Sometimes Things Do Happen for a Reason!

It's not always apparent though. And some series of events can seem quite bizarre. For example:

Thursday night, I fell out of bed.

Let me explain... I had gotten into bed and noticed a set of circular knitting needles that had fallen on the floor between the bed and the door, and I didn't want Rich to step on them when he came in so I leaned over to retrieve them. I reached them okay but then there I was, hovering over the edge of the bed and I found myself wondering if I was going to be able to heave myself back up because the bed is kind of high off the floor. Sure enough, when I went to pull myself up, the momentum dumped the rest of me over the side. This wouldn't have been so bad except for the nightstand with the brass latch on the door and I knocked my head right into that latch, hitting myself behind the right ear. Mercy that hurt! I called for Rich to help me get some ice and I went to sleep with an icebag on my head. (Turns out this is a good way to cool off for anyone who tends to overheat. Not me yet, but I intend to remember this for later on.)

Since then, it hurts only when I touch it, but the next day, I was on the phone with a co-worker and kept referring to the wrong regulation than what we were trying to discuss which sounded like this:

Me: Are you familiar with the SAFE Act?
She: Yeah, kind of. Isn't that about registering mortgage loan originators?
Me:  Oops, that's not what I wanted to talk about... Umm, how about risk based pricing notices required by the FACT Act?
She: Oh right. Doesn't that apply to the Finance Company?
Me: Yep, that's right. So... we're working on the privacy policy for this.
She: What!?
Me: Oh dear. Risk based pricing, that's right! Here's the thing...

So I told her I probably got brain damage from the night before and explained what happened. After laughing her head off, she suggested maybe I need to eat lunch first since it was 11:30 already, then we could talk about it afterwards, so we ended up meeting at Kaleidoscope Pizza.

And look who we ran into!

Cool, huh? If I hadn't fallen out of bed I would not have gotten to meet Chris Dudley!!!

So I suppose we can say everything happens for a reason...

Chris Dudley is the Republican candidate for Oregon governor and a former NBA player (go Trailblazers!).

I also want to clear up that I don't normally wear "prison stripes" but we had dressed for Halloween that day at work (Friday Oct 29th) and I went as French Painter. I did have the presence of mind to pull the black beret off prior to the picture being taken and I'd left the paintbrush and pallete at work.

Post election day update: It took two days to call the winner for governor; Dudley was ahead by 2% until all votes were completely counted and by Wednesday evening it was clear Kitzhaber won by 2%. Makes me realize how apathy in the elections ends up with effects we may not be happy with and how important it can be to pay attention early and TALK about our views - help other apathetic people to care about the issues!

A View of Autumn

October opened with bright warm days and progressed into cold nights and warm days with smatterings of rain throughout. By now, the trees have put out marvelously colored leaves on display.

Grants Pass on NW A Street

Moving to Oregon at age 19, I had never spent a winter without ice and snow. That first summer was completely dry, then it began to rain at the end of September and didn't seem to let up until spring. I had the odd sense that we had completely skipped past winter. We do get the odd bit of snow now and then, but it's nearly always melted by mid-day.

My idea of stormy days while growing up were for snugging in and working on projects. Our school had three-week breaks between each quarter (eight weeks during the summer) which meant that our winter break was quite cold and often stormy - with any luck, ha! Mom would urge us to hurry through our daily chores in the mornings so that we could work on our projects in the afternoons. This could be quilting, embroidery, crocheting, macrame (yep, it was the 70's), painting... pretty much whatever we wanted to work on assuming we had the supplies on hand, or else we'd pick some things up the next time we went to town. Our house had a wood-burning furnace in the basement that did a fine job of heating - especially when sitting next to the chimney or a register!

There have been many times over the years when I would eye the rainy, cold winter day and wished I were home quilting with some hot tea rather than being at work. I still appreciated the change in seasons though since I felt it would otherwise be quite monotonous.

I realize now that I somewhere along the line, my thoughts on this had changed. A lot of it had to do with shopping for the same groceries year-round. It also had a lot to do with the year we got a dog. As a pup, she needed daily walks, and during the summer, she often got two. But as the rains came in the fall and the days shortened, it became miserable, not to mention somewhat dangerous as our street is on a steep, winding hill with no sidewalks or adequate lighting. I really dreaded winter. After her first couple of years she no longer required daily walks, especially with her "invisible fence" collar which allows her to run around in a nice large perimeter.

Although I didn't have to walk in the dark and rain anymore, I had fallen into the habit of viewing the change to colder weather with negativity and was thinking that it would be all right to live in a mono-climate.

My visit to Iowa last month rebooted my perspective. I had not been back to the Midwest during autumn since I'd moved out here. So we attended the Fall Festival in Kalona which is a weekend gathering of the community.

It is held annually the last weekend of September at Kalona's historical village which also contains the town's visitor center and the Mennonite Museum. So the Fall Festival adds food  booths, run mainly by churches and other non-profit groups, as well as a variety of vendors selling wares either merchandise from their shops, handcrafted items, or antiques. There are also demonstrationsof activities such as chainsaw sculptures being made, field corn being shelled and ground into cornmeal which is then available for purchase, and apple butter being made over an open fire. They had a large galvanized metal bin with shelled field corn for the kids to play in. Here is a photo of Isabel and Zoe playing in it. Wow, that corn makes a lot of white dust!

I noticed this event was an opportunity for people in the community to be able to interact with each other. It also seems to serve the purpose of celebrating the harvest, the culmination of everyone's hard work over the previous months, growing crops in fields and household gardens.

All at once I realized what autumn has to offer - harvest time is a time of gathering and preserving and it gives a sense of the reprieve winter has to offer. I found myself looking forward to pulling out sweaters and scarves and wooly socks.

And this time when the rains came, I looked out at the sky, the trees and grass, and gave thanks that all these things work together for the benefit of the earth and for the people. I also baked muffins and pulled out my knitting. Ah, life is good!

The Great American Afghan Project

Marji and I decided to do our own little "knit-along" so we're doing The Great American Afghan, a sampler type blanket with 25 blocks, each in its own pattern. Our plan is for each of us to knit one block per month, and in two years, we'll each have a complete afghan!

Here are the colors I have selected in a bamboo/wool blend... I'm going with an analogous color scheme using shades of blues and greens. It feels so soft!

And here's a pic of Marji's wonderful Peruvian Highland wool. It's also feels pretty soft, especially for being 100% wool.  

She's got a swift and ballwinder - good thing since her wool came in hanks. 

The girls having fun with Halloween eyes!

So... October is block one!