the first day

so there's going to be a little baby girl here in about 6 1/2 weeks!!!! yep, grand-baby #2.

how exciting is that! so.....in knitting news i'm about 1/3 of the way done with a little baby girl blanket knit in a natural, multi-color, cotton yarn. (have a few other things i'd like done before she arrives...we'll keep our fingers crossed that i get my work done).

12 days and counting until the end of my school year and my summer break starts.  i'm ready for that... with the "to do" lists on the refrig.

in cicada news

....they're bad.  we are a few days from "peak" i'm told.  on the evening walk with the dog i now wear my "wellies" because i can't risk them getting on my sandaled feet and it's too dark to see.  we offically have the wood-chip look around our trees and the grass moves if you stand still and watch.  the seagulls have started to arrive in the hundreds, as we were told they would, to eat the shells and the dead carcasses that don't make it up in the trees. so as much as we all dislike seagulls i guess it's a blessing because there is starting to be a smell in certain areas. there must be 300 birds hanging out the last two days at the local high school for some strange reason. i drive by there on my way to work, looks like something out of the movie "The Birds". oh, and last night the dog waited a few minutes before digging into his evening meal as he usually does. i think he was a bit full from his little cicada snack that afternoon, he just can't leave them alone.

in other crafting news...i was at the bookstore today.  and don't worry, i'm not "going to the other side" or anything. at least i don't think so. but i looked through...quite seriously, a new book: Teva Durham's Crochet,  25 Designs for Crocheters (and knitters taking up the hook).  i have her knitting book and love her designs and her pattern writing.  this one really has me thinking!!!!!

you know how the media can't be trusted. they send everyone into a "tail-spin" with the news, the weather reports, etc. you get all ready for something big and then it doesn't happen.

well...mother nature...science. that can be trusted.

right on time. just as predicted we woke up to THEM this morning. as i drove down my street this morning, leaving for work one driveway looked fine and in the next...full and i mean full of brown, crispy cicada shells. all the children waiting at bus stops were stomping away!!! one little girl i stopped to talk to said, "it's so much fun, they crunch like stepping on bags of potato chips, and there are SO many of them".

yum-o?!? the noise hasn't started up yet. i think the billions of them need time to all make it up into the trees. that's probably for this weekend!!!

it's piling up. and it's a good thing!

if i don't drown in books then maybe it will be in yarn, or maybe movie titles.

 or could i drown in sound?

i've been collecting.  in anticipation of my lazy days of summer. yes, i've begun counting down the days. is that how we survive? it's our secret soul-salvation on some days.

the books are piling up.

 either on my desk or on slips of paper of soon to be released titles.  i have to keep collecting them because i just finished another great read this week: Astrid and Veronica, a surprising find at the bookshop. today i just picked up a new non-fiction by loved Barbra Kingsolver (you know, Poisonwood Bible fame). i'm going to try to hold-off on this one, but it's going to be hard to wait to turn the pages on this one.  a new book, maybe that means a tour. of all my beloved authors, her path and mine have never crossed! and have you found yourself day dreaming about whatever happened to Vianne and her little daughter in Chocolat? Well, the wait is just about over. Joanne Harris has a sequel to the famed Chocolat coming out in June! oh..that's just the beginning of my list! 

plans for yarn?

 i'm sooo loving working on my colorful Chevron scarf. when i get this one done....i will cast on for another. and of course the yarn is just lined up with possiblities!  so..loving..it!!!

i went to the video store yesterday to pick up a flick. i could have walked away with 4-5 others that i have never heard of, you know they must be those lower rated or art movies that just don't make it to all the theaters. then last night we went with friends to a movie a they showed previews for, again, 3-4 summer release movies that look great. things are piling up!

and in my ears!

a few months ago i bought the soundtrack of the movie Devil Wears Prada. i have not tired of it yet. this week i bought: The Reminder, by Feist. it's in my car, on my Bose at home, in my ears! i'm drowning in sounds. at work on friday we had an in-service, so a bunch of us went out for a quick lunch, i drove, Feist played. a passenger mention something about the music "feeling like we were shopping at Gap in my car". I took this as a compliment!?!

Love...Love it!!!!! you will to!!!

....they tell us THEY will be here in about 17 days.

it's all rage in my part of the land these days.

the media, of course can't stop talking about it.

it will be a summer not to be soon forgotten.

the newspapers are not just printing news stories about THEM, but recipes. Yep! i'm not kidding.

while THEY'VE been hibernating for 17 years, i'm told our only relief from THEM will be to hibernate in our homes with windows close and air-conditioning on to block out the noise. for 6 weeks. while THEY "do THEIR thing."

we won't need to worry about decorative wood-chips around the trees in our yards. people tell me 17 years ago the shells piled up around the bases of trees, "looked just like wood-chips", the veterns say.

so this wouldn't be a good summer for putting up a sheet on the side of the garage, getting a projector and showing a good-old-neighborhood-summer-evening-film like Year of the Locust?!?!

{the 17 year cicadas are on their way}

here's my strategy for walking the dog: ipod for me, muzzle for him. because he will think THEY are dog treats! and he has a sensitive stomach and we're at the vet for everything. i can see it coming.

took a little time out last evening. just me-myself-and-i.

do any of your favorite authors write you letters?

Elizabeth Berg has been one of my favs for years. ever since, just by chance, i picked up one of her novels at the library to take to the beach on a Florida vacation. then of course there was the Oprah Book Club and for years she's been coming out with at least one new book. i do believe i've read them all.

she's a chicago-area girl...so she's always somewhere close for a reading and book signing when one of her new books comes out.  the farthest i've had to drive is an hour north but last night she was only 20 minutes away.

it was a fun, relaxing and uplifting evening. so inspiring to listen to an author speak about her book that is finally being brought out into the open and to hear her talk about her life and her writing.

oh...and about the letter...if you go to her signings you can be put on her mailing list, as i was years ago. she writes once a year about what's new, talks about her new book, why she wrote it. includes some inside info,  a tour schedule and she always includes a recipe. she loves to cook and loves to talk about cooking.

her new book is: Dream When You're Feeling Blue.  it just hit the shelves May 1st. about a family living in Chicago during WWII and what it's like being on the Homefront.

Elizabeth's doing the entire tour dressed in vintage outfits from that time period. dresses, shoes the whole bit and as we sat waiting for the room to fill and for her to come out and speak last night they played music from the Glenn Miller Band.

nice touch.