The Wide World Awaits...

Son #3, Kevin, graduated from the Western Culinary Institute in Portland this past weekend. I love this picture. You can just tell from the almost delirious grin on his face that this has been a hard and long road for him to hoe. There have been many times over the past year and a half that we were all sure that we would never see this day, but Kevin perservered and pushed through the hard times, which included moving to a big city where he did not know a single soul and, for the first time in his young life, really being on his own. He had roommate problems, vehicle problems, studying problems, Chef problems and partying problems to name just a few. The only part of his life that was never a problem was his job. Kevin started working at Jake's right off the bat and has really done well and moved right along in his chosen career. Now he must chose, and be choosen, for his externship before he can be called a full fledged Chef. What an exciting career and world he has in front of him in this day and age of food. Eating is no longer just something that we all need to do to survive, it has become a hobby and a passion for many of us. I can't remember the dollar amount that was quoted as the yearly amount that is spent in the US eating out, but believe me, it was staggering and mind boggling. Congrats Kevin ~ Kudo's to you...

I wanted to get a picture of all the graduates during the ceremony, but just couldn't seem to get the right angle for the shot I wanted. What a fun sea of Chef hats! Quite the sight.

Riff's parents were here from Wyoming for the weekend, not planned to coincide with the graduatuion ceremony, but it was wonderful that it happened to work out that way. It was really good to see them for their yearly visit to the coast. We also had Riff's ex-wife, Kathy and her husband, Dave, out from Maine for the graduation. I know that it may sound weird to many of you, but I really enjoy visiting with Kathy. Now that the kids are all grown, we only see them at the big moments in the kids lives. Kathy and I are both knitters and she has recently learned how to spin, so is going to be sending me a couple skeins of her own yarn. I can hardly wait. How fun!


The picture above is a couple of Christmas stockings that I have knit. The purple one has been felted and the green has yet to be. I thought it would be fun to show the difference in the sizes of the two. These were really fun projects, though the kids have informed me that if I make giant stockings than I have to FILL giant stockings. I didn't sign up for that part of it...

I have finished a few projects in the last couple of weeks and started a few more, so hopefully, blogger willing, I will post some pictures of my creations over the next week. Seems that it's been a really long time since I posted any crafty things. What a slug I've been! Actually, to make excuses for my sluggish self, it's been really busy around here with the new baby in the house and trying to get my little Puddle Ducks Day Care ready to go while still working full time. My inspection was today and my liscence is in place now. WA-HOO! Only one more week of work. I'm so excited. Now to line up some little tykes to come and play with me...