Just When You Thought You'd Seen It All

Saturday was International Knit in Public Day (IKIPD).  No, I did not make that up.  It really exists.  So, being the good little knitters that we are,  my knitting group decided we should knit in public.  But wait, don't we do that already?  Of course we do, but apparently some people are closet knitters and keep it a deep dark secret, like it's some kind of  weird affliction.  So, somewhere along the line someone decided it was time to get the knitters of the World out of the closet, and show the planet that this isn't a dirty little secret.  KNITTING IS NOT FOR GRANDMOTHERS ANYMORE.   Okay, yes, a lot of knitters are grandmothers, but a lot of knitters are also teenagers, or twenty-somethings.  Oh, and a lot of knitters are men!  You heard me - MEN.  And, believe it or not, a lot of those men are straight male knitters.  And a lot of the female knitters are lesbians, or lawyers, or both.  Knitters do not fit any category.  We are young and old.  We are of all ethnic groups.  We are of many religions, or no religion at all.   We are on every continent.  Beware the knitter - we are everywhere!

A couple of months ago my knitting group, decided we should get together for IKIPD.  We haven't done this in the past and thought it was time, even though we all knit in public on a regular basis.  We're kind of rebels that way.   We knit in coffee shops and restaurants.  We knit in hospitals and office buildings and in courthouses.   I spent  two hours knitting in a cemetery when I was visiting my Mom right before Memorial Day.  We knit in airplanes and on buses and trains.  We knit in parks.  We knit everywhere.  I don't think anyone in my group goes anywhere without taking a project or two with them, because you just never know.  I've been sitting in my car waiting for help with a flat tire, or an overheated radiator, and was glad to have my knitting with me.   Friday night I spent almost seven hours in the ER with my father-in-law (he's doing well, thank you) and was happy I had my knitting along.    

Okay, so how does this tie in with The Lake?  Well, an on-line yarn shop was having a sale recently, and as I was checking it out I ran across something interesting.   A couple of years ago our LYS (local yarn shop) owner had a brand of sock yarn called Wisdom Yarns, who had a line of sock yarn called Marathon Socks.  They had yarns named after several of the big marathons around the country, like New York and Boston.   Apparently they did a series based on the Twin Cities Marathon, and when I looked at the colorways,  I noticed one was, are you ready, LAKE NOKOMIS.   I ordered it right then and there, along with Hennepin and Minnehaha, then I sent a call out to all the other members of the group and let them know about the yarn, and that we should all knit with the Lake Nokomis yarn at Lake Nokomis on IKIPD.   And we did.

Here's the ball band showing the name and the colorway of the yarn.

See, I kid you not - Lake Nokomis!

 This is Kate, JoAn, Tamara & Cara.  See the blue stripy yarn?  Lake Nokomis! 

And, this is an embarrassed Kimberly being carried by her loving husband, Aeton.  Kimberly was in the hospital for a couple of days, and not being one to miss a knitting event, made Aeton bring her down to the lake on their way home from the hospital!  We all have our priorities.  Kimberly couldn't bear weight on her foot, so Aeton gallantly carried her down to where we were sitting. 

 We also got Aeton to take a group picture with the Lake Nokomis sign in the background. 

Wish the rest of the group could have joined us - we missed you all!

You just never know what you'll see at The Lake!

And Your Little Dog Too

It's such a beautiful day today that I decided to bike around the lake instead of walking.  I really haven't been on the bike since I last posted about it, and thought it was about time.  I was almost at the end of our block when I saw Princess Kitty with Catboy driving down the street, and I knew in an instant that they were going to mock me.  Yes, my children MOCKED ME!   And how were they mocking me?  They were humming that tune from the Wizard of Oz.  You know the one I'm talking about.  The one they play when Miss Gulch is biking down the road with Toto in the wicker basket. 

Here's  my basket, the one Catboy gave me for Mother's Day.   It has a quick release and a handle, so I can take the whole works with me if I stop somewhere.  Mock me if you must, but I reallly like it.

It was nice not to have the gale force winds of the last several days, just enough of a breeze to fill the sails, but no whitecaps. 

Oh, I almost forgot.........

I ran into Toto (not his real name).  Unfortunately, he wouldn't sit in the basket for me.  His owner and I  tried.   I think he's seen the movie.

It's A Hot One

It's hot and windy today, but that didn't keep the walkers away.  Not too many bikers or boaters though - that wind is wicked.  Lots of people cooling off in the water.  Looked like a kayak class was supposed to happen near the big beach.  I only saw a couple of boats actually on the water today, a canoe, and  I saw a guy row across the entire lake, against the wind, in a small dingy.  What a workout!   There were white caps out there.  His row back was a breeze!    (see what I did there)

I walked the long way around to the little beach and then decided to sit and knit a bit near the wall.  A dragonfly stopped on my project bag for awhile, checking out my progress. 

Showed him my cast-on and the first couple of rows before I headed up the hill to Nokomis Beach  Coffee for something cold to drink.  Grabbed a strawberry smoothie then headed back for the rest of my walk.  However, when I got to the top of the point it was nice and shady on the bench, and the breeze helped, so I sat and worked a few more rows.....

A lady rode by on her bike while I was knitting and said "You look like a picture sitting there".  Pretty ironic. If only she knew what I've been up to here!

The Post Without A Title Because I Can't Come Up With Anything Witty

What a lovely morning for a walk, and what great company I had.   My very favorite sister-in-law e-mailed me earlier this week saying she and her husband (Catman's brother) were thinking of coming in Saturday morning to walk around (she) and bike around (he) the lake, and asked if we'd care to join them.  Catman's nursing a bum knee, so I said no for him, but that I'd love to walk with her.  I also invited them to stay for lunch and we'd grill.  I was off from work yesterday, and knowing how my dear brother-in-law loves my homemade baked beans, I made a small roaster full for today.  Also made some Rice Krispie Bars.  It's summer, it's a barbecue, ya gotta have Rice Krispie Bars.  I was just hoping that there would be some left for us after Catboy found them when he got home last night.

I had Terri on the lookout for the Great Blue Heron, and lo and behold, we found him right where I had seen him before, sitting out in the water on the limb of a downed tree.  He's magnificent! 

Near him, on another limb of the same tree, were a pair of turtles getting some sun. 

We had a nice walk, waved at Doug a few times when he went by on the bike path, talked a lot, and enjoyed the morning.  We were about half way around when I offered Terrie a Dove Dark Chocolate.

I knew she wouldn't say no.  She laughed when I told her I always carry a few in my belly bag, "cause you never know when you might get lost and need some sustenance."  Who am I kidding?  I just like a chocolate every now and then!   There are little sayings inside each wrapper of  Dove chocolates.  They were very appropriate today.  Mine said  "Take this moment. Enjoy it."   Terri's said "You are exactly where you are supposed to be."  And she was, and I did!

A bit past the little beach I spied another mother duck with  some very little ducklings foraging in one of the little puddles still left in the grass from the high water.   We counted 13 ducklings!!  The lighting wasn't great, and I didn't dare get any closer, so this is the best I could get.  

I had to doctor the color on this a bit so we could see that they are ducklings.  Maybe I'll get that 2nd chance tomorrow?

We got home and cooled off with some iced tea, and than Catman grilled us some great burgers.  We had a nice relaxing lunch with lots of laughs.  A lovely way to spend a Saturday morning with two of our very favorite people!

But Will I Be Able To Move Tomorrow?

I got the cleaning bug this weekend.  I like things neat and orderly and put away, but I'm not a vacuum twice a day, hand wash dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, compulsive type of  cleaner.   But, things need to be done.  Saturday I decided the kitchen needed to be cleaned from stem to stern.   I washed the ceiling and walls, cleaned the outside of the cabinets and the wainscoting.  Washed all the back splashes, counters and appliances. Yes, Catman helped. He took down the old ceiling fan/light fixture and put up a new one.  Looks much better.  We pulled the stove and fridge out to clean behind and below.  Washed all the teapots and pictures and other things hanging about.  Windows and curtains got done.  Did the living room windows for good measure.  Cleaned out and rearranged the spice/seasoning cabinet, and went through all my cookbooks ( I have many) and rearranged the bookshelf.  Scrubbed the floor on hands and knees - I usually mop.  Vacuumed and dusted.   Are you tired yet?  I am.   Oh, please don't look in the Tupperware cupboard.  I can never get that to stay neat for more than five minutes, so I didn't bother with it.

Since this took both yesterday and today to accomplish, I didn't head out for a walk this weekend.  I figured all the ups and downs on the ladder and kitchen chairs, squats, lifting, pulling, pushing, etc, etc, etc, qualified for my physical activity.  And those combination windows are damn heavy!   So, I took a few pictures around the backyard.  It's all the energy I had left, besides lifting a wine glass to my lips. 

The Achillea is starting to bloom.

We have lots of gold finches visiting.  They like these net bags full of thistle better than other types of feeders we've tried.

The iris are almost done blooming for the year.  I sure wish they bloomed all season.  They're some of my favorite flowers.

I just can't capture the true color of these - they're a lot darker purple, appearing almost black at times.

The cardinals have been busy visiting the feeder.  They are so much fun to watch.  The female comes at times, but mostly the male.  There's also been a red-winged blackbird visiting regularly.  They seem to know that we're not going to bother them.  They don't care if we're moving about the yard, they come anyway. 

I love these Japanese Iris.  They're so dainty.  We've had them in for several years now, but they bloomed for the first time last year.

They're so delicate, and such a pure white.

I have a four day weekend coming up - will the cleaning frenzy continue? 

I HOPE NOT!

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

I've mentioned second chances before.  They do happen.  Sometimes we look for them, and sometimes they find us.   Right place/right time sort of thing.  I think life offers up second chances on a regular basis, but we don't always see them, or if we do see them, maybe we're afraid to take them.  Maybe it involves a career change.  I'm not a good one to comment on that as I've been at the same place of employment for 37 years.  I have had several different positions over the years, so it's been sort of like changing jobs, but I've physically been at the same location all this time.   Longevity in employment doesn't happen so much anymore.  Some people get second changes with friendships.  This has happened to me a couple of times, and I'm very thankful for it.   I've renewed friendships with a couple of childhood friends, and it's been wonderful!  It can also happen  in love.  People may say "you can't go back", but maybe you can.  Or maybe it's not going back, maybe it's just going forward, building on something that was already there.  I have a friend  who lost her childhood sweetheart.  They were young, they had a child, but their parent's good (or bad) intentions, the times, bad karma, timing, whatever, kept them apart.   Years and years later, now grandparents, they met up and got to talking.  They still loved each other.  The got married.   It's been wonderful for them.  They got a second chance.  It happens.  

My second chance today was nothing that major, but it was exciting for me.   I  found the ducklings that I saw swimming in the little pool on the grass the other day............ but now they're swimming in the big water.

I'm not sure these are the same goslings I saw strolling the Little Beach, but we'll just pretend they are. 
They're so darn cute.  I'm grinning ear to ear just looking at the pictures again.   Unfortunately, the Great Blue Heron wasn't around today, so, two out of three...........Hopefully I'll catch the heron another time.  In the meantime, I give you the beauty that is Lake Nokomis.