Snake River Canyon

While I was in Boise things were going smoothly enough for us to decide to visit a bit of natural beauty. One afternoon we drove out to see the Snake River Canyon. Although the weather was very cool while I was in Boise there was not a lot of wind. Of course in the canyon there was virtually no wind. I was particularly struck by the contrast between the desert landscape within the canyon, and the deep water of the river. Although at this point it is not very wide, it can accommodate a surprisingly large boat. This was Logan's first outdoor adventure. He spent only a minute or two outside of the car (wrapped up in the Big Bad Bulletproof Baby Blanket), but I'm sure he will have a great time growing up camping , hunting, and fishing. In that regard he will be lucky in his choice of parents as both of them enjoy the outdoors. I must admit the comparison of Oklahoma City to Boise based on the opportunities for outdoor adventure makes me a bit envious. On the other hand, the amount of cold weather compared to Oklahoma would mean that I would be outside enjoying the outdoors less!

In preparation for my visit I packed all kinds of knitting projects, of course. My flight out from Oklahoma City included a long layover in Salt Lake City, which is the single most boring airport I ever pass through. I thought that with that in mind I might blow through a lot of knitting. As it turns out I nearly completed a pair of basic 3x1 rib socks which I cast on for in the Oklahoma City airport, but that was all I did. Jennifer and I spent more time running around Boise than I had anticipated, and of course I had to spoil the baby, so I only had a little knitting time. Today I'll close the toe of the second sock and I'll have a new pair for Me Me Me! They are Austermann Step, which I have never used before. I found it knitting with it quite pleasant. We'll see if they are as kind to my feet as advertised. I was pleasantly surprised that they are a good match. I started the first sock at the beginning of the skein without regard to the color changes, and started the second sock with a guess at what "might" make a match. They turned out to be practically perfect matches.

Lunch with Vivian

Friday's treat was lunch with Miss Vivian. The Parents tagged along of course, but she is definately the star! She's got a great appetite for beans and rice, and knows how to demolish a tortilla in short order. The rest of the lunch pistures over at Flickr, of course.

Last Night in Boise

It's "All Logan, All the Time" here at Casa Logan in Boise. I'll be leaving tomorrow, so Jennifer and I feasted at Cracker Barrel, explored the wonders of Costco (I'm envious), and hung out together. Logan gets plumper and cuter every day. Even though he doesn't have a lot to say yet, his expressions vividly express his moods. Today's bath was much easier for Mom and much less traumatic for the little man. He and Mommy are quickly figuring each other out. As always, more pictures on My Flickr Gallery.

Drive By boise

For anyone whose day is not complete without fresh baby pictures, here are two cuties. Jennifer and I have been out and about with Baby Logan, scheduling carefully between feedings, although yesterday we missed in a big way because we ended up making a lot of stops. In search of sports wash we hit three sporting goods stores, including REI (where is was hard to stay on task instead of wandering idly all over the store). I was mighty tempted to add Cabela's to the list of stops just because we were nearby, but Jennifer was out of steam , we STILL had a stop to make before we went home, and I thought I could live a few more days without a Mountain Man Hat. Logan went from silent sleeping to red-faced screeching in about two seconds flat. Fast paying and running out of the store was the order of the day.



I thought I was finished with the first sock of my traveling pair, but I stopped and looked at it just before I closed the toe to realize that I had somehow thought my foot was 5" long. It's not. Rippity Rip back before the decreases to fix it. I did finish it last night, and the mate is underway.

Back In Boise (now with luggage)

I arrived in Boise Thursday night without luggage, which was not exactly a big deal, but also without the camera cable I had packed in order to be able to upload pictures, which was a big deal. In order to score cheap a cheap seat I had two changes of planes which also involved a change of carriers. While I ran almost all the way across the Denver airport to make my connection for my intermediate stop at Salt lake City after arriving after my scheduled departure time, my bag chose an easier route. My bag flew straight to Boise on the next departure and beat me to Boise. Sadly, when I arrived at the airport late at night I did not know that my bag was lounging in a completely different claim area. The nice man in Bombay who tried to answer my questions the next day also did not know my luggage had enjoyed a change of itinerary, although he was very happy to tell me the arrival times of all flights into Boise in case I wanted to meet the plane. Yesterday night a man from my first carrier called my cell phone from Boise, thinking that my luggage was here and I was in Oklahoma City. I quickly told him the story, and my bag was sitting on the doorstep when I woke up!!! YAY. My camera cable and my baby handknits and my clean underwear had finally joined me. Lucky for me Jennifer and I are close enough in size that it wasn't too inconvenient to wait, except for being unable to upload any pictures. We were a bit concerned about the Bulletproof Baby blanket, which had been in the bag. I REALLY did not want to knit another one.

Friday I was lucky enough to chronicle my beautiful grandson's first bath. He was not nearly as happy about this occasion as I was, and was not shy about expressing his opinion on the subject. He was mad, Mommy felt sorry to be the cause of somuch screaming, and Grandma laughed. He survived, of course, and spent the rest of the day trying to undo the effects of the bath. The day included a trip to the office for an Official Baby Demonstration and a visit to WalMart. By evening he was worn out and slept a record five hours, much to Jennifer's approval. More pictures in my Flickr gallery - link on the sidebar.

Eye of the Storm

Although lots of things are going on, some days it feels like life is very boring and ordinary. It is probably the classic end of winter blahs. Even though there is a lot to think about nothing seems interesting to me. Work feel routine and boring. I did receive a promotion this year, which made me feel a validation and a renewed interest in my work, but this month it still feels dull. Cycling season is not quite here, although I have been out to buy extra tubes and a rear view mirror. I'm about to pick up a pair of knickers so I can enjoy early spring rides without my knees freezing, falling off and rolling into the ditch. I've gotten back into the swing of my yoga class, although I feel fat, old, and slow. A plumbing issue which will soon be resolved is dragging on while we try to find a part. The Presidential Primaries should be holding my attention, but even there I am somewhere between mildly interested, annoyed, and disheartened most of the time. Wah Wah Wah.

I had lunch with Alex, Jamie, and Vivian Friday at The Old Orchard. Vivian is in the middle of the "strange" period when babies notice that you are not Mom, and do not think that is a a good thing. She didn't want much to do with me, except when I had ice cream. Then she was able to recognize me as the familiar spoiler. I don't think she smiled at me once, although she was happy to eat my ice cream (and serve that up a little faster please) and chew on my glasses.

Shana and I went to a dinner party Saturday night with the usual suspects plus a few new friends. The food was wonderful, the company was good, and we played The Newlywed Game and Taboo without anyone being seriously injured. We don't get together with the whole group as often in winter as we do in cycling season and I miss them. Shana does go to spin class with her training partner fairly often, so she keeps in touch, and we do see some of the girls at church, but our regular rides are a high point of my week (even if I do groan all the way to Jones and back).

I took along some knitting to the parety in the form of yet another little hat for Baby Logan. I finished the hat this morning, but sadly it turned out to be One Ugly Hat. It looks like tt will not be making the trip to Boise this week. I don't know that I will even frog it, because it's just a bit of leftover Wool Ease - not an espeically pretty color, or anything. I'll probab ly just hang onto it as an article of doll clothing. It fits the baby doll that Vivian plays with when she is here.

This week I am finally heading for Boise to visit Jennifer and Baby Logan. It will be a relief to see them in person at last. Logan just went home Friday, and I know Jennifer is really tired. It will be good to spoil them a little. Shana will be entertaining her mother in my absense, so I will be preparing for a house guest and a trip both this week. Traveling knitting will be my blue scarf, which I will probably have to frog and restart because I will have forgotten what I was doing, Some scap sock yarn for some tiny socks for Logan, my half finished monkey socks, and two pair of basic socks. I've got a giant layover on the way out, so I will cast on for a pair just before I leave to have something mindless to do while hanging out in the Salt Lake City Airport. Good thing I am planning to take all of these projects because of course yarn is not sold in Boise!!! We may actually visit Lisa's Yarn Shoppe in Meridian as it will be a short hop. I doubt we'll get out very much because what Jennifer needs to do most is rest and recover instead of driving all over town.

I've taken to drawing a Tarot Card of The Day this week to try to give myself a little push. The card today is King of Cups: An encouragement to express emotions with a connection to the Charioteer - taking control of your life. I've been thinking of Tarot for a while, and the card a day is proving to be an interesting way to reconnect with the symbolism. This week I have been using the Voyager deck. It's not my favorite to read with, but it is a beautiful one and a good one to contact the subconcious. It's a collage deck instead of having a single image on each card.

Drive by Post

Here's a sweet new picture of Baby Logan, for anyone who has been waiting for more news. He's still in the NICU, maybe for a day or two more.

Baby Booty

I have the good fortune to work with a great group of women. While there have been a very few people who came and went, our core group has been working together since 2000, and several of us have been together even longer. This means we've known each other through some pretty life-changing experiences, and have come to trust and respect each other. In addition to their other wonderful qualities, my work friends are amazingly generous. We have a tradition of Grandma Showers. This is what I received in honor of Logan Daniel this week. Everything is so cute. We joked that with the items I've been knitting and these gifts I will not be able to pack up any clothing when I go to visit him for the first time. I may have to seriously consider shipping the baby things ahead, because the weather in Boise has been so cold I don't think I'll be able to pack lightly without freezing to death.

Friday was Samantha's birthday. She had already received her gift from me in the form of a pair of tires for her car. Not glamorous, but spendy and necessary. For her actual birthday I took her to lunch at her favorite restaurant: Red Lobster. She had one of the feasty platters. Then we zipped over to Starbuck's for one of the fancy cold coffee concoctions. Not too thrilling, but both items are outside of our usual budgets, and therefore qualify as festive. We had a nice time, and a very nice visit. She had to zoom off with her coffee drink to get her car washed in advance of a celebratory evening of bowling. Her gift from her dad was a great digital SLR. It's a requirement for her photography course, but also she takes a lot of pictures and this will give her great quality. I must admit a passing envy. Only passing because it is even bigger and heavier than my current camera and I know myself well enough to know that I do not enjoy carrying around a serious camera.

Super Tuesday is coming next week. Although I do not do a great number of political posts I will volunteer my opinions for anyone who is interested. I was very disappointed when John Edwards dropped out. I must admit that come the General Election I will vote for the Democratic candidate no matter who it is. Both candidates still standing are equally qualified, in my opinion. That said, for the primary I will be casting my vote for Obama. As I have often said, while I admire Mrs. Clinton's abilites, intelligence and drive, I am less impressed by her character. I thought that during President Clinton's administration they were both too quick to throw loyalists under the bus, and too quick to sacrifice principle for political expediency. While I truly believe she understands the needs of families and the inadequacy of our current health care system for many Americans I think she also has strong ties to corporate interests and a vested interest in the status quo which will make her slow to consider solutions which will be unpopular or unprofitable for her corporate friends. Also, recent events surrounding her campaign make me pretty sure that her administration will be full of distracting drama and division. Although I think Obama has been less decisive and committed than I would like, I see less of these kinds of issues. And as a practical matter, the Republican's are prepared to fight Hillary Clinton, and have a less sure idea of how to tackle Obama. I think they would strongly prefer that she be the candidate, and this makes me uneasy. For months now I have not heard a peep against Mrs. Clinton from the Republicans - it makes me think they are holding their fire "until they see the whites of her eyes". My opinions, of course, and as always: your mileage may vary.