A red sweater day!

Yep the weather outside has definitely taken a turn for the worst. (Anything below 70 degrees is a turn for the worst in my book!) It was a day the pups could get out and play a little in the snow...the novelty wore off quickly and as you can see from their expressions...

enough is enough, they were quite ready to come indoors!

So the doggy cousins met...

And a great time was held by all. I have to tell you though that this was Sampson's first experience with a puppy, as a 'grown up'. Normally when he has been around other dogs they have had to put up with him wanting to play. This time he was on the receiving end and he was doing evasive maneuvers!

For Miss Faith, I believe it was love at first sight and she found Sampson endlessly fascinating. Honey Dew she sniffed and licked but Sampson she followed around and wanted to play. At the end of the visit she was conked out on her blankey by my sister's bed.

Here are a couple of pic's...
















This one is of Gwen and Faith















Check back tomorrow for updates on the knitting WIP.

Last of Fall, First of Winter?

Hey Mom can we go for a walk, huh, can we, can we, can we go right now?!?

The last days of October sure feel like November. We are getting snow later this evening with a possible inch of accumulation. Oh, I am so not ready for this!

But it was a good excuse to break out the pups' sweaters for our after work walk. They were the only bright spot out there today in their bright red sweaters, against the gray of the sky and muted browns and golds of the fallen leaves.

I am saving that pic for

Weather like this does permit me to knit without guilt. You know what I mean..."It is such a nice day out I should be; weeding the roses, thinning the herb bed, getting the last of the mums n before a hard freeze, cleaning off the front porch, putting away the hanging baskets, or (fill in the blank here) or doing one of the ohter 101 things on my list for the outdoors!" Truth is I am just not ready to admit summer is long gone and fall is almost over. Winter is my least favorite times of year.

Mr. S. likes this type of weather because one it is not hot, two it is hunting season, and three it usually means I bake more. Although tonight he is definitely out of luck. I am working on dinner as I type this and a couple of loads of laundry.

I hope everyone who reads this is all snug in your respective places and enjoying a nice evening too!

Hot off the Needles...

For those of you who are so fond of your clothes that you send them on vacation (to France no less) with out you...















This will be waiting for you here at my house but you have to come and get it!

Already on the needles, this will be hat and scarf set for a friend of my brother Gene's. I sure hope he likes the colors and I definitely like the feel of the yarn. I got the pattern for this set off of http://bernat.com/ it is called Bernat Denimstyle Hat and Scarf. More to come later but this is the preview of the color...















In other news the pups and I had another great walk on the bike trail. It may have been the last warm day for a while. Most of the leaves are down or coming down. Sampson thought it was great to chase the leaves as they were falling but Honey Dew loved to run through them and hear 'em crunch.

This is all for tonight back to knitting for awhile.

A New Addition to the Family!

Meet Faith...

She is my sister Gwen's latest addition to her family. She is a 7 week old St. Bernard and Great Pyr mix. She is going to be a bigun! But my sis is madly in love, and already spoiling her rotten! She will make a great friend and walking partner for Gwen. Not to mention "Guard of The House", "Keeper of the Home". Yeah right! If she follows the example of her dog cousins, the only threat will be getting licked to death or death by asphyxiation due to excessive slobber. Of course Honey Dew and Sampson can hardly wait to go see her!

Those That Came Before Us

My cousin Kim is a true artist. I have always admired her photographs, scrapbook layouts and jewelry that she designs. Kim has a truly giving spirit and does wonderful things for the family that mean so much to us even though or maybe because all the family now are at such a distance. (It is kind of like an online family reunion!)

Her latest project has been to post this for all the family to enjoy no matter where they are. I may not understand the process of how she is recovering the photos, but I do know that it takes time, energy and a commitment to family! And she is doing it on top of working 40 hours a week, being a wife, mother, etc.

So on behalf of my side of the family...

Thank you so much Kim for all that you do!

Yummmmm!

Nothing says home like roast chicken dinner and fresh baked desserts...

















Fresh Apple Cake from a recipe posted by http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/. Very easy, excellent results. The apples I used are my favorite versatile Cortland apples. I purchased a bushel of them from a local vendor, Barbers Orchard.

You got to be kidding!

Says Casper the cat as he was helping me to read Aunt Roses' instant messages.















Truly though I think he just hangs out with me because he is missing his person....















And so am I! Ben phone home! Your mother misses you! And so does your cat.

Wow what a wonderful weekend!

I had such a wonderful weekend that I just have to share. It was my Aunt Rosalie's "30th anniversary of her 30th birthday". My Aunt Maxine and I drove up Saturday morning to the other side of Niagara Falls(still in the US) and returned Sunday night, but like most women, we know how to pack in as much as we can in the amount of time we have.

We visited, explored her new house, went to dinner at "Grannie Apples" in Lewistown, drove to the Lake Ontario, took pictures, returned to her house where we really got down to business examining her "stash"! Which was fair since while she visited me, she had to review my "stash". While mine is in yarns, hers is in semi-precious stones, glass beads, crystals, etc that she uses to create her wonderful jewelry. (I personally have been the recipient of some of these treasures!) We finally gave in and retired for the night or well some of us did.

Others were not so lucky, apparently, due to someone cutting up firewood for the winter and that person shall remain nameless :). And of course Miss Misty had a meow in that as well.

Sunday we went to church, returned to her house and had a wonderful cookout which we ate out on her deck. Then we went to her birthday party, and what a party it was. Decorations, four course meal, and of course visiting with family!

Here are a couple of pictures for those of you who couldn't attend.















Here is my Aunt Rose with cousins Kim and Wendy and then Aunt Rose with her friend Taylor. These are the wonderful people who threw such a wonderful party and made all the food. Get a good look at those cakes. They were as tasty as they were pretty!

And here she is after she opened my gift to her...a day early...















It was a great visit just ask Aunt Maxine...

A Lot to Celebrate!

Dear Kerry,

How can I express the joy, the happiness, the total thrill, that I feel every morning that I wake up next to you knowing that I have been blessed with one more day by your side? I want to shout it out to the world, but I use restraint and instead post it in my blog!

Happy 27th Anniversary Sweetheart!

Here is to a hundred more, forever and a day, all my love is yours,

Love,

Tina.

P.s. Happy 1st Birthday to our pup Sampson also!

Changes

Changes have always been a challenge for me. Sometimes they turn out unexpectedly for the better.

Take this blog for instance. I was notified that my previous blog site would be closing as of October 31st. I had journaled on that site for a year and it was also my first experience journaling. But I really enjoyed it and as I have more family at a distance then close by, it kept them in the loop as to what was going on in my life.

So I start looking around and found this site. It was more user friendly, had more options, and was it allowed me to do more. It really couldn't get any better. Then I received an email from my old site that blogger had partnered with them to allow me to import all my previous posts, links, and pics! I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to get started.

Sometimes change can be a blessing in disguise.

Lucky Stars Alpaca Farm

Come meet some new friends...

oh you can do better than that... don't be shy...

there now isn't that better...

Aren't they cute? And oh my so friendly and curious!

If you want to get some of this...

Go here....

or here http://www.alpacanation.com/farmsandbreeders/03_viewfarm.asp?name=13317

I am going to use the two skeins to make two fair isle snowflake hats for a certain couple, one chocolate with vanilla snowflakes and one vanilla with chocolate snowflakes! Pictures will be forthcoming!