Despite spring kicking off a bit on the cool side here in upstate NY, on Easter Sunday we took a short hike through the woods bordering our property to a historical site. I kid you not, no more than 40 yards as the crow flies from our back door is this..

This, if I'm to believe my neighbors, is an ammunitions dump from the American Revolutionary War. Cool as hell huh? And visiting this site is only possible this time of year. Once the greenery starts to grow, its just not safe with the abundance of poison ivy up on this hill. While there is a decent path from our neighbor's house directly to this site, there is still a patch of woods to climb through to get to it.. more risk of poison ivy. But thats ok.. keeping our kids fearful of poison ivy also keeps them from visiting this place without a grown up. And the thought of them sneaking up there to climb on the already crumbling 230 year old walls.. I physically shudder just thinking about it.

While we were there, we let the kids exhaust the cans of silly string they received in their Easter baskets.

And I took a family photo, sans me before we made the short walk back home.

Now this picture, I actually took standing in my back door. It is one of two "outposts" on either side of the larger structure. It makes me wonder if they were sentry posts? Did they house cannons? The one on the other side of the hill that I forgot to take a picture of on Sunday, borders a home on Seneca Turnpike that has a cannon in its front yard. So maybe these outlying structures did house the cannons and all of the ammunitions were stored in the larger one as my neighbor suggests? In any case, I'm intrigued enough to call the Onondaga County historical society to learn more. If for no other reason, but to properly label the pictures I took.

Now, for the food portion of the weekend..

Who needs traditional?

Our menu consisted of Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Salad..

And Balsamic Chicken Drummies.Both of these recipes are from the same episode of Everday Italian that we got the sweet potato fries recipe from. As you can see in the salad picture, I also made my baked macaroni and cheese for Alex. Seeing as we were skipping the traditional ham, and that would mean no leftovers to make the yearly mac and cheese (Alex's favorite), we made up a small batch using a ham steak vs. leftover Easter ham.The kids shockingly loved this meal, so its definitely a keeper!

And.. the best part.. Llamie gave me her carrot cake recipe. Now mine isn't as pretty as hers, my ability to apply chopped nuts to sides of cakes needs much practice.. but the taste.. oh my word.. the taste. This is by far, the best carrot cake, ever.

Update on my socks from the previous post? No pictures, but I have turned the heel on sock two. I've even completed the gusset decreases. Now I'm just knitting away on the foot. I expect it to be completed over a few nights worth of tv knitting.

One more to go. And I'm nearing the halfway point on that one! So I'm not knitting as fast as I would like to on these, but I'm not disappointed with my progress either.

Out of the 20 pictures taken, only these two are worth sharing. The rest were all a blurry flurry of orange and green. So you see, its not just my motivation to blog taking a hit recently.. its also my ability to take decent pictures!

As for that, now that I've mentioned it again.. Its not that I've lost all motivation to blog, but perhaps I'm running out material? Maybe I'm sick of blogging about knitting? Maybe I'm regretting moving all political content to liberalmom? Scratch that.. I haven't been blogging there lately either! Or maybe its just the time of year.

In any case, if someone has some motivation to spare, or fodder.. please send this way.

I haven't even put the memory card back in the camera since I last posted (what was it, Monday?) So I'm breaking my loosely adhered to rule of "blogging pictureless". But hey.. I'm blogging today. That has to count for something, right?

Really, not much going on around here. The winter crud has moved through each of us, one at a time. If "slow and steady wins the race" then germs kicked our ass this winter. Seriously, it seems like forever since we've simultaneously all been "healthy". This past week's flu recipient was Connor. But this was his third really awful illness this past winter - The poor kid just can't catch a break.  He is on the mend however. So much so that he and I ventured out today to do some errands.

Our first stop was a yarn sale. Many of my local knittas knew about this.. it was the big news in yarny circles. Elegant Needles in Skaneateles cleared its stock over the past few months to move out of the building and make way for the building to be remodeled. The leftover skeins over 2,000 of them... reported to be wool, blends,.. even the word "Rowan" was let out of the bag, were donated to St Camillus to be sold there at one.dollar.per.ball.

Regretfully, Connor and I left late. So late, that by the time we pulled in to the parking lot, 30 minutes after the sale started, women walking out told me not to even bother.. nothing was left. I saw at least 10 people carrying out large boxes, and I mean LARGE boxes filled to brim with yarn.  Oh well.

I thought about heading up to Sheep Thrills or Mission Rose, but in the end, Connor and I just headed to the bank, the post office, the market.. then home.

Now before I leave you with my favorite youtube of the week, I need to show you these. Incredibly silly.. but I want them! And squee.. this too! I've long wanted one of these, but every one I've found was well over 100.00!

Now.. on to youtube..

Four years. Wow.

And here I find myself on my fourth blogiversary with absolutely nothing to say. Even my pictures.. meh! I meant to take them earlier in the day, while the natural light was perfect and plentiful, but it just didn't work out that way.

Go With The Flow socks by Evelyn Clark from the Spring 2005 issue of Interweave. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you may recognize the yarn. Its Cider Moon Flurry in "Peas and Carrots" which started out as Roza's Socks last September. They just weren't turning out, so I ripped, skeined and washed to get rid of the knit kinks. As soon as it was dry, I cast these on.

The Lucy Bag. Oh my am I excited about this one. So excited that I'm nearly done! Why so excited? I've wanted this pattern forever. Literally. I went to buy it at my then, local yarn store in Madison, Lakeside Fibers, but they never had it in stock. Seriously, as soon as it restocked, it would be gone again. Even online, every time I looked.. out of stock. Finally, on Saturday, I found Mission Rose had it in stock. Its being worked in my fave felting yarn, Patons Classic Merino.

How cool are these socks? Really, just how cool? And how cool is Anna Zilboorg (yes, that Anna Zilboorg!) for coming up with this pattern as an incentive to donate to Barack Obama's campaign! Anna sent me this this .pdf file with additional pictures and information on how to get your very own copy. A great group to donate to the campaign through, is the Ravelry Knitters for Obama group. If you can't manage to get/open the .pdf (it happens sometimes), just forward your email donation acknowledgment to campaignsocks AT swva DOT net, and she'll get the pattern out to you.

I'm working these in Berocco Comfort DK, but its 50/50 acrylic and nylon. Not exactly an ideal fiber for socks. But I also picked up some Dale Heilo (100% wool) .. so a second pair is on the horizon.

Dylan's kindergarten musical. Not the greatest video, as it was taken on our digital camera. A little shaky too since this really rude person in front of us kept moving around and just standing up.. right in the middle of the audience, taking pictures with like 10 different cameras. Richard kept trying to move the camera, hence the shakiness. Anyway, it sure was cute.. and Dylan had a blast.

Meh.. blogging has been last on my list for well over a month now. But I do have a few posts lined up for this week. Really. I've started two pairs of socks. And I finally got a pattern I've been searching high and low for. Oh.. and this week is my fourth blogiversary, so I'll have to blog on that day at the very least!

Stats for the interested..

Pattern: Charade Socks by Sandra Park

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Fingering in Chocolate Cherry, Purchased at Mission Rose

Needles: 5" US1 (2.25mm) Surina wood double pointed needles (I loooove these needles - short.pointy.perfect)

I surprised myself with the speed in which I was able to finish the second sock (ends woven in before LOST came on last night.) But I totally credit listening to audio books while knitting for my speediness. This is my new favorite thing.

I received a membership to Audible.com from Richard for Valentines Day and its the best gift I've received in quite a while. Currently I'm listening to The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A book that I own but have only half read over the past year. I've had a hard time really getting "into" it. Perhaps because its a genre I'm not normally inclined to pick up? Take some V.C. Andrews style screwed up family drama, add a ghost story, with a touch of mystery, all incredibly written. I like the style of writing but it really isn't something I'd typically spend time on. I am however, enjoying listening to it.. in fact I can't stop. I've been obsessively listening for 2 days now, even turning on my iPod when I'm cooking dinner to get a few spare minutes.

So.. now I need to find a new sock pattern to work on. I suppose I'll go stroll through my Ravelry queue to find a pattern, dig in my sock yarn stash for something pretty.. and cast on. At this rate, I may finish another pair of socks before I finish the audio book!

I survived the week.

I've kept this quote on my fridge for years. And it certainly described my life last week while the kids were on mid winter break. Every day was an exercise in keeping ones head above water.. that, and a reminder that I really need to better organize our summer activities in keeping everyone busy and occupied. This is imperative... with everyone getting older, and louder, I may very well lose my mind during three months of unrestrained chaos.

Despite the constant bickering, like who got to watch the tv with digital cable, who got to pick a movie, a video game, what was for lunch, yada yada, I did manage to finish a sock. Admittedly, the majority of it was done on Friday evening while listening to an audio book on my iPod while Richard watched a movie...

Charade Socks, in Claudia Hand Painted Fingering - colorway: Chocolate Cherry. I love this pattern. Its a simple two row repeat - perfect for tv knitting.

A little better shot of the colorway.. which is entirely pretty if not pooly. I'm not so much a fan of the pooly tendencies of some hand painted yarns, but the colors themselves make up for that. Besides, I love my macro setting. I'd take all pictures in macro if I could get away with it. The second sock was on the needles within minutes of weaving in ends on the first. I managed to get that little bit done on the second one while watching the Oscars with Richard last night. Great big yelps of glee for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for taking home a statue. What a great song, they truly deserved the recognition.

Sorry 'bout that. I intended to blog every day last week, but just never got around to it. Same as last week, there is no particular reason for this.

Last week I did want to blog about a recipe I tried, pasta with peas and bacon...

When I made this last week, I followed the recipe exactly. It was good, although a little dry in my opinion. So I tried it again, this time using more cream, and adding some sauted shrimp at Richard's request. My goodness this was good. Rich. But oh so good.And I've been knitting. Not as much as usual, but I did manage to finish a quick knit project...

The Boutique Scarf by Pam Grossman. Knit on US15 and US6 needles using Twilley's of Stamford Freedom Spirit. I received one ball of this at my spinning guild's yearly yarn swap from Christina. In this swap, we each bring in a ball of yarn from our stashes in a brown paper bag then randomly choose a bag from the pile. The point is to then go home and make something with it, with the idea that you may end up with a yarn or colorway you wouldn't normally use. This yarn and colorway wasn't a real stretch for me at all.. I actually love the colorway and who doesn't love 100% wool? Luckily I found another ball in the same color number and lot at Sheep Thrills in N. Syracuse so that I could complete this scarf. Its currently blocking on my bed, and will be ready to wear by tonight.

Now, real life..

The kids are off school all of this week, so I'm likely to be busy more than usual. And I may end up taking a trip down home, as my aunt and godmother is in the ICU and unlikely to make it through the week. There has been quite a bit of drama and infighting in my family for the past several years and I've had a hard time forgiving things said and done, especially to my gram. My heart tells me that I should make the trip down to see her ASAP. I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but my mom has asked me to, for my gram. Inner struggle - I really suck at this.

Anyway, if I'm not here for another week, don't be alarmed.