Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Wedding!

Well, I've never seen guys so excited to be at a wedding! My older son, the groom, is in the middle, surrounded by his closest friends, the groom's men, of which the one on the far left is my younger son. All great guys!











What an incredible moment, watching our son take his first dance as a husband. A very dear friend took this photo from behind us....thank you, Pat!

The wedding was almost as emotional as the day Rob was born! I had a lot more fun at the wedding, though!



And this is another photo from Pat. It's the bouquet I carried down the aisle along with our place card for the reception. One week later I'm still on a great high from this event!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Ta-Da!


Scallopini is done! Part of me thought I was nuts to attempt to complete a sweater while getting ready for my son's wedding, and part of me thought it might just be the thing to save my sanity while getting ready for the wedding! As it turns out, neither was quite right! I have not even been close to losing my sanity, and there's been plenty of time to enjoy making this cute cardigan! Thank you MinnowKnits!


I've tidied up the gardens this weekend after being in Maine for a couple of weeks. This activity was not just for my own enjoyment, although I've enjoyed sitting outside two nights this weekend watching the gardens fade at dusk and glow in the light of candles after dark, but also in preparation for the UN-rehearsal dinner we will hold on Thursday evening. The resort where the wedding will take place does not allow time/space for rehearsals, yet we still wanted to have a gathering of everyone involved in the wedding party. So 30 people will be here to kick off the wedding celebrations! After an 18 month engagement, it's really hard for me to believe that the wedding takes place this week! I have butterflies!...not from worries, just from sheer excitement!

I will give this little sweater to my niece at the UN-rehearsal dinner, along with her strand of pearls, her gift for being the flower girl. One Sunday afternoon a few weeks back the bride and I made pearl necklaces and earrings for all the females in the wedding party. This is Madison's.

Let the fun begin!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Summer Vacation

When I left for this year's vacation I had visions of writing blog entries, even without photos, to share all the experiences right as they occurred. Didn't happen! My time on the computer was terribly limited, and even though the ever present urge was there, I did realize it was better to enjoy the great outdoors!

For over a decade now our summer vacation has been sailing in Maine. We've spent most of that time in the Penobscot Bay area. This year we started a bit west of that, in Booth Bay. We'll be back in early September for two more weeks of sailing, and we may take time then to better explore Casco Bay.

This year's trip was the coldest we've experienced, and it rained every day except two! And when I say rain I mean torrents some of the time. It's not easy being on boat in the rain. No matter how big the boat is (and while ours is not huge it has grown somewhat over the past 30 years) rain makes everything feel damp....clothing, bedclothes, the upholstered settees in the main cabin....all damp...and cold!

I brought three knitting projects, some beautifully dyed mohair top for spindling, and my smallest copper pipe loom set up with a four-selvedge warp for trying a little Pre-Columbian historical study. I did not weave at all. We spent long days sailing, and I can only weave at anchor. I did spend a lot of time knitting, so I was able to complete the cute Minnowknits Scallopini sweater for my niece. Photos to follow soon, I hope! I spent maybe 20 minutes, total, spinning. Still, I could not have gone sailing without the potential for working on these projects. I left the pipe loom and weaving yarns on the boat for when we return in September. Surely, I'll be more successful then....

Almost every morning I drew for a while, and I did a lot of thinking about weaving and thinking about a design for a Hudson River tapestry to commemorate the quadricentennial.

The highlight of the trip was stumbling on an acquaintance from New Jersey who brings his wife's horses and a carriage even (!) to Mt. Desert each year. He invited us to go for a carriage ride! The carriage is a beautiful piece of workmanship, hand made by Amish craftsmen in Pennnsylvania. It looked like a carriage straight out of Jane Austen, and I need to find the appropriate name for this kind of vehicle. It was a beautiful day (no rain!), and we drove through the the Rockefeller carriage trails to Long Lake where we stopped for lunch near a scenic view with a boat house. I still can't believe it really happened.
(Well, checking Wikipedia leads me to call this a Phaeton, although Jane Austen speaks of curricles and gigs as her choice of sleek, light carriages with two wheels pulled by two horses. I need to do more checking.)


To get to Maine, my husband did a Category 2 Ocean race called the Lobster Run with a crew of seven. He spent about eight months getting our boat ready for this kind of race, and he was happily repaid with a wonderful second place trophy! Our older son was one of the crew.

Now that we're back home, we have a little over one week to get ready for that same son's wedding. I'm in a constant state of happy excitement now! For over a year now the wedding has been something that has required planning, discussion, dreaming, but actually it didn't feel REAL.....now it's about to be a reality!