Pumpkin Sunrise

Split Pea Soup 1 onion chopped 1/2 cup chopped carrots 2 stalks of celery chopped 1 tbs of olive oil 4 cups of vegetable broth 1 1/4 cups of yellow split peas 1 tsp thyme Saute the first four ingredients for 10 minutes then add the rest.  Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. (loosely based on a recipe from  1001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes by Sue Spitler) Linking with Amanda at Soulemama

This weekend my sister and her family are coming for a visit.  I cannot wait!  I have been planning the menu yesterday and today.  I have errands to run and of course I need to clean the house.  They were here for the graduation party but it was too busy to truly enjoy her company.  She was a big help in setting the food out and cleaning up the kitchen....sisters are the best! On Saturday we are going to the yarn store (of course), the quilt store and the health food store.  Let's see if I can resist spending any money...I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head (Gram's saying not mine).  The excuse in my head is that I am keeping the economy going, pretty good huh? I hope I can remember to take some photos during the weekend.  But when my mouth is yakking, preserving memories flies out the window.

Can you believe it is Wednesday already?  Time is just whizzing by for me.  As you can see I am now on the fourth book Anne of Windy Poplars .  I finished Anne of the Island  and guess what?  Anne finally figures out who she loves.....duh!  Throughout the whole book everyone knew but her. The best part of the book was when she was contemplating being with a romantic man who says beautiful things, or with a man who has a sense of humor, one she could share a laugh with.  I think if you are laughing through life you might just live longer and have fun along the way!  Thank goodness for Anne, humor won out.  How sad if your partner doesn't get your jokes. My knitting is a new project.  This is a shawl for my mother in law's birthday.  Now I really hope I give it to her because I am LOVING it very much for myself.  Here is the ravelry page .  Sometimes it is hard to be generous. Joining Ginny at Small Things

Did you know that Frodo, our trusty miniature schnauzer, is a rescue dog?  Well apparently he is!  Every morning he first checks to see if he can get out through or under the fence....so far so good.  We have thwarted him :)  Then he walks around the pool looking for poor drowning/or swimming creatures.  Frodo stands and stares until we come outside to scoop whatever he thinks is important.  Bugs do not count in the rescue.  The above toad made it. This poor little frog did not jump but rolled to safety, so I am guessing he swam a little too much. I swear this is the same turtle (I think he is a box turtle ) that is hanging out in our yard.  He is extremely shy and will NOT come out for a photo.  Believe me I try and try.  Frodo does not like the turtle and barks at it.  Even though it does not move.  Maybe he just creeps Frodo out.  (the turtle is never in the pool, just near the woods) This little critter is a milk snake (according to my husband) and he was rescued from the p

It is official, I have finished one, count it-ONE-knitted gift!  I feel so very accomplished.  We will not go into how many more I would love to do for the year.  If I begin to think I have to make all of the gifts this year then I feel stressed.  So one project at a time. This scarf was my own creation.  I casted on 36 stitches on size 7 needles.  I then knitted the double moss stitch until I ran out of yarn.  I am guessing I had about 400 yards of this beautiful alpaca sport weight yarn that I purchased at the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival two years ago.  Stash yarn knitting at its finest! Double Moss Stitch: Row 1 (rs):  K2, P2 across. Row 2 and 4 (ws):  knit the knits and purl the purls in whatever order they appear. Row 3: P2, K2 across.

Saturday was spent watching   I Love Lucy  reruns and lots and lots of knitting.  My mother loved to watch this show and it seems my daughter finds it quite hilarious.  Could this be genetic?  Who knows, but it was funny to watch.  Ethyl was wearing a lovely shrug that happens to be back in style. Some time ago (sorry cannot remember when) my husband and I watched Act I of Fiddler on the Roof   but never finished the musical.  You can guess what we viewed Saturday night.  For some reason I do not recall the musical being so sad.  Keep in mind, I got the pleasure of hearing "Tradition" being sung by my husband the rest of the evening.  Always entertaining and a mood lifter! Sunday was church then the never ending laundry chores.  In a couple of weeks (gasp!) I will only be washing clothes for two.  It boggles my mind and I wonder if I will adjust to less laundering. Time will tell, I guess.  Joining Amanda at Habit of Being

Joining Amanda at Soulemama .

A few of you have asked what my daughter is knitting.  So I snapped some photos to show everyone.  The cowl she just finished this weekend she started last October.  It was hibernating for quite some time in her dorm room then her room. I think it was half way done.  This is the pattern  and she used some of my left over Malabrigo Worsted doubled up.   She just started the hat (above) three days ago.  The yarn is Galway and here is the pattern .  This is her first time using circulars and also doing K2tog and SSK.  So far, so good.  Once she gets to the crown of the hat she will have to use double pointed needles.  She is planning on taking some (I hope a lot) of my unwanted yarn stash and knit stuff. I have about three inches done on the body of the featherweight cardigan .  I am just chugging along on my sweater.  I am very pleased with being on size four needles (I think the pattern calls for six!).  It has a nice crisp look. I still have no idea what the buttonband design wil

Can you believe it is August 3rd?  I can't, the summer has flown by for me.  Now if only the super hot sticky weather would fly by I would be in heaven.  This week for the yarn along I am reading Anne of the Island.   Anne Shirley is at college and enjoying her friends and is still not quite sure she likes/loves Gilbert. We all know they are destined to be together why is she the last to know?  I am loving the series and the happy attitude of Anne.   For knitting, I am working on my featherweight cardigan .  I am now on the body and am loving every single stitch of stockinette!  I can watch tv or talk or do both!  My daughter has picked up her knitting (GASP) and I am able to help her without stopping my knitting.  I would love to be knitting some complex lace shawl but it is all working out with the demands of my family.  My other project is the moss road scarf  which is a gift for my father in law.  I pick this up when I am not working on the sweater. Joining Ginny at Small Th

Two or three weeks ago, our dear Frodo started toescape from the fenced in yard.  Ah, the joys of owning a little dog.  We watched him and discovered that he slipped under the fence.  So my dear husband boarded up the areas where we think he escaped. The lawn is quite uneven for half of our property and we couldn't lower the fence so we used boards which were our old flooring in our previous house, up-cycling at its finest!  I will not mention how many times I complained about hauling old wood and questioning why we kept it.  Ahem. This past Saturday after a long day out shopping for dorm/apartment living, we were all sitting by the pool and relaxing when we saw Frodo slip out THROUGH the fence not under it.  He can fit through 3 3/4 inch opening!!!  Now I do not know if he has figured out he has to go feet first and not head first.  But we firmly have matched wits with a miniature schnauzer.  So we went to Lowe's and problem solved.  We bought 21 or 22 pieces of vinyl la

My weekend: -We did more shopping for the fall season with both kids going off to school.  All the clothes shopping is done, hurray! -We discovered that Frodo is actually Houdini in disguise.  More securing the compound..... -My husband and I went out for ice cream, both kids out and about, a sign of our quiet future. -I massively cleaned bathrooms, bedrooms and the guest room became a dumping ground for dorm/apartment shopping. -My sister and her family are visiting next weekend -I have to clean the guest room!! -More knitting and my daughter picked up her knitting (smile!) -I helped her also piece together a quilt she started last year.  The goal is to have it all quilted by next week so my sister can help with the binding.... -I bought another knitting magazine and flipped through it and found a couple patterns that might be in my future. Joining Amanda at Habit of Being