Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween

Some of the Bruins, as they often do, dressed up earlier this week and went to Boston Children's Hospital for Halloween. This year, their costumes were from Frozen, and I give full props especially to Dougie Hamilton, who is the one in the Elsa dress and wig.
Full story on their blog; don't miss the video!

Mind you, I still think Chara's bunny suit (picture at the end of this) is the all-time winner,but Dougie gets second.

Meanwhile, I may have posted this before, but watching the big cats destroy pumpkins just doesn't get old for me.



You?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Fest and Birthday-Related Things

I'm squeezing my last October-related update in before October ends, whew! As always, although Apple Festival happens before Rhinebeck, my updates about it always seem to come after.

In, as will quickly be clear, no particular order, here we go.

I already showed you the yarn from Apple Festival, at the end of the Rhinebeck yarn post, but here it is again just 'cause it's so pretty.
And soft, you should feel it!
My aunt is cleaning out some things, and I brought back a few photos, including this one of my great-grandmother.
Fridge magnet I bought myself. So True!
Sign my aunt got for me. I like to think that I'm not judging ... but yeah, I am noticing.
One of the vendors at the fest had magnets with images from license plates. You know I had to get my initials.
My aunt's birthday card.
My great-grandfather's passport. Don't they look different than they do now?
I loved this page in the back; so very multilingual.
Mum said this was her father's. Know what it is?
A comb!
Mum remembered a neighbor who built things like this. It's such a neat little chest, and so well made. It's heavy enough that I thought it must have things in the drawers, but no, that's the weight of real wood!
Some books for my birthday, always a good choice. And, not pictured, Doctor Who dvds!
I had to pick up a catnip toy in Bruins colors. The cats aren't that interested; I think it needs some time in a bag with catnip, to rejuvenate it. We'll see. At least I like seeing it around!
Grandma always had two spoon displays on the dining room wall, not something she took to assisted living. My cousin will get one, and I got the other.
I can't read the inscription, but who cares? They're not one matched set anyway, and I like that.
It looks good on the wall, eh?
One last thing: I always remember the "grown-ups" playing cribbage when I was a kid, so I couldn't resist this.
The mysteries of adulthood, right there. Aren't memory triggers funny? Do you have anything that takes you back like that?

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Seen on the Road, Part II

Last night's Bruins game was ... a poor effort overall. I mean, after allowing the first goal, they came back to lead 3-1, which is good! But when I tell you that they lost 4-3, that's all you need to know. And they played so well on Saturday...

Wait, it isn't all you need to know: it turns out that Torey Krug broke his finger and will be out a few weeks. That makes half of the defensemen they had when they were overstocked in training camp, gone. Sigh.

In other news, do you remember when I wrote about how my mother "twisted her ankle" in San Francisco? Is anyone surprised to hear that she actually broke two bones in her foot, besides borking something else? Yeah. The good news is that the doctor was tremendously positive about how she had done it in the best possible way for it to heal, which it is doing, albeit slowly. My mother the overachiever.

Other than that, I have some more photos from Rhinebeck weekend to show you. As before, there's an old car show in the area that weekend, meaning one catches the most enticing glimpses of the most charming old cars. I so wish I could have gotten shots of the old fire trucks driving down the road; I either need a chauffeur or a photographer with me at times like these. But feast your eyes on what I did get.

What IS this?
And this beauty? License plate...
THNDR RD
Bruuuuuuuuuuce!
Then there were these beauties parked at the diner.
I think stately is the right word. Or sprightly?
Even more than going to a car show, I love seeing them on the road like this. Like it's perfectly normal.
Too cool.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Yarns of Rhinebeck

Last night I took the recent stash enhancement to stitch and bitch to show (this is something knitters do that both those who bought and those who didn't enjoy--I promise it's not as show-off-y as it sounds). Much enjoyment was had, and it seems a good time to show it here, too. But there's a Bruins game tonight, so I'm going to just throw the photos up, without details or links. Let me know if there's anything you're curious about!




This one is supposed to knit up like this one (on the right), can't wait to see it happen:










Helpful label note:

And then there's this, which my aunt was kind enough to buy me at Apple Festival, for my birthday. Mmm, alpaca.
I will close with something I said at knitting last night which left one of my friends reconsidering her stash size and policy:
Retirement planning means different things to different people.
I may end up eating a lot of mac and cheese in retirement, should I ever even manage to retire. But I'm not going to run out of good yarn for a long, long time.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Seen on the Road, Part I

Not just at Rhinebeck, but before and after, I've seen some good or at least interesting license plates and bumper stickers out there. Sometimes you just want the backstory, right? Like this one:
And I bet this has a story too.
I find the juxtaposition a little unnerving.
Lopi is not unexpected at a sheep and wool festival.
This, however, was. DO you, now?
I wish they had fit the K in there.
I haven't read Atlas Shrugged: have you? Is this a good bumper sticker, or kind of depressing?
This sticker makes me think of when I saw this (probably on Facebook).
Finally, I have to wonder: "see sparks" or "CS parks"?
What do you think?