Kat with a K

Dickens' Village!

I set up my Department 56 Dickens' Village yesterday. I usually set it up at my parents' house, since that's where I actually have Christmas, and since they entertain more, so people will see it, and since they have no cat to knock it all over. This year, we decided to put it on the hutch in their kitchen, and I like the result:

The problem with using the hutch is that there's nowhere to hide the cords, so Mom decided they would look better if I braided them. Let's just hope they don't need to take it down in a hurry for some reason. (Mom's response to that comment? "Like what? If the Nazis come?")

Here's a blurry picture taken with no flash so you can see how pretty it looks all lit up:

And if you'd like to see close-up pictures of the various pieces, click here.

Carry On

I love the Keep Calm and Carry On poster with the passion that I reserve for all things British and old-fashioned, so I was delighted to walk into a British import store a few weeks ago and see a tea towel version of it on display. I wanted one, of course, and I could think of at least five people for whom it would make a perfect Christmas gift. But it turned out they were SOLD OUT and wouldn't even sell me the one they had on display. Instead, they offered me an apron at tea towel price, which was fine, but not exactly what I wanted. But here it is!

I couldn't come up with any wall space in the kitchen to hang it on, so I just went with a bunch of strong magnets on the side of the fridge. I can take it down easily enough when I want to actually use it, and in the meantime, it's nice to glance up and see it there in such big bold letters. Words to live by, really.

Snowy Sunday

We got our first real snow of the season over the weekend, so I took some pictures for you while my car was warming up on the way to church Sunday morning.

The house is prettiest in the snow:

"It's always been one of my dreams to live near a brook."*

The "snow-covered mailbox" thing is pretty and all, but it would be better if my mailbox closed the whole way. This way the mail just gets all wet.

They are talking about building dozens of houses down past my house this way, but this time of year it's mostly just hunters who go down there. I'm surprisingly okay with hunting in general, but guys walking down the middle of my road with guns always kind of freaks me out.

Really, this whole set could be called "Why I Live in New Hampshire."

Directly across the street:

It was the nice heavy kind of snow that stays on the trees. (And causes power outages, but that's a different issue.)

This sort of down-the-road shot always reminds me of a shot in the credits of something. Avonlea, maybe?

* I was going to offer bonus points to whomever got the quote, but, really - Hi there, Rachel! (And Courtney?)

Football in the Snow

I'm trying to ignore the fact that it will likely be raining during my brother's game tomorrow, so hey, how'd you like to see some pictures of last week? I was somewhat surprised to arrive in Maine and find snow on the ground. I don't know why I was surprised, since it's, you know, Maine, but I was.

There was enough snow that the game had to be delayed so they could clear the field and pile the snow on the sidelines:

Here they are getting ready to play and somehow not freezing. My brother is #70, about nine guys from the right:

I may or may not have taken this next one because there are certain people on that team who are rather more attractive than nineteen-year-olds have any right to be. Moving on!

I picked a bad moment to take a picture of the scoreboard, because they actually won! 34-31! But I was focusing more on making sure I took the pictures at pretty moments than on, you know, accurately reporting on the game.

This was taken in the second half, when it was getting pretty cold. You can tell because Dave (#70, second from the left) had actually rolled his long sleeves all the way down. I almost passed out from shock at that one. (This is the boy who used to wear shorts pretty much all year. Until he moved to Maine.)

I love the sky in winter:

Trip Pictures Part 1: Adare

So, I went to Ireland! And Wales! And then took a ridiculously long time to start uploading my pictures! But here we go. We stayed in a pretty little town called Adare the first day/night, to give ourselves some time to wander around and rest and get acclimated. Here is the first of many, many pictures of gravestones I took on this trip:

See the rest of my pictures from Adare here.

Pretty Pictures

So I went on a quick trip to Canada over the weekend (more about that later), which meant I got to do one of my very favorite things - drive through Vermont. I love Vermont. And coming home yesterday, I finally had time to stop at the 100-mile view at Hogback Mountain. I'd noticed it when driving past a few times before, but never had the time to stop. This time I parked and took pictures until my camera batteries ran out. I've put my favorites below, and you can see the rest here.

Perfect Evening

Yesterday after work, I'd planned to go to the library, make some stir-fry, maybe watch a DVD. But by 3:30 or so, it was raining, hard, and cooling off, and I realized that I was going to be useless that evening for anything but making soup, drinking tea, knitting, and reading a British novel. So when I got home I ransacked the cupboards for vegetable stock and barley, dug random CSA veggies out the fridge, and threw together some vegetable barley soup:

While the soup spent most of the evening simmering, I drank tea, knit a sock, and reread the sixth Harry Potter book in preparation for the new one tomorrow.

Ahhh. Lovely.

Steep steep steep

Meet the newest addition to the Kat with a K Hot Beverage Creation Apparati!

Yes, it's an adorable little tea steeper with cute celestial objects cut in. We sell them in our new café at work, and I've been coveting it for a while, but putting it off because it seemed a bit silly and unnecessary. But I finally broke down and bought it today, because I just adore it. And it fits perfectly on my favorite red tea mug, and is easier to clean than the tea ball I'd been using, so it's just as well. I just used it for the first time and am currently sipping some pina colada herbal tea from Adagio.

Also note the Doctor Who DVDs, knitting book, and dice in the background. That pretty well sums up my life the past week or so. Well, except for the work work school school school work work part.

Random Wednesday

1. New hair again, in its natural (i.e. not blow-dried straight) state:

I think I like it. More pictures here, here, here, here, and here.

2. I'm actually feeling remarkably focused about knitting recently. I'm re-enamoured with my Trekking socks and they're coming along nicely. Tonight I'm making myself work on the Clove Stitch Shawl I want to bring to Florida. Next week. Yeah.

3. One of the reasons for my focus is that the roommate has decided to try a sweater: he's chosen Beau from Vintage Knits. In a show of, um, moral support or something, I've promised I'll start a sweater from the book as well. Contenders at the moment are Fleur, Bridget, Faye, Oriel, and Salina. Opinions?

4. Right before midnight last night, I finished Guns, Germs, and Steel. More about it in the upcoming January Reads post, but I am veyr proud of myself for managing to make it the whole way through this time. My new lunch reading is Elaine Showalter. Yeah, I'm a dork.

5. My semester started last night. My class - Literacy and Service to the Underserved - seems like it will be really interesting, and the professor actually encouraged me to knit in class.

6. I just ordered my luggage for my trip. Which is next week. Yeah. Good thing L.L. Bean delivers so quickly. I should probably start thinking about what I'm putting in said luggage, eh?

7. Ugh. My favorites were voted off of Skating with Celebrities. How can anyone not adore Kurt Browning? Does not compute. qw21?

New boots!

I know, I know. Boots. I'm really stretching. But they just came today and I'm very excited. And they're the little sisters of my roommate's boots. Look how cute:

The next morning

Downtown again, the morning after the snowstorm:

And, just for fun, this is me and jaQ eating breakfast in the much-coveted car-shaped booth at a local restaurant:

Winter wonderland