Usually, I am a knitter.... but I'm going to do something a little different....
I was going through some of my 'stash' and found this cross stitch kit... so I think I may have a go at this... as well as doing the knitting... and the "whatever fit takes me" ...

Just not enough hours in the day... :o)





Will be wonderful if my stitching ends up looking this good, huh?

I'm really pleased to have had my first comment here.. :o) Quite made my day! And, it seemed that the easiest way to answer the question Rebekah asked, was to post!

This is a picture of part of the classroom where I work.

I work in an elementary school, with the special needs children. Not as a 'degree-d' teacher, but as an aide. I love the work... wish it paid more, but that's life, huh?

I help to 'design' bulletin boards.. file.. die cut various things, and laminate.. fax stuff to wherever it has to go... type letters to parents for the teacher... accompany the kids to mainstream classes, and to therapy sessions.. work with the kids on their goals in our room.. lots of things keep me and the others busy.

On Saturdays and when school is closed, I work at the store just a mile or so up the road from where I live... now, that job I'm not so keen on, but, if what I hear from another woman who is trying to find a part time job is true, I should be very thankful for the second job at all.

In another lifetime, in another country, I was an RN. I'm working on getting my license transferred, so that I'll be able to nurse over here.. it's a long process, with lots of brick walls seemingly popping up all over the place, but I will get there eventually, and then I'll be "home" in a professional way... lots of studying to do, to get the exams done for this state.. and that's inbetween the laundry, and all that other fun stuff.

I think 'fun' tonight will now be going off to make a pot of tea! :o)

1st January 2008

I just downloaded the pictures from Christmas onto the computer tonight... and thought I'd share a few of them....

This one was from Christmas Eve. I had an invitation to go to my cousin's home for the evening..well, the whole family was there too, not just me, of course.. but it was nice. A very loaded table of food.. good company... and even carollers.. I thought that going carolling was a tradition which was dying out, but obviously not for the people who went around the town on Christmas Eve. I'm so pleased with how this picture turned out... :o)

The kids got a nice lot of presents.. and I also received some nice gifts. Although this *isn't* a good picture, this is the pig keyring my sister sent to me..


This picture of the tree on Christmas Eve, was taken in a dark room.. with just the twinkle lights on the tree on... can you believe it? It looks so light, doesn't it? I loved having the tree up this year.. I'm always just a tiny bit sad to take down the decorations at the end of the holiday season, but it's time... tomorrow I will do it.. take it down, and pack everything away safely for another year...
And this last picture was just taken today. I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and looked up at the sky, just as the sun was starting to peek out a tad.. it just grabbed me, so I went and grabbed the camera, turned off the flash, and "pointed and clicked" out of the kitchen window... surprisingly, I didn't get a glare off the glass.. I suppose because I turned off the flash, d'oh! :o)

I think it was amazing to see this.. the trees are just so stark and empty right now.. and the sky was so grey and full of clouds.. but then with the sun peeking through, and the clouds were shifting a little.. all of a sudden there was a little bit of blue there to see... just like life really. The "rubbish" of life are the clouds... and in some ways the people/person who leaves "rubbish" in your path are/is the stark trees... but there's always some blue sky ahead..

I'm not very clever at putting what I am thinking into words sometimes.. but maybe you know what I mean? :o)

I'm thinking that this year will be the year for me to have a garden again.. or at least flower beds... and it's funny how things go, isn't it? I had just thought that earlier on.. then tonight I was just doing a search on knitting patterns and ended up finding a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye ...

Sewing, Knitting, Crocheting...

A small striped sleeve in her lap,

navy and white,

needles carefully whipping in yarn from two sides.

She reminds me of the wide-angled women

filled with calm

I pretended I was related to

in crowds.

In the next seat

a yellow burst of wool

grows into a hat with a tassel.

She looks young to crochet.

I'm glad history isn't totally lost.

Her silver hook dips gracefuly.

And when's the last time you saw

anyone sew a pocket onto a gray linen shirt

in public?

Her stitches must be invisible.

A bevelled thimble glitters in the light.

On Mother's Day

three women who aren't together

conduct delicate operations

in adjoining seats

between La Guardia and Dallas.

Miraculously, they never speak.

Three different kinds of needles,

three snippy scissors,

everybody else on the plane

snoozing with The Times.

When the flight attendant

offers free wine to celebrate,

you'd think they'd sit back,

chat a minute,

tell who they're making it for,

trade patterns,yes?

But a grave separateness

has invaded the world.

They sip with eyes shut

and never say

Amazing

or

Look at us

or

May your thread

never break.

And then I found another poem by the same woman... this one struck a chord with me too....

My Friend's Divorce

I want her to dig up

every plant in her garden

The pansies,

the pentae,

roses,

renunculas,

thyme, and lilies,

the thing nobody knows

the name of

Unwind the morning glories

from the wire windows

of the fence

Take the blooming

and the almost-blooming

and the dormant,

especially the dormant

And then,

and then,

plant them in her new yard

on the other side

of town

and see how

they breathe.