The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

We spent Columbus Day weekend with friends at a cottage in the Wellsboro area.  The weather could not have been nicer.  The cottage was located near Ansonia, just yards from Pine Creek Trail, a rails-to-trails bike path which paralells Pine Creek in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  The photo to the left is the view from the front of our cottage. 

Friday night after dinner at the cottage we had enough daylight for a quick bike ride towards Wellsboro. A rode in the bike seat on the back of Hubby's bike and T on the tag-a-long behind my bike. 

Saturday morning we all had breakfast and then headed to Colton Point - lovely vistas (right) and a one-mile loop hike. Later Saturday we all biked to Turkey Falls.  C is an avid cyclist;  he rode on for several hours.  The rest of us headed back to the cottage.  After a quiet dinner we played some games and called it an early night. 

Sunday we cleaned up and packed up for the drive home.  We had a lovely and very relaxing weekend, one of those let's do this again next year weekends!

Mad Men

Rarely do I find a TV drama series that I can't miss.  Remember Ed  (2001) and Northern Exposure (1990)?  Yep, two shows in 11 years.

Fastforward to 2008, AMC's Mad Men beats them all.  To me it's fun, accurate, sad and sexy.  I've seen every episode.  If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. 

If you can explain this to me please do.  How do the seasons work?  I don't understand it.  AMC's episode list for season 2 list 9 episodes.  I had to search deep into their website to find out if and when there was a 10th episode and when it was going to air.  When does season 3 start?

Roll Of The Die Sweater

My Roll Of The Die Sweater is one of my WIPs - it's a Wonderful Wallaby for afghans for Afghans. I have six different yarns to use in the striping. I've assigned each yarn a number. In order to randomly stripe, I roll. This may be the fastest Wallaby I've ever knit because I can't wait to roll the die! Fast and fun.

In other related news.  When we make it to the main library, I love to walk past the shelf of new books to see if any new knitting books have arrived. Usually I only look at the craft section. However, this week my eye was drawn to another section of the shelf and I found Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck.  Can't wait to read it.

Tree houses revisited

Yesterday I visited Longwood Gardens with my girls and my niece.  This time I remembered my camera and got this shot from the treehouses.  

One of my childhood favorite books is Andrew Henry's Meadow.   It began my fascination with tree houses.  If you've never read it, go ahead, buy a copy and you'll understand.  It was out of print for many years, but now you're in luck.  In 2005 it was reprinted in celebration of its 40 year anniversary.

Also, I finally replaced the photo in this earlier post with a treehouse photo of my own.

The Cemetery

This is the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen.  It is a small cemetery on top of a hill in rural Pennsylvania.  To get to the  site you have to drive down a narrow dirt road in the middle of a field.  At this time of year the corn is high and lined the road on both sides creating a tunnel effect.

My grandparents are buried here.

Loss

Today my grandmother died.  She was 97.  I was at home with my girls and watching a friend's daughter when I got the call.  Within minutes of hanging up with my mom, my friend returned from her appointment to pick up her daughter.  Immediately I told her of the call I just received.  Luckily she was there to give me a nice warm hug.  She stay at the house for a few minutes while I walked and I cried.

Gram has been in poor health for a long time.  On most of my visits with her at the nursing home, I don't think she even recognized me.  Some days she'd be quite agitated and some days she'd be calm and quiet.  Last week my Mom reported that Gram was vomiting and in pain.  It was decided that there was not much to do for my Gram except to give her some pain medicine.  She could not handle tests to find out what was causing her discomfort. 

My Mom called me on Monday and said that Gram had asked my uncle "not to leave her alone".  He spent most of the morning by her side there at the nursing home and Mom decided to go up and take his place.  I drove up to join her.  When I saw Gram, I leaned up, kissed her and said "it's Beth".  For some reason I felt like she knew who I was.  Later I learned that earlier that day my uncle held a photo for Gram and she had correctly identified the names of her children on a photograph - all 12 of them!  

While there Gram kept repeating over and over again 'Jesus loves me, Jesus love me' - sort of creepy.  She threw up blood while we were there and then kept saying 'why does this keep happening to me?'  - sort of gross.  But what I'll remember is how I sat by her side and held her hand.  She looked into my eyes and at one point, when I pulled my hand away, she reached out to grab hold of it again.  She wanted me there and you better believe I wanted her there.  I will miss Gram. 

Fun In The Sun

Several weeks ago we got a flyer in our mailbox advertising 'Fun In The Sun Day Camp'.  It was to be held right around the corner at a neighbors' home for 3 to 10-year-olds, Monday - Friday, 1pm to 4pm. The camp is run by neighborhood teenagers.   What a concept!  The price for one week of camp? $40 per child with discounts for multiple children in the same family. What a bargain!

Was this the camp for my oldest? I had no idea, but I wanted to support these local entreupeners and decided to sign her up. I went in with no expectations, figuring I did not really care if my daughter went to camp or not. I was in it to support the neighborhood teenagers.  

As it turned out my daughter had a wonderful time.  She particularly enjoyed the crafts, coming home each day with something she had made.  Things including a decoupage cigar box, a simple wind sock made from paper plates and streamers, a tye-died shirt and a bird feeder made of a milk jug and wooden paint stirrers.  On the last day she greeted me with a big smile and a gold medal around her neck.  The ribbon on the medal was personalized (by the teenagers) with 'Fun In The Sun Camp 2008', her name and 'Best Painter'.  She was so proud and can't wait until next year.  What a week of fun!

As Seen On TV

Back in December we bought a very comfortable sectional for the family/TV room.  I don't even like watching television, but now that we have that comfy seating, you can find me in there quite often with my feet up.   Usually I knit instead of paying much attention to the tube, but it's hard for me to keep my eyes off those As Seen On TV commercials.  They crack me up -  check out the AwesomeAuger.

Big on Bridges

I'm big on bridges.  When I first went to college I studied civil engineering, dreaming of designing bridges.  Pictured above is The Senator William V. Roth Jr. Bridge along Rt. 1 in Delaware.  We crossed over it enroute to Bethany.  It is the most amazing bridge I've ever seen.  Quickly I pulled out my cell phone to take a snapshot.  Not a bad photo for a cell phone huh?

Socks and Scarf

At Bethany Beach I made a lot of progress on knitting projects.  I started a new pair of socks for me with Panda Cotton. I had two socks knit to the heel beginning, but I frogged sock B last night after realizing I had caston four fewer stitches than sock A.  After trying it on, I decided I really needed those four stitches for a comfortable fit.

I made good progress on my landscape scarf as well.  It is fun to work on, but I find that it takes a great deal of concentration for me. Luckily I have the simple socks on needles now for mindless knitting.

I also took a good look at the Mobeius scarf I made awhile back.  It would be nice if it were a bit wider, but I tried a few times and did not like the way it was looking.  I've decided to leave it the way it is and make my next wider.  The scarf drapes fine when it is wrapped twice around my head and I like the way it fits as a gaiter.  If it were wider it would work better when I pull it up over my ears.  Oh, well, next time.

Bethany

We spent the week at Bethany Beach with my parents.  It was very relaxing.  The girls had a great time at the water and it did not take long to get into a daily routine of waking, breakfast, beach, back for lunch, naps, back to the beach, dinner and bed.  We had plenty of time to play cards after the kids were asleep.

Fore! The Golfer In My Life

Pattern: Spiral Rib Putter Cover by Sarah Peasley

Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk - Cinnamon #23507, held two strands together

Needles: US 5 dpn

Start Date: 06/03/08

Finish Date: 06/11/08

Notes: Maybe I'll knit Sarah's club covers to match! Row 2 of rib pattern was hard to follow.

Last night I casted off a putter cover for my hubby. This is the third one I've knit for him, so I hope this one is around for awhile. The first one he lost on a green somewhere. Therefore, on the second putter cover I attached a note saying "If found, please call ph # and my wife will knit one just for you. Thanks." That cover fell apart.

Hubby said that the second cover fell apart because it was not heavy enough, it had to be knit more tightly. I tend to knit very loosely so this time I held two strands of worsted weight yarn held together and knit on US #5 dpn. If this does not hold up I'll felt the next one.

Hubby, here is another putter cover for you and I hope it is strong enough to withstand the rigors on the course and I hope it brings you good luck on Saturday!

New Garden Square

In case you haven't noticed, I've been playing some catch up with posts.  After a bit of a writer's block, I'm back to blogging again. Over the weekend, we started our new garden. Hubby got the 4x4's lined up and in the ground using these nifty anchor joints. (Thanks to Marsha for the suggestion.)

The  girls had  most fun watching us and taking photos.  Especially as the sun went down and the camera flashed with every photo they took.  Now we have plenty of photos of the car, their bikes, the driveway and us (or parts of us) working on the new garden.

I went ahead and filled the bed with this soil, recommended by Mike McGrath of You Bet Your Garden.  Personally, I despise his call-in show, but I have used his suggestions for container gardening with much success.

I know it is way too late to start much from seed, but we'll see how it goes.  My sister has to thin her young spinach so I'll have those plants.  Also, I'm not opposed to buying plants.  

Note:  I planted some Cosmos seed in one of the 1' squares on 8 June 08 and I noticed sprouts already today, 10 June 08.  Is that possible?

"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"

Recently, from one of their magazines, my daughters learned "Take Me Out To The Ball Game".  How can you know that song and never been to a ball game?  So off to the field we went.  We saw the Reading Phillies play the Harriburg Senators.  It was the day of free baseball caps for the first 2500 kids, dollar hotdogs and run the bases after the game - at $9.00 per seat.  

We had no idea how our two-year-old and a four-year-old would do at a game, but it was worth a go.  They did great.  We sat through the first three innings (at one point moving away from an obnoxious heckler)  These seats in yellow section 7 were good, why were they in front of this guy?  There were plenty of empty seats, so we moved above several rows and off to the side a bit.  When the girls were ready for a walk we explored a nice shady outdoor eating area and enjoyed a snowcone.  We went back to our seats until the long awaited seventh-inning stretch and then headed home.  What a way to swing into June!

Note:  ok, so I wrote my post before reading the Wikipedia reference for the song, apparently the guys who wrote the song had never been to a game.  I think that is hilarious.  I guess we did not have to take the girls after all,  but I'm sure we did.

Relay For Life

Today we attended the Relay for Life.  I've been involved at various levels for several years now.  I've been a team captain and a team member, but for the past couple years we've been regular attendees.  We like to support the cause and watch the girls play the games that some teams set up for the youngsters.  This years highlight was to watch them stand in a wading pool of water and see how many marbles they could get out of the water using only their toes.  Or was the highlight that hubby won a round of golf for a foresome at an exclusive private country club?  Bottom line is that money was raised for a worthwhile cause.

A Couple New Dishcloths

I knitted a couple new dishcloths for our hosts during our recent trip to Pittsburgh.

The blue one is the Criminy Jickets Garterlach Dishcloth and the yellow the Sunny Days Dishcloth from Knitting Pattern Central.

Market Bag

Tonight I finished the knitting part of my Everlasting Bagstopper.  Can you believe that all I had to do was cast off and the bag sat there on my needles for over a week?  The bag turned out great and was fun to knit.  I absolutely love the result.  Now I just have to figure out the handles. I'm thinking of using some sort of webbing. 

Great Allegheny Passage: Day 2

On Sunday morning despite the heavy rains, we were ready to roll.  We planned to ride 74 miles from Ohiopyle, PA to Cumberland, MD.  Before we got on our bikes, my brother taught me some back stretches; my sister enjoyed putzing  (see photo on left).  We were riding by 8 am, stopped in Confluence for breakfast at Sister's cafe 11 miles down the trail at about 10:30.  

My bike was covered with dirt my trunk and so much grit in the teeth of the zipper that I could not pull it shut.  I poured clean water out of my new Sigg bottle all over the zipper so I could close the bag.   Sometime in the early afternoon, the skies cleared.  We crossed an impressive 1900' bridge and rode as far as Meyersdale.  At which point we ended our ride.  I was the

one who first said (without a doubt) that I was ready to stop riding for the day.  We all plan to return to complete the 30-mile stretch from Meyersdale to Cumberland sometime in 2008.   

It felt great to be back on my bike.  I had fun hanging out with my siblings, but I was ready to return to my girls and hubby. 

Great Allegheny Passage: Day 1

After a delicious breakfast at my sister's friends' "wanna be" B&B in Pittsburgh, we loaded into the van. Truly our hosts in Pittsburgh were lovely; she always dreamed of owning a B&B so to have the four of us (me, E, A and Pop) spend the night was like a dream come true for her.  She even went out and bought four new sets of towels in four different colors (not boring white) so they would not get mixed up!

Our weekend goal was to bike 130 miles on The Great Allegheny Passage.  Pop agreed to drive the van as sag wagon.  We started riding in Boston, PA with information from a local bike shop owner that the trail was closed four miles ahead due to a mudslide. He did not have specific information so we decided to ride on. The photo to the left shows what we found. After waiting a few minutes, the dump truck pulled off and the digger stopped digging to wave us by. It was a bit slow going through the mud, but on through we went.

Day one took us 56 miles from Boston to Ohiopyle.  The air was cool and the sky was clear until the last mile into Ohiopyle when we rode through a downpour to the MacKenzie House. The days' highlights: deer, daisies, waterfalls, meeting up with Pop who rented a bike, pb & j on bagels lunch (note:  it tasted good at the time, but turned out to be too much of  a gut bomb for me, don't eat that for lunch next year).

An Early Mother's Day Celebration

My oldest daughter had a Mother's Day gathering at her school yesterday.  Her teacher compiled a booklet of recipes that the children "wrote".  She asked each child, "What is your favorite meal that your mom makes and how does she make it?"

Here's T's recipe:

"Mommy makes the best mac and cheese!  She takes the mac and cheese out of the box and puts it in a bowl with water.  She puts the bowl in the microwave for 10 minutes.  She takes it out and then we eat it!