I am off to this for 7 days!!  Say you will miss me. . .  

I had such a great time! my oldest son jumped, too. I had a couple of friends who went and jumped as well only they are veterans and have been at it for years. As a matter of fact, Donna has set a record jumping for Breast Cancer with 150 other women falling from the sky, all together. How great is that! Duane is a videographer and does videos of people jumping. He did some of mine (not this picture) so I will have tons of footage of this momentous day. You can check out my flickr page for more pictures (on the sidebar). I can’t wait to do it again!

Skin, originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

“. . . open your mind’s inner ear and listen to the lovely song of silence. Here is the joy of contemplative sweetness. Follow this bliss.”

~Lama Surya Das
“Awakening the Buddha Within”

I have not been missing in action I have actually been quite the knitter lately.  My adventures have been in the Land of Frog, however and who wants to see pictures of that?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.  

Question:  HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SKEIN OF YARN YOU WANTED TO KNIT WITH SO BADLY BUT NO MATTER WHAT PROJECT YOU CHOSE, IT ENDED UP “YUCK”?  Till you got to the point you thought, “damn it! I am gonna make something with you even if it is a noose to hang myself with”.  Well, that has been my problem for, oh, 2 weeks or so now.  Then the new Knitty came out and the light of heaven shinned down and my yarn had a home:  Seascape.

Now this is Alpaca Cloud from KnitPicks in a seafoam colorway that I adore.  The heathered shading is so beautiful I could just fall under it’s spell.  Soft, fuzzy, gorgeous yarn!  and this pattern is perfect for it.  It is airy enough for a summer lace project and yet full of enough stockinette to show off the yarn.  I am loving this pattern right now.  Mmmmhhmmmm.

{as for the scissors on the knitting?  I don’t know why they are there, but it looked cool in the picture so I left them and then promptly moved them to safer ground.}

The Other Side of Beauty, originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

It may not be as supple as it was in youth or as vibrant in color yet even in the last stages, nature give us texture and form in abundance. How can we overlook such gifts?

Extended Foot Pose (1) or Padottanasana, originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

Lolly has set up a flickr group called Yoga Wednesday and since I like to do yoga and today is Wednesday I present my first post for your perusal.

Padottanasana meaning “intense foot stretch” is a great stretch for the calves and hamstrings, esp. to loosen hamstrings and addutors.

Done without camera assistance and no remote can cause pulling of these muscles, so not advised. . . aka: get help

Foliage Shawl (In Progress), originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

This is my Foliage Shawl. I am more than half way through it. I am using some wonderful DK weight yarn from handpaintedyarn.com. It is coming along nicely and when I get the the edging, it will be a first for me because it is added on by picking up the stitches from the side and working vertically around. Can’t wait.

21 days till our Florida Vacation!  Whooooot!!

22/52: Days Go By, originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

Isn’t it strange
That princes and kings,
And clowns that caper
In sawdust rings,
And common people
Like you and me
Are builders for eternity?

Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass,
A book of rules;
And each must make–
Ere life is flown–
A stumbling block
Or a steppingstone.

“A Bag of Tools” by R. L. Sharpe

Oh it has been a week of “stumbling blocks AND steppingstones. . . is it time to tag in my counter part? I’m tired.  

**Update, if you are following along:  AC was fixed, I need a CROWN on my tooth ($$$), and our AC problem was caused by wiring in our main electrical box which proceeded to shut down Monday night.  We are So Very Lucky that the house did not burn down.  I guess the $1,000 it cost to get a new box and all the stuff that goes along with it was well worth it in the end but hey,  seriously Universe. . . I need a frickn’ break.