In My Room…

There's a world where I can go, 

And tell my secrets to. 

In my room, 

In my room… 

I watch HGTV. Not all the time and not if there’s something better on. All the shows run together for me. I don’t know if I’m watching House Hunters or Divine Design. It amazes me how they can come in and do a makeover (for a mere $75000.00), and change the look of the whole house. I wonder how they find those extra, always perfect, tables and chairs, stuck in the garage or the basement, that they drag up to replace other furniture or an empty spot.

What does get my attention, though, is when they do an ‘outdoor room’. An outdoor room is basically a space outside, small or large, that you fix up to be comfortable. It can be for you or a gathering place for family. It’s usually connected to your house but because it’s outside, it’s connected to nature, as well. Most are sheltered, maybe by a wall of the house, and some of them have their own roofs and walls. Some are just fenced in areas. Some have full kitchens. I think of them as a private space, to which you can retreat and become comfortable, with or without guests.

The door to the deck

I have an outdoor room. Really it’s a deck outside the master bedroom. Our house is not traditional in the fact that the front door is upstairs. We have a fabulous covered front deck, running the full length of the house. My husband built seats in the railing and built a wall for a windbreak. It’s great in the morning. But it faces west. In the afternoon it’s unbearable. So he built another deck on the east side.

Built in seats on front deck...in the rain!

This deck isn’t as big and it doesn’t have seats built in the rail. It is covered and has the same southern windbreak wall. I’m turning it into my outdoor room. HGTV would most likely air it as what not to do!

The wall and some chickens.

We found an old daybed at a thrift store. Then I got some dollar store sheets and covered the mattress. The whole thing is covered with pillows, thrift and Goodwill. (If you wash them you can recover or just use as they are. And because they are outside and going to fade in the sun they didn’t have to be designer!) The other side of the deck has a bench with some cushions left over from something. There is a table with two chairs and a small chair with owls on it. I planted some Iris in an ugly tub, and they are actually growing. There’s a trumpet vine that has climbed up the house and is spreading across the rail. I hung wind chimes that tinkle in the breeze, or, when it’s really windy, blow out over the yard.

Daybed with thriftstore pillows.

Bench on opposite side of deck

Table and chairs (and junk under the stove!)

The little owl chair...for little kids...and the truck in the background

Iris in the ugly tub. Seashell souvenirs.

Trumpet vine growing across rail

Old stove...for?

Wind chimes

I like to sit out there, in the morning on my days off or in the afternoon when I come in from work. I guess it’s silly, but it’s my room. Surely not HGTV but it’s my place and I can lock out the rest of the world.

Funny hummingbird whose wings spin in the wind

In this world I lock out 

All my worries and my fears. 

In my room, 

In my room… 

I found a cool little place online called Our Creative Spaces. You can link to your projects and visit others great crafts.Check it out and see what great things are over there!

Chickadee cowl in progress

I’m ready for full on fall. Ninety-five degrees in October is not fall. I like fall because it’s sweater weather. Not too cold and not too hot and a sweater is just fine. And of course, being a knitter, it’s even better. I gravitate to the fall colored yarn. I started a cowl, with three different fall colored yarns.

Three different yarns...

It’s interesting to see how it’s working up. I like it so far. It’s a Chickadee cowl, but instead of using chunky yarn I’m using sock yarn. Of course if I finish anytime soon it will be too hot to wear. But I’ll be ready for that first chilly morning! I may even go out on the deck before work, just to try it out.

Going to be pretty!

Do my dreaming and my scheming. 

Lie awake and pray. 

Do my crying and my sighing, 

Laugh at yesterday… 

In my room, in my room…

I'm Always On A Mountain

I hate to say I'm giving up but I believe,
Losin's just become a way of life for me.
Losin' wouldn't be so bad at all,
But I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

Most of my life I’ve almost been a winner. That’s really the words to a song but how it hits home. Maybe I’m just in a low place but I give up. I work hard, try to do the right thing, and what does it get me? Nothing. I’ve decided it must just be fate. Some people are winners. Some of us are losers. You’d think after so many times it wouldn’t matter anymore. But it still does.

 

I've come so close but never really won.

Just when I thought I finally made it,

I found myself back where I started from.

Losin' wouldn't be so bad at all,

But I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Summer has come and passed,
The innocent can never last.
Wake me up when September ends.

Tomorrow it’s October. Summer has come and passed. Where did the time go? Wasn’t it just January, with people making resolutions they can’t keep? Now it’s officially fall.

I’ve heard that the older you get the faster time seems to pass. How can that be? There are still 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. We have the same amount of time we’ve always had. So why does time seem to fly by?

Bryce being Superman

The kids when they were little...just the other day.

I remember being a teenager and wishing to be older. I think we all did. When I get older I’ll…you fill in the blank. I got older. I did what I wanted to do. But there was always something more. I’d still wish to be older.

At some time you reach a point when you feel you are old enough. Maybe it’s 25. Maybe it’s 30. For some, it could be even older. You no longer want to be older. Instead, you’d like to be younger.

I know people who live in the past. Their glory days were in another era. They aren’t satisfied with how things are now so they live those days, over and over. That wouldn’t work for me. I don’t want to go back and relive high school or college. Some of it wasn’t all that fun. I don’t see the point in staying the same. It’s a lot more exciting to experience new things.

Maybe that’s why time seems to pass so quickly as we get older. We’ve done a lot of the things we couldn’t wait to do. Now there doesn’t seem to be a lot to look forward to, for the average person that is. Part of the anticipation of something good happening seems to make time go slowly for me. When I’m waiting, time seems to crawl. If I’m not looking forward to anything, I’m not anxiously waiting for something to happen and before I even notice it’s here.

I got an email from a dear friend I grew up with. We were talking about a school mate who passed away. At the end of the note he said, “Fewer days ahead than behind.” It’s a bit scary to think about but it’s that time of life. The things I want to do had best be getting done. And I don’t know if there will be enough time.

I read recently where one of my knitting friends had designated another to finish her projects if she should die and leave them incomplete. Once I was asked to finish something that wasn’t done before the time came. It was to be a surprise gift for the daughter it was intended for. It’s a little eerie to pick up the yarn and needles that were someone else’s. I deciphered the notes she’d made to figure out where she was in the pattern. It wasn’t an easy task, but I completed it. It was satisfying, in a way, to know I’d helped her out and that the personal gift she’d started with love was completed and delivered.

I have a lot of unfinished projects lying around. I have a lot I haven’t started yet! But there isn’t anyone who will finish mine. They’ll just go wherever unfinished projects go. I’ll just hope they end up in the hands of someone who cares. So…better stop now and get busy!

 

At the end of September the knitayear will be halfway done. September also marks the end of the summer strip. Day 179, September 26 was Alan’s birthday. I made him a cake, the same one that was the first I ever baked him, and it made me reminiscent of the years that have passed. I picked a gold yarn for all of the golden years that have passed. Day 180, September 27, started the workweek. I worked with the doctors but for the first time had a very low turnout. Maybe it was the topic. Maybe they were just busy. I was a bit disappointed but the people who did show up enjoyed the session. I picked pink and blue variegated yarn because it reminded me that sometimes things work one way and sometimes they work out another way. September 28 was a good day, a trip to Balmorhea, substitute training and the late night. I got it all done and was feeling pretty dynamic. Bright green marked the day. Day 182, September 29, we came up with a plan for the workshop we are all so unsure about next week. I feel a lot more reassured that things will go well and chose a rust yarn that fit my mood that day. Finally, September 30, the end of September and the end of the fall strip of the knitayear! It’s the halfway mark and I feel complete, because I’ve stuck to the project this long. I picked pale green, which called to me and seemed to be like the end of the fall. It’s the last shade of green showing before things get brown. All in all the time has passed quickly. I have to admit I’m not as enthusiastic as as I was and I feel like I’m in a rut trying to describe my moods. That seems to be the hardest thing for me, but then anything to do with self always is. I’m anxious for a new start and the new strip that starts in October!

Summer Strip of Knitayear

Ring out the bells again,
Like we did when spring began.
Wake me up when September ends.

When the Leaves Come Falling Down

I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face,
And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace.
When the leaves come falling down,
In September when the leaves, come falling down.

It’s fall. It’s my favorite time of the year. I like the excitement of the first weeks of school. I like the Friday night football games. I like the temperature change where there’s just enough chill to need a sweater. I like the color changes, and the leaves falling from the trees. I like the smell of autumn, lingering fires, the smoke trails trickling up the chimneys, apples and pumpkins and the spicy scents they bring. I like the sunsets and the shorter days. I like the full moon on a clear night. I like fall.

Cornucopia

Countryside

When I was young I watched the Newhart show. You know, the one where Bob is Dick Louden. He and his wife Joanna live in a town in Vermont and run an inn called the Stratford Inn. I decided then I wanted to go to Vermont in the fall and see the leaves changing color. I’d been told it was magnificent, like nothing I could imagine. I got the chance a couple of years ago. It was supposed to be a surprise (for me), but with my work schedule surprises are hard to carry off. It was great, nevertheless.

I could live here

We flew out early in the morning and rented a car when we landed in Hartford, CT. It was late and we were tired so we found a place to stay and got something to eat and called it a day. Next morning we drove to Stowe, Vermont, and the show began.

On the road

Stowe is small town, rich in history. The village (as they call it) is about 250 years old. Nestled close to Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain peak in the state, Stowe provides some of the finest skiing in the state. Stowe is where the Trapp Family Lodge is located. The Trapp Family was the inspiration for the movie, "The Sound of Music."

Reflections

Planning a trip to see the fall foliage is tricky. If you go too early you’ll get green trees. If you go too late you get bare trees. If there is a freeze, they say leaves drop, overnight. We were lucky. It was just about right for the color change. It was a little foggy some mornings but otherwise very nice. Some afternoons it was even hot. If you look at trip planners for foliage trips they recommend the first two weeks of October. But it still can vary, depending on the weather.

A mix of colors

Foggy mountainside.

We saw many great things while there, some local sites, some farms with pumpkins and maple syrup, covered bridges, barns, the Yankee Candle Factory, and yarn shops. As we drove from place to place the yarn shop radar was always on! I looked for things that would remind me of the great colors when I was gone. And I was lucky enough to find a few!

Autumn yarn memories

Modern covered bridge?

Middle Bridge

Taftsville Bridge

It’s almost October. I look at the pictures of the wonderful colors and remember the good time we had. Then I look outside and imagine how the leaves out here are going to look. It doesn’t take much. There aren’t any trees.

Carpet of leaves

Leaf in the water

Time to rake?

I’m not bored with the knitayear. My time doesn’t seem to come as freely as it did when I first started. But I won’t quit. I’m almost through the second strip. Day 167, September 14,started off ok. It wasn’t til later it got bad. It was just some of my ‘friends’ helping me out. No need to go into it but I was, in a word, pissed. I was seeing red. I picked red and black eyelash yarn to commemorate the occasion. September 15, day 168, brought more meetings. Of course, as usual, the meeting was over hours before my flight. They tell us how long it’s going to last then we plan transportation. It never fails, the meeting ends but the flight can’t be changed. It makes me tired. I picked old blue cotton. I say old because I’ve had it for years and never did anything with it. It’s just there. That’s how I felt. September 16, back to work, and it’s busier than ever. It’s day 169 and I’m on the edge of overwhelmed! I picked rust fun fur for this day. It’s kind of wild and goes every way. Like my day was going. Day 170, September 17, was a day off and well deserved, in my mind at least! It was busy, being with the little guys and I seemed to do a lot of waiting but was patient. I found lavender cotton I had used for a dishcloth. The color was peaceful and calming to me, not so much like the day, but how I felt. September 18 was day 171 and we were on the way to a wedding. It was an unusual wedding to say the least, but it was nice, and it was what the couple wanted, and that’s what is important. I enjoyed people watching and was amused by the sights and sounds. I chose a multi color wool, bright colors spun together to make one yarn. It reminded me of the wedding and how all the different people were there but for the same reason. Day 172, September 19, was a bad day, but not for me exactly. Poor Alan. Dead battery, sheriff, lost phone, soaked by rain, and that was just part of it. I was sympathetic but there wasn’t much I could do. I found a rust suede yarn that seemed like the right yarn for the day. Day 173 brought work again. Funny how that keeps coming around! It was Sept 20, and I was diligent, getting it all done, or giving it a good shot anyway. I use blue, brown and white fuzzy yarn. The way the colors blend it reminded me of a day, the sky, the clouds and the earth all blended together, and how it happens every day, just keeping on. I’ll always remember the leaves in Vermont and how amazing the colors were. And I hope I’m able to see it again. See the leaves. Even if it’s only in my dreams.

Knitayear strip 2 so far

And at night the moon is shining on a clear, cloudless sky.
And when the evening shadows fall I'll be there by your side.
When the leaves come falling down.
In September when the leaves, come falling down.