Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Finished!

Today is Jaya's Birthday. I worked frantically over the weekend, and last night I finished the socks! Yay!

They are actually the same length, that's not plain in the picture, but they seem to fit.

The next socks will be a mosaic pattern I'm trying on #2 needles.

On Saturday we drove up to Auburn to look at a house. It's brand new, 3 bedrooms, no landscaping. But we loved it. On the drive home we were talking about moving there and commuting. It's a beautiful place, and I like the town.






Here's the front of the house. There would be room for guests, and a nice big room for sessions.

So, we're very excited about the prospect!

Sunday was Shay's birthday party. Here he is with his daughter, Shosie. She was one of the singers at the party.





I still don't have the pictures back from my birthday party, I will post some as soon as I get them.

My friend Brenda and her daughter Beth came all the way from West Virginia for the party. On Sunday morning we went to the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory for brunch and a tour. Here's Beth and Brenda.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Cooking, Sewing, Knitting, Playing

Here's my Jaya, making a glaze for the meatloaf. He made the America's Test Kitchen recipe for a dinner we went to at Bruce and Anne's a few weeks ago. Isn't he good looking? And he cooks, too!

I am re-making the top of my wedding dress so I can wear it to my birthday party. It was always too big, so I cut quite a bit off each side, changed the pattern entirely. Here it is, almost put together. I have to put on the sleeves yet, but it will be ready for Saturday.

I'm not actually that talented at creating patterns. What I did was find a pattern that worked, and then took the top apart and re-cut it to the new pattern. I left the neckline and hem as they were, so I didn't lose any beadwork. The gold beads were on this when I bought it, but the green ones I added myself.



Saturday we went to the Pleasanton Scottish Games at the fairgrounds. When we walked in the Wicked Tinkers were playing, so we watched them.

At one point they played 'I want whisky', and lo and behold, 5 or 6 men came up to the stage offering flasks. All the band members got at least a swig, and declared this was the best response to that song, ever!

Here's another shot of the band.














Molly's Revenge played next, and David Brewer did his famous two-whistles-at-once parlor trick.


















We were invited to the McPhersen barbecue after the games. I found some time to work on the Jaya sock. Poor thing, it keeps traveling around with me, and still isn't done. But I did get the heel finished, and I'm on the home stretch, working my way up the calf!


We got to session with Molly's revenge after dinner. That was great fun! And Joyce is holding her own on the pipes.
After the session, David Brewer and Jaya were admiring each other's bodhrans, each made by Del Eckles. David said, "It's like those guys who drive Ferrari's, they drive by and wave at each other." Acknowledgement of the best.