We just returned from our fourth year at the Lair of the Golden Bear, at Pinecrest Lake.  As usual, we were at Camp Oski, C Circle, with a fabulous group of families on the Tent Circle.



The first few days we were there, the air was smoky from the fires across California.  But that made for nice sunsets.



I made it up to Vista Lodge one morning to knit with Lauren, who I met on Ravelry.  I then went over for the sing-along at Vista.



They had a Fourth of July Carnival, which was fun.  (I didn't see Lauren there although I looked for her.)  They had water baloon winging.

 

They had a decorated golf cart parade.

 

And a cakewalk!



We also went horseback riding - no rattlesnakes this year, but my horse Bob got pretty annoyed with the horse behind us that kept nipping at his tail!

 

And I knit.  I finished knitting the Jaywalker Sweater, and it is blocking now.  I'll take photos of the finishing work.  I also found a mistake in the second Mona Sock... see if you can spot it!

 

  

 

We spent the weekend camping at Mount Diablo State Park, in the Buckeye Group Camp. It was a Gold Group trip again, for the alumni of the last class at Neighborhood Montessori, before the Director left to start a new school in Louisiana. The kids all love each other dearly, and the parents all like each other too - how often does that happen? So we get together to camp a couple of times per year and have group dinners every two weeks.

We had six families, if I am counting correctly. We found two lizards.

 

One was a "blue belly" and the other was an alligator lizard.  Each lizard had a turn in the Lizard Home, which was one of the plastic dishpans filled with dirt.  The kids spent quite a bit of time watching the lizards do, um, what lizards do in the Home.

 

Both lizards successfully escaped before the day was done!

We went hiking at Wind Caves, and the kids crawled around through all the tunnels.  Yes, the girl in front is blurry - she is not my child so I have no business sharing a non-blurry photo of her.  My kids are the non-blurry ones.

 

We also hunted for a Geocache near Wind Caves, to no avail.  We found one near Artists Point, and put own very own TravelBug in it, so the Gold Group can go to  Louisiana to visit Jim and Christy (the directors of our old preschool).  

The kids also did a cool t-shirt project that involved Sharpies and rubbing alcohol.  There were a lot of "can I have more alcohol" queries coming from the table, which some of the parents found a bit unnerving...

But the results were nice.
 

The parent conversation was fun, as always.  Here are two questions for you to ponder and post a response - 

1) Should Girl Scouts still sell cookies?  Does it bother you that they claim "no trans fats" but technically they have them, they are just below the federal benchmark?

2) Organic and sustainable products are more expensive than conventional products - and this is likely going to be true in the long-term, from an economic perspective.  Given that, how much should a person push for organic products for children, recognizing that higher food prices are particularly hard on the poor?

My own thoughts on these questions later this week.

Oh yeah, and while I was camping, I did a short radio interview from KCBS news... lest you think I never work!

I will blame Lucky Duck.

I'm working the props for the shows, which (as with all backstage work) involves flurries of activity followed by waiting for a scene to end.  What else but knitting for those gaps?  So, during Tech Week, I brought this:

 

Tiger Eye Lace Scarf, in Habu silk (the name has a lot of numbers in it... you can look at it in Ravelry to get details).  The problem is that the chart is worked over about 25 stitches, and it's awfully hard to keep track of those yo and k2tog moves on that many stitches in a dimly lit place - with a lot of interruptions!

After one night of that, I moved to this project:

 

This is Cookie A's Mona sock, in yarn I bought in Copenhagen last summer.  The first 10 rounds were twisted rib, which was easy enough. Now I'm at the chart... good thing I can figure it out before next week's Friday performance!

In the "good things completed" department, the show went very well over the first weekend - thank goodness!  There were minor mishaps (such as Aunt Leda's gifts busting open and strewing newspaper around the stage), but nothing that was devastating or embarrassingly bad.  Director Leslie seemed quite pleased today, and well-rested too!

We are now in Tech Week.  (Some call it Prod Week.)  For the uninitiated, this is the week before opening night of a theater production, when you finally have access to the venue and can put the sets, props, costumes, lights, band, and actors together.  (With a healthy dose of caffeine!)



K has several parts in the Pied Piper Players new show, Lucky Duck.  The show was written by the team that wrote Dreamgirls, and it has great music and a fun plot, loosely based on the Ugly Duckling story.  You can find a short news item on it here.  The cast is predominantly kids (the star is a high school freshman, if I have it right), with a smattering of adults.  This is family theater, and it's unique for kids to have a change to be on stage with grown-ups.

I'll be backstage doing the props on Stage Left on April 11, 13, 18, and 20!  Come on down!

(And no, you can't knit and do props at the same time.)

After the quick progress on a series of scarves in December (and the near-instant gratification of Fetching), I am itching to FINISH something. Everything I am working on now is half-baked.

1. Seduction socks, one complete. See? I told you it was HALF baked.

     

2. CJ's aran.  This is not even half-baked, but at least it's out of the Frog Pond and back on the needles.  Photos soon.

3. California RN survey - still beta-testing, so we can't even say we have a survey questionnaire yet.

4. IT study - still coding interview data, and awaiting the rest of the staffing data.  I guess this is more than half-baked, but...

5. Paper to resubmit - need to review it one more time to make sure I answered all the reviewers' comments.  But of course I'm blogging instead!

6. Window replacement in our house - all the windows are in, but nothing has been painted, interior or exterior.  Oh yeah, and window coverings.  Oh yeah, and we decided it's time to get new living room furniture.  Anybody want a sofa or chairs?  Cheap!

And to add to my anxiety - in Belize we had a bit of a scare with CJ, which has resulted in some medical tests now.  The first test indicates "mild apnea" when she sleeps.  We'll be seeing an ear-nose-throat specialist about this.  And we still haven't seen the pediatric neurologist... Good thing she is overall a healthy kid, because this would be extremely hard with a truly sick child.

Enough bitching, time to finish that paper!

It's Girl Scout Cookie selling time again, which means it's time for the self-promoting MeMe Roth (really, that's her name) to push for a boycott of Girl Scout Cookies. Apart from the health issues, Ms. Roth objects to the image of girls in the kitchen baking. Geez, you'd think a long-standing fundraiser would be free of critique, wouldn't you? Fortunately, most commentators have a sense of humor about the issue, and recognize that cookies do not make us fat, overeating them does. Girl Scouts supports many fitness and health programs for their members, as well as science education, leadership, outdoors, and other cool programs.

So, if you'd like to risk binging a bit on Thin Mints, and want to support a good organization, buy cookies from my kids! Send me an email and I'll hook you up with a troop near you, or if you live near me I can arrange delivery at a nearby yarn shop! Our Brownie Troop has voted to use half their earnings for a charity project to "save the animals", and the rest to have an end-of-year party. If you have any ideas about saving animals, I could use them... something about saving Snow Leopards and Tigers was mentioned by the girls...

The San Mateo Knitters helped out with a few orders.

Ada (rav: AdaKnits) and Christina (ChristinaB) knit large projects, and we heard more about Christina's adventures in felting.
 

Laurie (TheClam) was working in the Boucle Vest, still.  The project is driving her nuts but she still plugs away.  What dedication!
 

Liane (SpaceStitch) was making a bunny.
 

And Christa (periodicmumbling) showed off her completed Tuscany Shawl.
 

Thanks for another great evening, ladies!

My little baby is definitely not a baby any more.

 

CJ is now 7, and no longer has the hallmarks of a toddler or kindergartener.  She is getting tall and lean, and more self-possessed every day.  She hikes, swims, explores caves, reads, tells me about how to build Legos, contemplates multiplication by 10, and so much more.  She is opinionated and headstrong, which are both endearing and maddening traits. I know I will be proud of her clear sense of direction when she is older, but I also know we will have many head-butting sessions.  Such is parenthood - knowing that your child's job is to push against you at various stages of development.

As is tradition, I told her the story of her birth earlier today.  Her party was on Saturday, so otherwise the day was quiet.  She opened a few presents, and is now relaxing while watching part of a DVD.  Her big sister is next to her.  I am blessed to have two lovely, healthy daughters.  We had a medical emergency arise in Belize that makes me even more grateful for their health today.  Hug your children everybody, and hug your parents.  Life is fragile.

A moment of knitting content -

 

I am still working on Georgie The Wonderful Swimming Teacher's Christmas Scarf.  It's fishtail lace (what else to give a swimming teacher who helped your kid master the Dolphin Kick?), in Alchemy Silk Purse.  It's moving along more quickly now that I have the pattern memorized, but it looks like it'll miss Christmas by several weeks.  MLK Present, anybody?

 

I can't wait to block this.