A Little of This and A Little of That....

Hey Blog,

I'm writing this one on the fly. It's been crazy, but such is life, I suppose. Here in Asheville, NC, the gas prices have been as high as $5 recently, due to hurricanes in the southern states, affecting us up north. The food prices have climbed to the point that we plan where to shop and when. There are layoffs galore, thankfully my husband has escaped those for now. Yet, I don't feel that bad. I mean, look at the other countries in the world, what they are going through. Look at it....I won't say anymore.

I am grateful. I have my family, I have my health (mostly), I have my life, such as it is. A small life, filled with little bits of joy, joy that is often sprinkled in from the most unexpected places. Often days I find joy in a cup of coffee. This is one of the areas in which I get the good stuff, I don't settle for whatever is the cheapest. That nice hot cup of sweet, bitter goodness just makes my day, a simple joy. I hope you are finding joy in the simple things as well.

My husband is forced to work for this guy, see his sign at left. I won't tell you what he does there, it's top secret and I'd have to kill you. Suffice it to say it isn't pretty....

Of course, I also find joy in my knitting. I decided I HAD to cast on for the Twist & Shout sweater in the new Knitty. I'm using Waterlily from Classic Elite yarns, in a lovely rose color, this is my calm retreat right now, battling off this nasty cold I have. I'm also knitting a donkey. This will be for the front window of the yarn store I work at, Purl's Yarn Emporium, to support the Obama campaign. Think what you will, it is adorable either way. I've also completed a couple of hats, one which I'm showing here, the 'Turn a Square' Hat by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. A great, quick, knit, I definitely see more of these in my future. I may be a Noro fan yet....

We've been hiking again, as you can tell from the pics. These are some strange nuts we found last week. Actually, I think they are seeds, called California Buckeye, a member of the Horse Chestnut family, beautiful, aren't they??

This is a picture of a strange caterpiller David found, I thought perhaps it had a strange fungus growing on its' back. He took it to work, to find it erupted into tons of little tiny babies!! A truly amazing world we live in. I wonder if this was the male or the female of the species.

Take care of yourselves and your loves ones, they are what is precious in this world!! I am welcoming Fall to the states this Monday, I am MORE than ready!! Hooray for Autumn!!!!