Winter's Last Hurrah

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As birds tend to their new families:


And azaleas get ready to bloom:


We had an early spring snowstorm:



...which is about as much snow as we got all winter.

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Let It Snow!

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Snowman hats are finished and ready for mailing:

Specs:

• Yarn:
  
• * Main Color: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in white (#16014)
  
• * Nose: Cestari 3-ply 100% merino in Bulky Poppy
• Buttons, (both sets purchased at Couture):
  
• * Eyes: JHB International ¾" (#32178)
• * Mouth: JHB International - Raven, 5/8" (#89030)
  
• Gauge: 3.5 stitches per inch
• Sizes:
  
• * Terry's hat (w/ 5-button mouth): 22", (cast-on 77 stitches)
• * Jenny's hat (w/ 7-button mouth): 21", (cast-on 74 stitches)
  
• Design: Jane Pollard's Snowman Hat
• Needles: U.S. size 10.5 Denise interchangeable circulars & Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs
• Modifications: made the noses a little pointier and longer by decreasing all the way down to 1 stitch; used buttons instead of french knots for mouths, (since I don't know how to do a french knot...)
  

I considered knitting a little hat and scarf for these snowmen, but thought better of it. They're done. I'm done.

The story behind my making these is that after I made the mistake of sending the link to Jane's post about her snowman hats to my sister and my sister-in-law, both of whom are teachers in their kids' schools, both immediately, independently emailed me back and said, "Make me one!".

I replied to both of them with, "You know how to knit -- knit one yourself!".

Both responded with, "But, I only know how to knit rectangles!".
(What I heard: Waaa, waaa, waaa!)

My response: "I'll be happy to guide you into the magical, mystical world of hat knitting."

Neither of them took me up on that offer.

Bunch of chickens I'm related to, apparently....

And so, I succumbed to familial pressure and knit them each a snowman hat.

I'm such a pushover.

They better not ask me for snowman hats for their kids, or spouses, or fellow teachers....

That's all I'm sayin'....

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Another blizzard...

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Call the Red Cross -- I'm not sure we can survive this!

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Don't like the weather here?

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...wait five minutes!

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Thursday afternoon, I looked up from my desk and saw this:

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Even though the thermometer still said this:

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I got so excited, I made a dorky little video:

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(Feedblitz subscribers click here to watch embedded video)

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And took a few pictures of our vast accumulation:

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Some people were even able to build a wee snowman.


But thirty minutes later, the skies looked like this:

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and all our snow had melted.

I'm still holding out hope that we get a real snowstorm before our fickle winter is over....

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Now, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout....

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What a difference a couple of days makes:

December 1st, 2006

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December 4th, 2006

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So, what do we have to do to get some white stuff?

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On a different topic, and revisiting yesterday's movie discussion, a couple commenters asked for more movie reviews and recommendations. So I thought that maybe in a future post I'd come up with a list of my all-time favorite movies, if that might interest anyone.

Tonight, I will recommend an independent movie that I saw about a year ago, and thought was just wonderful. It's called In America, and is a story about a modern-day Irish immigrant family adjusting to life in the U.S. I give it 4½ stars out of 5. Beautifully acted, beautifully told. It's probably not suitable for small children, but I'd recommend it for anyone else, although the 18-25 year-old male demographic might find it a little slow for their shoot-em-up action/adventure preferences.


So....

Movies and the weather.

I must be really hurting for blog fodder.

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Hurricane Survival

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Hurricane Tropical Storm Depression Ernesto kicked my butt.

But not in the way you might think.

Sure, I lost power for 15+ hours, while neighborhoods on all sides of ours were well lit. (Grrr!)

Sure there were some downed trees here and there, (but not in my yard, thank God):




But the real hardship was what to do with myself for all that time while my two idiot boxes (computer, television) were unavailable. Yes, I realize I'm pathetic.

After the eye of the storm seemed to have moved beyond us, I decided to entertain myself by driving around town to see who still had power, (everywhere but my neighborhood, so it seemed), who had downed trees, [Ha! Two of 16 (!!) newly-built homes on my block lost trees -- that'll teach them to increase the population density in my neighborhood!], and who was flooded.

In my travels, I was stopped by a freight train, which has nothing to do with storm survival but made for fun photography:

Here's the engine...
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And here's the graffiti'd caboose.
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In search of interesting flood images, I decided to tour Riverside Drive. There was no flooding down there yet as of about 5:30 pm yesterday, (I should have driven down German School Road -- they always flood), but the river was beginning to rage a bit:

I'm such a thrill-seeker...
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Tree caught in dam hydraulics
(or damn hydraulics, depending on your frame of mind)
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That was one huge tree - wish my camera's zoom wasn't broken or there was something else there for scale -- you'll just have to take my word for it. That Danger sign is no joke, though. Seems as though there's at least one swimmer/boater/kayaker a year who succumbs to that dam's hydraulics.

On my way home I picked up a "nutritious" fast-food dinner and some extra batteries. And here's how I survived the rest of the night:

Solar/battery-powered radio; Sudoku puzzle book; Pride & Prejudice; electronic solitaire; flashlights; and a Hardee's Philly Cheesesteak-burger, (Have you tried these? Beef as condiment -- they're decadent!).

You'll notice there's no knitting in that survival kit. I'm just not a big fan of knitting in the dark. Especially with the frou-frilly yarn I'm currently using.

I must say that the radio is a God-send. I purchased it shortly after Hurricane Isobel, as back then I went stir-crazy without any power or news from the outside world for days. Its internal battery can be recharged via your normal house current or via the solar panel on top, and it even has a hand-crank for when it runs out of juice -- one minute of cranking equals an hour of sound. A fully charged battery lasts 24 hours. And I am here to report that David Letterman is just as funny without the visuals. Love you, Dave!

Thankfully, the power came back on sometime while I slept. Love you, Virginia Power!

And now my next step is deciding what from the fridge/freezer needs to be tossed. And I should probably hit Ukrops at some point today....

For those of you still without power, I feel your pain! Wanna borrow my radio? ... ;-)

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Snow in... winter?

We had a nice little snowstorm yesterday, although "storm" for us means just a couple inches of the white stuff. It still leads to school closings and power outages, thanks to the ice coating roads and power lines. What I find frustrating is that it's December, so, yeah, snow is not totally unexpected or unwelcome, (don't get me wrong - me loves me some snow), but the darn trees still have leaves on them! I haven't even raked yet! Case in point:



Whatevah. It'll probably all be melted by tomorrow. More "wintry mix" on its way for Friday, just in time to ruin lots of weekend plans, including this and this.

In the meantime the kit for this finally arrived today - whoo hoo! UPS got it here after 5 pm so I can't tell in the dim light of my house, but those yarn colors look a LOT darker here than they do in the picture. I'll take a good hard look tomorrow in the daylight, and perhaps take a fo-to or two.

And I blame Grumperina for my latest yarn acquisition. In a post earlier this week she referred to a scarf she made this summer using some incredibly soft yarn. And so, I had to find some for myself. And, so I did. Of course, I had to get it in colors more suited to my taste, which, if you've read some of my previous posts, you'll know it leans to blue-green/teal. So... I ordered a couple balls of this:

That is Berroco Plush Colors # 1958, "Taffy". As Kathy indicated, it is a good, soft, next-to-the-neck yarn, so in the tradition of novice knitters everywhere, (including this one), it will be, yes, you guessed it, a scarf. Garter stitch, no less. Shocking, I know. But I can't wait to knit this up. It should be here by Thursday or Friday, I think. Yay.

Comfort food.

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When the weather looks like this:

...there's nothing like a crock pot full of fixin's for my homemade split pea soup:

Yummmmm.....

(post a comment if you want the recipe)

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Update: Here's a picture of the completed soup:

Yum!!!