Pumpkin Sunrise

  Hello friends! How are you doing? How was your weekend? My brother in law and sister in law from Ottawa, Ontario visited us from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday morning. We haven't seen them since September 2019 and we were grateful they drove down here to visit us after visiting my mother in law. On Thursday, we took them to the Phipps Conservatory . (I know I was there just last Sunday!) My husband and I enjoyed the second pass through the greenhouses.  On Friday morning we went to the Strip district  and walked around dropping into some stores then having lunch at a local pizza shop. On Saturday, we visited the Carnegie Science Center so they could see the miniature train display. Each day we went out for lunch and then I cooked dinner at home. The weather was spectacular so dinner was outside on the patio. We had the best time ever.  We did lots and lots of talking, laughing and catching up. I did little to no knitting!  How was your weekend?

  How was your weekend? Yesterday we went to the P hipps Conservatory with my sister and brother in law and had a fabulous time. This is our second year of having memberships and the displays are wonderful. We go right when it opens so that the plants are abundant and the people are few. I had a restorative weekend. Lots and lots of downtime while slowly taking care of tasks around the house. We have company coming and staying with us starting on Wednesday so every day I clean a little bit more of the house. I remember the days when I could clean the whole house in a single day with babies. I guess I could do it in a single day but I'm not motivated, where is the fun in that?! I'm feeling so much better now that I am home and resting after our trip. Today I'm starting up my strength training/yoga practice after a whole week off.  How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How is everyone this morning? I was away visiting my mother-in-law for most of the week with my husband and returned home yesterday afternoon. Oh my, the older I get the more I am a homebody thru and thru. This visit was challenging because I had some weird stomach bug the day I arrived and could barely function.  Thankfully it was short lived but the recovery phase was long and I still don't feel quite like myself. It was nice to see family but it was even nicer to be home. Sadly I did not take many photos. I did knit in the car though!  Believe it or not, the sun is out! I feel like a vampire squinting and shielding my eyes, ha ha. Later today after the BIG blog reading catch up and internet stuff catch up, I'll walk Frodo and soak in the sunshine. Maybe it'll be warm enough to sit on the back patio. Gratitudes: -my bed - my kitchen - my coffee mug - my coffee! - silence - Frodo snuggles - phone calls from the kids - mighty to do lists! - big salads - suns

  How was your weekend? Ours was upside down but overall nice.  Yesterday I had every intention to go to Mass but when I talked to my husband and heard how congested I was (allergies? cold?) I decided no one wanted to be near me and if I was contagious I didn't want to share my germs. With additional medicines, my husband is finally feeling a bit better. Fingers are crossed he has crossed over to good health after two weeks of symptoms. We cancelled going over to my sister and brother in law's house for Easter dinner. However, my sister kindly brought dinner to us! How sweet is that? I am beyond grateful and dinner was delicious. I managed to knit the second sock and have completed turning the heel and picking up the gusset. I am so close to the sock being finished now.

  Hello! How are you? I've missed visiting your spaces and hope to catch up with you all during the week.  My it's been such a long time since I wrote here. Before I get into what I've been up to this past week and weekend, I want to let you know that my dad went home on Saturday!! He will continue to receive therapies at home and he is so happy to be sleeping in his own bed (just like me!). Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers, they mean a lot to me. Anyways, last Sunday we drove to Indiana to visit our son, daughter-in-law and grandson and to help out with childcare for the week. Their babysitter was taking a vacation. What a delight! We spent so much time with him. Sadly, he had another ear infection but was quickly put on medication and improved. In their neighborhood they have a local park that we walked every single day. We bundled up our grandson and off we went. He loves to eat bagels and blueberries and goldfish. When I laughed, he would laugh. He is a hap

  How was your weekend? Mine was great! My dad was transferred to a rehab facility, we are excited he will be getting stronger to get back to being home. I hope he likes his new space, I know he is thrilled to not have a roomie. This week I am knee deep with a grandchild! I am enjoying being in the moment. I also am trying my best not to get his suspected cold (maybe it's allergies!). We are doing lots of walks and exploring parks.  I started a cowl for myself as well and am knitting it exclusively .... for now. I love the purple color! I've knit this pattern three other times but I only have two in my possession. I must have given the third one away. Whenever I like a pattern I tend to knit it over and over again. It's comfort knitting at its finest.  There's a chance I will not be blogging much as we enjoy family time, but I will try my best. Thanks for all the prayers, well-wishes and concerns for my dad. 

  I cannot get enough of the daffodils this spring season. They are beautiful and cheerful especially during a rainy day. Yesterday was dreary and drippy but the pops of yellow in the backyard were delightful to behold. In the mornings I'm confused on what to wear! Is it winter like or spring like. I change outfits because I'm too cold or too hot.  How are you? My dad is close to being transferred to a rehab facility, he is more than ready to get out of the hospital and so are we. Maybe it will happen today? I'm not sure how fast the process is but it's going to happen sooner than later. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes, we appreciate them immensely! My week has been visiting him on most days and doing some intermittent knitting when I have some down time. I'm ready for the weekend.

  How was your weekend? My weekend was relaxing overall. First of all, I tried really hard to ignore the wintry cold air blast as much as possible. It was bitterly cold and windy - Frodo and I don't like that kind of weather at all but I do not want to complain about it. Today is the first day of Spring and let's hope spring temperatures arrive soon. I found pockets of time to read and to knit at home even though I am still driving down to the hospital to visit dad who is now in a regular room. My family and I are hoping he can go to a rehab facility soon.  I continue to enjoy knitting my top down sweater . How was your weekend?

  Yesterday my dad was transferred out of ICU (22 days!) into a regular room in the hospital, we are overjoyed! Of course he has a ways to go in his recovery and we hope within a week he will be discharged to a rehab place that is closer to his home which will help out my step mom's commute to the city. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. Today is a rainy day and while I'm not a fan of overcast days, I do enjoy the forced stillness wet weather gives me. Instead of walking I will be catching up on household tasks.  You know I will be knitting! I am enjoying my sweater currently on my needles.  I'm going to catch up on some reading and journaling as well. Art journaling specifically.  I haven't been creating art for over three weeks and I'm feeling the urge to once again get my supplies out and sketch.  I forgot to share with you the cross stitch picture I finished a while ago. I'm very pleased with how it turned out but I will be shying away from cross

  Good morning! How are all of you doing on this fine March day? I woke up to snow and that wintry feeling in the air. I hope my daffodils can tolerate this brief snowy blast. My weekend was visiting my father daily while he is still in ICU (today is DAY 19). He gets closer and closer to being placed in a regular room but health events keep him where he is. I am grateful for the doctors and nurses who take such good care of him. Today I'm staying home and getting some things done around the house. 

  Hello! How are you all doing? Life around here has been the same. My dad is still in ICU and we wake up each day hoping that he will be in a regular room. Living with uncertainty is the new normal. However isn't life just uncertainty to different degrees? My dad is better than he was last week and I celebrate that nugget! I have been LOVING watching an early spring emerge. Gosh it's beautiful and therapeutic. I walk around and soak up the sun while taking some photos.  Down in our woods, I spotted this clump of crocuses doing their blooming thing so unassuming and beautiful.  Frodo continues to improve after he tweaked his back, but I do believe his walking for 30-40 minutes at a time are on hold for the time being, maybe forever. We enjoy our 15 minute walks and he comes home so happy to be out and about. Then I go back out for a longer walk. Yesterday I started a sweater for myself (notes forthcoming). I was in the mood for something new on the needles, just for me and espe

  Good morning! Happy first day of March, the sun is shining and it looks like it will be a beautiful day today. I finished a pair of socks for my husband a few days ago. I have a mission to keep on making socks so I can replace all of the ones that are un-repairable.  Thank you all for the prayers and well-wishes for my dad. His surgery was successful on Monday and he is doing well. He is still in ICU and hopefully he will continue to improve so he can go to a regular room. I'm looking forward to the day when he is complaining about being in the hospital - that will be music to my ears! What are you working on this week?

 Good morning! I hope you are doing well.  I wanted to let you know that my posting here on this space will be infrequent for the time being. My dad was admitted to ICU on Wednesday night for aspirated pneumonia and a small bowel obstruction. I've been visiting there one to two times a day. This schedule has become the new normal. We have high hopes he will be stable enough for surgery on Monday morning. Any and all prayers are graciously accepted. Anyways, I'm taking a pause here posting three times a week. I hope to post when I am able.  Thanks for reading and visiting!

  Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine was eventful as opposed to uneventful. On Saturday my sister and I picked up some smoothies and went to a local yarn store. Of course I bought more yarn - life is short. However I am very specific in what I buy and have a plan for the yarn. In my younger years I bought yarn because I liked it but didn't have a plan for it. I'm trying to be mindful in my purchasing. Sunday we all went to the conservatory to see their Orchid show and soak in all the greenery during the February brown days. I loved it and it was toasty warm in the conservatory.  Sunday afternoon I did a bit of sketching and relaxed.  How was your weekend?

  This morning my husband and I were planning a trip to Indiana to attend our sweet grandson's first birthday party. I wasn't feeling that great last week and early this week went to urgent care for a salivary gland infection and am on meds. The healing has been slow-going (I'm extremely impatient!). I'm seeing a specialist next week thankfully. Anyways, whenever we travel my dry eye and dry mouth symptoms (due to Sjogren's syndrome) are worse. I can only guess it's something to do with the long car ride and the dry air circulation in the car. Besides not feeling the best, I knew the car ride would not help me continue to recover. So we canceled. I haven't done much of anything this week except drink lots of water, finish reading a book or two and of course put in a few rows of knitting here and there. 

  Good morning! How was your weekend? After last week mentioning the endless rain, I'm happy to report our weather switched to snow. It's pretty to look at and it's a nice change.  My weekend was a socializing one. My husband and I attended our grand-nephew's second birthday. He was sweet to watch with a room full of people celebrating his big day. Of course there was cake and tons of family to catch up with.  Afterwards some family came to our house to continue the socializing. We had pizza and played a board game. Seeing family on a regular basis is one of the reasons I moved here. Sunday afternoon I had an art date with my sister and I started on some Valentine Cards. We drank tea and painted - these watercoloring sessions filled my creative heart.  During the entire weekend I feverishly read (but did not finish) Stephen King's book Fairytale . I'm over half way through and it's captivating. I also worked on the scarf that is getting closer and closer to

  Day after day has been cloudy, dreary and rainy . Yesterday the sun peeked out briefly which had us scrambling outside for a walk and to soak up the sunbeams. A few hours later, the clouds were back. Today there were teeny tiny snowflakes. So goes January. How are you? How's your weather? How's your January? My grand-nephew will be celebrating his second birthday this weekend, I'm excited to gather with family and enjoy the festivities. Our grandson will be one year old in February! Crazy how time flies by. I've been chipping away at the scarf in the evenings while reading books during the day. I have maybe 2-3 repeats remaining on the scarf and then it will be done. I'm still not sure whether I have enough gray yarn or not and I'm at knitting peace with the dilemma. I will either fudge it with another similar gray color or just end the scarf. I'm resolved to not buy more yarn.

  Finally I can tell you all about the 'super secret project'. I was on a walk with my sister before Christmas and I was commenting on how warm my mittens were. My sister said she'd like a pair for her birthday which is in mid-January then added well maybe the next year since it was so close. Being the knitter that I am, I went home dug around my 'stash' of yarn and immediately started the mitts . Right before my son and his family arrived for a six day visit, I realized I did not have enough white yarn (I wasn't using full skeins). So I ordered more and waited for yarn to arrive and entertained family. Our family left on January 4th and that is when I picked up the project and knitted like a demon. Last weekend, we celebrated her birthday and she was somewhat surprised with the gift! She reads my blog and when I even mentioned 'super secret knitting' she was guessing in the right direction.

  I'm dropping in for a quick hello and to wish all of you a Happy New Year! May 2023 bring you lots of health, luck and happiness.  I have my grandson visiting with his parents and it's been full of diaper changing, bottle feeding and baby snuggles (off and on as he adjusts to us). I'll be catching up with your blogs later on this week or early next week. We've been spending time together, eating meals together, visiting family and going out for a bit a shopping. I have not knit one single stitch since they arrived! Happy New Year everyone!!