Birthday Weekend

Hello and Happy Hallo-week! I hope you had a great weekend, as I sure did. It was my birthday and I celebrated turning 49! I am not someone who gets down about birthdays, I am definitely in the “celebrate them!” category. As the saying goes, aging is a privilege denied to many and I am grateful for every year.

Birthday weekend

I kicked things off on Friday night, picking up my favorite combo pizza after getting my daughter from stage crew. Saturday (my birthday) was spent running around and puttering around the house. I made sirloin steaks, baked potatoes, and steamed asparagus for dinner. (Yes, I cooked on my birthday! It’s something I love to do!). And of course there was cake: a chocolate mousse cake decorated like a black cat. Adorable and delicious! Adams Fairacre Farms has the best bakery!

Birthday weekend

Birthday weekend

Saturday was also the first day of early voting here in New York. I have always voted on Election Day because my polling location is literally next door to where I work (connected by the YA books hallway, actually). But this year for a variety of reasons I decided to vote early. With so much at stake (ahem, democracy), I took the opportunity to cast my ballot and get it done. And I am happy to say I had to wait for about a half hour — turnout was amazing! I am always working to get people to register to vote so seeing this made me very happy.

Birthday weekend

Yesterday was spent catching up on housework and spending some time crafting (crochet and cardmaking). I made a pot of potato soup for dinner and we just continued with our “Superstore” rewatch in the evening because we were both wiped out. (D. spent the weekend re-roofing the shed.)

Birthday weekend

And now we start another week! It is tech week for the high school play, so lots of late night pickups are in my future. And, of course, Halloween! We live in a very rural area and don’t get any trick-or-treaters but we will do something special for Storytime this week and of course on Halloween itself at work.

Sheep & Wool 2024

I have been knitting since November 2005 and crocheting since 2009, and I live just outside of Rhinebeck, so it is no surprise at all that the annual New York Sheep & Wool Festival is one of my favorite events! This year I went with a friend who has just learned to crochet and we had such an amazing time! The weather was gorgeous, and while the festival was certainly busy, I think Sunday is always a little less crowded so I didn’t feel completely overwhelmed by people.

Sheep & Wool 2024

There were so many gorgeous yarns — soft fibers, brilliant colors — just an absolutely delight! It was so hard choosing what to bring home because I oohed and ahhed over just about everything. I picked up some fun goodies, of course: a solar dying kit from Hilltop Farm Fiber Arts, Sparkly Sock yarn in Spruce from Flying Goat Farm, and Iachos yarn in Helm’s Deep from A Hundred Ravens. I left with so many ideas and so much inspiration! Here are a few scarves/shawls I loved and might make:

Wishmaker Shawl by Helen Stewart (knit)Sheep & Wool 2024
Sheep & Wool 2024

Woollsia Shawl by Ambah O’Brien (knit)
Sheep & Wool 2024
Sheep & Wool 2024

Affair de Coeur Shawl by Tammy Hildebrand (crochet)
Sheep & Wool 2024
Sheep & Wool 2024

Naturally I got treats for my daughter and husband too. I picked out three sugar-free dip mixes for Drew to use in his dessert creations and a crazy caramel, peanut butter & M&M apple for Laura. I couldn’t leave them out!

I think before I jump into a new project I am going to spend a little time reorganizing my yarn because currently there really isn’t a lot of rhyme or reason to my method. I also want to redo all of my pattern binders. Currently I have stacks of printouts that need to be filed. I love a project to work on while watching TV at night, so I think I will probably start there. If I can do both of these things it will help me plan for next year!

Northern Lights in the Hudson Valley

Since I was very young I have always wished for an opportunity to see the Northern Lights, however I always thought it would entail a trip to Alaska or Iceland. I never would have imagined I’d be able to view them from my front steps, but that’s exactly what happened last night! I missed my other opportunities to view the aurora earlier this year, but last night around 7:40 I went outside, looked North and was treated to this spectacular display:

Aurora in the Hudson Valley

Aurora in the Hudson Valley

Aurora in the Hudson Valley

Were you able to view them where you live? We may have another chance here tonight and yes — I will be outside, bundled up, ready to take it all in again!