WOW! That was a long break!

Jese Louise.  Been a long time since I rock and rolled...blogwise anyway.  I've been putting it off because there are so many things going on, big things, that I didn't know where to start. 

Chronologically speaking, the day after my last post, D-day no less (chuckle), I became a grandma!  I have a little grandson, very beautiful, Jackson.  My hubby calls him Waldo and now that the baby's lost quite a bit of hair, the name has morphed into Baldo Waldo.  Alliteration at its finest, no?  ;-)  My daughter is doing well.  They did the waterbirth thing.  No drugs.  Yay A!  Good job. 

Two day old Jackson William.  On a grandma-knitted blankie.  :-)

He looks so deep in thought doesn't he?  lol  He's got a very lusty cry and isn't shy about using it.  He's sooo fun to kiss and gobble.  And he's too little to get away!  Ha HA!  (I've got a tween boy who isn't too fond of that anymore.)

Gramps and Waldo

Uncle E and Baby J

 

"Hmmm, what do I do with him now?" 
So anyway, that's been taking up a lot of our time.  In a good way.  E and I also went on a mini vacation out to Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, and the gorgeous Blackhills. SIGH. 

The king surveying his land.  Badlands Ntl. Park.

A boy and his world.

Minnesota pride. 

The McNasty Bros. at a saloon in 1880 Town.  The saloon was real, except that they rented out costumes.  Couldn't get E to go down that road. 

E and Cornelius outside of the Corn Palace. 

It felt so good headin' out on the highway.  Then I heard Runnin' On Empty by Jackson Brown while we were headin' west out on the plains.  GORGEOUS.  That song makes my heart ache even when I'm sitting at home doing dishes - but to have heard it while I was driving out west.  Oh my goodness.  It was a holy experience!  LOL 

E and a new friend, a barn kitty.

1880 Town again.  I don't know if he was supposed to get up in that thing, but it was too cool to pass up.

There were a bunch of props from Dances With Wolves at the 1880 Town too.  That was neat to see.  I grew up on Laura Ingalls Wilder books, so this was specially excellent.  It was like communing with her family in a way.  E's favorite part was the Badlands.  He climbed all over those things.  They were made of clay or something similar.  I'd been there a few times before, but didn't remember their consistency.  I'd never heard him so excited about anything before.  "This is GREAT!  I can't BELIEVE how AWESOME this is."  Etc.  It's a bit thrilling to hear your kids happy, know what I mean?  I remember an addage: Give your kids experiences, not things.  In that respect, I had a good mommy day.  :-)  Actually, the trip started out as an idea by hubby for a day trip to Duluth MN, then an overnight.  Then I thought, "Hey, I can just take him to Brookings and DeSmet where the Ingalls lived."  Then hubby jumped in and suggested just headin' all the way out to SD.  I'm so glad too.  This was E's first big trip anywhere.  He'd been across the border into North Dakota for a night and across the border into Wisconsin for a couple nights, but those two places are so much like where we live, it was no big deal.  All this by way of saying hubby had a good daddy day too, since it was his idea in the first place.  :-)  Man I can digress like nobody's business!

On the 2nd day we met someone out at a rest stop.  We had seen their red Corvette the day before at the Corn Palace, and being from Minnesota, we remembered it.  Anyway, I mentioned to them that we had seen their car the day before and it turns out that they live about a mile away from our house in the same town.  Funny--I meet more neighbors on a trip in a different state than I do here at home. 

When we got to Mount Rushmore E talked me into going on a Presidential Tour, a euphemism for a long hike with lots of stairs in extreme heat!  lol  My knees had been hurting for a couple weeks, much worse than usual, but I decided to go.  I'm so glad I did.  It was a beautiful tour.  And it wasn't as long as I'd imagined.  Though it was extremely hot. 

This is at Mount Rushmore on the Presidential Tour, but it reminds me so much of northern California.  Just stunning.  The scent of the pines made my heart leave my body for a few seconds. 

View from a small cavern on the Pres. Tour.

I always wanted to be a cowboy when I was young so needless to say, this was pure heaven.  I hope E enjoyed it as much as I did.  I think he did.  Plus it was just the two of us, so he got the front seat the whole time.  :-)

I still want to take him out to the Rockies.  Glacier, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and definitely to Sequoia Ntl. Park. Being out there changes a person.  I don't know how, but it does.  Particularly when they're young.  It's like how the books you read as a child alter you.  So do the places in which you spend time. 

This was the lobby in the Holiday Inn in Rapid City.  We both really liked it, as witnessed by the 11 pics we took of it!  LOL  We were up on the 8th of 9 floors.  Very fun.  Glass elevators to boot. The last time I was at this hotel, I was pregnant with E. 

In knitting, I've gotten quite a few ufo's all of a sudden.  I got a bad case of starter-itis last spring.  Now I'm scrambling to finish at least a couple of them.  I've also started a Christmas present.  It's for the son in law.  Just another (the seventh) Multi Strand Afghan.  This time I'm using Minnesota Vikings colors, he's one of those big time fans.  Poor daughter!  [Did I say that? :-O]   This is a stash busting exercise.  It didn't quite use up all my pink though, so I started an Amanda Hat (found on http://www.ravelry.com/) with it.  I made the little guy a blueberry hat...As modeled by Daisy the Dog.  I've also been into blankets big time.  Here's the Twisted Texture Afghan by Paton's:

I adore this blanket.  It's so soft and cozy in a summery kind of way.  I sleep with it every night.

Poncho, pattern by Lucie Sinkler.  I screwed up the middle.  :-(  But still love it.

There are a few other blankets I've started too.  I've been buying patterns like it's goin' outta style.  Jackson's baptism blanket is almost finished, but I've been putting off frogging a cable row.  It's not even difficult, I'm just sick of doing it...ha ha.   Here's a hat I threw together to use up some yarn.  It's called the Amanda Hat I like the way it turned out, it even looks good on Bones here.  lol  I did a few mods as shown on my Ravelry page.  I'm always in awe of people who write patterns.  Thanks to all of you!

Here is yet another blanket I started.  It's for a Christmas present for someone in the old folks' home.  (We want to start volunteering there soon.)  I love the colors, it's an acrylic worsted by Sensations/Joann's.  Actually quite soft and only $2.99/368 yds. on sale.   There are roughly 300 sts. per row though and on size 8's it's slow goin'.  I'm used to doing blankets in thick yarns with huge needles.  I love it though, easy to memorize. 

Got the mummy idea from http://www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/ and the Frankenstein idea from the square shaped votive holder on sale.  :-)

I've been getting into autumnal crafty things too lately.  It's so fun to go inside Michael's and smell the cinammon pinecones and see the Halloween stuff.  (And to know that there's no snow for at least 2 more months.)  Here's a wreath I didn't chicken out making!  :-)I still need to add ribbon to the inside of the wreath and more bulk on the sides, but over all, I'm very pleased with my first endeavor into the wide world of wreath (w)rapture.  Eeek.  Now, to paint those ugly hinges on my door. 

Some other things that have happened:  Hmmm.  Hubby is now in a new decade.  I won't mention which one.  ;-)  Since E's never been on a plane I got him involved (in 2009) with the Flying Eagles.  President of which is none other than Harrison Freaking Ford!  Anyway, it's a group of pilots who agree, at their own expense, to fly kids around for free!  Can you believe the generosity?  I love it!  So, E went up 2 yrs ago and as luck would have it, in a plane that flew in the Korean war!  (E had just discovered MASH and was really curious about Korea at that point.)  Coincidence?  I don't know...  This year he went up again and got to FLY ONE! (A different plane) Ok, it was only for a few minutes, but still, how great is that?  Here he is getting ready for take off. 

I'm so grateful for people, who, when you can't "do" for your own kid (read: pay for a trip on a plane), are there to help out.  There's nothing like a complete stranger showing your child kindness to really make ya feel all lovey dovey toward people.  Sigh. 

E also started taking guitar lessons this summer.  They're going very well, and he's even teaching mom (me) how to play some notes. 

I think I'm about caught up with the news.  I'll throw one more pic of little guy in for good measure.  Thanks for reading.  Doris, if you're out there, I'm thinking of you and I've even prayed for you and your job situation.  Try not to be afraid.  That never seems to help much.  Take some deep breaths and try to remember the big picture.  Oh--and this:  "This too shall pass."  :-)