If I Could Turn Back Time...

I wouldn't ... but I did enjoy attending my 30th year class reunion last Saturday. Many of these folks I've not seen since graduation and anyway I'm not sure I would have recognized most of them. To have been such a wallflower in high school I must say I look good now. I honestly did not recognize my friend DS from high school - talk about a transformation - she was one of the most attractive, outgoing women in the room. Just goes to show....






Greenfield Education and Training Center was the reunion site. The floor to ceiling windows framed rolling fields and a beautiful sunset. There is a trail system I want to check out later this year - perhaps combine with an apple picking day...





Another knitted project !!! - a felted oven mitt....

Another Day, Another Lake

In 100 degree weather the only place to be is on the water so off we go! My DH jumped out of bed early like a boy on vacation so we could be on the road and in the water early. Philpott Lake was built by the Army Corp of Engineers and remains public land so therefore no McMansions line the shoreline.



I prefer the serenity of this lake rather that the one we visited last week. Just need to come prepared with all the supplies and fuel you need while on the water since there are no marinas. Certainly worth it....

During the eight hours we were on the lake I knitted two washclothes ...

another lacy heart design in a bright red-orange cotton...


and an attempt at intarsia that ended up combining Fair Isle technique.



We ended the day by harvesting the first tomato from our garden - yum!

Hot Weather Cooking

My hot weather cooking tends to be cold salads that I can eat for several meals... I recently made a fresh beet and onion slaw dressed with a homemade vinaigrette. Raw beets are crunchy, sweet, slightly earthy goodness. I also love the deep purple red color of beets ...



I gathered the vegetables from the fridge , coarsely chopped them, added my vinaigrette and canned garbanzo beans and threw in plenty of freshly picked basil from my backyard garden. Adding fresh pita bread and mango pickles from the nearby ethnic market...



and a freshly brewed glass of tea spiked with fresh mint, I had a deliciously healthy lunch in this unbelievable heat.

On the Lake...

Recently, my DH and I spent a hot day cruising Smith Mountain Lake in our new (used) boat. The Lake (as people around here call it) was created in the 1960s by damming Roanoke and Blackwater Rivers and is used to supply much of the electricity to the region. This rustic marina was one my DH used growing up playing on the lake. While the gas, oil, snacks are long gone the hand painted signs remain... yes, two dollars is still the charge for using the boat launch.






We were greeted by two wary, but quickly friendly dogs...



I was amazed at the shore side diversity - the lake has become a popular retirement area and the "elite" area to live. Million dollar homes are becoming common alone the shore. Amazing to consider such affluence in a region where the median family income is around $45,000. However, plenty of humble cabins and trailers are spotted along the shore and cows still wade in coves and graze on pricey shoreline pastures. Perhaps the farmers are counting on the land to fund their retirement....


Not so humble....




The railroads seen from the lake are a reminder of the industrial origins of the Roanoke Valley and continue to move goods throughout the country.

During One Day Off Work...

I finished this sweater...
and cooked this tasty eggplant curry loaded with my own home grown basil...

Saturday Stuff

Ran/walked for one hour through the neighborhood early this AM before the heat became unbearable AND knitted another kitchen dishcloth! Yes, two different colors... ran out of the red so finished up with pink...

Weekend knitting

I decided I needed some kitchen accessories so I dug into my yarn stash for inspiration. I have never (intentionally) felted anything so I thought I'd try that as well. First up is a hot pad I crocheted from a skein of handspun wool/mohair a friend gifted me a while back. After felting it (two cycles in the washing machine) I embroidered random flowers and edged it with blanket stitch in a orange yarn to coordinate with my cool 70's dishes.

I enjoyed felted so that I crocheted another hot pad using some wool I purchased at the local yarn shop - the lighter color bands were originally yellow but faded after felting. Once again, I used orange to add embroidery. Next up will be matching felted oven mitts once I receive a huge statch of double pointed needled I recently purchased on ebay.Since this seemed to be a weekend of experimentation, I knitted up this washcloth using directions from smariek
- this was an opportunity to work with boobles and lots of yarnovers. Keeping track of the directions the yos needed to go kept me on my toes and it did not come out perfectly - perhaps the couple of cold ones I drank while watching my DH play in a poker tournament contributed to that???
I enjoyed knitting the first washcloth so much that I made a second, much easier one...yes, I do use these in my kitchen. I could have straigtened the edges on the pink one by blocking it but doesn't that seem a little silly for something I'll be using regularly....

Oh, isn't this the most wonderful vintage clothespin bag....




Sadly, my running has been nonexistent in this heat. I've been working a lot extra so I guess all that walking accounts for something...