A Skylight, A Recipe for Rice Pudding, Carol's Thoughts on Knitting

Husband disapproves of blog posts that have more than one topical area as he thinks writing should be "on topic." When he reads this post, it will be understood that he again thinks I've gone a ramblin'.

Getting on with it, here is a picture snapped yesterday of one of the Tile Meister maestros performing his job of setting in a skylight in our relatively dark kitchen area; he had to go up twelve feet from the top of the ceiling through an attic area and onto the roof to get the job done.  Yay for him and great that we now have God's own natural light coming into our work area. 

Today's work in this new sunlight should be completed by 10 AM at the latest, to include this recipe (rice pudding with oranges) and this recipe (pumpkin snack cake).  I must return containers once filled with tasty, very much appreciated foods supplied by friends (apple and pumpkin pie and homemade chicken soup), so why not go ahead and make some foods that my tummy can handle as well? Brilliant. (oh, and no sleep last night because of steroids and I forgot about that insomnia issue until it was too late to take a sleeping pill). Not Brilliant. Latest bone scan this week showed progression of lesions on ribs and spine, uptake of dye inside the skull.

Treat yourself to some Trick or Treat Candy; I'll turn on the coffee!

Thoughts on Knitting (Guest writer is Carol Weber from New York). Carol wrote this a few weeks ago, and it has such a fall flair, an autumnal air, that I wanted to share it.  Carol went to the now Very Famous Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in September.  At this event, many knitters spend more time and probably even more angst creating just the "right" sweater to wear to this weekend event.  (I would love to just go there and take pictures of the knitters showing their creations.) But I digress, and on with Carol's notes:

Hi Nancy, I wish I could have packaged up today to send it to you, to cheer you through these dark hours. My two knitting friends and I were at the sheep and wool festival. A heavy duty day of yarn shopping, punctuated by some muffins and cider, with a bright blue October sky above. The best part was meeting so many fiber folk, most of them dressed in their beautiful Rhinebeck sweaters that have been months in the making. 

...I was so excited to read that Mary Lou was going to be there at Rhinebeck that I went straight to her table when we arrived. And right next to her were Ann and Kay from Mason Dixon Knitting! I felt like a complete groupie. I got to tell them in person that it was their first book that got me back into knitting after a long dry spell. Blog land is certainly an amazing place!

And in a prior email... 

The best part of the day for me was meeting Mary Lou Egan of Yarnerinas. She's the only person I know who's actually met Jean Miles,; we had a nice chat. She is delightful. Mary Lou and her friends have a new book out, Drop Dead Easy Knits. I bought us each a copy.

Carol, please know I have looked through the book many times, and like I told you, the striped socks on size 5 needles are in the queue!

This is my newest screen saver, and I wish I had the nerve to pull it out when someone starts whining about ANYTHING.  Maybe I just will do that.  A few manor staff and residents will like this, Julie and Louise and April and Cindy for sure.  I'll record their reactions when I go in this morning.  I have missed being at the manor more than a few days this week due to health issues due to radiation of the pelvis. Enough said.

Chin up, dahlings!