Happy Fourth of July******

This is the long weekend we Americans look forward to. Our television station taped the Big Gig Fireworks in HDTV. I quickly ran downstairs and taped it and I am watching it as I type!!! I really love Milwaukee and the skyline at night is fantastic. We have a new Discovery world that is being built, we have the Calatrava which is my favorite building. For the fireworks they lighted the highrise (Hoen) bridge underneath and the Northwestern Mutual building offices are all lit. That is where my son works. Another building a really tall bank blacked out specific windows to make a lighted guitar, in honor of Summerfest. We also have the Dennis Sullivan, which is a handbuilt tall ship, that graces our lakefront for the summer season and then winters in Florida. The public is allowed to tour the ship daily. We have a manmade island that is a State park with 20 boat slips to dock and overnight or picnic. If you are ever traveling come and visit our wonderful city and if you live here take advantage of what we have. We tend to become complacent with what we have. If you love Festivals, we have every Ethnic festival you can think of and Summerfest is the largest music festival in the Country. We have concerts in the parks during the week and a wonderful zoo. This is also a weekend to celebrate our Freedom, be sure and Thank a Veteran for the good job they have done!!!! Have a safe and happy weekend!

Blackberries ala Bird poop!!!

Everyone warns you about Raspberry bushes and how you should never plant them in your yard for fear that they will overtake everything. The red flag comes out when you plant any and I mean any kind of mint. You can put mint in a pot and it finds a way to escape and travel like a carpetbagger all over your garden. Being the green thumb that I am not, if there is a way to plant anything wrong, I wrote the book. My herb garden is overun with Chocolate Mint...of course how could something that sounds soooo good, be evil? Another nasty, witch, is Comfrey....nice sounding, relaxing but a rebel trespasser. Roundup does nothing to kill any of these species. I even have some Stinging Nettle...a very healthy tea,, that you feel before you see it. I didn't plant that, I am not that brainless. I also can not get rid of it. Well now I have blackberries? I know better than to plant any kind of berry...not to mention my adverstion to picking any kind of berry. I had a Grandma that loved to pick berries, I on the otherhand liked to eat them. Rule number one, when picking berries with Grandma, never, and I mean never eat from the forbidden 10 gallon pail you had to drag along side of you. The pail was as tall as I was and I remember standing in the raspberry patch, which only is called that because you have to patch every darn piece of clothing you rip on the thorns. My mother ever willing to try to please berry picking Grandma was picking berries like a maniac. Filling 55 gallon drums like crazy!! Here I am standing, looking at the bush in front of me and down into the bottomless pail with three berries in it, up at the bush and down at the two berries in it. Can you see where this is going? Not to mention sand flies biting the hell out of my ears. I hate and I mean hate to pick fricking berries. Oh yes, I love to eat them, but I will forever forego eatting berries if I have to pick them. I like paying for them in their nice little plastic containers. But back then, Grandma made me pick schtinking berries. So evasive move #1..eat the berries you pick and get sick from them and throw up into the bucket...#2 stand looking at the bushes like they are aliens and you are frozen in fear of getting picked or the only one that really worked is to whine and whimper till your hero (dad) hears you...this sometimes meant loud little shrieks to get his attention, meanwhile picking the bites from the sandflies so they are bleeding down your face. Enter Dad, first off Dad and Grandma dearest never got along too well, second you didn't mess with us kids!! The minute I spy my dad coming over...yeah baby it's show time...Academy award winning acting well some acting some real trauma. My dad says "Look at her she's bleeding all over from the dam bugs biting her..what the hell is wrong with you, making her stay out here and pick GD berries. Go in the house. phew....Daddy I love you!!! But let me tell you the evil glares and the appearance of horns coming out of Grandmas head, I knew this was not over!!! So now many years later and I still hate picking berries, I have a blackberry bush from bird poop growing in my yard. Dare I say I am truley enjoying the fresh berries I am picking at my will!!!!! Little cups full at a time and I even share them, a couple berries at a time.

Art vs. Craft

That is the dilema....is it Art or is it a Craft? One may sit for long hours pondering this meager thought and then again.....no!! But it would be fun to have you stop by and say hi!! I am booth #79, there are 100 vendors and I am sure it will be fun. Besides it is indoors with Air conditioning. Albeit the logo looks a tad childlike but one year I was stationed next to a couple of girls with dildo covers? It made for interesting conversation, to say the least. I know I have been silent for a bit, but my attentions have been elsewhere. Like figuring out how to become a millionaire in a week. The air conditioner went out on my truck, so the ride home from work on the few 90 degree days we had, simply reminded me of Hooch from Turner and Hooch. I had my head out the window, one to cool down and two to avoid all the hair that was cycloning around the cab. I keep meaning to vacuum that!!! I did find if you drive fast with all the windows open, you can avoid vacuuming it up!!! I also found that any receipts that were stuck in the visor get sucked out too!!! Well stop by and check it out....MSOE Todd Wehr building.

Welcome to my kitchen

I go to this kitchen once a month and make my meals. I really like doing it this way. I make 8-10 meals, in an hour. I bring them home and freeze them and I get two meals off of each meal I prepared. I don't know about you but I have to cook for one. That sucks!!! I tend to cook for a soup kitchen and this regulates my portions a little better. It also keeps me from my love affair with Burger King...eww not that creepy one that is standing outside that guys window...how freaky is that commercial? The one with the drive through that says "May I take your order?" AAAhhhh yes, have it your way...cooked to order. The wind has shifted and a cold front has moved in Halleluiah!!!! Tomorrow I am planning on a bonfire in the fireplace outside of course. Hey, I think I finally stopped sweating!!!

Public Speaking 101

Ok, Ok, so the room is not brimming with knitters intent on getting my autograph and to hear funny wittisim about knitting and life. This talk could have went two ways...I had 27 slides...either I was going to eat chocolate and finish the speech in nano seconds, talking like I was on speed, or I was going to have them shifting cheeks, and smiling politely out of boredom and serving breakfast in the morning. It actually went, right along in a timely fashion. I didn't find myself zipping through the presentation and tried terribly hard to keep going "Uhhhmmmm or Sooooooo....". I actually took these photos before the meeting started..I was afraid nerves would get me and I would forget. Supposedly many women were to bring their sock machines....those many women ended up being Janyce, Susan, the program director and myself...I could see we were off to a good start. The presentation went off smoothly other than I got a dry throat and almost commenced to choke on my own spittle..it's always a wonderful way to break the ice in a group of people. Also not being accustomed to speaking into a microphone, and being attention deficit, I had a hard time keeping my mouth somewhere near the pick up zone, so the voice was coming through in waves of inside voice, outside voice. Add my animated hand movements and I'm sure I was drawing more attention to me than desired. Did you know there are a ton of rules for public speaking and I broke pretty much all of them. Now how do you not turn your back on someone in a U shaped seating arrangement, and figure out what slide is on the screen? How do you keep your mouth near a stationary microphone and not look around to make eye contact, without looking like Gumby? How do you avoid taking your cats favorite toy (laser pointer) hold it in your hand and not be tempted to flash it at your good friend Janyce, that is sitting right in line with the screen, just for fun...no not in her eyes....!!! Not to mention, I have an anklet of mosquito bites around my left ankle and my pants hem was tickling them just enough to cause a feroucious itching spree, that I was attempting to satisfy with my right foot. Harlot you have my blessings!!!!

Nervous Wreck

I am a nervous wreck...tomorrow I have to give a presentation, for the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild. I am giving a talk on Antique Sock machines, in front of 70-80 people. Am I becoming the "Harlot"...I don't think so...it's just a thought!!! I am getting everything ready for this great speech!!! More tomorrow!!

Is there anybody out there?

Seems I lost the few lurkers that I had? It only reiterates the fact, that I have a very boring life. I could start making things up...like uuuhhhmmm. I just finished knitting an intarsia sweater and also am working on a fishermans knit. When I finish that I will start my new line of baby sweaters, that I wrote patterns for...ehem...In real life...I am working on labels for my felted purses and hats. I made these on the computer with the new fabric/paper. It works and I am happy!!! Tuesday at the Greater Milwaukee Knitting Guild I will be putting on a sock machine presentation. with a glitch. I was told that I could use a power point presentation, when in fact, there is not projection equipment to do that. Now I am in the process of having transparencies made from the ppt. program. I think this will cost an arm and a leg? Do I forge ahead or blow it off? These are machines that are hid away in the Smithsonian Institution. I hope my idea works?? Have a good weekend!!!