This post should really be one of those that they have in the comics section when the cartoonist is on vacation and the child writes the comic strip for him/her. Those are always pretty cute but they are usually done in a chicken scratch font. This is as close as I can come to that…italics. Also, if that were the case, Dave would be writing this post and it would be carefully edited and constructed with no flourish at the end of each sentence and there would be no quibbling about the exact size or weight of any measurements since it would be scientifically produced in an excel file with a bar chart to compare the statistics of this year vs. last year, etc., etc.,… snore. It would be the most understated and modest of reads that you might just as well go to a scientific magazine to look up the size of Saturn’s moons. 

That is not to say that Dave is not a comedic genius with apt skills at entertaining. But, he would blog or ‘draw’ in a slightly different way than I have done here, which, in the end, makes this truly my blog.

So, I’m playing hooky from the farm – as well as my day job – right now. Although I have not yet mentioned here anything about one of my other passions, most of my dear readers know that I am also crazy about everything in the knitting world. I somehow managed to sneak away to a knitting conference in nearby Indianapolis, Indiana. (Not so nearby as I thought, since I-70 had constant construction between STL and IND, the 4 hour drive took 5.5 hours at a crawl of 45mph! Color me exasperated by the time I arrived at 10pm last night!)

Coincidentally, it was this the very same block of time last year that I was scheduled to go to Germany on a knitting adventure with my friend from Baltimore, Abby Rammelkamp, until that trip went awry. 

Well, it was one year ago today that Dave started having horrible pain and was admitted to the hospital with an acute case of kidney stones. Poor guy, it was not much fun! So I forfeited the knitting trip to Germany and stayed home to help get him well. I think Abby may have forgiven me by now but Dave was glad to have me be here for both him and the farm chores.

He and I have both had this on our minds as I scampered out of town late yesterday afternoon to attend another knitting conference. Although it was not 105 degrees (or whatever the temps were last year at this date) and we are not approaching the single day record harvest last year of over 100 pounds of produce, (thanks to friends Joan and Joyce who helped me bring in that harvest on that very hot day!) Dave was pleased to report that he harvested the first 4 pounds of the pickling cucumbers today and he sent me this pic.

I’m sitting in a very nice hotel room in Indy at the end of a long day of knitting classes in the hotel conference rooms. I have to say that although I was surrounded by wonderful fellow knitters today (while continuing to explore my Master Hand Knitting program) I couldn’t help but look out the window every so often to see what the weather was doing outside. This was probably the first day I have spent entirely indoors for a very long time! And, one of the first days I have without any pics to show for it. I guess I should have taken some knitting pictures! Since I am here for two more days, perhaps I’ll manage that tomorrow.

Thanks Dave for sending the harvest update!
Shout out to our son, Peter! Happy Birthday! XOXO from MOM!