Blogger vs WordPress

Someone left a comment telling me that they, too, wanted to reply to people leaving comments on their Blogger blog. Their solution was to install Haloscan on Blogger to remedy this. I really like this idea and am going to give it a try before making my final decision about switching to WordPress.

I have been playing with WordPress all weekend and am not sure I want to 'grow' through another learning curve. I think I would rather be knitting! There are pros and cons with each provider that I am weighing but, to me, Blogger seems easier to use.

In knitting news, I am busy working on my RED Central Park Hoodie (Project Spectrum) and my Colorado Trekking Adventure socks. I am thoroughly enjoying re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and will be posting some thoughts on that later this week.

Here is a peek at my 'Cabin Themed' sock..................

Hufflepuff socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swap are finished and ready to be sent by owl to my Hogwarts Pal. It is nice to have them off the needles. Speaking of socks, have you guys seen Kathy's cool Sidewinder Socks? I'm itching to give them a try!

WordPress

I think I may be switching over to WordPress so that I can reply to bloggers posting on my blog.

The new site is http://socksformum.wordpress.com/

Come by and tell me what you think. I have not made up my mind completely yet. Both Blogger and WordPress have there pros and cons...............and I really hate having to learn something new, but if it allows me to reply back then I might have to make the move. If you have aversions to WordPress or have anything you know about it, please leave a comment!

Reflection Tuesday ~ Musical Instruments

If you learned to play a musical instrument, tell me your memories of lessons, practice, and your music teacher. If not, what instrument did you want to play and why?

Me? After failing miserably in the fifth grade with the flute I moved on to another woodwind instrument, the clarinet.

My clarinet and I had many happy years together. I attended a school with a highly competitive music department. Competition was a regular occurence and I did not mind ithis since most competition was done as one orchestra against another. Now, on the other hand, I absolutely hated it when another clarinet player "challenged" my chair in the orchestra. The ability to loose my place on the second row if I lost a challenge kept me on my toes and I practiced a lot. I don't recall ever loosing a challenge.

What a glorious feeling it was when the conductor raised his baton and when it was lowered my 'note' came out as many notes! Magical! It stirred my soul! I have many silly memories of splitting reeds during performances, rendering the instrument useless, and 'faking' that I was playing . That I could do, but have me march across a football field faking it and I was all giggles.

I still have my clarinet but it only squeaks for me these days.....due to the player, not the instrument. Going to symphony concerts is one of my favorite things to do!

So how about you? Did YOU play an instrument?

Owl Package Delivered

A package arrived by owl today from one of my Hogwarts Sock Swap pals. The very talented Abigail, a.k.a 1870 Pearl, put together a very nice package in the midst of getting ready to move. For this I am especially grateful!

Abigail knit some lovely GRYFFINDOR Hogwarts Socks in GRYFFINDOR colors. Since they are anklets they will be perfect Birkenstock summer socks. She also included some Lantern Moon DPNs -- huzzah! huzzah! And, last but not least, some candy in GRYFFINDOR colors in a GRYFFINDOR tin. Thanks, Abigail!

As for me, the Hogwarts socks that I am knitting for my first Hogwart Pal will be finished soon. I am knitting these on 2 circular needles. Every once in a while I get a hankering to knit socks on circulars. However, my preferred sock knitting method is on double-point needles.

When I knit on 2 circulars, I often forget where I am in a pattern sequence, at the beginning or the end. Since I already need 2 stitch markers to mark where the heel gusset ends and the instep begins on each needle, I devised dual-purpose stitch markers. Each marker has either the #1 on it for 1rst needle or a #2 on it for second needle. I put one on one needle and the other on the second needle. Now I can knit mindlessly!

Southern Reading Challenge 2007

I am knitting, really I am! I don't think I have gone this long without posting a knitting picture, ever. The WIP are just not in a stage worthy of pictures....but soon.

My trip through the South last month left me nostalgic and wanting to read some Southern literature so when I stumbled across Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge 2007 I signed up immediately. I wanted a summer reading challenge and this one sounds great.

When I think of Southern authors the following names come to mind: Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty and Harper Lee. They are all wonderful authors and To Kill A Mockingbird, A Good Man is Hard to Find, and The Optimist's Daughter will top my reading list. I want to throw in Christy because it takes place in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, not too far from where DD moved to. I've added a few other books that I've wanted to read for a while although I think the summer may be over before I get to them.

SOUTHERN READING CHALLENGE 2007

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. The Optimist's Daugher by Eudora Welty
3. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
4. Christy by Catherine Marshall
5. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
6. The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
7. Cane River by Lalita Tademy
8. Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
9. The Sound and Fury by William Falkner
10. Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
    

Rocky Mountain High

We spent the morning in Estes Park at a Rocky Mountain Art Festival. What do you think about this Rocky Mountain Birdhouse? Aren't they are, er, rather unique? I almost wish I had bought one but my family was more interested in running through the booths so they could drive over Trail Ridge Road and I was trying my hardest not to get separated from them.

Estes Park is also where the beautiful historic Stanley Hotel is located. If you have ever seen the movie, The Shining, or read this Stephen King book this might look familiar to you. Stephen King supposedly had the Stanley in mind when he wrote the book. Of course, in the book there is no town surrounding the hotel. I spent my 10th wedding anniversary here with DH and then, later in the week, went backpacking.

Trail Ridge Road opened a few days earlier than our arrival. It is the highest paved road in the country and is a little bit scary to drive over. On one side of our car were fourteen foot snow embankments and on the other side were the tops of 'fourteeners'. We were above the treeline in the alpine tundra zone, a very fragile world.

Do any of you know what a 'Fourteener' is? Leave a comment if you know what it is before I tell you. A Fourteener is a mountain that has an elevation of 14,000 feet or above. Colorado has, I believe, 52 Fourteeners. I was had an aspiration to climb all of them before I hit 50 but never ventured past the first one!

The views were, of course, breath-taking......in more ways than one! My daughters bought a tee-shirt that said 'GOT OXYGEN?' and then it listed on the back all the Colorado Fourteeners. The pictures hardly do the scenery justice.

The rest of the weekend was spent hiking. DH and I went on one five-mile hike which was more than enough for our old knees. The girls went on one of our favorite eight-mile backpacking hikes and did it in record time to show the old folks how it should be hiked, or rather to remind the old folks how old they really are. Of course, they did not have 50 pound backpacks on their backs........

Memorial Day Weekend - YMCA

My visiting graduates wanted to spend Memorial Day Weekend at one of our favorite family spots, Estes Park, gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park. When I was their age I cut my backpacking teeth in this Park. Years later I taught their Daddy to backpack and we would leave them with grandparents whilst we explored the backcountry trails. We have camped many times here and the love of hiking the Rockies has been passed on to our daughters.No camping this time - we stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies which, by the way, is a VERY FUN place to vacation with your family. It is very reasonably priced and offers many activities for children of all ages. The main lodge is a nice place to hang out and play cards, games or read. The lodge deck has awesome views and the many comfortable chairs make a very nice place to sit and knit! I did get quite a bit of knitting done this weekend....and I did get quite a bit of frogging done, too.This lovely bronze statue captures the family atmosphere here AND it just so happened to have one of my favorite Bible verses engraved on it! I asked DH many years ago to put this on my tombstone and bury me in the mountains should I die before he. If you click on the picture you will be able to read it better.