A Romp in the Snow

It has been snowing lightly all morning, with more serious snow predicted for tomorrow. I came over to Pittsfield with Mom and Dad to go to Mass this morning, and then we stopped off at Karen's house afterwards for coffee. Karen suggested that I stay, since there is entertainment in town this afternoon in the form of a comedy show followed by dessert for $5 to support the Pittsfield Library. A worthy cause! So I stayed here, and Karen took the dog Stella for a romp in the snow, and I tagged along. Stella likes to play wolf while tromping through Manson Park.

There is rough ice underneath a lot of the snow, so we had to proceed cautiously. But we walked over to the snowmobile bridge and with some trepidation crossed it, then decided to press on to the railroad tracks. Crossing the trestle was also a bit of excitement for two middle-aged ladies! By the time we got home, my thighs were tingly cold, as well as my face, but my core body was quite warm and toasty. It was a very pleasant adventure, with the woods looking very lovely in an inch of snow. Stella went into the river up to her knees, which seemed awfully chilly to me! In some places where there was shallow water, the water was frozen into inch-thick sheets (generally broken in places so that the thickness was observable.)

I did finish the Windy-City Scarf and gave it to Karen, and it looks very nice on her with her camel-colored coat. Now I am quite far along in makiing the first mitten--but so far, no shaping or picking up of thumb stitches has been required, so I don't actually know if I am up to the technical demands of this simple pattern. I added an inch and a half of ribbing at the cuff since a big thick mitten with no cuff seems odd to me. I am using size 5 needles with heavish worsted wool yarn (variegated red colors), and it is very dense. No matter how much I try to keep the knitting loose, it feels quite tight. But I guess tight is a desirable characteristic in a mitten. It's a nice relief to just knit every row, without even the bother of purling alternate rows. And the garter stitch makes a nice thick fabric for warmth.

Last night Hannah and Molly called and invited me to come over and watch "Little Miss Sunshine" with them. It was a very enjoyable movie, though totally inappropriate! (bad language, lots of talk about sex, drug use, etc.) but actually with a good moral base under it all. The acting and directing were excellent, and it was a lot of fun to watch. Plus Joanne sent us in popcorn and a pitcher of melted butter!

Yesterday the whole family got together--Karen and her family, including Liz, Joanne and all 6 of her kids, Mom and Dad and me, and Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Richie. It was nice--everyone brought a dish or two--Karen made a yummy pumpkin cobbler (like pumpkin pie, but with a cake-y crust and a slightly creamier texture. I made the spinach-feta bake, but while I was gone to the library, Stella the dog helped herself to a few bites of it! But we just stirred it up and ate it anyhow!

First thing in the morning yesterday I went to a live basketball game--an intramural game of 5th and 6th graders. Ben played very well and made several important baskets, but his team ended up losing by 1 point. They played a second game at 10 am, but I stayed home during that one. And he was also supposed to travel to Auburn for a third game of the day, but he stayed home for the family gathering. But word was that it was a blow-out, they lost 22 to 72! So it's just as well he didn't take an hour and a half drive to get to that!

Tomorrow Karen and James will take Zack to Farmington to start his first semester of college. Unfortunately, at the same time they need to drive an hour west on Route 2, the first real snowstorm of the winter is predicted. Karen is thinking that if it's really bad, they might have to go later, but tomorrow is really the time when he's supposed to be there. I'll be safely back in Hartland by then, however.