Time with my little buddy

I had a lovely visit with my eldest DD and her hb Jesse and my grandson Ryan.  I tried the front placket sweater on Ryan — he was not thrilled and kept trying to pull it off over his head as I was putting it on him — but I prevailed and even got a photo!  Never get in the way of a determined grandma!!  LOL

It fits beautifully.  I thought it might be too large, but he has grown quite a lot in the past three months.

We drove over to Abilene on Saturday morning and visited the Heritage Center which has a lot of Abilene history.  There is also a Sprint telephone museum in the Heritage Center, Old Abilene town with some of the original buildings and farm equipment.  And a CW Parker carousel from the 1800s that still works — Ryan and his mom rode the carousel.  Then my daughter wanted to go over to the Greyhound Hall of Fame, so we stopped in there.  We didn’t get to the Eisenhower museum because we had a toddler with us who was ready to go.  I took everyone to the Brookville Hotel for a family style fried chicken dinner — the food was wonderful.  My SIL ate an entire platter of fried chicken by himself!

After we drove back to Manhattan, the boys took a nap.  DD and I went to Starbuck’s for a latte and a chat.  Then we did a bit of shopping.

It was a nice weekend.  Ryan and I played and watched Veggie Tales.  He likes Veggie Tales and Baby Einstein.  And he loves trains and bubbles.  I had missed the little guy so much.

In fact, I will be going back up this coming Saturday for the day with my younger daughter.  She is coming into town for a few days.  She needs to see her sister and nephew before the Iraq deployment happens.

The band has been asked to provide music for a women’s retreat in mid October, so we need to start choosing music and scheduling practices.

I got no knitting done over the weekend.  I am working on the second sock of the Schiaparelli Slipper Socks.  Need to get this pair finished.  I am itching to start some new projects.  I have laid aside my log cabin sock yarn blanket for the time being.  I will try to post a  photo of my progress on that soon.

I found out that Stephanie Pearl McPhee, the Yarn Harlot herself, is scheduled to come here on her book tour in September.  I will be there!  A couple of years ago, I mailed her first book to a friend in Maryland who got it signed for me when she was at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  And now she is coming to Wichita — so I can get my other book signed.  Woo Hoo!

Summer Days

I realized it has been awhile since I have updated my blog.  I have no good excuse — time just gets away from me.

I have been spending time out in my yard, riding my bicycle, walking, socializing with friends, music practice, lots of reading, cooking and knitting.

 

I bought this last year at the herb fair from a grower who told me it is an orchid iris.  What a pretty bloom — even though my pics are a little blurry!

This is a large planter in front of my house.  I usually fill it with dusty miller and red geraniums, but this year I filled it with coleus. 

My thornless blackberry has an abundance of berries this year!  I have been picking and freezing.  I am thinking of making jam soon.

Last night I finished the child’s front placket sweater I have been knitting for Ryan.  I am leaving this afternoon to drive up to Manhattan to visit.  I will try it on him and try to get a photo for the blog.  Hard to believe that he is 16 months old!  I haven’t seen him since April, so I am anxious.  He is back at his mom’s until she deploys to Iraq — which will be coming up in the next 6-8 weeks.  It seemed so long ago before and now the time is flying by. 

I found out I have some vacation days I need to use, so yesterday I took a day off and I did some chores around the house and the yard.  My grape tomatoes look more like Roma tomatoes because of all the rain we have had.  I need to pick basil and make pesto and pick the sage for freezing, but that will have to wait until Sunday.  I baked banana bread and zucchini bread to take with me to my daughter’s today.  I also made a large batch of salsa and will take a container of that also.

I finished the first of the pair of Schiaparelli Slipper Socks.  I will start the other one this evening while babysitting.  DD and her husband are going to see the new Harry Potter film tonight and I will stay with Ryan.  After he goes down for the night, I hope to get this second sock started.