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soccer knitting

knitting boheme baby sweater at soccer practice

The first few weeks of September always make me a little blue. Even though it’s technically still summer for a few more days, my Fall allergies have been in high gear for awhile. It’s frustrating because this is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp mornings and cool evenings. I don’t love being a snifflely, sneezey zombie.

It takes a few weeks before I snap out of it. The first frost won’t be here until next month and there are far too many things to enjoy outside. Ragweed doesn’t care if I’m sitting at my daughter’s soccer practice or running up to the grocery store for milk. I can’t escape it. Once I accept it, my mood improves.

Last weekend the weather was beautiful. The air was cool, but the sun was warm. The sky was bright blue and cloudless. I brought a chair and my knitting and soaked in the beauty of Mother Nature. It was definitely worth it.

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homemade pickles

My daughter loves pickles.

I can remember the first time she tried them as clear as if it was yesterday. We were eating take out on the deck—sandwiches and french fries. My daughter asked for a french fry. I asked her if she wanted to try a pickle instead. I thought she would be surprised by the tart vinegary contrast to what she was expecting. Instead, she surprised me by devouring it and my husband’s, as well.

She’s been a pickle girl ever since. Whenever we are out, it’s kind of an unsaid thing that everyone immediately puts their pickle on her plate. Sometimes she’ll ask the server if she can have a side of pickles as an appetizer. Surprisingly, this hasn’t caught anyone off guard.

pickles

A few weeks ago our CSA offered us a choice of two large or five pickling cucumbers. My daughter was stunned. “We can make pickles?!” I remembered a refrigerator pickle recipe in one of the CSA newsletters so I said, “Sure!”

Making pickles is super easy. One of our cucumbers didn’t make it out of the crisper alive, but I managed to fit the other four into a single jar. I chose this recipe from Kate Payne’s website. The hardest part has been the waiting. Just a few more days and we’ll be able to crack open the jar. I’ll let you know what our pickle girl thinks.

After spending a little time on Payne’s website, I checked her book out of the library and I’m really enjoying it. I’ll post a review when I’m finished.

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september skies

Every year I try to write down some thoughts about September 11th. These entries used to go on my personal blog, but since I’ve merged that one back into my creative blog, my thoughts will go here. If you visit my space for crafty inspiration and don’t feel comfortable reading about this topic, check out some pretty pictures here. My next post will be about pickles, so there’s that.

Beautiful, bright, blue September skies. You know what I’m talking about. You can see them in your head. I don’t need to post a picture of them. These skies make me feel good inside. Joyful. Hopeful. In awe of Mother Nature and Science and God all wrapped up together.

They also make me think of terrorist attacks. I really hate that.

I suppose there’s some excuse that can be made for September skies. We should look for beauty and love even in the midst of sadness and horror. They lift up our hearts when we’re feeling our lowest. Maybe they’re supposed to give us peace when we need it most. I don’t know. All I know is that they make me remember.

Never Forget.

It’s the most overused tagline of the last decade. I find it demanding and bossy. How dare you tell me with your poorly photoshopped bald eagle, American flag and Twin Towers graphic to never forget. Who do you think you are?

I know you have good intentions. You don’t want me to forget the innocent lives lost on that day, the heroes who did so much good that day, the men and women who fight and die for our freedom every day. I get that, but here’s the thing: forgetting isn’t something you have to worry about. I couldn’t even if I tried.

Actually, I was going to try and forget today. I was going to skip this blog post. I was going to avoid television and radio and newspapers and social media, but as soon as I walked outside: BAM. There was that sky.

When I dropped my daughter off at school, she asked why the flag wasn’t all the way up. I looked at her and felt such envy. I know that she will learn about that day and will eventually see videos and images that will break her heart. But she will have one thing that isn’t clouded by the memories of September 11th.

She will always be able to look up at a beautiful, bright, blue September sky and feel good inside with joy and hope and awe for Mother Nature and Science and God all wrapped up together — untainted and pure.

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a birth day book for the birthday girl

A few weeks before my daughter’s birthday she put three stacks of 8 1/2 x 11 paper — stapled journal style — on my desk. Two were 24 pages and one was 10 pages. “Mom, these are books for you to make for my birthday.” It wasn’t really a request, and it was too sweet to be a demand, but the message was clear. I tried hard to come up with something meaningful, but lets face it, there were a lot of pages to fill!

birthday book

The day before her birthday she started asking all sorts of questions about the day she was born. When did I start labor? How long was I at the hospital? What exact time was she born? All those questions gave me an idea.

I wrote down the story of her birth when she was four weeks old. At one point I was planning to post it to the blog, which was the “mommy blog” trend at the time. However, it seemed too personal to share for some reason. Yes, I know that must sound odd from someone who has been sharing her life online since 2003.

birthday book

The book turned out to be much smaller than she had requested — eight 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 pages. She was surprised when she saw it. I had hoped that she would read it immediately and we’d have a special mother/daughter bonding moment, but that was not the case. You see, we also gave her the game Brave. She was infinitely more interested in Merida and her mother than our story. Also, I think she was disappointed that my book had no pictures.

Oh, well. I’m sure she’ll read it eventually. In the meantime, I’ve still got those blank pages on my desk. Now that the pressure is off, maybe I’ll come up with a way to fill them. After I help Merida up and over the waterfall, of course. Seems I’m the only one in the house who can get her to do a triple jump.