Of Rain and Rainbows

We just got back from a week's vacation. The morning we left it was raining, I went out early and took photos of this rainbow which spanned our neighborhood.

We rented a house in Guerneville and friends and family came from far and wide for Thanksgiving (and wine tasting). I worked on a super secret knitting project, finished it and a scarf. Despite the dire predictions of rain, and my being sick, I rode my bike all but one day.

No photos of the beautiful Armstrong redwoods but here's one of my bike camouflaging itself at the bike shop. This is only half of the pink-ness that is Stumptown Cycles.


Thanksgiving is not my holiday. Although I love pie, I don't like eating turkey, the glorification of overeating, or football. Not to mention the whole Indian/Pilgrim issue. Despite the day not being significant for me I found myself missing people who are gone. My father, who has been gone since 2001 and those we lost this year, my grandpa, and my aunt Etta.

I never could bring myself to write about her passing in September. She was my clean-living, non-smoking, favorite aunt and she died of lung cancer.


K and I took the train up to Albany where the memorial service was held. It was too soon after grandpa, and too soon to be losing my aunt. The next day we went to the cemetery where my grandma and grandpa are to add the date of his death. I had never been there before. It was raining and I debated bringing K. He had questions like "will we be dead if we go there?" and "will we dig them up?"


It was low-key and fine. We caught the train the next morning and K cried over leaving his cousins.

Back to Thanksgiving in Guerneville. A lot of the trip involved scenes like this:

My darling child had been home from school sick the whole previous week. He also woke up between 4:30 and 6:00 every day of vacation. We still love him.


One afternoon I rode out around the bend to see this rainbow over the vineyard. The next day we saw a double rainbow coming back from Sebastapol.

This post is all over the place but I have to mention that during the sick week, when I was wondering how I was going to make it, this fine fellow arrived.

He came bearing gifts of rainbow wool and more.


We came back to our apartment to settle back into the routine and culture shock of an old kitchen and small space. I found out that the pastor who confirmed me, Howard Kreiselmeyer, had passed away. He was also too young.

Rain and rainbows, that's how it goes.

Craftacular

I have been doing all kinds of crafty things the past couple months. I did my first yarn bombing, which you can read about on my knitting group's web site.

Next was a stop at Lambtown in Dixon on the way to Sacramento for the Princess Promenade. I only stayed for an hour, kind of checking things out for next year. I was missing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass here in S.F., so I was thrilled to see a band, "Matt and George and their Pleasant Valley Boys", perform. I grabbed a Miller Lite and sat a spell.

There were a ton of great vendors, both familiar and new. I would like to take a class next year.

I did not visit the alpacas.


Or participate in any eating contests.


I made some gnomes. One for a Ravelry gnome swap and the other for my knitting group's stash exchange extravaganza. We made non-knitted gifts for each other, but more about that on a later, knitting post. The delightful pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls. It is easy to do, but a little fiddly since you have to keep changing thread to match each piece.


I made mushroom drawstring gift bags and they have both gone to new homes. The boy was named Olaf.


Meanwhile we were working away on a Halloween costume for K. He wanted to be an exact replica of his robot, Lilliput. We starting saving parts in September and waited and waited for the right size cardboard box to show up. Some yellow gaffer's tape and a Sharpie's worth of ink later it was almost ready. K decided it needed red glitter glue, so it was.

He was thrilled with the costume.


Click on this to see the boy holding the toy. Please note I even replicated the typefaces.



I finally did some needlefelting. I made the sheep at the top of the post, Miss Merlot, out of Babydoll fleece and mohair.

And there has been knitting. That requires another post.

Biketacular

I rode the Princess Promenade last month in Sacramento with my sister J. It was 55 miles and she really pushed me to go faster than I would have. It was thankfully cool. One of the high points was seeing wild turkeys on the trail. One of the low points was driving around looking for Denney's and getting stuck in Old Town Sacramento. I should know better. I also discovered that all La Quintas are not created equal.

It was great to get away for a night, and spend time with Miss J. Instead of patches they give out medals at the end. Kind of neat. I would do this ride again, but it is a long way to go. Hopefully it will coincide with Lambtown again.

By the way, they had a chocolate fountain.


The bike season is winding down, and I've started running. Not sure if I want to start doing 5Ks again. I need to see what's coming up.

It was good to do organized rides again. It really is challenging to find the time to train to do the long rides. The Cinderella is on April 2nd. If I could keep up with 30 mile rides now training for that wouldn't be so bad. We shall see.