Holy Cow! I'm Alive!!

Believe it or not, I'm still among the land of the living.

I made it through 4 months of a spontaneous teaching gig at the University of Erlangen/Nuremberg (Business English, baby!), finding a new job, 2 months of 5am mornings (doubly fun when coupled with a 2 hour commute) and even inculcated myself into the world of metal components. Take THAT, Martha ;)

When my two months of Florida training came around, I found myself doing as little as humanly possible in my free time. There was a bit of culture shock returning to American cable and I fully admit to getting sucked into Spike's nightly three-episode marathon of CSI: Las Vegas. Go Grissom! I think I spent the first two weeks turning the word "glut" into my personal action verb. Even when I didn't need anything, I'd swing by Barnes and Noble, Target and Wal-Mart, just 'cause they were there. The guys at Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts nearly know me by name. Every time I'm in a store and someone is helpful and friendly, I practically gush.

The Irishman was away on business this week, too (to the UK). And my sister-n-law Sinead is coming to visit with her family next week, as well as my step-daughter Megan, so hopefully he'll be as distracted as I am until his next business trip (which is in September to the US!)

Some pictures of what I've been up to:
My first weekend included a trip to a scrapbook crop with my sister Helen and niece Erika. Talk about Stranger in a Strange Land (where's the yarn???!)

And this week, I went to my first knit night at Sip'n Knit in Maitland. Yea!!!! I forced myself not to buy anything on the first visit, which was a good tactic since I was tempted to buy one of everything!!

That's all the updates I have for now. I should be getting Internet at the company apartment soon so that I can blog on the week-days, too. Happy days!!

Make A Joyful Yelp!!!

Got my package of superwash hand-dyed sock yarn from Rohrspatz and Wollmeise today.

We also had some very violent summer storms this afternoon, so I think I'll cast on the Gewitterhimmel asap and maybe appease the Gods enough to stop yanking trees out of our gardens :)

Reason to Celebrate!

But, seriously, who needs a reason? The Germans have annual fests in nearly every little village and, in this case, on a mountain-top. You can find one on any given weekend between May and October. Last weekend, we hiked up the mountain in back of the kids' week-day home, the Walberla (the link is in German, but there are more pictures and even a photo of the church on top), for the annual Walberla Fest. It was a beautiful but much more strenuous hike than I had expected.

Cian was thrilled to bits ;)

And an ice cream stand half-way up made the walk a bit easier.

Nearly there: here's a view of the fest as you round the last corner. It really helps with the last leg of the journey when you can smelled the roasted, candied almonds and the bratwursts. I admit, the sight of the beer tents may have been more motivating for some of us ;)

And the view from the top makes it all worth while. Note: I think this is a great picture since my attention was focused on not spilling my Radler (a beer and Sprite mixture that is quite refreshing after a long hike).

And I haven't forgotten how to knit. Here's a shot of my finished Regia Bamboo socks. The pooling was completely different on both socks, so I took a photo of the most interesting one. This was a great yarn to knit with and I'm having trouble with the idea of giving this pair away. Maybe I need more Regia Bamboo......

Nuremberg's Spring Volksfest!

I know, I know.....major slacker points here, lately. I have a great excuse - I've been totally run off my feet lately. My two classes at the university immediately doubled, but it's still only part time, so I'm not quitting my day job any time soon. Which makes for a very busy knitter. Happy, but busy :)

So to keep you all updated on what's been happening around here lately (that you actually WANT to hear me go on and on about), I've posted some pictures from this year's Volksfest. Please note compact knitting was stuffed into my tiny bag so as not to miss a single stitch.

















Masskrugs (liters!) of beer, greasy food stuffed in a bread roll and slathered with mustard and goofy German pop music aren't the only highlights of this event. This year, we concentrated our efforts on finding the quintessential Franconian male. This usually includes hair that is short on top and long in back, as many things as possible hanging off of his belt area, a mustache is a must and they are usually found in t-shirts or jackets with the Nuremberg Soccer club logo (FCN).

And Mom, before you start wagging your finger, it's not making fun of anyone, it's embracing the culture we live in.

Shields even took some time to appreciate the female of the species.

















And the table next to us started their own Olympic sport of stacking Krugs. It was great fun to watch, but I'm glad I wasn't in the way when they came tumbling down. One guy got a nasty smack on his hand, the glass was fine, but he was full of blood.























I'd rather jump up and down on the benches to goofy cover band and poke fun at the table of soldiers next to us who can't dance.























It was a great night in the end, we didn't drink too too much and we were completely exhausted from dancing on the benches and singing along at the tops of our lungs.

Sugar Rush

Just finished Erika's jacket for her first communion. At the beginning, I wasn't sure if I had enough white for the trim, so I perused the other colours in my stash. This lead to the great idea of using a contrasting colour for the trim. I just didn't realize it would look so much like icing on a cake. I spent last Sunday at my friend Claudia's house so that she could try and twist my fingers into something capable of crochet. It didn't catch on instantly and I obviously need to work on making my stitches even, but I'm still glad I pushed myself. I can't imagine this thing without the crochet edge. Maybe I could practice with a few granny squares this weekend.
Now.....just need to search out some buttons and pop this little darling in the mail to Florida.

I also received a lovely addition to my Knit Accessories Stash. Claudia found these clips to help with marking, clipping sides together for sewing up and just general project decoration. I never thought I'd be into something as cutsie as ladybugs, but they look soooo cool on the clips, don't they.

That's all the news there is my neck of the woods. Other than I got hired, quite suddenly, last week to teach Business English at a nearby University. The classes take place in a computer lab (very cool!) and my class-load went from 2 to 4 in about 3 seconds. I'm half jazzed, excited, thrilled and half terrified. I just hope I'm not standing at the front of the class, looking like a deer in headlights, ha ha.