Crochet progress, Winter Sports, and Dominoes!

    Today I babysat for my two older grandkids, Chloe who is five and was home sick from school today, and Mason who is three. I actually found time to work on my legwarmers today! And the best news is that the first one is almost done! I'm super excited about it! Then I can start the second one, and have a pair of legwarmers that I actually made myself! I almost hurt myself patting myself on the back!


    I have a favorite winter sport. The only time I ever get to see it in when it's a Winter Olympic year, as this year is. For me, it began when I was very young and we lived down in Putnam County, in a little town called Lake Peekskill. My parents actually rented the bottom half of a lake front house, and we got to use the yard, the giant sand box which overlooked our little private beach, and the dock. We swam in the summer, and ice skated in the winter.


    I remember skating down the lake to near one of the three public beaches. My brother and I used to skate all over the lake. But in that part of the lake I saw people playing some weird game on the ice, where they glided big round rocks and crazy people slid along next to it, sweeping the ice madly. I had no idea what they were doing, but it was fascinating to me. And that's how I was introduced to Curling.


    I love watching Curling to this day. I love when it's a Winter Olympics year. My Hubs thinks I am absolutely barking mad. But it makes me happy.


    The only comparable thing there is, for me, is Dominoes. When Hubs and I were on the west coast for three weeks some years ago, he was gone all day, and I was by myself in the hotel. That's how I found the dominoes tournament on one of the sports channels. I watched it avidly the whole time it was on.


   It was fascinating to me, how the teams from the competing countries played so differently! One country's team put the dominoes down nice and neat, and one was very sloppy. When these two countries played each other, fights would actually break out! Fascinating. Ever since then, I keep looking for dominoes tournaments on the sports channels here on the east coast. I haven't found any yet. I have decided it must be a west coast thing. Maybe someday I will get lucky and find it.

Pool dilema part II

    I feel that I need to further explain myself about the whole pool thing. I grew up on a little lake in Putnam County, NY. The apartment (bottom half of a house, really) my parents rented was literally on the water. We walked down through the yard, and there were the wide steps that went down to a private dock. It even had a tiny private beach. We moved away the summer I turned thirteen. I had never been away from the water. Shortly after moving into our first house, my parents bought an above ground pool. They missed the lake as much as my brother and I did.


     So a pool was important to me, and Hubs was willing to do all the work. And really, once you get it up and running at the beginning of the season, it doesn't take that much work. I get in every morning, and skim from the inside. I straddle a couple of noodles, and with the skimmer head in my hand, I go back and forth, working my way out to the deep end, skimming. I also test the water every morning, and empty the skimmer basket when needed. Hubs has to vacuum. It's too hard for me. He finds it relaxing, it's a nice quiet evening activity. That only needs to be done maybe once a week or so.


    I have a wicker chair I keep in one corner to sit in. It's the corner that the shade gets to first.

    I call it my Queen Chair, since I'm the Queen of the pool. Some of you may recognize it as the same chair that Morticia Adams had in The Adams Family...  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find these chairs around here? The first one I had came from the neighbors across the street, years ago when they were having a yard sale. This one I found at the Goodwill store in Kingston. We had a Hell of a time getting it home in my Jeep! But I had to buy it. I had had friends scouting yard and garage sales for me for about two years with no luck before I randomly came across this one.


     We also have a table and two chairs that we put out at the far end of the pool. Hubs and I sit there, and have our coffee some mornings. And that's where we play backgammon. The table is tall, with the chairs barstool height.


     Anyway, if we were to fill in the pool, I see perhaps another, much smaller pool out at the far end of that fenced in space. I've even seen a good replacement on TV. It's a lap pool, where you swim and the flow of the water is so great that you don't really move. This one has a little treadmill in the bottom of it, which would be perfect for me to get some much needed exercise. And at the one end, it's like a spa, with bubbles and seats!


    I also see a play area for the grandkids. You know, a castle, or swings, or a big sandbox. And all safely enclosed by the current chain link fence. You gotta keep the precious little ones safe.


    Another thing I discovered about our pool. Many years ago, before there was a pool at Hackett Hill Park, our pool was being used as the town pool. Kids were given swimming lessons here.