Sisters

This post has been a long time in coming. I apologize for making you wait. I'm sure everyone is anxious to find out about how my meeting my sister for the very first time went. Let me start from the beginning. After two delays and re-routes because of the floods in the Midwest, my sister "D" and her husband "E" arrived here safely by train from Oregon on the evening of Sunday, July 3rd. The train was right on time, in fact it was a few minutes early. You can't even imagine how excited and nervous I was on that day. We has spent the day at my sister-in-law's in the western part of Massachusetts for a family get-together.. The whole day I anticipated the big arrival. It was hard to stay in the moment, as I was constantly thinking about the impending arrival. We headed back just in time to meet the train. We were only there a short time when the train pulled into the station. I saw "E" get off the train first and my sister followed. I knew it was them immediately as they approached me and I started walking  running toward them. "E" had on his comfortable farmer overalls and "D" sported her hand beaded cap, beaded denim jacket and handmade beaded and tooled leather bag with her knitting inside. We hugged and greeted each other, introduced them to my husband and two sons. A little awkward at first, but what happened next helped to break the ice. The luggage....oh, my the luggage. Remember how I told you we spent the day at my SIL's, well we had to bring chairs to the event. I remember distinctly telling my husband that they would have luggage although they did tell me beforehand that they were traveling light. Well, to make a long story short...they had 3 large suitcases, a lap top and a cooler on wheels. We had 4 canvas and 2 old fashioned wooden folding chairs, plus a mid sized cooler in the back of our minivan. Keep in mind my two boys are both way over 6 feet tall. I wish I had my camera....after several tries and fails we eventually were able to get all the doors and back hatch finally closed. I still look back with amazement that we were able to get everything and everyone inside the car. Those boys were so good. Not one complaint. They were squished in the way back with no room for their legs, feet a top baggage. Luckily it wasn't a real long ride home, only about 25 minute. Once we got home, we got them settled. "E" emptied the cooler and presented me with some of his homemade sausages, which he brought all the way from Oregon in their cooler. He brought elk knockwurst, elk kielbasa, venison summer sausage, plus three different flavors of homemade jerky. Then there are the bowls. "E"  brought the bowls that he made from Myrtle wood. Beautiful smooth wooden bowls.Wish you could feel just how smooth they are.
 

This one is the "acorn" bowl. He didn't plan on it, but the top fits perfectly and looks just like an acorn. This one is my favorite.





I have to share some of these with my other sister "K". We forgot to bring them when we met up with her. Looks like we'll have to have another meeting so she can get her bowls. I'm holding them hostage so it won't be another eight years before we see each other again!!

Day 2: We had a nice dinner and then we went back in the car to take a car trip up north to visit my eldest son and his wife. We had a nice ride and "D" and "E" could see some of New England. We had a nice visit. "D" and I knit and talked the whole time in the car. We talked and talked. I don't think I talked that much in a long time. Probably not since my dear mother passed away eleven years ago. The two of us could talk back then. Having "D" here was almost like having my Mom back again. She is old enough to be my mother as her two oldest boys are older than me. With all of the excitement of having them here I really wasn't sleeping well and I ended up with a massive migraine in the middle of the night. I had a really bad reaction to the migraine medicine that I have been taking for years...so bad that I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. Imagine, having two people that I didn't really know that well sleeping soundly on the hide-a-bed in my living room and slipping out quietly in the middle of the night to go to the hospital! Well, I was there for 12 hours, while they ran all kinds of tests. I had been having some health issues previously and part of my symptoms was due somewhat to that. Overall, everything was checked out and I was released. Thankfully nothing serious was wrong. As you can see Day 3 ended up being a really big bust. They entertained themselves, took walks. "D" knit and I think they just relaxed. I manage to get back home just in time for supper.

Day 4: We visited my Dad. Went out to lunch. We had delicious crab rolls. Then went to the grocery store. I bought swordfish for dinner which was absolutely delicious. We don't have it very often so that was a treat. They had never had it before and they enjoyed it. They stocked up on items to fill their cooler with non perishable food items to take back on the train with them. Buying food on the train is very expensive. This saved them a lot of money bringing as much as they can.They also really enjoyed my grocery store. We have a lot things they don't have in Oregon, so it was rather entertaining for them. They were the best guests...very easy to please :)

Day 5: We met my other sister "K" at the Nautilus sub museum in Groton, CT. It was a half way point for both of us. We had lunch and talked....not much in the way of checking out the museum, but there were plenty of places inside in the AC that we could sit and talk and "E" could wander about while us girls were doing all the talking. It was fitting as our Dad, was retired USN. He never was on a sub, but spent many years on other Navy ships. On the way home we stopped in Mystic CT to take a few photos.


A historic site was our next stop, the first public library in America. Benjamin Franklin's gift of a set of books is what started the library back in 1790. Here a picture of the book collection that started it all:

Day 6: I had a doctors appointment in the morning, but my husband brought them to a concert at my youngest son's music camp where he had been working as a mentor for the past two weeks. I stopped at the German store on the way home and bought gelbwurst and fresh rye bread for our lunch and some weisswurst for our supper as we were heading to the cape for the weekend.

Day 6: A whirlwind tour of the cape in one day.
We started off the day with an early morning walk on our beach.
It was right after a massive rainstorm and there were lots of shells left on the beach.
Even an unusual folded scallop shell.

My sister was thrilled with all the scallop shells as she makes angel Christmas ornaments from the shells and sells them in her shop around Christmas time.

It was the first time ever that I could see Nantucket from our beach.

I'm not sure if it was because it was very early morning or the conditions were just right. Can you see the land way in the distance? Click photo to enlarge.

We packed a picnic lunch and then headed out on a tour of the cape. First we stopped at Chatham Light.
I've always loved seeing the light house and the lovely beach there.
The beach was closed to swimming because of  great white sharks in the area.
Unfortunately the seals attract them, but I must say I got a thrill to be able to see all the seals off the shore. Be sure and click on the photos to enlarge them. They are hard to see, but there are seals on those rocks!

This was a first for me in all the years (my whole life) that I have been coming to Cape Cod.

After Chatham light we proceeded to check out more of the beaches.
and light houses

of the Cape National Seashore all the way to Provincetown.

Rose hips, better known as beach plums on Cape Cod.

For dinner we had lobsters. A real treat for them as they have nothing like the cape lobsters in Oregon. After dinner we visited with my uncle and aunt, my niece and her husband and daughter. It was like a mini family reunion.

Day 7: Time to return home and prepare for their journey back home to Oregon. Once they got everything together, we headed to the cemetery where our father is buried. "D" is a family history expert. Thanks to her I have the results of all of her research on our ancestors from Hungary. We also went back to the house where my mother and father lived on the second floor. My grandparent's lived on the first floor.  It is the first house that I ever lived in and it is the place where my father died. I have fond memories of going down the back stairs to jump in bed with my grandparents. I had not been back there in a very long time. Once again I did not bring my camera. I've decided I need to buy a really small inexpensive digital camera to keep in my purse or pocket.

One last night together. Sad that the time went by so fast, but thrilled to have the gift of meeting my sister and husband. A once in a lifetime gift. Worried about getting them to Providence in time to catch their train we got up extra early the next morning.


Amidst tears and hugs we said our good-bye, but not real good byes because even though we might never again get to see each other in person, we will be calling each other and emailing frequently. Hopefully in the not so distant future we would love to make the trip to Oregon and visit with them. I know I'd love see what their day to day life is like. Off they go......

While they were here, I didn't even get one of my circle squares finished! "D" won the prize for getting the most knitting done. Once again no photos of her knitting, which I reget. She made 2 pairs of beautiful handspun mittens to sell in her shop.  On the train she made a beautiful scarf knit the long way. I have a copy of her catalog if anyone is interested. Let me know in an email and I can forward it on to you. She did give me a pattern for my next project. I'm anxious to get started on it, but I want to finish the circle square blanket first. Since their departure though I have managed to finish seven squares finally.
It's slow going, but I'm plugging along.

Once I have the squares finished I'll be putting them together using a technique developed by my new friend Anita. Here's a photo of her beautiful finished blanket. Stay tuned for I'll be posting more of the how to's at a later date with her permission of course. Sorry, Anita for the delay as I'm not progressing with the squares as fast as I would have like to.

I'll leave you with a couple of morning glory photos for my DIL "K" :)

Happy Knitting everyone!!

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Too much to do, too little time!

I can't believe June is gone. July is here...already. My blog has been neglected and my knitting has been slow going. I've been busy with all the everyday goings on, plus I've been busy getting ready for two special visitors. My sister "D" who I've never met is traveling with her husband from Oregon by train to visit me. I'm super excited and the wait seems endless. Originally the cross country journey was supposed to be three and a half days, but due to the flooding in North Dakota they had to be rerouted to a southern route through California which made the trip a day longer. Then once on the trip they were rerouted once again. This time they had to stay overnight in Denver. Again they were delayed another day. Hopefully if all goes well they will finally arrive here in the evening on this coming Sunday! I imagine they will be exhausted when they arrive. They do not have a sleeping car as one would have been too costly. I just hope and pray they have been having a pleasant trip. I'm sure there will be many stories to tell of all of their experiences!! Can't wait to see them!!   Just to help you understand our relationship: my sister and I have the same father. My birth father who died when I was five months old, was previously married to "D"'s mother and divorced, before he married my mother. Even though we have never met in person, I feel like I know "D". I have only talked to "D" a handful of times on the phone, but have corresponded with her for just about my whole life. My other sister "K" who is 12 years older than me, met "D" when she traveled to Oregon to spend the summer with "D" and her family the summer (1963) she graduated from high school. The plan is to have a reunion with "K" and "D" and myself sometime this coming week. "K" lives in Connecticut and we'll meet somewhere at a half way point. This should be interesting for them to see each other again after all theses years. "D" is the one who always sends me her beautiful hand spun yarn for my birthday. This year she didn't send me any yarn. Instead she sent me an amazing knitting book. This book has everything you every wanted to know about knitting, plus a whole lot more. It was a very special gift. As you have probably guessed, "D" and myself share the same love of knitting :) "D" was worried that she would run out of yarn during her train travel, so she mailed a large box of gorgeous yarn to me to make sure she would have enough yarn for her return trip. All those days on the train...you can only imagine how much knitting she'll be doing! We are also looking forward to knitting together during her visit. Looking forward to having another girl in the house...I'm so much out numbered with all of my boys. Can't wait!!

Now on to my knitting progress...I did manage to finished a couple of things. A baby blanket for my husband's niece who is expecting a baby. She's visiting this weekend and I wanted to make sure the blanket was finished so she could bring it back to Florida with her.Not knowing the sex of this baby I decided to make a white blanket this time. Since it's a Florida baby I thought a lacy blanket might be nice. Pine Forest Baby Blanket is a very easy pattern, but I have to admit I did have a little trouble and I had to rip back so many times that I lost count. It wasn't the pattern's fault...it was all because of me trying to knit when I was too sleepy. I've been super tired lately and need toothpicks to keep my eye's open!

The other project I finished last night was another bubble up towel.
This time for me! It photographed poorly. The yellow color is very washed out. It definitely is a bright yellow towel. The yarn also had some imperfections. The solid stockinette really accentuate the flaws. It's for me and will be a kitchen towel so that's fine. This one seemed to take forever to finish. I think I should have waited a little bit longer after finishing the previous one. The typical "second" syndrome...you know like the second sock syndrome ;)I also have to report that there was no sewing involved. I tried the method of picking up the hem stitches and bound off at the same time to form the hem. I definitely will be using that technique again. You all know how much I dislike sewing!!

Well, for those of you in the US, have a very happy 4th of July weekend. I know this 4th of July will be truly a special one for me. Happy Knitting :)


 

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.