run on sentences

So far I have knitted (knat?) two pair of socks.  I gave both of them away to people I love.   I will give away many pairs of socks, but only to people who I  know will appreciate them. I wrote about my first pair of socks already but here is a picture of my second pair: It occurred to me that making socks is as addicting as running marathons (or half marathons or 5ks) can be.  You make one pair after gathering up your courage to tackle the turning of the heel and the picking up of stitches for that so called gusset, or as I call it, "gasket".  Then, encouraged, you race to the toes and maybe slow down a bit - but the end is in sight so you keep going.  When you are done,  for a while, you don't want to do the other one, but you do, because you can think of a million different things to do that will make the next pair even better....like knitting tighter (or looser) or doing the toe in a different way or making the ribbing longer and the sock come...

My sister and I talk about how we never realized we were poor growing up.  Maybe it was because there were a lot of other people who had less than we did and no one was really rich.  Or maybe it was because our parents loved us and never let us forget it.  Our house sounded like the "little house on the prairie" show.  Every night we would say "Good night mom, I love you" or "good night dad, I love you" several times - maybe to  make sure they were still there or maybe for reassurance that they really did love us. Christmas was always a special time.  Once one of the neighbor ladies who was of the proper shape and girth, dressed up as Santa Clause and peeked in the window at my sister.  My sister, who exhibited sleuth like qualities at a young age, followed the footsteps to the neighbors house and figured it out.   I was too little (or "still walking in front of my father" as my dad always said) to remember this one but I do remember when my un...

....but a pasty, lying on the sidewalk so clear. a pasty.  On the sidewalk.  In Salt Lake City? Okay it is not the best poetry, but I am still puzzled over how this seemingly perfectly baked pasty showed up on the sidewalk, a block below the high school?  No one, or at least not many people in this city, beautiful as it is, knows what a pasty is even. Jack and I were running along yesterday on a cold but sunny day, minding our own business.  I could see something lying on the sidewalk ahead of me, which isn't too unusual...sometimes there are bagels, old french fries, or bags from the many nearby fast food joints...but a pasty?  Never.  As I approached it, I stopped and stared.  Jack wanted to sniff it and eat it of course.  I got off the sidewalk and circled it suspiciously, wondering if I was going crazy or just so homesick that I was hallucinating?  Maybe my wild college days finally caught up with me and I was having flashbacks? ...

Yesterday I knew I had to run because we were going to get a bad windstorm that afternoon.  I was actually looking forward to it and felt good.  Jack could sense we were going to go so kept coming in and nudging me as if to say, "Now?" Jack's favorite "waiting" pose" I got dressed, primed the ipod with some good Christmas tunes and we headed out the door and up the hill, listening to Barbara Streisand singing "Raindrops on roses...etc"...not one of my favorite things, but it seems if I skip a song I am not fond of, my pod gets back at me by playing it more often. I was just doing the usual 5 mile loop and Jack and I, both of us having a good day it seemed, ran along, enjoying the familiar scenery.  It amazes me that even though I do this route a lot, I often see things I have never seen before or at least noticed.   It is Christmas tree season (began about two weeks ago) so the neighborhood Smith's Marketplace has their Christmas trees...

For some reason I wanted to knit a pair socks.  My mom was a great sock knitter (and a great knitter in general) and I wish I would have appreciated her homemade socks, mittens and hats more than I did.  My sister also could knit socks.    I always thought that I would be unable to master using all those knitting needles at the same time, so never tried.  Until recently.  Ironically, my sister, my daughter and I all decided we wanted to knit socks.  I didn't tell my daughter (Kseniya) that I, too decided to take up the challenge, because I wanted to surprise her with a pair  at Thanksgiving. I found a pattern and some yarn.  The pattern called for 5 knitting needles, which surprised my sister, who said she and my mom only used four.  But I was determined.  I watched a You Tube video on how to cast on to five needles.  I still ended up starting several times, tearing out my stitches and starting over - swearing a lot!...

My father in law died about two weeks ago.  Bruce and I headed to Wisconsin on my birthday and I felt honored to be able to share the day of my birth celebrating my father in law's life.  What a great life he lived and what a great example of living he was to all of us.  His children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will carry on with a part of him. The minister who conducted the funeral was, as she put it, "the minister du jour"  and did a less than optimal job of eulogizing him.   I bet he would have smiled at her mistakes (such as saying he was born on Christmas day, December 5th) and not wanted his children to exchange looks and shake their heads at her inaccuracies.  I thought I should give it a try - eulogizing him.  He deserves at least my attempts to describe what he meant to me. I know all of us had different memories of him. My father in law, William Gilbert Thomas, was born on Christmas Day, December 25th, in 1914, the oldest of s...

The  main street of the little town I grew up in once was lined with fine maple or oak or maybe elm trees on each side.  Over the years, many of them grew victim to old age, some tree disease, or to the power company because they were interfering with the power lines.    One lone oak tree stood proudly across from the post office - all that remained of those old trees that used to shade the lovely main street....until a few days ago, when it also met it's fate.   I wish  I had a better picture of this tree but you can see it in the picture below, on the left side of the street. My sister had heard rumors that this tree was going to be taken down by the power company.  A home owner feared that it would fall on her house.  The tree looked healthy and did not appear to be dying.  I don't know...maybe it was interfering in power lines and was a potential hazard.  But if that was the case, it was not apparent.   A few people i...