San Gorgonio Wind Farm at sunset

Mom enjoying her dessert!

Bay Area Derby Girls vs. Kansas City

(see full image)

Sent from my iPhone

It only took 4 years.....

....for me to finish a piece of needlework.

Here it is:



A close up of the top:



the middle:



and the bottom:



This is the Mystery sample, which concluded after 15 parts, in December 2006 in the Embroiderers Guild of America publication Needle Arts. And it is done. Finally. I started it in 2005. I guess I had a 7 year itch to get 'er done.

At some point I'll write about why I gave up needle work for 4 years. Tonight isn't the night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bent Creek Big Zipper Part 4

Bent Creek Big Zipper Part 4
Originally uploaded by solslett.

Since I am suffering from "knitter's" elbow (that's just so wrong), I am forced to look at other outlets for my boundless creativity. The segment of my artistic life that has been sorely neglected for many years now is the needlework portion. I took a break from photo organizing and printing to work on this on Sunday. I finished the top section, known as Part 4. It felt mentally good to get something done. Physically - boy my back hurt by the end of the night. I am so out of practice. I've forgotten how little TV watching there is compared to TV hearing!

10 years ago today

Dad 1966
Originally uploaded by solslett.

Today is a day I have been trying to avoid thinking about, because today marks the anniversary of this death. He shouldn't have died when he did, but that's something we just have to live with.

Miss you, pappa. Everyday.

The perfect rose

(see full image)

Sent from my iPhone

Happy Valentine's Day

Today, my Valentine and I are celebrating 20 of these holidays together. We had our first date on Valentine's Day 1992. It was a Friday. The weather had been atrocious. It had been raining all week and I kept leaving the sunroof open on the Jeep. All that set aside, something very wonderful started that night. I'm looking forward to another 20!

Saturday Night Movie - Too Cute!

94M have seen this. I was not one of them. Love it!

New Shoes - I love Zappos.com

Good morning, Monday!

Sunday Quote

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
Vince Lombardi

Congratulations Giants on the win in Super Bowl 46. At least it was close and for once the game was more enjoyable than the commercials.

Saturday Night Movies

This guy is amazing!

Back to Basics

I think I want to try to blog on a daily basis again. We'll see how long I last. I had a format that I followed back in 2008 when I tried to Blog 365, which lasted until mid year when my world blew up a little. Besides no one said that you had to start on January 1st for it to count.

The difference between now and then is that there is a smart phone in the mix from which I can send updates. That should make it easier. We shall see.

One month down

I met some of my objectives this month. I have been taking my health more seriously and decided to go see some specialists. Best thing I've done in a while. My meds have been changed - and reduced. I feel a bit like a pin cushion with the amount of blood work that has been done, but I have more answers now then I do questions. Coming off the old meds has been more difficult than I would have thought and I am happy they are leaving my system. I feel much better than I have in a long time, but this is only the start of a new journey, not the end.

What else have I accomplished? I have read three books so far. Not bad. I have also completed four Snuggle Blankets for charity. I'm very happy that I started on this first this year. I hope I will be able to finish up a few more and take them over to ARF next month. Next, I plan on finishing up a bunch of chemo caps and getting those over to the the Halos of Hope booth at Stitches West at the end of February. I have quite a few done now, so I may also send some to Headhuggers.

I have also managed to get some scrapbooking done. I finished one calendar that I have hanging at work. I also am working on one for home and one for Kevin's office. For some reason, the last two are taking longer than I would have liked as I'm having some difficulty finding the "perfect" pictures.

I joined two online scrapbooking classes to focus some of my creativity. Both were offered through Big Picture Classes. Two designers that I have taken classes from before are leading these. One is Cathy Zielske and the Move More, Eat Well 2012 group. This is following my plan of getting some sanity back in my life as it pertains to my health. The other is Ali Edwards and her class is called One Little Word 2012. This class focuses on using one one word throughout the year that represents a goal or objective. For me, these two classes go hand in hand towards my overall goals and objectives for the year. We'll see how it goes.

The other positive outcome for January is our trip to Las Vegas. We had a very enjoyable weekend, but I think I spent too much while I was there. On the upside, I have lots of new projects to work on! Having a few days of downtime and being able to just wander and not have any deadlines was a nice break from the norm. I really like going to Vegas, especially this time of year. The weather was perfect - it was in the 60's. Just my kind of weather!

A New Start

To me, New Year's Day is always an opportunity to start fresh. It also is a time to reflect on the year that just passed.

Two personal goals for 2011 was to read and knit more than I had in the previous year. I managed to accomplish both of these objectives, one just barely.

For 2011, I read a total of 36 books. One more than I did in 2010 and three more than I did in 2009. I also wanted to expand my reading horizons and try some different authors and subject matters. I discovered Jo Nesbø, a Norwegian author who writes crime novels. I read 4 of his books this year. I also read Kurt Vonnegut for the first time. While Mortals Slept is a collection of short stories and essays that were very enjoyable. As usual, my library grew larger this year and I have over 20 books queued up and ready to go.

I was also pleasantly surprised with my year end total for my knitting. I doubled up the yardage from last year. I consumed 23,231 yards in 2011, compared to 11,594 in 2010. That is still down from 2007-2009 however. I completed 34 items in 2011, compared to 26 in 2010. That is also down compared to 2007-2009. I was also surprised that I didn't finish a single piece of needlework this year. That is the first time in my life since my fiber compulsion started when I was 7.

So, goals for this year: Buy Less Yarn. I have no hope to truly reduce the stash unless I refrain from adding to it. If I take the 2/1 or 3/1 ratio, for every 2-3 yards I consume I can buy 1, maybe I can truly reduce the total yards in the house. I also want to increase my charity knitting to reduce the stash. I have quite a bit of yarn that is perfect for charity projects.

I also want to do more scrap booking. I managed to eke out some space in the home office to do some scrap booking and accomplished that at Christmas with the creation of 5 Year In Review albums for my Mom and Aunts. I really liked how they turned out. I have a couple of calendars to get done, so I better get cracking on those today.

I also would like to compete at State Fair this year, but if I don't stitch, there won't be any projects to submit. I think I need to set aside a couple of nights a week for stitching projects. That stash has been ignored for some time now.

2012 is also the year that I plan to make a major change in a more personal way. This year it's all about getting healthy so I can get off the prescription drugs. We now have an exercise bike that I need use every day and I need to eat a balanced, healthy diet for every meal. Less processed foods, more fruits and vegetables.

It's not so much about making resolutions, it's about improving and growing. January 1st is a good place to start.

Oh - and another objective is to blog again. I really miss it, so I'm going to try to check in here more often.

Thanks for stopping by -- Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday, Freddie

It's hard to believe he's been gone 20 years - or that today he would have been 65.

OMG He's Funny

Usually at these events, I take a picture of the artist/performer, but this was one of the rare occasions the venue made a point of saying "No Recording of Anything - NOTHING".

Tim Minchin is a wonderfully talented, intelligent, insightful and funny performer. His songs are funny, but they also make you think. I have previously shared the song "Prejudice" on this blog, and he performed this last night, along with many others that are loaded on You Tube. If you haven't seen him perform, take a few minutes and go enjoy. Please note, he is not a "G" rated artist, and one of his songs which is a commentary on the Catholic Church and pedophilia is not for the faint of heart or easily offended. In other words, if you're like me and have an issue with organized religion, he's the guy for you.

His final song of the night was the song "Hallelujah", which, as he noted, only is San Francisco can get a 1,000 atheists to sing a hymn. It was almost awe inspiring. 1,000 people in harmony, without any accompaniment singing the final stanza and ended as one. Beautiful. Two plus hours of laughing until you cry and smiling ear-to-ear enjoyment.

I hope he comes back to San Francisco again and again and again.

End of an Era

(Photo from www.wallpaper.net.au)

I think I’m pretty lucky. Back in October 2002, Kevin and I were in Orlando for 10 days and Atlantis was due to launch during our time there. Not that many people have been able to experience this in person. It’s hard to explain. Just being at the Kennedy Space Center was a cool experience, but to see, hear and feel that shuttle take off was just something that took my breath away. It was a uniquely American experience, being there on the coast with gators taking a peek at us from the waters between us and the launch site. Just a bunch of strangers watching American ingenuity take flight.

This Friday is the last launch, and I’m feeling a little melancholy. I wish I could have seen another launch. Many of those amazing people who have worked on this program will be out of a job soon, and so much knowledge will be lost to us. I’ve heard it will be at least 5 years before we may see what the next generation of “space vehicles” may be. We’re also kind of leaving those on the International Space Station a bit out in the cold. If an emergency comes up, it isn’t as if the Russians can launch in a few days. Transporting food and supplies will be more difficult, as I understand it. I don’t know. It just seems wrong in a way.

Blue Frog Brewery, Fairfield

There is no point to taking all kinds of notes about brewery visits if I don't post them somewhere. Brewery reviews will now be added to the blog, starting with our visit to the Blue Frog Brewery in Fairfield, CA. Warning- we aren't "hop heads", aren't crazy about hoppy beers, and I won't go into much detail on them. If they have a strong citrus/grapefruit profile, I will blame Cascade hops and note it accordingly.



We tried a total of 6 samplers. They were presented on a wooden lily pad.

Hefeweizen - Kevin liked this one best. Light and refreshing. A fairly typical hefe.

Blonde Ale - hoppy

IPA - hoppy

Red Ale - kinda hoppy

Belgian White - bitter finish on a the palette. Overall ok.

Scotch Ale - Though I liked the hefe, I liked this ale better. Nice, complex flavor with a hint of scotch note on the palette.



As to food, we both had Fish & Chips. There was a bit of a twist with these entrees though - the fish is wood-smoked. I had the salmon and Kevin had the basa. Overall, a satisfactory nontraditional version of F&C, but in all honesty there wasn't much smoked flavor to the fish. The salmon held together well, was moist and the batter was crisp and not too oily. The basa, which I wouldn't have considered appropriate for F&C, was ok due to the smoking adding some flavor. The fries were excellent and the coleslaw was crisp with sufficient dressing to add flavor and not drown it. We would probably order the Salmon Fish & Chips again, but probably not the Basa.

The atmosphere is a little on the dark side. We were there for lunch around 12:30 on a Saturday. The place had about 20 patrons. The wait staff was efficient, friendly and attentive. Even for that time of day, the interior was dark, which made the menus a little hard to read. They're going for an English Pub feel, which is moderately successful. We sat in a booth and the benches and seat backs were comfortable, but I did feel that I was sitting a little low to the table. Kevin seemed to be sitting a little higher. The acoustics are kind of loud in the main dining room. For the amount of people, the sounds really bounced. I can imagine it's very noisy during peak hours and may hinder intimate conversations.

As to the beers, on our next visit, we will definitely enjoy a pint of the Hefe and the Scotch Ale. They were very drinkable and of good quality. There were several other items on the menu that looked very tempting and I can't wait to give them a try on our next visit.