My brother came out for 5 days and gave up precious time with his wife - they had left their 2 boys with my parents and had time to study (Mark being in a counseling program, his wife Sheila being in an MD program) and be alone for the first time in years. It was a marvelous visit and it was great to have someone in the house who had skills to interpret what was going on, and just to reconnect after too many years of only speaking on the phone. Mark was enamored of the prolific crop of raspberries and blueberries we had, and so we always had a fresh bowl of hand-picked berries at every meal. I will always think of him when I eat blueberries.
One of the visit highlights was going to visit Mark's old seminary roommate, Spencer Parks and wife Sarah at Menucha Retreat and Conference Center. We found Menucha on the Labyrinth Locater (scroll down to see the labyrinth) and I just had to go with him. We did indeed see the labyrinth, which had just been finished, and I think it's the most magnificent labyrinth I've ever seen. It's made of stone, brick, and tile. The setting overlooking the Columbia River Gorge didn't hurt anything either. Menucha sits high on a hill above the Gorge and the scenery is spectacular.
We got a tour of the grounds and then spent a wonderful afternoon at Spencer and Sarah's home, eating tasty snacks, drinking water with mint and lemon, and just basking in the beauty of our surroundings, not to mention good company. We've discovered we can have family reunions at Menucha and Mark and I have already started plugging the location to the rest of our family. We're hoping to do this in 2010 when my father turns 90.
I do live in a city with lots of labyrinths, but they aren't easy to get to from where I live. Therefore, I downloaded the Labyrinth Shawl from the Evelyn Clark website and bought yarn to complete it. It's just easier to knit one. This is my meditative knitting and I just love the pattern! It's 450+ rows, and each row is charted. It's challenging that way and easy to lose my place. I've had to rip it out once. I have to do this shawl in a very quiet place, which is why it's my meditation knitting.
I'm still working on the Felici stripe sock, though I'm on the heel of the 2nd sock now, and am still working on the Possum Blueberry Hill scarf, the Feather and Fan comfort shawl, and Forest Canopy shawl. Here's a picture of the scarf.
I spent part of today adding sock patterns to my queue in Ravelry. I have a renewed attraction to sock yarns again and sock patterns. I seem to be attracted to the patterns from Finnish sock designers and toe-up patterns (which I haven't learned how to do). I put a few Cookie A patterns in too. All these are dramatic and intricate patterns that would look great in my Wollmeise.
I would love to be able to spend some time in the yard during the daytime! We have some neighbors that live right behind us and we aren't really sure who they are since they change from day to day. However, a few of them love to poke their heads out the window just as we're relaxed and feeling peaceful just to chat. It sort of ruins the peaceful ambiance we crave, so we have to sneak out at night and be very, very quiet! Needless to say, the Ashiyu hasn't gotten a lot of attention this summer.
I joined another coffee swap and need to figure out a small project to knit. I joined the Great American Dog pool at Ravelry and my dog is still in. I don't know how long. The dog is great (Galaxy), but the owner is kind of conceited and full of himself. Should I win, I get 20 dollars of yarn from the other 11 members on my team. I doubt I'll win, but it's been fun and probably the last time I'll do such a thing. I really don't like reality shows!
I've gone on and on. I've been reading, but that will have to be another post. Just wanted everyone who was concerned to know everything is calm right now.
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