and so the festive season begins

Well, it's official - there will be no Christmas tree this year. The hardwood floors are almost finished, but there is still wallpaper to hang, baseboards to put down, furniture to move and that will take....wait for it - yes, two weeks, for sure. My tree requires an effort to put up and leaving it up for only a couple of weeks is not worth it, so Christmas has started around here without a tree. The white lights were resurrected from the depths of Christmas boxes, the silver and glass baubles were unwrapped and piled into vessels everywhere, and candles were lit to begin celebrating the onset of the season. This year's tree is a bundle of curly willow branches covered with sparkly white fairy lights. I like it - it is wonderfully simple and twinkly.

This year I will take photos of my Christmas corners to focus on the sparkle there is, rather than the sparkle that is missing.

Happy weekend all.

birthday flowers

It was my birthday this week and the Babe gave me flowers - I thought I would share some snippets of them with you. I was in New York most of the week and time ran away from me and I conveniently forgot I was a year older :)

Typically, once my birthday is done, I start thinking Christmas but with the house still upside down I am not excited to be heading in that direction. Every time I ask the Babe when the renos will be finished, the answer is 'two weeks'. But...it was like two weeks last week and now it's two weeks AGAIN!!! Sigh. I could make snowballs out of the dust around here.

the goddess of knitting....

...well, I don't think that Devi is the goddess of knitting, but it's the only thing I could come up with. Definitely the creative bug is entrenching itself in the house because I have been knitting, buying fabric for possible pillows and thinking decorating and Christmas. On the plus side, the Babe has been laying our hardwood floors and they are almost half done....and I found a guy to hang my black wallpaper! I know black wallpaper conjures up weird images of goth decor, but I promise you that will not be the case.

I found some sumptuous silk in brilliant colors of azure blue and lime green - I am thinking that there is absolutely room in my home for such colors. And what am I knitting - well, I am attempting this little piece here. I have a feeling my yarn might be a bit too thick but we will see how it turns out. The pattern is very addictive and I can't put my knitting down.

Enjoy your weekend.

corners

I love my camera because I can point it at a tiny corner of our nest and make it look 'put together' - like the dwelling is all cute and decorated. Ha! Nothing can be further from reality. I make the corners pretty so that the mess around me does not drive me crazy. The painters were here a couple of days ago and painted the rooms under construction and I can finally envision what things might look like - hopefully before Christmas!!

I was insanely busy this past week but in all the mayhem managed to squeeze in a 'non-cooking' class, otherwise known as the 'raw food experiment' around here. This escapade into a completely different style of cooking (or un-cooking, depending how you see it) has already produced a Vita-mix blender that cost more than a mortgage payment. I am taking the crackers and breads class next week using a dehydrator!! Ahem! I am really scared I am starting to resemble my father who has every possible appliance a human being can procure.

...and, finally, I did finish a pair of socks and I love them! They are knit from koigu yarn and fit like a glove. Now I need to start another project...I have some pink cashmere....quite a bit of it. Hmmmm!! What to do?