Fifty Fridays #6

I love this week in the year.  It's back to school week.  It was my favorite time when I was a kid.

This is me and my brother setting off on what was probably the first full day of school in September.  I don't think we would have taken our lunchboxes if we weren't staying all day.  But I can tell you I was so proud of my Dale Evans lunchbox that I might well have carried it empty just to show it off.

My memory isn't the greatest but I think I was going into Grade 3 and my brother was just starting Grade 1.  We did not have kindergarten in those days so it would have been his first day in any kind of learning setting.
We had obviously done what kids have done every summer forever.  We grew.  We got tans.  We spent the hot, lazy days of summer playing with our friends and wishing - in alternate breaths - that school days would never come and that September would soon arrive.  Kids always think they can have it all.

This would be my last year at this school but I didn't know that yet.   I wonder if my brother even remembers that school as he only spent one year there.  Hmm...must ask.

When my kids were in school, this was my favorite week because I could look forward to the structure to my days that schooltime brings.  For kids and parents.  Bedtimes are mandatory, meals are more regular and, when they all get old enough, the door closed and I could have another cup of coffee and read a few pages or knit a few rows. 

Now, I know that in the next few minutes, I will hear their bright voices carrying through the open window as kids walk to the school a couple of blocks away.  I miss them during summer vacation.  The school year is still putting structure to my days. 

Surprise!

Look who I found on my desk.

How can I get any work done with this cutie smiling at me? 

Sunday Wonders - I

I is for Interiors.

I admit that I am a pretty snoopy curious person.  I like to know what's going on behind the door. 
 

What's inside this sod house at L'Anse aux Meadows?

Looks like it could be a blacksmith's forge.  It was lovely and cool inside the earth walls.  I'm equally sure it would be one of the warmest places in the cold winter months.  

I think that's why I like the macro lens so much.  Flowers have an interior life that's always intriguing, always beautiful. 

This clever mural in a visitors' center fooled me.  It looks flat but each house painting is actually on a box.  The front doors open and you can see what the house looks like on the inside. 

This is interiors everywhere.  Reflections show what we're doing,  where we are, where we're going. Confusing but effective in it's way.

 It's easy to see the outside... it's more fun to take time to explore the interior.  

Saturday Stash

This week I really got into the stash. 

Here are all the puzzle pieces .  Now all I have to do is put them together.  Ha, ha.  Always a lot easier said than done.  I used some purple yarn I bought in a thrift store on my little road trip last week.  The pattern uses three colors but I only had two that worked together.  So my third color is stripes!  Since pink and purple are all my 4-year old granddaughter wants to wear, it seemed perfect for this size 4 sweater.  It's not for her, though - this one will be donated.  When it's put together.   Soon.

I started a heavier wool sock than I normally knit.  This was a nice bit of stash left over from a young man's sweater.  I'm undecided whether it's for a man or a woman but I'm leaning towards the men's side.  And since it's going in the donation box, it's for anyone who thinks it fits.  

And...finally!  Those Woodstocks are almost finished.  Not quite because I need to re-knit the toe of the first one.  I made a short-row toe and a 3-needle bind-off since I had forgotten to take a needle with me to graft the toe.  I like the rib flowing to the end of the foot a lot better.  So, I'm going to do it again.  I must have known I would do that since I didn't sew in the end.  I like how these turned out but I'm not sure about the color blending.  Especially the second sock where the gold is joined to the yellow too abruptly when I started knitting in the round again.  But I do like knowing that I'm walking on words.  They came out as little black dots scattered among the stitches. 

The weather is changing.  Even though the sun is shining, I can feel fall just lurking around the corner. The light is becoming more golden and the air has a drowsy, wine-like quality.  There is a minor melancholy note underlying the warmth of the sun as if summer is sad to be leaving us. But go it must.  Time to make a rhubarb jam.  I'm experimenting with the last of the stalks from the garden.  Some onion, ginger, rosemary, balsamic vinegar and apples.  My last taste was pretty tart!  Hope the apples mellow it out.