Looking to Tomorrow

Squidette just tried on her outfits for next week. Friggen kid grew!

Made a quick call to friend whose daughter was Bat Mitzvah'ed at the same synagogue. Her outfits were shorter. Phew!

Still have to knock off some of Saturday's to do list while accomplishing Sunday's list. Did I mention that I am beat? Spent much of Friday patrolling my new school. It exhausted me but it was a nice "did a good day's work" kind of exhaustion.

Just found a CD we've been looking for for several weeks. It was right where it should have been -- but it was the wrong color.

Hoping your To Do list gets shorter and shorter ...

To Do

Honest to goodness, this is the to do list that is currently on my Palm pilot for today. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.) I will strike out the completed items, periodically, as I return home to drop of packages and such. It is almost entirely in preparation for next weekend.

Will it all get done?

Sat. Sept 13

To Do / Get

cake decorating store
back to school shopping - me! only got one outfit
Socks so the girls can shed their heels at the party -- got really funky ones
lip gloss she's growing up ...
pantyhose
water proof mascara yes, I'm a big sap
mousse to hold Squidette's hair in place
books The Great Gatsby in the correct edition for Squidette's English class
pay for bus just have to mail it
thank note
Little Squid haircut
stamps need many more for thank you notes
bank
tissues!
pay bills
iron Little Squid's shirts and khakis
hem Little Squid's suit pants obnoxious kid slimmed down! Hem is a little awkward because I made it really deep hoping to get a few more wearings out of it.
tell Little Squid not to grow for another 3 weeks - not until after Yom Kippur
CD's for car!!! yea, like that's not going to happen
laundry and did some lace knitting while it dried
art essay
call Aunt re: cousin in TX left message, keeping fingers crossed

added:

Whole Foods
Library

New School Year ...

... New School

Yes, I have a new job. I spent much of the summer looking and finally landed at the Academy of Environmental Sciences Secondary School. My placement was made official today. Yes, I am very happy. Yes, I plan on starting a knitting club just as soon as I get settled and after the Bat Mitzvah. Now I'm going to eat some more leftover birthday pie ...

And the Youngest Gets Older

Yes, another sappy birthday post. An open letter to my son on his birthday.

Dear Little Squid,

From the moment you entered our lives you filled our days with joy and laughter. From proclaiming "there must be squid around here somewhere," to losing the mitten from the hand holding your lunch box, to all your sweet, heartfelt hugs ... You are loving and kind and talented and oh, so smart.

Along with your sister, you make this family whole.
May this year bring you sunshine and happiness!

Happy Birthday, Little Squid!

(and Happy Birthday, Cousin Squid (pictured above in the arms of Little Squid))

How do You Manage ...

... to be a mother, work away from home, ride your bike, maintain a home and still knit? This question was posed by a loyal reader the other day and I thought I would share my answer with you.

Simply put, I don't cook and I don't clean. Except the kitchen after dinner. I pay someone else to clean my apartment (she does a much better job then I do) and Mike does most of the cooking. I do laundry once a week (usually, this week is an exception) and knit or spin while it is drying.

I bring simple knitting with me everywhere and use it to fill in wait time. Today I started turning a heel while waiting on line at Staples after gathering yet another load of school supplies for Little Squid. I finished it while waiting for Squidette to finish her Bat Mitzvah rehearsal.

That said, I did absolutely no knitting Friday, Saturday or Sunday this past week. Not a stitch. But I did finish warping my loom and wove a few inches. I also spent considerable time preparing for Sunday's bike ride and then spent all day riding on Sunday.

There you have it. Somehow it all gets done but you can see where my priorities lie.

Squid on Wheels -- The New York City Century 2008

Today was the 19th annual New York Century , A century, for those of you not in the know, is a 100 mile bike ride. The New York Century ride features five routes, ranging from 15 to 100 miles. This is the third time that Team Squid has participated in the ride and the furthest that we have ridden. We have now done the 35, 55 and 75 mile portions and no, we will not be doing the 100 next year -- we have an affair to attend that weekend , we'll try to find a different Century to ride -- maybe the Covered Bridges Metric Century in Lancaster.

I'd be lying if I said the ride was perfect. The kids got tired but were determined to finish. We offered to abort several times but they both insisted on continuing. Even after a bike fell on Squidette (she was sitting on the grass at a rest stop and my bike tipped over on her) she kept going.

Injuries were minor -- a branch scratched Little Squid's arm and I have some friction burns where my legs meet my saddle. (There is also some mild sunburn. Even our super duper sunblock can't beat 11 hours in the sun.)

Equipment malfunctions were non existent. 5 bikes (we had a friend riding with us), 10 tires and zero flats. Pretty amazing.

Now we are a bit sore, a tad tired but hey, we did it! 85 miles total including the ride to the subway to get to the start and the ride all the way home.

6:15 a.m. (Notice the new jerseys -- large Squid on the back, of course)Times Square -- about 7:00 a.m.

The Cyclone -- around 11:30 a.m.

The Kissena Park Velodrome (that's Little Squid on the track) -- around 1:00 p.m.

The Finish Line, 79 miles later -- about 5:00 p.m.

Honorary Squid -- He planned on riding the 35, maybe the 55, and stayed with us for the entire 75 (really 79).

Squid on Wheels -- High Bridge and the Croton Aqueduct

Our intention was to ride at least 40 miles this weekend in preparation for next week. (Don't ask, you'll just call the wrath of Huricane Hannah down on us.) You know what they say about the best laid plans, don't you ... let it sufficce to say that Little Squid got a migraine just before we were supposed to leave on Sunday.

The day was spent, instead, experimenting with headache relieving pressure points (verdict: they kind of work, if only to distract the sufferer for a while) and then shopping for (Mama and Squidette) and then assembling some furniture for Little Squid's room. I also hid the ends on Squidette's shrug. We decided that blocking was a futile endeavor.

Monday dawned bright and sunny and we set out to log at least 20 miles (note, we only achieved 19 due to various frustrations including a water bottle bent on suicide and a flat tire).

We did, however, finally get to High Bridge Park and introduced the kids to the High Bridge water tower and the Croton Aqueduct / High Bridge. The links do a much better job of explaining the important history of this site than I can. To sum it up, the High Bridge / Croton Aqueduct was built in 1848 (making it the oldest surviving bridge in New York City). It had a most important function, destined as it was to carry fresh drinking water into a city plagued with fires and disease. Cholera was a big one back then. The path to the bridge has been renovated and the bridge is now undergoing repair. It is supposed to open, once again, to pedestrian and bike traffic in two or three years. One will then be able to walk / ride the length of the entire Croton trail from the lowest reservoir (42nd Street and 6th Avenue) to the highest (Croton, NY).

High Bridge as seen from the plaza by the water tower.


High Bridge as seen through the hole in the gate that blocks access.


Structure preventing access to the bridge.


The High Bridge Water Tower as seen from the entry to High Bridge.

Mike -- stuck between and rock and ... yup, you guessed it ... a hard place.

Icarus

After carefully examining the suggested patterns, I decided to go with Icarus, as suggested by Cookie. It is reasonably solid and hence chaste enough to do what I need it to do in synagogue. I'll secure it with a hair stick, most likely so I am not futzing with it during services. One of the drawbacks of being the parent of the Bat Mitzvah girl is that I have to sit facing the congregation -- so everyone will see if I fidget.It is a small rendition of Icarus, only 36 inches on the diagonal and about 32 inches from center back to tip. Yarn is Artyarns Regal Silk, roughly a DK weight, in color 131. I bought 8 skeins and used 3 and a smidge. It took me a month to complete -- mainly because I had to rip it out from a much bigger place and then messed up picking up the stitches ... so I had to go back to the very beginning and restart.

Now I'm debating returning or weaving the rest. If I weave it at 8 epi then I can easily get a 20 inch wide shawl that is 5 feet long ... tempting. But first I have to hide the ends on and block Squidette's shrug. That'll occupy my loom space for a day or two.

Squid On Wheels -- 2008 Mileage Contest

It's that time of year again. Time to guess how many miles we Squid will ride by October 31, 2008. Current and past totals are posted in the sidebar.

Contest entries must be posted in the comments section to this post by 11:00 P.M. Saturday, September 6, 2008. Prizes include sock yarn, chocolate and assorted swag.

Remember, these are miles ridden as a family and do not count miles ridden by the adults alone. Mileage may include those ridden as one adult and two kids.

Contest is open to family members with the understanding that the prizes may be altered to suit the needs of the winner. Feel free to enter even if you do not knit.

Regular blogging, of a sort, should resume tomorrow.

That is all.

Let Them Eat Cake

The prototype ...

This, naturally, left us with a whole lot of cake. What to do? What to do?

First we hit all of the neighbors on our floor. Then we took the top layer to the lobby and sat for an hour and gave out cake.
It was fun. We made lots of people happy and now only have the two 9 inch layers to "dispose" of. (The remaining top layer is going to another family on our floor as soon as they get home.)

Now ... I think I need some cake ...

Ready ...

It's still 4 weeks away but we are getting ready. I may be in charge of the knit goods but that all pales in comparisson to what Mike is in charge of ...

the baked goods. This is the start of the trial run.

(That's a 16 inch cake next to two nines and an eight.)

Squid on Wheels -- International Edition -- The Food

As you well know, we squid take our food very seriously. While traveling, we do our best to partake of local cuisine. We even go to the extreme of trying to track down good local food on the road.

Our first food foray of the trip was to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor in Chestertown, New York.Wonderful food in a homey setting. We did not indulge in ice cream since we wanted to get back on the road fairly quickly.

On our first full day in Montreal, we did quite a bit of biking and needed to refuel before our attempt on Mount Royal. Serious exercise calls for serious food, in this case smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz's Deli.

We did take out and dined al fresco at the base of Mount Royal.

And then comes the question -- why does one climb a mountain? The answer, supplied by my husband, "for the ice cream of course!" No pictures of that indulgence. We ate while walking back up to the peak because Little Squid and I felt that the point of riding a bike up the mountain was to get to the peak -- which Mike bypassed after toping out on the trail just meters below the peak. Silly us, we followed. Do'h! We then had to reascend about half a kilometer to get to the actual summit.

Lunch the next day was at a diner and included a plate of poutine. That's french fries covered in gravy and cheese curd to you Americans. It was surprisingly addicting. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised since there was a serious poutine following before we joined the bandwagon. I just didn't expect to really, really like it!

Dinners were fantastic though not photographed. We had lots of French, some Polish and some touristy food, including crepes and fondue in Quebec City.

A little chocolate fondue to end the meal

Midday snacks were plentiful and consisted mostly of ice cream,

Maple Ice Cream!!! With maple sugar bits in it!!!

but had the occasional local specialty thrown in to mix it up. (No picture of the maple coronets consumed in Quebec City.) Keep in mind that the maple ice cream was local, so it counts.
And once we reached New Hampshire ... there were blackberries!

Squid on Wheels -- International Edition

These little booklets were obtained 3 years ago in anticipation of a trip that did not happen. They have finally been used.We took the kids out of the country using the second lamest method. We went to Canada. (Canadians, read on -- I am NOT dissing your country, great place, watch me rave)

What's the first lamest method, you ask?





(wait for it)





(wait some more)




(a little more won't hurt you)




The first lamest method of getting out of the country is ...



walking across town and taking a tour of the United Nations. Which we really should do.

But seriously, Canada is not at all lame. It's got wonder food, great history, mountains to climb and of course some of the most "famous" bloggers of the knit blogging world. You know who they are, I don't have to link. And if you don't know then you probably don't care.

What did we do in Canada?

Well, we did what we Squid do best -- we rode our bikes. At least in Montreal.

We rode on the waterfront.

We rode on greenways.

We rode in the streets. (In really well delineated bike paths.)

And we rode up the mountain.
Look! We made it all the way to the peak without stopping!

We got rained on at the top and descended on a rather muddy path. No pictures of the kids with their backs spattered in muck. (The parents were mostly spared as we have racks on the back of our bikes which protect us from the spray from the back tire.)

There's more but you will just have to wait for me to put it all together. We're back now and gearing up for another school year. And a big party in just over a month. Lots to do!

Blog Vacation

We interrupt this blog vacation to bring you this.

We Squid would also like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Lil' Bro, Josh. It's a little belated but I did call ... Josh, from all of us here in the Squid home, may this year be as wonderful as the last and may your new home suit you and Jaye to a T. Love you!

We now resume this blog vacation.

Squid on Wheels -- A Ride to Bayside

This morning we set out to ride to the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing Meadow - Corona Park.
No one was actually racing when we got there but we did get to circle the Unisphere.

To get to the races / park, we had to first navigate our way across Manhattan and into Queens via the famed Queensboro / 59th Street Bridge and then wend our way across Queens.

The trip out took a good two hours to go about 18 miles but we had to keep stopping to consult the map. If we do it again, it will go a lot faster.

After seeing what there was to see, we continued Northeast to my parent's apartment in Bayside. My kid brother and his wife were in town so we all visited for a few hours, swam a bit, ate some pizza and then headed home. We did not ride home, but rather rode to the terminus of the 7 train and took the subway back into Manhattan.

The 7 is my favorite train. The views of Manhattan are fantastic -- especially if you can see out the front of the train. Sadly, however, the new subway cars do not have the large windows at the front that the old ones used to. So, we had to settle for the view out the side windows instead. I tried to get some good shots but the window glass was really dirty. If you ever have a chance, take the 7 from Main Street to at least Queensboro Plaza and look out the windows facing North. You will see New York as you have never seen it before.

Today's ride: 30.7 miles.


Thanks to Dee for nominating me for a Arte y Pico award. I know that I am supposed to nominate a few blogs but my brain is a bit fried right now from the ride. I'll get back to you in a few days. Thanks, Dee!

Of Tallit and Tomatoes

Dave asked for a close up of the weave structure of the tallit.

It is a basic tabby cloth -- the easiest to weave on my rigid heddle loom. I can do other weaves and have a second heddle and heddle blocks but decided (after experimentation) that one heddle was plenty for me. Eventually I will get a larger loom with more variation but, for now, my Kromski Harp does exactly what I want to do.

On the gardening front, I made my second "major" tomato harvest. (The first harvest was last week and was served up barely cooked with some yummy cured meat and pasta.)

The big one is a Patio, the yellows are yellow plums and the smaller red ones are Tiny Tims. Below, one of the tinier Tiny Tims.
Yes, it is sitting on a quarter. And would have fit on a dime. It was delicious!

Finished! Some Weaving ...

Squidette's Tallit

Started: June 14, 2008
Finished: July 30: 2008

10 epi, 3/2 Pearl Cotton and Pearl Silk

Atarah (neckband) purchased already finished

Tzitzit (fringes on corner) hand tied on the tallit by your's truly, following instructions found online

Regular fringe made of the loom "waste" and knotted over the course of 3 days.

One end had to be rehemmed because I hemmed it in the wrong direction. (Both hems are double folded to hide the raw edges.)

Squid on Wheels-- Riding in the Rain

I've been wanting to do a Coney Island ride for several weeks now and so, this week, I set my mind to do it. Saturday was the perfect summer day, relatively cool, clear blue skies, no wind ... but I had a very tired kid due to a camp overnight. So Saturday was relegated to running some local errands and doing laundry. I also did some spinning ...
Bamboo Silk top that Susan sent me about a year ago. The one on the left is actually a pale blue and is what I was spinning (and not all of it, just the last few grams). The green has been spun up for a month or so.

Sunday "dawned" with a bang -- rather a clap, of thunder -- and it poured until shortly before the kids woke up. I was determined, however, to get out for a ride, no matter what the weather people said. I listened to all of the reports and decided to believe the one that said "no more storms until late afternoon."

And off we rode. Coney Island was out, because even I am not that stupid, and instead we did a basic breakfast ride to the Red Hook Fairway's and did a spot of geocaching a pier over.Then, out to Ikea for chocolate and cinnamon buns, and then we started home.

First we encountered a motorist who felt that we should not be taking up a lane of traffic with our bikes, "you (explicative deleted) have two children with you!" he shouted at us. Please note two things: one, we are entitled to an entire lane, by law, and were only taking the right hand side of it, except when dodging potholes, and two, the squidlings are, as you know, quite accomplished and savvy in the ways of city cycling. Mike yelled back a bit and we continued on our way.

At the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Mike asked us to "pick a bridge and a way to get there." I picked the Williamsburg Bridge and took out the map to figure out how to get there.

Please note, we were at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge which meant that it's bike entrance was only a few blocks away, as was the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge path. The Willamsburg Bridge ... we that was a mile or so away ... Yes, I was trying to stretch the ride and make it more interesting.

Interesting it was as we wended our way through Williamsburg ...

Nice quite streets.And then the thunder started. Actually it started while we were still at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was still in denial and the rest of the family was willing to buy into my delusion.

As we passed under the Manhattan Bridge, it started to drizzle. As we continued North, it became a steady rain. Finally, in desperation -- the water kept blinding me -- we pulled over into the shelter of a gas station until it let up. Pedaled another mile or so, sheltered under a highway and then finally got to and crossed the Williamsburg Bridge without another drop.

20 miles. Not bad for a rainy day.