Grandparenting and miscellaneous other things

Spent the weekend babysitting the grandkids so Dave and Claire could have a night out together. I'm pretty biased, but Brynn and Evan are the cutest two kids and really a joy to hang out with. Brynnie is an- let's call her 'authoritative' (because it sounds so much better than 'bossy') - two-year old, but she wields her power with great charm. She has a wonderful way of amusing herself by telling little stories or making up her own songs. I enjoy when she provides firm discipline to her doll - "Stop crying. No. Time out for you, dolly." She's tough stuff, this one! Evan in contrast is gentle, quiet and contemplative. You can hardly tell when he's upset - he cries a bit but is easily calmed and although he often has a very serious look about him, when he smiles he lights up the world. As Claire says, he looks like what you think a perfect baby should look like.

In other news, I finished Liz's socks and even though I haven't sent them yet I am posting a picture of them here. The yarn is a handpainted fingering-weight superwash wool I bought on Etsy - hand dyed by Sonja McAllister (aka thankewe). Its called 'Appledoorn', named after a tulip with similar coloring. Highly recommend her yarn, it is just beautiful and I have already gotten another colorway called 'Dragonfly' which is blue, grey and lime green and I think it shall make another very excellent pair of socks! The pattern on Liz's socks is a rather complicated lattice with lots of openwork, which I took from a website that shall remain nameless here, because it was such a MESS that I had to start these socks three times before I figured out the mistakes in this woman's pattern. No reference for you!! If anyone wants the pattern as I did it, leave a comment and I'll send it to you. Trust me, you'll be better off than trying to follow the original.

Just got around to uploading the pictures we took at Liz and Azeem's wedding - you can view them here on my Flickr page (or search tags on Flickr for 'liz azeem wedding').

Mike went off to school at the end of August - he's taking information science, psychology (good combination), economics and statistics. It could be handy to have a psychologist in the family!

September, was in Japan right after Labor Day and then spent two weeks in SF. Found a great new restaurant, Kokkari on Jackson Street, which is upscale Greek food in a lovely and comfortable setting. Their website says: "On entering Kokkari, guests experience the old-world charm of a rustic Mediterranean country inn on the shores of the Aegean." The lamb riblet appetizer is to die for. Highly recommend it, but make sure you get reservations ahead of time!

October I'll be on the road for three weeks, including our CEO meeting in Laguna Niguel and a short stop in Cleveland at the end of the month for the Case board of trustees meeting.