Pumpkin Sunrise

  Good morning! Well, it's another Friday and here we are checking in with each other. I've quickly jumped back into my ordinary days enjoying my creative projects and it's been wonderful! Traveling does that to me, I am renewed in being grateful for the simplest of things: my favorite mug, sitting with Frodo, oh the list could go on. On my daily walks with Frodo, I am paying attention to the slightest changes of fall showing up. The mornings are chilly (yay) and I am all for it!  Besides knitting daily, I've been doing a small drawing challenge - The Inchie Challenge . My sister alerted me to the challenge and asked me to join her. We share our daily sketches via texting and compare our interpretations of the prompts. I've been using my graphitints by derwent . These pencils are water-soluble colored graphite and are fun to play with. I only have seven colors so I have to be creative with what I have. Yesterday, my husband with the help of a neighbor removed the fa

  Good morning to you! How has your week been? Are you soaking up the last bits of summer? I have been very excited this week for many reasons. My knitting has been good, I'm enjoying my projects and that sock yarn in the above photo is soft in my hands. I keep forgetting to mention the bag in the photo was made by my sister many years ago. It's my go to sock project bag because CATS. My big news this week is the photo above. Look at that dogwood tree changing colors. Autumn is creeping in and I'm all here for it. Also that deer is a bold one, she stands and waits until I'm practically right up to her before it snorts and runs away. Frodo would love to chase her! The flowering apple trees in the backyard are dropping leaves as well.  On my daily walks, I focus on my five senses (a mindfulness technique) and now I have an added goal - seeking out signs of fall. The crisp air is delicious and being chilly is so nice.  For Mother's Day this year my sister gifted me a b

  Good morning! How was your weekend? On Saturday we all went up to my dad's place to celebrate his 81st birthday. We had a lovely lunch that was like a dinner - grilled salmon and roasted vegetables along with a bean salad and watermelon - yum. We ended up having beautiful weather (not hot). My cold is mostly gone but I'm still tired. I have high hopes that this week I will be back to my exercising routines. I've been walking daily with Frodo and that is pushing it! On Sunday, I worked in my art journal creating some spreads and tinkering around with my endless supply of stickers. On the right hand page on my art journal, the teeny tiny paper pocket was made by my sister, isn't she talented? After a dry spell, Mother Nature has gifted us with drizzly rain - what a delightful change!! How was your glorious weekend?

  How was your weekend? I enjoyed a super quiet 'no workers drilling out bricks on my house' weekend. Today they are coming to take down the scaffolding. Next up are the roofers. I don't know when they are coming here, end of this week? Besides being deliciously quiet, I enjoyed doing a little bit of everything. Writing, journaling, knitting and reading. Sure I did some chores as well. My kitchen floor is squeaky clean!  Today I'm writing out the mighty to do list and sketch out a menu plan. If you haven't already, please read Bonny's menu plan post and especially the comments section. I found it helpful! I am nearing the end of knitting my grandson's Christmas sweater, what a fast knit!!  How was your weekend?

  Yesterday my husband and I went to the Phipps Conservatory with my sister and brother in law. We are trying to visit every season. We had such a good time, the butterfly exhibit was open (yay).  This time around my favorite spaces were the children's garden and the Japanese garden, both outdoors.  We came home with some new ideas for what to do with our backyard and the abandoned in-ground filled with dirt pool which is the ultimate gardening challenge for us.  My weekend was calm, I did a lot of knitting and reading and avoiding the computer, tablet and phone. I dug deep into art journaling and watercoloring as well. I am perfecting my skills at frying tofu and the photo below is my first attempt. The texture turned out fantastically. Next up is seasoning the tofu without salt (such a sad state of affairs because I love salt.) How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How was your weekend? My husband and I along with my sister and brother in law went to the Phipps Conservatory to see the spring garden show. Outside it was wintry cold but inside the views were springtime hopefulness. We had such a great time. My favorite space was the Japanese garden and I did not take a photograph. We hope to go there every time the exhibit changes. Hopefully the next time we venture over there the weather will be much better and we can stroll about the outside gardens. Yesterday was bitterly cold and I did not wear a winter coat but a spring jacket, I don't know what I was thinking. But it makes you feel alive! Spring is around the corner, right??

  I thought starting this post with flowers would be a great beginning. Aren't they just beautiful? My husband is sad that after years of working on the flower beds and getting them perfect, he's leaving them. Of course he'll have new flower beds to create at the new home. We are excited for our new adventures. Yesterday was the first day I felt like we were on target and getting all the things done in a timely manner. More rooms are completely boxed up and tomorrow I can officially begin the kitchen (ugh). Fingers are crossed we have enough boxes - however my husband knows where to procure more free ones if necessary. We have become skilled with this moving business. We've completed thus far: 12 SUV-filled donation runs 2 recycling runs 2 scrap metal runs 1 furniture truckload pick up by a non profit organization I'm sure there will be another donation run to go from the kitchen even though I went through it once, I'm being relentless in giving away what I do n

  I just love the mood of the above photo, I snapped it yesterday morning to capture the green sheen of spring arriving and afterwards noticed the sunrise trying its best to break through the clouds. Isn't it funny how you focus on one thing and one thing only and there are so many other elements when you expand your awareness. As you can probably tell, I've been diligently living in the now and ignoring the 'what ifs' of the future, well, I am trying my best to live in the now. Witnessing nature definitely places me in the here and now and I find it soothing to embrace the change of seasons. I'm grateful I live in the northeast where there are four seasons to enjoy. I took an eight month break from sketching daily and now that I am doing it once more, I am loving it. I see so much progress from when I first started the practice. I'm confident as I continue showing up and sketching, my skills will continue to improve.  Now onto the Christmas stocking, I had eno

  Good morning! How are you doing? Did you have a good week? Sometimes these days seem the same day in and day out. I like it over all and find it soothing. My week was pretty good, the maple trees are slowly dropping leaves and even though it might be summery temps it feels like early fall. Today is supposed to be cooler and I'm all in for that. Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies and zucchini bread (two loaves). The aroma was delightful and I couldn't wait to take a bite of one of those cookies. They might be my favorite cookie. Since his retirement we have settled into a routine of sorts. I'm still getting used to him being here everyday for lunch and the 'noise' he creates with the tv on. I sit in silence all day long! However, if he puts on Mystery Science Theater I am all in for the distraction. I giggle a lot. My journaling goals are going quite well. The only task I am unable to incorporate as a daily task is sketching and drawing. There is next week so

This week the weather has decided to give me a much needed break.  I've been enjoying low humidity and mild temperatures that have been rare most of the summer.  I know this reprieve will end soon.  I've noticed some leaves falling, dare I hope that it is an early sign of fall?  I'd like to believe so. This week I've been seeking peace and calmness in my days.  I love when I have a string of easy days where nothing is pressing on my mind, oh to bottle up that contentment! Then of course there are those days when everything is on my mind, I magnify their importance and maybe just maybe I am magnifying in error.  How lucky that every single morning is a personal reset to focus on what matters. This is why mornings are the sacred time of the day for me. This week my husband has put up netting to save the kale and the cabbage from cabbage worms.  It's a battle.  He'll be retiring next Friday and the duties and tasks are in multitudes until that day arrives.  The gar

I have been patiently waiting for these flowers to bloom.  They scream 'summer is here!' and are a beautiful shade of yellow to behold.  The other reason that I love them so is because they are hardy, pest resistant (so far) and drought resistant.  Maybe they are so great because they are a native plant? This week marks the fifth week of my summer break, so I'm half way through?  Gah!  My happiness lies in the speed of which this summer season is going.  Summer is my least favorite season and every year I try my best not to hate it.  The humidity gets me every single time.  I end up being in the house the whole day just like in the winter months.  My RA flares up in humidity and so I hibernate and go outside for limited amounts of time. I've been faithfully spending time on my knitting projects in the afternoons.  Sometimes I'm listening to podcasts and other times I'm reading a book while knitting.  The simple projects like the cowl can be doubl