Still knittin'

I intended to have these first photos appear last, but I've managed to upload them in the wrong order, so let's work backwards, shall we?


I'm still knitting. Still loving it. Still feel a sense of panic and rising heart rate if I don't have a project on my needles at all times.


My latest obsessession is these lambs. The patterns, by Fuzzymittens.com, are clearly written, and the lambs' clothing is so cute and detailed, that I can't resist starting a new lamb once I've finished the latest one.


The three at the top here are sporting a pink dress, a blue hoodie and a pale green dress.

Here are the first three lambs I knit last week: one wearing a simple scarf, one sporting bib overalls, and the third wearing a cardigan which took many hours to knit!

This is a Multnomah shawl. The pattern is free on Ravelry, and it's a good pattern. I knit this one to donate to a fundraiser, and I knit a similar one as a birthday gift.

These Thorpe earflap hats are quick and easy to make. I knit this one to go with a child's ski parka which I donated to our local community closet.

These socks were lucky enough to travel to Italy and Greece in September. I started them on the flight to Italy; finsihed them while in Delphi, Greece. I photographed them from the balcony of our hotel in Delphi. What a spectacular view they had!

I made this child's afghan from yarns given to me by my friend Pam. More about Pam below. I donated the afghan to  Project Linus in Pam's memory.

I mentioned in a post in early July that my friend Pam had been given only weeks to live. She had a brain tumor. Pam passed away in late August. About two weeks before she died, Pam mentioned to me that she wasn't going to be able to finish the afghan she'd been knitting for her older son. She'd completed the afghans for her younger son and her daughter. I told her I'd be honored to finish this afghan for her, and that's what I did. If you look carefully at the left side of the afghan, just above the bright orange row near the floor, you'll see a tiny stitch marker. That's where Pam's knitting left off and mine began, so she had finished well over half of this project before having to set it aside.

I've posted about these baby booties earlier, but the bibs are new. They're free patterns from Down Cloverlaine and can be found on Ravelry.

In July I took a little time off from my own knitting to teach a special little girl how to finger knit. Santa will be bringing her some real knitting needles and some bulky yarn, so I expect her to be whipping up a scarf before long.

This was my first attempt at a shawl. It almost put me over the edge. I finally contacted a kind lady on Ravelry who had knit this pattern,, and she bailed me out. Come to find out, I'd been misreading the pattern.

So that's pretty much what I've been up to lately. Now I'm off to cast on stitches for another lamb.

Yesterday the oak leaves fell

Or at least a lot of them fell. This is progress.

For the past two weeks Ken has gotten out the little lawn tractor and leaf sweeper-upper and swept the lawns, only to have more leaves fall the next day and the next day and the next.

But yesterday real progress was made.

Apparently it was the day designated by the oak trees to shed their leaves.

So shed they did. All day. All over the lawns. All over the driveway.

The only problem is, there are still a lot of leaves up in those oak trees.

A couple of recent set-backs

Set-back #1

This was the year to renew my driver's license.

I dread this task, because the Dept. of Motor Vehicles office near Portland is always overflowing with fellow drivers who are there for the same reason as I.

The office has about twenty seats available for its customers, and typically there are a good 35 people ahead of me. I've even arrived there, in the past, at least a half-hour before the office opens, only to find a crowd outside, waiting to get in and begin the ordeal of...more waiting.

This year I was luckier. I went on a Tuesday morning, around 9:15. I took my number from the queue machine, #44, and looked at the three windows of DMV clerks to find #35 was currently being waited on.

I didn't even bother to pull my knitting out of my tote bag. I simply sat and waited. I eavesdropped, when circumstances allowed, and learned I'd be paying the "senior" rate of license renewal this year, $22. Not bad. One of the advantages of growing old.

Soon my number was called. I went to the window indicated, answered questions almost completely honestly, paid the fee, and had my eyes tested. This part made me a little nervous because I do have a cataract on my right eye. I was able to identify almost all the letters on the eye chart correctly, though, and next was my license photo.

The clerk asked if I'd like a new photo, or would my old photo "do." I said the old photo would be fine, thinking to myself, "She's trying to tell me I haven't aged so much as a smidge in the past five years!"

The clerk said I'd get my new license in about three weeks. I thanked her and left.

Phew, I thought. Renewing my license wasn't half-bad this time.

Then, just like magic, the new license arrived. I let it marinate on the kitchen counter for a couple of days, then I decided it was time to destroy my old license and replace it with my new one.

As the two licenses sat side-by-side on the counter, I marveled to myself at how much richer the colors in the new license were, compared with the colors in the old one. Same photo, remember, but much richer colors.

Then I grabbed a pair of kitchen shears, stood over the trash basket with license in hand, and began chopping the plastic into tiny little pieces. My left hand covered my photo. I worked from right to left, methodically chopping away, when suddenly my left thumb moved over enough to reveal the photo beneath it: a richly colored photo.

Oh, no, I thought. This can't be! Tell me I'm not chopping up my new license by mistake.

Alas, it was true. See photos above.

I envisioned myself returning to the DMV for another go at waiting in line, paying $22, taking the intimidating eye exam....

But I found the letter that had accompanied my new license. It stated that if, for some reason, I should need to replace the license, I could go online to the address provided and order a new one...for a mere $5. Sounded like a good deal to me.

I ordered the new license and expected DMV headquarters to contact me, asking why I was replacing my new license when my old one was still, technically, valid for a few more days.

They asked me no questions, though, and my newer new license is now safely stored in my wallet.

Set-back #2
You probably heard about the snowstorm to hit the Northeast on October 29-30.

This is what greeted us when we got up that Sunday morning.

It was a heavy, wet snow. Since many of our trees and shrubs still had their leaves, it being still rather early in the fall, the snow weighted them down mercilessly.

Our burning bush, which normally stands over 6 feet tall, is in the foreground of the photo of our house. It's that strange "mound" that you see.

We were afraid the burning bush had been ruined, not to mention the forsythia and some lilacs.

They've since rebounded, though, and are looking good as new.

Our power was off for only about twelve hours, which we can't complain about. Some residents of Connecticut still didn't have their power back yesterday! The storm was 9 days ago, for crying out loud.

Today the temperature is in the mid-60's, so I guess we're not getting an early winter after all. Just a fluke snowstorm.

On to Greece

Unloading our high-speed ferry from Ancona, Italy, to Patras, Greece

Note: I've been trying for four days now to make this update both complete and presentable. Blogger won't let me do either, and I have no idea why. Once try to type below the "...and all was well again" paragraph, things go ka-flooey. The text, in fact, ends up at the bottom of the very last photo on this update.

So, I've decided to admit defeat and just publish the thing, unfinished. The header photo, by the way, is of the ancient amphitheater at Delphi, Greece. Impressive, isn't it?


 Once again I have managed to jumble up the order of these photo, so please bear with me.

We left Ancona, Italy, around 5:00 pm on Sept. 19 and reaching Patras, Greece, about twenty-four hours later.

It was a lovely cruise in a very modern and clean ship. Our little cabin was just right for two tired tourists. I had the best sleep of the entire trip that night, so I guess the ship must have rocked me to sleep. We drove immediately from Patras to Olympia and spent the next night there. The next morning we went to the ruins of the first Greek games. Excavations have revealed much about the once elaborate site. We receiving a 15-minute heavy downpour while there, forcing all of the tourists in our group to huddle under a lean-to, but then the rains stopped, the sun came out, and all was well again.

Olympia, site of first Greek Games

View from our hotel room balcony in Delphi

Ken and I were among the few tourists who climbed to the very top of Mt. Parnassus

The above photos were taken at Delphi. I loved Delphi! I had no idea so much of the orginal site had been excavated.

Coastal view during drive from Patras to Olympia

We climbed and climbed at Delphi, visiting the huge amphitheater, then continuing on to the very top of the site. The view from there was spectacular.

On the slopes of Mt. Parnassus, site of the Oracle at Delphi

The last day of our 

Donkeys on the Greek island of Hydra

Donkeys carrying goods from the port village of Hydra, one of the Greek islands,  up into the mountains

Greek flag on the Acropolis, Athens

The last night of our trip-dinner at our Athens hotel

The four of us taking a break on the Acropolis

The Parthenon

Sure enough, we had a pirate on our ship during our cruise to three Greek islands

Approaching the Greek island of Hydra, in the Mediterranean

Sunset as we return to Athens before heading home the next morning.

Beautiful Assisi

 My only regret regarding our visit to Assisi is that we didn't spend enough time there.

We arrived late in the afternoon on Sunday and left at 10:00 the next morning.

Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis, is a beautiful town located on a hilltop...or maybe a mountain?... overlooking farmlands below. The city of Perugia, site of the Amanda Knox trial, lies nearby.

The town consists of narrow streets, stone-paved walkways, and flowers everywhere. Oh, and it also has 29 churches. That's a good number of churches for a population of about 27,000.

I loved this town and wish we'd had more time to explore it.

We got up early Monday morning to a light rain. The four of us wanted to explore, though, and perhaps even find a few shops open.

Soon the rain turned a little heavier, so Jim and Lynn decided to head back to the hotel. Ken and I forged ahead.

We found an interesting walkway leading up, up, up into the residential area.

Everywhere we saw pots and window boxes of flowers. Flowers everywhere. I couldn't stop myself from taking dozens and dozens of photos during our walk.

This is one of my favorite shots, because there's a nun standing at the top of the stairs. How fitting for Assisi! (Double-click on this photo so you can see her, too. In fact, double-click on any photo if you'd like a closer look.)

I was amazed at how artistically the walkways were built, and how clean all areas are kept.

I loved the arches above. Just beautiful.

We encountered Jim and Lynn again on our way back to the hotel. We also encountered an open shop. Not just any shop, but a leather shop!

Lynn and I ogled the handmade bags and shoes. Not only did we ogle them, we each bought a pair of sandals and a wallet.
Ken got into the shopping mood long enough to buy himself a new belt. (Ken's shopping moods never last long, unless he's buying rusty parts for his Model T and Model A.)

After I'd paid for my purchases, the shop owner (and leather-goods artisan) suddenly kissed my hand. I was a bit surprised, but not as I surprised as I was when he then kissed my cheek! To add to my utter shock, I then kissed his cheek! What was going on here, anyway??!!

I scurried out of the shop before things got way out of hand.

Our final view of Assisi was from the roof of our hotel. There we could see for miles, and we could see that blue skies were returning for the next leg of our journey: to the port where we'd sail overnight to Greece.

Pisa and Florence... and also Venice

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is, indeed, leaning. 

A highlight of our visit to Florence was dinner one evening
with Leonardo
 a Florentine leather goods dealer.

Florence's cathedral

How presumptuous!

Delicious tiramisu

After three full days in Rome, our tour group headed north along the Italian coast, stopping in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The town was overflowing with tourists, but we saw the tower in spite of them.

The scenery this day consisted of the blue Mediterranean on our left, olive tree groves, and vineyards. If I hadn't believed earlier that I was in Italy, I surely would have believed it now.

Following our stop in Pisa, we headed east toward Tuscany, passing through at least twenty mountain tunnels to get to Florence.

Gondolas in Venice

 We enjoyed the beautiful architecture of Florence, and seeing Michaelangelo's David, and visiting a leather shop and a Murano glass factory, ...but an especially fond memory involves our meeting and dining with Leonardo. What a gracious and generous gentleman! He works in Florence in the leather business started by his father and which he now owns, and he makes frequent trips to California to the company (Cavallini) where Jim and Lynn's son Erik worked for several years. When Erik heard we were going to visit Florence, he insisted we meet Leonardo.

Leonardo took us to his favorite little restaurant near his shop, helped us order our meals (Note my tiramisu for dessert. Absolutely delicious!), stealthily paid for the entire dinner when the four of us weren't aware of it, and gave Lynn and me each one of his leather products before the evening ended.

It was rather sad to spend so little time with Leonardo. We're hoping he'll come to Maine with his wife and young son some time, so we can return his hospitality.

From Florence it was on to Venice.

I was nervous about visiting Venice, because I had this preconceived notion that getting around in this city of canals would be extremely difficult.

I was wrong. Water taxis are at one's serice for long "walks" (although they're expensive), and there are plenty of areas accessible by foot.

 Of course our two days in Venice had to include a gondola ride! This was relaxing and fun. Lynn, a former music teacher, was thrilled when the singer and his accompanist climbed aboard our gondola with us. Other gondola riders nearby weren't so lucky.

Lellabella Yarn Shop, Venice (Be still, my heart!(

Unfortunately I felt the need to google "yarn shops, Venice" on my iPad and dicovered Lellabella. I badly wanted to stop in for a visit, so Ken, Jim, and Lynn tolerantly followed along as I searched up and down the shops lining the canals to locate this place.

Finally we found it, but it was closed! In much if not all of Italy, shops close from around 1:00 to around 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. We got to the shop at 1:15, and we couldn't wait for it to reopen because the gondola ride awaited us.

If you look closely at the top of the photo, you'll see the reflections of Lynn and me as we look at the luscious Italian yarns so near, but yet so far.

Our personal troubadour as we take a gondola ride 

At the Rialto, Venice

The Rialto is Venice's most popular canal bridge, so we had to have our photos taken there, of course.

It was now time for the last stop of our time in Italy: Assisi. That's the subject of my next post.

Where've I been?

The Roman Colosseum

Why, I've been to Italy and Greece!

Ken and I, with our good travel buddies and close friends of 40 years, Jim and Lynn, flew to Rome on September 10.

We spent the next two weeks seeing Italy and Greece and constantly exclaiming that we couldn't believe we were really there.

Ken and I had done a Globus tour three years ago, when we went to New Zealand and Australia. It was our first guided tour, and we were a little skeptical as to how we'd like it. We'd done a lot of traveling in Europe in the past, but those trips had always been planned entirely by us, using a Fodor's or Frommer's travel guide, making B&B reservations in advance, and seeing the sights primarily on foot or by train.

Inside the Colosseum

St. Peter's Basilica

We liked the Globus trip to New Zealand and Australia, though, and felt we certainly got our money's worth. And besides, we're now in our 60's, not our 30's or 40's, and traveling is so much easier on a good, guided tour.

So we went with Globus again, and it was another excellent tour.

La Pieta

Pompeii

This was Jim and Lynn's first guided tour, however, so I was a little nervous that I might have over-pitched it to them and they'd be disappointed. They weren't.

The four of us make good travel partners. We've done several trips together: England; Ireland and Scotland; Hawaii; and shorter trips such as Nova Scotia and Martha's Vineyard.

Anyway, to get on with the trip.

Today I bring you Rome and a touch of Pompeii.

It was thrilling for me to see the Roman Colosseum and La Pieta, in particular. I took a History of Art course while in undergrad school, and Professor Hartgen really opened my eyes to the world of art. I'd hardly realized art even existed before his grueling course.

I remember reading about the ancient wonders of Rome and Athens in my art text and hoping to see them with my own eyes one day.

Now I have.

La Pieta, sculpted by Michaelangelo in the 1500's, has always intrigued me because of the ability of Michaelangelo to give weight to Christ's body. Just look at Him in Mary's lap. Can't you almost feel how heavy He is? Look at His right arm, at His armpit. Isn't that detail amazingly realistic?

To think a Michaelangelo can take a piece of marble, hand-selected by himself, and "find" these likenesses inside it is amazing. Here's a time when I'd say the word "awesome" truly applies.

Our tour guide at St. Peter's Basilica said La Pieta had been attacked by a deranged man with a hammer when the art work was on tour in America several years ago. That didn't sound quite right to me. I knew it had been attacked, and that's why it's now kept safely behind an acrylic glass panel, but I was sure it hadn't happened in America. I googled "The Pieta" for information about this the minute we got back to our hotel room, of course, and sure enough, the attack happened at St. Peter's Basilica itself, not in the US. Hmmmrph.

We took a day-trip to Pompeii during our three days in Rome. It's a three-hour drive from Rome south to Pompeii, but the first hour of the trip is spent getting outside of the city limits!

It was a hot day to be there, with no shade to be found, but it was fascinating to see the excavation of this ancient city. I had no idea it had been such a large metropolis. Pompeii and its residents were completely buried over a two-day period in AD 79 from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Air pockets have been found where bodies once lay but have since completely decomposed. Plaster has been poured into many of these air pockets, thus yielding the "bodies" of humans and even dogs.

We had an excellent tour of the place before heading back to Rome and leaving for Florence the next day...

I took hundreds of photos on this trip, but I'll try to limit the number I share on this blog.