Almost Ulmus

I think I write this post just so I can use this header, it sounds so nice to me.

I have this much yellow yarn left:

Can I squeeze 10 more rows out of this?

Can I squeeze 10 more rows out of this?

To knit 10 more rows on this:

Almost Ulmus

Almost Ulmus

I think I will have to patiently wait the arrival of the second yellow meadow skein and hope the color will be close enough that I will not have to reknit the whole edge.

Too little yarn, too many rows to go

Too little yarn, too many rows to go

It is raining in Toronto and the rain washes the green and makes it even greener,  I enjoy it so much.

I wish there was a way to pack some green and a lot of water and send it to my family and friends in Israel, they need it really badly. After a few years of drought, the water shortage in Israel is reaching a crisis level:

When I watched this advertisement on TV during my last visit to Israel, I found it quite disturbing, I wonder how effective it is.

Me? Gardening?

Unlike some people I know (my mother in law and my sister – to name a few),
I have brown fingers.

When I tried to raise plants in my apartment in Tel Aviv, they always looked miserable (I think there it was mostly a matter of not enough light, although a more diligent watering plan woudld most probably been helpful too…)

In Arizona, we tried to raise vegetables with very little success, the only thing that grew was some catnip oh and some parsley too (a few basil plants managed to survive but those were planted by Joe),,, and except one variety of small roses that caught up and resist dying despite all my efforts, we mainly had wild desert vegetation in our yard.

I really like those colorful flowers they offer here in Toronto, all over town these days,  and I want to have my own herbs but seeing the little strawberry plants in one of the stores the other day, made it for me:

Planting My Strawberry Patch

Planting My Strawberry Patch

You see,  looking for the first fruit in my mother’s  strawberry patch in Shoresh so many moons ago, is one of my fondest childhood memories.

Do you think the greenness of everything here in Toronto will catch my fingers too?

And on the knitting front – I am 17 rows from finishing my Dandelions/Ulmus shawl but the yellow yarn is runing out faster than those rows.  I just received an email today from the Green Mountain Spinnery that my other yellow skein is going to be shipped today, so I hope it will arrive on time and that the color will be close enough so I can finish that shawl before the birthday girl arrives home and this present will  be all ready for her (aren’t I lucky she is not going to be here for the actual birthday?)



Animals in a City

While contemplating what I want to write about the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, life gave my darling Joe another excuse to travel and I found myself yet again in Southern Vermont (not that I complain).

Immediately I found an excuse to visit my favorite spinnery there – The Green Mountain Spinnery:

Home of the friendliest spinners in Vermont

Greem Mountain Spinnery

My excuse this time: I am not sure I have enough meadow yarn to finish my Dandelions Shawl! (Unfortunately they had only 4 skeins of this wonderful color and not surprisingly they sold all of them in New Hampshire but they ordered one for me from the dyer so I just have to wait.)

But, actually as the header of this post suggest, I wanted to show you today some moose we encountered on our way back:

Moosefest, Bennington, Vermont

Sofia and Shamoose, Moosefest, Bennington, Vermont


Mooses all over Bennington, Vermont

Morpheus, Bennington, Vermont


Another of those Mooses

Vincent: I think he is related to Sofia and Shamoose from the other photo,,,


The Hippy of the Bennington Moose Fest, May 2009

Ziggy the Hippy-Pot-O-Moose of the Bennington MooseFest, May 2009


Covered Bridge Moose in Bennington, VT, May 2009

Covered Bridge Moose in Bennington, VT, May 2009

This one was my favorite, it is made of thousands of tiny photos:

Close up of the Bridge Moose

Close up of the Picture This Moose

I think his name is Picture This but I nicknamed it: The Covered Bridge Moose. It caught the attention of other passers-by:

Girls Checking the Bridge Moose, Bennington, VT, May 2009

Girls Checking the Bridge Moose, Bennington, VT, May 2009


These ladies found the Bridge Moose facinating too

These ladies found the Bridge Moose facinating too

We even found one in the The Village Chocolate Shoppe:

Yummy Moose

Yummy Moose

Apparently they have a Moosefest in Bennington, Vermont these days:

Even the moose get their own crossing in Bennington, VT

The moose get their own crossing in Bennington, VT

When you invite a lot of moose to your town, you better take good care of them, just like they do in Bennington, VT.

This is the third time we encounter animals in a city. The first ones were penguins in Tel Aviv (Scroll down), unfortunately I couldn’t locate any photos of them, I think it was in 2000 or so. The second time was in Sedona when  Margene and Smith came to visit Arizona and we found all those Javelinas in the streets of Sedona. And now the Moosefest, I wonder where and what we will find next!