends of the store!  I got everything I needed to finish my cake for tomorrow...and some yarn... then stopped at Burger King to get Fanny some chicken nuggets for lunch.  (She loves their chicken nuggets!)  Now that I'm home I don't know if I'll just sit and knit or take a shower and then a nap.  No, I better knit.
  Oh, if you're the praying kind, say an extra one for an old college friend of mine who just had gall bladder surgery and now has to go thru an ERCP to make sure they got all the stones.

Memorial Day is Almost Here

   I did a quick trip to Cooperstown today and filled in the holes in my display.  Boy, did it really need it,

too.  Those flower hats ended up a lot cuter than I had imagined they would be.  Rather Spring-like, don't you think?  Anyway, they filled in the holes in the hat display rather nicely.  I added 1 sweater to the sweater rack, too.  A size 6 mo Fair Isle done with Mary Maxim's Baby Blankie and Red Heart's pale yellow. 

The yellow buttons finished it off beautifully.
I've got a heather gray V-neck cardigan on the needles...another size 6mo...that will have baseball buttons and a baseball hat to make it a set.  I have to work all day on Tuesday so it should be ready for display by then.  Maybe I'll even get some more baseball hats done, too.
  I left Jeff with the UCKY job of cleaning the dog dish tray.  Now all I have to do is wash it and the dog's
dishes and she'll be eating in style again...instead of out of a mixing bowl!
  Jeff's sister, Sherry,and my cousin, Ed, are suppose to come over for dinner on Sunday.  Instead of a bar-b-q or a fancy meal I thought of doing sausage, potatoes and peppers in the oven, with some chicken thrown in for those who don't care for sausage. It's  semi-picnic fare for us.  I'm going to make a Shirley Temple cake...sugarfree so Sherry and Jeff can enjoy it, too.  We all liked it the last time I made it.  Just have to go grocery shopping!!
   Back from town.  We got our groceries and then went to Frankfort to the Knight Spot for supper.  Their fish fries are delicious!  Tonight Jeff had cocktail sauce on his fish and he couldn't get over how good it was.  It was very good...lemony and horseradishy at the same time.  The cook at the Knight Spot is good!  The fish was too big for me so I gave Fanny the tailend.  She didn't like it and now it's all over the backseat of the car.  Oh, well, when it warms up tomorrow I'll clean the car.  I was disappointed because I couldn't have greens, coleslaw or a green salad.  When I self-tested for my INR this morning it was off the top of the chart at 3.9.  I knew the doctor wouldn't be happy.  And when we got home there was a message from his nurse on our phone machine (skip today's Warfarin, regular doses the rest of the time, test again next Friday).  I would really like to get to the point where I could test once a month but I haven't been there in over a year. I don't like the testing...self or nurse preformed.
   I've got all the ingredients for our meal on Sunday except the sugarfree CoolWhip for the cake.  Hannaford didn't have any so I'll stop at Walmart on the way to the cemetery tomorrow morning.  I could even get another skein of white yarn so I'd be sure to have enough to make several baseball hats before my next trip to Cooperstown on Tuesday.  Now if it would only stop raining and warm up a little.  A little upward bounce would be nice.
  

  

Crazy Weather

   What a crazy week weather-wise it's going to be.  It poured last night and the house got cold and damp.  My leg ached so much I finally gave in and put some Voltaren ointment on...and pushed the 90# dog off it! (Both actions helped!!) Those damn screws in my tib & fib are the most accurate barometer I ever saw. The grass was so wet this morning I couldn't mow [poor me:)] so I sat in front of the TV and watched the Artful Detective for 3hrs and knit 2 baby hats.  After the mailman put my yarn order in the car this morning, I slipped and skidded in the mud to get it.  I though the pink would match the pink in the sweater I had started.  It was all Mary Maxim, after all, but the pinks didn't click so when we went to town today I got a skein of pale yellow to finish that sweater.  The yellows match much better and I do have yellow buttons handy. I did use the pale gray from the order to do a hat and I just cast on with the pink for another.  That will make 4 flower hats.  Next comes the flowers to use up left over yarn. (I'll stick photos here when they're done.)And  then I'll do 2 baseball hats and that will be enough hats for this week.  I want to take a quick trip to the shop on Thursday with a full stock bag and 6 hats and 1 sweater should be enough!  The weather is suppose to be decent tomorrow so I'll try to mow more lawn.  Since I can't empty the catch bag alone it means I'll have to take turns knitting and mowing!

   It's suppose to rain again on Thursday and Friday.  That's why Thursday will be a travel day.  It looks like Friday will have to be cleaning day.  Oh, how I do so like to clean house.  Not.    Saturday I want to take these flowers to the cemeteries.  One pot is for my parents' grave in St Mary's Cemetery next door to us up the road and the other 2 are for my cousin's father and grandparents in Calvary Cemetery in Herkimer.  I got them at Annutto's Greenhouse in E. Herkimer and when I noticed a hummingbird in the yard yesterday I decided to take them out of the car for a few days to see if the hummer would like a snack.  Have to keep my eyes open for that! Got to dig out the hummingbird feeder and put it up, too.

  I noticed the lilac in the backyard was blooming beautifully.  It's actually a little past prime but still

nice.  That's the last dark lilac I have.  When we

moved here in 1962 there were
clumps of lilac in every corner of the yard.  The family we bought the house from had had 6 kids and each kid had their own garden.  There are 2 light lilacs by the back door but I keep them pruned in an umbrella shape.  This big one in the back becomes a thick hedge in summer.
  If we ever get the Outback home from the mechanics the utility trailer is full of wood waiting

to be moved.  And there is still plenty of wood waiting to be cut.  I can't really complain about the wood because it helps  to keep our heating costs down and our house warm. One of the wood sheds needs to be reskinned, too.  I think Jeff is looking forward to having to do that as much as I'm looking forward to stacking wood.

Spring Fling and Other Things

     Yesterday was the Rotary's Spring Fling in Doubleday Parking lot in Cooperstown.  Since the parking lot is the shop's front yard, we were looking for some increase in customers.  Judy and I talked about it and she figured out how I could decorate the side of our building that faces the parking lot.  I had aprons and tote bags, sweaters and wooden welcome signs hanging on the building around our sign and the open sign.  On the front of the building there were more sweaters and some wooden toys on the display shelves under the window.  She even filled some baskets that I hung on the shepard's hooks in the garden! She filled 2 window boxes with edible plants and hung them on the railings of the patio and got more flowers to put in the garden.  Only trouble was the vendor displays in the parking lot partially blocked the view of the shop from there.  Morning sales were brisk...lots of rustic wood carvings and baby hats sold. (What a combo, huh?) It did leave my hat display looking poorly.  I thought I'd knit when I got home but I                  

didn't feel like it.  After
I left, afternoon sales
sort of slumped.  The
crowd wasn't huge but we should have done better.
   When I got home Jeff wanted to go to Little Falls and check on his car.  It's been at the mechanics for almost 3 weeks.  Dave finally got all the parts for it...including a new new wiring harness, but he's been swamped with work and now one of his mechanics quit.  He's promised we'd have the Outback this week.  We'll see.  Jeff is lost without his wheels...especially on days I go to the shop!
  Our next stop was the Herkimer Tractor Supply
store to get a new collar for Fanny.  Her old one was too tight.  I never had such a problem picking our a dog collar before!  She could have had a pink one (but I don't think Jeff feels she's a girlie girl dog) or a purple plaid collar.  He kept picking up heavy duty collars that could go on a Doberman!  We ended up with a black web collar that looks good on her white fur.  I think she likes it.
   After a quick stop at Walmart for bread I got Jeff to agree to supper at Arby's.  I had had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich for lunch at the Spring Fling around noon and now at almost 5pm, I wasn't looking forward to going home and cooking. Fanny had had 2 restless nights where she and I (but not Jeff) had gotten very little sleep.  (One because of thunderstorms, the other ???)  After driving the 30 miles to and from the shop and working half a day there, I was ready for some sleep, not time in front of a stove!  Arby's it was and after we all had our roast beef sandwiches (I shared mine with Fanny)it was home to a book and bed.  Jeff even asked if I was felt OK because I crawled into bed and didn't turn on TV or do more than check my PC for messages!
   Today the weather is doing another bounce.  Temperatures are just in the low 60's and the furnace has come on a couple of times.  I really should mow the lawn but Jeff has to haul out  the lawn mower and see if it will start.  Maybe this afternoon.  Or not.  Right now I think it's time for a cup of coffee and maybe start a hat.  I've got a yarn order on it's way from Mary Maxim's.  The Tracker site just said it was in New Hartford and should be delivered on Tuesday (why it should take that long to get 20 miles is beyond me) but when it gets here I can finish a sweater I started...and ran out of yarn with...last week.  Later a quick trip to Annutto's Greenhouse for  flowers for the cemeteries?  Memorial Day is coming up!

  

Apple Blossoms

   Here's a sweater (same old raglan from the neck down) done in a new yarn:  Mary Maxim's Baby Blankie, an acrylic self-patterning worsted that was meant for baby blankets.  I think it worked up pretty good for a sweater...this one is a size 2.  The pattern sections were pretty long so I have enough for 3 more sweaters.  Unfortunately, there wasn't that much of the lighter pink left over so I'll have to get something to replace it.  Maybe a pink from Mary Maxim?  I decided to use green buttons because the color of the yarn is Apple Blossom and I thought the green buttons finished the design.  This sweater will go to the shop on Sunday when
I work again along with
this size 6mo Cable hoodie done in Red Heart Mint.  I've still got to get
3 buttons for the Henley
neck opening.  And I've
got a size 2 Black Sheep
sweater with lavender trim, finished, too.  That

should fill up my area for awhile.  I've got an order for a baby hat that I've got to get done and mailed so that's what I'll do next.

The First of May

   Yesterday was a very busy day.

   First, Jeff had to take the Outback to the mechanics in Little Falls to have the 'check engine' light checked and leave it there.  That meant I had to follow in the Forester so he would have a ride home.  How do you decide how much money to put in a 18 year old car??  Even if it is a Subaru?

  From there we traveled back to Herkimer to the Post Office so I could keep everybody...but me... happy by mailing this month's bills. That was followed by Stop #1 at the Rite Aid drive thru pharmacy window to leave one of Jeff's Rx's to be refilled.  K-Mart has closed it's pharmacy and transferred their customer records to Rite-Aid.  Jeff doesn't expect K-Mart to stay open in Herkimer for long without the pharmacy. We'll see.

   We went Ilion to pick up some more M.C. Beaton/Hamish Mac Beth mysteries at the library and check out the new discount beverage store that we had seen advertised in the paper.  It didn't have what Jeff wanted but the owner said he'd ask the distributor if it was possible to get Old Mil in bottles.  We'll stop after our next time at the library to see what he found out. 

   Since it was almost noon and we were already on the south side of the river it meant lunch at Mona's in Mohawk (that's the purple house on Main St).   She serves breakfast all day and Jeff wanted breakfast!  (I had a Mexican and fries.)  After lunch it was back to Rite Aid and  Stop #2 at the drive thru pharmacy window but the Rx still wasn't ready.   We fought traffic some more and went to Walmart...the State DOT was painting State St... so I could get a birthday card...one of the few I actually mail...and then fought traffic to the Post Office to mail it (Happy Birthday, Fran Davy!) before heading back to Rite Aid and Stop #3 at their drive thru pharmacy window to pick up Jeff's Rx. (Ready, at last!)  I had had enough of orange cones in the road and skipped State St. and the painting trucks and took the scenic (?) route thru the ol' neighborhood to get out of town. 

   When we got home we found that the new filters for our Berkey water system AND my cherry bushes were sitting on our back steps waiting for us. (Thank you, Mr. Postman!) And there was a call on our answering machine that Jeff's Rx (the one we had just picked up) was ready to be picked up! Fanny was exhausted and headed to her chair next to my computer where she was soon  snoring (in no time Jeff was doing the same in bed.)  I started one of

new books and then started a baby hat.  Didn't get far with either!

    We had a good spring storm last evening.  Wind, rain, thunder and lightning!  Fanny first tried hiding under my bed but decided she needed more cover/comfort than that and ended up stretched out in Jeff's bed with her head under the covers.  Much more comfortable than on the floor!

  Oh, and I got an email order for a pumpkin baby hat.  Once I get the check I'll knit the hat and mail it.  But it's only May.  Pumpkins!!?!!