Re-United At Last!

Finally, finally, finally!  I've got my sweet boy back in my arms!

Friday I made the long trek up all up through New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Now, I like New Brunswick just fine - but Nova Scotia - not so much.  First of all - look at the traffic.  As soon as you cross into Nova Scotia (and you have to pay a $4 toll to get in and out) there is traffic.  And hot.  By golly - it was hot.  31C.  Along the Bay of Fundy - we have nature's biggest air conditioner - for example it is 17C today and I am wearing a fleece jacket.  I left home at 8:45 am and made it to the airport at 5:15 pm.  Because the 2 flights into Halifax was $1000 cheaper than New Brunswick - so I drove.  Because the flights were expensive enough without adding another $1000.

I arrived right on time - but their flight was delayed 2 hours.  So, I had to wait a little bit more.  Just a little bit more.

And finally, DH and School Boy come out of the gate!  Yeah!!!  And look here - look how tall my 8 year old boy is getting - and I am  5'8" myself.  So, he is tall!  Then I turned around and drove us back into New Brunswick because the hotels are 2X more expensive in Nova Scotia.  We got up the next morning at 3 am to finish our trip.

Someone is very happy to be almost back home!

My tired traveler.  Once he woke up - he has been talking and chattering away non-stop.  Oh yes, I am absolutely thrilled to have my family back together again at long last!

The Young Eagle

Down at the pier there is a young eagle.  He doesn't appear to have any parents and the fishermen have been throwing him fish.  One of my friends saw him trying to land in a tree and said he sort-ov crash lands and hugs the tree.  

Here he is on top of a weir driver.  That is a good place for him.  He also likes to sit on the back of the fishermen's pick-up trucks and will hop along the bed railings.  Unfortunately, he also will sit "shiny" cars - and if he sees his reflection he scratches and pecks the car and does a fair amount of damage.  

Here is a photo of a weir driver in use, just in case you are curious.
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We all think this is a young bald eagle.

A New Hat For School

I am out of sock yarn.  I do have a few skeins on order, but in the meantime, I can't knit socks - my very favorite, quick and easy, no thinking required project.  But a hat is always fun to make. Talk about quick - I had this done in a few hours!  It is Paton's Chunky (75% acrylic/25% wool).  Cast on 64 stitches on size 6 mm needles, knit 7", start decreasing in sets of 8 (k6, k2tog) 1st row, K 1 row, then the next row I think was in sets of 6, K 1 row, then 4... etc.   4" i'cord to make a hanging loop for the hook at school.  Yes, it is for my son.  Don't you just love the hanging loop - I got up to the tippy top and I thought - why not?  
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I started the 1st stripe after 10 rows - next time around I think I will start at around row 15 so it doesn't get lost in the brim.  But then again - once you have it on - it does seem to stretch out a bit so I think it is fine.
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Don't ask me why I am in the mood to knit a wool hat on the hottest day of summer.  Oh - I know why, knitting gives me an excuse to sit down and put my feet up!  Here is a photo of the hat on an adult head (mine!). I hope it is long enough to cover my son's ears.  Anyway, I like it and I think he will too.  Maybe I will cast on another - but after 10 rows I will add 5 rows of k2, p2 rib and then start the decreasing after knitting 7.5 - 8" - that should be long enough to cover MY ears!  Yeah, I think I will try that.

Edited to add:  Here is a very good tutorial for a very similar hat if you are having a hard time figuring it out... it seems like it would be a little big circumference wise - I cast on fewer stitches and used a smaller needle, but the idea is about the same.  And don't bind off if you want the i-cord - just keep knitting that!  But I like the idea of a pom pom too!
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/06/easy_rollbrim_k_1.php

June Wrap-Up

Seems to me like the seasons fly bye.  I've been busy all of June, so very busy.  But - I usually have my camera with me and have snapped some photos along the way that I will share.  First, my lupine field.  It is just the empty back field - in the spring I have it cut down with a big mower deck on the tractor and then let the lupines come and go before mowing again.  I am contemplating putting in fruit bushes back here.  Those thornless blackberries, raspberries, elderberry...  Wouldn't that be lovely?  I am sure the deer and birds would just love them too!

June is also the month when fiddleheads show up in the grocery store.  Front and center here.  Fiddlehead quiche, fiddlehead soup, just plain fiddleheads.  Mmmmm.  A neighbor caught me snapping this photo and thought I was funny!

This bush is popular with the bees!  I am not much of a gardener, but I do try to plant bushes and perennials where-ever I live.  This one was supposed to be a mini (like the one next to it), but obviously it isn't so next year maybe I will move it out of this planter and put it in the front of the house.

For sure I always plant peonies because they remind me of my Nana.  Here is one of the 1st ones of the season, which I promptly picked and brought over to my neighbor.

This is Coonie - my ever wild, stray cat.  3 years and he still hisses at me in the morning when I feed him, but I think that just may be his way of talking.  He is a fighter and if I give him milk I can get close enough to put neo-sporn on his wounds.  Because of my travel schedule I would never get a pet, but this one found me and I couldn't really let him starve, now could I?  I actually pay someone to come feed him all winter.  This summer he is scheduled for a trip to the vet for his needles and to be fixed and hopefully that will put an end to some of his fights.  Then again - we had that scheduled for last summer too but they only take ferral cats 1 day a month and you have to be able to CATCH the CAT to get him here.  Humph!

Lobster season is over in Canada.  All the traps had to be out of the water by last night.  All week long the pier has been a parade of one pick-up truck after another loaded like this hauling the traps home.  I call it the lobster trap parade.  Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of traps all stacked along the pier.  I watched one boat come in and they told me they had 1200 pounds of lobster on that run.

NOT much going on in the way of sewing, but last night I did manage to make 1 little block.  The directions are on Bonnie's blog at www.quiltville.blogspot.com - click on June 2011 and you will find it.  Been too busy with work, renovations, plants. etc.  And waiting and waiting and waiting to see my DH and son again.  The schools in Austria sure don't give much of a summer vacation - he is still in school!!!  But they will be coming along soon enough and that will be one happy day!