My granddaughter is among the Ballard High School Cheerleaders going to Vancouver Washington to participate in the State Championships. I don’t know who was more excited, the cheerleaders themselves or the assembled parents and grandparent (me) to wave them goodby. Many of the parents are going down to Vancouver today to continue their cheers. Great fun. Wish them luck!
It has just dawned on me that with the Winter Solstice 2017 and Christmas 2017 behind us, it is almost time for tennis and the first of the Grand Slams, the Australian Open 2018. And what do I see in the sports pages of the newspaper? – football, football, football. Well the Seahawks Might make it to the Playoffs – let’s hope so! There is excitement yet.
Lawn bowling
My husband spotted this photo in the New York Times yesterday. Two elderly gentlemen having a friendly game of lawn bowls near Wigan in England. The article was about the recent vote for Brexit.
Malahide Cricket Club Dublin Ireland Game came to a natural conclusion? Or did it begin to rain? Or did it become too dark?
Patrick Comerford has the answer – he posted this beautiful picture on Facebook.
Thrilling finish down Boylston Street. Wasn’t that a beautiful run. I viewed it on my computer and was almost jumping out of my seat and cheering as she ran the final yards. I had tuned in just at the point when she was appearing in the background far to the left of the 2 leading women. She just kept closing and finally overtaking them and powering on to the finish. An elegant run.
This is the first day of school here in Seattle so just for fun I have found a picture of my first day of school back in 1941.
first day of school, 1941 – that’s me age 4 1/2 all set for my first day of kindergarten at Payson Park School, just down the hill in Belmont Massachusetts. My teacher was Miss Fitten. The other kindergarten teacher was Miss Hurd. I was the fourth of the Miller children to attend. And Miss Hurd was the principal. All the teachers were Miss. The grades went K-6 and 2 classes in each grade. The school closed sometime in the 1970’s and subsequently burned to the ground.
Now I will fast forward, and since it is supposed to be autumn, and that meant field hockey season, I will show a picture from my Belmont High School yearbook, 1954. How I happen to have that yearbook is another story which I don’t think I have related yet on the blog. That tale will wait for another time.
I was very keen on field hockey and am still in touch with some of the teammates pictured above. Anne Freeman Mayo, now living in Wethersfield Connecticut near our son David; Sandy Coit Steven, living in the far north of British Columbia in Vanderhoof; Susan Bliss Alden living in Burlington Vermont.
Ashley’s grandma (me) tried to teach Ashley to knit on a Knitting Nancy or a Knitting Spool – I should have practiced first! Didn’t do very well but I have found several sites showing the process and plan to follow up on this to our mutual satisfaction. Problem is Ashley is 6000 miles away. Sad sad. Never mind, we’ll work it out.
Trying to do French knitting (another term for the Knitting Nancy) was only 1 of my knitting activities while I was away. I also worked a little bit on the pink baby thing and on the yellow tank top.
my 2 projects – still a bit to knit on the back of the yellow tank top, and a lot to knit on the pink baby thing
No progress to report on the Eccentric Blanket.
The rest of my knitting time consisted of visiting yarn stores and buying knitting and weaving books. I’ll put in a plug here for Woolcott in Harvard Square in Cambridge (Massachusetts), Village Wool in Glastonbury Connecticut, and of course the famous Weaving Works in Seattle. Now you know where I’ve been. Add the Von Huene Workshop (The Early Music Shop of New England) in Boston where I met a cyclist proudly wearing the bright red Paris-Brest-Paris T-shirt – she did the 1200 K challenge on a fixed gear bicycle which made it even more of a challenge compared with the fancier titanium bicycles costing thousands of dollars. For those of you interested in reading more about the PBP you can read Emily’s blog at this link.
And the list of bookshops visited would also add to the count – I added Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Without Tears to my collection plus a couple of weaving books. Also Priscilla A. Gibson-Robert’s Knitting in the Old Way and Meg Swansen’s Handknitting. My case got very heavy.
Here is my project as of the start of Day 5. I keep going round and round and round – looking out our window at the rain and enjoying watching the riders pedaling through Belgium and into France. Each day has been so exciting with dramatic finishes. And I finished reading my Patrick O’Brian book (The Letter of Marque) so I am now in the middle of the second Lance Armstrong book Every Second Counts. It was published in 2003 by the Yellow Jersey Press. Some of the riders mentioned in the book are prominent riders in this year’s Tour. I am gradually learning more and more about the rigours of being a Tour rider. Great stuff.
It’s all coming together. The sleeves are joined to the body of the sweater and I have knit about one inch of the yoke. I’m dithering between doing raglan decreases and keeping it a plain sweater or doing a continuous yoke with a pattern. I have to go to the Bray Wool Shop tomorrow to see about possible colours for a pattern.
Today was the day to get my clarinet fixed – disaster happened last Saturday just when I was getting ready to practice. The long weekend loomed ahead. I had visions of the problem being unrepairable and being without a clarinet for a while. No such thing – the man in the shop repaired it in about 30 seconds. The only time it took was for him to go downstairs to get a screwdriver.
Reading report: H. V. Morton’s In Search of London, published in 1951. A wonderful way to read history. Am psyching myself up to go over to London very soon. This is a new edition of the book. Published in the States in 2002. I spotted it while browsing in Barnes & Noble in Glastonbury.
It’s non-stop World Cricket Cup in this household. Wonderful excitement that the Irish team is doing so well. An Post has said anyone can send greetings to the team for free. Will send them a good luck card. The messages will be flown out to the Caribbean on Friday morning and delivered to the team hotel by special courier.
News of our cat Slinky Malinki – she has now been released from her 30 days incarceration. She is cautiously exploring the garden for about 30 seconds several times a day. She has got quite used to her creature comforts inside, particularly Ian’s favourite chair, and doesn’t seem to be in any great hurry to spend time outside – I don’t blame her – it is very cold here this week.
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Janet's thread 
