One Weekend, Two Milestones

What a whirlwind this past week has been!  At this time last week, I was prepping to leave early the next morning to drive up to the U.P. and attend DD2's college graduation.  And, I was awaiting any word from DS1 or K2 about being in labor and heading to the hospital.  In the previous two weeks, K2 had four bouts of false labor, her due date was coming up, and her OB had said it would be anytime now.  Anytime, or sometime on May 3rd, when they would induce her if the baby had not come by that morning.

Friday morning came.  DH and I hit the road, early, for our 500 mile trip.  At nearly the same time, DS1 and K2 headed for the hospital and the scheduled induction.  My brain was in two places at once.  No way was I going to miss DD2's graduation on Saturday morning (or the reception her department was giving at 3:30 Friday afternoon), but I really didn't want to miss Rascal's arrival either.

The whole long drive (nearly 9 hours because of delays from an accident that closed part of the expressway, and construction in several spots along the way), DH kept asking if I'd heard anything from DS1.  Not really, not until about 12:30 when DS1 texted to say "no baby yet, but she's finally at 7 cm"  And then again at 2:45 when he texted "still no baby; hopefully soon".  And then at 3:15, just as DH and I were arriving in town where DD2's departmental reception was happening at 3:30. . .

"He's here!  3:13 p.m."

Rascal had arrived!  The pictures DS1 texted me looked like my new grandson was a sturdy, healthy baby.  It was really hard to be so far away; my arms were itching to hold that brand new little bundle.

DH and I met DD2 just as the doors were opening at the building where the reception was; the building where a majority of her college classes had been held (at least the lecture classes; a lot of her labs were held outdoors).  We enjoyed refreshments, a delicious cake, and listened to the faculty speak about this graduating class.  Each of the two dozen or so prospective graduates of the department (at a mainly engineering college, those falling under the auspices of Forest Resources and Environmental Science are few) were given a few minutes of fame in which they spoke their name, degree, and future plans into the microphone.  I was glad I was present (yet what I wouldn't give to be able to be in two places at once).

Graduation was the following morning.  We arrived at the ice arena (where else would an Upper Peninsula college hold it's commencement ceremony?) early so that we could hopefully get seats near where DD2 would be seated.  DH was bored, and ended up going out and walking around while I held our seats for about an hour and a half until things got started.  I admit, I was on Facebook looking at newborn pictures of Rascal. . .

Until the candidates for Bachelor of Science degrees started filing in behind the Doctoral and Master's candidates.  Then I spotted DD2 and started taking pictures of my own.  Most of them turned out kind of blurry, because I was zoomed in so far and everyone was in motion.  Although, when it came time to pick out ones to share here, that blurriness was kind of a good thing since I try really hard to maintain anonymity and not post pictures where faces are recognizable.

filing into her seat for the (3 hour long) commencement ceremony

getting out of her seat to go walk across stage and have her name and degree announced

Such a proud moment!  Our baby, our fourth child, was now a college graduate.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and Management as well as a minor in International Spanish.  In the first picture you can see that she wears two stoles, the red & white one (with yellow tip) for her study abroad in Peru, and the green and white one marking her as a member of the Xi Sigma Pi honor society (of Foresters).  She barely missed out on graduating with an academic honor cord as well; her overall GPA just 0.10 shy of cum laude even though her departmental GPA had her at magna cum laude.  *sigh*  That little tidbit bugs her a little, she really wanted to graduate with an honor cord like both DH and DS2 did from the same college (especially since they are both engineers, while she is a 'tree hugger' as those students majoring in forestry and environmental sciences are known).

DH and I headed for home the next day, through rain for a little over half of the 500 miles.  It was a bittersweet trip; we've been to the U.P. at least once a year for the past eight years, since DS2 began college there and then as soon as he graduated, DD2 began school there.  We plan to retire there, but that's a good decade off yet.  Neither one of us wants to wait 10 years before we get up there again, so we tossed around a couple of ideas (such as an annual vacation there in the interim between now and retirement).  Yet, as much as we wanted to stay in the U.P., we also wanted to get home ASAP and meet our new grandson!

It ended up being quite late when we arrived home that night, so we had to wait until after DH got home from work on Monday.  I swear that was about the longest day of my life.  I had promised DH I wouldn't go to see the baby without him, but yet, it felt like he was never going to get home from work!

In actuality, he got out of work a good two hours earlier than he has been for most of this year so far (the demands of his job are another post for another day; I'm wearing quite thin on what's become routine).  We were at DS1 and K2's house (she and Rascal had been discharged from the hospital on Sunday) by 5:15, and we were able to spend over half an hour there seeing K3 and Toad, as well as taking turns holding Rascal before having to head home so DH could get ready for a work related conference call.

Rascal looks identical to Toad as a newborn.  Yet, I saw an expression on his face that also looks like one his sister is prone to.  And he has my long bony skinny fingers! It's going to be so much fun getting to know this little boy and watch him grow.

Rascal, my third grandchild

Yarn Along: May

Happy May Day!  Things are really turning green at this little place here.  Mostly due to all the moisture we've had recently, whether rain or (gasp!) snow.  Currently it's raining again.

I am joining Ginny today for this month's Yarn Along.

Since the last yarn along, I finished the Lace Wings socks I was knitting for DD1. 

My Nurmilintu shawl is really coming along.  In fact, I'm on the last lace section of the pattern and trying to judge if I have enough yarn left to attempt another repeat of the garter and lace sections or if I should just go ahead with the picot bind off.  In a way I'm anxious to get this off the needles and blocked so I can wear it, but in another way I'm thinking I'd like it even more if it were a tad longer.  Decisions, decisions. . .

Once DD1's socks were off the needles, I just could not wait to cast on another pair of socks.  So I did.  :0)  This next pair will be for Honorary Son (I'm in a whole "handknit birthday presents for 2019" kinda mode) and I'm using the Riff pattern for them.  He's a musician, so Riff just seemed right for him.  Plus, he actually likes wild socks so I know I can get away with doing more than a plain ribbed or stockinette sock.  Riff is a simple pattern to follow (and yes, it's toe up which I have avoided since making a pair or two in this technique way back when I first started knitting), just a little fiddly with the twisted stitches.  I do like the result though.

note the mismatched needles

I apparently need to purchase a new set of 2.50mm because I no longer have a full set in wood (mine) or the old (white) rubbery plastic that used to belong to DH's grandmother

In April, I read a couple of books.  I'm almost done with a third, so I'm going to mention it now rather than waiting until June's yarn along.

The Tinderbox by Beverly Lewis.  This is her latest Amish novel, and was pretty good. The book ends with a plot twist, and I'm now anxiously awaiting the next one (looks like this is book one of a new two or three book series) due out this fall.

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed By Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold.  Non-fiction, but not at all dry.  I felt it was very well researched and the lives of the women were well told in context of the time and their socio-economic status.  Thought provoking in the parallels to lifestyle choices in today's society.

The one I am nearly finished with (could have wrapped it up last night, but I was afraid I might have nightmares!) is Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo.  With the exception of a little more graphic violence than I care to read about, I am loving this book.  It's a murder mystery that is also very psychological thriller (it's that part that's the 'could produce a nightmare' issue).  I love a good mystery, not so fond of graphic writing of a thriller.  I have the feeling, though, that I will pick up and read more by this author.  Maybe skimming through the 'too violent' parts.

Tapped Out

Maple syrup season has come to an end at this little place here.  Last weekend we actually hit 70 degrees.  Which really sent the maple trees into growing leaves mode.  The buds swelled to bursting, and I pulled my taps.

maple buds showing red

The taps had been in place roughly five weeks, the typical length of a sap run is about six.  Depends on the weather, of course.  The sap won't run if the days are below freezing, but the spring run is done when the days are very warm and the nights are consistently above freezing.  

tap removed, sap clearly not running

The taps popped out of their holes easily, and the tree will fill in the hole with new growth, just like how over several weeks a hole in your own skin heals with just a small scar to show where the puncture was.

After pulling taps, I loaded up all my buckets, taps, and hosing into the tractor loader bucket for easy transport up to the house, where everything will get washed and thoroughly dried before being put away for the next 10.5 months or so.

ready to haul in for clean up and storage

Once the final batch of sap was boiled down into syrup, I took a picture of all this year's batches to show how the color of the syrup changes as the season progresses.  It starts out very light and golden colored, becomes amber, and finally near the end of the season, becomes the brown color that is typically thought of when one says 'syrup'.

color progression

My yield for this season tallied up to be 14 pints, which is 1.75 gallons.  Not counting the small amounts that didn't fit into jars with each batch.  Those got eaten up on stacks of pancakes and waffles each weekend.  

Yarn Along: April

*All links contained within this post are so you can quickly picture and/or reference blog posts, patterns, and books that I talk about.  I do not receive any compensation for links to products.

I am joining Ginny today for the April installment of the Yarn Along.  Sometimes I can't wait for it to be Yarn Along day, and sometimes it sneaks up on me.  This month, it snuck up on me!  I didn't have my pictures ready or, really, much of the post written in advance like I normally do.

Since last month, I finished the Cadence socks that I was knitting for my Mom. I wasn't sure, when I started, if the patterning on the socks would be visible with the yarn she had chosen (frequent color changes), but they came out really well. Sort of self-striping, and with the pattern visible enough.

I almost, but not quite, got the stripes to match.

pattern, close up

Once those were done, I cast on my next project: a pair of Lace Wings socks that will be a birthday present for DD1. I'm doing them in Knit Picks Stroll in the color Sprinkle Heather (same yarn as I made these Crystalline socks last fall).  She had really admired the color on those socks, so I ordered some more yarn in that color to make a pair for her.  It's lovely soft and squishy yarn, plus this color has a really neat sheen to it.  I'm making good progress on the first sock; almost done with the decreases on the gusset.

After I got going on DD1's sock, I found myself casting on for a project I hadn't anticipated, using a yarn I thought I didn't like.  When this yarn came to me (in a subscription box this winter), my first reaction was "oh how ugly!"  The first ten times I looked at it, I just could not imagine myself making anything with this unappealing color.  In fact, I strongly considered cancelling my subscription!

It looks way better in a cake than it did as a hank.

But then, for some reason (maybe the weather, and the lighting turning warmer and brighter?), the yarn started making me think of pickles, and I was finding the tones more interesting than repulsive.  I began to entertain ideas of a shawl using this yarn.  And when Ginny shared this post that included pictures of a Nurmilintu shawl she'd made, I knew that was exactly the pattern my pickle yarn needed.  So, I cast on for a Nurmilintu of my own.  Although I call it "the pickle shawl".  

I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it once it's finished, because I like it all ready and it's hardly begun.

I did not read as much in March as I did in February.  Since the March Yarn Along, I finished reading Unsheltered, which was not as rough to read as I feared it might be.  Everything turned out well in the end, even if it was a surprising twist.

I also read two other books:

More Than You Think You Know by Cyndi Perkins.  I liked but disliked this one.  Parts were very interesting, but other parts were either too graphic or too whiny or too in opposition to my personal morals.  But then again, I'm rather prudish in my reading matter, so if the blurb sounds interesting to you, give this book a try!

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center.  I liked this one. Not quite as much as the one I read by this author in February, but it was still a good read.

Currently I am reading Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World by Brooke McAlary.  I like the author's writing style, but so far (about 50 pages in,) I haven't learned anything I haven't all ready known and/or practiced for years.  I think I will keep reading it all the way to the end, but then again, maybe not. We'll see how the next chapter or two go.

Quilt For a Little Rascal

Thanks to Toad's choice of a name for his soon to arrive baby brother (which their parents are not putting on the birth certificate, giving the little one a more normal name for real life), my third grandchild all ready has his official alias on my blog.  He shall be known as Rascal.

I knew, long before I knew his name (IRL or blog-wise), long before we had heard if the baby was a he or a she, that I would be making it a quilt.  Not only a quilt, but one in the Redneck Baby style I had inadvertently established back in 2012 when making one for K3, my first grandchild.  When Toad came along in 2014, I made him a similar quilt of simple 6" squares.  So of course I would use that same design scheme for Rascal, their little brother.

In each quilt, I have used one same fabric, the cream colored one I call the "Jesus fish" fabric.  Each quilt also has John Deere tractors, although not the same fabric or even the same color.  And each one has an 'outdoors' aspect fabric, be it deer, or camouflage, or other wild animals.  Toad and Rascal's quilts also share a fabric with soccer balls, as soccer was their Dad's main sport growing up (and he still prefers to watch soccer over watching football).

Rascal's fabrics

Although they all share the same layout, and some of the same fabrics, each quilt is individual, just as each baby is unique.  Kind of like how siblings share genes, yet those genes are in different combinations.

Rascal's quilt has been finished, and now gifted, so it is okay to share it (and show it off) here.  I put on a skinny border with the John Deere green fabric, then a wider border in the outdoorsy fabric, and did a simple stitch in the ditch for quilting.

simple light blue backing showing the quilting pattern

Skies of Blue

We've had some gorgeous weather lately.  Not necessarily warm (although it hit 60 last weekend!), but lots of clear blue skies.  Which kind of tends to make me take impulsive pictures just to record the awesome depth of color.  Blue sky is just so cheerful; it's invigorating yet relaxing at the same time.

this little place here

gathering sap

Toad running toward the sound of spring peepers

blue, reflected

birch against blue

even blue in late evening

embers fly into an even deeper blue

Beauty in Damage

By and large, most of the wood we heat with at this little place here is long dead.  Very rarely do we have a tree that was cut down live, then cut into firewood.  If we do, it's because DH is doing some trimming or tree removal for someone we know.  At home, we just cut up the trees that have died and fallen over.  Because the emerald ash borer went through the area right around the time we were buying our property and building our house, most of our dead wood is ash. Someday we will probably run out of dead ash to burn, but after 11 heating seasons, there are still plenty of dead ash standing in the woods. 

Because I'm tuned that way, I tend to notice things that most people overlook.  Which is why, when I'm out helping DH with firewood, or am stoking the wood boiler myself, I get distracted and have to dig my phone out of my pocket to take pictures such as the ones to follow.

Pictures of insect damage that is revealed when the bark falls away from a piece of long dead wood.  The insects themselves were a negative, yet the trails they left behind I find somewhat beautiful.  Some look like patterns, some like fingerprints, and some even remind me of the petroglyphs we saw out west on vacation several years ago.