Mending fences

Watching my little grandson move up through the levels in Little League has been one of the biggest joys in my life. He is eleven now, and was picked to move up to the majors. I have watched him grow from t-ball on up, but I have to tell you, this year so far, has been one of the most enjoyable seasons. I attend every game, and when my husband is able to, he comes along and finds himself cheering the team on as well. My grandson's mom (my daughter), and dad weren't married for all that long (3 years?), and since his paternal grandparents lived about 45 minutes to an hour away, I barely got the chance to know them. In fact, I think I met his other grandmother maybe twice that whole time, once at my daughter's baby shower, and then when my granddaughter was born. Five months after that, my ex husband moved us 3,000 miles away. That was in 2001...fast forward to the present...

I won't dredge up old and tired news, but just enough to say that my ex husband and his current wife befriended the paternal grandparents back during our divorce nearly ten years ago. I was convinced then, and still am, that the current wife had no other motives but to attempt to alienate me from my entire family (yes, including my sister, my children and grandchildren) out of sheer jealousy, evilness, and to destroy my reputation. Her gossip, lies, and manipulative control issues backfired on her, and the friendship, albeit a shallow one on her part, soon ended. The paternal grandparents and I have been getting to know each other better at these ballgames, and they are learning that none of the slanderous garbage that was presented to them about me is true. We have taken down the fences that were put there by two cruel, mean spirited people, and enjoying our grandchildren together!!! Our grandson's achievements are making us all proud, and at the same time, bringing each side of his family together...he's our Allstar!!!

   These are the two grandchildren we share together. They are both much older now, but we are equally proud of both of them. I love this picture of them...I took it several years ago where their greatgrandmother (my mom) lived for twenty years.

I do apologize for such a crappy picture, but if you look close, you can see my grandson in front of the ump's leg. He plays catcher, and I know I'm rather biased, but he plays a darn good one too! From now on, I'm going to try to get pics without the fence in the way...haha!

Work has begun on our backyard this morning, which is including a new fence between us and our neighbor to the south. The fence is 18 years old and is worn out. During Memorial Day weekend, the one we share with our neighbor behind us will also be replaced with a new one. My two furbabies are not enjoying it at all..they are rather territorial and to see strangers in their space, well, it's not making them very happy. I have been assured it will only be a two day process, but it means not letting them have the run of their yard like they are used to. It means having to take them out on their leash to go potty, which I'm sure is going to please them even less. Trying to convince them though that this is going to be a good thing doesn't seem to be working. Trust me...it is a very good thing since our neighbor has a dog that isn't very sociable. Thank goodness it only has to happen once every 18-20 years!!

 

Yesterday, I think I showed you a dishcloth that I had started so that I would have something to take with me for a pedicure. I finished it while at the salon, and managed to use up all but maybe three yards of the cotton. I'm not fond of this color as it's a little too drab for me, but after all, it's only a dishcloth. I just wanted to get this cotton used up so I could let myself go buy some more in the colors that will better suit my kitchen colors. The cloth on top is the one I finished yesterday.

 

 

I added a couple more repeats to my tunic last night, until my hands got too tired to knit anymore. I forgot how enjoyable this pattern is, and am looking forward to working on it some more this evening when I go to my knitting group. In case I didn't mention it before, this is a design by Louisa Harding called Opal. There are two patterns, one is a tunic, and the other is a dress. Both are beautiful!

 

Spinning is usually something that takes place in the mornings as I'm having my coffee, and all is quiet. All I want to hear is the soft hum of my wheel turning. The past couple of days has seen little of that happening, but I did manage a few minutes this morning. Not a huge noticeable difference yet, but I'm purposely spinning this fairly thin. I bought this fiber back when I was brand new to spindle spinning and didn't even have a clue what kind of fiber I was buying. I now know it's 100% merino, and it was one of two choices of colors that I had when I bought it. I didn't even know enough to ask anything about the micron count, or anything else for that matter. I hope I like the end result more than I like spinning it. It's going to be my practice fiber, so I suppose it doesn't really matter if I like it or not at the end of the day. I want to practice chain plying some more, and also to see if I can get a more balanced yarn.

 

 









The moral of the beginning of this post: never let fences come between where they shouldn't be in the first place, because in the end, they wear out and fall down anyway. Replace only those that are necessary and will withstand the test of many, many years.