As usual, life has interrupted my blogging plans.  I imagine these clever entries.  I intend to keep all my loved ones "in the loop", and then life dares to challenge me for time!  Aarrrgh!  Well I have the answer.  I am going to travel through time.  Let's see what time has to give in response!  I've already downloaded the photos.  I've transferred them to Photobucket, and I'm ready to go.  Let's begin!

Our launch pad for the beginning of our time travel is at a book signing by the author, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, lovingly known as The Yarn Harlot.  I highly recommend a visit to this lady's site, whether or not you are a knitter.  She is a very talented and funny writer, who knows how to strike a chord with women.  And especially with knitters.  She makes me laugh, and I love her for that.  She was a diminutive lady with a lovely Canadian voice, and she was very kind to give us all so much of her time and her wit.  I enjoyed the experience with several other knitting friends, and managed to capture a few photos in the process.

Here I am, with friends on either side.  Yes, we all brought our knitting!

So, okay, Trish was blinking, but here's another photo of some lovely ladies!  Alas, two of my newly formed Florida friends were unable to be there.  Chris was sick (feel better soon, lady!), and Ruthie was working (bummer!)

Before that visit with The Yarn Harlot, my dear hubby and I got to take a lovely trip out to Scottsdale, Arizona all by ourselves!  This was our first official "vacation" without kids.  Keep in mind, our oldest is 11 1/2.  11 1/2!!!!  Yikes!  Now that's way too long!  While there, I was able to visit some lovely yarn stores, knit, and even hike Camelback!  I managed to capture a few photos along the way...

This is a photo of Camelback taken from our hotel balcony.

Here's Brett and his associate Scott, as we were at the trailhead preparing to hike up Camelback.  It was probably close to 100 degrees out, but I couldn't tell, as there was no humidity!  Oh joy!  It was a huge change for me from Florida.

Here's a view of some of the cacti that we got to hike by.  It was absolutely stunning!

Here's a cliff face we hiked right by.  At one point, the hike was steep enough, that hand rails were supplied.  We greatly appreciated these, as we did not come prepared with the proper climbing equipment, but rather were doing this just in our regular athletic shoes.

Here's one of the many breathtaking views we got to enjoy on the climb.  Most of the way up we did a fair amount of bouldering.  I was glad to stop and rest occasionally!  At one point, we met Claude the Water Guy coming down off the mountain.  He gave us some good climbing advice and offered us some of his water.  He told us he'd done this climb over 5,000 times, but that he knew some people who'd actually climbed it over 30,000 times!

One mile!  We're almost at the top!

At the top!  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to climb and a little over an hour to descend.  I slowed the guys down a fair amount, but they took it in good stride!

Oh, here's one more image of that cliff face.  It was near the bottom of the climb.

And moving on....

Here's a photo of my completed Shalom Cardigan.  This was a fun knit, and went very quickly.  This is the project I worked on while in AZ.

And here's a close-up...

Now, switching states... back in September, I had the pleasure of returning to Ohio to visit some friends and attend the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs.  I had a great time.  I had come just after Hurricane Ike paid a visit, and my friend Sue and her family was still without power! 

Only in Dayton is it possible to look up in the sky and see a Wright Bros. airplane (the Wright Flyer) and not be surprised.  I saw this guy when I was on my way to pick up my girlfriend Melissa from her 10K race.  Go Melissa!

And here's my incredible racer, with enough energy to go with me to the Wool Gathering!  It was so much more enjoyable with her there to share it with!

Five day old lambs.  Cute!  I wanted to take one home with me!

Now here I am at Tim and Sue's.  This may be what you see,

...but this is what we saw!  Yep.  She was still without power!  It made for a very relaxing evening, visiting on the porch and dinner out at a restaurant!

Okay, moving even further back in time!!!  Here is my darling daughter...

Those of you who know her, know that this photo captures her personality pretty well.  It was right about the time this photo was taken that we learned that she is indeed dyslexic.  This was a bitter pill for both of us to swallow, but it also supplied so many answers we had been praying for.  While her road will not be an easy one, I am convinced that God has wonderful plans in store for her, and she will prevail.  And yes, I believe she will even learn to read.  We are working dilligently on a specialized program for her, and we are seeing slow (but steady) progress.

OK, I'm really not schizophrenic, but I wanted to show you guys a photo of these fellows...

This is the sort of traffic we experience out here in the wilds of Florida!  We have a pond in our back yard, and across the street is another pond, so it is very common for us to see these fellows traveling through our yard and heading over to the other waters.

Of course, the kids wanted to help them on their way...

And now onto something more current...

Here are a few photos of projects I'm working on (or have just completed)...

This is my current favorite... a cross-stitch scarf.  I love the colorways!

Here's an Airy Scarf that has been packaged up and sent off to someone I love very much!

And yup, here's another dishcloth.  These are fun little knits that take next to no time.  It's been a couple of years since I'd done one, so I cast on for another.  This one will likely become a gift as well.

And now you guys are pretty much caught up.  I'll try to keep up better with this, but life is so much fun living forward than looking backward, that I have a tough time keeping up with everything!  God bless you all!