"It's raining, it's pouring..." Yep, that's what we've been singing around here lately. Yesterday, I had my doubts about whether we'd ever get a break in the weather: 
rain, thunderstorms, more rain, wind, more rain, hail, more rain, lightening, more rain, tornado warnings, and still more rain. It spoiled opening day for the Cardinals...postponed until today. The fountain on the deck is at the tippy-top, ready to overflow if another drop falls. The pond is so full, that I can look out of the kitchen door and see the fish swimming about (!)...but, unfortunately, the level will drop back down due to some itty, bitty hole in the liner that we need to repair. Fortunately, we seem to have graduated to partly cloudy today...only a slight chance of precip today and tomorrow. Fingers crossed...toes, too!
rain, thunderstorms, more rain, wind, more rain, hail, more rain, lightening, more rain, tornado warnings, and still more rain. It spoiled opening day for the Cardinals...postponed until today. The fountain on the deck is at the tippy-top, ready to overflow if another drop falls. The pond is so full, that I can look out of the kitchen door and see the fish swimming about (!)...but, unfortunately, the level will drop back down due to some itty, bitty hole in the liner that we need to repair. Fortunately, we seem to have graduated to partly cloudy today...only a slight chance of precip today and tomorrow. Fingers crossed...toes, too!All of this rain reminds me of our recent trip to Ireland. I thought I'd post a couple of collages that I created from the mountain of photos we took. The one on the right is of scenes that we loved: the sea between the mainland and the Blasket Islands, the River Nore in County Killarney, the Cliffs of Moher (center), and sheep...lots of sheep...all over Ireland!
The collage to the left is of us, of course...having a good time on our trip.
And we did...have a great time!
And we did...have a great time!Of course, we are still feeling GREAT, as we are celebrating around our house: the Memphis Tigers are in the Final Four!!! Go Tigers Go! It's been a long time (1985) since we made it this far, and we are thoroughly enjoying the moment. We play UCLA on Saturday, April 5th...about the same time I'll be attending the wedding of a cousin in AZ. Hmmmm....I wonder if I slip out to find a TV, if they will even miss me? Do you suppose I could slip a web-enabled cell phone inside?? We'll see...
I've been working on another afghan for another cousin's upcoming wedding (on July 4th). The pattern is imprinted into my brain, as I have been knitting these afghans for years...and years...and years. The first one I made was for Mom in either 1978 or '79, from a Bernat kit, and I liked it so much that I kept the instructions... and have used them over and over. As I've said before, the afghan is knit using US 10's, on worsted weight yarn (I use acrylic, because you certainly want an afghan to be easy-care and washable) in 7-8 strips (depending on how many color combinations are desired) then joined together (I like to crochet them together now, since I learned how; I used to sew them together...and hated that part of the project). I can easily work on a strip on long trips or short breaks. I can almost do this pattern without looking...but not quite. I was knitting away, while the Tigers were beating up on Texas last Saturday, completely engrossed in the game...and I realized that I'd made one of those mistakes that just keeps compounding itself. Oops! Had to take out about 18 rows to straighten out the problem.
I'm eager for major league baseball season to get here, since I can turn on a game without getting too involved (I find most of a baseball game to be b-o-r-i-n-g) and knit something that requires more concentration...a more intricate pattern, etc. I can't seem to do that with college basketball...or college football, either. I do think that the Stitch 'n Pitch folks are really onto a great idea...:)
