JessaLu Knits (and Spins!)

…a contest.

First, your dose of eye candy for the week:

‘lil frog found on our back porch a month or so ago.  He’s hanging on to a post and is about eye level.  Freaky cool!

Now for the contest…

I know that some of you are Harry Potter fans…what I don’t know is how you became fans.  What made you pick up the book to begin with?  Which one is your favorite and why?  If you aren’t a fan, why not? Answer one or all of these questions in the comments and you will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Charmed Knits (among other things…I’ve been known to put extras into prize packages).  Now if you aren’t a fan of HP don’t be thinking that you don’t need this book - there are patterns for just about anything including some small stuff for little HP fans ;o)

This contest is open ’til midnight Sunday.  Good luck!

…generally stays in Kerhonkson (NY). Unless you get a tattoo, that is ;o)

This past weekend was the annual Father’s Day Car Show which was held at the Hudson Valley Resort. We left Thursday evening, putting our trust in the hands of the GPS to lead us to our first stop:

That’s the Eveready Diner in Hyde Park, NY. After following the directions of the GPS which led us over hill and dale, down the Taconic Parkway and through a questionable neighborhood we realized that all we had to do was drive to the Rhinebeck Fair (aka NY S&W) and continue South on 9 from there.

That’s what we get for trusting technology instead of a plain old map. At least it was an adventure…

From there we continued to the car show where there were shiny colorful cars (can you believe there are no pictures of the cars?), cars on fire:

Field trips:

Father’s Day gifts were given:

(a picture of a grill…we didn’t want to truck the whole thing up there…the thing weighs about as much as a…well, a truck)

I brought Amelia - she drew quite a bit of attention. I spent a lot of time explaining what she is and what I was doing. The kids were the best, I had a small group of them around me at one point, all watching, all drinking in the sheer coolness of the spinning ;o)

When Don stopped by to say hello she decided she wanted to get a little something to remind her of her first public outing:

Amelia feels very privileged to be his first spinning wheel ;o)

I’m going to stop here since this post is running a bit long - coming soon, a contest!

…or something like that.

I saw this meme at Kristi’s and at Carole’s and liked the idea.  The premise is that you list the things you do that are ‘green’.  There is no tagging, if you want to participate go right ahead!

• We’ve taken our bikes out of the scary basement and have started going for rides together.  I’m trying to work on my distance so I can ride into town (5 miles one way) to try to save some gas.  Now I just need to find a helmet.  It’s hard for a kid from the 70’s to get a bike helmet - I mean, the cool kids didn’t wear helmets back then.  It was way cooler to split your head open like a melon ;o)

• I’ve changed over almost all of the bulbs to compact fluorescent.  These bulbs were pretty horrible when they first came out but now they have the ’soft white’ version which has helped with the color issues ;o)  Not only is this green but I think I’ve mentioned that I live in an old house that desperately needs a wiring update - since we’ve switched bulbs we don’t blow fuses when we make coffee anywhere near as often.

• I’m trying to not use the plastic bags at the grocery.  I have a couple of ‘freebie’ bags that I keep in the car for small trips and I just ordered some of these for big trips.  There is a bit of a stigma with this that I’m trying to get past - when I was a teen and worked at the local grocery store we used to make fun of those who brought their own bags (this was the 80’s).  I don’t want to be known as the ‘earthy-crunchy’ lady with the weird baggage ;o)

• Instead of using my usual systemic highly toxic anti-bug/anti-fungi spray on the roses, I’m using an organic alternative.  At this time two of my roses have developed powdery mildew so if it doesn’t clear up soon I may have to go back to the old standard.

• I’m also trying to buy healthier food for all of us - organic and all that.  I’ve also planted the veggie garden this year (which I need to weed desperately).

Of course, all of this is pretty much wiped out whenever I start my car and drive anywhere.  A Jeep Grand Cherokee with a v8 isn’t exactly an eco-friendly gas-sipper ;o)

Since it’s Friday I’ll also give you a bit of Eye Candy: