Jet lag

For some reason, the two hour time change to MST did not seem to disrupt my schedule too much.  I never sleep well in a strange bed, but skiing hard each day did seem to help  that some, especially if I had taken ibuprophen to ease the aged achey muscles at night.  Meals were eaten when hungry, or when it was a  convenient time to take a break from the skiing.  As all the delays in our travels put us at the condo in the late evening, all we did was unpack, unwind from 18 hours of travel and go to bed the first night in.

The return trip lacked the delays, thank goodness, and we arrived back in Norfolk in only 12 hours 40 minutes, however at nearly 11 p.m.  That night was spent with hubby's sis and shear exhaustion allowed for a good night's sleep.  Sunday was a 6 hour drive home, unpacking and a normal bedtime.  For some reason, the return trip has caused serious jet lag for me.  It has been difficult to roust myself from the comfort of our own bed the last two mornings, and basic chores like light house cleaning and the laundry from the vacation seem to wear me out.  It is now afternoon and I could easily take a nap, in fact, yesterday while hubby was in PT, I did go out to the car and take a short nap.  I guess, a couple more days and I will return to normal.

Vacation end

All good things must  eventually end and this is the last eve of this adventure.  The trip has had a few quirks, maybe not as social as last year's trip, but overall, it was a great week.  We had three snow falls, the first previously blogged about, made for difficult skiing for us easterners on the first day, the second just a couple of inches on a day we went over to Vail for the day and it was a good day of skiing with more of the group than just hubby, his sister, and me.  The third was 6 to 9 inches of dry powder last night and this morning.  What a surprise to ski when you can't see your skis, your feet and half way up your shins with no resistance.  I had never had that experience before and it developed into much fun after a run or two when you realize that all is good and the sun came out to give some contour to the slopes.

These trips are a bit of a stretch to our retirement budget and this one more than usual as we both bought our own boots with custom orthotics in them.  They will definitely pay for themselves over the next couple of years in rental savings and for the health and safety of our feet.  I don't think that skis are in our future since that technology seems to change yearly and renting them alone isn't quite as expensive.  The boot fitter that we went to was a very knowledgeable and patient young man who took his time with us, and even stayed after hours one night to fit my orthotic (I have weird feet with a narrow heel, normal ball, and arch you can drive under.)

Tonight the group gathers for a potluck dinner night to help rid the 5 condos of the week's leftovers, some social time, and instructions for the trip home so that hopefully, we don't lose anyone else and all our luggage arrive home with us.  We will leave here at 8 a.m. mountain time and arrive back in Norfolk at 10:40 p.m. eastern time.  We have reconnected with folks we met on last year's trip, met some new folks this year and had a tiring but fun week.

Skication cont.

I left you with us being less than enthused about our Beaver Creek skication. Things have improved greatly.  Yesterday was beautiful, sunny and most of the slopes except for the experts had been groomed.  We had a good day of skiing, though due to the altitude, we can't quite make it a full day.

Today about half of the group took a bus to Vail, it was snowing heavily and a new accumulation of about 3 inches of dry powder had fallen.  We went straight to the top, 2 miles up and skied anything that had been groomed and wasn't marked with a black diamond.  Ended up at the top at lunch time and ate at 2 miles high.  For the first time since arriving, we skiied with a group of comparable skills and had a great time.

This is day 3 of the trip and is the day that the elevation sickness seems to hit the hardest and though our group is faring well with only a bit of queasiness and headache, a couple of our group members are having a hard time.  We live at 2300 feet, but most of the group is from sea level, so the 8,000 foot elevation is a tough adjustment.

We have 3 more ski days and hope to make the best of it.

Skication

For the past couple of years we have treated ourselves to a skiing vacation with the ski club we belonged to prior to our retirement mountain move.  Last year we came out to Colorado and skiied Snowmass.  This year's trip is also to Colorado to Beaver Creek.  They have had much lower than normal snowfall this year, the base is low and concerned for the season.  The weather system that tormented the country yesterday, gave them what they have been waiting for in the form of a foot of snow, but it is very sticky.  We almost didn't get here.

Our flight from Norfolk left at 7 a.m. meaning a get up time before 4 to meet the group traveling together at the airport shortly after 5 a.m.  It was raining in Norfolk and the flight to Atlanta was bumpy and rough.  We arrived in the air over Atlanta early and were put in a holding pattern for 45 minutes and then allowed to land.  They were experiencing severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings, so there we sat for 4 hours.  Finally, our flight left for Denver, not  bad leg of the journey, until we got to the luggage carosel which did not want to feed our bags up onto the level where we could collect them. Four flights of people mostly going skiing clustered around one broken down carosel trying to get many oversized, overstuffed suitcases.  Finally all 35 of us were collected with no missing bags.  Loaded on the bus and off we head for Beaver Creek.  We weren't even out of the airport when the trip leader realized we were 1 person short, so back to the airport, cell phone calls and 3 other trippers looking for this man, we finally set out again, group in tact.

Just as  the bus got to where the interstate started its climb into the mountains, we drove into the winter storm.  We made it through the pass before they closed it down, the bus slip slid up to the condo units we had rented and we unloaded in a foot of new sticky snow. Total travel time was 18 hours.

 It continued to snow lightly all night and until noon.  My hubby and I ventured out early to the rental shop to get our skiis and back in time to head out with his sister to try this moutain out.  I have never skiied in deep sticky snow before and it did nothing to instill my confidence in my ability.  The first run, we stuck to a green and easy blue slope, venturing to a different blue on the second run.  It took us over an hour to get down that time.  My very confident skier hubby wasn't doing so well.  We went inside for lunch and decided to call our first day at the halfway point.

Our condo was advertised as ski in/ski out, it isn't, the shuttle service from the village to our condo area is slow.  Hopefully the week will improve, right now, I'm not impressed.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZs

When I was in school and when I worked, I was always ready for bed at 9:30 or 10:00 p.m., would fall asleep almost immediately, slept soundly, except when I had a kids in the house and would hear their not usual night sounds.  And I would awaken prior to my alarm clock going off almost without fail.  I have never been a night person, really not a napper either.

This process continued throughout the first year or so of retirement, being ready for bed before the night news and awake at the first hint of light in the morning sky.  Lately, this has changed.  Hubby is a night person, and since his arm break accident in October, has had more difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep, coming to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. instead of midnight or so.  This may be a part of what has disrupted my cycle, but I am finding more and more nights where I sit and knit while he watches TV or go to our bed to read and instead of being ready to fall asleep by 10 o'clock or so, I'm finding my self still awake when he comes to bed and often lying awake until 3 a.m. or later.

Last night was one of those nights.  I sat up finishing a hooded sweater for our 6 year old grandson, so that I could mail it before we leave for our ski trip, kissed my love goodnight and did not get to sleep until after 3.  Of course I awoke as the sun kissed the eastern sky and could not go back to sleep.

I resumed serious early afternoon workouts, walking 4 miles in an hour, stretching and some weight training a few weeks ago, hoping that would return me to my old sleep habits, but it hasn't helped so far.

Here I sit now, near dinner time and I am so sleepy, I could curl up comfortably on our rock hearth and sleep, but I dare not give in to the temptation to nap for a little while, this late in the day, or I will again lie in bed and watch the stars moved across the sky and the minutes on the digital bedside clock click over one at a time.

A Winter's Day

Again I sit at our table with my breakfast, but today there is no warm pool of sun to enjoy.  The wind is fiercely trying to blow yesterday's rain clouds away while they squeeze out a bit more moisture in the form of mountain snow showers. The weather has indeed been fickle this winter so far.  Yesterday was in the 50's and rainy, today it is in the 20's and clearing.
Ski resorts are struggling with no snow, yet the Alaskan town has an emergency with 18 feet of snow.

As I sit watching the flurries, I am also being entertained by a flock of small birds that have found something of interest at the back of the house and keep landing on the deck rail, cocking their heads to check me out on the other side of the glass and returning to whatever caught their attention outside. While living in Virginia Beach, I used to feed the birds and the persisent squirrels who outfoxed my preventative measures, but have not here in the mountains. I guess that is partly because we have outdoor cats to deter the rodent population, and birds on the deck might prove too much temptation. I plant seed producing flowers and leave them for winter forage instead.

I sit here waiting for a 28' tractor trailer truck with the log siding for the basement completion, worrying that with all the rain we have had that a truck that size is going to do significant damage to the driveway we finally got finished correctly last summer. That was another tale, in short, the original contractor for the house didn't know what he was doing and we had a dirt lane, deeply rutted and nearly impassable, that took 3 weeks, much grading, rock removal, changing the pitch, a culvert and lots of gravel to correct.  I love our house, but desperately wish it was complete.  Building a house is one of life's major stessors.

Retirement Perks

The weekend has come and gone and I have little to show for it.  Maybe that is one of the perks of retirement, you don't have to get all of the chores done on the weekend.  We did get two workouts at the gym and I made homemade Thai curry, we had a little snow to enjoy, but no real work.

We soon will be leaving for a week to enjoy a skiing vacation in Colorado, another retirement perk, not having to schedule vacation time around the academic schedule.  The group we will be traveling with are mostly retired.  A surprisingly fun group, the group with which we celebrated the New Year's arrival.  I've never been a good skier, didn't start until I was almost 30, but it is a good time and they don't keep the slopes open 12 hours a day like they do on the east coast, so you can ski for a few hours then come in and fix dinner or get ready to go out for dinner.

The weekend also found me starting two new knitting projects and winding yarn for a third. This is partly because I can't decide what to take with me on our vacation and partly a reaction to having finished all my Christmas knitting, before Christmas, sort of a reaction only another knitter would understand.  When I was still in the work world, I never had more than one project going at a time, so maybe this too is a retirement perk or maybe hazard.

Well, since I slacked this weekend, I guess I should go clean the kitchen, a bathroom, do a load of laundry, or I can sit here and knit, since there is no job calling me tomorrow, perhaps I'll just wait for another day.

LITTLE RED SHAWL

LITTLE RED SHAWL

Dimensions: 56”(142 cm) wide X 28” (71 cm) neck to point

Material:

2 skeins Malabrigo Rios or other worsted Merino wool

US size 8 needle

Tapestry needle

Pattern:

Set  up rows

CO 3 stitches

Knit 3 rows in garter stitch increasing 1 stitch at the beginning of each row (I use knit front and back of second stitch).

Pattern repeat rows:

*K1, YO* to end of row, no increase at start of row

Knit 1 row dropping the YOs from the previous row, increasing 1 stitch at the beginning of the row.

Knit 2 rows in garter stitch increasing 1 stitch at the beginning of each row.

Continue pattern repeat rows until shawl is desired size, ending with a knit row.  Bind off using preferred bind off method.  Weave in loose ends.

This is a quick shawl, generous and warm.
copywrite Fran Stafford 2012

Global warming?

Last eve was balmy, creek flooding rain falling beating on our metal roof.  Calm enough to not stir the windchimes off the back deck.  It had rained all day, sometimes like gentle spring rain, at other times torrential downpours.  The region needs the rain, so I can't grouse about it too much, though it reminds me of the winters past on the east coast, 40F, rainy and raw.  Not the spring showers that are pleasant to walk in.

This morning brought a new spectrum.  It was 20F when I arose, only expected to make it to the mid 20's today.  As often happens in this mountain hollow, the wind is blowing like it wants to remove our house from its path, a steady 25 mph with gusts reaching 45 mph.  The other morning surprise is a dusting of snow and light snow trying to fall.  The air is a swirling mass of white, mostly looking like it is blowing horizontally to the next mountain. I'm hoping more will find its way to the ground.

Growing up in eastern Virginia, before moving westward to the mountains, I always heard the saying, "if you don't like the weather today, stick around for 24 hours, it will change."  That seems to be true of this winter in the mountains too.

Wednesday Night Comraderie

     Wednesday night is Ladies Night Out, though we have a couple of husbands that come along and hang out on the fringes, accepting a bit of joshing from the group, giving some back, and always willing to accept goodies when we celebrate a birthday.  The size and composition of the group varies from week to week, but the purpose is the same, to socialize, knit together as we are all knitters, have show and tell, share patterns, yarn, needles and ideas.
     In some circles, these groups are called Stitch and Bitch, or Knit Night.  We have fondly nicknamed ourselves Clicks and Sticks.
     Our venue welcomes us, they have a huge table we take over each week, eating, drinking tea or coffee or an occassional beer or wine and sharing our week.  This group at times is silly, at times a support group, always friends.  When a friend from our group moves on due to job change, we celebrate our friendship with a party usually involving more food, yarn goodies and a new address book that we all fill with our addresses, emails or other means of contact, so that we can stay in touch.
     A few times of the year, we move to someone's home and celebrate our friendship with a potluck.  Always we bring our knitting and/or spinning and continue to enjoy the Wednesday Night comraderie, even if it is on a Saturday.
    I cherish this group, they were my first friends when I moved to the mountains and I hope they continue to be called my friends for years to come.

Winter's confusion

Calm between the storms
A sunshiny winter day
Where is winter snow?


With rain and wind yesterday and the same expected tomorrow, I am reminded of my winters in Virginia Beach, not the mountains. Today is bright and mild, perhaps a walk outdoors is in order.

Sunday Morning Musings

   The sun is golden, the sky azure, the air cold and still, a haze softening the mountains I see from my seat.  Like a cat, I found the pool of warm light near the dining room doors to the deck. The house is silent except for the electronic hum of the appliances. Here I sit with my coffee and oatmeal, being thankful for my health and the trappings of nearly 40 years of work.
    For almost 34 years now, I have been married to my husband, my best friend.  Together we have raised 3 children, a handful of pets, lost 3 of our parents,  owned several houses and now make our home in a log house of our design, it embracing many thousands of hours of loving labor by our eldest son and his partner.  Our life together has been good, no great.  We have had our share of medical scares, some serious, some inconvenient, but we are fortunate to be active and healthy for our ages. And fortunate to have loving children with their own mates and children, for us as grandparents to love, spoil, and cherish.
     As we are rural and sit amidst many acres of pastureland surrounded by trees, we often see deer, turkey, songbirds and hawks, hear the neighbor's cattle and the coyotes.  Occassionally we see the coyotes,  a snake, a ground hog, and once a black bear. It is truly beautiful and peaceful here. At night without the light pollution of the cities, the sky is glittering with diamonds of light.  Last night with the moon so full, the house and nearby cedars were casting shadows, and a bold deer grazed within feet of the back deck.
    We are not isolated, however, with a major university town only 15 miles away with restaurants, shopping, entertainment, libraries and parks.  We have the best of both worlds.
    Now that I've counted my blessings, I will ponder how to spend the rest of this glorious winter day for tomorrow brings rain, snow, and wind.

SNOWY DAY MITTENS

SNOWY DAY MITTENS for making or wearing on such days.

This is a quick knit in spite of the colorwork.

Size woman's 8" circumference, 10.5" length

Materials

1 skein Black Aran weight wool

12 yards Off white worsted or Aran weight wool

12 yards Gray worsted or Aran weight wool

8 yards Red wine worsted or Aran weight wool

Size US 7 circ or DPNs or size to get gauge

Stitch marker

Tapestry needle

Yarn bobbins (optional), if using yarn bobbins, wind white, gray, and red yarns on bobbins.

Gauge is 10 st X 14 rows = 2 inches in St st

Make 2

• With black yarn, cast on 40 stitches using a stretchy cast on such as long tail.  Place marker and join in the round being careful not to twist stitches.

• Knit 4 rows of 1 X 1 rib

• Rows 1-3: Join white and begin pattern; *Knit 3 white, 1 black* repeat to end of round.

Drop white and cut yarn leaving enough tail to weave in later.

• Rows 4-6: Join gray and work pattern;
•  K 1 gray, *K1 black, 3 gray* repeat to last three stitches in round, K1 black, K2 gray

Drop gray and cut yarn.

• Rows 7-9: Join red and work pattern for 3 rows;*K3 red, K1 black* repeat to end of round.

Drop red, cut yarn.

• Rows 10-12: Join gray and repeat rows 4-6. Drop gray and cut yarn.

• Rows 13-15: Join white and repeat rows 1-3. Drop white and cut yarn.

Remainder of mitt will be knit in black.

Work in stockinette for 2".

Place first 7 stitches onto scrap yarn or flexible stitch hoder for thumb. CO7 stitches and knit to end of round.

Continue to work in stockinette for 5.5".

To shape the top of the mitt, follow the next two rows 3 times.

*K2tog* repeat to end of round

Knit.

Cut yarn leaving a tail. Thread through the remaining stitches, pull tight, secure and weave in end on wrong side.

• Make thumb: 
• Place stitches from yarn onto needle, pick up 9 stitches on sides and top of opening for a total of 16 stitches. Knit stockinette for 2".

Next round, K2tog around, cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches, draw tight, secure and weave in end on wrong side.

• Weave in ends from cuff.
• Colorwork hint: while working cuff, twist the two working colors every two stitches.

Copywrite 2012 Fran Stafford

Winter Willies Haiku

This week has run the gamut weatherwise as the mountain weather is apt to do.

The fickle weather
From snowy teens to spring temps
In forty eight hours.

These 17 syllables say it all.

RUBY HAT

The Ruby Hat is an easy hat, knit in the round and a good way to sample several stitch patterns. It fits a 22" head.

Material required:
1 skein worsted or heavy worsted
size US 8 circ or DPNs
tapestry needle
SECTION 1
Cast on 80 stitches using a stretchy cast on such as long tail, place marker and join in the round.
Row 1 Knit
Row 2 Purl
Repeat these 2 rows 4 more times

SECTION 2
Row 11-16:  1 X 1 rib

SECTION 3
Row 17: *K2tog, YO* repeat to end of row
Row 18: Knit
Row 19: *K2tog, YO* repeat to end of row
Row 20: Knit

SECTION 4
Row 21: Purl
Row 22: Knit
Repeat these two rows 3 more times ending on a knit row

SECTION 5
Knit 8 rows

Decrease for crown:
Row 1: *Knit 8, K2tog* to end of round,
Row 2: Knit round (repeat for all even numbered rows)
Row 3: *Knit 7, K2tog* to end of round
Row 5: *Knit 6, K2tog* to end of round
Row 7: *Knit 5, K2tog* to end of round
Row 9: *Knit 4, K2tog* to end of round
Row 10: K2tog to end of round
Row 11: Repeat row 10
Cut yarn about 8" long and thread through remaining stitches and draw up tight. Secure and weave in loose ends.

Copywrite 2012 Fran Stafford

The Beauty and Desolation of Winter

Winter with it's skeletonized trees provides glimpses into the woods not seen at other seasons, especially when there is a carpet of snow.   Allowing the voyeuristic peeks at deer and turkey browsing within the fringes of the woodlot.

It provides a respite from the weekly mowing and weeding, but lacks the color and depth of texture offered by the other seasons.


Sitting by a woodfire with a cup of tea or glass of wine, good book or knitting in hand is a pleasure only offered by the winter chill beyond the glass.


An occassional walk in the snow or ski trip, bundled up against the cold is invigorating and spurs the sedentary body to activity.

 Though I love these aspects of winter, it is my least favorite season.  It always begins with a winding down of the holidays with family and friends, with deconstructing the seasonal decorations and putting them away for another year.  And the dark brought on by the short days and long nights, the days of cloud cover that seem to far outnumber the days of sunshine is unmotivating and drab.

As it is going to be this way for the next 3 or 4 months, at least let it snow, real snow, not the dustings we have had so far.

Home Again, Finally

This evening, we had our first measurable snowfall, just as the temperatures plummeted from 31f to 19f.  When this occurred, we were about 35 miles from home on our return from our nearly a week of family and friends visitation and we were in 2 cars, as part of our visiting was to go from Virginia Beach, to Vienna, VA on our way home to pick up my car that we loaned to our son's family for the holidays.  About 10 minutes into the storm, chaos began on I-81, with a pickup truck accident and fire, then a multivehicle accident a few hundred yards farther along and dozens of tractor trailers that couldn't climb the icy snow coated road, so traffic slowed to a literal 3 mph, then stopped.  My car was critically low on fuel as we approached this mess with intentions to stop and get fuel just where the first accident occurred.  As we inched along, the fuel gauge needle continued to creep farther and farther into the red.  Just as I feared that I was going to run out of gas, causing further havoc on the interstate, the trucks who couldn't get up the hill were spreading out allowing the cars to slowly weave through them and get off the exits.  My Honda has a 14 gallon tank, it took 13.6 gals at the pump. Sigh of relief.  We only saw one more accident after leaving the interstate, but those 35 miles took us 2 hours to complete.  Oh, and to add insult to this situation, the check engine light came on shortly after fueling and I just spent an arm and leg having the 120,000 mile servicing done.  That is just going to have to wait for another day.

The New Year

This has been a whirlwind few days of family and friends.  Off to Virginia Beach, we finally celebrated Christmas with our youngest and his family with two wonderful dinners prepared by them, gift exchange, and enjoying their children experience "Christmas" morning (they postponed their celebration until Thursday eve and Friday morning as our son worked Christmas eve and day).  That is the joy of Christmas to grandparents.

It was joyful to visit with my 88 year old, still very active Dad and my stepmom.  It cheers me that he is still active enough to deliver meals on wheels to shut-ins half his age, to prepare all of their meals, care for his gardens and yard.  I hope to remain as healthy and active as he when I am his age.

New Years Eve took us to Jim's sisters house then together we  celebrated with our ski club friends at one of their homes, music, dancing, food and fun.  It has been way too many years since we partied, usually we stay  home alone and watch the Times Square ball drop.  What a fun time we had, even though I chose to be the designated driver and only had one glass of wine all night.

Our holiday week is winding down with a quick trip to northern Virginia for one night with our eldest and his family before heading back home to the mountains for a predicted blast of arctic weather cold and snow.

Though Christmas Day was spent alone this year with phone calls to kids, friends and family, we have certainly had plenty of time with family and friends to make up for it.  My wish to you and yours is a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.