My China Adventure

I've just returned from a few days in Beijing, China visiting friends, Janet and Mac Coleman who live there for a few more weeks. He's been there at the Embassy as an attache (meaning: A military attaché is a military expert who is part of a diplomatic mission; this post is normally filled by a high-ranking officer.) They showed us a really good time and I think we got a pretty good overview of the culture and were able to see up-close and personal the preparations that are going into the 2008 Summer Olympics. We've seen the building in progress and witnessed the outward attempts to make the city presentable even down to getting garbage cans and American toilets. It's all good though and I'll be very interested to watch it and see how that already crowded city handles the crowds of Olympic attendees. The Great Wall had to be the highlight of the trip and it's pretty cool to me that I was there..... I traveled with two other friends, Kathy McCleskey from Texas and Phyllis Snow both longtime BFF's and that in itself was a kick! We had lots of BPP time.

Spring has sprung......the grass is riz...

I know where the flowers is....and I do love my daffodils. Evan does too. He wasn't quite sure what to do with them so he was hitting them and laughing. We finally taught him to smell them (they don't really smell but it's better than hitting them) but it made for a cute picture.

So, how is the sock making project coming along?

I thought you'd never ask.....but since you did well, I've learned a lot since the first pair. Here's a picture of my 2nd pair and there are about 5 lonely socks in the UFO (Un-Finished Object) cupboard (a couple re-wound into balls of yarn to be used again) because I found that when I finished one sock, if it wasn't impeccably perfect, I just lost interest and couldn't muster the desire to make a matching one; so guess what?????? Now I work on 2 at the same time.....and when I'm finished, perfect or not.....I have a pair!!!!! I'm sure this isn't a new idea by any means but it's nourished my addiction and given me great satisfaction. So....in my almost 3 pairs of socks, I've only made one trip to the yarn shop to help me pick up lost stitches (and I'm even kinda learning how to do that or knit more carefully so I don't have to do that.) Anyhoooooo......"I knit socks" and "darn" (pardon the pun) proud of it if you don't mind me saying so. Now, as for what I will ever do with all the socks; I wear them. As to giving them away, let's just say....I'd have to know the recipient would really appreciate them and only wash them by hand and, by the way, I'm really looking forward to finally making a pair worthy of the giving. It's coming. I've got to get a lot faster and a lot better. Hey, do any of you (my children, I'm not sure anyone else looks at this) remember when I used to make those silly pot holders that looked like citrus (there was an orange, lemon, lime and watermelon)? I was so hooked on those because I loved to give sets of them away and I thought they were the coolest things to hit my yarn basket.....I made hundreds of sets and flooded the earth with them. Then I got tired of them or they went out of style, I'm not sure (probably both). I just wonder if that's the way my sock making craze is going to be but my yarn lady sadly reassured me that this probably isn't going away anytime soon and if it does it's because I will lose interest because socks are here to stay. But there's always going to be someone who will ask "why don't you just go buy a pair at Wal-Mart for 2 bucks" and I don't have an answer for that because I'm still wondering that myself but you can bet that person won't be the first recipient of a pair of my perfect socks.........