Saturday Sky-lights & Random Sunday Musings

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SATURDAY SKY-LIGHTS:

The nice thing about living in a house with skylights -- when it's 90,000ºF outside, you can still take Saturday Sky pictures, but in the relative comfort of the air-conditioned indoors. Loving it.

The dual skylights in my living room
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Skylight in the bathroom - can you see the Mimosa blossoms?
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When I had my roof replaced a couple years ago I had them also replace the nasty, yellowed, cloudy plastic skylights with glass ones. I've never been happier about money spent on a home improvement -- to actually be able to SEE through them has been marvelous.

Sometimes when I'm sitting at my desk and looking up, I'll see a hummingbird sipping on the Mimosa blossoms - what a thrill! And if I wait to shower until around 2pm, the sun is almost directly overhead and shines right down on me when I'm showering, and I feel like I'm taking an outdoor shower at the beach -- sort of a mini-vacation inside my own home.

I love skylights. I love when it snows and and you can see as each flake hits the skylight and melts, or else stays frozen if it's cold enough, and begins to accumulate on the glass. I love looking up and seeing the trees bend back and forth wildly when a windy storm (or hurricane) is in the area. I love seeing (and hearing) as rain gently taps on the glass. And I know immediately when rain turns to sleet and then back to rain again.

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RANDOM SUNDAY MUSINGS:

* I'm a winner -- AGAIN!

I've won another blog contest and so have more free yarn coming my way. That's twice in one week! I don't believe in luck or the lottery, but when I found this out yesterday, I ran out and bought a lottery ticket.

I did not win the lottery. But I'm still pretty damn excited about the yarn. ArtYarns SuperMerino -- I love this stuff! Thanks, Courtney! And once again, Happy Blogiversary to you! :-)

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* I'm an idiot -- AGAIN!

For the second time in as many months, I've driven off from a gas station without my gas cap. Duh. Thank goodness Advance Auto Parts is just up the street. I wonder if the curbs and ditches around all gas stations are littered with forgotten gas caps, or just the gas stations I frequent....

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* In the category of "I wish I was this talented":

Have you seen these?

Aren't these the most fabulous mittens ever?
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These were entered by Laurie in the "Bitchin' Mittens" contest, and are sure to win a prize. I would love to knit these for my beach-living sister, although Laurie's indicated that the written pattern will be awhile in coming. I appreciate her thorough-ness in having a test knitter knit it before she makes it readily available. You better know I'll be one of her first customers, once it's ready!

Another fabulously-inspiring knitter/designer is Eunny. Have you seen this stunning design? Or these socks? Or this secret sweater she designed and knit (in five days!!!) for winter Interweave? Here's hoping she gets the cover! Amazing. And she spins, too.

Knitter/designers like that blow this novice away and keep me interested and inspired. I don't presume to think that I could ever do what they do, but I admire the hell out of them for creating such eye-candy and making my heart happy with their designs.

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* Richmond is still afire with Elliott fever:

Our favorite son and American Idol Elliott Yamin was in town last night for the Idol concert, was all over the local news, the newspaper, and on the July cover of Richmond magazine. He even had, (but was fashionably late for), a meeting with the President.

We love you, Elliott. Now, do as wise TD music writer Melissa Ruggeiri says and run, run as fast as you can, away from the Idol Machine and put out your own album.

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* Stay Cool:

We have a week of triple-digit temps ahead of us, and so in the spirit of keeping cool, I submit the following photos taken this past winter:






* Choo-choo and Boo-Hoo:

I travel for work (via Amtrak, as usual), for the next three weeks, so will miss out on knitting with my peeps at TNK. I'll see them again in late August, and hope to blog a couple times a week in the meantime.


Happy Knitting, and Keep Cool!

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