Ravalry and my ramblings

I received my invitation to Ravelry a few nights ago. Are you using it? What do you think of everyone in the world knowing what you are doing? Or what you plan to do? It's sort of like a double edge sword don't you think? How much influence will other people’s projects have on your own creativity? I guess if you are a knitter who makes the patterns in the magazines using the same yarn including the same colowaycolor as the picture, it will just be another avenue to find more ideas. I think if you want to publish your ideas then you would have to restrict these projects from view. Now don't get me wrong, I love the whole idea but Mrs. Twisted posed a great question to me, "will you spend more time in the process of organizing and looking at other peoples projects and ques than knitting itself?" "is your time better spent knitting than worrying about what everyone else in the world is doing or if you have the most projects done?" You know us guys, it's always a competition about something. I had to think to myself and just wonder. I already have my stash residing in a large spreadsheet and my needles as well. The projects are in a binder like other fellow knitters do. So, what will this do for me? I do love the forum section and yet I belong to yahoo groups for certain sub-sectors of knitting and even some I haven't tried yet but just want to get my feet wet. Am I feeding the frenzy of being the first wave of people to do something? Yes I do enjoy being on the front side of technology and change but is this for me?

OK so what do I really think, the stash portion will export to an Excel file but you can ' t import one. hmmmmm..... Being the Engineer guy, I love to organize and plot and plan things to death. My stash list looks crazy with all the detail, but the detail has helped to retain some history of lots of otherwise lost info. I don't want to copy paste or re-type this. I went to the forum and posed the question and was instantly informed that they are already working on that feature. Positive result I guess just by the fact that I was answered. The needle inventory was a little strange but I already see that they are working on that. I love the people portion because you may find knit friends that you didn't know existed in your area or with similar obsessions for certain fiber. It has sort of a myspace feel to it. I was contacted just after joining to be a friend and was caught off guard but quickly realized that they were just looking for interesting blogs to read and used to live in the area and thought it would be fun to keep up with what we were doing locally. Thank you for the compliment, but I hope this little diatribe doesn't change your opinion too much. Will I use it? embrace it? I think so... I'm slowly building my stash one manufacturer at a time and move my flicker photos of my stash. Yes I photograph each hank or ball or group of balls. Just think to yourself if you wanted to see what was used to make a gifted project 2 years ago and you loved loved loved the fiber, how could you replicate it or use it on another project entirely with the same or similar results?. How else could you see the difference of Electric Purple, Vibrant purple, Royal Purple, Plum, Eggplant, and a half dozen other names some creative person uses to describe the same color yarn? What about the color Eternal? or Temptress? What about the companies who just use numbers to identify like Manos and Koigu??? I know - just a tad OCD. I know I'm just trying to justify in my own head why I do this stuff but it's just who I am. Watch out Ravalry here I come. I'll be warming up your in-box with suggestions. Last thing here, Congrats to the sharp individuals who created this, I was told it was a Knitter and her hubby, a software guy who are probably looking to sell the site soon after the release from beta version and retire like the Google and YouTube people. well, maybe on a slightly smaller scale. I hope they are looking ahead to port this site to work with scrap booking and quilting and all the other crafting people out there. Well that's my opinion, take it for what it's worth and $3.85 and buy a cup of Coffee. Oh if you want to jump on before it runs you over here is the link. http://www.ravelry.com/

I'ts better to give than receive.....

How many of you out there participate in the secret pal exchanges and especiallySecret Pal 10? I really enjoy the whole secret part of the Pal. The stealthy lurking Oh and any reason to shop just make this much more fun. Some of you may already know my giftee for this round, Moma Llama. She was presented to me as Catherine as it's given on her blog. As I read through her blog I learned of her dedication and love of her family and then realized that she was Mama Llama an independent yarn dyer. I thought I was in trouble here. How can you send a yarn dyer more yarn. Well, I thought let me step this up a notch and see what I can do. I thought who were my favorite fiber artist and maybe she would appreciate what I saw in them too. Readers of my blog have seen these names Posh Yarn and Capistrano Fiber Arts by Lori Lawson and I thought if she loves making socks she would love their wonderful sock fiber too. Her E-mail response said it all as with "Wowzers" in the subject line. Here is her Post for all you lurkers who love to read or just look at yarn pics.

As all good things come to an end the SP came to a close and I contacted her as myself. We exchanged a few e-mails and what a wonderful lady, loving wife and dedicated mother. Much to my surprise she asked us to do some testing of her newest yarn "squishy".
(80% Lambswool /10% Angora/10% Cashmere) We love the name and the fiber is amazing. Mrs. Twisted wanted to sleep with it because it was so soft. She sent some silk/cashmere as well for my fiber fix... Thank you Thank you Thank you. Catherine even asked me what colorway I would like and I selected Angelika because it looked like soft lady socks just waiting to be knit up. When he yarn arrived it looked so much more vibrant than the pictures on the net. I think you have a winner here Catherine.





I did take some outside too for a more real look.



How else to swatch sock yarn but to make a round swatch.....

What an incredible honor it is for her to ask us to do a test of her new yarn. Thank you Catherine!

I know I go a bit overboard with the SP stuff but I tend to be over the top with most everything else so why would this be different? Read my 7 things post for more clarification. :)

You know what? If you go into this just hoping to bring a smile and never expected anything more than a thank you, the rest is just icing on the yarn cake. I think the greatest gift is gaining a new knitting friendship. I can't wait for SP11 to start.

Of Man Thongs and Shakespeare

You're probably thinking, how could these two things go together but it was the highlights and low lights of the last two Saturdays. I have heard numerous people comment on here or in person that they love the pictures on this blog. Well............ As luck would have it this was the ONE day we didn't have the trusty digital camera with us for all of our sakes. Someone must have been looking out for the delicate sensibilities of my readers.


Last week I eluded to a fun a Saturday but a lack of time kept me from posting till now. We picked up an order of Bunny Hop baby yarn in the morning at one of our LYS (Yarn store #1) and Swung past A Mano Yarn Center (yarn store #2) on the way to The Santa Monica Jewelry Show. The stop at A Mano was to pick up some Manos that was 50% off that I needed for my never ending mitered rug. Annette was so sweet to put it aside for me. The Jewelry show was very slow in comparisons to shows of recent history. There was a highlight in this one booth that always has the highest quality gems, they had a a selection of loose stones and there was this brilliant 3.1 carat green tourmaline in a "kite" cut. First I've never seen a Kite cut and the stone was just radiant beyond belief. Not sure if it was the cut or the stone or a combination but WOW! I couldn't take pictures even if I did have the camera because the jewelers are not happy to see someone taking pictures of their designs. Mrs. Twisted was there to find some Graduation presents for some relatives back east. One pink Rhodochrosite bracelet and one Goldstone bracelet. Two different girls with two different frames of reference, both really special in our hearts. Oh Mrs. Twisted picked up a Tiger Eye, blue lace Agate and gold stone bracelets for herself.


We proceeded to Santa Monica Beach and found a nice place to knit in an elevated park overlooking the sand just south of the pier. An hour later the desires for some deep fried dipped meat products had us walking to the original Hot Dog-on-a-Stick shack nestled by the pier. That's when it got weird, we see this guy was about 20 yards in front of us slowly walking up the "boardwalk" in a yellow tank and a Thong. Yes a man in a thong, I told you there was a reason we forgot the camera. We were amused by the people coming the other way. As they passed the laughter and disbelief was non-stop. As we waited for our corn dog he continued walking and we though the show was over. As we finished our batter wrapped heart-attack-on-a-stick I looked up and there he was again and right in front of Mrs. Twisted and then he bent over to pick up something just as she turned to catch the full moon. Not a pretty sight nor one of our visually friendly but memorable field trips.



Fast forward one week, We napped a little this last Saturday and got out of the house in the early evening and drove North to San Pedro. We wanted to check out the harbour but quickly realized that the cruise ships left on Friday night.


Well, we drove to the end of Pt Fermin and pulled over when we saw a stage and an audience.



Always game for some free entertainment and realized we were going to see "the Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare.

The actors would sometime wait in the rear of the audience to walk on stage and this guy graciously posed for a picture for me. What fun they had, Some of the actors looked like they were having a really good time and the audience laughed along with the light hearted but well produced show. I even worked on my knitting until it became too dark to see the stitches but I must say, I prefer the snuggling under a blanket and sharing some culture over the FULL MOON from last Saturday.

Shakespeare By The Sea has been doing these shows for 10 years now and it was quite good. Well good enough for us to consider going back next week to see "Taming of the Shrew"

I didn't have to do Laundry after all

It was a good day today. I finished my lunch reading book. I know most of you knit during lunch but I prefer to eat and it's hard to eat and knit at the same time. I take my hour and decompress while I eat, read, and listen to my MP3 player. So I began reading a series of books by Lee Child with the Jack Reacher character in them. (check the sidebar I know I need to update it) This was #3 in the series. If you are a reader you know the feeling of finishing a good book. Sort of a happy it's over and sad that you cant continue.

When I got home we decided to go shopping and not for Yarn... Mrs. Twisted heard about this store that was a discount sort of place. Nothing over $20.00 Steve And Barry. http://www.steveandbarrys.com/ NBA star Stephon Marbury has his basketball shoes here for $15.95 not $150.00 like the other players shoes. Yes he wears the $15.00 shoes. Sarah Jessica Parker has a line of clothes for the ladies and girls too. And like I said nothing over $20.00. I found 3 pairs of shorts ( dark, khaki, and plaid) 3 button down semi-dress/casual shirts, one polo, two tee's. plus can you believe this? drum roll please.... Two pair of shoes in size US 15/Eur49 for less than $138. for the whole lot. I've paid more than that for a pair of good sneakers. Look out Old Navy and Anchor Blue.We stopped in Ross on the way out of the mall and bought some socks and I realized I didn't have to do laundry tonight after all.

My Seven things MEME

I guess I need to answer the tags I have received in the last few weeks. It looks like I have been tagged 5 or six times so here goes my 7 facts about me- Interesting? You decide.

1. I have been told I'm the "noticer guy." What is the noticer guy? Well we could be driving down the street and pass some gas station and not only would I notice the color and year of the red 67 Corvette getting gas but I would also notice what book the person in the passenger seat was reading. This is a long term affliction. I used to notice the TV show inconsistencies to the point that my Mom would threaten to turn off the TV if I didn't shut up. Mrs. Twisted thinks I should work for the TV or Movie companies as boo-boo finder.
   
   
2. I have an affinity for the color purple. Also a long time passion, I have a picture of me holding a purple cake just prior to my 4th birthday. Too bad it's the early 60's and we only had a B&W Kodak Instamatic and didn't even know what color pictures were yet besides at the Movies. Too all you youngins out there this was even before we had Color TV in our living room too. My mother mixed the food colors to come up with the lilac color. If you know me personally you see little signs of purple here and there. OK maybe a billboard or two hahahaha.
   
   
3. I learned to play guitar at age 43. I've wanted to play guitar since buying a beautiful new Fender Statocaster at age 16 and giving up after 4 or 5 lessons. I wish I still had that guitar but I sold it to pay for a repair on my dirt bike. Fast forward 25 years and Mrs. Twisted and I were talking about life dreams and expressed my desire to play guitar and she encouraged me to pursue my dreams. This put me in research mode for almost a year to find the perfect guitar(see #4). I now have three different guitars and love music more because of it.
   
   
4. I'm borderline obsessive. I dab my toes over the line once in awhile. Whenever I buy a major item camera, guitar, car, or any item with much potential impact on my life I look in magazines and online for all the reviews and try to get all the info I can so I can make an informed decision. This may take a few weeks to almost a year to a year depending on the amount of data. When I learned to knit, I dove in head first devoured all the material I could find. I learned fiber types and content and now this has progressed to obtaining hand dyed yarn from all the specialty fiber artist. If you have seen my fiber inventory list in Excel you have a mild idea of my obsessions :)
   
   
5. I carry Hot sauce when I travel back east.
   I know this may not seem like much, but I love food with some spice and flavor. My sauce of choice is Tapatio. A few years ago, well pre-non liquid ban, I used to carry my own bottle with me and now I have found it in little packets like ketchup. Mrs. Twisted's family now has a bottle of hot sauce waiting for me when we visit. :)
   
   
6. I was raised in a house without gender bias.
   I was the third son and my Mom never had her little girl so We all were exposed to the things that girls typically learn. I was raised being taught that men and women were both capable of all things if you want it bad enough. Consequently I know how to Grocery Shop like a psycho with menus and coupons, cook, clean, do laundry, sew, and shop for almost any item on a budget. Christmas shopping for me is almost an Olympic Sport.
   
   
7. I met my life long musical Idol Elvis Costello a few years ago. I was a fan of his back in the late 70's and followed his careerand continued to love his music even as he blurred the lines between music genres.
   
   
8. I would list an 8th but that might be obsessive. :))
   
   If you are reading this and you have not been tagged yet, then consider this your tag.

Life is good, Happy Fathers Day!

Busy weekend again, Saturday was fun at the Jewelry show in Santa Monica but that will be told later this week. This was Fathers Day so We each spoke to our respective Fathers first thing in the morning and my kids called to give wishes and we had the day to do with as we wanted. As usual Sunday was another beautiful day here in Southern Ca. Where do we go when the weather is nice? No not shopping, that was yesterday LOL. We went to the beach, our haven from the heat and hustle and bustle of life. The chairs are just left in the back of the car in case we happen to find an inviting spot any time but especially on the weekends. Today it was Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Coast between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. It's a group of cottages that used to be occupied by squatters until the State came in some years back and took over the property. Now it's a State run group of cottages that you can rent for the night. Just a little overcast right at the waters edge but it was still nice.


The coastline here is a little rockier than what you usually see on Southern Ca beaches but it's still so pretty and the color of the water here is so pretty.


The light coming through the waves looked so pretty





We looked in the tide pools but there wasn't much wildlife.


We did see a lonely little crab.



The erosion made some neat overhangs on the cliffs. The sandstone washed away under making a shelf. You can even see cactus on the hills. Where else can you see cactus within feet of the ocean?





Have you ever seen a "Letterbox"? As we were walking down the beach we didn't see the hole in the rocks but on the way back Mrs. Twisted said look over there and I reached in and found a pleasent surprise. These are like clues that people leave for others when they go hiking. After reading the contents we learned about the huge number of these in Dartmoor National Park in Devon England. What a cool little discovery.










I guess this was started by someone from Canada but it looks like of of almost 5k of these all over North America We left our note and fingerprints using the stamp kit inside and put the box back in it's hidden spot for someone else to find.


I'm not sure what formed the round sandstone shapes this way but they remind me of little space ships that crashed from outer space.

Loving company, Quiet Beach, warm Sun, comfy chair, tunes from the MP3 player, sun screen, nice hat to keep the sun from my face, old school Ray Ban Wayfarers, cooler of drinks, purple hand dyed sock yarn and size 2 Holtz & Stein ebony DPNs. All the things I enjoy on my day off. Life is good.

Attention Yarn Connoisseurs

Last night ( Thursday) I joined a very exclusive sock club. A month or so ago a wonderful friend of mine mentioned she was going to be part of a special sock club. Lori Lawson talked about this group of fiber artist who were going to be responsible for one installment each. Well now.... You know I love special yarn. You all know I had to join but it took a little justifying but I took the plunge because my Posh sock club ended and she wasn't going to continue the sock club.

Ok the details. It's only open to 60 people, is this exclusive enough? I was informed this morning by Linda at The Yarn Tree I was # 56 on the list. Four more spots open for you sock knitting fanatics who loves to knit with exclusive hand dyed fiber.

Here is a partial list of the dyers who will be participating:

Schaefer Yarns – Known for their sock yarn “Anne.” Cheryl Schaefer will create an “Anne” colorway just for the club!

Hand Jive – Darlene Hayes is a natural dyer – for those of you who haven’t experienced her Nature’s Palette™ sock yarn – this is your opportunity!

Chasing Rainbows – Nancy Finn loves color and you will see this in her exclusive offering.

Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Co. – Organic sport weight yarn spun on the ranch, dyed with natural dyes by Katey Plymesser – Yummy!!

Capistrano Fiber Arts - Lori Lawson lives in Southern California and her color sense reflects the beauty of her surroundings.

And our final guest artist is to be announced!

Registration will be open until June 15th, 2007. We expect the first sock yarn to be shipped the first week of August, 2007. Then we will ship as follows:
1st week of October, 2007
1st week of December, 2007
1st week of February, 2008
1st week of April, 2008
The last shipment will go out the first week of June 2008. .

Who will the last guest fiber artist/dyer spot go to? Maybe the dye master at Koigu? Maybe Catherine Kerth from Moma Llama??? hmmmm How about Dee at Posh Yarns? Cant wait to find out.

You know who you are out there. I know I'm not alone in this quest for the best sock yarn. No I'm not getting compensated for promoting the sock club, I just want to share it and let you have the chance to join me in the adventure.

http://www.theyarntree.com/studio/sockclub/
Linda said that she would hold it open a bit longer to fill the last 4 spots.

Provisional Cast on, Past the Heel, and Jet Skis

Sunday we went to a local quilt store that also has a nice knitting corner to exchange some left over yarn left over from a baby gift project, pics coming soon. Headed to a little park to get some relaxing sun time and a little knitting overlooking the boat harbor when we saw a little strip of grass on the other side of a flood control channel that feeds into the ocean. A little detour and found the entrance to the park and took the chairs out of the car and found a wonderfully quiet place. Well, their is a little car noise but that turns to white noise for me.

Mrs. Twisted has been wanting to do a toe up sock for a few months now. Looking at patterns she realized she would have to learn a new cast on method other than the good ol long tail cast on. Provisional cast-on was the new technique and she figured it out just fine by the evidence of the toe of her newest sock. She was so happy to find a toe that had no seam.

I got past the heel on Sock number two. I know it seems like I've been working on these forever but I only worked on them when I was not involved in group knitting or anything disturbing but I'm on to the the foot portion now. Just around and around to fit my very long foot US 15+

(Euro size 49) and then the toe but I see the end now.

As we were getting ready to leave we saw two guys coming down the river on jet skis. All I could just think of how cold I would be. But what fun it would be. It was in the low 60's here and the breeze was coming off the ocean.

Here is the baby sweater pre-sleeve attachment/pre blocking and with the ends not weaved in yet but 93% done. She finished the body while I was posting, so here you go.

The Blue yarn is so pretty. Just pretend that the sleeves are folded behind the front.

Star Wars, WWKIP day and Hand Dyed Cashmere

Before we talk about World Wide Knit In Public Day I have to show you what we saw in route to the event we attended. On the drive to San Diego we noticed what looked like an attempt to make an X wing fighter out of a Honda Del Sol automobile.

Check out the laser guns on the door and R2D2 riding in the back. The steering wheel was replaced with a Yoke. I think this guy has too much time on his hands.

Off to San Diego to attend a WWKIP at Balboa Park. Our intentions were to find a new group to knit with who was knitting outside so I went to the WWKIP website and found the San Diego site. We talked to Bree about going last Wednesday night and she joined us for the adventure.

Arriving at the park we met a nice group of local San Diego knitters, San Diego Fiber Folk, who meet on the 2nd Saturday of each month in Balboa Park. A couple new ladies came to the meeting via the same website. One drove from Long Beach and a few from the local area.

I checked the rules of the park and found out the I could bring libations so a little bottle of wine for Mrs Twisted and a wine cooler for Bree and I had a Cherry Coke along with the wonderful picnic lunch we packed. Warm sun and an ocean breeze was a pleasent surprise insted of the normal "June Gloom" overcast skys we normally get this time of year.

Bree was working on a lace sweater that she cast on on Wednesday and hoped to be finished for her date Saturday night. Pretty ambitious knitting schedule.

That's Bree, the one in the middle, knitting away like crazy.

We drove back to get Bree home in time for her evening plans and after we dropped her off, we thought since we are in the area, why not go to La Petite Knitterie to see what was new. I picked up two skeins of hand dyed cashmere by the local artist from Argosy Yarns that just had to come home with us. They look pink but they are more of a monochromatic peach/pink. One was called Lobster Bisque and the other was called Sweet Sixteen.

What a wonderful day spent with knitters and may the force be with your cashmere.

Blogaversary coming!!!!!!!!

Ok all you readers of the Twisted Knitster blog. MARK YOUR CALENDARS..... Approx July 8th and July 9th we are celebrating the unofficial Blogaversary. If you were here for the 3K visitor game it was quite fun. Well this is a bit different. Mrs. Twisted and I both love Jeopardy and thought it would be fun to modify it for TwistedBlogJeopardy with YouTube answers read by yours truly, I may even dress up like Alex Trebek. I am going to try and create the game as it could be played from the comfort of your computer anywhere in the world. We are trying to work out the logistics, post the rules and game play soon. It will be a drawing from the correct answers to make it to the Final TwistedBlogJeopardy round where three contestants will get one question. The categories are quite fun and I hope this will be as entertaining for you as it will be for me. If you know me personally then you know this will be a three ring circus even if just to watch but I hope you all want to participate. All you lurkers out there this is your opportunity to jump in and have fun. The winner or winners will be rewarded very well. This is a stash reduction game for me and who knows what else will ship with it but trust me it will be worth your effort. Know your Twisted History and be prepared for a few Twists of my own.

Cakelettes and the end of the Sock Club

This is a little out of chronological order but I need to catch up a little. Before I start this I may upset a few people but these are our opinions oh and it's Sean's fault. (Pubknitters inside joke)

We have a local phenomenon here called Sprinkles Cupcakes. Hearing about it and reading about it on some of the local blogs we thought we would try it. If you were in Southern California when Krispy Kreme first opened franchises here it looked the same. Lines of people waiting for the sweet treats and half not knowing what to expect.





Do you see what is next door? Yes that is an upscale jewelry store in an open shopping mall, but this shopping mall is on the grounds of Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Those of you not familiar with Southern California it's a very upscale shopping district.

We didn't expect the line but thought, we're here and we'll check it out.

The first thought I had is how can you pay the rent by just selling cupcakes?

We looked the menu over and decided to get 4 (so we could sample the flavors)
The term Cupcake seemed a little less than appropriate. Mrs. Twisted and I nicknamed them Cakelettes. With that in mind we thought we would treat them that way. Out came the crystal cake plate and we anticipated the first taste.

Oh we even changed the table covering when the cakes came out of the box because it looked nicer for the pictures.

We picked up two of the cool travel containers.

Like I said we picked four to sample. Red Velvet, Black and White, Strawberry, and Peanutbutter Chocolate.

This looked really nice and smelled soooo good. They also came with a fork and knife to eat with.

No plastic Spork here.

To be honest, the frosting was bit too much, the cake was a little dry on all but the peanutbutter chocolate. I was expecting a moist cake. It may have been because it was late in the day (6:50 PM) and they make them fresh each day. But it wasn't worth the $3.50 each. We may try again and get one to share to see if it was just an isolated incident. Oh the favorite was the peanutbutter chocolate.

On a sad note, the end of the Posh Yarn sock club was today when the last package arrived.

so sad..... Dee at Posh has discontinued the sock club and now you can only get her beautiful hand dyed luxury fiber on her weekly sales that resemble a feeding frenzy. She has a preview of the items for sale the day prior and then at the given time you may purchase what you can but you need to check out before someone else beats you to it. Just because you have it in your cart doesn't mean you get it until you complete the transaction. She typically sells out very quickly. I will be one of the many who will be ready to pounce when the budget allows. here is the last hank of Lucia 70% Merino 30% cashmere.

A wonderful weekend for a Father

Watching your kids move through different places in life really gets you to reflect on life in general. My first born turned 18 in April and on Friday graduated High School. It seemed like he was just a baby and then the first day of kindergarten, then watching them grow little by little. Science fairs and little league, first dances, learning to drive, then the prom. Today I saw him for the first time as a man. He plans on spending the Summer working at a local hardware store and heading for a University in the fall. Someday he may become a doctor(his goal, not mine). No pressure from Dad, he puts the pressure on himself.

I flew out the night before and met my son for a late night chat that went into the early morning before we gave in to the requirements for sleep. My Dad and his wife arrived the morning of the graduation by train and it was quite fun to have the three generations together. Distance makes it hard to see them as often as I like but we make the best of it and cherish the time we do share.

Proud grandparents

We went to dinner after the graduation for the little gifts and bonding and then he was off to Grad Night.

I got him a new laptop to start school in the Fall.

I'm always surprised at the changes in them between visits and this was no different. My youngest turned 15 in February and is growing into a beautiful young woman.

After I dropped my son off for Grad night My daughter and I went to the mall to do some shopping because what 15 year old girl doesn't like to shop for clothes and she knows I love to shop with her. What a great day!

The next day I picked up my daughter and we went to the local park for a little catch. We both love to play catch with each other. If you had kids in softball or baseball you may have enjoyed this time to just toss the ball and talk about anything. We used to use this as OUR time since she was a pitcher and we would practice for hours.

Now it's just our time. She is playing catcher on the varsity team in her freshman year with girls three years her senior and making her dad proud.

I take advantage of the time we spend and she asked for some driving lessons so we drove to the now vacant High School parking lot and she was loving every second. (I was too) She loved the rent-a-car.

A quick picture of the family before I was off to the airport to fly home to my loving wife that evening.

I'm the old guy on the far right in black. I feel small at 6'5" next to my son who is 6'10" and a solid 300 lbs.

It always amazes me that 20 miles from Phoenix it looks like you are in the middle of nowhere. Saguaro cacti and scrub brush for as far as you can see.

I'll close with some insight I shared with my son. I printed a copy and left it on the keyboard after reading it he crushed me with a hug. What a wonderful weekend!

When You Live
Live With Your Soul, Not With Your Time
When You Love
Love With Your Heart, Not With Your Mind
When You Want To Be Something The World Can Define
Open Your Eyes