Mother Nature Does Her Thing (Again)

On Friday, September 5, Jim & I were planning to meet friends at the Kalamazoo Art Hop, browse a bit, and go out for pizza. Rain and storms were predicted, but it was holding off when we entered the Park Trade Center. We looked west - toward our home - and the sky was very very dark. We figured the rain had arrived there.

A few minutes later, we started getting texts from our friends. Power was out. Trees were down. And soon, we could look out the window and see pouring rain.

We headed home, and discovered that our neighborhood had been damaged as well. Amazingly, our trees suffered minimal damage, but we found branches from other trees in our yard. We later discovered that our maple had one branch that had split, but not fallen (we're still waiting for the tree service to come take care of that).

We were lucky - Karen and John's tree had taken out our AT&T line back in August. That same tree was damaged in this storm, and two huge limbs landed in our yard, but this time, our AT&T line remained intact. There were lots of power outages, however, including our neighborhood.

Jerry & Rose, our neighbors to the north, had a hole in their attic wall. They had retreated to the basement, and heard a horrible crack. A tree had come down on the power line to their house, and as the line came down, it pulled off a section of their wall.

Apparently the damage was caused not by a tornado, but rather by straight-line winds. Jim and I commiserated with our neighbors, turned on our battery-powered radio, and settled in the front room with books and flashlights. Bonnie tried to figure out this new game plan.

The next day, we worked on dragging branches to the street, and cleaning up in general. The power company was out in force, including not just Consumers Power, but other companies as well. At one point, there were at least six trucks clustered around our intersection! Happily, our power came back around 1 pm on Saturday afternoon. Sometime the next week, city crews came by and cleaned up all the branches piled along the street.

Here are some photos. These first are from Friday night:

Kitty-corner to our house

Rose & Jerry's house - you can just see
the hole in their attic

This was at a house west of us;
the tree snapped below the ground!

Limbs from John & Karen's tree.
They took out our obsolete cable line

I saw this downed pole on Saturday morning, coming home from the Farmers Market:

At the corner of Drake and Sunnydale

Bonnie and I walked through the park, and the Friendship Village Woods, on Sunday morning. Nothing had been cleaned up there yet:

Frey's Park

Bonnie was amazed to find leaf smells at ground level

Frey's Park

This used to be a path in Friendship Village. Oops.

Continuing our walk through the neighborhood, debris lined the streets:

On Croyden, next to the school;
those roots were taller than me

Along Piccadilly

Along Piccadilly

Another shot of Rose & Jerry's house

Piccadilly

This is the area where the phone pole was down - apparently there were two poles down in that area, since this is further in from Drake:

On Sunnydale, looking toward Drake

Some lines still down here

What a mess!

In spite of the storm, some things continued to thrive:

Friendship Village

Friendship Village

Along Piccadilly

And of course, Bonnie thrives anytime there's a walk involved!

Trying out the new
sidewalk along Drake

Did I Miss Anything?

In early September, I came across a poem and a TED talk that both illustrate the importance of thinking and learning and participating.

The poem is delightful - two responses to the question that must drive teachers crazy: Did I miss anything?

Did I Miss Anything?
by Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

     Everything. I gave an exam worth
     40 percent of the grade for this term
     and assigned some reading due today
     on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
     worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

     Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
     a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
     or other heavenly being appeared
     and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
     to attain divine wisdom in this life and
     the hereafter
     This is the last time the class will meet
     before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
          on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

     Everything. Contained in this classroom
     is a microcosm of human experience
     assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
     This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
          gathered

     but it was one place

     And you weren’t here

Jim and I watched a TED talk by Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame. He talked about his experience playing Jeopardy against a supercomputer, and how he felt that his skill - being a know-it-all - was being phased out. But then he talked about the advantages of just knowing things, and shared a remarkable story.

I always think of the story of a little girl named Tilly Smith. She was a 10-year-old girl from Surrey, England on vacation with her parents a few years ago in Phuket, Thailand. She runs up to them on the beach one morning and says, "Mom, Dad, we've got to get off the beach." And they say, "What do you mean? We just got here." And she said, "In Mr. Kearney's geography class last month, he told us that when the tide goes out abruptly out to sea and you see the waves churning way out there, that's the sign of a tsunami, and you need to clear the beach." What would you do if your 10-year-old daughter came up to you with this? Her parents thought about it, and they finally, to their credit, decided to believe her. They told the lifeguard, they went back to the hotel, and the lifeguard cleared over 100 people off the beach, luckily, because that was the day of the Boxing Day tsunami, the day after Christmas, 2004, that killed thousands of people in Southeast Asia and around the Indian Ocean. But not on that beach, not on Mai Khao Beach, because this little girl had remembered one fact from her geography teacher a month before.

Isn't that a great story? Who knows when some bit of knowledge is going to be handy. He talks about choosing to keep on learning, and offers this:

We make that choice by being curious, inquisitive people who like to learn, who don't just say, "Well, as soon as the bell has rung and the class is over, I don't have to learn anymore," or "Thank goodness I have my diploma. I'm done learning for a lifetime. I don't have to learn new things anymore." No, every day we should be striving to learn something new. We should have this unquenchable curiosity for the world around us. That's where the people you see on "Jeopardy" come from. These know-it-alls, they're not Rainman-style savants sitting at home memorizing the phone book. I've met a lot of them. For the most part, they are just normal folks who are universally interested in the world around them, curious about everything, thirsty for this knowledge about whatever subject.

It's a interesting and entertaining talk - go watch it!

Of course, if Bonnie asks did I miss anything? she is talking about either food, or Good Smells:

School Starts and Life Gets Hectic

With the start of school this fall, I've started teaching early morning seminary for our church. Students in 9th thru 12th grade meet each school day, before school starts, for religious instruction. My class of five students includes students at three high schools (Portage Central, Kalamazoo Central, and Loy Norrix), as well as home schooled. To accommodate schedules, we meet at 5:55 am each morning. Yikes.

I am impressed with my students - they are there every morning, they are remarkably alert (given the hour), they seem happy to attend, they participate willingly. In spite of having to really scramble to stay on top of things, I am enjoying teaching these kids. I learned a lot about the gospel back in the day, when I attended seminary, and hope these youth will get a similar benefit.

Unfortunately, blogging has fallen to a very low spot on the totem pole, to the point of being pretty much neglected. I'm trying to catch up a bit today. This is a post that I started back in August, after our trip to Bronner's. 

Bronner's, of course, put us in a Christmas mood. To help it along, I started knitting some ornaments. I have a number in pieces, still unassembled, but here is a finished ornament. This is knit using a pattern by Emily Kintigh:

I've been working on my linen stitch scarf, and another hat, but neither shows much progress, so I have no new photos.

I do, however, have new yarn:

This is the September installment of the Dream in Color club yarn. It is fingering weight, dyed in all the colors of fall foliage. Frankly, this was a complete impulse purchase. I'm not sure what I'll knit with this, but it is lovely to look at.

As we slide into fall, and think about Christmas, here are some summer photos, from August:

Bonnie thinks there are much more interesting things to look at when we're out and about:

Stash C̶h̶a̶o̶s̶ Control

Bringing order out of chaos is a challenge. My office has been cluttered for a while, but I've slowly been whittling away at it, getting rid of things I don't need, finding better ways to store what I do need. Yesterday I tackled my yarn stash. That is no small task - I think I could knit for about five years, just using my stash yarn. It had reached the point where my yarn cubbies were full, the bins in the closet were full, and yarn was piled in bags and boxes randomly scattered around my desk.

At this point, it's not a lot better. (At this instant, it is really awful.) I've gone through all the yarn, which - in addition to facilitating this ordering process - let me look at all my yarn, and allowed me to find the perfect skein for a gift I want to knit this fall. It also allowed me to eyeball the yarn for signs of moths or other critters (none spotted, happily). I tossed some yarn into a box of "yarn that I am pretty sure I don't want to knit with" - mostly cotton yarn that someone gave me, once upon a time - and I will pass it along to some unsuspecting soul. Other yarn went into a box of "yarn that I like, but there's hardly any left, so maybe someday I'll combine it to knit some project."

Those two categories didn't really account for much yarn, so I still have a rather large stash. I had yarn spread all over the living room - lace on one end table, bulky on another; sport weight hanging out by the fireplace, fingering yarn perched precariously on the rocker, aran on half the love seat, and worsted taking over the couch. At one point, I stepped outside briefly, and when I returned, Bonnie had awoken from her post-walk stupor and was sprawled on the love seat - but not in the spot I had left for her:

This isn't my yarn?

With the yarn sorted by weight, I pulled out a few skeins to use for some upcoming projects, and put them on my "project shelf" (doesn't that sound official! organized! over-the-top!), and then I bagged the rest of the yarn, in large garbage bags, by weight. The smallest are sitting on top of new bins in the living room, and the rest have taken over my office. I also cleared out several cubbies in my shelf system, that were holding random non-yarn things, and now need to hold yarn. Those former contents are now on the floor of my office, and stacked on my chair.

What a mess.

I realize there is danger in putting perfectly good and wonderful yarn in garbage bags, but my patient and long-suffering husband is really happy to have the living room furniture back. I promise that the yarn will quickly move from bags to cubbies and bins and closets. (And the other stuff will move from floor and chair to appropriate homes.)

Just to show that I'm not the only nut with a stash, you can read the some of the Yarn Harlot's insights here or here or here. I've heard of people storing stash in pianos, freezers, and coat sleeves - at least I haven't done that! (Yet.)

Bonnie is also annoyed that, as long as those bags of yarn are taking over my office real estate, her unsupervised visits are banned. Hopefully, a couple of evenings should bring order out of this new chaos.

Sulking?

Cattails

I recently read this this poem in a blog post:

Wandrers Nachtlied II, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translated as Wayfarer's Night Song II, by Hyde Flippo

Over all the hilltops
is calm.
In all the treetops
you feel
hardly a breath of air.
The little birds fall silent in the woods.
Just wait... soon
you'll also be at rest.

The blog post referred to the death of a man who apparently was well-known to long-time readers, but whose name meant nothing to me. But the poem was a gift - a pleasant surprise - an acknowledgement of peace and beauty. Lately, work has not been very satisfactory, and the best part of my day has been those times when I can escape for a walk with Bonnie.

Here are some photos, to share some of what Bonnie and I enjoy:

Friendship Village, July 1

Asylum Lake, looking west, July 4

Asylum Lake Preserve, July 12

This next scene reminds me of Mom. Growing up, she ensured that our home was always attractive, and she regularly added touches to enhance the simple decor. We went through a phase where the favorite was thistles and cattails, arranged in a large vase on the fireplace hearth. In our travels, it didn't matter where we were - if Mom saw cattails by the roadside, we stopped to gather them.

Asylum Lake, July 12

Asylum Lake, July 12

Friendship Village, July 17

Friendship Village, July 17

Friendship Village, July 17

Friendship Village, July 17

Friendship Village, July 17

Asylum Lake Preserve, July 20

Asylum Lake Preserve, July 20

Gratuitous beagle photo - these walks can wear her out!

July 4

FOs (Five) and WIPs (Two) and a Beagle (One)

I believe it has been (to use the precise time measurement) "ages" since I blogged about my knitting. I suppose it is better to be knitting, than to be blogging about knitting, but still....

Here are my finished projects of late. This first is a baby blanket, currently waiting for the right baby to appear. The Ravelry project is Hope They Like Blue. This yarn (Three Irish Girls, Kells Sport) was yummy to knit with, and the pattern (Baby Chalice Blanket) very easy and satisfying.

Next up: A Sock for Your Head. I didn't really like the yarn (Plymouth Yarn Sakkie) - it was too insubstantial for my taste - but it worked up into a nice hat. The pattern (Sockhead Hat) was easy-peasy, and good for carrying in the car (because it was totally mindless knitting).

As we headed into summer, I finished Lori's Bridge Walk Flynn (at least she'll have it in time for winter). The yarn, of course was wonderful (Shepherd's Wool Worsted), and the pattern (Flynn) was interesting, with a nice pattern for the brim, reverse stockinette for the body, and a nice cable section. The cable section was a bit confusing, so I charted it, and that helped greatly - so much so, in fact, that I got carried away and knitted additional length, making this a bit slouchy:

In June, I finished another elephant, The Apple of Her Eye. This is the eighth toy I've knit with this pattern (Elijah), and I again used the Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk Hand Paint yarn.

Just a few days ago, I finished a pair of baby hats for afghans for Afghans. They are collecting newborn hats and socks, for the Malalai Women's Maternity hospital in Kabul. According to their website, the hospital delivers, on average, 85 babies a day - so they need lots of hats and socks! I used the Three Irish Girls yarn left over from the baby blanket, and Bev's Baby Ribs Hat pattern, which makes a stretchy hat, long enough to double over the ears. This photo shows one of the hats' being modeled by a 12" softball:

Here are the two projects I'm currently focused on. First is a shawl, using Lala's Simple Shawl pattern. The yarn is Plymouth Yarn Mushishi, which Jim gave me for my birthday several years ago. I saw this pattern knit up as a sample in a store, and decided it would be perfect with this yarn. I came home, and hopped on Ravelry to link the yarn and pattern together - and discovered I had already made that connection. So I decided I'd better get busy and knit it!

I'm making this scarf with the linen stitch, alternating two skeins of Misti Alpaca yarn - one of Pima Cotton & Silk Hand Paint, and one of Tonos Pima Silk. I like the way the colors are working up, but - linen stitch being what it is - it will be a Long Time before this is finished!

Bonnie points out that she is as pretty as any knitting project, and indeed she is:

Asylum Lake Preserve, May 10