a southern gal in the north

One year ago today in Park Slope, NY it was 90 gazillion degrees and 100 gazollion percent humidity and i was moving.  After 15 years in a liiiiiitle tiny apt i was moving to a 6 room railroad apt in a little village on the Hudson River.  It was a LONG HOT HORRIBLE TIRING day.

But that morning I had seen that the Hurricane heading for New Orleans had been downgraded and was not going to directly hit NO.  So when I turned off the TV around noon that Monday in the hot hot apt as the movers packed it up, i was relieved and got on with the hellaciousness of moving.  (yes, it was a nightmare and at 1145 pm i was hit with LOTS of extra charges and SIX big guys hanging out on the porch until I paid them in cash, sigh).

Tuesday morning after fitfully sleeping on the couch in the hot humid non air conditioned apt, the Verizon phone guy came and hooked up my phone and the new fiberoptic cable for my internet.   I powered up my laptop and plugged in and …..

started crying.

i couldnt believe it – my beloved city was underwater – it was horrible, beyond words and then i read about the gulf coast – my childhood vacation towns of Pass Christian and Gulfport and Bay St Louis – destroyed, gone, wiped out.

And then i heard from my sister in the same small village  (one of the reasons i moved here) that our sister’s house was probably underwater .  yep, from looking at the 17th Street levee and figuring out the neighborhoods – it was under water. 

I can’t express how i felt – here i was surrounded by mountains of boxes (in that small apt, i had managed to fit 12 bookcases full of books and stacks all over and three big closets full of clothes and of course, yarn) and all my wordly belongings – having paid the earth (to me at least) to have this stuff moved to this new place… and there was my sister and half of New Orleans LOSING everything they owned.

i wanted to lock the door and run away.

Needless to say it was a very strange week motivating myself to get settled and unpacked and organized when my dear sister and her family (husband and son) had lost all.   Ironically they were away on vacation and so at least my nephew (3.5) was spared the horror of the experience of evacuation but on the other hand, they were not able to save anything except what they had with them.

When on Wednesday the Cable guy came and hooked up the cable and then i saw what was going on – i was literally ill.  It made me sick and sad to watch and yet, i found i almost had to have CNN on.  sad sad days in the south – the superdome, the people on the expressways, those images we will NEVER EVER forget. 

i lived through many hurricanes growing up in South Louisiana including one where we were a block from the ocean when it hit and the water came up to the house.   Its the most awful scary amazing display of the wrath of nature you can ever imagine.  I dont wish anyone to ever have to endure one.  However, its part of the territory in leaving in that subtropic region.

One year later, my sister and her family are relocated in faculty housing (three bedrooms!) as part of her new teaching position at a college in the Berkshires.  My nephew seems fine – they did go back last month as my sister is still involved with her Theater Company at Tulane and they drove thru some of the flooded areas – brave that .  i havent talked to my nephew about it but when he was here visiting one day i had to go to the basement for something and he came with me – he asked if it was going to be flooded and i said NO (it had rained a bit the week before).   I cant imagine the impact of seeing that devastation – i havent been back to NO yet.

Today I cry tears of sorrow and loss for my sister’s family and for all the peoples of New Orleans and the lovely Gulf Coast .

Today I pray that the continuing love of  GOD help them in their recovery and in the growth of those beautiful regions.

Today I pray that the leadership of Louisiana and Mississippi remain firm and strong in their commitment to rebuild their cities and regions including making the US Govt pay for as much as they can to recover from the devastation.

And today I am grateful for everything I have in my life – for sisters and nephews and brothersinlaw nearby who share their lives with me, for a loving family (even far away), for a comfortable roof over my head, for my piano and the ability to make music, for all my yarn and my new garden and my cats and the new neighbors and friends i have made in this new home. 

One is happy as a result of one’s own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness

• simple tastes
• a certain degree of courage
• self-denial to a point
• love of work and
• above all, a clear conscience

Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain. 

– George Sand

Wings of the Moth shawl!

Here is the current work ….started on Saturday night while my sweet NEPHEW was asleep (sister had a babysitting crisis). 

Designed by the EVER Inspirational Anne – check out her blog

Once you get it set up and get to the Fir Cone pattern (which i know WELL from my WIP of the Fir Cone Square Shawl from Cheryl Oberle’s book), then it goes pretty fast… i am already on my second set of needles.  I started on a 16inch and then graduated to these Balene 24 inch.  I LOVE BALENES and forget how good they are when you need a GRABBY needle – i had used Addi Natura bamboo for the 16in.

The yarn is Elann’s Peruvian Baby Silk in the Cornflower color (which they are OUT of … so I hope the yardage is correct – i have 10 balls at 109 yds a ball.  I hope i dont have to visit the Frog Pond at the end of this.

TOO rainy to do any blocking (i have to block outside on the grass and then bring my blocking foamboard inside to dry) and we are supposed to get A HUGE DOWNPOUR today – we already have FOUR inches (by my very scientific rain gauge in my herb garden) Photo later today.

in other news i have been working on ORGANIZING and ORGANIZING and have created a LOVELY database in Access for my books and magazines (not only do i have tons of knitting magazines but gardening as well AND lots of MUSIC scores and books for my other career).  (and lets not forget the mysteries i devour).

and also am getting my WIPS and UFOs in shape.  Took some photos (i only bought my digital camera last fall ) and will be updating soon.  (and found a file with ALL my old FOs in it so i can enter them in my shining new Dbase! )

ok off for a nap (i kinda stayed up late).

finally ordered one !

now that i am getting organized i realize how many skeins i have and using the ball winder at KCamp made me fall in love with it… oh the ease!  

hopefully it will be here soon!

ok so not much yarn was moved around or even inventoried -= YET

i spent most of the afternoon DESIGNING my own Access DBase for my yarn inventory with lookup tables and all.  you know the ones i bought just didnt do what i wanted.  i want a LOCATION field and a few other things.

so now i am all set to go – luckily i had an excel spreadsheet with the majority of my yarns already in it but its about 1 year old – as i lost the current one when the laptop died (a month ago).  

tomorrow is more rain predicted so it will be perfect to go thru each bin and drawer and basket and boxes (in the basement) and get my stash organized.  luckily there should be some good opera on… that will help make the time go by.

of course i am probably going to stay up a bit and do some tonight.

and then on to my books and magazines….

here is the current weather – rain rain and more rain.

so i will get on with my organizing – actually its fine as its fairly cool and i will be doing some moving of boxes and rearranging my knitting magazines and books -YEAH finally.

In the process of going thru the bags, etc under and near my desk in my study – i finally unpacked my Knitting Camp haul.

On the left, a bunch of different colors of the Berrocco Alpaca that Meg is starting to carry ( UMMMMMY yarn).

In the middle and right back, the three skeins of GORGEOUS lace yarn from Joslyns Fiber Farm.  Her corner of the “vendor room” was quite the place to be during the shopping time at Camp.

The blue is Shine-Solid (2500 yds), the creamy ivory is Ariquipa Lace (2480 yds) and the red is Black Cherry  in Lace Mohair (1000 yds)

The books in front – those are 2nd copies for me of the first two (from the left) but Meg signed hers so its SPECIAL and will stay unused and then i couldnt pass up the Anatolian Knitting Designs – such gorgeous patterns (and know that i can do color knitting yahoo!).

The bags in the back – the red one is HUGE (in fact all the yarn fits into it) its from a previous year Camp; the blue one is for this year (you get it with some goodies on the first day).

What is not pictured above are the two dvds – Meg Swansen-Cardigan details and Knitting Workshop with EZ. (they are sitting on my desk )

ok.  off to work organizing and sorting and clearing.  and maybe my reward will be to wind some of that gorgeous shawl yarn and start another one.

got an email today from Burpee – if you have been following the controversial sale/move of this premiere garden…here is the new website.

http://www.heronswood.com/

check out GARDEN RANT for more on the situation.  (and here is what Tony Avent says .

The new site doesn't seem to be working – no confirmation of signing up for catalog or email newsletter.

and i wonder – did they MOVE all the plants from Seattle?  and the catalog descriptions seem to be lifted from the original owner’s catalogs.

Corporate America in the garden. sigh

so today its almost denuded of ALL leaves 

what’s weird is that plant is in the CORNER of the bed – and none of the other plants are being eaten – of course something may be reaching thru the bars of the trellis/hose holder.  but its a mystery as to why THIS one is being eaten.

and by who?

sigh

its pouring rain all day today. see my weather stick is accurate!

Here is what i see from my kitchen back door

my poor joe pye.  something likes it. 

. 

this one was eaten last night.

you can see on the right side of the plant that it was eaten  – about three weeks ago.  nothing like ms raver’s – of course this picture is from the Adkins Arboretum – but AR writes about how good hers are doing this summer.

Adkins Arboretum

 

and whoever also ate most of the lovage.  and i dont think it was mr GH because the fence is too pointy and high for him to climb over – and the parsley is not eaten – although he eats my neighbors every time he has come calling.    i hope i didnt just jinx myself  uhoh

 

and my poor rose….

someone decided it looked tasty.

now, in my four years gardening in Park Slope, in an open front garden – i never had a rose BITTEN off from the plant!   and none of the other roses have been eaten.

what the hell is out there when my back is turned?

finished the last two rows and cast off while watching Ann Sothern and Lew Ayres in MAISIE WAS A LADY (what a hoot!)

on to blocking! (i am looking forward to the growth of this as its not as wide or long as i want).  if it doesn’t rain today, i will get it blocked out.

meanwhile, i am in the throes of a fall/spring cleaning bug – the anniversary of my move to this apartment is next tuesday – and yes, that’s the anniversary of Katrina too.   a very mixed day for my family.  although i am happy to report that my sister and her family are settled into a faculty townhouse at her new university job and my nephew will be starting a really good (waldorf) school and settling into a new routine – he has his own bedroom for the first time in a year and is THRILLED with his fire engine bed!

anyone have any charts of Thomas the Tank, et al .  i have to do some research on them as that is both of the nephews newest infatuation – besides TRUCKS of any kind!!

anyway, i have one pile of boxes (sad to say) still in the hallway near the study – and one pile in the bedroom.  you know just out of the way so that they didnt bother me – but now i want to get all of this sorted out and either put away or stored in the basement (which is another long sort out project of its own ONCE the weather is much cooler – like cold!).  I even have sweater bags with zippers (ebay) that i can put all my sweaters in and be able to see them and stack them on the shelves just for that purpose (on top of my hanging rods in the closet)

so i am in a major sort out clear out mode – Frogged one 2/3 completed UFO tonight after i completed the shawl and reacquainted myself with two other sweaters that are in the SLEEVE ISLAND stage (sigh) of the Elann Lace and Cable cardigan pattern – one in wool and one in cotton.  although i tried it on and am not sure i am happy with the way it looks – may have to push ahead and see what i can do to sort it out.

and all my yarn needs ire-nventorying … sigh

just TWO more rows left and then the cast off and

onto BLOCKING.

ok.  off to bed – i wanted to save the end for when i am more awake.

photos tomorrow  – promise!