More from the needles of Retired Person

Oh, dear! No posts since April?  Shame on us!  We spent all summer supervising the crew who repaired the damage done by raccoons.  According to the neighbors, raccoons have been living in our house for years.  Now we are (easily) adjusting to sleeping past 7 am because we no longer have workmen arriving at that outrageously early hour.  (I can see you rolling your eyes, Kathie!)   So now it is back to my New Year's resolution of using up all my stash of yarn; so I can buy more!  Thanks to Karen, who discovered Committed Knitters, I can donate a big box of yarn I would rather not use myself.  Lately, I have been enjoying the little things in life.  Roslyn is going to dress as Rapunzel for Hallowe'en, so I made her a Pascal.  His legs didn't come out quite as reptilian as I would have liked, but on he should perch on her shoulder just fine.

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Don't forget to vote! We are still learning about Wisconsin politics, but I am tempted to vote straight Independent!

Love, Gilly

Spring Update

Spring has finally sprung! Here are some photos of life around the Hoyer house:

Ice storm! And this is what I saw in the morning on the highway.

 FIRST Robotics Championship in Detroit. Alex's team didn't make the cut, but it was fun to watch

Alex's new bike from the annual Ann Arbor Classic Bicycle Show and Swap Meet

I went to a friend's daughter's wedding in Phoenix and this is my hotel room door. The inside was normal, but I was nervous on what was awaiting me inside!

Ahoy-er me hearties!

What do you get when you take a retired person with a crochet hook, a pile of yarn odds and ends, and a doll with a wonky eye?

Pirate Susie!

Har, har!

Love,
Gilly

P.S.  I think April is Talk Like A Pirate Month.

Spring in Wisconsin

I was thinking of the song, Hot Town, Summer in the City (or something like that) but the view out of our windows is not cooperating. 

Tax Day in Wisconsin!

Geoff, Sue and Alex:  I hope you have your electricity restored.  I can't help but remember Mama talking about the Russians taking over our weather.  Maybe it wasn't the election they wanted to control!

Love,
Gilly

Quick Trip to Chicago

It turns out that Sam has never been to Chicago, so thinking that he should at least see what it's like, I arranged a trip there over Presidents' Day weekend. It was not the best weather. On Saturday it snowed, and then by Monday it was raining. So we mostly did indoor things. We went to the Field Museum:

And then got very wet in the snow on the way back. My friend invited me to her bachelorette party, which happened to be that weekend, and so I spent the evening with them. We painted some mugs and played some games and that was fun.

We also went to the Garfield Conservatory, which I didn't think I'd been too before but it was very cool. Here's me with an ugly plant:

That afternoon, we went to see Second City. They were really funny, although Sam was a bit disappointed that they didn't do more improv (we went to see a "best of" show).

Despite the rain, we managed to get a picture of Sam with the Bean:

We stopped by the Chicago Cultural Center for a look at the Tiffany ceilings, and then finished up with a trip to Russian Tea Time, which was just as charming as I'd hoped from walking past on the way to work.

We also went on a "Chicago Crime Tour", which was kind of disappointing because they bused us around the city to look at mostly empty lots and alleyways where something significant had happened. The gangster stories were somewhat interesting though. Anyway, it was a fun trip and we had a great time. Maybe next time we can stay a bit longer and visit the Gages too!