Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone! It’s a beautiful day here today – not a cloud in the sky and cool (about 60 degrees). The sun makes it feel warmer. This is our big backyard - we live on six acres and we abut about 1,000 acres of conserved land. It's like living in a state forest! Everything is greening up beautifully.

These are the daffodils that line our driveway. I just planted them last fall and they've done well.

As every Mother’s Day, I think of my own mom. Her name was Lenora Thomas. She was funny, creative, tiny, and cute. She loved golf passionately and was an amazing bridge player. She and her twin, Aunt Gussie, were unbeatable. I used to tease them that they could read each other’s minds and so had an unfair advantage. I also remember my older sister, Dee Harrold. Dee was 14 years older than I – she’s the best big sister imaginable. She taught me how to knit! So to you both, I have such warm, happy thoughts and miss you very much. We're so very lucky that Hugh's mom is doing so well - she's 79 this year, as vibrant as ever. We love you, Grandma Bertie! Ditto for my wonderful stepmom, Joyce. We love you, Grandma Joyce!

My mom's favorite flowers were pansies. I always smile when I see them and always plant them year after year with Mom in mind.

My Mother’s Day has been lovely! The boys got me two beautiful hanging baskets with flowers of all my favorite colors. And I got to knit this morning for a long stretch – ahhh, heaven!

I finished my Diamonds are Forever socks. The yarn is Jawoll and the color is so interesting! Sometimes it looks purple, sometimes a dark blue. The pattern was easy to memorize but fun to knit.

I continue on with Hugh’s Maze socks *sigh* - I’ll get them done for Father’s Day… maybe? They are so complicated - I try to do ten rows a day. I am on the second sock so maybe by fall *grin*. And I'm continuing on with Nell’s Menehene Cobblestones socks as well. I started a new pair of socks this morning in a pattern I’ve made several times. It initially was a SOTM club offering by Judy at theknitter dot com – and of course it’s an Adrienne Fong design. It’s called Rainbow over Lahaina. I’m not sure Adrienne or Judy envisioned it being done in the 1776 yarn by Fortissima Colori but I think it’s kind of fun! I made an earlier “plain vanilla” sock out of this yarn and it turned out great. The yarn itself is responsible for the stars and stripes. I'm hoping to have these done by Memorial day.

On the home front, lots has been happening! First and foremost, the school talent show! It was Friday night. Both boys entered. Tom has a sketch comedy group called “Not Gum”. They did a takeoff on “Who’s Line is It Anyway” – it was hysterical! There are five guys in the group – Tom, Kitch, Mike, Ethan and Connor, although on Friday, night there was no Connor but another kid named Jacob. They did a nice job and got a special award – a Vermonster! For those of you who don’t have a local Ben and Jerry’s, a Vermonster is a bucket o’ ice cream with 20 scoops of ice cream. Hopefully they will invite friends when they celebrate their Vermonster.

Tom's in the front in the striped short - they're listening to the awards presentation.

My younger son, Sam, did board breaking for the talent show. Both Tom and Sam have earned black belts in taekwondo at the Blue Wave Taekwondo school. Board breaking is a requirement to earn higher belts – plus it’s pretty cool to watch! Sam did five breaks – and ended up winning the grand prize! Sam is $30 richer today… It was a fun evening. One of his breaks involves jumping over three people (who are crouching) and breaking a board. It's pretty fun! Here's Sam accepting his award from Kitch. Kitch was the emcee, is part of Not Gum and did a fine job all the way around - he's also one of Tom's best friends.

You might ask why Sam's belt is red and black and not just black. An under-13 black belt is called a poom and is designated by having a red/black belt and uniform. Pooms take the same test as everyone else with the exception of self-defense. That doesn't start until they are over 13. Son Tom's belt is all black, although he too started as a poom.

We’ve been doing lots and lots of baseball. Hugh is president of our local Little League; he and Joe coach the majors team that Sam’s part of. They currently are the only team at 5-0 – they’re doing really well so far. Several of these kids have played together for awhile – they get along well and play well. The parents are a nice group too.

We're having dinner here tonight. Steve is coming over and we're barbequing pork tenderloin and tuna. We'll have fresh asparagus from our yard, corn on the cob, salads and strawberry shortcut for desert. I'd better take my walk NOW!

I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and a great week...