Walking the Dog

I've learned that there isn't anything better than going for a nice walk with Winston. Lots of folks, and I'll admit that I have been in this group too from time to time, think of walking the dog as this chore that has to be done. When it is -20 degrees or when there is horizontal rain and wind that can be easy to understand. But those days are rare, even at this northern latitude, and most of the time I find that a nice walk is one of the best things going. I have thought on many occasions that Winston is saving my life. I don't have any terminal illness, or even chronic condition, but Winston helps to keep me grounded and prevents me from getting lost in my own head. He depends on me and reminds me of the greater world.

I have a tendency at this time of year to fall into a slump, it feels more like a pit, and it can take an awful lot of effort on my part to crawl back out of it. I guess it is part of the change from being so busy and interacting with so many people on a daily basis to having a much shorter "to do" list and seeing only a handful of folks. All of a sudden I find that I have a lot of time on my hands where most of the people I know and love are at work and it is easy to walk right into that pit. Winston keeps me from falling too far and he helps me to get out quicker. He looks at me with those big, brown eyes and says, "Come on mom, let's go for a walk". Getting outside, out of my pj's, out of my house, out of the dialogue in my head saves me everyday. If I didn't have Winston I wouldn't have to go - or more correctly - I would have to go but I would be able to rationalize that it was not required.

So, although Winston needs me, I need him too. I've had people (people who don't have dogs) say that they can't believe that I walk him everyday. And to be honest, I don't walk him everyday; he goes to daycare two days a week, so I'm only walking him 4-5 days a week. Unless I want to go on a daycare day; Winston is always up for a walk with mom. But, what these folks don't get is I don't know what I would be like if I didn't walk him those 4-5 days a week. That's how he saves my life a little bit everyday. That, and walking with Winston helped me quit smoking.

There isn't anything better than going for a nice walk with Winston.

Happy Birthday Sandy!

Happy Birthday Sandy! It's hard to believe that you've managed to pack so much life and love into such a short time on the planet! Today in particular we celebrate you and are thankful that you are a part of our lives. I wanted to look and see all the things we've been able to do together...


We have walked important paths of history...
We've communed with nature... Big birds...
And small birds...
And bears - oh my!!
We've bought yarn. Lots, and lots, and lots of yarn! ;0)
We've segwayed around the greater Anchorage area...so sexy in those helmets! Can you sing with me, "I like Ike, I like Ike..."??
We've cuddled with glaciers, so cold and hard, must be like cuddling with a Cullen!
We've rocked out to Rush! And Pink Martini - I just don't have a photo of that one!
You've let me Kinnear you from across the room. Wait - did you let me if you were Kinneared? Probably not, but I got away with it anyhow!
We've enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on the deck of your houseboat!
And to think - the thing that made all of this possible is our shared affection for these two! Who woulda thunk it?! Thanks for so many wonderful memories and fun times! I hope that on your special day you get everything that your heart desires! I look forward to many more memories with you!

We love you! - Dave, Mags, & Winston

SUMMERTIME!

Okay, I've been totally remiss on regularly posting to my blog! My apologies! I could come up with a list of excuses, but what it basically boils down to is there are a limited number of hours in a day and other things win out for my attention. Here is some fun stuff I've been up to that has happened since my last post on March 31st (eeegads!):

The boys turned 7!



My wonderful, talented friend Nicole came to Anchorage where she did some of her amazing performance poetry for "The State of the Hood" poetry event celebrating Alaska's 50th birthday.



Julie Bean wore her new socks to school!

Winston turned 5, Dave turned 37, and Dave & I celebrated 9 years of wedded bliss!
This is us at Kincaid Park on our anniversary. We got married at Kincaid and so every year for our anniversary we go there and take a picture. Since it is generally just the two of us, sometimes Winston is with us, they are generally self-portraits like this. We haven't figured out how to get Winston to take the picture without drooling on the camera! ;0)

Jennie had her baby boy, Jared! (Jennie I can't believe I'm posting this before you...oh wait - I can - you have a new infant and I don't!)


Look at Ana - proud big sister!

Winston started getting acupuncture treatments for his allergies - these seem to be helping him. He generally doesn't mind the needles and he really likes his acupuncturist Dr. Palmatier.



Winston - Yes, there is a needle in the top of my head, and one behind each of my ears, and a bunch down my back!

All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone. I love my iPhone! I never knew that I could have such a strong attachment for a phone! In addition to my love, Winston freaks out at the sight of a camera, which is not a good idea when he's getting acupuncture, but with the camera on the phone he doesn't realize that I'm taking his picture (no flash).

I worked on some finishing of knitting and a lot of tie-dye for little people. Not as much knitting to show as there should be but there you go.


This is the finished Baby Surprise Jacket #1. It has sewn seams on the shoulders and the buttons have been put in. It is for Bump Barry. There are plans to make a BSJ #2 also for Bump Barry before Bump Barry arrives. I'm going to alternate the color combos - so where there is lavendar and toffee in this one there will be celery and terra cotta in #2 and so on. It was a very addictive knit, perhaps because it was so easy!


I also did some tie-dye for Bump Barry in the form of 4 onesies.
This is the front of my favorite one - it turned out so bold and colorful!
The back of the same onesie. Pretty cool! I'm fairly new to the world of tie-dye, but I have to admit that I think I'm getting better at it, these certainly turned out better than some of my earlier attempts. Some of these turned out better than others though.
This one I'm particularly proud of because it worked with what I was trying to do with the color. I need to learn more on how better to control what I want the color to do, but at the same time I love that with tie-dye anything can happen and you have to be open to all possibilities.
This one was my attempt at a homage to Notre Dame. Both Julie Bean and Ben attended Notre Dame and so I was trying to get some blue and gold for Bump Barry. Here the color didn't work as well for me, the dye didn't saturate quite as well as I wanted it to and that was largely due to me trying to keep the blue and gold from blending too much into green. It is still pretty cool though.
This one is a bit of a homage to SWS - where JB and I worked together and became friends. It again had the issue of the color not saturating all the way through. But, it's still pretty sweet.

I also did some tie-dyeing for my cousin Ben's babies. My cousin Ben and I share a deep love for Elvis. When I went to Ireland 3 years ago I gave him my 24-hour Church of Elvis t-shirt, a shirt that I had worn and loved for ten years (it was laundered and Ben understands what that kind of giving means - he still has not managed to get from me my first Run for Women tee and he's not going to!). Ben and his lovely partner Kiri have two children: Amber and Caleb. Ben also has a son Dubletach from a previous relationship, he's now fourteen. When Caleb was born this past October I was told my sources that will remain unnamed that his second name was Elvis. So, I set about trying to convince the woman who runs the 24-hour Church of Elvis to make some wee shirts for me. She gladly did and I got three made. One I left white, but I tie-dyed the other two:

This is the first one. With these I decided to do one in warm colors and the other in cool colors. I show both the front and the back on this one because with this particularl folding pattern the front and back turn out quite different.
Here's the cool colors one. I think they both turned out really well. I hope the wee people like them!

Finally, we had a surprise baby shower for Julie Bean, Ben, and Bump Barry!

She seemed really surprised and happy. It was a lot of fun! Ben was there too, but we didn't get a picture with him before the battery in the camera died. Sorry Ben!

I have now surpassed my own record in longest post ever! That's what happens when I go so long between posts! But, it's not that life wasn't continuing, it certainly was. I'll have more about knitting soon - I currently have four projects in the works that I need to get pictures of and get posting.