I don't think I ever posted pictures of my son, Miles's destination/elopement wedding last year in New Orleans.  It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, but yet it has.  There were many reasons why they chose to spend their wedding/honeymoon alone and we all understood.  They found the most amazing photographer to photograph the event and when they came home we had a party to celebrate their union.  The photographer took such incredible pictures!  This one above is one of my favorites, so romantic.

The photographer managed to capture the love that both of these young people worked very hard to achieve after a period of separation.

…and she captured a friendship that had been nurtured through good times and bad times. (this picture is my favorite.).  Friendship is what sustains us through the bad times and is what makes us celebrate and enjoy the good times!  Yes, I love this picture!

Today Miles posted this picture for their 1st anniversary.  A picture of him, Jen and her son Jax, who Miles loves very much.  The happiness and joy in this picture makes my heart smile, as I know that their road was not always an easy one, but it is a happy one now.

So much love in the pictures that this amazing photographer captured.  Even though many of us had wished we were there, Summerford Photography captured so very many beautiful moments for all of us to treasure.

…and today on their anniversary, January 22nd, their sweet little son, Finley, born on November 22nd is a wonderful anniversary present to all of us.
Happy Anniversary, Miles and Jen!

Last year on Pinterest I saw a "Thankful Jar", which is a jar where people toss a note in the jar when they are happy or thankful for something, and then on New Year's Eve, you read the notes to each other.  I LOVED the idea, so I put one on our kitchen table and told everyone to just toss in a note when something good happens in their lives.

Many who know me, know that I have been struggling with chronic back pain and in my mind when I look back over the year, I was almost afraid to look at the notes.  We had barely filled the jar 1/2 way, which made me feel sad.  Even though I said I was going to start a new one at the beginning of the year, I kept looking at that 1/2 full jar of notes and just couldn't open it yet.

This morning I had a rough start to the day.  I could barely walk and was feeling a bit sorry for myself
(a place that I HATE to go to). 

In my usual ADD way, I had a number of tabs open on my computer so that I could go back to watch or read them when I had some extra time.  This morning I needed time to be able to move, so I watched Sam Bern's video on his philosophy for a happy life here…

Wow, just wow!  What a positive outlook this young man had inspite of the overwhelming mountains he had to climb every day just to be who he was.  Such an inspiring message he shared shortly before he passed.

In that moment after watching that video, it reminded me that even though each one of us has either an internal or physical struggle, there are good parts. Maybe not what we want, but still good parts, so tonight Ken and I opened the jar after dinner and you know what…..there WERE good parts!  Funny little notes from Courtney's friends, touching notes from Hannah and a few earthy ones from Courtney.  Two new babies were introduced into our family.  Miles and Jenny bought a house.  Hannah was accepted to Plymouth and got a room in the dorm she had hoped for.  Notes of love and a few of struggles, but the struggles were very few and the happy notes made us laugh and smile.

So….a new jar with a pretty bow was put back on the table for a new year of new notes and memories.  I am committed to putting in one note every single day, even on the days when I am not feeling hopeful, because I know that if we look hard enough, there are good things, every single day!

Normally on Wednesdays I do "One Word Wednesday", but I completely lost Tuesday under a haze of valium after a small procedure, so I thought I would follow Carole's lead and go with the knitting.

After I knit Ashley's Elisbeth Headband all of the girls in my family (and there are more than one or two) all wanted one.  Hannah decided that she wanted one in the same shade as Ashley's which was great because I am able to get 2 headbands from one skein.  I love the darker gray against Hannah's lighter hair.
(PS….go check out Ashley's new blog )

Courtney chose a lighter shade of gray to match the hood on her new jacket.  Do you notice anything different about Courtney?  Well….her hair is MUCH shorter!  She donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love.  I love her shorter hairdo and I know chopping off all that hair was a bit easier for her knowing that it was going to towards helping a child dealing with cancer.

When the girls all asked me to knit this headband for them, part of the agreement is they would all let me take pictures.  These two both loved the hats, but getting them to be serious with pictures was another thing completely.  This was the "Mom, what do we do with our arms?" awkward look.  My response was…your arms are not what I am taking a picture of..ha!

….and Courtney who can not possibly be serious for more than 15 minutes…this was her side view.  Yes, that is our girl Courtney who enters the work force next year as a grown up!  Ey yi yi!

All in all, I have really enjoyed making these headbands, they are addicting.  The blue one will be finished tomorrow and one will go right on the needles for my oldest daughter, Stacey..and then another blue one for me.

Thank you Bonne for a wonderful knit!

This past weekend we celebrated the 80th birthday of a dear family friend.  A friend who has attended the numerous birthdays of our family over the years and a friend who is loved by all of us… so my whole entire clan came up to help him celebrate his special day.

Given that this is the first time that all of my children and their families have been together in a little while, you would think that my camera would have been clicking away, wouldn't you?
Nope, I spent most of my day in between my hostessing duties, holding one or the other of my 2 little grandsons.  Such sweet little nuggets of love!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Sweet little Finley's first smiles……so darn cute!

~

….and his Dad's first fish of the ice season…..
pretty sweet too!
(Miles, you're lookin' like a Mountain Man!)

Frosty…….

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
It's frosty pepper up my nose
excerpt from Winter Time by Robert Lous Stevenson

Well, I have finally come up from air.  Never before or at least in recent years has the phrase, "baby it's cold outside", hit home like it did this weekend.

We live in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire and are a relatively hardy bunch of people.  Three feet of snow is a normal amount of snow for this time of year and we are used to the cold temperatures as well.  May not always love them, but we know to expect them. 

Typically when the temps drop below zero we trickle the water in this old house because we know that some of the pipes will freeze.  Ken drags out a ceramic heater and drops it down into the crawl space that we get to call part of our basement and wait for the temperatures to rise again before we pull it out.  It is a royal PIA to be honest with you, but it beats frozen pipes for sure!

When the temperatures dipped to -26 degrees on Friday after a long spell of minus something degrees, we never gave a thought to trickling the water out in my shop.  Not even one single little thought, so when Ken came in with sort of a sick look on his face Saturday morning after getting ready for a trip to the dump, I knew something was up.  My comment to him was, "spit it out…what's wrong?"  When he told me that the pipes had frozen out in the shop I just wanted to throw up.  You know that feeling when you bump your head really hard and you drop to your knees and see stars.  Yes, that feeling.

Normally it would not be that huge of a deal, but I had just finished running a very successful New Years sale, which meant a lot of dyeing was going to happen. So much so that I closed down my website to be sure that I could get everyone's orders to them in a timely manner.  I just closed my eyes and wanted to disappear in that moment.  It was not Ken's fault, so I didn't want to appear to be upset with him, but truly…yes, those stars.

Ken, God bless his heart, worked tirelessly trying to free up the pipe that was frozen, all the while with a nasty cold.  Crawling in the crawl space, heating the pipes, digging up the air vaults that he placed on each end of the water line from the house to the shop to no avail.  We tried putting a hose on top of the snow from the frost free spigot connected to the house out to the shop via a window but that pipe burst….agggh, so we resorted to hauling water in the old fashioned way, in big buckets..not.fun!

Ken finally admitted defeat and called in the plumber.  Neither one of us wanted to have to spend the money if he could fix it, but sometimes you just do what you have to do and God bless our plumber's chatty soul (because he is SO chatty), he was able to find where the freeze was and blast it out.

To any of you young men who are not sure you want to go to college.  Please, be a plumber or an electrician.  You will be worth your weight in gold!!
(and the pay is pretty darn good too!)

 

Artic breath coils the mountain,
Rattling the forests' bones.
Raindrops cling to the branches:
Jewelled adornment flung to earth.
Deng Ming~Dao

I wouldn't quite call it raindrops….man oh man, we have received a LOT of snow up here since the first of December, well over 3 feet.  We are running out of space in the driveway for the plow man to put it.  It's so pretty though the morning after a storm though, don't you think?

…and the dogs are just not loving it as you can see they have made a path just wide enough to do their business and get right back in, because not only has it been snowy, it's been frigid and their little feet get so cold.  The dogs are not that heavy, so their path is not that deep, it is lightly packed down and not to the ground for sure.  If one were to jump into the untouched snow, it would be well over her head.
Silly dogs..

If you live up here, you have to love winter because it's long!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Last Sunday, Ken and I headed down to attend the wedding of friends in Western Massachusetts.  The wedding was a beautiful event full of fun, food, spirits and good music.  We were happy to share our time with fellow knitting bloggers there as well.

The wedding also happened to be a stone's throw from WEBS Yarn Store.  One of those knitting bloggers who was at the wedding is my good friend Carole.  We convinced Dale and Ken that we really needed to go to WEBS the next morning after a leisurely breakfast.  There was a sale going on…and well, there are no weaving stores in my area… just sayin' and I want to focus a little more on making time to spin and weave this year.  They were good sports about hanging around a big yarn store with a LOT of shopping women.  Thanks guys!

Carole was holding a pinkish color of yarn and I turned and said to her, "I'm not really much of a pink person".

Hmmm…….look what came home with me in addition to the Enchanted Knoll batt I bought last week.  I guess I will be re-thinking my opinion of pink. 😉

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.
Deng Ming~Dao
In the beginning, all things are hopeful.  We prepare ourselves to start anew.  Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment; our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.
(More Deng Ming~Dao)