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!

Knitting! It's a lot more fun once you know how...

I'm sitting at the Mile High Grill at the Denver airport as I draft this, having a Hazed and Infused microbrew.

On the first leg of my flight to Iowa, I pulled out a new skein of yarn and size five double point needles and cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves. I adore multi tasking, so knitting while watching a movie or while listening to a podcast or audiobook seems like excellent time management, but knitting without the extra stimulation allows my mind to unwind. I don't always appreciate this - I have found times when I really would rather not be alone with my thoughts.

Starting on fingerless gloves...

But happily, today was not one of those times and I found myself revisiting the day I learned to knit. It was Superbowl Sunday in 2007. While I knew how to crochet, having learned as a girl and did various projects over the years, in my late teems quilting overtook everything else as a favorite activity. (Well... except for reading of course!) But I found cotton fabrics more appealing than acrylic yarns.

Somewhere along the line over the years, I realized that Marji had learned to knit and was making some very lovely items. When they were planning a visit to Oregon in the winter of 2007, I finally decided this was the time for me to learn. So I gave her a warning ahead of time.

Her response was enthusiastic, "Okay!" And she brought me some scrap yarn and an assortment of long aluminum knitting needles.

But first, it was mandatory to go shopping for yarn for a proper Project. I had decided on a scarf and the prior week was spent Googling scarf patterns, printing out a couple, and making a Plan. Aha! A whole new opportunity for shopping!  I hadn't anticipated this! But, there are so many knitting accessories that, you know, one can't pass up...

We headed to Websters in Ashland. Oh. My. Goodness. Yarn has really changed since the late 1970's! Ooh la la, such textures! Such colors! I couldn't stop touching! And, it was really, really difficult to finally choose something. I finally settled on a Nubby Texture in a blue, teal, and purple colorway, and it was SO SOFT!

On to the knitting bit... Marji demonstrated a cast on. What?? How am I going to remember how to that after she leaves?! After all, you only do it once, then not again until you start a new project. Well, in theory as it turns out. So picking up a knitting "how to" book at the yarn shop was actually a brilliant idea (when Marji suggested it, I was thinking, "Why? Isn't she teaching me?) Because, as it happens, one must cast on every time one rips one's work out to start over because somehow, several rows down, the number of stitches has mysteriously changed. And not always in the same way. Which, for a while I thought, heck, it should all come out reasonably well in the end! Trouble was, there's also a mistake called Dropped Stitches, and this will unravel back to the beginning if it isn't fixed at some point. Which I didn't know how to do, just that it involved a crochet hook. I have some of those! The skinny ones are handy for opening bathroom doors in our house when it's been accidentally locked with nobody inside. Or when kids have locked themselves in and who knows what they're up to...

So I became adept at casting on in spite of myself. I also frequently forgot which way to wind the yarn when making a knit stitch, thus the book was a Good Thing.

After feeling relatively confident with the scrap yarn = easy to see stitches, I cast on with my Nubby Textured yarn = hard to see stitches. Cool! The mistakes won't show.

Oh. Now when I would get a different number of stitches than when I started, I had no idea of where the mistake was. Dang! Pull it back out and start again. Oh no! Nubby Textured yarn doesn't rip out like regular plain old boring yarn... okay, take it out carefully, stitch by stitch.

Do it again.

And again...

Okay, done with a whole skein finally without having to start over, and you know what? It's long enough. Even if it could be longer, no way am I going to dip into the second skein when I can be done!!

Next project: A shawl. Rich and I were anticipating the upcoming Black White and the Blues art benefit auction in March and I needed a little something to go over my shoulders to go with my little black dress.

Yarn: A fabulous "eyelash" yarn in browns and blacks. A pattern book, and size 15 straights.

Oh my goodness, these needles are awkward and long and I can't make them behave properly. Kind of like the smaller sized straights, only worse. I end up holding the left one under my arm, and maneuver the right one, but even so, when nearing the end of a row, the rest of the stitches slide right off. And eyelash yarn? Even harder to keep straight than Nubby Textured yarn. I comment on this to Marji during a phone call. "That's another reason people like circular needles - they're shorter and easier to handle."

Well! And here I thought circulars were only for knitting round stuff.

So, off for another shopping opportunity. I purchased a set of beautiful bamboo circular size 15 needles, and sure enough, much easier to use. Still had to be careful though, eyelash yarn tends to "stack" and you easily can knit into two stitches at once by mistake. I counted stitches on every row.

I did take an unexpected trip to Iowa that month for Grossmommie Nisly's funeral and this gave me travel time to work on the shawl, plus get help from Marji.

At the airport, a lady was watching me. "That looks like a challenge."
Me: "It is. I only learned how to knit three weeks ago and I'm having a bit of trouble with this yarn."
Lady: "Why don't you work on something easier?"
Me: "Because I need to wear it next week..."

Uh, well, sometimes we like a challenge. Do we not?

It brings to mind something I read recently: A "knitter" keeps going even when it gets frustrating.  :)

The shawl did turn out nicely. Even though I found a dropped stitch somewhere in the middle when I went to wear it. Hmm... Masking tape didn't seem appropriate for this type of clothing repair (works well for hems though)... I know! A small binder clip will hold it in place. Which it did for the next year and a half before I finally caught Marji for help with it. She studied it, then asked for a sewing needle and black thread to stabilize it (remember funny yarn = can't see mistakes). Why didn't I think of that!
 

Brutus the Military K9

Here is a story I received from my friend Lori, author unknown:

I thought you might like to know about this dog and his story....



This is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord..

He's huge - part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. Brutus is running toward me [the author] because he knows I have some Milk Bone treats, so he's slobbering away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got to me in case he couldn't stop, but he did. Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq . His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant 'go away but come back and find me'. The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. He then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and untied his handler and they all escaped. He's the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows you're ok, he's a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap.

Enjoys the company of cats..

K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor Winner

Talk about animal intelligence and bonding with humans!

Remember that they can't do a lot of things for themselves and that they depend on you to make their life a quality life!

Instructions for properly hugging a baby:

1. First, uh, find a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you found was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques.

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.

4. The 'paw slide': Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult and patented 'hug, smile, and lean' so as to achieve the best photo quality.

Suz here:  I found this to be quite inspirational!  ...enough to post anyway...  :)

Self-Awareness - Sometimes it can just bite you

So a couple of weeks ago, my sister Marjorie and her family (hubby and two little girls who were just about to turn 7 and 3) were visiting which is always a delight. I took a day off work to spend with them and had a great time. Here is a photo of me and my nieces:

Suz, Zoe, & Isabel

The whole day was fun, but we did finally get to go to a yarn shop in Jacksonville called Llamas and Llambs.

Llamas & Llambs in Jacksonville, OR

We'd been trying to go for the past several times they've been here and seemed to always hit the day it was closed so usually ended up going to Webster's in Ashland. Get it, like knitting a web... oh well, never mind... :) after which we came back to Grants Pass by wandering through the Applegate Valley which is invariably a nice drive. We picked up a take-n-bake pizza from Papa Murphy's, a really nice vegetarian pizza with a creamy garlic sauce, artichoke hearts, and spinach along with the normal veggie pizza veggies, and went back to my house to discuss kefir sodas, the culture of which I shared with sis, and kombucha, the culture of which she brought for me, and to eat pizza and mangoes.

When we finally returned to their house (where they were staying), I was recruited for story reading and the book chosen was called Good Morning Chick. It's about a chick that hatched from its egg and basically wandered about the farmyard to explore. When it fell into a puddle, my elder niece lamented, "Oh the frog is really mean to the chick." I thought to myself, my goodness, what kind of torture did they put into this book!?

Turns out the frog was laughing because the chick looked funny all wet.

Me: "Well Isabel, the chick does look funny."

Her face registered a look of shock - a combination of appalled and intrigued. Her eyebrows shot up, her head moved forward a little, and she formed a small smile of surprise. This reaction interested me and encouraged me to continue.

Me: "Look at him! He looks funny. And if the chick's feelings are hurt by that, then he needs to learn how to laugh at himself."

Isabel: "But the frog was mean..."

Me: "That's just a dumb old frog anyway. Who cares what he thinks?!"

Isabel smiled wide.

Her initial comment made me worry that she herself likely feels criticism deeply rather than being able to easily laugh things off. On the other hand, I was impressed with her insight to the pain of others, and her desire to protect and be nice to people.

I said what I did to help her be able to deal with insensitive comments that will find their way to her throughout her life. But later on, it occurred to me that an unpleasant outcome would be if Isabel were to take this as, "It's okay to be mean to others because they just shouldn't be so sensitive."

It reminds me of another scenario where self-awareness can have a negative side effect - in fashion, when we have little regard for how we look in our clothes, makeup, accessories, etc., we also don't really notice those details on others. But sheesh, as soon as I began to pay attention to dressing for my specific body type (thanks to missussmartypants.com), I right away began to notice whether others are dressing according to their body types. Dang! I don't want to notice that kind of thing on others! Can I not develop self-awareness without an equal awareness of others?

So back to the sensitivity bit: I do believe it is possible to be sensitive to others' feelings without being too touchy about other people's actions towards us. Maybe that takes another follow-up dose of self-awareness though...

What would be worse, in any case, is being one who comes off as rude to others ("they just need to toughen up") while taking offense easily at what is said to them. Oy vey.

Local Produce

I have been becoming more and more aware of the implications of eating "locally." About a year and a half ago, our friend Katie recommended the book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It is the story of a family who moved from a suburban area of Arizona back to the author's roots in the Appalachians of Virgina. I found the audio version of the book at the local library and avidly listened to it during my half hour daily commute to and from work.

While the story would have been way more amusing if it were "city slickers" moving to the country, it was still entertaining enough to hear about the project undertaken by this family: to eat nothing but locally grown food for a whole year. This was defined ahead of time by them as food grown within a 100 mile radius of their home, and could either be grown by themselves or others. Besides their story, the book also includes facts about all sorts of things, some of them quite scientific (book is co-authored by Kingsolver's scientist husband, Steven L. Hopp) as well as various recipes organized by the season in which the food was readily available from local sources. This is where I got the instructions to make mozarella cheese that was so cool to make. The recipe is called "30-Minute Mozzarella - what's the risk there! Even though it did take a little longer than 30 minutes. Even better was that I already had a packet of "acid blend" from my wine making supplies and all I needed to track down was rennet. I ordered it online. The website is also a wonderful resource: www.animalvegetablemiracle.com.
The book gave me a perspective I had never really considered: how much fuel energy is consumed by moving our food hundreds, oftentimes thousands of miles. It seems like such a waste of resources.

I did subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) produce box two summers ago. While I really enjoyed it - I was one of the "I can't wait to see what all I have this week and how can I creatively use it up or preserve it for later in the year!" people rather than the "Oh crap, now what do I do with all this?" people - it was a little daunting and took some energy. Since then I have taken a position at the bank I work for that is more demanding and I have decided I am better off not being beholden to pre-arranged produce for a 20-week stretch. I still remember all the eggplant I received that summer and ended up making several pint jars of "eggplant preserve" that we're still using up. (Don't tell Rich and Aidan this is the jam in their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they may not like it anymore!)

I have since been much more consistent with visiting the local Grower's Markets, both in Grants Pass on Saturdays and in Medford (where I work) on Thursdays because I do adore getting fresh, local produce. It just seems to work better for me to get it on demand.

So imagine my delight when I read of a new produce opportunity a couple of weeks ago in the Daily Courier. This is called Rogue Valley Local Foods found at www.localfoodmarketplace.com/roguevalley/ and puts local farmers in direct contact with buyers. Each week on Thursdays, the website is updated with the produce each farmer will have available the following week. We can order online through Tuesday the following week (until limits have been reached), at which time the farmers see what has been ordered, harvest on Wednesday, and get the food to the central distribution center where is is parceled out and then delivered to one of three drop-off points on Thursday. There is a Medford and Central Point drop-off and in Grants Pass it's at Club Northwest and may be picked up until 6:30 p.m.

Okay, so my order this week consisted of: Beets (with their greens), Turnips, Peas, and a clump of Italian Parsley. All this really did nearly fill up a cloth grocery bag and came to a total of.... $7.23! This is maybe the first time ever that I have felt like buying local produce was less expensive than that found in the grocery store. Not that I'm price-driven... exactly. But there does come a point. :)

Just check out the picture here:
Cool, huh? I cut off the beet greens (they're in the plastic bag) and decided if I can't eat all of that while it's fresh, it may freeze well. It's worth a try... it works for spinach! As long as it's sauteed or added to other cooked food, soups, etc. rather than eating raw...

What Makes Us Unhappy? ...or Happy?

I have had jobs in the customer service field for many years, starting with fast food ending with banking. There was a common theme: unhappy customers. And happy customers!

So what was the difference? Why would one person be so upset about an overdraft fee while another would shrug off a whole slew of them?

Admittedly there have been far more examples of these situations in banking than in fast food. Although there was the time I dropped a glass of soda in a guy's lap - that was way embarrassing and maybe even more so for him than for me, I'm really not sure! But I have concluded people get far more emotional about their money than their food.

But still the question remained: Why did the same situation seemingly have such a different impact on some people than others?

I finally concluded it all has to do with one criteria, that is, whether or not a given scenario matches the person's expectations.

Think about it. Whenever someone is upset about something, it's because reality is differing from what he or she had expected to happen. I can't really think of a scenario where this is not the case. The overdraft fees? Some people know about the fees and understand what happens when they don't pay attention to their account balances, and thus the fees don't cause a surprise or undo angst. Others are so taken aback, they have difficulty coping without erupting in an undesirable manner.

Last summer prior to taking a new position at the bank where I currently work, I was nervous about the very real possibility that I might not be able to deal with the additional stress that was certain to follow if I took this job. I had gone through a great deal of stress when I worked at Wells Fargo and was loving the current lack of pressure. The only problem was I noticed that my tolerance for stress was way low; even very small problems tended to give me anxiety that could be quite challenging to work through.

I was excited at the prospect of new responsibilities and growth opportunities. But how would I cope with a compliance exam from the federal regulators for example, when I was having difficulty with... traffic?? I needed to work through this dilemma and found myself discussing the situation with my accupuncturist. Greg immediately referred me to a book he had read that he thought might help and wrote down the title and author for me: "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie. I ordered it from Amazon.com that evening.

This book is all about realizing it is possible to feel at peace... no matter what the scenario. It TOTALLY felt like my prior perspectives were stood on their head as I worked my way through the examples. It has been so helpful to me! It puts great meaning behind the common saying, "It is what it is," while helping one really feel okay about it rather than feeling resigned which is short for feeling depressed. :)

I've been in this job for almost a year, and have managed very well. I'm so glad I had the courage to try. And I remind myself that the only reason upset feeling occur is because I was expecting something else and the reality is probably okay. It's turning out to be a pretty good philosophy...