Happy Birthday John!!!

You old man, you! One of the hardest working, hardest playing, intense persons I know. Through all the ups and downs, I love you.

thanks, at your cervix!

After visiting your blog, i decided to take the test...this is what i ended up with, the second time! so, if any of you that read this, decide to take your own test, let me know what you are!

You Would Be a Pet Cat

Independent and aloof, you don't like to be dependent on anyone. And as for other people, you can take them or leave them. You often don't care. You live your life by your own rules. And you have deep motivations that no one truly understands. Why you would make a great pet: You're not needy or greedy... unlike other four legged friends. Why you would make a bad pet: You're not exactly running down to greet people at the door What you would love about being a cat: Agility and freedom What you would hate about being a cat: Being treated like a dog by clueless humans

What Kind of Pet Would You Be?

beach cam

Well, things have been busy here. I have managed to visit the boardwalk most everyday, however, since I discovered Ocean City Boardwalk web cam... if only it showed Thrasher's French Fries!!!
more later....

long, long ago....

Thought I would share a picture of my first time camping at Assateague Island. Oceanside, in a tent!

Jill, I missed your birthday...

Happy, happy birthday!!! I wanted to sing, but that might not be too happy!
Here are some of my favorite pics... jill and joseph

jill and lily


jill, pat and mariah 1980...

jill, mariah and pat, same year only summer.

jill and mariah and the wreath...

some hats jill made for us when john came home from boot camp, 1979, i think...

You always bring laughter with you when we are together. That is so great.

love of the beach.

I come from a long line of beach goers...

time to buckle down...

Starting tomorrow, school is back on! I will be taking women's health and pharmacology, both of which are supposed to be challanging!

During my break, I have not been knitting or reading as much as I planned. I did get my invite to Ravelry, where I found Librarything. I have spent some time there...They are 2 great sites.

I did sign up for a fair amount of extra time at work, I got to be on call for most of those times!!! Yeah.

trying

What does it mean, to try?

According to the dictionary, to try means to make an attempt, see if it works.
I hear a lot of "to try" in the area of maternity.

"I am going to try and have a natural birth" but, then again, there is the epidural...

"I am going to try and breastfeed" but isn't formula just as good? or, maybe I should pump and bottlefeed my milk.

Confidence is everything!

Confidence out ranked knowledge in success for breastfeeding, and I bet that is true in other areas as well.

I AM going to breastfeed.

I AM going to start exercising.

I AM going to....you fill in the blanks.
Stop just trying and DO IT!

wow

I got this link in an email. it is about a trisomy 18 baby. thanks Sindy, it was inspiring.

horses...

The reason I go to Assateague Island, besides the beach, is to see the horses. Here are some we saw. One day, we saw 19 different ones!

Thank you, Thank you!!!

I would like to take this time to say a big thank you to Lisa and Mike for letting me hang out at their house and to go places with them! and, another big thank you to Cindy and Bill for letting me hang out with them at and their house.

Here is Mollydog, trying to take over my book, on grandmother's glider, on Cindy's screened in porch!!! Move over poochie!

the trauma of the tent

I got my tent for the camping trip, but had not put it up before I left for Maryland. Cindy and I briefly got out all the pieces at Longfield Farm and saw how it went together. We drove out to Assateague Island State Park campground, found the campsite and when we got out of the car, were nearly blown away!

Unhindered by the wind at this point, we drug out the tent, put in the poles and watched as it moved around the campsite on its own, even after we placed a couple of the small, metal stakes into the sand. Uh Oh.

Out came the tent poles, up rolled the tent and back in the car it went. And, so did we.

Angela got to Maryland in great time, and I rode over to Pocomoke and met her at the wal-mart. Onward, we drove to Assateague in the dark. The wind was still blowing like crazy. We slept in the Element, no tent was going up.

Here is the area where we were going to camp. Over the dune, the OCEAN!

The next day, we spent time driving from camping area to camping area, scouting out different campsites. We could change once for free. We went from F to C and from right beside the ocean to 3 or 4 campsites away from the ocean. But, the tent went up! It was still windy, but away from the ocean, it was less so. We did anchor the tent to the car for extra stay in placeness! And, here it is....

home again, home again

Just a quick update and pic from my time away. Angela and I posing as we made our children pose many times over the years! More later....

gone...

I am leaving tomorrow morning for vacation!!! We thought that we would be going to Delmarva Bike Week, but John is not able to get away from work. I am headed to Maryland by myself. Plan on hanging out with family and friends. (you know who you are!) Then I am going to meet Angela (from Conyers) and camp at Assateague Island, one of my favorite places in the world! More when I get back...

my toes are COLD

just thought i would let the rest of the world know, it is fall in maine. i am wearing my fleece socks, specifically, my sushi fleece socks.

just what i needed, more yarn...

Here is my new yarn, mmmm. I want to knit the debbie bliss sweater from the Vogue Cover collection, it is the last one on the top row. The material under the yarn is my skirt. I am making from another skirt from Old Navy, no pattern involved! Let's hope it fits! I just have to attach the ruffle and finish the waist. And the sweater of course!

today is...

I don't have any great post ready to go, so I thought I would see about what happened today in history.

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of the Chesapeake, during the Revolutionary War. As many who know me, know, that is one of my favorite areas to visit. As a matter of fact, I will be there next week!!! A little R&R planned on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Assateague Island. I hope to have lots of pics of that...

Today is also the anniversary of Mother Tesesa's death. Not a saint yet, but I bet in the near future.

So that is it for me. Back to the books. I have a test tomorrow!

slow knitting progress...

Not too great a background, but here is a shawl in progress. It has an intended recipient, so it has become my new knit-during-the-news project. On my Rogue, I have finished my sleeve cables for both sleeves, now they are just increase and lengthen! I might actually have a sweater to wear this winter.

I signed up for my fall classes today. Rumor has it they are 2 difficult ones, and I am crazy enough to take them during the fall/winter holiday season. What was I thinking??? GET DONE, that is what I was thinking! My motto is like that of the turtle: "slow and steady wins the race". I know it isn't actually a race, but ...

study cat

Here is Wiggie trying to help me study. He gets it by osmosis and then purrs it to me!

the mollie post/repost

i must have been partly asleep when i wrote last night. as i read it this morning, i thought, hmmm, did some one add to what i had written???

so, i did some editing and corrected some spelling errors. now, i think i remember writing it...

lesson for me, don't post when your eyes are droopy with the need to sleep!