Starting on the shawls

I'm starting on some shawls, possibly for hospice.  There were doubters on facebook - among my own family no less - who thought it took me a long time to do the step lapghan listed in the previous post.  I started this 20"x66" crocheted and woven shawl on Friday at 7pm.  I finished it on Saturday at 10pm.  In between, I also slept and worked an 8 hour shift.

The nickname "Speed-of-light Eickstadt" had nothing to do with being fleet of foot.  It had to do with my crochet hook.  lol

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

A Couple of Crochet Projects

Here are two of my current works in progress.  The step lapghan only needs a border and then it will go to a wounded veteran through Soldiers Angels. http://soldiersangels.org/blankets-of-gratitude.html

I appreciate our troops and this is the very least I can do for them.  I always try to get three lapghans in the mail during the fall.  As soon as the garden goes down, I pick up the crochet hook.

The flower one, assuming I get enough of it finished, is planned to become a prayer shawl for hospice.

We'll see what I finish along with the class I'm taking.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Northern Lights

A couple of times when I was young, Mother called me outside at night to see the northern lights.  It was always amazing to see the flicker and play of the aurora.

Tonight I spread out a sheet in the living room and brushed Buddy out really well.  I took the sheet out to shake the hair away and saw northern lights - in southern Indiana!  I had no idea they would be visible this far south.

The lights started with columns of a pale light reaching up above the Big Dipper which was hanging low in the sky.  Then the lights turned red, then stronger red and spread wider to the east and west.  The whole thing thinned until it resembled a heavy, reddish fog and finally faded away entirely.

Mother always said that a red aurora meant war.  Perhaps that came from the red auroras that appeared when Germany bombed London and again on December 7th, 1941, the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.  She would have remembered those events personally. 

I am aware that solar flares are the main cause of northern lights.  I also believe that God hangs signs and wonders in the sky.  We'll have to see if the omen holds true this time.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Noticing

I notice things that most people don't.  I'm not sure why I do and most don't, but I like what happens inside of me when I make connections.

I notice when the night goes out of the air in the morning.  Something changes in the atmosphere - maybe the humidity or that one degree of temperature.  Suddenly, it isn't early morning anymore.  It's full day.

When I was cleaning the backyard this morning, I found a violet and a dandelion.  I also saw a robin.  That combined with nippy air made me feel springy instead of almost winter.

A couple of the years since I've been in southern Indiana, the robins stayed all winter.  Those were mild winters. Last year, the robins disappeared around November 4th.  We had 13 snows.  Smart birds to get out of here before that all fell!  I will note when I stop seeing them this year.

Noticing weather patterns is one of my favorite things to do.  I was counting the fogs in August.  While I marked about 8 fogs, one of my coworkers, who travels through more open areas to get to work, said she's counted one for almost every day of the month.  I guess we'll see who comes out closer.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Early this morning

I heard on the news last night that there was to be a meteor shower between midnight and dawn this morning.  Les and I went out at 6 am in the frosty air. 

The sky was as clear as I've ever seen it. I can't tell you how many solar-stellar spectacles I've missed because of clouds.  Early this morning was not one of them.  I could see more stars than I remember ever seeing before. 

Orion hung right over the roof of our house and that was where we were to look for the meteors.  They were not spectacular.  If you've ever had a fields vision test at your eye doctor's, you know what the meteors looked like.  They were tiny flashes in the sky in the area of Orion's club. 

While I was admiring the sky, the two dogs were trying to herd me back into the house.  They couldn't understand why I would want to stand in the backyard before dawn in the frost when we could all be snoozing cozily inside.

I'm just glad I didn't miss this event.  It was quite wonderful.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi