Pumpkin Sunrise

Last night the rain finally came although the amount wasn't nearly enough to make a substantial rise in the lower than usual pool level.  This week's forecast is for more chances of rain.  For the first time I heard the tree frogs last evening that live in the woods, truly a late sign of summer. The cicadas were late to sing this year as well but they are doing their thing sweetly harmonizing with the tree frogs.  Any day now the acorns should be falling.  Fingers crossed! I fell down two delightful rabbit holes yesterday.  First I looked for a watercolor book that was printed in 2002 and I wanted to own a copy after an eager flip through of a library copy.  The internet is my tether to the world, I socialize, shop and consume news while I stay home as much as possible.  The challenge is to balance all of them. The other rabbit hole was looking for a state park or state forest where we could meet our daughter and son in law for a socially distant hike/walk and share a packed pi

Summertime is in full effect this week.  Every day is hot and humid.  I am trying my best to not complain and to enjoy each day.  I am thankful for AC and for soft signs of the season to come.  Usually I am up around 5 a.m. and greeted by Holly the cat.  Lately the sunrise is an hour or so afterwards, so Miss Holly sleeps in a bit.  I eagerly await for her little meow 'hellos'. My mornings are restful and contemplative.  I usually journal about the previous day and do some religious readings and prayers while drinking my coffee.  I write a gratitude list daily which makes my day start with the best frame of mind. Acorns!!! In the beginning of the pandemic, I missed so much of my regular routines:  going to dinner at a restaurant a few times a week, aimlessly shopping and seeing my kids whenever I wanted to see them. Now I am content to not eat out, I have many recipes at my fingertips and ingredients in my fridge/freezer to pull off a dinner in a snap.  We do pick up a pizza ev

dad's house Gosh, this week was crazy busy.  On Wednesday, we helped our son and future daughter in law for the first leg of the journey to relocate to Indiana.  My husband drove the moving van (no cruise control) and I followed him (I too wasn't able to use cruise control because of him).  The GPS took us through downtown Pittsburgh through both sets of tunnels.  I was stressed out.   Thankfully we safely arrived in southeastern Ohio to her parents house.  Yesterday her parents did the drive to Indiana and unloaded the truck.  I was lucky in that the truck was all packed and ready to go when we arrived at State College. dad's house Prior to helping them on Wednesday I had a tele-med visit with the kidney doctor.  She is changing my blood pressure medicine due to certain side effects that I mentioned. Already today I feel a bit better.  Hopefully I will see her in person in three months from now.  I guess it's all about protecting the kidneys based on what I have resear

Isn't Holly so cute the way she stuffs herself into the top of the tower?  She is one happy cat.  How are you?  We are in the midst of a heat wave and phew! It's hot and humid.  Yesterday seemed a little less intense but I can tell how my hair goes everywhere on how humid the days are.   As quickly as the landscapers came and disrupted the silence, they have been gone for over a week, our seeded grass is growing and life goes on.  They might have to come back and re-seed in certain places because the downpours go running into the woods taking some of the straw with it. By now the cicadas and locusts should be making their symphony appearance,  each day I listen wondering where they are.  Same with the tree frogs!  They should me adding to the music. I've been reading Michelle Obama's autobiography, Becoming.  We are around the same age and I'm enjoying her thought processes on motherhood and juggling work.  I am over half way through the book on the brink of his pre

Around here, the weather feels like mid summer with humidity and the thunderstorms that pop up at a whim.  Frodo has been policing the pool and has saved one toad out of many since they love to jump in but cannot jump out.  Of course he's been saving salamanders for the last two weeks as well.  He is living a full life.  Yesterday was the first 'I dropped the frisbee in the pool now you go get it' game.  He is quite predictable. June days are lovely - warmth sets in and jeans are set aside for capris or shorts.  I wake up to the day breaking and Holly sits at the side window, watching the birds, swishing her tail in excitement.   On Monday we walked by the river and then explored a new trail to us.  There was a dirt path down to the creek which we successfully navigated, however when I was walking back up hill I tripped and fell on my face and wrist.  My husband drove me to urgent care for x-rays and an examination.  My wrist was okay (phew!) and my nose, while swollen, see

What I'm grateful for this week: -mostly sunshine instead of cloudy days -starting a creativity tracker in my planner before the pandemic never knowing how much it would be a big help in my days and my motivation -hitting a fine rhythm with daily cooking and weekly menu planning -the start of sketching out our summer outings outdoors and many picnics to be -modern technology and how it weaves a thread of togetherness -all the knitting! -Air Conditioning(!) -a brand new frisbee for Frodo to put in the pool and then bark at it -the upcoming landscaping project around the pool and replacing a retaining wall -rediscovering our traveling county library and ALL the books I want and curbside pickup. (this is a game changer for many desired books) -clean kitchen floors for now -big salads  -new to me salad dressings -ideas of challenging myself in artwork, both sketching and watercoloring -you-tube and all the artists who post information regarding watercoloring and sketching -for all the

Hello!  I hope you all are doing fine this Friday morning, I sure am.  I'm loving the green on my walks and the warmer weather.  Of course a heat wave is coming so I'm soaking up the temperate temperatures while I can.  Once it's 85 degrees, I'll be hiding in my house again.  On our walk this week we saw a turkey vulture (above photo).  I was pleased I could get a photo of him/her with my iphone, usually when I zoom in I lose the integrity of the composition. I mentioned on Wednesday that I wanted to finish a cross stitch project within a week.  I have over half of it done already so my goal is attainable if I work on it daily instead of knitting all the time.  I'll keep you up to date on the progress.  I spent way too much time shopping for frames online.  It's so much easier to pop into a craft store and zip through an aisle and choose.  I hope they ship the frame soon! Holly's first sneak by Yesterday Holly insisted on slinking by the ot

How has your week been?  Did you find joy?  I hope so.  Thank you all for the lovely comments on my shawl, this tiny blogging world is wonderful!  This week started out with winter coats and today it will be nearly 80 degrees.  On our daily walks we've seen an oriole, an indigo bunting and a woodpecker.  To be honest, my husband sees them first then I'm trying to follow where he is pointing lagging behind in my birdwatching skills. I'm finding joy in the every day.  Sure these days seem to run together blurring lines and becoming a bit of a blob.  But then, I schedule myself out with some blocked time of purposeful creativity and then 'poof' the day feels different.  As I mentioned in my Weekends post, I read all day Saturday and that made Saturday feel like Saturday. gift from my daughter and son in law I'm finding joy in rearranging all my art supplies, rotating out watercolor paint sets and flipping through art journals.  It's been over a ye