Halloween is already here and I’ve not prepared at all. I still have no candy to pass out, not even a carved pumpkin in sight! What’s new?

Oh yes, did I tell you that I am back from Montreal? No, I didn’t? Well, I am.

Well, did I tell you about the most wonderful fado concert that I attended and sat third row center? Nuh uh, you say?

Or that I’m so very very close to completing that hooded baby blanket? No?! I’m really behind.

I’m sorry. I really did have two whole posts written out and lost them both. Really, I swear. No, really!

Joe has been away this week in Anaheim for a work conference and I have the whole house to myself! You better believe the wild parties I’ve been throwin’. Well, there will be cookie baking with Erin tomorrow and the passing out of candy…oh and old scary movie watching! That counts as a wild party right? Oh yeah, get the word out: “Taryn will be passing out full size candy bars tomorrow night”. Last year we got a grand total of two trick-or-treaters, so this year we are trying to bribe more ghoulies into coming to say hello. Parents will hate us, I’m sure, but anything to win the kid’s hearts and minds right?

I’ll be back with more on Montreal and the fado concert soon…I think.

I just booked our room for the trip to Montreal. I had my first encounter with a french speaking person over the phone and boy, was it ever nerve racking! Not because the man wasn’t polite and all that. He was very friendly, but I almost froze up and didn’t say anything when they answered the phone with a ‘bonjour-hello’. I had read that it is polite to always start off in french no matter if you don’t know the language or not. It’s the polite thing to do, but I just couldn’t make myself say bonjour! I’m much more nervous about going off to Montreal now. I know I’ll only have to start off in French for a few words before they realize ‘hey, she has a really horrible accent, I think she’s an American…let’s continue in english for her sake’, but oh, the idea of speaking a language which I have absolutely no schooling in is downright scary. How terribly can I mess up their language without offending them? Will I mispronounce a word so incorrectly that I end up asking the waiter for a monkey instead of the menu?

I suppose all we can do is try our darndest to not mess up the pronunciation and be extremely polite and avoid being ‘those loud and obnoxious Americans’. Actually, Joe and I are really quiet people, so we’ve been tagged as Canadians during our travels without even trying to hide the fact that we are from the U.S., but I doubt we can actually fool French Canadians so much.

That reminds me of waiting in customs to enter England. We saw a group of college age guys covered head to toe in Canadian colors with the Canadian flag patches everywhere. It looked ridiculous. They acted and talked like they were from the U.S. to me. Sure enough, I see one of them pull out a U.S. passport. They weren’t fooling anyone!

For now I’m off to practice a very important phrase…

Je ne parle pas français…..

jhuh ne parl pah frahn-say…

juh nay parl pah fraun-say…

ugh!

&

So glad fall has come, and especially happy that the cool breezy weeks are still peppered with days in the low 80’s. I wish we always had a nice mix of light rain, cool breezes and warm sun. I know this lovely weather won’t last long, so quickly do the best seasons leave us!

I’ve been assigned my garden plot last week and spent a perfect day breaking up the compacted clay and refreshing the soil with horse manure. I haven’t had a chance to plant anything yet. It’s getting so late so I need to do that this weekend, luckily the weather is going to be perfect for that.

Mostly though I’ve been knitting away. The blanket is still not complete. I’m at the half way mark. I’m definitely not progressing as quickly as I was hoping. A whole blanket of seed stitch gets ridiculously boring, so I decided to start a couple of quicker projects to work on when I need a break from the blanket. I’ve almost got my first Saartje’s Booty complete! I just need to knit the button straps and seam them up. I’ve hit a speed bump though and have a problem with casting on for the straps. I just can’t figure it out and apparently I’m not the only one with this problem, but the explanations in the help forums aren’t helping me! I hate being so close to complete and not being able to finish!

I’ve also been thinking up quick knitted christmas gifts to start now…a silk lace scarf, a pair of fetching wrist warmers, a scarflette are all possibilities. Can’t wait. I just love sitting with a warm blanket, a warm drink and something to knit.

In other news, Joe and I are going on vacation AGAIN! I know, that’s a lot of plane rides for us this year! This time I’m taking Joe to Montreal for his birthday (this month). Anybody have any suggestions for good food, things to see and do, that would be great. Just drop me an email or comment here. I’m assuming a hockey game is in order (Joe’s favorite hockey team during his youth was Montreal) and of course the botanical gardens, but what else? We are just staying for the weekend.

Oh yeah, to the local knitters:
I heard about a free alpaca farm tour on Sunday. I’ll probably be going so if anyone wants to come along, drop me a line.

Hopefully I’ll post soon with a completed pair of baby booties and a baby blanket! Have a good day all!