When the rain comes it seems that everyone has gone away
When the night falls you wonder if you shouldn't find someplace
To run and hide
Escape the pain
But hiding's such a lonely thing to do
I can't stop the rain
From falling down on you again
I can't stop the rain
But I will hold you 'til it goes away
When the rain comes you blame it on the things that you have done
When the storm fades you know that rain must fall on everyone
Rest awhile
it'll be alright
No one loves you like I do
When the rain comes
I will hold you
-Third Day
The basement is flooded again. Really flooded. Turn off the electricity and stay at someone else's house for the night flooded.
It's a good thing I have that lifejacket with me all the time.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Lollychops brings flowers to my life
Having grown up in a house with a very small garden that we paved when our lawnmower was stolen, I now find myself the proud owner of two acres of fertile Maine land.
I am not a natural gardener, there are too many things I would rather be doing than planting bulbs or sewing seeds. I cannot resist good soup however and so do maintain the New England tradition of a pumpkin patch and every year the pumpkins get bigger and better but this is the only color I add to my plot of land.
So it is with much gusto that I give thanks to Lollychops for last week's flower pattern. Now I can crochet myself a garden and scoff at the dirt and sand of my patch of Maine.
I am not a natural gardener, there are too many things I would rather be doing than planting bulbs or sewing seeds. I cannot resist good soup however and so do maintain the New England tradition of a pumpkin patch and every year the pumpkins get bigger and better but this is the only color I add to my plot of land.
So it is with much gusto that I give thanks to Lollychops for last week's flower pattern. Now I can crochet myself a garden and scoff at the dirt and sand of my patch of Maine.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring Fling - Baby Bunny
Having been inspired by so many wonderfully crafty women out there to start a blog and inflict my ramblings upon the internet I am this week inspired by Kellie over at This Blessed Nest to say goodbye to Winter and the protective hats I have been making for Toby...
... in favour of something equally warming for a Maine baby but something that will put a little more spring in his step...
Big thanks to Owlishly (http://owlishly.typepad.com/owlishly/osito-infant-hat.html) for getting me started with a good base design for hats - the following is my preferred method but to each his own...
Row 1 Cast on two stitches and in second stitch put 5 sc (I prefer not to join but you can if you wish).
Row 2 hdc 2 in each st (10)
Row 3 hdc 2 in each st (20)
Row 4 hdc 2 in 1st st then hdc repeat for entire row (30)
Row 5 hdc 2 in 1st st then 2 hdc 10 times (40)
Row 6 hdc 2 in 1st st then 3 hdc 10 times (50)
I sometimes stop at 50 but sometimes throw in a few extra on row 7 for a bigger head! Keep working around until you reach your desired length – again you’ll want to adjust for head size.
For the ears I largely use guesswork. I begin with a loop of 3 stitches (not 5 like the hat) and I go to a width of 17 stitches around over about 2.5 inches before working the 17 stitches for the length of the ear. Length of the ear would again be determined by the head size you are working with.
The inner ear is simply a piece of felt stitched on. Don’t stuff the ears they will naturally fold in.
Once the felt is stitched on pinch the base of the ear together so that it points at you. Bind the base closed then attach to the hat.
Smaller ears closer together stand more upright – I’m a flopsy fan!
... in favour of something equally warming for a Maine baby but something that will put a little more spring in his step...
Big thanks to Owlishly (http://owlishly.typepad.com/owlishly/osito-infant-hat.html) for getting me started with a good base design for hats - the following is my preferred method but to each his own...
Row 1 Cast on two stitches and in second stitch put 5 sc (I prefer not to join but you can if you wish).
Row 2 hdc 2 in each st (10)
Row 3 hdc 2 in each st (20)
Row 4 hdc 2 in 1st st then hdc repeat for entire row (30)
Row 5 hdc 2 in 1st st then 2 hdc 10 times (40)
Row 6 hdc 2 in 1st st then 3 hdc 10 times (50)
I sometimes stop at 50 but sometimes throw in a few extra on row 7 for a bigger head! Keep working around until you reach your desired length – again you’ll want to adjust for head size.
For the ears I largely use guesswork. I begin with a loop of 3 stitches (not 5 like the hat) and I go to a width of 17 stitches around over about 2.5 inches before working the 17 stitches for the length of the ear. Length of the ear would again be determined by the head size you are working with.
The inner ear is simply a piece of felt stitched on. Don’t stuff the ears they will naturally fold in.
Once the felt is stitched on pinch the base of the ear together so that it points at you. Bind the base closed then attach to the hat.
Smaller ears closer together stand more upright – I’m a flopsy fan!
Blanket Ambition
When Toby came into this world he was the proud owner of no less than 20 blankets. Some were just nice, others were nice and homemade and then even more were wonderful and homemade. One such blanket was a quilt made by my best friend and Toby's "Aunt". This was delivered to the hospital as it had been finished just slightly before he was.
Now Toby had so many blankets that I had already decided not to make one for Aunt Amanda's baby but to get them something useful. However I neglected to think of a few things. Firstly that, as I would come to learn, a new baby receives so many blankets as gifts because a new baby will throw up on, poop on, pee on, throw food on, spit on and many other things on many many blankets and so 20 is in fact a small amount! Secondly, that the desire to leave my friend's child with something that will last a lifetime would overwhelm me more than my desire to help them out practically by providing a month's worth of diapers. Thirdly, that finding out this week that "baby" was now "baby girl", potentially Cordelia, would play with my hormones more than I expected. Finally, that I have an obsession with making blankets. This stems back to my days at home waiting for immigration paperwork to go through (1 year as a forced housewife in a new country - more on that later) and learning to crochet from my mother in law.
So now my only problem was what to make. There is no way anyone could convince me to re-make in pink the wonderfulness of the blanket I made for Toby. Because as much as I love it, or Husby loves it, or Toby loves it - that thing was a nightmare to make. Polka dots in different colours in no order or pattern - argh!
But I also knew I didn't just want to do a simple blanket using varigated yarn to provide the pattern as I did with our camping blanket that has now also been consumed by Toby.
Nor did I want to do simple stripes as in Husby's favourite blanket...
Or squares as in the one I've been working on for YEARS every time I have a scrap of homespun...
Years ago I made a blanket for a friend's baby boy (of which there is no picture) and this is the pattern I hit on. Thick pink stripe followed by thin white stripe - within the white stripe would be Orange Popcorn balls a la Toby's blanket but evenly spaced. So now I have the yarn, the pattern, and about five months to accomplish my goal!
And hopefully she won't suddenly happen across my blog and get a preview of what is to come!
Now Toby had so many blankets that I had already decided not to make one for Aunt Amanda's baby but to get them something useful. However I neglected to think of a few things. Firstly that, as I would come to learn, a new baby receives so many blankets as gifts because a new baby will throw up on, poop on, pee on, throw food on, spit on and many other things on many many blankets and so 20 is in fact a small amount! Secondly, that the desire to leave my friend's child with something that will last a lifetime would overwhelm me more than my desire to help them out practically by providing a month's worth of diapers. Thirdly, that finding out this week that "baby" was now "baby girl", potentially Cordelia, would play with my hormones more than I expected. Finally, that I have an obsession with making blankets. This stems back to my days at home waiting for immigration paperwork to go through (1 year as a forced housewife in a new country - more on that later) and learning to crochet from my mother in law.
So now my only problem was what to make. There is no way anyone could convince me to re-make in pink the wonderfulness of the blanket I made for Toby. Because as much as I love it, or Husby loves it, or Toby loves it - that thing was a nightmare to make. Polka dots in different colours in no order or pattern - argh!
But I also knew I didn't just want to do a simple blanket using varigated yarn to provide the pattern as I did with our camping blanket that has now also been consumed by Toby.
Nor did I want to do simple stripes as in Husby's favourite blanket...
Or squares as in the one I've been working on for YEARS every time I have a scrap of homespun...
Years ago I made a blanket for a friend's baby boy (of which there is no picture) and this is the pattern I hit on. Thick pink stripe followed by thin white stripe - within the white stripe would be Orange Popcorn balls a la Toby's blanket but evenly spaced. So now I have the yarn, the pattern, and about five months to accomplish my goal!
And hopefully she won't suddenly happen across my blog and get a preview of what is to come!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Four Seasons
England is not exactly known for it's sunshine. Really when you think about England you think Fog and Rain. Despite our protestations this is for the large part true. My school flooded as a child, my college town disappeared from view on misty days and the discovery of my Land's End rain boots was one of the high points of my wet existence.
The expression over here is that if you don't like the weather in Maine then just wait a minute and it will change. These foolhardy people have never experienced a warm winter's day in England.
I used to love visiting Husby in the summer because sunny days were mostly an everyday occurrence. Yes I am fair skinned and shrink at most sunny days but having the option of wearing a sun dress with my spf5000 is a wonderful thing. Then I visited in the fall and my goodness the colour in this land - pinks and oranges, reds and greens! Gone was the monotone Autumn I was accustomed to; from Green to Orange to Brown in a matter of weeks. Of course there was the time I visited over New Years and we got snowed in and my plane was delayed (ironically the delay was caused by snow in London - we actually managed to plow our way down to Logan airport in Boston only to be turned around again). Still - SNOW - actual SNOW in the wintertime. We hadn't had snow in my home town since about 1986 - at least nothing worth wearing boots for!
My love affair with the great state of Maine goes far deeper than a love of Buttery Lobster or the Pride's Corner Drive In. To live in a place that actually has four distinct seasons. Where when the weathermen say it is going to be a "seasonable" day today it actually means something. To have tote boxes (now floating in the basement) full of Clothes that I cannot wear this season because it's too cold/hot/wet. To experience Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring.
But alas all love affairs have their down sides. Brad has to suffer through Ms Jolie's ego, the Henrickson wives have to contend with, well, each other and I have to accept that sometimes even Maine experiences four seasons in one week. So last week when my basement flooded the day after I had walked in merely a T-shirt to the park with a hat-less 6 month old, how was I to know that within days I would be walking in the mud while scraping the ice off my car.
So out come the T-shirts and lightweight jackets but I'm keeping my sweaters and rain boots too! For shame New England, for shame!
The expression over here is that if you don't like the weather in Maine then just wait a minute and it will change. These foolhardy people have never experienced a warm winter's day in England.
I used to love visiting Husby in the summer because sunny days were mostly an everyday occurrence. Yes I am fair skinned and shrink at most sunny days but having the option of wearing a sun dress with my spf5000 is a wonderful thing. Then I visited in the fall and my goodness the colour in this land - pinks and oranges, reds and greens! Gone was the monotone Autumn I was accustomed to; from Green to Orange to Brown in a matter of weeks. Of course there was the time I visited over New Years and we got snowed in and my plane was delayed (ironically the delay was caused by snow in London - we actually managed to plow our way down to Logan airport in Boston only to be turned around again). Still - SNOW - actual SNOW in the wintertime. We hadn't had snow in my home town since about 1986 - at least nothing worth wearing boots for!
My love affair with the great state of Maine goes far deeper than a love of Buttery Lobster or the Pride's Corner Drive In. To live in a place that actually has four distinct seasons. Where when the weathermen say it is going to be a "seasonable" day today it actually means something. To have tote boxes (now floating in the basement) full of Clothes that I cannot wear this season because it's too cold/hot/wet. To experience Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring.
But alas all love affairs have their down sides. Brad has to suffer through Ms Jolie's ego, the Henrickson wives have to contend with, well, each other and I have to accept that sometimes even Maine experiences four seasons in one week. So last week when my basement flooded the day after I had walked in merely a T-shirt to the park with a hat-less 6 month old, how was I to know that within days I would be walking in the mud while scraping the ice off my car.
So out come the T-shirts and lightweight jackets but I'm keeping my sweaters and rain boots too! For shame New England, for shame!
Monday, March 15, 2010
In and out of weeks
In 2008 Husby and I finally purchased a house. The day we moved in is surpassed in joy only by the day Toby moved to Whole milk from my milk (still to come!) Here is my perfect Maine house...
My perfect Maine house was also pretty darn perfect on paper too, but for one thing - the previous homeowners lied on the disclosure!
When I left England I assumed I was coming to a land of plenty, where the sun shone in the summer and the snow fell in winter and in Spring deer frolicked. Well the deer certainly frolick but the snow did not fall in Maine this winter - the rain did - lots of it - in fact for 36 hours this weekend all we had was rain. It made me feel like I was back at my English University with the ducks (Malcolm and Mallory Mallard). Combine this much rain, a country that has basments and then add in homeowners who lie and you get....
Over a foot of water in the basement, plastic tote boxes falling over and filling with Water, Christmas ornaments smashing, and lots of things floating. You also get to turn the furnace off so I am grateful that we also live in the land of wood stoves!
My point is this: Since Toby was born my house has not been tidy excepting the week my mother was here in November. This past weekend I played with my son, took him shopping, took him for a walk, played some more and bought him all kinds of fun new stuff. He was so grateful to his mummy that he took a two hour nap which enabled me to commit a tidy in my house. The gods frowned on my perfect weekend and sent a flood to turn my living room into this...
Tonight we offer a burnt offering to Poseidon*
*not really, there's only one God at work in this house and he's the one who kept me calm last night when standing in the midst of this!
My perfect Maine house was also pretty darn perfect on paper too, but for one thing - the previous homeowners lied on the disclosure!
When I left England I assumed I was coming to a land of plenty, where the sun shone in the summer and the snow fell in winter and in Spring deer frolicked. Well the deer certainly frolick but the snow did not fall in Maine this winter - the rain did - lots of it - in fact for 36 hours this weekend all we had was rain. It made me feel like I was back at my English University with the ducks (Malcolm and Mallory Mallard). Combine this much rain, a country that has basments and then add in homeowners who lie and you get....
Over a foot of water in the basement, plastic tote boxes falling over and filling with Water, Christmas ornaments smashing, and lots of things floating. You also get to turn the furnace off so I am grateful that we also live in the land of wood stoves!
My point is this: Since Toby was born my house has not been tidy excepting the week my mother was here in November. This past weekend I played with my son, took him shopping, took him for a walk, played some more and bought him all kinds of fun new stuff. He was so grateful to his mummy that he took a two hour nap which enabled me to commit a tidy in my house. The gods frowned on my perfect weekend and sent a flood to turn my living room into this...
Tonight we offer a burnt offering to Poseidon*
*not really, there's only one God at work in this house and he's the one who kept me calm last night when standing in the midst of this!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
17 year old Husby
When Husby was 17 oh so very long ago and well before the era of wifey he chanced upon an item. A pair of sunglasses - to be more precise a pair of orange sunglasses for a baby. 17 year old Husby loved these sunglasses and thought to himself "I will buy these and some day my son will wear them." Guess what 28 year old Husby found last night....
Monday, March 8, 2010
Of hikes to come...
Spring is in the air in the Pinault Household. This weekend we were blessed with weather warm enough to open every window in the house and let a little fresh air in after the great shut up of 09-10. Husby doesn't open windows in the cold weather for any reason so as not to throw money away and so was very excited to awake on Saturday to a glorious Spring Day. Out comes the LL Bean baby rackpack and off down the street we go.
Luckily Toby loves walking around in this thing which is wonderful as Husby is an avid hiker and looking forward to many Saturday morning treks with his son this year. I look forward to participating in many but not being a natural hiker I shall forgo some of this pleasure in favor of cleaning, perhaps scrapbooking, maybe make some cake pops and oh so many things that can be done in a house devoid of menfolk!
The first time Husby took me hiking was interesting. We went to Mount Washington in NH, near where he was born and to this day one of his favourite places to be. I come from the land of rolling hills where you can see for miles around you, so this mountain thing was fairly new to me. As was walking up. And up. And up some more. And then up even more. I mean seriously how much up can there be. We walked up until I was swearing like a Sailor, a sailor on shore leave, a sailor on shore leave in Bangkok, a sailor on shore leave in Bangkok getting a tattoo with a rusty needle. This of course cracked husby up, such words coming from his delicate flower! So then we turned around and marched swiftly down. The next time we did the mountain I was a touch more prepared and we made it half way (props please - it's a HUGE mountain) I realized just how far, or should I say how NOT FAR AT ALL we had gotten on that first trip. Don't get me wrong I did not discover a sudden passion for hiking. I do however appreciate a goal accomplished and the smile it puts on Husby's face when we hike together. He loves to hike and I love him, that does not make me love hiking but I do love doing the things he loves with him so I will continue to hike and he will continue to do the easier trails!
Luckily Toby loves walking around in this thing which is wonderful as Husby is an avid hiker and looking forward to many Saturday morning treks with his son this year. I look forward to participating in many but not being a natural hiker I shall forgo some of this pleasure in favor of cleaning, perhaps scrapbooking, maybe make some cake pops and oh so many things that can be done in a house devoid of menfolk!
The first time Husby took me hiking was interesting. We went to Mount Washington in NH, near where he was born and to this day one of his favourite places to be. I come from the land of rolling hills where you can see for miles around you, so this mountain thing was fairly new to me. As was walking up. And up. And up some more. And then up even more. I mean seriously how much up can there be. We walked up until I was swearing like a Sailor, a sailor on shore leave, a sailor on shore leave in Bangkok, a sailor on shore leave in Bangkok getting a tattoo with a rusty needle. This of course cracked husby up, such words coming from his delicate flower! So then we turned around and marched swiftly down. The next time we did the mountain I was a touch more prepared and we made it half way (props please - it's a HUGE mountain) I realized just how far, or should I say how NOT FAR AT ALL we had gotten on that first trip. Don't get me wrong I did not discover a sudden passion for hiking. I do however appreciate a goal accomplished and the smile it puts on Husby's face when we hike together. He loves to hike and I love him, that does not make me love hiking but I do love doing the things he loves with him so I will continue to hike and he will continue to do the easier trails!
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