We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us. ~ Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 – 1949)
When I am Old…
I shall wear turquoise and soft gray sweatshirts…
and a bandanna over my silver hair….
and I shall spend my Social Security checks on
sweet wine and my dogs….
and sit in my house on my well-worn chair
and listen to my dogs’ breathing
I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night
and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow…
and when people come to call,
I will smile and nod as I show them my dogs…
and talk of them and about them…
the ones so beloved of the past
and the ones so beloved of today…
I still will work hard cleaning after them
and mopping and feeding them
and whispering their names in a soft, loving way.
I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat, like a jewel
and I will be an embarrassment to all…
and my family…
who have not yet found the peace
in being free to have dogs as your best friends…

These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall…
and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep,
to greet you as if you are a god.
With warm eyes full of adoring love and hope that you will stay
and their big, strong necks…
and kiss their dear sweet heads…
and whisper to their very special company…
I look in the mirror…
and see I am getting old….
this is the kind of woman I am…
and have always been.
Loving dogs is easy,
they are part of me,
accept me for who I am,
my dogs appreciate my presence in their lives..
when I am old this will be important to me…
you will understand when you are old…
and if you have dogs to love too.
-Author Unknown
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. ~ Josh Billings
There hasn’t been much knitting around here lately. I’ve been working too much and spend my weekends catching up on chores and spending quality time with the furry family.
When I arrive home from work I often see this:

That always brings a smile to my face after a long day.
We went to the dog park yesterday and Sadie was so happy she couldn’t stop barking with joy:

Kishka enjoyed the fresh air, too:

I recently acquired some new yarn. Now I just need to find the time to knit it:

If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. ~ Phil Pastoret
Knitting Math

PLUS

EQUALS

Continuing on:

PLUS

EQUALS

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. ~ Aristotle
Fall is in the air, so it’s the perfect time for a new pair of socks to come off the needles.
These socks are called the Colorado Sunset socks. That’s because these socks began as a picture I took last spring.
A couple of days later I set out to recreate the sunset colors in yarn.
The sock blank looked promising.
The socks delivered on that promise.
A sprint to the finish.
Back in May, I cast on a baby blanket for a close friend of mine.
Two weekends ago, the blanket looked like this:
This was also just seven days before her baby shower.
Ack!
All that week I came home from work and knit the evening away. On Saturday (the day before the shower), I knit all day and far into the night. I took a four hour break to sleep and continued knitting on Sunday morning. 30 minutes before I had to leave for the shower, I finished the blanket:
The mother loved it and it was a big hit at the shower.
I tend to procrastinate, but I’ve never cut a knitting deadline this close. I still can’t believe I finished it.
Details are on my Ravelry page.
I haven’t knit since I cast off this blanket, but I’ve been eyeing all the socks I have in progress.
I think the sock bug is about to bite me.
In summer, the song sings itself. ~ William Carlos Williams
I’m still taking pictures! Here’s a random collection of some recent ones:
Some seriously cool sock yarn (and it’s going to stripe!):
A pink cloud at sunset:
A cool odometer reading (I warned you these pictures were random!):
Sadie had a bath today. She was not amused:
Her life isn’t all misery, though. She’s been enjoying summer:
Kishka has also been enjoying the nice weather:
She especially likes digging and then ends up with dirt on her nose:
It’s been pretty rainy here lately (well, for us, not compared to someplace like Seattle) and that has made the prairie very green and full of wildflowers:
















































