Tag Archives: friendship

Friendship

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I got a text message from my former neighbor in Ohio today. They’d had a wonderful snow storm and she sent pictures of the old neighborhood under newly fallen snow. It hit all the buttons for me. Memories of raising my three kids there and the wonderful people I met there. I was content there for the most part and I felt very connected to my across the street neighbor.

We’ve not lost touch and I’ve been able to watch her children grow up through the miracle of Facebook. I feel close to her despite the miles between us. Maybe it’s a “mom thing” or maybe it’s because I witnessed her deep sorrow and devastation at the loss of a child and the birth of a child all at the same time. I don’t know what it is, but I feel a kinship with this woman although I only knew her for a short time before I left Ohio.

The text message and pictures brought tears to my eyes. It is meaningful to me that I was thought of and reached out to. I’m so grateful.

A Wonderful Gift

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I taught my next-to-last last knitting class on Saturday and at the end of the class, Anne, the owner of The Black Sheep in Orlando wanted to give me a gift. A beautiful “little” skein of big yarn.

What a Wonderful Gift!

What a Wonderful Gift!

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to teach knitting in this wonderful shop and for the friendship that we’ve enjoyed. Who knew I’d meet such a great friend in a puppy training class?

I can’t wait until you come to Maine!

Gone knitting.

Re-homed

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Re-homed

Re-homed

When you’re a knitter, occasionally your projects take on a life of their own.

This one sure did! I had intended it to be a Christmas gift but one of my college friends (who I adore and with whom I share lots of fond, fun, singing memories) loved it and asked if I would sell it to her. Well, after figuring out what it cost me to knit, I decided to send it to her with the hope that it will not only keep her neck warm but that it will also keep her heart warm.

I know it will look wonderful with her beautiful blue eyes!

I may not be knitting a whole bunch but I am so glad that she loves her new scarf!

Gone knitting.

Are You Going to (Common Ground) Fair? Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme … For Fun!

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Prize Winning Posies

A great weekend with my knitting buddy, Kelly. She arrived in Bangor on Friday night … just in time for a lobster dinner at the lake and it was good!

Saturday, despite the dreary and wet weather report, we decided to chance it and head to the Common Ground Country Fair (MOFGA) in Unity. N. took the truck for his Saturday morning visit to the Transfer Station and then we hit the road – Ethel the GPS, plugged in and working hard to direct us!

The fair was excellent! And it only drizzled a little bit – enough to be bothersome for a very (very!) short while. We had such a great time and I ran into two people that I know – feels like I’m almost a native Mainer!

Here are the highlights:

Yarn! Yarn! Yarn!

Yarn! Yarn! Yarn! The displays were amazing and spread all over the fairgrounds. I bought a couple of gifts to be given on birthdays coming up. Top colorful purple/yellow/green (like Mardi Gras?) and the ivory yarns are DK weight merino and alpaca blends, very reasonably priced, from Oasis Farm Fiber Mill in Otisfield, Maine. The pale pastels yarn is from Good Karma Farm in their sea foam color way. I love the colors of this yarn and it’s a wool and alpaca blend from Belfast, Maine. I had to visit every booth at the fair (yes, I mean “every”) to decide just which ones I was taking home (since I’ve still got a few from last year that I didn’t knit yet.)

The Fiber Tent was very interesting. We touched almost every single bag of fleece. We both want to learn how to process the wool all the way from animal to knitting needles. We ogled a few spinning wheels and the Wednesday Spinners in action.

Is Your Mama a Llama? Check out that underbite!

We viewed a bunch of critters … bunnies, chickens, a very noisy guinea hen, the most beautiful turkey (Best in Show!) with copper and iridescent feathers – a truly gorgeous bird! We saw the sheep, goats, horses, a couple of llamas and oxen.

Blue Ribbon Butts!

Veggies and flowers and preserved food, oh my!

Wall of Pretty Pickles, etc.

There was a tomato that looked like a duck and lots and lots of pretty flowers, beans, beets, pumpkins, gourds, squash, beets, radishes, onions, leeks, quilts, knitting (I may have to enter next year!), potatoes, pumpkins large and small … phew! I need to take a breath!

Tomatoes are Ducky!

 

Bee-Utiful!

Beans, Beans They're Good for Your Heart!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such a great time. We drank organic blueberry soda, ate stir fried organic veggies, some vegetable curry, pad thai, and for dessert a blueberry cheesecake cone (if you’ve never seen or heard of this, it’s worth a look for one!) The food area was simply amazing … if the day were a bit longer, we could have eaten more!

I found a really special poster from their 1998 fair … it’s un-BEE-lievably fun for this Queen Bee! It will be framed and hung in my Atelier! I’d love to show you a picture of it but it’s all wrapped up and waiting to travel!

I have only touched on a tiny corner of the iceberg (so to speak) and there was so much more to see and experience but I’ve not got the time here. Suffice it to say that while our feet and legs and hips hurt, our hearts and tummies were full and our souls were fed. It’s a great weekend, and a wonderful place to spend an hour or a whole day – next year, I’m taking my knitting and will sit and watch the people! Good for a family fun day, a girls day out or just about any “reason.”

We had a wonderful time at the Fair!

 

Three Hours and Counting …

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T minus three hours and counting …

We’re getting ready for another trip and I’ll be happy when all the stuff is in the truck and off. Atlanta tonight and dinner with a great pal, my old college roomie who always has room for us – even with three dogs (and one who’s crazy! I know it’s not his fault, he’s really sick but it sure looks on the outside like he’s kooky!) Since we’re going north, I have to think about wearing warm clothes because it’s nowhere near as summery there as it is here. Hopefully it’s warm enough that we can turn on the water and not have the pipes freeze (and I don’t have to use the outhouse!)

Life’s sure an adventure! I’m really lucky to be able to travel and blog and knit for a living … let’s hope my new designs are a big success and I can keep this up (and add a little bit of income to the picture!)

Gone knitting!

Decorating for Easter & Munchkins in my Atelier

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So, we had a party last night to celebrate the fabulous new kitchen that we’ve just finished. It was fun to cook in a functional kitchen … and one that is more than a “one butt” kitchen, where we could both be doing things at the same time. While N. was making chili at the stove, I was chopping veggies … I had forgotten how sore my legs get when I’m standing in place for a long time!

Two friends brought their children with them and while it’s really not a problem, there was some mess to clean up from because directions given weren’t followed and I wasn’t paying attention. “Soup” was being made in the water dish in my Atelier … with the “sea glass” in two of my three sea glass ornaments on my (now) Easter tree. When I suggested to the kids that they shouldn’t touch things that belong to other people, the 4-year-old reply was “but I know how”. Great. The puddle of water in the corner of the room, the bits of glass all over the floor, the spilled essential oils (which were on the top shelf and can only be reached by inquisitive children who are standing on my work table, etc. just remind me that I’m way too old to want to be a parent again. Thank God my little darlings are grown and know better than to pick up dogs that go running away from you when you approach. Lola and Boq were hiding in their crates in our bedroom by the time the doorbell rang for the last time – they’d surely had enough of a good thing.

I’m grateful, however, for the beautiful kitchen that Pat and Roger and the other talented craftsmen helped us to create and I’m grateful for the friends who gathered around us to celebrate friendship and an end of a home renovation “challenge”.

Dear Friends (better than Old Friends)

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I had the privelege of spending the weekend with my dearest (and oldest) friends … well, they’re almost my oldest friends and they’re certainly a very special group. Seven of us met at Barrie’s home in Sarasota, FL. We’ve been friends since our freshman year at Wells College in Aurora, NY. We were all in the same dorm that year.

I’m not sure how we really became friends but we did. Some were roommates freshman year, some shared classes, but we all shared Wells. I lived down the hall from Carrie who roomed with Bobbie who’s now deceased (breast cancer) who was in Spanish with Nell, who was roommates with Jennifer … and on it goes. We’ve been friends for (how can it be?) 36 years! Thirty-six years! That’s more time than some of our friends got on earth. Some of us have children who are older than we were when we met. We’ve been through a lot together. I told you already that I didn’t end up graduating with my class. We’ve been through rehab, AA, Al Anon, divorce, cancer scares, cancer (breast, colon, thyroid, throat, significant others with cancer, deaths from cancer, alcoholism, sobriety, depression, unemployment, heartbreak, boyfriends, girlfriends, children being born, children with addiction, entitlement, marriage of children, separations and reconciliations.

These are remarkably strong women. Accomplished women . Wonderful daughters, friends, wives, mothers. Business owners, consultants, stay-at-home moms, marketing whizzes (is that how you’d spell it?) Beauties inside and out.

We used to get “plastered” and “plowed” and “smashed” together and ride on the “meat wagon” back to school from Ithaca. It’s so much simpler now. A glass (maybe two) of wine and a seat around the kitchen counter or dining room table and we’re all good. We laugh until we cry. We remember our lost sisters and mothers and fathers … some of us are orphans, finally real adults after the passing of both parents. Some of us are struggling with our parents’ aging bodies and minds. Some of us are fortunate to have parents who are still (mostly) “with it”. Today we all love to sit on the beach or around a pool or wander around together while shopping, stopping to have our photos taken with the seven statues in the middle of Saint Armonds Circle in Longboat Key, critiquing the other people on the sidewalks, patting their dogs, having a coffee or a frozen yogurt or some fudge. (Did you ever get your fudge, Bets?) We can get locked out of our houses and sit together on the front porch texting silly messages to our husbands and reading them aloud. We find joy when we’re together and embrace it as sacred space and time, joyful and rejuvenating at the same time.

We had a great weekend together and I’m so grateful to have these women in my life all these years later … time picks up where we leave it after each gathering and then we look forward to the next time (which will be in August in Virginia Beach)… Woo! Hoo!