Sophie's Story

      This morning I knitted the last few rows of the ten stitch blanket I've been working on for the past couple of years. Last week I was nearing the end of the yarn that I had set aside for the project. It was then that I realized that I probably didn't have enough yarn to make it to a corner, which means the side would be uneven. While this wouldn't be a bad thing, I knew that the partial strip would bug me. I would have to end on a corner. This caused a bit of a quandary since I did not want to buy any more yarn for this project. I would have to find something in my existing yarn stash.    I had some pink yarn that I used, but it was not thick enough to use on its own. I decided to pair it with some cream coloured cotton yarn. I added some leftover lavender yarn that has slight colour variations in it. It looked really good next to the cream coloured yarn that I was knitting around. It was also the perfect thickness. My only worry was that I wouldn't have enough ya

     My stepdaughter, Carrie, had an opportunity to do a two week study abroad class in Spain. When she told us about this I was very excited for her. I believe that it is good for people to travel especially when they are younger so that they have a change to experience other cultures and explore new places. Carrie has had many opportunities to travel and takes advantage of them as often as she can. I consider her to be one of the more well rounded and thoughtful members of the family because of this.     When she lived with us, she found out that I collect postcards. As a result she sends or buys me one from the places she visits. When I found out she was going to Spain, I asked her to buy a teacup for me. (As she is a broke college student, I did offer to pay her for it.) It's not the first time I asked her to do this. When she did a study abroad in England as part of her undergrad requirements, I asked her for a teacup from England. I wanted something that I could drink tea fro

     I was working in the kitchen when I heard the back doorbell ring. I peeked out the open window. There was no one there. The only thing I saw was a female robin standing on the handle on the grill near the door. I went back to my work. The door bell rang again. I looked and saw only the robin sitting there. I opened the door and looked at the robin.    "Did you ring my doorbell?" I asked.    The robin looked at me and said, "Yes".    I was taken aback. I was not expecting a robin to speak to me.     "I thought I should introduce myself since we are going to be neighbors for a bit," the robin said.    I looked confused.    "I live in the nest over your deck light," she explained.     Now it made sense. "Welcome to the yard," I told her. "My name is Sophie."    "I'm Pauline," she said. "I'm curious, why did you tear down the other nests that we built?"     I felt a little sheepish. I explained to

        Dana is one of the most creative people I know. I think she's done just about every type of art form.  One of the things that she does is she yanks me out of my comfort zone by having me try different things. Thanks to her I know how to knit and crochet (a little bit). I've attempted cardmaking, scrapbooking, and dying shirts by folding them and using powdered dye and ice.    Several weeks ago I went to visit and found that she was working with clay. She was making stakes for her garden. After some tea and a chat, she invited me to try to make something of my own. Part of me was a little nervous. In grade school art class I made two bowls. The bowls were made by taking slabs of clay and molding them around another bowl. Then I put orange glaze on them. They turned out to be the two ugliest bowls ever made in the school district. I remembered that I had also made a tea pot and set of small no handle cups. They weren't pretty but they were not as ugly as the orange bo

         Earlier this spring we found bird nests on our deck. One of them was built on the shelf of a table that we use when grilling. It was a strange spot of a nest. It was only a foot off the ground and easily accessible to predators. I had no idea why a bird would build a nest there. The other nest was built on the light next to a door going to the garage. That one made more sense. It's high up and under an overhang. The nest is safe and protected from the elements.    It was not something we wanted though. Bird nests get pretty messy. Once we were able to determine that no eggs were in the nest. C pulled it down. A few days later a new nest was sitting where the old one had been. C made sure that no eggs were in the nest and then pulled it down. A week later a third nest appeared. As before we checked before removing it. No new nest appeared. We thought the birds had got the message and found a new place to live.    Last week C and I were both suffering from head colds and mou