PhotoHunt Metal

This picture was taken on Sanibel Island, FL in 2005. I’d never heard of a metal lighthouse before learning about this one. Made entirely of iron, it’s 98 feet tall and was first lit in 1884. There’s a lot more history behind it and if you are interested in reading about it, CLICK HERE.

If you ever are in that area and would like to check it out, parking is at a premium. The best way to see the lighthouse is to rent a bike. We rented from Billy’s Rentals. He has bikes of every kinds at and reasonable prices. The link has lots of other information if you are interested. Also, the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge is at the other end of the island and is a great place to bike also.

Sunday Scribblings #103 — I Just Don’t Get It

Because it’s been such a long week (insert long drawn out sigh accompanied by morose violin music here) I’m taking the easy way out. Here’s a list of I Just Don’t Get Its.

• There is a song that rolls around in my head almost constantly. It’s a round that I learned when I was in grade school (40 years ago!!!) and it goes: “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be”. I do NOT understand why I can’t shake this stupid little song loose.
• I am the opposite of an anorexic. Anorexics look in the mirror and lament how fat they are. I look in the mirror and truly believe I’m looking at a size 10 me but I’m really a size 14 me. Imagine my surprise when size 10 jeans don’t fit!!
• I have slept pretty well for the past 8 or 9 nights. Tonight I am wide awake. I have done nothing different to account for this sleeplessness, but there you have it. There’s a nice moon out tonight, tho.
• I’ve been looking at my hands lately. I have my grandmother’s hands. So does my sister. I can remember tracing Nanny’s veins on the top of her hands when I was little, and now my GrandDolly does the same thing to my hands. I feel a very strange connection linking me to GrandDolly and Nanny. Actually, I do get this now, but I didn’t for awhile.
• There was a guy that pulled out in front of me last week. Pulled out is not quite right. He eased out in front of me. I was booking along about 45mph with no one in back of me. Another car was coming toward me, also with nobody in back of her. I laid on the horn, because I was convinced this person couldn’t see either one of us. I was wrong. He gives me the finger. I don’t get that. HE pulled out in front of me — why would he get so offended when I voiced my displeasure of him almost hitting my car. Bozo…….
• I don’t get why people are so self absorbed as to not notice anything in the world outside of their little orbit. Monumental drama over diddly, and totally unaware of the big picture in the real world or how they are contributing to the problems. Honestly, some days I would like to just cuff some of the up side the head.
• And why would anybody want to be president anyway???

There are more I Just Don’t Get Its here at Sunday Scribblings.

10 Places You’d Take a Tourist to See in Your Hometown

I live in a very small town surrounded by other small towns. There aren’t 10 interesting places to see in this little village, so I’m going to include other towns in the area. I’m sure that there are probably 45 other places or things to do, but this is a list of my favorites.

1. Cady-Copp Cottage. It’s the oldest standing house in Putnam, CT, some 250 years old or so. Sweet Baboo and I visited it a couple of times and it’s included on the National Register of Historic Places. There has been a lot of fund-raising held to preserve it.
2. The antique district of Putnam. I’m not sure how many there are, but it’s a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Or sunny or snowy…..
3. The River Trail Walk in Putnam. A little over a mile in length, it runs parallel to the river. Duh. Very pretty and well paved — a nice way to see wildlife, too.
4. And speaking of the river, we have River Fires 2 or 3 times in the summer. Braziers/barrels are anchored in the river and filled with wood, then lit at twilight. Great music and lot’s of people just wandering around, enjoying it.
5. A nice long ride through charming Woodstock, while it’s still rural. Houses are popping up practically overnight and it’s not the bucolic area that it once was. Just another casualty of progress. In the meantime, there are lovely vistas, spectacular landscapes and rolling hills.
6. Old Trinity Church in Brooklyn, which is purported to be haunted. The church is open a few times every year, not used except for special occasions.
7. Zip’s Diner in Dayville. Everybody should eat in a diner once in their life. The food is good, plentiful and cheap.
8. Fourth of July fireworks. The streets are closed off around Rotary Park with fireworks at 9 or so. For a small town, we have the best fireworks show in the area!! There are literally thousands of people that come to it.
9. In October, there is an event called Walking Weekend put on by The Last Green Valley, a non-profit organization. Historical and nature walks are held in old mills, along rivers, cemeteries, old schools — very informative and the weather is usually nice.
10. Relay for Life in Woodstock each May, benefiting the American Cancer Society. There is nothing to prepare you for the humbling and emotional feeling you will get the first time you see the luminaria ceremony. Each luminaria is lit in memory of a loved one who has died of cancer. There are hundreds of them along the walk, showing how widespread this despicable disease is.

Another Little Bag-Ette

I love the process of learning from my mistakes. I look at the first bag that I made and what I learned from it, so that I can apply it to the next. Every bag gets a little better than the one before it. What’s funny is that I made the first one in about an hour and each bag thereafter takes progressively longer.  I think it’s because I tend to over-analyze everything. Bags included.

I have bemoaned the fact that I have SOOOOOO much fabric in my closet, in totes, in bags, and in baskets.  I have to say, tho, it’s nice to be able to just sift through all of the colors and patterns on the floor of my sewing room in my jammies, rather than going to a fabric store.

This is my latest one. About 10″ tall by 11″ across the top, with a 6″ x 6″ square bottom. I really need to see about getting some beads with large holes. Tying knots in the ends of the drawstrings just doesn’t flip my skirt — just doesn’t seem to be finished.

I’m not sure what this bag’s assignment will be. The base is bigger, so maybe it would make a better lunch bag. Decisions, decisions…… But cute, eh? I love the little wagons with the bluebirds perched on them.

Little Project Bag-ettes

These two little bags turned out pretty well. They are both about 9 inches tall, but one is a little smaller in diameter than the other. Not by choice. I measured and cut before I measured, measured again, and then cut. (Sigh) You’d think I’d learn after awhile.

This is the smaller of the two, my second attempt. I was going to use it as a lunch bag, but now I think I will use the other one because it’s bigger. I’ll be using this one for my knitting.

And this is the former project bag now promoted to lunch bag. I took off the other drawstrings that I had originally put on and replaced them with bias tape. Then I disassembled some of my jewelry for the beads. The price one pays for creativity…….

I’ll probably make 6 or 7 more of these before my obsession with them finally peaks. Then I’ll be off to something else that catches my fancy.

Friday Fill-ins #63

1. Contact may cause extreme itching accompanied by a woe is me attitude. (poison ivy — there haven’t been too many summers go by that I don’t get covered by it.).
2. The parties hereto do mutually agree to disagree.
3. Disney parks are something that I’ve never been to, nor do I care to..
4. A nice cup of coffee and a foot massage sounds really good right about now!
5. I positively burn with rage at rude people. Who do they think they are anyway?.
6. Looking at my daughter and her daughter always makes me smile
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to starting some sewing, tomorrow my plans include finishing aforementioned sewing and Sunday, I want to cut Sweet Baboo’s hair, run my Wal-Mart errands early and spend the afternoon making a lunch bag and makeup bag!!

10 Things You’re Looking Forward to in Spring

Jeepers, I can’t believe how late I am with this post this week!! It’s almost next Tuesday!!

1. Walking around the yard looking for little green surprises coming up through the ground.
2. The way the air smells. You know what I mean? It’s so fresh and has a particular smell to it.
3. Longer days, shorter nights. Having more daylight later in the evening gives me so much more energy.
4. Rainstorms. Just love waking up on a Saturday or Sunday and hearing the rain pour down through the rain gutters. Then rolling over and going back to sleep!!
5. Watching Sweet Baboo work in the garden. I’ve been banned from it. I get poison ivy way too easy.
6. Resuming my walking regimen. I’ve had to cut way back because of indoor allergies giving me sinus infections. Just drains the energy right out of me.
7. Yellow and purple. Forsythia and crocuses.
8. Spring birds yakking back and forth at each other. Between that sound and the smell of the air, spring has announced itself, at least in New England
9. How everything looks so much cleaner because the yucky dirty snowbanks are gone.
10. Knowing that summer is not far behind spring!!

Unconscious Mutterings #267

1. Paranormal :: unexplained
2. Alarm :: adrenaline surge
3. Operative :: word
4. Changing :: diapers
5. Framed :: by the coppers
6. Beer :: none for me thanks
7. Referral :: doctor
8. Unmasked :: secret identity
9. Movie star :: Cary Grant
10. Handbook :: do’s and don’ts

Sunday Scribblings #102 — Smorgasbord

Looking over the topics from this past year that are offered again this week, one in particular stood out — superstition!!!

One of the ladies that I work with has a superstition for just about any action you can name. She says it’s because she had an Irish mother and grandmother coupled with her Catholic school upbringing. Quite an arsenal they used to keep their children in line with fear.

If she is to be believed, this is just a short list of her do’s or don’t’s.

• It’s very bad luck to put your shoes on a table — or a bed — or a chair — or anywhere other than the floor, apparently.
• It’s very bad luck to lay down on your bed with the bedspread on — double the bad luck if you wear above mentioned shoes while laying down on the bed.
• If a girl whistles, she will make the Virgin Mother cry. (Guess who drummed that one into her head!!) But if you’re a boy, it’s okay. Gotta love that double standard.
• A good Catholic girl never wears black patent leather shoes with a skirt. That’s according to the nuns. Apparently if you are a Catholic girl, it’s possible for people to see your underwear reflected in the shine of your shoes.
• If your right hand itches you will be meeting someone new. If your left hand itches you will be getting money.
• If you suddenly shiver, it means someone has walked over your grave. (What the heck does that mean, anyway?)
• If a bird flies into a window, someone who lives in the house will die soon.
• If you go to church without a hat, you have to wear a tissue (???) on your head. (Honest, I couldn’t make that one up if I tried!!)
• It’s bad luck to turn the page for the next month of a calendar before the current month has ended.
• It’s also bad luck to rock a rocking chair without anybody in it.

Not being Catholic or Irish, I live to torment this poor woman — whistling is usually my weapon of choice, although I have stooped to taking off my shoes and putting them on the counter at work. Someday I’m going to show up at work with black patent leather shoes and a skirt!!!!

A Little Breathing Room

I’ve been having a lot of discomfort in my thumbs while knitting my oh-so-loved socks with my oh-so-loved yarn, so decided to put it aside for awhile.

I found this really great yarn on line — at a website called that is called Just Our Yarn — and bought a couple skeins to make a scarf that hopefully won’t make me itch. This is the colorway that I bought — it is Indulgence in magenta, deep forest green and electric blue. Contents are75% Merino/15% Angora/10% Silk. The pattern that I am using is Diagonal Lace Scarf designed by Helena Frank. I found it on Midnight Purls while surfing in the wee hours of the morning a couple weeks ago. Check out her site if you have a few minutes. Lots of great reading and other stuff, like great patterns!!

But anyway…..

I’ve knitted and felted a couple of bags but I don’t like them for carrying my knitting around. They’re great for other things, but not my knitting. Decided to make a drawstring bag from the literally hundreds of pounds of fabric that I have stashed in my closet. It didn’t do much to reduce my stash, but it turned out pretty well. It’s about 9 1/2″ tall with a 6″ x 6″ square bottom. Just big enough for a small project. Now Darling Daughter wants one for her makeup, except she doesn’t want it as tall. I really need to retire so I can stay home and knit and sew all of the projects that I have rattling around in my head.