As I pulled into my friend’s driveway this evening my headlights flashed on a fox running across the yard, and my gas gauge binged “empty!” No connection, and the fox was very lovely.
I’m very lucky in my friends. More than lucky, I’m blessed. And you know I don’t use that word lightly.
I feel like the most fortunate person in the world tonight.
My knitting group – the Yarrn Pirates – met at Borders in Livingston, NJ tonight (much as always…) except I was there!
It was so great to see old friends – and new ones! – and to just spend an evening knitting and listening to folks discuss their patterns, design problems and yarn buying adventures.
My friend Athena is the organizer of the group, and they’re lucky to have her! And she’s lucky to have them!
I biked about 7 miles today – 3 miles over to my friend Ami’s house for a great chat and lunch, then 3 miles back and another mile just wandering around Maplewood, NJ. I’m SO glad I brought my bike – SO glad that I get a chance to get out!
I used the bike to great advantage in Rhinebeck, it allowed me to run back and forth from my car to the teaching barn easily (especially when grabbing the steamer for Lily Chin!) and helped me keep the asthma devils away.
I did have a slight casualty – my diet pepsi got a puncture in the bike basket, but there was Jennie the Potter, ready with a piece of gaffer’s tape!
The caliber of the students at Rhinebeck was absolutely AMAZING – folks were wonderful, confident, eager to learn and ready to work hard.
Each student was everything an instructor could ask for, I felt honored to teach the students I had!
The less said about the general teaching conditions of the class area – noise, temperature, car towing – the better. Of course, I made my feelings known, and I don’t think I’ll be asked back to Rhinebeck…
While teaching in Rhinebeck I stayed in Hudson with my friends Deb & Jeff. They live in a renovated school house and have built a bindery in the back up on a hill (Jeff’s a book conservator)
It’s like being in a different era when I spend time with them. I hadn’t seen them for a few years, it was absolutely LOVELY to get to visit with them for a few nights.
I was so dead tired after each day of teaching it was all I could do to drive the 30 miles back to Hudson, eat a little something and crawl into bed before leaving at 7:00 the next morning. I was WORN OUT by the time my 4 days of classes were over.
Webs was, as always, tremendous! I arrived on Monday for a private lesson (I seldom do those, but they’re SO much fun!) and who should I run into but Jess, Mary Heather & Sarah from Ravelry with Ysolde in tow!
It was wonderful to see them, they made me feel a bit more “real” after 4 days of shouting in a fog-horn voice (what voice?) Surrounded by so much noise, I felt as though I had been through an out of body experience.
Tuesday I took my bike into a local repair shop for a brake tuneup and taught a cabling class at Webs – what an excellent group of folks that was! They worked hard, we did a lot, and everyone left happy! Yay, happy students!
Then off to NJ, driving through CT in the evening rush hour (NOT one of my favorite things, and a weird reminder of my days working for Martha and driving back to NYC with the crew) and finally arriving at my friends home in NJ around 8:30.
And what would be waiting for me but the coziest, loveliest, most wonderful little nest a friend could ask for. TV, water, internet, a gabled bead-board ceiling and good lighting for reading.
Am I not the luckiest person alive on this fine, fine fox-and-friend-filled evening?