EEP!

Where does the time go?? I’m not sure where the last two weeks went; they’ve flown by.

Last time I wrote, it was right before the reunion of my marching band.  It was a hoot.  Friday night we went out for music practice followed by an unexpected marching practice.  I hadn’t marched like that in 10 years, but it all came flooding back.  Then there was a get together.  Saturday was the parade.  I marched in the centre of the back row.  There were over 400 alumni on parade.  in rows of 9 that’s about 45 rows (at least).  At one point the front half of the band was at my eye level, but the middle rows were in a dip.  It was a sea of red and blue.  Saturday night was the big social event, but I was so drained I didn’t last very long.  I’m really disappointed about that.   Sunday was the concert and it went really smoothly.  I think I’m going to have to join the community concert band.  I really enjoy making music with a group.

That’s me and my horn marching along.

The next few days were at a conference for grad students in my discipline.  I fell asleep a few times on the first day, so on the second day I started a sock.  I got up and around the heel in a day and a half of conference, I’m pretty impressed with the progress. It’s the second of the honeymoon socks, so I’m glad to see it well underway.

Photographing with a flash on white sheets in the dark really makes handknit socks POP!

Last weekend was a rush around one – errands that didn’t get done the last week and weekend with the reunion and the conference.  D’s dad and stepmom came up to visit and we went to the 18 hole bentgrass putting course for a round of “mini golf”.  I put that in quotes because it’s all real grass, with sand traps and rollers.  It’s not windmills and clowns and concrete.

It was scorching hot at the beginning of the week so I was in hibernation mode.  The humidity and smog around here  give me headaches.  It’s cooled off quite a bit now and this weekend (aka. Canada Day) will be almost a little chilly.  We’re going to my cousin’s cottage but I doubt I’ll go swimming.   This is a no electricity, no water place, I’m looking forward to a disconnected weekend.  Hopefully I’ll have some good pictures on Tuesday!

To close today, I have Fred, the  9 pound kitten of doom. I can’t think of a caption…

but it’s all about the tongue.

Busy times

It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Casa M-P. We got back from Spain, got back to EDT, I realised I needed to get a poster together for a conference next week and mount laundry needed to be dealt with.  Throw in some lovely weather and a weekend of socialising and it’s somehow June 13th! EEP!

Great weekend though.  We got to go see Elvisfest in our friend’s new town, then out to dinner (hint – if the waiter says the pies are “microwaved to perfection, served a la mode” in a restaurnat where mainst are between 15 and 25 dollars, I’m not ordering one!).  Sunday morning 2 of my cousins were in town – one from NYC, one from Victoria, so we had family brunch at my Aunt’s house.  Great fun was had by all and much food was eaten.  Then Sunday night to D’s mom’s for ribs. yum.

Biking wise, I’ve now biked to school for 3 days in a row.  I’d make it 4, but I’m supposed to bike with N tomorrow after school.  That and I have microscope time booked at 9am, so I need to be there, in decent clothes and not sweating by 9. Ahh the joys of electron microscopy.

That puts me at 484 kms for the year. So I’m more than 13.6% done, but the year is almost 50% done.  I’m starting to sense some trouble ahead.  I was all confident and stuff, but now, not so much.  Must get confidence back.    I’ve got probably 19 weeks to go and 3066 kms.  I need to average 161 kms per week.  That’s 4.7 trips to school per week.

uh oh. Trainer here I come.

This weekend should be fun.  I was in a band in high school and it’s their 60th anniversary this weekend.  All alumni have been invited back to play in a parade and concert and there are a variety of other events as well.  I live about a 5 minute walk from the location of all the events, so I can bail when I want and show up when I want.  YAY!

Knitting wise, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with 8 balls of Katia Espiga.  D has suggested a vest to go over a blouse.  I haven’t found a pattern in the right gauge (22-24 st/4″)  and I don’t want to start from scratch.  I do have a few design books out of the library though….

I’m almost done the first honeymoon sock as well.  I gotta stop here.  too tired to keep typing. sleep tite!

We’re back!!

We’ve actually been back for a week, but I don’t know where the time has gone.

Spain was exactly what we needed. We rented an apartment in an old farmhouse for a week and used it as a base of operations. We had the plan of going to Barcelona for a day, but it didn’t happen. There was too much to do in the area around Banyoles. That and sitting on the terrace was a daily required activity.

We were in the northeast corner of Spain and it was much more mountainous than I expected. We had a car and drove up many drives where I (as the navigatrix) was wondering how we would get down and why there were no guardrails. The roads were in excellent condition though. I think we saw only one cracked road the entire eight days.

There’s so much to tell you about but this picture describes our last day… what were we doing?

We’d rented a tandem bike (or a bicycle built for two as the song goes). We had wanted road bikes, but they didn’t have our sizes, so we went with the tandem. We laughed and laughed and went really fast. I was able to take pictures while we rode because the rear handlebar was fixed.

In knitting content, I took some knitpicks sock yarn I had from way back and started a toe up, heel gusseted sock using WendyKnit’s pattern. I started the gusset too late, so towards the end I had to give up, rip back A LOT and redo the heel. I’m finally back to the point I was when I started ripping now. Here I am knitting waiting for the Volta Catalunya to come through a town towards an intermediate sprint. It was our first protour cycling race live and I think I’m hooked.

I’ll have more pictures some other day, this is enough pictures for one day. I do have an FO to show off and a story of inadvertantly finding a yarn store…