The Circle of Life, The Circle of Knitting

    We have a birds nest outside the gates to the pool. It's up on the back of our bedroom, under the little balcony. It was made at the top of the thermometer we have up there. There have been a few nests up there over the years.


    This time I see the parents, who are little brown birds, swoop in and out of the nest, feeding the babies. It's amusing that when Hubs and I are down there sitting at the table and chairs on the patio which is under our bedroom, the parents are very reluctant to feed their babies. They swoop from one side of the pool to the other, resting on the fence. Eventually they swoop to the nest and feed the kids.


    I have seen two little heads peeking out of the nest. What amazes me is that they make no sounds. You would expect baby birds to chirp constantly to mom and dad to hurry up and feed us! But these babies are silent.


    I snuck out there earlier and took a few photos. In the first one you can see the
thermometer.

    Then I got a little closer... I don't know if there are three babies in there or two. If those are the babies, they are getting big enough to leave soon. I worry about that, being so close to the pool. I hope they don't crash land in the pool while learning to fly and drown.....

 

 

 I haven't been knitting, it's been too fracking hot. And we don't have any air conditioners installed yet. Waiting for Hubs on that one. Although we did knit at the parade, as we usually sit under a nice shady tree and we were much, much cooler than those poor people who had to march in the hot sun.  

Huzzah!

    I think I'm saved! Yesterday whilst digging through a stash pile, I found a WIP that I haven't seen in a good, long time. "Perfect!" I thought. "Now I have something to knit at the parade tomorrow!"


    It's a shawl, made with Lion Brand's now-discontinued Moonlight Mohair. I even have someone to give it to when it's done. One of the other karate moms wanted it, way back when I working on it at the karate school. It's a long rectangle wrap type shawl. And it's almost finished, as I was on the last skein of yarn that I had.
   

 

    This yarn is so pretty, with sparkles. But it's a bit too scratchy for my taste. I can't wait to see how it looks and feels after I wash it.

 

 

    P.S. My fellow Stitch n Bitchers Jan and Kim as well as myself, always knit as we watch the local parades every year. This will be the last parade for Jan, however, as she is moving this weekend to Portland, Oregon. I envy her so much! I spent time there with Hubs a few years ago, and it was awesome. I would love to go back. Now we know someone who lives there, and it gives Kim and me an excuse to go.

 

I blew it!

    I remembered to take the camera to the family party, but totally forgot to take it out of my bag and use it!! Wasted opportunity. But wait, it gets better!


    I completely forgot to take it to the parade too. I walked, and about halfway there, I remembered the camera. I wasn't about to turn around and walk all the way back to the house just to get the camera. Especially since I had to stop to catch my breath about three times on the way there.


    The good news is that the parade was good this year! All the usual stuff in it, and even something new! This year we had a woman on stilts marching too. She was very good, obviously had a lot of experience. She walked like it was natural. She even did some dance steps, and leaned way over to high five some of the little kids.


    The better news is that the parade was shorter this year too! I was home by 11:30! I just wish I had remembered to bring the camera!

What a Weekend!

    This has to be the coldest Memorial Day weekend ever. I saw that it even snowed upstate. Unbelievable. I'm sitting here, drinking my coffee, and I'm freezing! I had turned the heat down when it was so warm, and I refuse to turn it back up. It's going to warm up again this week anyway. I was thinking what a difference the sun makes. When it's 64 degrees in the house, that's cold! But when it's the same temp outside, it's on the warm side. And that's all because the sun makes the air warmer outside, and there's no sun inside the house.


    Today there is a family gathering at my daughter's house. Most of my family will be there,  with the exception of my Hubs, who's at work today, and either my sister-in-law or my niece. They take turns looking after someone, and one of them has to be there. I'm looking forward to this, it makes my mom happy to see all her family together.


    I will take my camera, and take some photos for you all to see. It's just too bad that it's so cold outside. We'll have to stay indoors, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.


    Then, of course, we have the town parade tomorrow! I'm excited about that. After all these years, it's still a thrill to see my son with the karate school, doing the demonstrations with the kids. I was going to hang out with my friend Kit, but I hear that she's away. I doubt she will be here for the parade, and that makes me sad. The parade is a big deal here. We have two every year, weather permitting. Memorial Day and Independence Day. Look here soon for photos!!

The Parade, Then and Now.

     Back when my daughter was in high school, she was in the marching band. So of course, she got to be in the parades. I remember driving down Rte 9, and the ungodly hour of 7:30 or 8:00, and even at that hour, people had chairs out already, marking their territory of where they were going to sit.


   It is still like that now! I no longer have to drop anyone off at the drive-in for the parade line up, but my two friends who do have remarked to me that this is still the case. And Jan even said, "Only in Hyde Park could people put their chairs out without fear of them being taken!" I agree, Jan!


   My poor daughter in the marching band had to wear this god-awful heavy wool uniform, even in July, and those stupid looking tall wool hats too. She would arrive home after the parade, practically fainting from heat stroke. She was furious that shortly after she graduated, the powers that be changed the marching band uniform to black pants and a white T shirt! I remember that she wanted nothing better than to burn that awful heavy uniform!


    This years parade was pretty good. I took a few photos, we were sitting on the east side of Rte 9, here are our views looking south, then north.

     Of course, the parade hadn't started yet. Even after it starts, we are near the end of it, so it takes forever for it to get this far!

    This nice family were also at the Memorial Day parade, when they were the hit of the street! They brought a duck, on a leash, with them. Everyone wanted to go say Hi to the duck!

     And of course, they can't have a parade without old military vehicles. Here is an old Jeep.

   
    And here is my fantasy boyfriend. I do like a man with a shed over his tools.  I don't want me no skinny men with bones sticking out. They hurt.

      And lastly, the highlight of the parade for me, a purple tractor! Gotta have a purple tractor, it sure is different!

 
                                   HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, EVERYBODY!

Random Observations

   I just have a few things that have been on my mind lately, I thought I'd share them and see if anyone else agrees with me!


   I watched HP and the Deathly Hallows again this past weekend, and something struck me. You know the scene where they all go to Uncle Vernon's house to get Harry out of there? And how they use Pollyjuice potion on 5 or 6 people so they look like Harry and the bad guys won't know which is the real Harry?


   My thought is this: Wouldn't it have been better to have Harry be the one disguised, but as someone who didn't go to the house?(So there wouldn't be two of them...) Then when they all leave, the bad guys would think Harry is still there. Just a thought.

   I watch a lot of TV. I've been noticing that lately, the people who make movies seem to be out of new ideas. It seems that all the new movies coming out are remakes of older movies. I think what they should do is go waaay back in time, and remake some really good old movies, like the Charlie Chan or Thin Man series. Can you even imagine what wonderful things they could do to those stories, with all the new technology we have today? Just a thought.
 
    Tomorrow is the Independence Day Parade in our little town. This year, I hope to remember my camera. I forgot it for the last one, on Memorial Day. I hope to get some good photos to post. We three karate moms will be sitting together, in the same place as the last parade. It was very hot that day, just like it's supposed to be tomorrow, and we were very cool under those trees!


    We will be cheering for our kids when they pass, and knitting (Jan),crocheting(me), and possibly spinning(Kim) as we watch the parade and wait for our children to march by. Jess knows where we will be sitting, so he will probably have them perform in front of us. They do that when they see parents or relatives.