Here in the US, yesterday was Father's Day.  When I asked Pk what he wanted for dinner, he said "Sausage".  Now, to be fair, he says Sausage most times when I ask him what he wants for dinner.

This time, however, he was ready.  One of his co-workers is Ukranian and told him about a market where we could get SAUSAGE and lots of it.  So we went there on Saturday morning (we had a backup plan for dinner if the sausage thing didn't work out but no worries).

Bell's Market was an adventure.  The left half of the store is a seemingly average grocery store but then you go through to the other side and it's like being transported to Eastern Europe.

The packages are no longer labelled  in English and most of the people are speaking something other than English.  It was so much fun.  We were trying to identify items by the photos on the package. 

And yes, we got sausage.  Six different kinds. This is one of them.  I think this one was not one of the smoked ones.  It had to be steamed before it went on the grill.  We also got some cheese.  It's all very smokey and strongly flavored but interesting. 

I also bought some dumplings from a large freezer where you took a scoop and put them into a bag.  They were labelled, "russian dumplings.  Meat, Chicken, Pork".  I'm not sure what "meat" means and probably don't want to know.  I cooked them and let them cool and dressed them with some olive oil, garlic and lemon and they were delicious.

Kate and Em and Jim came for dinner and we had a good time trying the different foods.  It makes me laugh since Kate not only tried the sausages, but ate a Rambutan (the hairy fruits we got at Produce Junction?) as well.  The child who only ate mac and cheese, pizza and spaghetti.

Kate and I also discussed the difference between a Father and a Dad.  I have a Father, she has a Dad.  I love the fact that they all have Father/Daughter days with Pk and he enjoys them as much as the girls do.

Oh, and I forgot the bread.  When we bought the Black Baton and the Lavash with Feta, they were still warm from the oven.  It was all I could do not to rip open the bags and eat them in the car on the way home.  They were amazing.  I am so looking forward to going back to this store.

Pk spent his day just the way he likes.  He went to the flea market early in the morning and then came home to brunch of scrambled eggs and Lavash with blueberry/strawberry crepes and whipped cream.  He took a nap and then dug out a garden bed to put in the mushroom soil we ordered a few weeks ago (and is sitting under a tarp on the driveway since it's been raining steadily since then).

The girls left and we had some time to just relax before pulling things together for work today.  I worked on my red socks.  This red yarn is some that Pk chose for me a while ago.  Originally it was going to be Bayerische socks but I hated working the pattern so I pulled out 1 1/2 finished socks and decided on this Simple Lace Sock from an old issue of IK.  It doesn't look like much until you put it on.  It's an easy ssk lace pattern and looks really good in this yarn (I think it's Louet Gems).  There is no halo/fuzziness to obscure the pattern. 

I like this quite a bit.  This is not the best photo and when they're finished, I'll take a better one.  It's easy enough to carry on a conversation and knit at the same time.

Other than that, things are quiet.  We are getting ready for the slow, hot days of summer and planning for Em and Jim's wedding.  The latter is not occupying much time since we are not intimately involved in the planning.  I hope to start the dress this week if the humidity cooperates.  It's hard to work with the satin if I'm sweating all over. 

Work is busy but satisfying and I guess I can't ask for much more than that.  Happy Monday all.

I am sitting here being very very grateful for the small heater that lives under my desk at work.  When Pk and I left the house this morning, it was spritzing.  A few drops here and there.  No need to panic and run inside for the boots.

30 minutes later, as I walked toward the steps out of the underground train station, I could see the water cascading down the steps and knew I was in trouble.  I pulled out my (Van Gogh sunflowers) umbrella and headed out into the deluge.  And a deluge it was.  I only walk 2 blocks to work but my legs were wet from the knees down and the back of my sweater from where my umbrella dripped on it was soaked.

The heater is drying my pants and keeping me from being too cold here in the a/c.  The phone has been ringing and I'm pretty sure it's people cancelling appointments due to the weather.

We have had a fair amount of rain this year, not a bad thing because it makes for lush green grasses and lots of blooms. 

The "sticks" have been growing and growning and we still have no idea what they are!  They started out, literally as sticks about 18" tall, all brown and naked.  They just keep getting taller and the growth at the top is green and looks like it will keep going. 

Our plants from MDSW have small yellow flowers on them and will hopefully continue to fill out the bed.

This was a mixed bag of a weekend.  I broke the glass on my ipad in a stupid accident.  I hit it with a dinner plate (it slipped out of my hand and hit the front of the ipad just so) and it shattered the glass on the camera end.  It still works but there is a large crack running through one corner.  I called Apple and they do not replace the glass on ipad2 but will take it as a trade in and give me a discount on a new one.  We'll go see how much that will cost before I decide to replace it.

In more pleasant news, Em and I went shopping for her dress pattern/material yesterday and we came up with this

pattern.  That's the blue satin she chose and the white is an embroidered tulle.  We'll use the edges of that to stick out of the bottom of the dress as an accent and then some of the motifs from within the fabric to put on the bodice. 

It went better than I thought.  Em had a very definite idea of what she wanted and I wasn't sure we would be able to find it.  There aren't as many patterns available (even online) as when I was learning to sew. But, we got lucky and found a very similar style that Em likes and I think will look flattering on her.  It's evern fairly simple.  I've never used Burda patterns before but it doesn't look too difficult.  Making sure it fits well will be the most difficult part.  Satin is a pain to work with because of the slipperiness of the fabric but it's so worth it for the shine and drape of it.

Other than that, our weekend was a quiet one.  We did some chores and mostly tried to stay dry.  It rained and rained and rained on Friday into Saturday.  We had to pull out the pump and clear out the crawlspace.  Pk's shop in the garage flooded and now needs a bit of a clean up but he'll have to wait until this storm moves through.

I have a full day and last night suffered a bout of insomnia.  Something woke me around 1:30 and I couldn't fall back asleep.  I'm a bit on the tired side today but it's a busy one so hopefully, it'll keep me awake.

Happy Monday to everyone. 

Today is D Day.  The day the ships of the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy. No, it's not a day traditionally remembered or celebrated.

But, Pk is a WWII buff and is interested in war in history in general so in our house, June 6 has always been observed with the Watching of The War Movies.

Usually, I sit in the same room and do something else. I mostly ignore what is on the screen and keep occupied with my own things.  This year, I told him I'd watch whatever he wanted (although I reallyreally rather not watch Saving Private Ryan again nor do I want to watch The Longest Day) with him.

We started last night with three episodes of Band of Brothers, the ones in which the Band parachutes into France on the eve of D Day.  I have heard how well made this series is and how good the acting, directing and special effects are but I was unprepared for how emotional it was.

Now, to be fair, it's time for my period so I'm a bit more easily weepy than normal.  But, think of the movie that makes you cry the most/hardest.  Got one?  Mine is Steel Magnolias.  I love that movie but it makes me sob hard enough to get a headache every time.  I love the portrayal of support and love between friends.

These few episodes of this show last night were worse.  The scene we ended with was so emotional last night that I had to pull up some Eddie Izzard to restore some balance before I went to sleep (and even then the feeling haunted my dreams).  Even my manly husband was overtaken by emotion.  It's inoccuous enough.  A soldier goes to a woman to pick up his laundry and she asks him if he can take some of the other laundry that has yet to be picked up.  As she reads off the names, he realizes they are all members of his squad that have been killed. (as I write this, I can see the look on the character's face and the tears are filling my eyes again).  It was an extremely effective way to show how great the losses were without an actual body count chart.

After last night, Pk said "you don't have to do this, you know.  I can watch them by myself".  My purpose was to share this with him and give him a person to talk about it with because these films bring out powerful emotions. 

I will say that I know that every generation has its good folks and bad folks and most folks fall somewhere in between perfect and awful.  The men and women of the generation that fought in that war seemed to have something that I don't know if we still have.  You can't compare wars to one another, each one is so different and the circumstances are so different (except for the tremendous sense of waste and the dreadful loss of lives).  But I've always thought that people are just people.  Now I'm not so sure. 

But onto more mundane and less profound, and profoundly affecting subjects.  We picked up Kate and Patrick from the airport last night.  They were in Jamaica for the week. 

It was an eventful week since Patrick asked Kate to marry him and she said Yes.  He told us before they left of his plans and it was killing me to know and to keep it to myself.  Fortunately, he asked her the night they got there so we could talk about it. 

They had a great week (Kate posted on Facebook that they were offered marijuana several times over the course of the week, she was amused by this).  Swimming with dolphins and having nurse sharks sit on their laps (!!!!!) being two of the highlights.

But now it's Thursday and we have a staff meeting which does not promise to be pleasant (are they ever, really?).  I'm off to find some poems for my group and gird my loins for the meeting.  Have a pleasant Thursday!

Good Monday Morning!  It's 100% humidity (so you can imagine what my hair looks like today) and I am sitting at my desk enjoying the quiet that is early morning here.

Do you have Produce Junction where you live?  That's a link to their Facebook page (and am I the only one who thinks it's weird that a business is on Facebook?)  It started out as a way to get fresh fruits and vegetables cheaply.  I assume it's because it's all they sell and they buy in bulk.  One of the things we like about them is that we often find odd fruits and veg there.  For instance, this.  These are Rambutan and are native to tropical areas in the south Pacific and southern Asia area.  If you cut it open, you get what looks like a smooth brain inside a hula skirt.  The clerk at Produce Junction talked us into trying them (she told us her name and said we should come back and make sure we told her what we thought). 

Now, I will freely admit that I am not an adventurous eater.  Pk and Elanor will, however, try almost anything.  Their report is that it's veryvery sweet with no real flavor, just sweet.  They're so strange looking and so very odd but we have tried several odd things from this store and I'm glad they're there.  They introduced us to Asian pears which we love but almost have to sell a kidney to afford.

For the first time in my life, I am keep track of what I eat.  I downloaded an app to my phone called My Fitness Pal.  I didn't find it, it kind of found me.  I was reading the blog of one of my favorite authors, Joshlyn Jackson, and she was talking about how much she loved it.  I checked it out and decided that it might not be a bad thing.  So, I signed up.  There are a lot of features but for me, the only one that I use is the calorie keeper.  I put in my actual weight (and this is all truthful since it's not fair to myself to lie) and how much I think I'd like to weigh and  my exercise level and they told me how many calories I can consume each day- 1500.  That is not very many but most days I am managing to keep under it and still not be starving.  After 2 weeks, I have lost 3 pounds and haven't really changed much except to be more aware of what I put in my mouth.  If I know I have to put into the food diary, I think twice about whether I really want to eat it.  I try to make every calorie count.  If I go to the gym, I can have a few extra calories but not many. 

I am not a fanatic.  The beauty of this is that it's making me think about my food, not just consume it.  I am consciously eating more vegetables and less carb loaded meals.  I am happy if I end the day below my allotted calories but if I come out with a bit more, I am not crushed.  It's become habit to enter my foods and the app gives you reminders, "If you continue to eat this way, in 5 weeks, you will weigh......" and things like that.  You can also hook up with friends and offer encouragement.  I don't know if I'm ready to make tis a social activity.  Some things I can keep to myself.

Pk and the rabbits are at war now.  He started with 12 beautiful pod bearing pea plants and Thursday night when we got home, we found this.  Only 3 plants are unscathed.  He was not a happy camper.  Out came the trap and the chicken wire.  We have several rabbits in the yard and we have been happily cohabitating for years.  However, we have not planted a vegetable garden in those years so it was all good.  We liked having the bunnies. 

Not so much this year.  It's hard enough to keep the insects out without resorting to chemicals.  

We're leaving a bit early today because Pk has a root canal appt this afternoon.  I have my mp3 player and my knitting so I'm ready.  He has to get to a drug store this morning and get a toothbrush and then he'll be ready.  It should take about an hour but I remember one endodontist telling him he has particularly long roots so who knows.

This is the end of our first heat wave.  It was not unbearable all weekend.  I sat outside in the shade and there was a breeze and I was just in awe of how beautiful it was.  I didn't pick up the knitting, just sat and listened to a book and dozed.  I am so lazy.  Sunday was much of the same but with laundry thrown in.  We grilled for the first time in a long time and it was delicious.  Pk does the grilling and he is quite good at it.  I cleaned some corn on the cob and wrapped it up in foil with basil leaves and a bit of butter.  It was so good.  I ate one piece and kept eyeing a second but corn and I don't get along well as I get older. 

The doctor I work with this morning called out sick and I have been scrambling to get hold of people before they leave the house.  It's so humid and difficult to breathe so if I can keep people from coming out unnecessarily, it's all the better.  I reached everyone except the first one.  They travel a distance so I rescheduled them and gave them a prescription.  I'll talk to the dr tomorrow and we'll sort everyone else out then. My week is off to a flying start.

I started to write this on Wednesday but it was OBE and I just haven't gotten back to it.  Let's catch up using the tried and true bullet point method.

- Our vacation was terrific, if a bit chilly and rainy.  We pursued our individual hobbies and watched Kingdom Hospital and ate tons of popcorn (we experimented with carmel corn with real carmels melted onto it.  Oh My Goodness.  It was delicious)

- The vacation started off with a trip to the dentist.  She gave me 4 shots of novocaine to drill and refill two very old fillings which had worn out in spots.  She also told me nothing much shows up on an xray of the tooth I had 2 root canals on except a small crack on the tooth that is left.  That may have some inflamation so she gave me an antibiotic and said it will have to come out if the pain continues.  A week later it seems to be better (thankfully- I didn't want to lose the tooth).  By the time she got done working on my mouth, the area around the chair looked like the set of a horror movie.  I had an area of gum that wouldn't stop bleeding and I'll just leave it to your imagination.  There was also the effect of the 4 shots of anesthetic which made the right side of my mouth un-useable.  I kept lisping as I tried to talk.  Rinsing and spitting were an adventure.  I was a mess.  It was soup for dinner for me!

- Peter Kevin was not so lucky and has an appt for a root canal on Monday afternoon.

- I found a home for this rocking chair.  A coworker owns it (family heirloom) and has no room for it.  She asked me (I wonder why?) if I wanted it.  After a resounding NO from Pk, I asked Kate and Emily if either one of them were interested.  Kate is so she'll make arrangements to pick it up.  Pk wanted to cannibalize it for parts.

- We put in a small garden this year.  So far, we have peas and tomatoes and a pepper plant.  We have some herbs, mint which you can't kill and will come back and take over the world if left unchecked, some sage and some thyme.  Those pea vines are up and over the top of their trellis and have blossoms.  We have discovered some plants bitten down to nubs and suspect the resident rabbits. 

-I have been washing and carding the bags of alpaca that I bought 3 years ago.  At the time, I had no idea of the amount of work involved.  This stuff is filthy.  I put handfulls into a lingerie bag and dip it in and out of warm, soapy water.  I use Woolite because I refuse to pay the exhorbitant prices for other specialty washes.  I grew up with Woolite and it has always worked for me.  I wash all of our socks in it and it's good.  Then the hair (it's not really wool) has to be laid out to dry and then hand carded to remove as much of the grass and seeds and other detritus as I can.  There is still a lot left and I try to get the rest as I spin it.  I have a pile of little cream colored clouds waiting to be spun.  And then another whole bag of carmel colored alpaca waiting for me to start on it.





-Kate and Patrick are on their way to Jamaica as I type this.  Kate found them a good deal for a week on the island.  She had a lot of trouble getting a passport in time and talk about last minute.  It finally came yesterday afternoon.  She was in such a state of panic.  This is her first airplane ride and their first real trip together.  As long as Patrick stays out of the sun, they should be fine (he's a redhead with skin like milk)

- There's a hole in the wall of our garage.  It's been there since we moved in.  Actually, it's not a garage because a garage houses cars.  It's really a woodshop since it houses woodworking tools and Pk's stash of wood.

If you look at the bottom left hand corner of the hole in the wall, you'll see a nest.  Pk found it last Wednesday. There has been a very determined wren flying around in the shop hiding in the woodpile.  Pk has been just as determinedly shooing her out.  Well, she was the winner and built this nest in a day.  What you can't see is that there are 4 eggs inside.

Pk had a dilemma.  He planned to work in the shop during our vacation but he knew his closeness would scare away the mother.  He saw her come back just once and then she didn't return again.  We had some very cold nights for May and since Mom didn't come back, we figured she abandonned the nest.  This made us feel bad but we tried to shoo her away so many times and she chose to use the shop anyway.  Pk waited a few days and then pulled the nest out.  She chose the least convenient spot since right next to that hole is the door leading into the house which is a squeaky door. 

-We planned a few low key activities for our vacation but since we really hadn't had any time off since Christmas, we ended up doing as little as we could get away with.  We cooked our meals and I did laundry but that was it.  Oh, we did see Star Trek.  It was terrific. 

- We worked this time off around Memorial Day so we had a three day week last week and a three day week this week.  It's Friday already!  I have a paperwork day and then it'll be off to the grocery store and a weekend. 

-The gel manicure?  It lasts about a week but I learned that it may not chip (although I have a chip right now and this is only 5 days old) but it will peel off if you use your nails to pry the screen saving material on the front of your iphone.  I still think it lasts longer than a regular manicure but not as long as I was led to believe.  I love my french manicure.  It's my real nails and they look nice.  It has to be soaked off in acetone polish remover but then scrapes off fairly easily with no damage to the nail.  It's about 10 dollars more and probably worth it if you use your hands a lot and if it's important that they look done.

It's Friday and I have work to do so I'll say have a good weekend!  It's predicted to be 95 degrees again today (35 C).  Thank god for a/c!!

Words of wisdom from a cereal box.  I eat breakfast at my desk most days.  And most days it's cereal with milk (and only very occasionally a banana).  Cheerios is probably my favorite cereal.

When my girls were small, Cheerios was their first finger food and the small round bits were everywhere in our world.  Under couch cushions, on the floor of the car, in the car seats and in the bottom of my purse. 

I love their bright yellow boxes with one positive word on the back. 

I had to enable the word verification feature and disallow annonymous comments.  For some reason for the past two weeks, I have been getting some weird spam comments and I find them irritating. 

Let me tell you about the deal of the century Pk and I got inadvertently on Friday.  I wanted to update my phone and as a Mother's Day present, we were going to the At&t store after work.  As I am handing over my old phone to transfer the data, the clerk tells me I can trade it in.  I figure if I am only going to get a few dollars, I'll pass but she tells me my old phone is worth 50% off. 

That's worth it and I turn to Pk and say "well, if mine is half off and you trade in your phone, we can both get new phones for what it was going to cost for one".  Before I get the entire thought out of my mouth, he has the case off his old phone and is handing it over.  "Ok".

His phone was worth 200.00 because it was a newer model than mine (which was worth only 100.00) so it was an even trade for a new phone.  We walked out of the store with two new iphone5 phones for just over 100.00 (plus the money we spent for a really good case for Pk's phone.  That thing is a tank).  We were thrilled.  I ordered a new tardis case for mine which will come this week.

But the BEST thing about the whole incident is that we got to keep our Light Sabre apps!!  I can't overestimate how happy this made us.  One of the best parts of this particular phone is that it can become a light sabre and make real light sabre sounds.  I know where Pk is in the grocery store because I can hear his light sabre.  Yes, I know having reliable communication equipment is the most important but having a light sabre in your pocket cannot be underestimated for entertainment value.

I had my diagnostic mammogram yesterday.  It's the same as a regular mammogram but different.  They use a different set of lenses and plates to take close ups of my breasts that have been squeezed to an inch in thickness.  It's nerve wracking because you have to wait for the doctor to read them before you get to leave.  It turns out I have some calcium deposits which look ok for now but they will keep an eye on them and I get to go back in 6 months instead of a year. 

I started work on my sweater and I have re-learned a valuable lesson.  Just because a pattern looks deceptively simple does not mean you should not pay attention to it.  I have had to rip out the flowered part of the bottom twice now because my count keeps coming up short.  It's a simple set of k2tog, ssk, yo and the occasional bobble.  I put it aside and picked up my sparkle sock.  You can't see the glittery bits (well, you can see them if you really look hard) in this light but you can see the pretty colors.  It's a soothing, mindless round after round of knit stitches.  The sweater and I will meet again over the weekend.

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the US.  It means parades and sometimes fireworks and picnics and bbqs and all things red, white and blue.  And this year it seems to mean humid, thunderstorm-like weather so probably no picnics for us.  We often choose a favorite movie series and have a marathon.  We're leaning toward Star Wars but Harry Potter is running a close second unless we can get Kingdom Hospital from Netflix in time.  Pk and I took the Thurs and Fri before the weekend and the Tuesday after so we have a week off.  I can't wait. 

We have no real plans but if the weather is really nice, we'll go to the river and watch the boats and I'll spin and just enjoy the outdoors-after we take the allergy medicine of course!

A bit of bright color for a grey morning.  It looks like rain outside and I really hope it rains hard today.  The trees are so ready to burst forth with pollen that it's only a matter of hours before they let go.  Our car is covered in pale greenish yellow dust and I can just imagine what I'm breathing in.

I know how it's affecting the histamine levels in our bodies.  Peter Kevin almost never takes medication for anything but even he is giving in and taking allergy tablets.  A good rain shower would wash that pollen right down onto the ground.

This is the sparkly sock yarn (Summer Sky by Marigoldjen) that I bought at MDSW.  I am a bit further along and the yarn while not especially sqooshy, is fun to knit with visually.  I keep watching my hands to see how the colors pop up.  I'm making just plain stockinette socks and so far, I love them.  (the hot pink thing is my ipad cover.  It really is that pink, just not quite that bright).

And now for something completely different.....a Finished Object!  Pk's mock-Thorlo socks.  I know it's a bit difficult to see but the insteps of the socks were done in a one by one ribbing to pull them into the foot more and give them a closer fit.  It makes for funny looking socks but Pk wore them yesterday and he loves them.  I have a feeling they will become my go-to pattern for his socks.  The yarn is one from Artwalk sock yarn club.  It's merino/nylon.  Pk's socks can only be made with sock yarn containing nylon, he's hard on socks.  These were toe up with short row heels (because I haven't figured out how to do a flap heel toe up)

I started this last night.  The pattern is called Anthea and the yarn is knitpicks merino style dk weight in hollyberry.  I saw the pattern online yesterday while browsing the internet (as you do).  I had already purchased the yarn for another sweater that never came to fruition and I fell in deep love with the pattern (it is not striped- my printer needs to print out a warm up page because we don't use it enough and the ink cartridges get a bit wonky).

I don't often make impulse pattern purchases but the simplicity of the design appealed to me.  I will probably make it a bit longer because the cropped design is not figure friendly for me and I will definitely lengthen the 3/4 sleeves. 

The merino yarn is soft and squishy and easy to work with (the pattern is made in a cashmere blend-a bit pricey for me).  I thought this would make a cute cardigan to put on in the everpresent a/c in the summer.  I brought it in today to work on during the knitting group.  I want to show the people who are afraid of patterns that it doesn't have to be that difficult.

I'll be busy sewing once Em decides on a dress for the wedding.  We are going pattern shopping in 2 weeks.  She wants something simple so it will be doable.  I'm getting Pete a guyaberra shirt.  He wants a straw fedora to wear with it.  No suits and ties at this wedding. 

And for Roxie, a manicure update.  6 days later and not a chip, crack or dull surface.  Despite all the typing I do at work and all the things I do with my hands all day, my nails look just as nice as they did when I left the salon.  I am not a terribly vain woman but since I use my hands (and talk with them) all day in a public setting, I want to look neat and well groomed.  Keeping up a regular manicure takes time and patience and great quantities of acetone.  This took 30 minutes one afternoon and that was it.  It is so worth the extra 10 dollars it cost.  (and now Peter Kevin can't complain about the nail chemicals....)

Work is going along.  Nothing earth shattering or new.  Pk's office is undergoing a reorganization and he'll end up with a new manager, always an interesting thing.  I have a diagnostic mammogram on Monday to check an Area of Concern.  I'll have to leave work early so I can have the test done while a radiologist is on the premises (because it's diagnostic and not screening).  If she sees anything, I'll have an ultrasound done right away.  In my head, I know it'll be fine but there's a niggling part of my gut that is nervous since my mother lost a breast to cancer.  So, cross your fingers for me on Monday.

We have a chore filled weekend coming up.  Pk is helping our neighbor with some yard work and he wants to work on the siding.  I'm going to switch out the summer/winter clothes and I think I'll clean out my closet.  There are probably unidentifiable life forms growing in the corners since I can't remember the last time I actually cleaned the closet out.  If you don't hear from me next week, someome might want to send in some Marines (preferable young, buff ones).