it’s been forever since I’ve posted. Our summer is almost over, yet the heat hasn’t completely left the Pacific Northwest quite yet. I thought I could handle the temps after being born and raised in NJ, but I guess almost 8 years here in Washington State, with usually mild summers (low-mid 70s if that) has left me acclimated. Anything over 78* and I’m pretty miserable. This house heats up like an oven, and until the sun starts to go down and is away from the front windows, there isn’t much we can do.
The boys are wonderful, as usual. Tim starts his freshman year of COLLEGE – yes college – on Monday the 21st. I think I mentioned before that he is part of the Youth Re-Engagement Program (U3) at a local community college. He’s quite excited, and we have high hopes for him. It’s quite an opportunity and he’s planning on taking it as far as it will let him go. Elijah will be 4 in just over one month. Where did 4 years go? Sheesh! He’s a little chatterbox, is starting to draw recognizable pictures (instead of just scribbles), and can spell… yep, he can spell his name. “E-L-I! Eli!” We’re working on “E-L-I-J-A-H! Elijah!” but he tends to throw an “O” in there… 
He’s still got 2 years before he starts kindergarten, so I’ve got lots of time to work on all of these things with him. I’m going to start printing off Preschool and Kindergarten aged worksheets from some of the homeschooling websites I’ve found. He’ll be good to go by the fall of 2011!
Scott is still riding his Harley as often as weather permits. We’re looking forward to The Oyster Run on the 27th… hopefully the weather will cooperate (it doesn’t look very nice right now) so that I can go with him. The only other time I’ve been on the run, it rained SO hard, by the time we got from Shoreline to Arlington for breakfast, I POURED water out of my boots. The only part of me that was dry was the inside of my legs, which were protected by Scott. Yea, not fun. Pray for no rain, ’cause I’m NOT going in the rain again. We’re both members of the Harley Owner’s Group now… of course I don’t have my own bike (yet) but I attend the meetings, and look forward to the Ladies Of Harley monthly meetings too. At this last meeting of the MCHOG, I was nominated to become a member of the board… as the photographer! There will be more nominations at next month’s meeting, and I have to submit a bio to our Director. It’s up to Sound Harley’s owner as to who gets the position, but I’m excited! Nervous, but excited! Those who know me well also know that I’m not a big “crowd” person. I do, however, feel wonderfully comfortable and at home with the group, and I think I’ll be okay doing this.
I’m still knitting, and I’m working on a swap project right now. I need to have it in the mail by Halloween, and am about half the way through the second part of the project. I think I’ll make it on time, as long as I knit every day. After I’m done with this project, I’m going to knit myself a sweater. I have a few patterns I’m interested in, it’s a matter of getting the yarn and being determined enough to finish it. It’ll probably be this time next year before I’m done, but I’d love to wear something out, and if asked where I got it, be able to say “I knit it myself!” Knitting is one of those things I really love, and take a lot of pride in my finished objects.
Something else I take a lot of pride in… my ink This past July marked 9 years since I got my very first tattoo. I’ve come a long way in 9 years. I should really list them, since I loose count so easily… 1-crescent moon and heart on my chest, 2-dragonfly on right ankle, 3-butterfly on right wrist, 4-heart and vine on left ankle, 5-tribal butterfly on my neck, 6-Sebastian, my guardian dragon, on my right shoulder blade, 7-flower and vine bracelet on right wrist, 8-ivy from my chest, over my right shoulder, and down under Sebastian, 9-ivy down my right upper arm, 10-honeysuckle flower intertwined with ivy on my right arm, 11-purple morning glories, 12-pink morning glories, 13-blue morning glories, 14-pink breast cancer ribbon – all for mom, right lower arm, 15-Amy Brown’s Red Rose Faery, left forearm, 16-Amy Brown’s The Oldest Faery, right forearm, 17-birth flower bracelet, left wrist, 18- Brian Froud’s Boon, right ankle/calf, 19-Triple Goddess with Roses, left outer forearm, 20-twig pentacle with faeries between my shoulder blades, 21-the boys’ names and birth dates on my left calf, 22-Eli’s marigold worked into the birth flower bracelet, 23-yarn and knitting needles, outer left forearm, 24-my latest-the dwarf weeping cherry tree from our front yard on my left upper arm. This last one is probably one of the most emotionally draining tattoos I’ve had done. The morning glories for mom were emotional for me, they are mom and dad’s birth flower, and I got the first one right after mom passed away, and the second two bunches on her birthday and then the first anniversary of her passing, the following year. They will always represent mom, and with Dad’s faery on that same arm, I’ve got a lot of symbolism going on. This last tattoo is the largest single tattoo on my body, and took a total of 8 hours to finish. We split it up into two sessions, basically because I hit my limit at 5 hours the first day. Something special about this tattoo is the inclusion of some of mom’s ashes into the black ink. Yes, that’s what I typed. A small amount of mom’s ashes were mixed into the black ink that is the outline of the tattoo. So, while she’s gone, she’s really right here with me. The weeping cherry tree in our front yard is one of the very first plants to show signs of life in the Spring. It’s just so beautiful, and I can see it when I look out our front windows. It never fails to make me smile, especially in those early days of Spring, when I’m waiting (not so) patiently for the colors to return. On the tattooed tree’s “weeping” branches, there are 39 pink cherry blossoms… down below the roots of the tree, “fallen”, is one more. It’s my 40th birthday tattoo, and I plan on adding another cherry blossom, floating or falling, for each year of my birth from here on in. I should probably stop counting now too, and just add hours… I think I’m up to about 70 in the tattoo chair
I almost forgot! We’ve got a couple new additions to our family… Joe, Eli’s beta fish, who is living quite comfortably in a nice fishbowl with purple gravel, a fake plant, and a little castle. I couldn’t, for the life of me, keep his last betas alive in a 1 1/2 gallon tank… with a filter… but this little bugger is as feisty as all get-out. He actually flares his gills out at me when I walk by the bowl. I FEED HIM! You’d think he’d realize that it’s me every day, sprinkling his yummies in his bowl… but noooooooo. He gets all pissy and wants to fight. Typical male The other addition is Oliver, who is now almost 13 weeks old. Back in June, one of Tim’s friends offered us a kitten from the litter his cat had. I thought it would be better to wait, being that Eli is 3 and all, and what kitten would stand a chance against him? On August 5, Tim’s friend Jake called him again, asking about the same kitten… a little orange and white creamscicle kitten… who still didn’t have a home. He was the last of the litter, and once I saw him, I knew he was going to come home with us. At 7 weeks, he weighed the same as Duncan did at 9 weeks. EEK! Another huge orange cat in the family. At his 12 week checkup earlier this week, he was up to 3.9 pounds. Duncan has met his match!
Our garden has been an interesting adventure this year. After the long and VERY HOT (101* IN THE HOUSE for two days) week and a half we had back in July, the tomatoes were left with Blossom Rot, so we have only gotten a handful of large tomatoes. Our cherry tomatoes are still blossoming and we’re bringing in a bunch every few days. The zucchini was definitely worth planting, we’re still getting veggies off the plants! I’ve got at least 6 quart size bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer, waiting to be made into bread. I know what WE’RE giving away for CHRISTMAS! Next year, I’m planting a maximum of 2 of each tomato plant, and only one or two zucchini. Peas can easily be blanched and frozen, so they will be a large part of the garden again. I think we might give cucumbers a go again too, even though we failed horribly with them this year. I have been hearing that a lot of my friends had failed cucumber plantings too, so I don’t think it was anything we did. I think they might need a bit more shade than they had though, so I might move them into a bed in the backyard, shaded by our fence. We also planted pumpkins, in a small wading pool! Unfortunately, of the 6 plants that grew, we’ve only got ONE pumpkin! Scott wonders if it’s because the actual vine isn’t touching the ground everywhere. Next year we’ll try again, and for now we have our fingers crossed that the softball sized melon will grow and possibly turn orange in the next 6 weeks!
Wow… that’s some update, and you probably know a whole lot more than you wanted to about me now I’m going to try and update a little more regularly… really I think I’ll post some photos soon too, but for now, I’m heading to bed.
xoxox
