Rough Patches

It's been a rough few days, with losing our friend on Thursday, but we're making it through. It helps that we have so many other friends that knew him, and we're all supporting one another. It will be a while before we are able to have get-togethers without that weighing over everyone's head.

On a more positive note, I have managed to get some knitting done. Nothing finished, but I have started the heel on my "lets try this again" socks. I have been plugging along on Sydney's earflap hat... I'm hoping it will fit. I had talked in an earlier post about the sizing issues with this pattern. I'm not totally in love with it, but I think I will see how it goes. I may end up frogging it and making something else. We'll see. Then there are the "New Bern" socks that I started on my trip to NC on one magic loop, because I didn't have dpns (see? I'm flexible). Those go much faster than my other socks because the yarn is heavier. I'm kind of dragging my feet on those until I get further with my other projects, if that makes any sense.

Today's project is so clean out my office some. It's become a dumping ground for wedding presents with no home and military junk alike. I did manage to get most of my yarn stored in the entertainment center before sitting down to write this. Off to more cleaning... hope your weekend has been less depressing than mine.

Losing a Friend

What do you say when you have lost a friend? Someone to talk and laugh with during Sunday School, or to message on facebook. Someone your husband had things in common with, and talked to earnestly about their respective branches of service. To have it happen so suddenly is shocking to the soul.

Of course, we know we will see him again. There is no doubt that he will be waiting for us. But it doesn't make it any easier knowing he left behind a mother and a sister. He joins his dad again, and that must be amazing for both of them. But for all of us here, its a lot of sorrow and sadness. A lot of wondering why, and how.

There can't be understanding with this. Now now, not this soon. It never seems like the right time, and its always blindly putting one foot in front of the other that gets you through. This time is different. Its someone so close, someone so honest and real. To quote my brother, "The world has lost both the nicest and most humble man it will ever know- and Heaven has gained that same man. See you on the other side Daniel Miller"

Pictures

The place we stayed was a hotel and marina, so we could walk to the back of the hotel and see out onto the river and the docks.

It's a corny picture, but I wanted at least one of the two of us!

This was the bridge that they were redoing. Further down it looked like they were starting to tear it up.

My handsome husband ;)

Yes, this is a real town in North Carolina. We had to take a picture just for laughs.

This was a park we stopped at when we were driving around. It also opened up onto the river, and there was a place where people could put their boats into the water.

This last one is a little blurry, but I wanted to put it in here anyway because this is our view from our window. You can see all the boats waiting for the fireworks to start!

Home again

I'm finally adjusting to my normal schedule after my crazy trip to North Carolina to see Zach. We had a really nice time just hanging out, driving around to see different hings, and watching the fireworks from our hotel window across the river. It really was a great trip. Getting home was a completely different matter. The airport I flew out of was so tiny the same people that worked the desk for the airlines were also the flight crew. It was crazy. My first flight was delayed, which was going to make me miss my connecting flight in Charlotte, and they told me there wasn't another one they could get me on until 4AM Monday. I was so upset I walked outside and called Zach and my parents. It wasn't a pretty call. My dad advised me to take the flight to Charlotte, whenever it came in, and that I would probably have more luck getting on a flight from there than trying to do it through this tiny airport. When the guy put me back on the flight to Charlotte, he stuck me on a flight to Buffalo that they told me earlier was full. I had a 3 hour layover in Charlotte, but I was just glad to be going home.

I have pictures from the trip that I will have to put in a later post. I also got some YUMMY yarn from a little shop 10 minutes from where we stayed. The shop was called Weavers Webb, and they had a nice selections of yarns, knitting and crochet supplies, and weaving supplies. I was really surprised that we found it, because it wasn't something I had looked up. I practically ripped Zach's arm off when we passed it trying to make him turn around, which he did. He even went in with me and helped me pick out yarn. What a guy!

So, more pictures and project updates to come. Hope you 4th of July weekend was as great as mine was :)

Travel Plans

I leave bright and early tomorrow morning to fly down the North Carolina to spend 4 days with Zach. Its the first time I have seen him since I left him at the airport June 1st. I'm really excited about it :) I have plans for us to watch fireworks over the river, but mostly we are just going to relax and enjoy spending time with each other.



Not much knitting progress has happened. I haven't worked on Sydney's Thorpe hat in a while, because I decided I would take that in my suitcase down with me for times when we are driving and such. Plus I thought Zach would like to see it. I am taking my socks with me as airplane knitting for the flight down and back. I'm knitting these on bamboo needles, so I'm hoping they wont give me a hard time. I think that is all the knitting I am going to take.



I had my charity knitting and crochet group again last night. We didn't have as many people as we did last week, but thats ok. I know summer is hard for people as far as vacations and sports and such, so I'm hoping the group will really pick up in the fall. After casting on and ripping out 5 different things Monday night, I decided to start knitting squares for a baby blanket for the Linus Project. Thats what many of the women are working on also, some in squares and some as whole blankets. My mother-in-law is just getting back into crocheting after a few years, and didn't want to tackle anything too involved, so she is crocheting a hat that is so cute. Its made out of this soft burgandy yarn (probably acrylic) and is an open stitch pattern, so it could be worn in the summer. This will be donated to Chemo Caps.



Thats about all for now. Of course we can't have a post without a picture of Elliot, the kitten. This was one we took soon after we got him. We lovingly dubbed it, "The Kitty Taco".