Home Again, Home Again

Since my parents moved to Humboldt County over twenty years ago, I think that we've missed the Humboldt County Fair maybe twice. The first reason that we enjoy it so much is that it's in Ferndale, which means that if you're on the ferris wheel, you look one way and see tree-covered mountains, another way and you can see the ocean, and another way and see idyllic dairy farms and the town of Ferndale with all of it Victorian houses. I also never miss the "homecraft" exhibits. Some years the knitting is so inspiring. This year is was a little sparce. There wasn't really anything I wanted to emulate, but it was still fun to see the different projects. I would have pictures to share, but I neglected to change my battery pack. Has this every happened to me before??? Only about every time I'm excited about taking some unique pictures.

Here are a few pictures of what I love about Humboldt County:

Gingerbread Mansion in Ferndale. I'd like to stay there, but it seems a little silly since Ferndale is about ten minutes from my parents' house.


Visitng the Loleta Cheese Factory so that we can take a "few" bricks of cheese home.



We don't do this everytime, but sometimes we visit my parents' friends dairy farm. Their family has owned their dairy over a hundred years. something pretty uncommon in Californa.

This old house is near the dairy. Our friends say that it belongs to a hundred-year-old lady who now lives with her children. The family is just letting it disintegrate. It still has furniture in it, which is also disintegrating since the roof is nearly gone. Most of the old Victorian houses around Ferndale are well-maintained, but I love dreaming about buying an old one and refurbishing it...maybe not one that has gone this far though.



Just in case you think that I've forgotten that this is a knitting blog, I've included a picture of my family eating lunch in front of Heidi's Yarn Haven in Ukiah. Wemade our perfunctory stop at Schat's Bakery and my family ate their sandwiches as I made a quick purchase at Heidi's. I wish I could remember on whose blog I recently saw some socks made with this same Cotton Panda yarn.

Knitting and Flowers

I have spent most of this last vacation knitting, reading, hiking, and eating. What a great way to get ready for a long school year. I finished knitting my Gull Wings Socks and have moved on to some self-striping ones. I bought the yarn in Nebraska, and I'm not that in love with the color. I used the basic pattern from the lacey mock cable sock pattern posted on the Island of Misfit Patterns Website, and instead of the "lace" I knit a mock cable. Last year when we went to the snow, Kai didn't have any wool socks, so I think these are for him. They're a little wild, but he won't mind.

The nice thing about being at my parents' house is that their backyard is like a park, so when you're not up to a big hike, you can stroll through their garden.

Northern California is Great

Northern California is nothing like the rest of the state, and especially during the summer time that is a really good thing. When we left home it was supposed to be 100 degrees, but it hasn't even hit seventy degrees since we've arrived in Fortuna. Another bonus to our visit is that my nephew from Alabama's visit with my parents has overlapped with ours for a few days. We don't get to see him or his family very often but we love it when we do. We've gone on quite a few non-strenuous hikes with him, beginning with the "Russ Park hike" near Ferndale. My kids say that they've done it at least a hundred times, but I think it's more like thirty...or forty.





We also had to visit the Saturday farmer's market in Arcata. My parents have a wonderful garden, so we're not so tempted to buy all of the produce, but we usually have to buy some decadent bakery items, and, of course, I have to check out the yarn booths.

Arcata has a city park with some trails that make you feel like you're hiking out in the middle of a huge forest. And or once, they allowed dogs, so Rowdy got to go along.


And the perfect way to end the day was to play a little scrabble. OK, I admit this wasn't the our actual game.

How to Get Ready to Go on Vacation

I am not a particularly fastidious person. I do like things nice and tidy, but I can easily sit for an hour or so knitting knowing that there are dishes in the sink or clothes that needs folding. The one exception to my somewhat laid back approach to housework is the day before we go on vacation. We just came back from Nebraska a little more than a week ago, but we are heading up to my parents' home in northern California tomorrow for one last visit before school starts.

So what did I do today? Well, let's see. I trimmed our grapefruit tree, pruned my roses, pulled some weeds, edged the front lawn, helped Kai really clean his room, and picked every last peach on the peach tree and make three peach crisps using the delicious recipe I got from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I didn't bake the cookies. I had Paige do that for me, so that we'd have some snacks for our eleven-hour car ride. I think there are two left now.

I reconciled our check book with our latest statement. (The one that's been sitting in my bill box since we got home over a week ago.) I momentarily believed that I was about to be three thousand dollars overdrawn because I decided to call the bank to make sure that a big Visa payment that I'd sent in had cleared. The automated teller said that that check hadn't "appeared in the last thirty days" But when I checked my account balance it was down really low, like there was no way I could have covered an in-coming three thousand dollar check with the amount that was left. I felt my heart starting to pound, and then I thought to myself, "There is no way, you could have made that big of a mistake in your checkbook." I calmly checked my figures again and called the bank to talk to a real person. She said, "Oh yes, that check went through already, it was just automated, so it doesn't appear as a "check." Whatever! I was just relieved.

After that little incident, I decided to call the college where I often teach a night class to tell them that I could teach one night a week this fall. I had thought about saying no, had even planned to say no, but I decided that a little extra money is nice and one night shouldn't be too bad....I guess.

I called my university to see if I owed more money since my Master's in in the middle of being evaluted. She said that I owed another $212. That's better than $650, but I'm ready to quit giving the University of California educational system so much of my hard-earned cash. The good news was that my mentor has approved my thesis, and it has been passed to the second reader. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I think I may actually be finished.

Somewhere in between there I packed for Kai because he went to a Dodger game with a friend and his family and won't be home until after midnight tonight. (Funny aside, he called and told me that every time Barry Bonds came up to bat, the stadium boo-ed like crazy. He was impressed with that.)

I also packed for Russ and me although I must admit that Russ did all of the laundry today because that's another quirk I have, that all of our laundry must be clean before we leave on even a short vacation. (I'll also admit that we got a new washer in May, and I have yet to do one load in it.)

It's now eleven-thirty, and I don't think we'll leave that early tomorrow. I won't be able to sleep until Kai is home safe and sound, so I think I'll just settle back and work on my sock.

UFO Envy

I have a strange reaction to posts from people who are concerned about having too many UFOs. While they're seemingly chagrined over their perceived excess, I'm kind of jealous! Polly at All Tangled Up says she has over 50 unfinished projects, and Jenn at Knit n Lit has a picture of three socks that she has going at once. I usually only have one projct going. If I stop working on something, I 'll usually frog it before I'll start working on it again.




Today, I decided to change that. I don't want to have a million projects going at once, but it make sense to have a variety of projects that require different level of skill and focus going at once. I started some socks today from Socks, Socks, Socks They're called "Gull Wings," and they're pretty easy. I have one complaint. How come designers will say to pick up, let's say fifteen stitches fron the sides of the heel when they've only had you knit enough to have maybe ten stitches to actually pick up. I just don't get it.



I have to include a couple more puppy pics. I must, must, must convince Kai that one dog in the family is enough.

Really Random

If I were a kitty looking for a comfortable place to nap away the afternoon, I do not think that I would choose to lie on a knitting book and assorted knitting accoutrements, but I am not a kitty and obviously don't understand kitty psychology. Perhaps Josie is simply trying to point out that it's rude for me to spread my knitting projects all over the couch. I'm almost back to the point I was at previously on my "Trinity" sweater. I'm much happier with it now. I wasn't even doing the right size on my first try.


I'm using up some "Fixation" yarn to make a little sweater dress for a little rabbit that I'm planning to donate for the fundraiser Tracy and
Evelyn are organizing for Krystal Glass, who has breast cancer.



Russ was walking Rowdy a couple of years ago, and this coupe ran out of their house, saying how beautiful he was. They've been our friends ever since, and have "dog sat" Rowdy for us numerous times. Haley, their beagle, had puppies last night, and they are soooo cute....kind of....OK, they are going to be cute eventually. Rowdy preformed his duties without charge because they won't ever take money when they babysit. Is that more information than you needed to know?

More About Yosemite

I can't think of a way of writing about this hike without sounding like a thoughtless complainer, but I still have the need to record it. We hiked for eleven miles and I ended up having to practically carry this twenty-year-old girl from our camping group, who I thought we were only giving a ride up to Tuolumme Meadows (an hour from Yosemite Valley) . A friend from work organizes this trip every year, but we've only gone a couple of years, so we don't know everyone very well. Just as we were about to take off to Tuolumme Meadows, this girl's mother told me, "Brooke has Asperger's Syndrome, (a mild form of autism) but she'll be fine. Blah, blah, blah." I had thought that Brooke seemed a bit odd, but certainly not dysfuctional.

Brooke was not fine. Half-way through the hike, the trail got a little rocky and she wanted me to hold her hand, then she wanted me to support her, then she wanted to go back, which I told her wasn't an option since my daughter was with a group ahead of us, and I wanted to be close to them. It wasn't an awful experinece, but it was annoying. I have some sympathy for Brooke, but I can't believe that her mother just sent her off like that on a huge hike when she's afraid of rocks!! Maybe her mother didn't know, although an aquaintance said that she did the same thiing to someone else on a big hike last year. The teacher in me made me lecture Brooke a little when we were finished, "You shouldn't go on these hikes if you can't do it by yourself, Brooke." My son ended up being quite happy that Brooke was such a pain and slowed us down so much, because we ended up having to cut the hike short. We turned back about a mile before our destination so that the group ahead of us wouldn't have to wait for us forever. Kai took a little nap on a rock before we headed back. What a trooper! Oh...and neither Brooke nor her mother said so much as a thank you.

My friend's wife later told me that it was so nice that I "took care of Brooke," but I told her that it really wasn't because I had complained to some people about it. I think I'm finished complaing. But I can tell you that if Brooke asks for a ride to a trailhead next year, we're all full up!

Dreaming of Yosemite

It was at least 100 degrees today. I don't feel like doing anything when it is so hot outside, so I did pretty much nothing at all, all day long. The highlight of my day was going down to the post office...no wait, the real highlight was going out to the peach tree and picking about ten perfect peaches.

I had thought that I'd spend a bunch of time knitting today, but I didn't. Instead, I frogged all of my niece's sweater. I had several errors that I realize almost no one would ever notice, but I couldn't be happy knowing they were there. Oh well, that's why I love knitting. No great loss, except time. I'll get going again tomorrow.

We went to Yosemite in June, and I thought I'd post these pictures because this time of year, I'm kind of sad to live where we live because it's sooooo blasted hot, but we live pretty close to many beautiful places. The pictures are from our big hike--our eleven mile hike.

I have to go get ice cream for my son because he just got his braces on and is miserable. So I will tell the tale of our hike tomorrow. It's a good one!

Thanks for all of the birthday greetings everyone. That was sooooo nice!

Happy Birthday to Me

I turned forty-five today. I was going to use that as an excuse not to run this morning but considering that I didn't run our entire vacation, I thought that maybe I should. So i did--about five miles. The weather report said that it was supposed to be 97 degrees today, but it was overcast all day and even spprinkled on us while we were running. I had a pretty lazy day. Russ made me a couple of presents that I will show off later, and he also bought me A Thousand Splendid Suns. I read the Kite Runner over vacation and loved it. I've already started Splendid Sun and I think I'll like it a lot too.
I knit quite a lot on my niece's sweater today too between taking a couple naps and making some marzipan sweaters with Kai. Paige made me a cheesecake, and Kai and I put our sweaters on it. I think we need a little practice to get as good as Lolo's sweatesr on Vegan Yum Yum.

More About My Trip

There is a bookstore in Lincoln that my husband and I never miss stopping at when we visit. It's called The Bluestem Bookstore, and it has one of the best selections of used books that we know of. We always buy a bunch of books there even though we have to figure out how to get them home on the plane. Recently, the owner began including knitting books in his collection. True to his standards, he has chosen only high quality knitting books. I bought A Treasury of Rowan Books for only $12.95. I love almost every pattern in it and have finally gotten into doing something other than little rabbits that I don't know what to do with. (If anyone is interested, he still had a couple of copies and he sells online.)


I've started knitting "Trinity." It's kind of an aran pattern but not too difficult once I got the stirches counted correctly. I always have to begin several times because I'm in too big of a hurry. I'm planning to knit it for my six-year-old neice and then knit a bunny with a little aran sweater to match for Christmas.

Julie mentioned in her blog that she has joined a Christmas KAL, so I thought I'd follow her example. It's exciting to think about what else I want to do. I have no intention of driving myself crazy, but I should be able to complete quite a few projects before Christmas.

I Love Yarn Shops

I love finding new yarn shops. I can't usually spend much time in them if I am with my family because for some reason they are bored by yarn and feel that I have more than enoughof it. If I ever get a chance to visit Webs or Patternworks I would be very excited, but I prefer smalll shops run by non-pretentious and friendly, but unobtrusive, women. I found one of those in Lincoln, Nebraska and since we were staying at my in-laws, not my favorite place to spend a lot of time, I did some shopping on my own. The shop I discovered is called Threads. It's located in a small mall in southwest Lincoln and used to cater to machine knittrs. I used to go there, but wasn't too inspired by the owner or contents. Threads now has a new owner, and she's changing the shop. She has a fantastic selection of Brown Sheep wool, which a Nebraska knit shop should have, of course. I didn't buy any of it, but I did make a few purchases. I'm still kind of obsessed with making rabbits still, so I bought some beautiful brown alpaca and some Lily Chin merino yarn to make rabbits and some Cherry Hill wool to make Paige some socks.

Does Anyone Want This??

I have mentioned before that I am not particularly scholarly. I haven't ever finished Crime and Punishment or War and Peace as my history-major husband has, but I do like "good" literature. I'm not interested in romance novels, etc., and most knitting novels I have read have had that "romance novel" feel to them. The Friday Night Knitting Club kind of had that feel too. I just read a review that said it had the feel of a first novel. That said, I read it almost straight through. So..I don't exactly recommend it, but it does have a neat cover! If anyone wants it, you can email me your address, and I will send it to you. Julie, I know that you once mentioned that you planned to read Friday Night knitting Club It's all yours, if you want it!

Now That was a Hiatus

So how do you get started blogging after such a long break?? It's funny because I was blogging pretty regularly when I was so busy with school and finishing my paper. I was just too worn out to be very creative for a while

We're just back from two weeks in Nebraska, which I know that some people would not consider a prime vacation spot, but we love it. My husband is from Lincoln, so we spend a lot of time there. We usually spend time visiting college friends too, but this year we didn't get to see too many people BUT my kids were happy because that meant more time with their cousin. I didn't take too many pctures but one day we headed off for an adventure at Mahoney State Park between Lincoln and Omaha. It was nearly 100 degrees and predictably the pool there, which is more like a water park than a pool, was packed, so we headed to the "Walter Scott look-out tower at the park. My sister-in-law pulled into her parking space and discovered....that she had a flat. While she and Russ worked in the infernal heat, I climbed to the top of the tower and enjoyed the view!






I did get a little knitting done too, but I'll have to show that off tomorrow. Lincoln finally has a nice little knitting shop, so i had to spend a little time and money there!

King Ranch Casserole

My husband get the news magazine The Week. I like it, but I hardly ever have time to read its articles about international and U.S. news, BUT I never miss its Leisure Section which always has a great "Food and Drink" section. They usually have recipes from famous restaurants. I haven't tried to make any of them since I've pretty much not cooked anything worth mentioning all year. Russ thought we should made it when our pastor came to dinner tonight. He went and bought all of the ingredients, and I did the cooking. Success! It was an easy recipe and was delicious. Everyone had seconds. The artice said that King Ranch Casserole "might be the most famous casserole in Texas." Now something tells me that most Texans don't use Wolgang Puck's chicken broth in their version, but I can see why Texans love it. It is sooooo bad for you but tastes sooooo good!

Not much left!

King Ranch Casserole

12 (6 -inch) corn tortillas
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 jalapeno chilies, minced
2 tsp cumin
2 (10 -oz) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes
5 tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved lenthwise and
cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
4 cups Cojack cheese
salt/pepper
21/4 cups Fritos, crushed

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Lay tortillas on two baking sheets, lightly coat both side with cooking spray, and bake slightly crisp and browned, about 12 minutes. Cool slighly, then break into bite-size peices.

Heat butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions, chilies, and cumin until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until most of liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add cream and broth, bring to summer, and cook until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in chicken a cook until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Off heat, add cilantro and cheese, and sitr until chees is melted. Season with salt and pepter.

Scatter half of tortilla pieces in 13 by 9 inch baking dish set over rimmed baking sheet. Spoon half of filling evenly over tortillas. Scatter remaining toritlla over filling , then top with remaining filling.

Bake until filling is bubbling, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle Fritos evenly over top and bake until Fritos are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool casserole 10 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.