Happy Birthday

I called my dad today to wish him a happy birthday and realized something. While listening to Little Clover and my dad talking and laughing, I realized I grew up laughing, and I laughed a lot. We had a happy family, and my dad was a huge part of why it was happy. He loves to laugh and he loves having fun. He kept life lively and enjoyed making others laugh. I think he might have been the happiest when he's able to bring forth loud bursts of merriment in others. Dad, for all the smiles and laugh's you've given, may they come back to you a hundred fold! I love you and happy birthday.

In addition to my dad's birthday, we welcomed a new addition to our family...

From Irish Clover

Little Clover rescued a luna moth caterpillar two weeks ago and he gave it a home in our home. Once in our home, the caterpillar wrapped himself in the spare leaves Little Clover gave him to eat. He regularly checked on the caterpillar, until one day this week. We came home and found the beautiful, three inch moth resting in the butterfly house. Little Clover named him Zeus, which seemed very fitting. And yes, the moth, really is a boy. Little Clover conducted some research on the interweb and discovered his precious moth was a boy because of the fury antennae. He also doesn't eat. The moth has one purpose in life and only lives for four to seven days. We had a releasing ceremony and watched Zeus fly off into the wild.

We also packed our week with a trip to see The Dempsey's, a local rock-a-billy band. The sleeve to the baby sweater I'm knitting for a friend needed the inspiration.

From Irish Clover

The evening was warm, but the concert was free, sponsored by my City's Park Commission. As usually, the Dempsey's put on an amazing performance and Little Clover was entranced. I think the little baby was inspired as well because I finished it a few days later.

As if the concert, a finished baby sweater, a luna moth, and a birthday weren't enough, we also managed to squeeze in a fishing trip. The weather was hot, and the fishing slow, but the sights were serene, and relaxing as always.

From Fly Fishing

Unfortunately, while in Arkansas fishing, we saw signs of the declining economy. The economic downturn has come to the mountains of the Ozarks and was evident at this one bank.

From Irish Clover

The poor bank couldn't afford an "H."

Reboot

Since the last time I've blogged, a lot has happened. I had grand plans of a "catch up" post detailing out the things I've been doing instead of blogging. I was going to wrote about the last day of school and how I cried; my cousin's wedding where she looked beautiful and where my little guy's inner party animal came out; baseball season and Little Clover's amazing pitches; a fly fishing trip where we finally entered the fly fishing zone. Instead, I'm going to reboot and just start with the past weekend and my most recent knitting project.

I love my neighborhood for very many reasons. It is an excellent place for families, my neighbors are great, and we have some cute wildlife in our yard. We have a very tucked away feel, but our house is very close to all the conveniences of a city. This weekend, my city gave me one more reason to love living here, they gave me outdoor theatre with a production of "Once Upon a Mattress." We packed a picnic basket with soda and sandwiches and munchies. Italian and I even packed a bottle of wine with some plastic wine cups. We took our basket, which is really a picnic backpack, and a blanket and headed to the park. Once there, we found the stage and colorful scenery neatly corded off with Christmas lights. The audience area was separated into a picnic blanket section up front and a lawn chair section. The place was packed with families. The show even experience overflow with people sitting outside the Christmas light boundaries. The evening air was shockingly cool for a delta June. The performers, who were all children and teens, did an excellent job, giving us a grand evening out. Next week, we'll be heading back to the park to hear a local band give a free concert. I love my city.

Now, for my latest knitting project:

From WIPs

It's a little tiny baby sweater a friend of mine has commissioned. It's small and taking the place of socks as my traveling project. The pattern is from a French series of knitting books called Bouton d'Or. This series has the best baby patterns I've seen and an excellent selection of patterns for boys up to age 14. If I can convince Little Clover to let me knit him a Christmas sweater, you can bet it will come from this series.