Yoyobon, thanks for the info. I've been doing more knitting lately, but I've never made socks. They're on my TBK list.

Merry......easy peasy !!

Yoyobon, I am indeed on Ravelry, and am known as Rosefolly there as well. I even posted a long and rambling discussion of my very first project. I completed it the weekend of Stitches West, which was held a half an hour's drive from my home. Thanks for the link to the free pattern. Are you Yoyobon there?

I'm planning to sew a couple of cotton dresses now for my trip to England/Ireland/Scotland before I get back to knitting. There is at least one banquet dinner, not formal, but people will wear nicer clothes than they wear in the garden. My favorite clothes tend to be the ones I make for myself. They actually fit.

I do know to pack a raincoat and a sweater (jumper), even in June.

Folly

Yes, I am yoyobon there as well.........I figure if I create too many clever alias' ( is that the plural?) then I won't know who is me !!!

All you in the northeast.....

Here comes another one,
Just like the other one !!

Oh for pity's sake! After having the pleasure of opening all the windows and airing out the house in 40 degree temps this weekend, I woke to flurries and *that forecast*. Add to this my general discombobulation due to the time change and I am feeling quite put upon this morning! *sigh*

On the other hand, it amuses me that the weather people design these storms to have an identifiable shape.
This one is a stocking !

One time this winter they had produced one that was quite x-rated !!

The drifts are melting,
the mud is here,
at least it's not snow
and that's worth a cheer !

Come in with a roar,
What more can you do ...
Old Man Winter
We're through with you !

At last, some cool days but still no good soaking rain after more than 100 days with only a slight sprinkle once to remind us of what rain looks like!
The birds are enjoying the better weather though and the magpies, doves and kookaburras are shouting their approval very loudly!

Oh, Oh.....encore.
LOL....this one is a leg !

And they all hit us recently! It's raining and 35 degrees right now at 2:50 pm EDT with mixed sleet and snow predicted for later. We are 100 miles west of Cincinnati.

yoyo, I had thought your 'letter' was responsible for the w/end before last's Spring weather . . . caused by a blocking high, followed by a week of cold damp fog and finally the w/end just gone glorious sunshine, daffodils waving, birds tweeting, jackdaws falling down our chimneys (they nest on top) even woodpeckers banging holes in tree trunks.
The sound of the lawn-mower is heard through the land . . . and NO rain here for about two weeks. ;-)

Annpan, we await the arrival of the Southern hemisphere supply of apples 'though perhaps more NZ than Aus; could you speed it up please. The 'stored' ones we rely on over here are well past their best and taste disgusting. ;-(

Apples in spring....
Not a good thing !
But apples in fall
Are the best taste of all :0)

As to the weather....does anyone speak of anything else in the northeast !?.....we "enjoyed" a day of ice as the flowing melt the day before had frozen into cascades of ice on driveways and lawns.

Today it is a balmy 8 degrees F. so the ice remains intact and treacherous.

Happy St. Patty's day :0)
The only green we have here is the envy of all those in the sunny, warm South !

This post was edited by yoyobon on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 8:47

I hadn't realised the apple situation was that dire! I'm not sure if you get any from Western Australia.They are grown locally in Donnybrook.
I am taking a trip to Margaret River next month. It is a wine lover's delight there. Also good for chocolate, olives and other gourmet treats. I am putting on pounds just reading the list of places to visit on Tripadvisor!

I got back from sunny, warm Manchester (no rain, Veer, not even clouds...) on Wednesday, to be greeted by rain that turned to sleet and then to snow. The forecast is for even colder weather. Brrrr!

Connecticut is having a cautiously-almost-Spring day ... the sun is out, it rained last night, the birds are making a ruckus and it's almost 40 degrees ... However, there's still snow on the ground.

I saw this weather report today and had a good laugh.

That is hilarious.
I am always checking that AccuWeather map to see what bizarre shape they are featuring......this is a keeper !

Sheriz...you are lucky.
We have had wind and sleet/snow squalls passing though
all day. Cold and miserable.

This post was edited by yoyobon on Thu, Mar 20, 14 at 17:24

Okay all you in the northeast.....it's baaaack :0(
And this one has a one-two punch apparently .....give me a break.

Northeast, my foot! See Kentucky and Virginia in there? We are beginning to think "never" is correct.

Carolyn.......true, true !

I'm so centered in my own weather-misery that I've missed the broader picture !

Yesterday morning I decided to finally get outside for a long walk and encountered sleet/rain throughout.
Ridiculous.

Our temp was 70 degrees today, and I took a long walk in the park. The TV weather report tonight said our low for the night will be higher than the high on Sunday. Sigh.

Yoyo, the "sunny south" has not been that sunny this winter and spring. Our blooms are over a month behind, and we had many hard freezes and snow and ice in SC, with power outages!

I live in Tupelo MS, having relocated due to hurricane from New Orleans area. I am a coastal girl and I think Tupelo is too cold! and has a too short growing season! I am dreaming of a small beach house on the Gulf Coast, to go to in the winter. I don't know how you all do it up north. My son is moving this summer to Columbus Ohio, seems a beautiful place, but I don't plan to visit unless I can be assured of warm weather!

Just as a point of reference, ......we get our weather from the Ohio river valley.

I live in southern New York State. ( which is not to suggest warmth)

Plan on a July visit if you want assured warm weather !! :0)

Love the socks! Wonderful things! I have exactly one pair of handknit socks, I love them.

One of my co-workers put it this way: "I'm not just tired of being cold, I'm tired of complaining of being cold!" This from a world-class complainer.

Siobhan.........lol.
You know, sometimes complaining actually feels like it helps alleviate your misery.
This winter has put new perspective on that whole concept for me as well.

Thanks for the kind words about my sock output....that's what one snowstorm after another will do to me !
It's a sort of meditation and form of relaxation.

NOW 6:57PM
18ð
Feels Like: 4ð

"In like a lion
Out like a lamb."

The wind is howling at 36 mph.

This little lamb must be in one big hurry to leave !

Really? Was this really necessary? Or just an April Fool's joke gone awry?

Enough is too much at this point.

In the southern tier of NY we got only about 1/4" of snow however, one hour south of us in PA got 12 " of snow !!
Here's a photo sent by a friend who is is one foul mood
this morning :

Ode to Spring by Yvonne

Me thinks
Winter stinks.

Yoyobon, I agree wholeheartedly!

We have had a very mild winter with almost no snow, but much rain. Over the w/end a cloud of Sahara sand/dust has been blowing from the SE bringing poor air quality and a layer of grime on everything up as far as Scotland and Ulster.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sahara Dust

Maybe help is on the way. It was 70 degrees here today. My daffodils began to bloom, and I took a walk in shirt sleeves. (I'm almost afraid to post this. Don't want to jinx the weatherman, but it's supposed to be 70-ish all week.)

Well, spring must be in the air because I have a young buck who appears to be in love with me !
He comes every day and hangs around my house looking in the windows. If I go out and yell at him to leave he just stands there or comes closer !
He'll stay almost an hour just standing around, scratch his nose, sniff the air, nibble on things ( my garden is doomed), think about deer things, listen for our voices in the house and stare at the windows .

In his defense, I am guilty of perhaps having tossed him an apple or two throughout the winter .

This shot was taken this morning when we had the dusting of snow......hopefully that's over.

This post was edited by yoyobon on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 23:08

That photo reminds me of the deer I used to have in my backyard in Virginia.

Finally spring seems to have arrived: fruit trees blooming, red bud, azalea, and dogwood at last. The temps here in SC are supposed to be in the 70's and even low 80's all week. Trees are gradually leafing out.

The rain is falling,
The grasses are stirring,
I think I can hear
Daffy bulbs purring !

Dear Spring,

Let 'er rip !

Sincerely,
Yvonne

One final note on this closing season........

What??
Oh, okay.

The last two days have been 80 degrees and sunny.

Right now it's 30 degrees and after raining all day,FROZEN RAIN AND SLEET is falling from the sky.

Waaaaaah :0(

Right now my husband is out in the back yard covering plants with some of my good towels. It seems that the shop towels he has in the garage aren't big enough. We are headed for the 20s tonight.

It was supposed to be raining when my daughter and I went for a trip to the wine region of Margaret River, Western Australia but we were lucky and the weather was very pleasant. There are ninety vineyards of various sizes in the area but we were in a rental car, so were good and didn't do any wine tasting, just bought fresh figs and local preserves! I recommend the area to tourists, we were made very welcome and had a lovely time.
Our weather has been so unpredictable, my A/C gets switched from cold to hot air every couple of days.

Ann, it sounds as though you enjoyed your sensible and sober drive but where you able to bring a few bottles home with you?

I don't think any of us in the UK could 'deal' with temps that jumped up and down like yoyo's (the things on string . . . and also our own yoyobon's) and our temps almost never reach the 80's; it is considered a heat-wave when they hit the 70's.
At the moment we are having some beautiful Spring weather with lots of sunshine, temps in the 60's, birds twittering, blossom blossing. The pessimists say it will all be over by Easter. Always a black lining to every cloud.

Speaking of vineyards and low temperatures, our area was struck with freezing temperatures over the weekend. We also are a pretty big wine-growing region, grapes-wise, and one of our local vineries faced losing all of their crop due to the frost.

So - to protect their vines, they had set up a controlled burn (lots of individual bonfires using hay bales) in between the vine lines, and used a commercial helicopter flying in circles above the crops to fan the flames to make sure that the fires didn't go out. They kept this up all night long (with volunteers working in the fields) and by daytime, their crop was mostly saved. (Not 100% but better than if they had nothing.)

I thought that was pretty innovative, plus good PR!

Vee, no, I didn't buy any wine there because I mostly buy my wine in Chateau Cardboard 2 litre packs as they last me longer! Also most of the good stuff is available in bottle shops in Perth which saved us from lugging bottles onto the coach. I still have divided bags that I used in the UK to stop my duty frees from clanking when we drove back from the Continent with cheap wines!
We did buy some red grapes and they were the best I have ever tasted and have spoiled me for supermarket ones now!
Lemonhead..What a good idea to save the crop that way. I noticed that some of the late-pick vines were covered in the vineries. This would stop rain and birds, I imagine.
Some of these places are very big and have venues for weddings, one had a lake with a statue of a woman on a pedestal in it, known locally as "the chick on a stick" which reminded me of the James Joyce statue in Dublin with a similar but more derogatory name!

Did I mention we had snow ?

You can send my get well cards to :

Sunnyday Mental Spa
Happy St.
Somewhere Warm, USA

annpan, I was curious about your reference and looked it up. I never knew anything about public art in Dublin, but now I've seen a bit and learned the local nicknames. The things I learn on RP!

Here is a link that might be useful: Statues of Dublin

Sheriz, I looked at the link and recognised from this a few of the statues I saw on my two visits to Dublin. On the first trip I took a tour bus around the city and the guide sang a few lines of "Molly Malone" when we passed her statue, for those people who didn't know the song. Those who did, joined in!
Yes, I too learn a lot on RP and not only about books!

Yoyobon, we had frost night before last, but today it was 68 and my husband worked in the yard and planted some perennials. I hope he has made a deal with the weatherman.

Why don't you come on down for a visit? Citywide Derby festivities are afoot, and it will be a nice warm change from the mental spa.

Oh doesn't that sound just heavenly !
We are hoping for temps in the 50's and maybe 60's next week.
There is hope !

The weather in southern Iceland has been cycling through autumn, winter and spring every 15 minutes for the last couple of days. Right now, the sun is blazing through my living-room window, whereas 5 minutes ago it was hailing. I wish it would make up its mind because it's impossible to dress for this kind of weather.

Dear Mother Nature,
Thanks for the week of nice weather.
I guess it was more than we really should have hoped for !