Toys & Souvenirs

Posted on 2025-06-27 by Holly

I have mentioned that I purchased inaugural season ticket to the GS Valkyries?  We have good seats. Up just high enough to be able to see everything without the use of the Jumbotron and not so high that I get vertigo looking down. I love our general admission seating for the Cal Women’s Basketball which is only two rows back in real seats to the side of the north end of basket? Just opposite the Cal Bench?

Anyway – as several of us discussed – the Valkyries managed to pull out a win in spite of terrible referring. For that matter, the ref issues seem to be league wide. On one hand, I can understand that the refs can only see what is in front of them. Not the above angle that most of us have. And certainly not the angles provided by all of the cameras shown on the jumbotrons.

Traveling to the games takes about 90 minutes (drive to BART, take BART , transfer to the T or N-Judah) and walk a block or several blocks. The evening is in reverse with the exception that the Red Line isn’t running which means a transfer somewhere along the route.

Souvenirs tomorrow, I am tired

Posted in Basketball | 1 Comment

Done Haunting.

Posted on 2025-06-24 by Holly

The Haunted House is done.

and so I moved to the July Country Cottage Needleworks. I finsihed up the first half completely, both people figures and started on the second red house. Progress.

 

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Strider

Posted on 2025-06-23 by Holly

Is an extremely simple, almost mindless scarf pattern from Martina Behm. I have knit two or three of these in the past. Garter stitch, wraps perfectly. What is not to like.

This one is knit of 100% bamboo yarn which I purchased from JoAnns last fall. It is soft, smooth, comfortable to knit. So I went looking for more on line. Nope – no one seems to have 100% bamboo yarn.

(insert picture…) so started another one in the yarn I had on hand…

Posted in Knitting | Leave a comment

Hazards

Posted on 2025-06-21 by Holly

there are literally dozens of bad jokes about men, women and the issues of toilet seats. Up? Down? both?

Well, let us add in the issue of animals in the house. Anyone who has a decent size dog knows that the only way to be safe is to always have the toilet seats down. This covers the bowl and prevents said animal from viewing it as an additional water dish.

Then there are cats. They jump on things. After not living with either small children, dogs, or cats in the house for years, toilet etiquette here was a matter of politeness and convenience. But there now is a cat. He jumps up on things. Especially at 0530 in the morning when he has been shut out of the bedroom and needs to inform me, as I wash my hands, that he is starving.

We have both learned….

Posted in family | 2 Comments

two boys and the cat

Posted on 2025-06-20 by Holly

And the boys were by far easier than the cat. First, he didn’t want to take the sedation medicine. Then, he REALLY didn’t want to take it. The end result was a combination of sneaky and just jamming it down his throat.  But I got him to the vet. They managed to get his labs drawn. And, I had totally loopy cat for the rest of the day.

Compared to that, Ilan was a busy toddler having a good time and did us the courtesy of crashing for his nap just as I was headed out with the cat. Picking Lev up from school was pretty much hassle free, other than being in too much of a hurry to want to wait for important things – water bottle, backpack, stuff animal. Of course, this is Friday which means that the stuffed ?dog? became an issue. But the JCC was already shut down which spared me from all guilt about not wanting to go back and get it.

Dinner was do it yourself soft tacos. Or just eating the components depending on preference.

Bed is really really early.

Oh – the meds finally kicked in and the cat was out weird for hours. And yes, I relocated him a bit since my neck hurt just observing him…

Posted in family | Leave a comment

Bad puns

Posted on 2025-06-19 by Holly

At first it was cute – the renaming of the basketball court to Ballhalla. But it is starting to get old for me. Yes, the team is the Valkyries. I went to look at the Wiki article. There are obviously ancient Norse literature scholars let loose to write entries. It is good but exceedingly long.

I had errands today, and we went to the Valkyries game; hence the discussion.  The Indiana Fever were in town. But before I get to the game, there is the intro – complete with ravens. (Screen shots are iffy and I am waiting to see if they ever get it up on YouTube). The graphic work is amazing. My two favorite scenes are the San Francisco end of the Bay Bridge

and the entry into Chase Center.

The Valkyries managed to pull out a victory, coming back from a one time 10 point deficient. The current turn over in players is noticeable. I am not sure what the percentage of European players is on other teams, but the Valkyries have British, Belgium, French & Italian players (four of whom are key players currently playing for their home country (Eurobasket 2025 – 18-29 June 2025)

anyway – it was past 2200 by the time we were home and I still have to try and stuff meds down the cat in preparation for tomorrows vet visit.

Posted in Basketball | Leave a comment

House with two faces

Posted on 2025-06-18 by Holly

Remember I said that the house looked grumpy or cranky?  The update at the end of today –

So now we have “two faces” and I am not sure what excuse the upper face has for being cranky. Now at 66%

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Chubby puppies

Posted on 2025-06-17 by Holly

the eight of them are about four weeks old. Vizsla in case you were wondering. Not mine, they belong to Mako, who in tern belongs to daughter and son-in-law. The puppies are cute, they are a lot of work.

Posted in family | 2 Comments

Cranky House

Posted on 2025-06-16 by Holly

Ok, really it is supposed to be the Haunted House, also from Cottage Gardens. But partway through the house, it most definitely has an attitude.

This was after a morning zoom meeting. I will say that the upgrades in Zoom software blunted most of the complaints from the cat. Said cat wanted to be (please pick one) on the lap, on the table, fed, cuddled, more than one or all of the above. And he wasn’t quiet about it.

Of course, his day was totally and completely ruined by a trip to the vet. He is getting older and, as part of an emergency vet visit in Feb – turns out he has a number of very bad teeth. The vet people were wonderful .The cat? Not so much. He went from cuddling in my arms to loud complaints and a complete refusal to cooperate.  I will need to take him back in on Friday for lab work – then schedule some dental work under anesthesia…

Posted in Cross-Stitch, family | Leave a comment

LightHouse

Posted on 2025-06-14 by Holly

and a squeak by win for the Valkyries.

I think I mentioned that I have season tickets. The home games are in Chase Center, SF in one of the revitalized areas of the city. Yes, I think a lot of it is probably built on fill, but so far nothing is sinking. The games are held at Chase Center. That means, at least for those of us in the East Bay, the only sensible way to get there is public transportation. Yes, parking contracts were offered. But seriously? 900$? And that doesn’t include the pain of driving, the fuel and the additional cost of the Bay Bridge Toll. Anyway. BART to the N-Judah and we walked from 4th & King. (Return was the S to Powell Street & BART). Since parking is free at N-Berkeley BART on weekends..

The game itself went from cheering to stress and back. At one point, the Valkyries had a 20 point lead over the Seattle Storm. That lead went to almost nothing in the 4th quarter before they managed to squeak back to win 76-70. Too many sloppy passes and missed baskets. But the crowd is amazing

Second – the Light House is done (actually, this was before the game, but in courtesy – the non-craft types can stop reading here)

A lot of stitches in this piece for the size (about 9k). 18 ct Zweigart Smokey white and BeStitchMe Silks.

I also put in some stitches on the July Mini-Village & started the Haunted House. (#8/12-13).

Posted in Basketball, Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

A knit finish

Posted on 2025-06-13 by Holly

Yes, I do still occasionally knit something.

The something in this case is a very basic garter stitch blanket out of something or other fuzzy from from either JoAnns (remember them?) or Michaels. It started with a garter stitch square, then I just proceeded to pick up stitches on two more sides and went back and forth (increasing at the corners every other row) till I ran out of yarn.

It isn’t really pretty, but it is soft and cuddly. So far it has won favor from the cat & a one year old grandson….

Posted in Knitting | Leave a comment

Wrong Number

Posted on 2025-06-12 by Holly

Not just the spam calls, of which, as far as I am concerned, are all wrong numbers. But inserting 729 in place of 927. Now, obviously if you are a fellow dyslexic, that mix up seems obvious. Same numbers, different order, could happen to anyone. But seriously, using a yellow gold instead of a dusty blue just doesn’t make sense when I look at it now. After all – water and waves? Really. None the less, I am leaving it alone. It will be unique. Besides, there are just too many stitches to frog. And, if I hadn’t said anything, I think most people would just look, shrug and keep on going. This is what I mean…

you saw it yesterday, but really didn’t see it. I won’t be finished today, but I am going to get closer.

 

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Another early Wednesday

Posted on 2025-06-11 by Holly

The good thing about an every three month schedule for my forever is that q3mo is better than q2mo. OTOH, it means that I am up at O’dark-a-clock to to make the drive into SF. Obviously there are much worse things. Like having to make the drive without coffee, for example.

The infusion center was relatively busy but I was able to get out of there prior to 1400. Heading north over the Golden Gate (which is red – just saying), I made a couple of stops on my way home. Mountain Hardwear didn’t have any closed toed sandals. Sprouts had cherries. Acme was out of the breads I wanted but they did have apple tarts so all wasn’t lost. I was tired when I got home. Bed seemed best

Perhaps the really good accomplishment of the day was finishing up one of the lap blankets started who knows when

The start is  the garter stitch square and then was just expanded from there. One cake of something or other fussy from either JoAnns or Michaels.

Posted in Knitting, Medical | Leave a comment

Yes, stitching

Posted on 2025-06-10 by Holly

It is about all I had the energy to accomplish today. So we have more progress on the Lighthouse (Cottage Garden Samplings)

which is on the standard Smoky White Zweigart 18 ct and the threads are (splurge) silk from BeStitchMe

On, yes, I managed a small start on the July mini-village as well. But  couple hundred stitches barely counts.

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Dr Who Snail

Posted on 2025-06-09 by Holly

Every once in a while I get suckered in by one of those mystery stitch boxes. In this case it was a Tardis related collection. If you aren’t familiar with the long running British Dr Who series, all I can say is that I am sorry. Checking with my usual reference – the series started in 1963. Yes, that is right – the series predates Star Trek (1966). In any case, both started before I even graduated from High School.

Ancient history – right?

Anyway – the Black Needle Society has been doing a series of snails. I think the idea of snails originated with a “hunt the snail figurine” at one of their summer retreats immediately post pandemic. There are supposed to be a dozen I think – but this one is an extra.

You night have to right click to embiggen him in order to really see the call box …. It was only about 1k worth of stitches, so small compared to many of my stitching projects. It is now back to CGS Lighthouse, then I need to start the July House (3/4 of the second banner).

all of which earned me a few hours of playing computer games

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Home | 3 Comments

Nothing is Amiss

Posted on 2025-06-08 by Holly

I just haven’t dredged up the energy to release the posts from the last few weeks. Promise I will do so this week…

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Fishy’s going on

Posted on 2025-06-05 by Holly

Is complete!

The pattern is from LongDogSamplers and is stitched on a 16 ct something or other printed by Fabric Flair. The thread is 12wt Sulky # 4016. It was only about 17k stitches plus a few hundred. The only reason I know is Pattern Keeper.

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Birds SAL

Posted on 2025-05-24 by Holly

Well actually the name is something like Extraordinary Birds. Which is really a mouthful so I am just going with Birds. The vertical bits you see are part of the cage. The spoonbill was the last section and the bluefooted booby the most recent. Once again – LolaCrow…

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Claire

Posted on 2025-05-18 by Holly

and I mean the pattern from Nora Corbett. Not my one daughter’s dog who is named Flair.. who I usually call Claire anyway.

the thread is hand dyed black (not me) silk from Dinky Dyes, it is took about a skein and a half as a substitutions for DMC 310. there are beads. I also substituted Expresso from Caron Waterlillies for the called for kreinik.  I just wasn’t up for dealing with shiny. The fabric is Berry something from ForbiddenFiberCo in 16ct Aida.

Posted in Cross-Stitch | Leave a comment

Yes, those are baseball teams

Posted on 2025-05-17 by Holly

after trading a few email with a friend who is located in the US, I figured I should quickly expand on something I mentioned last night. The Giants (San Francisco), the Mets (NYC), the Yankees (NYC), the Twins (Minnesota), the Brewers (Milwaukee) and the As (formerly of Oakland and now temp in Sacramento) are all US Major League Baseball Teams.

And if you are located outside the US, you probably have just as much interest/knowledge  in that as I do in Cricket or Rugby, Probably less …

So on to the rest of the ordinary here. I made an attempt to put in a couple of hours sorting out a few bins of things, piles of stuff, and otherwise disorganized crafting materials. Assisted (?) by a cat. It did not go well.

Neither did attempting to finish a cross stitch project that involved backstitcing & hundreds (488 to be exact) of tiny beads. The same cat was insisting that he needed to be on my lap, or I needed to be feeding him or….. you get the idea.

Anyway – Sagittarius is finished. This is 12/12 Zodiac girls from the Nora Corbett series. The others were all finished last year.

Posted in Baseball, Sports | Leave a comment