Roughing It

This past weekend was the Scouts' District Camp, which 1st Waterloo was in charge of running this year.  This meant days and days of very little sleep for Leo in preparation for two more days of even less sleep.  It may take weeks for us to catch up, but overall I would say that the camp was a success...at the very least, I know that Noelle and Simon had a good time.  In another year, Sophie will be old enough to join - I guess I'd better get used to the idea of sleeping in a tent.  At least with the British Scouts, one can always be assured that a good cup of hot tea is always readily available!

I do love that Leo found a way to share something he enjoyed so much as a child with all of his children.  I remember talking as newlyweds about our future and having kids, and the things we hoped they'd enjoy.  With a lot of regret, we had both mutually agreed that they would NOT be involved in the American scouting movement, due to the policy of discrimination against homosexuals in the BSA and the aggressive focus on cookie sales within the Girl Scouts.  While we are both aware that there are individual troops out there that have taken a stand against these policies, we did not feel comfortable associating with the parent organizations.  This was not a big deal to me, but Scouting was a HUGE part of Leo's childhood and, for him, it was painful to have to make such a choice.
Who knew that, by the time our kids reached scouting age, we'b be living an ocean away, in a country with a hugely active scouting movement of its own and access to both the British and American scouts through the local International school. Neither the British nor the Belgian scouts discriminate based on sexuality and both are also co-ed, which meant that is would be something ALL the kids could do together.  Since our kids were already in local Belgian schools, we decided that scouts could be something for them to do in English and choose the British scouts for that reason.  How sad to think that this is something they would have missed out on if we'd stayed in the US!!

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

It normally wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone to say that it is raining here in Belgium, but this is in fact the first grey day that we've had in weeks and it actually comes at this point as a bit of a relief.  The kids' Fëte d'Ecole has come and gone (somehow always on the hottest day of the year, as rare as hot days are)  and the Scouts are camping this weekend.  We've already been warned that there will be no campfires if the conditions are too dry and I'd rather have the rain now then when we are actually in the great outdoors.   All this sun and warmth has me fooled that summer vacation is almost here, and yet there are still almost almost 8 weeks left!  

Still, I am enjoying this extra-long spring.  We grew our own tulips in our flower boxes this year, and watching them sprout in FEBRUARY was a real shock to us all.  By the first week of April, they were in full bloom and gorgeous.

Growing tulips of my own has also inspired my knitting this spring. Before a business trip to Luxembourg,  Leo asked if I would make a little something for a co-worker of his who was expecting a little girl.  For awhile now, I had been wanting to re-knit Kate Gilbert's discontinued Peapod Sweater, which I had made a few years ago for Sophie, and saw this as the perfect opportunity.  I used a beautiful burgundy wine colored cotton blend, soft and washable, and substituted the written lace-leaf panel with a delicately cabled tulip design.  The results were just what I wanted, and I have already received a lovely thank-you from the new mom, complete with pictures.  As this is a public blog, though, I will stick to sharing only my own photos of the finished cardigan:

 The color is washed out here, but this is the best close-up I have of the cabled tulips:

I was especially happy to find the perfect finishing touch in these beautiful buttons:

My spring knitting continued through a pair of bright, funky green socks - the first thing I've knitted for myself in a LONG time.  I finished the second one in the car on our way to the UK, and was proud to wear them walking around Wonder Wool Wales.  The pattern is Cookie A.'s Pointelle and they are knitted in plain ol' sturdy Regia 4-fadig on 2.25 mm needles.

Back to more selfless knitting for a while, but I must knit more socks soon - I had forgotten how fun and satisfying they could be!

Trying this again...

It's been a long time since I've done any significant writing at all, but the timing just feels right to start blogging again. While Facebook is a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, I've quickly learned that saying too much about how I REALLY feel on there just gets me in trouble. I think sometimes people forget that they still have a choice about whose posts they read on there. There will be no such self-censoring here - more than anything, I need a place to vent, to share and to walk away without feeling judged for having strong opinions.

With that said, rest assured, not everything I post will be controversial. On the contrary, I am certain that the VAST majority will be about my two favorite subjects: my family and my knitting (not to mention the knitting I do FOR my family). Tame stuff, no doubt. Still, better to get the disclaimer out at the very beginning lest anyone be caught off-guard when I start ranting about the evils of circumcision or the fact that I actually think Michele Bachmann is just competing with Sarah Palin to see if she can out-stupid her. You have been warned.