Skip to main content

Magic Hour

I have been busy working on Christmas projects but I'll save details on that for later, so as not to miss out on the fun of Halloween.  (Matt and Jen, tune in next week!) 


Today was the first day in a long time for which we had no plans of any sort, and last night BFJ and I stayed up late and watched State of Play.  That was a much better movie than we were expecting.  At one point, we paused for a bathroom / snack break, and both commented on the constant tension.  So Mom, not one for you!  

This morning, we slept in.  Or tried to.  I do not understand how my kids can get up at 6:30 on Saturdays only.  BFJ spent the day doing yard work, including cleaning up all the leaves.  As soon as he was done and coming in for dinner, we had a huge gust that swept through the neighborhood, scattering leaves all over our yard!  What I "accomplished" today was minimal, but I did get some laundry done, and nothing was rushed. 

This evening, we enjoyed watching HGTV's Halloween Block Party.  What I like about Halloween is how (most) people are willing to suspend their low expectations for a day.  Suddenly I can be anything I want, and when I tell people at the office, at the store, what I am, they nod because of course I am.  They admire(?) me because I'm not too grown up to have some childish fun.  And just maybe, there is a little bit of something magical in the air.  Friday night, we'll be watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!  Now, it is at long last pumpkin carving time.  We told our children we would get that done today, and Speed has been asking, "How many hours are left in the day?" lest we forget.  I helped cut the top off of his pumpkin tonight and was smacked up side the face with the nostalgia of all my childhood years, that distinct smell of pumpkins which means one thing: jack-o-lanterns.  We are not all carving pumpkins now, though; one of us is blogging, and our little one conked right out on the couch before the magic hour arrived.  I was informed by Zoom this evening that he is old enough to do his by himself. 

In the coming week, we are planning to squeeze in some family time to make a haunted castle, a la Ann Wood.  If it turns out well, we'll post a picture! 

Comments

  1. It's just not right to mention the C-word before Halloween, so thank you for waiting a week to show us LOL. I haven't even thought about homemade gifts this year -- sadly, that's probably a good sign that there won't be many. Have fun making your haunted castle!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope you get to work on the haunted castle--sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved that HGTV special - gave me lots of ideas:) Halloween is a great holiday, so much fun. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  4. I jumped right over to my Netflix Queue and added the movie, Karen! Can't wait to see what you do with an Ann Wood project - how fun!
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love reading your comments! Please be sure to LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS (if it isn't included in your profile) so that I may respond to you. Thank you!

Popular posts from this blog

reasons I knit

I haven't posted a lot of knitting on here in the last few years.  Not much to say about it but I still knit.   I knit because I love to create. I knit because I love sweaters. I knit because I grew up with a mom who is artistic beyond the acknowledgement she receives, and it's in my blood to do something creative. I knit because I love the good things God grows, like sheep and wool and muskox and cotton. I knit because I love colors. I knit because my boys wear what I knit. I knit because I like the rhythm. I knit because it has a beginning and an end, and they are achievable.  I knit because when my hands are busy, my mouth slows down, and it gives my brain a chance to make better decisions. I knit because I'm really, really good at it, and it's one of the few things that others acknowledge, and we all need that. I knit because I love to knit. I'm working on a colorful shawl in alpaca. 

modular knitting

On the plus side, modular knitting gives one interesting options for colorwork and color blocking.  Sometimes the dye process can give the yarn its own commentary, like this changing of scales. However, there are often many more ends to weave in.  This one is not too bad, but there's at least four ends on every row - 14 rows.  Still, interesting to try something new! Details on my Ravelry page , if you are interested!!  Have you tried modular knitting?  Thumbs up or down??

getting through winter

As classes of all sorts get scheduled, rescheduled and postponed due to weather, and with the short days with less light, I often find January and February to be a forced pause.  Years like this convince me that I should get good at reading rain gauges and keeping track of the temperature.  It seems like we've had an usual amount of snow.  That should be good for our snow pack and seasonal runoff to fill creeks, lakes, basins, but we'll see what the spring brings.  In the meantime, I have been trying to tick off indoor chores and projects, and working on garden things.   We have started a handful of seedlings:  basil, foxgloves, verbascum, lavender, rosemary, onions and something new to us, naranjilla .  We have varying levels of success.  The naranjilla did take a long time to germinate; I think we used 11 seeds, and we currently have five seedlings, some a couple weeks older than others!  We're still 12-14 weeks out from planting and I really had my hands full last year -