Wednesday, January 30, 2008

No Rain Wednesday

Cold again, but mostly sunny. We are between storms today so I took advantage of this rare (!) occasion to do a few chores in the garden. The greenhouse is not yet usable, so I put together this mini greenhouse that I bought at Nob Hill a few weeks ago.




Then I planted some pea seeds- Rondo pod peas, Snowbird snow peas and Sugar Snaps- and put the seedpan in it, along with some potted bulbs and a couple of pots of chrysanthemums that are sprouting. I am going to plant some tomato seeds tomorrow and I think I'll try them in there as well. I had planned to sprout them in the house, but there are 8 trays of them and I don't really have any place inside for them. If there's no action within a couple of weeks, I can bring them inside and poke in more seeds if necessary.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Frigid Thursday

Well, not exactly - more like low to mid forties, which is pretty cold for this area. Off and on rain most of the day.
We needed some items from Costco, so we put Leo's sweater on him and headed to Gilroy. After all those years of Saturday Costco runs, it's heaven to shop on weekdays when it's so much less crowded. The last time we went was on a Monday and we were surprised to see that there were no free sample kiosks. We thought maybe they were only there on weekends. However, I am happy to say that they also serve on Thursdays and L quite enjoyed the snacks.

On our way home we stopped at Cheap Seats to get that hamburger we missed on Saturday. Well worth the wait. Mike from the newspaper was there and we had a chat about a couple of interesting court cases. I do miss being in on all the latest gossip/news.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Woeful Wednesday

Cold and grim all day. Rain off and on late afternoon.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Raining Again

It started yesterday morning and is forecast to continue, off and on, for the next several days.




The guys worked on the greenhouse most of yesterday - putting in the cement border for the brick aisle, also trimming the slats for the benches.


KAS has been asking for a Sew Day, so we took advantage of the MLK holiday. She finished the piecing on her little "Blue Squares" top using the new sewing machine that her parents gave her for Christmas. I'm going to pin-baste it so that she can try quilting next time she comes down.


I'm up to row 15 on the SSS. That's better than I thought I could do but, since there are 50 rows in Clue 1 and Clue 4 came out today, I'll probably never catch up. I'm using KP Gossamer in Sweet Pea and it's really quite lovely. But with lace, you can't really tell what it will really look like until it's finished and blocked. This is a photo of the swatch I did.

I think I'm finally settling in to Retirement but I'm sure not doing many of the things I had planned to do. I haven't turned out a single closet or cabinet, haven't planted any seeds in the raised beds, haven't looked at my genealogy records... I haven't even finished setting up the new laptop. I have finished two novels and am well on my way to finishing a third. And I have only walked one day. But I have finished 20 blocks on the Snails Trail, only 10 to go. It's going to be a close thing with the green fabric - I may need to do some extra piecing or something.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Saturday Again

We went to Cheap Seats Sports Bar this afternoon for one of their delicious hamburgers. But the grill fan was broken so we had to settle for a hot dog. Very good, and the fries were outstanding. I think this will become our new go-to place for hamburgers.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Vacation's Over

I've been retired for two weeks now and still haven't been able to settle in to a routine as I had planned. But today I actually got up before 9am and accomplished most of what I had set out to do. JP says it's like being on a vacation and then you get tired of that and start doing the things you really want to do. Or have to do, like laundry, paying bills, cooking proper meals etc.

Saturday was our annual sew day at SW's house. We mostly worked on the Snail's Trail quilt blocks that we started last January. In the last year, I had only spent about an hour or so on mine. I'm not sure the others had even looked at theirs'. Anyway, I have 4 blocks completed and about 20 more partially done. I think I need at least 30 - hope I have enough fabric.

My two-color Snails Trail.

DS working on her 2-color Snails Trail

SW worked on a charity project.

I haven't found the 4th ball of KP Alpaca Cloud that I had planned to use for the Shawl KAL so I ordered some more lace weight from Knit Picks. Tomorrow the third clue comes out and I still haven't received my yarn, so I'm really going to be behind. Meanwhile I'm working on my green socks which have a really simple lace pattern.

We are supposed to have some nice weather the next few days, then a deep cold spell. I don't mind rain, but sure don't like frost.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

In the Salad




The tomatoes I picked yesterday looked just fine when I cut into them. However, the taste was mediocre - okay but not as good as commercial on-the-vine tomatoes we can buy in the winter. On the other hand, they didn't cost 2.49 a pound either.
I had to frog Swatch No. 1 on the Spring Shawl; somehow or other I picked up some extra stitches the other day. However, I was able to complete the new swatch while we watched a movie on TV tonight and it's ready to block tomorrow. I originally started it using size 4 metal needles but was having a hard time keeping stitches from slipping off. So I switched to 2 bamboo double points, which was all I had in wooden size 4. Much better, so yesterday I ordered a set of Harmony interchangeable circular needles from KnitPicks. A little pricey but I think they'll be worth it. It seems a lot of people knit with circulars all the time as they cause fewer wrist problems.
More rain this afternoon but nothing like last Friday.


Monday, January 7, 2008

Tomatoes in January


I went out to the raised-bed garden to pick lettuce this morning and found these tomatoes hiding under some leaves. I would have thought that all tomato life would be extinct with the number of sub-freezing mornings we have had the last few months. These may not be worth anything when I cut them open, but it's worth a try.

Friday, January 4, 2008

During the Storm


2.75 inches from 6pm yesterday until 6pm today. I can't remember that much in a 24 hour period, even during the El Nino years.
We had extremely high winds but didn't lose power, although there were several false alarms from the APC that I have on the Tech Center PC.

Yesterday I joined the Spring Shawl Surprice
Yahoo group. They are knitting a lace shawl as a mystery knit-along (KAL) with the first clue given on New Year's Day, and subsequent clues given each Tuesday after that. I joined late, so I am starting from behind. Right now I'm doing the first swatch, then will do the second swatch and block both before I can actually cast on. I expect I'll be at least two clues behind by the time I get started on the actual shawl. I'm using size four needles because that's what has been suggested; however, I only have metal needles in that size and I'm really not liking the way they tend to split the yarn. I think I need to check out KnitPicks' wooden needle sets.
I also started a pair of socks a few days ago using two circular needles, size 0. I had wanted to do 2 socks at the same time but couldn't find any directions for 2 socks on 2 circulars, toe-up. (Sounds like the way some people order at Starbucks!) Now that I'm comfortable with one sock, I think I might knit the second sock up to the same point as the first and then get them both on the same needles.

I took this video from our front porch this afternoon.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Before the Storm

It's been almost a week since my last day of work and I don't feel as if I've accomplished anything that I planned. Monday morning I felt bereft! I even managed to find an excuse to stop by the office - I had forgotten my paystub Friday afternoon and I needed to turn in my badge. Both of which could well have waited a few days.
This is the greenhouse after this week's work party. Still to go: the benches, water, electricity, brick floor, gravel under the benches.