Cookie Exchange

Yesterday a group of friends got together for our annual Christmas brunch/cookie exchange.

These were my cookies - cranberry/macadamia nut cookies dipped in white chocolate. I made some with dried cherries and some with cranberries. Both were delicious.


Doris, our hostess, had her house beautifully decorated.

First things first, let's open the wine!

Our brunch was delicious - filet mignon bites wrapped in bacon, Jewish coffee cake, cream cheese cinnamon pastry (sorry Peggy - don't know correct name, but it was wonderful), sausage pinwheels, cheese pinwheels, ham/cheese brunch bake, cheesy apples, spiced cider, wine, coffee.

The whole group - we missed those of you who couldn't come.

From left, Doris, Donna, Kathy, Evelyn, Peggy, me, Judy

After eating, we played Dirty Santa and exchanged small gifts.

Just a few of the fun gifts.

Our cookie assortment!

Just before we made our way around the table dividing up the goodies.

Good friends, good food, a great Christmas tradition I hope we have for many years.

Portuguese Knitting

While I was researching continental knitting videos last weekend I came across this video for Portuguese knitting. That caught my attention because I have a good friend who lives in Portugal. I mentioned this to her and she was surprised that there was a Portuguese style of knitting. When she looked at the link she said she thought that was how everyone knitted, and didn't know it was unique to their country. Her mother and grandmother were knitters and she had learned with the yarn around her neck and wrapped around her middle finger just like this video. The actual technique is different too as they knit and purl from the front and use their thumbs to move the yarn. Also notice the needles have hooks like crochet hooks.


She did some research and sent me these links that explain and show it much better than the one I had found. They are mostly in English, although one is in Portuguese, but you can still see the technique. This person uses regular needles though, not ones with hooks and my friend said her area (the north part of Portugal) has always used the hooks, but other areas may not, or at least may not exclusively.

Check out these links. Very interesting. I want to try, but right now am still learning continental and don't want to confuse my poor brain too much, but that will be my next project!


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson 1 (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xswHlgb1i_E&feature=related


"Tricotar à Portuguesa" - 3ª aula (In Portuguese)how it begins=the first line:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO5_tzkQKZk&feature=related


"Portuguese Knittng" Lesson - How to Knit (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBhq4VusU5Y&feature=related


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson - How to Purl (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5hYxupNcM&feature=related


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson - Ribbing 1/1 (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5q-Eqc4vcc&feature=related


Her youtube page with all her videos:

.chuanavit videos page:http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=chuanavit


and her blog link: http://www.chuanatricot.blogspot.com/

Vacation!!

Tomorrow we leave for Pigeon Forge, TN for a few days to meet with some good friends. In 1967 (can't believe it has been that long) we got married and left for California, where DH's ship was in port. We lived in Long Beach for a few weeks and then the ship moved down to San Diego and we left to find an apartment there. We were only going to be there a few months as the USS Kitty Hawk, Larry's ship, was preparing to go back to Vietnam. For the next few months they would be doing their training preparations. One of Dh's friends from the ship and his wife and DH & I looked for apartments with no luck at all. Either they were in terrible neighborhoods, or we couldn't afford them. We took the ferry over to Coronado Island where the ship was docked and it was so nice! (Now there is a bridge, but then you had to take a ferry). It is somewhat a resort area with very nice residential neighborhoods where many Navy officers and their families live. We found a nice garage apt. behind a navy pilot's home. It had a large high-ceiling living room with bedrooms off each end and small kitchen. We decided to take a chance and rent it together with Roy & Carol. Larry & Roy were out to sea for training most of the rest of the summer, so it was a blessing for me to have Carol there. We had a great summer. Almost everyday we walked to town or the beach, went to garage sales, visited with the neighbors. In November Larry & Roy left with the ship for 9 months, and Carol and I went back to our home towns When the guys got back, Larry left the ship to go to school and then he was lucky enough to have shore duty for the rest of his tour and we lived in San Diego for his school and then Charleston, SC for the next 2 1/2 years. Roy & Carol stayed with the ship and went to Washington state so we never were stationed together again, but have always stayed friends.

Over the years we have kept in touch and visited several times, but life got in the way and for a few years we didn't see each other very often. Last year they came down and spent a weekend with us and we had such a good visit we decided to meet this year in the mtns. and rent a cabin. That's where we are going tomorrow. I can't wait. We don't have any big plans, just take each day and see what goes. It will be great just to get away and visit with our friends! I'm not sure I'll have internet, but will take lots of pictures and post when I get back if not before.

I have late azaleas and they are just starting to bloom. It looks like they are really going to be full and pretty this year and I hope I don't miss them completely. I told my daughter to take pictures while I am gone! Maybe they will last till the weekend, but often if there is wind or rain they don't stay long. I went out today and took pictures of them half-bloomed along with the purple iris and clematis.

These light pink ones are Encore azaleas. They were new to me till last year, but they are great as they bloom again in the summer and then again in the fall.

Breast Cancer Friends

Going through any serious illness is not a lot of fun. Breast cancer is no different. There are lots of down sides to it - realizing you are not immortal, going to the doctor's office a zillion times (unless you like that sort of thing), losing your hair (and in many cases one or more breasts), feeling tired & crappy a good part of the time, sitting or lying for hours getting chemo, getting a wicked sunburn from radiation, spending tons of money on treatment, drugs, travel back & forth (thank God gas wasn't as high then, I drove 140 miles every week for over a year for chemo and 80 miles every day for 30+ days for radiation).

That was the bad - but there was good - finding wonderful support and friends in unlikely places. I was very lucky and had two good friends at work, one had gone through the same journey a couple of years earlier and one went through the same time as me. They were teriffic.

One of the best things to ever happen to me was a great group of friends I met through the internet. Early after my diagnosis I found breastcancer.org, which has a ton of information and lots of support through discussion groups. Every month a new group started of people starting chemo that month. In August 2004, I waited for a group to form and when it didn't I jumped in and posted first. One by one a great group formed. Some posted for awhile and then dropped out, but several of us stuck it out, through all our treatments and after. Sadly, we lost two wonderful sisters during this time - Karen and Frances. They were so young (30's), both wives and mothers and I still miss them today, so can just imagine how much they are missed by their families. Eventually, the ones of us still hanging in there switched over from bc.org to a Yahoo group and there we continue today. We don't post as much or as often as before, but I still cherish their support and friendship.

Two years ago, four of us - Nela (from Portugal), Kathy (Connecticut), Clare (from Canada) and I (Virginia) were able to meet in NYC for a wonderful weekend. I hope we can again and hope next time Patti & Candy will be able to come also.