Pumpkin Sunrise

  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!!

  How was your weekend? Mines was fabulous, we went to the Phipps Conservatory  on Friday night to see their holiday lights. The display was fabulous!! We were cold but not that cold.  Sunday in between attending Mass, doing some laundry and light cleaning, I painted and doodled about at the kitchen table. Of course there was some knitting and reading as well. I enjoy weekends when they have a dabble of everything I wish to do!

  How was your weekend? Mine was a good one. Thanksgiving morning we zoomed with our daughter which was delightful. The day after Thanksgiving at my sister's house with my family, my husband and I drove over to Ohio for the day to see our son, daughter in law and our grandson at the other grandparent's house. Oh the joy!!  Our little grandson wasn't feeling well and was a bit cranky but we did get to hold him as long as he could see his parents. He is growing up so fast! He's nine months old now. Saturday morning was for both of us a recovery day from being in the car most of the Friday. I did decorate the 'big' tree in the living room. The above photo is the 'little' tree in the family room. My house is officially decorated.  Yesterday I dabbled in paints, did the laundry, knitted and wrote that mighty to do list for the week.  How was your weekend?

  Hello! How was your weekend? Don't you love the look Holly is giving? She is half asleep and half alert to Frodo's rustlings. My weekend was great because I celebrated my birthday over the weekend! I had a lovely time with my family and received some really nice gifts. My husband bought me a new fountain pen (TWSBI ECO medium nib) and it's divine. I received some journaling supplies and of course more books to read. My sister made us dinner and a delicious apple cake for dessert. I'll be visiting a yarn store this week to supplement my knitting stash. I also decided to start decorating the house. Yesterday, I managed to put out all the knick knacks. Today I hope to do the little tree. Each year it takes me longer to do the task, but it's fun!  How was your weekend?

  And just like that, it's wintry cold out there. Frodo is sporting his lovely plaid dog coat that keeps him toasty warm on our walks. I'm wearing lots of wool and loving it. The newspaper today indicated that this chilliness will remain well after Thanksgiving. Bundle up! How was your weekend? I did massive amounts of knitting and finishing both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I invited myself over to my sister's house for an 'art date'. We think we created something good. I packed up what I some of my supplies and we painted together while listening to Christmas music. Oh and she made biscotti! yum. It was a lot of fun. Last night we had a fire in the fireplace. The room looks cosy and warm! In other news, my dry eyes are feeling a bit better, thanks for all the well wishes. I've got quite the to-to list this Monday morning as I start another week.  

  Grab a cup of coffee or tea, this is the extended weekends version of my life. On Friday we drove to Cambridge MA to visit our daughter and son in law. We were in the car for eleven hours because of a highway road closure and the GPS snaking us through the countryside of Pennsylvania. I was so tired of being a car! We arrived safely at our hotel and checked in, quickly dropping off our bags. We had pizza and homemade apple cake at their house. Delicious!! Saturday we walked over 20,000 steps and my arthritis symptoms acted up. Flares are just awful and they sneak up on me. Each time I think there's something wrong but cannot quite figure it out. We were all over the greater Boston Area doing some shopping and sight-seeing. I didn't take many photos, I was living in the moment. We toured three churches (cannot recall any of their names...).  Sunday after attending Mass we had some donuts for second breakfast then did more sight-seeing. Our son in law drove us around which help

  How was your weekend? My weekend was blessedly calm and somewhat productive. I've been working on the grandson's first Christmas cross stitch ornament a little bit each day. I can see it so that makes the stitching all the more enjoyable. (14 count!) I also did the laundry and cleaning for the week. Fall is creeping in slowly, the leaves are changing, the days are shorter. I had my first cup of hot green tea in the afternoon yesterday. I'll be surprised if it gets super hot again, but then you never know with the weather. Frodo and Holly have been at it after weeks of keeping their distance from each other. Holly found a new snuggly sleeping place in the family room and Frodo found her. There was a ton of hissing and barking. I thought after that encounter Holly would be tired of Frodo and just stay out of the family room. No such luck!! The next two photos are Holly slinking in and staring at a sleeping Frodo! Then she decided to perch on the window sill and watch the ch

  Good morning! I'm hoping you have this day off like we do here in the states. It's Labor Day! How was your weekend? Well... because we saw our son, daughter in law and grandson earlier than planned, we decided to drive up to see my mother in law in London, Ontario this weekend since we had a kennel stay already booked and pre-paid.  It was a super quick trip leaving on Friday and coming home on Sunday. We had a lovely time seeing her and some other family members. Now we are home sweet blessed home.  Holly loves when Frodo is not here, so sad but true. I did a ton of knitting in the car and while sitting and talking on our trip, I finished the sweater body and am now on the first sleeve! I'm enjoying being home (a home body deep down inside) How was your weekend?