Small Joys on a Saturday Morning

It is a wonderful morning here in Edgewater. I awoke to the chorus of birds that strike up conversation every morning - what a cheerful sound to be bathed in. After lounging and chatting with my husband we got up to get breakfast out. I pass by the stove that was quietly cleaned for me by my husband as part of a Mother's Day gift for. (It is such a nice thing to cook on a clean stove.)

The clouds hung low and the air was cool, whispering a promise for rain later in the day, as we walked to the garage. To the side I admire the sound of my tiny pond as it gurgles away. It too was cleaned out and brought into season by my husband who knows how much I love those little things (and dread the stinky clean up of the thing.) We headed out to Starbuck with a gift card my sister had given to me. We had to scoot as a 5k fundraiser run will be taking place in our neighborhood. The streets and alley entrances were due to be closed very soon.

With breakfast sandwiches and warm drinks in hand we pick up the conversation from earlier in the morning. Larr is preparing to go to Maryland on Sunday to be part of the thesis defense panels at school similar to ours. I talk about the challenge of gathering eight images that I will put in the class folder for the art workshop I will be attending this summer. With such a vast cache of image types and images, how to I choose? Across the way we gaze upon crews of volunteers who are planting at least fifty new trees. My hand rests on the brand new Fleet Foxes CD, "Helplessness Blues." I am pleased because I know Ethan will be happy to hear it. Just the other night we had been wondering when the Fleet Foxes would come out with new music.

Our weekend mornings are usually early and busy. It is nice to have a more calm pace to set off the weekend. The busiest and most stressful part of the school year is nearly behind up and I am ready to embrace a new cadence for how I spend my time. Summer break is just a few weeks away.

Interesting Videos Ethan Found

My kids enjoy the Wimp.com website. It is a great time waster, but a lot of fun, too. Here are a few that we thought were interesting:


Ethan has a funny bit of narration that he adds to this one. Watching him watch the video is as much fun as watching the video itself. We love that little kitten.

http://www.youtube.com/user/crazycatmigou#p/u/1/JhlfT-x6Ys0
This is another fun cat video.


We are both impressed with this young man's dancing skills.

And finally, a really weird one that is worth watching to the end...

Fingerless Gloves for Marodi

Marodi is one of Ellie's dance teachers. She is one of those lovely, petite women who have a hard time finding things to fit.

Earlier in the year I had been knitting fingerless gloves for Ellie. When Marodi noticed what I was making she struck up a conversation that began with how she simply could not learn to knit, but would make some fingerless gloves if she could. I was nearing the end of my project and thinking about what would be my next endeavor. That conversation solved that problem. It is wonderful for a knitter to have someone who would love to have something that they would love to make.

So the quest was on to find something fitting for Marodi who is both graceful, intense, commanding and fun - all at once. Her style is also very classic. After a long search I elected to do the Shi bui pattern. I had to do a good bit of math and needle swatching to figure how to downsize the pattern so that it would fit her. I also had to change the yarn size. I wanted something classic, durable and super soft. In the end I elected to use double strands of lace yarn that is alpaca, cashmere and silk. Oh what a joy it was to work with. I fretted over possibly having enough, but in the end it was okay. I have a tiny bit left of each color.

Making the gloves match was an entirely different story. The first one went well once I got the gauge down correctly. Knitting the second one was a bit of a trick I got it 2/3rds done twice only to find that it was not right and frogged (ripped or undid) it twice. Third time was close enough to what I wanted and I was tired of starting over. Luckily Marodi didn't seem to notice. She was simply thrilled to receive the gift.

Fiber Market & Wheels of Thunder Race

Today we went to the races. This time it was the Wheels of Thunder criterium. It is a 1.6 mile course with 3 hills. The kids did about 9 laps.

Ellie was in fine form. She jumped up from the Jr. 13-14 to the Jr. 15-16 group by the second lap. I am proud of her.

Earlier in the morning I spent a brief bit of time at the fiber market my local knitting store, The Recycled Lamb, was holding.

I think Jane was my favorite. She is only a few months old and was happy to let me pet her for as long as I would like to.

These guys were not so happy, but still cute to look at. They will be sheered tomorrow.

I also wanted to pet the cashmire bunny, but he would have none of that. Don't you love the ears?

Pulling Things Together for the Colorado DanceSports Ball

The kids in Ellie's dance classes will be competing in formation dances for Rhythm and Smooth at the Colorado DanceSport Ball in June. They've learned the dances, now they just have to perfect them.

This is the dress they will be wearing, though their dresses will be black.

Here are the songs they will be dancing to:
"I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits


"Sing" by Glee (Chemical Romance cover)

The Art Show at Denver Water

My mother works for Denver Water and there is a group of people there who love to through parties, do good things for kids and their employees. They celebrate who they are as people, not just as employees who do a specific task. One way to celebrate them is the art show and contest that they host from time to time. The show is open to the employees and their families. Pam, the woman who puts this event together asked my mother to make sure that my kids submitted something for the show and this is what we put together.

We have the metal art that Ethan did a while ago. I love this piece. It makes me happy. Someone already wanted to buy it, but I don't want him to sell it. I am pretty sure he gave it to me the year he made it. It makes me smile both for the silly face it has and for the memory of how happy he was when he created it.


Ellie took this one. I think it is her best photo of those she is submitting. You can't tell here, but in real life you can see Moxy's fur in great detail. I love that cat!


If you love dogs, you gotta love this one. You can see what a sweet heart our dog has just by looking at this photo by Ellie.


I wish this had photographed for this purpose better, but I've shown most of those photos here before. This one makes me think of summer. I love how she has used filters to shift the colors a bit.

We hope to be able to go down and see the exhibit. That would be a thrill!

A Whole Lotta Bikin' -The Good and the Bad

Ellie had four races this weekend so that is how we spent most of our time. Friday's race was a time trial (her favorite kind of racing) at Bear Creek Lake Park. She was simply not in the groove that day. She was doing okay until three giant diesel truck pulled onto the road. I think they did not have much experience with driving new cyclists and so they slowed way down, stopping often. Racers piled up behind them, changing how they finished. Many were mad. It was a bummer, but that is life. If you tango with a truck, the truck will win. Saturday morning we roused ourselves early and were at Look Out Mountain for a hill climb only to find it had been canceled. I was a little bummed, but Ellie was fine with it. I wished that we could have gotten to sleep in instead of getting up so early. That afternoon we had a crit. at the same place we practice. Ellie was hot off the line for three laps but suffered a chain and derailer problem which eventually caused her to drop out of the race. Brett from Sports Optical tried to help and Corky, the owner of Green Mountain Sports, fixed it a bit more. We will need to replace the chain soon, but it had to be good enough for the weekend. Sunday we were up bright and early again. This time we were off to the frost Koppenberg race in Louiseville. It is a very short but technical race with lots of dirt roads and a steep dirt, sometimes rutty, hill. That race was exciting. She was off in a flash, doing well and staying with the front peloton until a boy crashed in front of her. By the time she got around him she had to scramble to catch up. She got them on the next hill. Ellie was neck to neck with Kate, picked up some speed on a down hill and then she dropped her chain. It took what must have felt like forever to get it back on. She was pedaling like a madwoman until she realized it was doing no good. She fixed the problem, clipped back in and looked back. That is when she saw that Kate was fast on her heels. This caused her to sprint hard, winning the race by a big gap. We celebrated by having a casual lunch with team mates at Pannera Bread.