Thursday, August 11, 2011

More Dog Days

How was your week during these Dog Days of August (in the northern hemisphere, anyway)?  What wonderful little moments did you experience this week?  At Susanne's blog Living To Tell The Story, you can add your Friday Fave Five and share what five things, large or small, made your Thankful list this week.

Here's mine:

1. We finished our week of dog sitting by venturing out to the beach with his lordship.  We could have spent our walking time gazing at beach apartments facing the ocean, imagining what it would be like to sit on that balcony and enjoy the beach scene view every day,


we could have laid out our beach blankets and watched the sunbathers, the surfers and the boaters,


or the colorful bikers whizzing past on their color-coordinated cycles;


but mostly we did this--watched and waited while our four legged charge investigated every curious smell at every post, garbage can and tree.


2. This is County Fair week!  On Tuesday, I was scheduled to demonstrate spinning during the three hour afternoon shift at the Ventura County Handweavers and Spinners Guild booth, so The Professor and I drove up to Ventura in the morning, wandered around the fair visiting the textile arts building (of course!) and checking out what exactly Fried Kool Aid was (yes, truly, it was sold this year along with the chocolated covered bacon and all the other usual suspects of fair food).  I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with so many people who strolled past our booth, stopped to watch us spinning and weaving fiber into beautiful fabric.

3. Evidently, I signed up for the perfect day to volunteer because we discovered that The Beach Boys were performing that evening!  Of course, we stayed for the concert!  What fun it was to sing along to all the Beach Boys songs with a standing room only crowd of Beach Boy lovers of all ages.  They certainly got a rousing cheer for "I Wish They All Could Be California Girls" and "Surfer Girl".  That's not surprising since all the women in the audience were California Girls and we were in a stadium no more than 1/2 mile from Surfer's Point in Ventura.  They sang for almost two hours!  What's your favorite Beach Boys song?


4.  The rest of the week when I wasn't typing up lesson plans for next school year (yes, it's coming on really really fast), I was busily knitting on the February Lady sweater.  Making great progress, I'm done with the body and nearly finished with the first sleeve.


5.  Do you ever happen upon a book that you've heard about but then forgot and when you see it, you think, "I've heard about that book. I think I'd like to read it."  When we were in the local libary yesterday, I saw How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill sitting on a shelf.  I grabbed it and sat down right there and began reading it.  It was good; not great, but good. Gill is an entertaining story teller and his story of being "an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all--and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks" grabbed and held my attention through the whole book.

So that's it--Willow's Week.  There was actually so much more--another phone call from The Grad Student, this time from Singapore, to tell us he was on his way to Indonesia for the next six weeks of study.  And there was eating our fresh ripe garden grown tomatoes.  And more reading.  And more knitting.  And more organizing.  But those are topics for another day or another Fave Five.

20 comments:

Tracy said...

What a fun week, Willow... dog sitting and spinning demonstration! LOVE the yarn you're using for your February Lady. And I must add that book to my to-read list--very interesting! Happy Weekend ((HUGS))

Faith said...

What a great week you had! i love the Beach Boys and much to my daughters' chagrin I still have the album of their best hits. Fave song? all of em...although as a NY East Coast girl we used to make fun of the CA gals...back when we were teens and thot we were just so hip being from NY...lol...enjoy your weekend!

Lisa notes... said...

You had some great outdoor time. I love it!

roxie said...

Dog days? We still haven't broken 90 degrees this summer. Your week sounds so lovely!

nikkipolani said...

I'm with Roxie -- I've been loving the weather this August, except that the tomatoes are having a slow time ripening... The Country Fair sounds like a lot of fun for you - esp singing along to the BB songs with a crowd :-)

Susanne said...

Lots to see, and sniff, at the beach. It looks like a beautiful area. Your sweater is coming along beautifully. And how fun that you got to demonstrate spinning and take in a Beach Boys concert!

ellen b. said...

Glad your week was full of good things. I'm always amazed how soon school starts up again. Have a great weekend...

Jerralea said...

I can't pick a favorite Beach Boys song...how exciting you could be at their concert!

Chocolate covered bacon and fried Kool-Aid?? Fair food is going too far, LOL.

That book sounds interesting ...

Brenda said...

Walking the dog on the beach sounds wonderful, especially on the sunny SoCal beaches, here in SF the beaches tend to be cold and windy.

I have been to at least 2 fairs where the Beach Boys have performed and its always fun and nostalgic. Obviously, "I Wish They All Could Be California Girls" would be my fav ;)

Marg said...

Dog Days have ended for me as my daughter has returned from her cycle trip.
We saw the Beach Boys back about 5 years ago...Good on you for volunteering...it must of been incredible.
My pick is "Surfing USA"

Gattina said...

What a nice week you had ! Looking at the beach pictures I wished I could be there !

Knitting Linguist said...

How fun! Beach walking and Beach Boys - you can't go wrong. I guess my favorite would have to be California Girls (being one myself, and all), plus Surfin' USA - there is no better car ride song to sing along to :)

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

I love your weekly recaps! You are living the life I wish I were living - LOL Oh, to go to the fair and spin away the days.... sounds heavenly. I love fair food even chocolate covered bacon sounds delicious to me :)

Of course I love the beach boys!!! You named my top two faves already :)

meg said...

FUN FUN FUN is my song, as I had a T Bird to drive for a long long time :)

Love your knitting project. Mine is a disaster, unraveled and restarted six times now. Sigh. Got a new pattern, going to give it another go!

Barbara H. said...

I'd love to have a day at the beach.

The County Fair sounds fun!

The sweater looks really good.

Dorothy said...

Beautiful sweater, Willow!

I love the Beach Boys! I can't think of a song of theirs that I don't love! How fun to be at a concert of theirs at the beach!!

Catherine said...

I love all the Beach Boys songs, but I used to love playing "Fun Fun Fun" with the convertible top down! I'm glad you had a fun week. That yarn is a beautiful color, and you are so amazingly talented! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous photos with us.
-Catherine

Caroline said...

You make me like Southern California. I hate, hate, hate the traffic, which means that we almost always head to Central California beaches and mountains, BUT we should venture your way more often. There's a reason that it's so crowded. There are wonderful things to do there.

Good luck with your school planning. I'm kind of in denial until Thursday when I'll have to hit the ground running, ha, ha.

Sharon Lynne said...

Just got done reading several posts! Love the dog. You do wonderful work (sweater picture) Yes, I can understand never getting tired of viewing the surf. Even if its the same place! We are enjoying home grown tomatoes along with you.

Barbara said...

I could just dive right into that beautiful sea.

Sounds an interesting book and I guess most of us can relate to Starbucks.