Thursday, April 17, 2014

A New Type of Bird Call

This past Monday was very nice here.  The temperature was in the middle seventies.  The next day didn't start out as nice and it was cold when I left work that evening.  It snowed overnight.

I had to scrape my car off, but I didn't mind because the sky was clear and the sun was shining.  It also seemed like there were several birds in the area:  a robin, a cardinal and a chickadee.  Then I saw a Northern Mockingbird laid on the electrical line.  It was just one bird.  


Here's a link to its page at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  The bird sang his songs again as I worked at the ice and snow:  a robin, a cardinal, a chickadee, a blue jay, a car alarm.  A car alarm?  I guess the bird liked the sound.

It's another bird that flashes white wing patches.  


Coming home that night I passed a young man wearing a kilt in a green dress plaid running along the side of the road.  That is not a common sight in upstate New York.  I didn't recognize it as a local band tartan.



Saturday, April 5, 2014

Stash-Less Knitting

I've been trying to knit from my stash since losing my most well-paid job in 2009.  It doesn't seem to be working for the project below.


This is Greta by Christina Wall.  I have a lovely knit batik dress that I need a vest to wear with it.  I thought this vest would look very nice with it.  I thought I'd be able to use my teal worsted wool with it.  No, the green in the leaf pattern is not teal.  I think I unearthed a hank of yarn that was called spruce green when I bought it.  It sort of looked like teal, though.  It didn't go with the dress, either.  The only yarn I know is spruce green is in the cedar chest that's currently covered up with boxes.  Finding it will have to wait for a little while.  I think of the other color in the pattern as purple, but I'm pretty sure that's not what it is.  It might be sort of a plum.  I might have a hank near to it in color to use as a guide.   *Sigh*

All I've been able to do is think about knitting.  I'm allergic to dust and off my partial allergy shot  treatment for 3 years.  My body was not very happy with the heating season this year.  I was too muddle-headed to want to knit.  I knew I'd probably mess something up.  I'm feeling a little better now. 

While I haven't been able to knit, I used my thoughts to pursue my other avocation of genealogy.  I recently bought a month's subscription on Genealogybank.  Even though it's the same old story that a site is only as good as the resources it has on your family (as in none for the Indiana relatives),  I am finding information for paternal relatives in Massachusetts.  I hope I find some information for a cousin's family in New York.