He did it! (posted by Ann)

We were in New Hampshire this weekend to see Steve graduate from high school, which he did on schedule. It was a beautiful day, and right after these pictures we all changed and proceeded to fit an incredible amount of Steve's stuff into the back of the Explorer so Don could drive it home. I should have gotten a picture of that, it was really something to behold, but we were so exhausted that we just moved on. Don went on to New Jersey to teach a class, I flew home Sunday afternoon, and Steve drove Saturday and Sunday. He's home for the summer now, looking for a job.

Denver trip and my garden (posted by Ann)

We do seem to go in cycles, don't we? Sometimes we both post, sometimes just one of us is on a roll. It's been my turn to lay low, and yours to post a lot, but I'm back! I have a lot to catch you up on, so prepare to stay a while.

I'll start with our Denver trip. Wow, was that a lot of snow! I would never have been brave enough to drive up the mountain once the road turned a strip of snow that had a few tire tracks on it, but Don was behind the wheel and he just kept going.

This is the front of Lani and Steve's house, with Don standing by a lump of snow that he thought was a rock and is really a car, and Lani and Steve in the background. He has the car keys out (as though it would be moving anytime soon!)

This is of Tom and Margie's car outside the Wondervue Cafe, which gives you some idea of how much snow had come down that day. The margaritas were wonderful, even without power.

When we got back from Denver, spring had really arrived in Chicago. That means two things for me - sailing and gardening! Yay for both! I love my crabapple trees in the spring, they are just so colorful after a long gray winter.

The iris and my spring blooming clematis are also in bloom, with Pumpkin sitting and watching. That's about all she does these days, she's getting to be a old girl.

I've planted a lot this year, with snap peas and English peas, lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, and once it got warm enough 7 tomato plants. I'm still looking for two more tomato varieties to get in the ground, and have designs on peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini. That ought to keep me busy!

More later, I have knitting, sailing and more gardening to show - but enough for now, it's a beautiful Sunday morning so I'm going outside!

Catching up (posted by Lani)

Now for a real (and long) catching-you-up-on-my life post, with some knitting thrown in. Yes, I know, I'm on a posting binge! Don't get used to it though, I can't promise it'll continue.

So! What have I been up to. Let's see! First of all, back at the end of April Fabulous Neighbor Margie taught a week-long deep editing immersion seminar at her home. Steve was out of town, so on Sunday night I went over and we spent the evening cooking up a storm in preparation. We stayed up late and talked and giggled and had fun -- like a sleepover, only without the sleep! Later in the week I joined Margie and the fun and fascinating authors taking her course for dinner several nights at various local landmarks, and had an utter blast doing it. What fascinating people, and what fun! I'd drop a name or two here but I'm not sure that'd be considered kosher ... suffice it to say there was one current bestselling author in the group, and some others who I look forward to seeing on that august list in the near future.

Steve came home for a bit in early May, and then back on the road he went. His trip to DC was extended and they put him up in a hotel that was actually in DC. On Embassy Row in DC, to be precise. I was jealous. REALLY jealous. So jealous I couldn't stand it. I grabbed a cheap plane ticket at the last minute on a Friday afternoon, threw some clothes into the nearest suitcase, and on Saturday I was off to visit our nation's capitol. I dragged Steve with me to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian; we ate lunch in the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden and then visited the National Gallery itself; and when poor Steve had to go back to work on Monday, I visited the Corcoran. It was a wonderful trip, and I wish some of the pictures that had us actually IN them had turned out decently. We ate at several great places, but I have to say my absolute unqualified favorite was Kramerbooks & Afterwords. We ate good food, we drank good beer, and we bought books. What a winning combination.

I managed to almost restrain myself in the Washington yarn shops, although I did buy something called Poems Sock, from Wisdom Yarns. It's a dead ringer for Noro (well, except for the twigs and branches and other assorted veggie matter, and super thick and so-thin-and-overspun-I-want-to-scream sections, I always associate with Noro). I can't wait to actually knit with it and see how I like it; it's a single which worries me a little, but those Noro-esque colors, ahhh. I told myself I deserved this small stash enhancement because lo! I have finished two new pairs of socks: first, the original green pair (Austermann Step yarn) which I thought I'd love but which now make me feel like I need to go buy a camo outfit and go hunting, and also they are fraternal rather than identical twins and I've discovered that I'm just anal enough to really prefer identically striped socks; and second, a very different and yes, identically striped green pair (Red Heart Heart & Sole) that remind me of spring and easter eggs hiding in that bright green fake grass stuff, and make me smile every time I look at them. Both of these yarns have aloe in them, so I'll be looking forward to wearing them and seeing if that really makes any difference in how they feel.

Also in exciting knitting news, I am probably the last sock knitter in America to knit Cookie A.'s Monkeys (I am lazy, so I'm doing the no-purl variation). I'm now on the toe decreases on the first sock, and let me just say I completely understand the popularity of the pattern and I'll be making more. My First Monkeys are from some Lisa Souza sock yarn that I got in a trade, in a completely frilly and girly color called Violet's Pink Ribbon. I'm LOVING this yarn, seriously loving. Can't wait to finish and block and wear them -- I'd give them to the Girl Who Loves Pink, but she's not so much for homemade knitted goods so I can keep these right here with no guilt whatsoever.

This weekend is our neighborhood's annual Memorial Day Woohoo It's Spring and Summer and Don't Turn Around Or It'll Be Fall Again And Then The Snow Comes Back party. Since we're isolated enough that we depend heavily on our neighbors up here, we all really enjoy getting together a couple of times a year just for fun (as opposed to getting together to help each other dig out and cut down fallen trees across our drives and such). I'll take pictures!

Springtime (for real this time) (posted by Lani)

It really is finally spring. FINALLY! The bear is definitely awake, we've seen evidence of him although haven't actually seen him yet. Hummingbirds are arriving, we have more and more each day and I'm sure I'll shortly be inundating you with hummingbird pictures. So far just the broadtails, but other varieties will be here soon as well. Deer are wandering up from the valleys and some were in our back yard this morning. We saw a MOOSE, a real live MOOSE, coming back from Nederland the other night. Moose are, as I'm sure you know but as was brought home to me by the presence of this particular moose taking her own sweet time deciding whether to cross the road or just stare at us, very large and imposing. And fairly funny-looking, not that I would say that to their (very large) faces. All in all I was glad I was in my car when I saw the moose.

And of course, we have our foxes.

Boyfriend had a badly injured leg (we think it may have been broken) and I've been shamelessly feeding him and Baby because there was no way he could hunt and I couldn't bear to just let him die -- especially since he was taking food back to the den for Baby and her kits. As these pictures show, though, he's eating well and looking good, and he's starting to use the leg a little for balance now so I'm hopeful that it's healing.




Baby is around more now than she was; I think her kits are getting older and can be left alone more. I was potting up some hanging baskets on the porch last week and she wandered down the hill and came over to lie down and watch me, obviously curious about what the heck I was doing. She and Boyfriend are both starting to lose their winter coats and look a little ragged, but Baby's truly a beautiful girl. Maybe she'll bring her babies down to visit one day; I live in hope.

I Heart My Neighbors (posted by Lani)

We went on an impromptu Yay-It's-Finally-Spring hike today, Margie and Tom and their daughter Tiffany, and Steve and Lynnette, and me (my Steve pled exhaustion and stayed home).

We climbed rocks. Ok, Thalia the dachshund had to be passed up from person to person, but she tried valiantly -- and the rest of us climbed enough rocks for her.

We admired the reservoir, and the creek leading into it. We oohed and aahed over gnarled, aged dead trees.

And we found this. Out in the middle of nowhere, over on the ridge. Beats the heck out of the empty beer bottles and other trash you usually find out in the wilderness, doesn't it?

Ah, Springtime (posted by Lani)

First of all, let me confirm that despite the reservations I expressed in my last post I did make it down the mountain and made my plane to Florida. Of course the first thing we did was to go to Hunt’s Oyster Bar and do our best to eat our body weight in oysters. Let me tell you, Alex is an oyster-eating boy! It was a great trip; Dad's surgery went well, he and Mom are both doing well, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with them, with Laurie and Alex, and with Jim.

I came back home Sunday night, almost two weeks ago now. The weather wasn’t too bad, we had a little snow but nothing major, and yay! Don was in Denver teaching a course! Ann flew in on Wednesday and I got to pick her up at the airport and enjoy a nice lunch with the two of them. They extended their trip through Sunday so that we could spend some time together after Steve got back into town Friday night, and we all looked forward to a fun weekend. Then came The Storm.

It snowed. Oh, did it snow.

I drove down the mountain through the storm to get to the airport on Friday night to pick Steve up (Yes, that was stupid. Very stupid. But I wanted him home, he’d been gone for two weeks.). Going back up the mountain was ... interesting. We managed, very slowly and very very carefully, to get almost all the way home before our car got stuck. We only managed that because all the power in Coal Creek Canyon was off, and the plows were trying to keep the road open enough to get the power trucks through, but hey we took it and ran with it, at least as far as we could. Once we were well and truly stuck, we left the car (seriously, we were close to home or we wouldn’t have done it) and trudged the rest of the way home by flashlight through a heavy snowfall, in snow that ranged from knee deep (where it had been plowed earlier) to waist deep (where it hadn’t). Fun. We got home absolutely exhausted and chilled to the bone, but we were home.

It continued to snow all night, and early Saturday morning we awoke to this. That lump? Here, let me give you a hint. This is what that lump looked like on Friday before I left for the airport.

That’s right, that lump is our other car. You know, the one that didn’t get stuck in the snow. Relatively speaking, of course. And it continued to snow.

And how deep did the snow get? Well … pretty deep. I’d say it was perfect weather to sit on the couch and just look out the window, but … the windows are kind of blocked. That’s not drift, by the way, and that isn’t snow that’s fallen off the roof – that’s just how deep the snow was when these pictures were taken (yes, it got deeper -- we got about 4' of snow in 48 hours). We got up early on Saturday and, in the still-falling, ever-deepening snow, we went and dug out our stuck car and with the assistance of a couple of neighbors unstuck it and got it out of the middle of the road and a little closer to home. Neighbor Mike has a small snowplow (handy, that!) and he plowed the road enough for a car to get through -- and we had just come home to defrost and prepare for the larger task of digging out our driveway and trying to actually get the car HOME when we saw someone trudging down the (narrow, deep) path we had shoveled towards our door. And who was it? Ann and Don! Truly, this is sisterly and brother-in-lawly (is that even a word? I guess it is now) love. They had driven up the mountain and come to help us dig out! OK, so maybe that wasn’t really the original plan, but it sure is what they got to do.

I hope Ann’s pictures turned out, because she took some good ones while she was here. Don and Steve shoveled and snow-blowed; Ann and I knitted; we went up to the Wondervu Café and were joined by our fun and fabulous neighbors, Tom and Margie, and had a lovely lunch and a pitcher of margaritas (it’s amazing what they were able to put on the table even though the entire neighborhood had no power); we came home, Don and Steve talked geek talk, Ann and I knitted more, and then, sadly, Don and Ann had to leave; it was still snowing, a cloud had moved in and visibility was the pits, and they had a long drive ahead of them and an early flight Sunday. We hated to see them leave and we do hope they’ll come back soon – we promise we’ll do our best to have more power, more margaritas, and less shoveling if you do, Annie!

Our power continued to be off-and-on through early this week, and our internet didn’t come back until Friday night. Tons and tons of trees and limbs down all over, and now that the snow is starting to melt the people in lower areas of the canyon are having some flooding issues (NOT a problem we suffer from!). Interestingly, we’re supposed to be getting more snow tonight. Ah, springtime.

I have no secrets (posted by Ann)

I have no secrets because I am married to Don, who reconciles credit card accounts within 24 hours of anyone spending more than 17 cents. I momentarily forgot this and charged my trip to Denver to surprise him for his birthday. It actually took him four days to find it, which when I think about it is actually pretty good. He's obviously slacking on the job.

The radar is selective, though. He was looking in detail because the American Express bill is large, and he told me that I needed to reconcile it because he couldn't find any reason why my charges were so high. I don't know how he could miss $5,500 in airline tickets to Europe that are business charges, and are the reason the American Express bill is so high, but find a $300 ticket to Denver.

So much for surprising him for his birthday. As I said, I have no secrets.