Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Bittersweet Celebrations

Thanksgiving has just passed and even though many friends have been devastated by the recent Superstorm (apparently not a hurricane) everyone I have encountered is reminding themselves of what we have to be thankful for. 

First and foremost we have our family, we had 27 for Thanksgiving dinner.  My immediate family was all together and I am so thankful for that. 
We had extended family visiting from Germany (he is our American nephew who married a girl from Poland and their son is trilingual) for the first time since their son was born and it was so special to treat them to a real American Thanksgiving.
Mixing brownie batter.

The day before Thanksgiving was my parents' 70th anniversary so we celebrated it at Thanksgiving along with my daughter's 30th birthday.

70 years ago on November 21.


Celebrating 100 years, 70 years married & 30 years alive.

I've managed to get in some knitting and I finished my long fingerless mitts pattern.  I have realized that it is difficult to get a good photo to really show off this accessory.  My pattern is available on Ravelry, Etsy and Craftsy.   What do you think about the photos?  
This is the photo on the pattern, but does it really catch your eye?


Any better?













One more note about Thanksgiving (you would think this was an assignment to see how many times I could put the word Thanksgiving into a short blog post); sometimes traditions fade, and I was reminded that we used to play Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant.  One year we even took the kids to Carnegie Hall to see him perform his annual personalized version.  Here is his sister talking a little about her brother Arlo, maybe you had to be there, but it brought back many good memories.





Monday, November 5, 2012

Halloween

Governor Christie postponed Halloween, so in the state of NJ Halloween is today.

Personally we have little damage and have come through the hurricane very well.  Many in our little town of 1,700 are still without power.  Slowly streets are being cleared and road blocks are retreating.  Our post office has been working without lights (we do not get mail delivery) and our fire department is a home to area first responders.  Our local diner (NJ is famous for them) is now open for business and even though we can cook at home we have returned to our weekend tradition of breakfast at the Toms River Diner. 

I haven't really been taking very many photos but having been looking at many personal photos and videos through FB.  I have been spending my time taking care of people, so I am sorry I don't have any exciting photos to show you.  We have had some especially beautiful clouds, but I never had my camera with me.
This was taken on the real Halloween, 2 days after the hurricane hit, taken from a 60 foot bluff above the Toms River, out my front door.
Not a spectacular photo, but I just happened to grab my camera.

I am continuing to work on the long fingerless gloves pattern and am making up another pair in Lorna's Laces Solemate yarn I bought on the NYC yarn crawl.  I love, love, love the way they are turning out.  I tried to finish them last night, but I discovered it is not a good idea to work on a picot bind off when you are nodding off in front of the TV.
 
This glove was the inspiration for my pattern.
 
My pattern proofreader is still without power and therefore internet.  She also had severe flooding so she has been busy.  (I could say something sarcastic here, but I won't, but I am thinking it.)

I don't know if we will actually have trick or treaters in our town, but I have my back up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ready (we already ate the Tastycakes!)