Age - It's a Magical Illusion
It's not everyday you get to wear a tiara or dress up like a Fairy Princess - but yesterday I celebrated the leap into my 50th year (or completion thereof) by throwing a wonderful party for about 34 woman friends. 
To go with my illusion theme, in the center of the room were three wishing bowls where guests could thrown the shining pennies they were provided. And in lieu of gifts, I asked everyone to bring me a wish! From pictures of beach houses to an amazing deck of cards with 50 original wishes -- to poems and songs written just for me, my friends all came through with the most creative and loving thoughts.
I'll share more pictures if you want to see 'em.
And magically, I might even start knitting again, and blogging. It's one of my greatest wishes for this coming year!
I haven't blogged in weeks and had intended to tell you why and all about it on Monday, but with all that happened in Virginia yesterday, for now I just want to add my voice to the great web of prayers that go out to the families of all the victims and to all of those touched by yet another tragedy.
I usually don't indulge my personally life, too much, but I wanted to capture for posterity - with the blog date, the beginning of Beautiful One's second decade! Here she is with the blue topaz, diamond and white gold pretty (small) ring her mama bought her to mark the moment and match her eyes. Ain't she a looker?
One of the highlights of my Stitches trip, was sitting down to lunch with Karin Strom, editor of Yarn Market News. She, Regina and I cast on and on for over an hour about what's hot and what's not in the fiber world. Thank goodness socks will still be hot for a little while longer since I just learned how to make them. However, in all likelihood, I probably will miss the Victorian Lace Shawl craze. I'm just not that quick. Karin's a creative and talented woman who really knows her stuff. She was even smart enough to get me to write an article for their January issue. ;-) Isn't that a stitch??
Today marks a huge victory -(with our children and our children's children as the winners) - for environmental protection as California's Governator signed into law a bill that will reduce emission of green house gases. Truthfully, Arnie's election was a bit too Hollywood/Reaganesque for my taste- and I was grateful (and hopeful) that he had a strong democratic wife in his corner, in his bed, and in his ear. So, I applaud him for making this bold move. I hope other states will follow suit.
Saturday morning, my Close Knit Friends all showed up for a morning of knitting. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be joining them. I was on my way to Stanford, New York - about 2++ hours from my home to spring both Bill and my car from the lock-up. You see, he borrowed my Audi to drive to a baseball weekend with the guys, and although I warned him that the car goes faster than you think, he got pulled over for going 70 in a 55 mph zone. Mind you, it was 6 a.m and there was no one else on the Taconic. No one, that is, except for Bill... and State Trooper Stekl. 
I definitely felt blue today. For all of us living near NYC, not only were we aware of what today was, but we also, literally, felt it in the air. The blue sky, the bright sunshine, that crisp breeze. It was the morning of September 11th. We were all there again. But five years ago, in our sadness, and horror and disbelieve, we clung to each other; called loved ones just to tell them we loved them; said hello to a stranger, and to paraphrase a great comment I heard, "We were no longer afro-americans or hispanic-americans or even native americans. On that day, we lost our hyphens." It's too bad that it requires such tragedy for people to come together, and that it takes such little time for us all to go back to our old divided ways.
