Pumpkin Sunrise

  One year ago today, we moved to be closer to my sister and my family where I grew up. Can you believe it? I cannot. A friend asked me if I had adjusted and I said 'almost'. Moving during a pandemic has raised some challenges. I still haven't joined a gym nor do I seek to be with tons of people. If you remember, I wanted to have a 'bubble' and being with family has achieved that goal! I miss my friends and country dirt road walking but I do like this house and living in a neighborhood and having museums and shopping close by. (not the greatest sentence but it says what I want it to say) Right this very second, the roofers are here banging away, bless them, because it's going to be a hot day. Frodo yet again is sleeping on the loveseat completely oblivious. I'm sure Holly is hiding under our bed. I'm in the kitchen typing away.  Hot weather is back and I'm trying so hard not to hate it. Seriously, why can't we have 70-80 degree weather? Why does

  Good morning! How has your week been? Can you believe it's the last week of June? After some brutally hot temperatures we were graced yesterday with a beautiful day of low humidity - truly refreshing.  My backyard is quiet now that we stopped feeding the birds (raccoon raiding during the day, ugh). I will put the feeder out again in the fall and hope that Ms. Raccoon has forgotten all about the free ride.  We are knee deep in home improvements. Last week the insulators finished doing the attic, this week we have chimney/brick pointers removing bricks that are 'spalled'. What a NOISY day yesterday! Frodo, bless him, slept through the chaos, but Holly didn't know where to hide. She usually is under our bed but the jackhammering was on an outside wall to our bedroom. Poor Holly.  She is amazing though, once they leave she is out and about - resilient! Wish us luck! Next week or the week after is a  new roof and gutter installation.  While home improvements occur, I'm

  After two noisy days at the beginning of the week created by the insulating company, I basked in the silence of Wednesday and Thursday. Even the pets breathed a sigh of relief. Frodo did well and mostly ignored them. Holly hid under our bed for most of the first day but on the second day she put on her big girl pants and ran downstairs to be under the sofa that my husband (her beloved) was sitting. Of course that was the time the workers were propping open the front door for the blown in insulation.  Luckily, she has no desire to ever be outside and we fenced off the area just in case.  All of that strategizing exhausted me. (for those of you who are new here, we rescued Holly in the winter off the side of the road - she was close to death at 8 weeks old being abandoned by a not nice person). Around here, there was a heat wave that I skillfully ignored for two whole days. I walked as early as I could and briefly so Frodo and I didn't get too hot. My inflammatory arthritis does n

  How was your weekend? Friday night my husband and I had dinner on the patio, it was fantastic! The weather was perfect. Over the weekend, I've battled the bullying blue jays at the feeder who were over-eating, fighting with each other and not letting any other birds at the feeder. My feeder has a setting so that I can exclude by weight which is what I did on Saturday. Now I'm battling with my guilt that they cannot eat. But there was so much fighting going on! It's like recess at the playground, someone has to ruin it for everyone. I also have a multitude of red squirrels and chipmunks that stand at the bottom and pray for a seed to drop, their prayers are mostly answered. Oh and I saw the raccoon again this time at 8:30 p.m. so now the feeder comes inside the house at 6:30 p.m. The bird feeder is squirrel proof but not raccoon proof. The main point is that I am grateful there is NOT a bear like at our old home!! I wound up some lovely green yarn for our grandson's Ch

How are you all doing? How's your June month unfolding?  I've been pondering about creativity and how it ebbs and flows. Honestly last week was spectacular, I was casting on new knitting projects and completing art journaling pages one after the other. I basked in my creative pursuits. However, I wondered about when there is NOT a drop of creativity to be found, what do you do?  The number one action I always take with a non-creative state of mind is to just let it be. I've been a creative for so long that I know that it is temporary. I know that eventually I will be doing something creative eventually. Sometimes, I move towards new creative ideas or projects or I marathon read a bunch of novels while waiting for that creative spark. I've found that it's okay to not want to knit, or draw, or write.  To be honest, I sometimes do not feel like writing my blog (what!!). I wonder if there is anything else to say in the space that I haven't already said before. I won

  A few days ago my ONE peony blossomed. Our neighbor gave us three peony plants, one survived through the winter and gave us a pretty show. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers but really many many flowers are my favorites whenever they bloom. Can you believe it is June? I cannot.  This time last year I was packing up a house we lived in for sixteen years, donating many belongings to lighten the load. That weird mindset 'I'm never going to hoard stuff again' has waned. I do buy the occasional used book knowing that each one I purchase might lead to a slippery slope of accumulation.  While I knit from my stash I still buy more yarn, I hope that it's at a slower rate but it is not stopping me from visiting yarn stores and keeping them in business. It's what knitters gotta do. One year ago I was frantically checking a list making sure the selling of the old house was on track and the purchasing of the new house was on track. I romantically daydreamed of boring days

  I've written about my morning routine many times but I thought why not touch upon it once more. I love to get up early in the morning, drink my tea and journal about the day before. Mostly it's about events, thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I rant but try not to very much. At the end of each entry I write my gratitude list. Frequently it's about family and friends, coffee and tea, quiet pockets in my day. The more ordinary the gratitude the more I feel peace. The past two to three weeks have been wonky here. I've been having health symptom issues that I thought were medication changes for my blood pressure. An EKG was slightly abnormal which referred me to a cardiologist. While waiting for that appointment I visited ER to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack (I was NOT). I met the cardiologist last week and he thought I was 'fine' but ordered a stress test anyways. I did the stress test on Monday and thought I passed! But then I got a call from the off

  Around here I've been watching Spring do its thing. The trees are super leafy green, my walks are intoxicating with beauty. All those pesky rainy days seemed to have rewarded us with sunny pleasant weather. More rain is coming but I'm ignoring that for now. This week I witnessed my first hummingbird of the year at the feeder. So sweet!  Around here, my husband and I have been enjoying seeing what blossoms on this property. Mystery flowers and sometimes plants we are familiar with from our old house. I sometimes still miss living in a rural area but I'm slowly getting used to living outside of a big city.  Around here my creativity is overflowing with many ideas. I can't keep up with them all so I jot them down so I don't forget them. Maybe I need to start a nature journal? Do you have one?  Around here I am enjoying all of my knitting projects.  

  I've been thinking about the word 'abundance' all week long. Specifically, in my daily life and where is the abundance. In nature, there is an abundance of spring time blossoms and birds singing away. On my walks I try to notice what I see and hear to ground myself and to be present. This noticing crowds out the to do tasks and what's on my mind. I have abundance in yarns, projects and all sorts of creative pursuits. I believe you all do as well. That's what we creators do. Most importantly I've been thinking of the people in my life. Family, extended family, friends, neighbors and all the other people I have yet to meet in my new town. I still keep in touch with my friends from my old town. All of you dear readers who are friends as well. The community we share here is quite abundant. In other news, they came and put up our awning! Now I know it's going to be warmer days. Of course there is snow in tomorrow's forecast but I'm ignoring that bit of

  As I sit here and write this post, there are teeny tiny snowflakes doing their best to say 'ha ha, springtime, winter can still be here'. I'm ignoring the flakes and celebrating the first day of April! Can you believe it's April? The daffodils are blooming and my lilac bush is sprouting.  Yesterday we went to the local park for a walk that we haven't done since late fall. The weather was warm but the winds were fierce. I don't mind being cold and/or damp down to my bones but I highly dislike windy days.  My very first time visiting this park was after the high blood pressure event in early August and my meds being adjusted. I then committed to walking over 150 minutes a week which I've kept up with except for extreme snowy weather conditions or that horrible stomach bug. I'm proud of my commitment. April beginnings remind me of new beginnings. I'm looking forward to more outings, day trips and exploring our new to us area. April means: fresh - new

  We've been home for over a week and I just might be recovered from the travels. I am pleasantly back into the ordinary swing of things and doing the activities that bring me joy. Such as:   - walking daily, weather permitting - exercising - menu planning (not enjoyable but I do like to eat!) - knitting daily - easing in a bit of sketching and watercoloring - reading daily - trying my best to be PRESENT - journalling - connecting with family While it took me a week to get back into my daily groove, Frodo needed three days to recover from the kennel stay. He might have too much fun and bark more than he should. Thankfully he had a grooming appointment and looks dapper. I pulled out my little watercolor notebook and quickly sketched and painted some daffodils.  While the weather was spectacular these past few days, it looks like winter will edge back in and --gulp-- with it some snow showers. Oh March you do love to do this!! What  brings you joy?

  My weekend consisted of playing catchup from our traveling days with bill paying and my off-scheduled laundering of clothes. On Saturday morning, I received my first shingles vaccine and was thrilled that the reaction was minimal. I actually made a menu plan for the week usually I fly by the seat of my pants.  I read a lot over the weekend making up for all the time I did not read while visiting our son and his family. This weekend, I fully appreciated my bed and my coffeemaker and not sleeping in a hotel room with noisy people outside. I live in a quiet neighborhood which is wonderful! How was your weekend?

  Hello! How was your week?  My husband and I went to Indiana to visit our son, daughter-in-law and the brand new grandson. We had a wonderful time. Of course there was unending baby time. Lots and lots of holding, snuggling and soothing. We ate out way too much but it was a fun diversion to always eating at home. We walked many of their local parks to get some fresh air and to get our wiggles out. The weather was gorgeous!! We did a little bit of window shopping in town as well. The trip and visit was fantastic, but you know me. Home sweet home is the best. I was thrilled to be in my own bed last night, waking up and heading to my kitchen for the perfectly brewed cup of coffee, sitting in my kitchen. Maybe traveling makes me appreciate the little things all the more! I barely knit a stitch or read a sentence while visiting even though I brought a hefty 'activity' bag.

After some ridiculously warm weather last weekend where it felt like summertime had arrived, the wild swings of Mother Nature are now taunting us with winter weather once again. We had about three inches of snow the other day, unpredicted I might add. The snow was beautiful. Tomorrow they are forecasting 3-6 inches of snow (trying to be more accurate in the guessing). No matter what, the birds continue to sing and the daffodils continue to grow. You and I both know it will melt quickly. Besides the weather swinging wildly, my knitting mojo has ramped up to normal production. Oh how wonderful it is to be knitting and enjoying my knitting. There is nothing like it in the world. I'm on the hunt for a baby sweater pattern and will probably use an old printed pattern that my mom used for when my kids were babies. I just have to locate the pattern! I finished reading, The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert and it was really good. I wasn't expecting to be so engaged in the plot so th

  Well now, our weekend was fantastic!  We met sweet baby Blaise and celebrated his Baptism with family and friends. It was a busy weekend but full of love and goodness. Today is playing catchup after a swift busy 48 hours. I did not knit or read. I did however cuddle and hold a sweet bundle of joy :)

This week we celebrated my husband's birthday by going to the Van Gogh Immersion Exhibit. We loved the experience but it was very short compared to what we thought the length would be (expectations can be brutal). Also to celebrate, we stopped at the local bakery for a treat and on the way home we picked up pizza and wings. We had a lovely time and we both were happy to be doing something cultural in Pittsburgh, one of the benefits of moving so close to the city. How have you been?  Winter keeps trying to be a big show-off but spring is edging her way in. The birds are singing, the daffodils are sprouting. We are warming up a little bit (but not today, brr). I love winter but I'm excited for spring time and some lighter clothe wearing. Even Frodo walks with a jaunt in his step when he doesn't wear his doggy coat. I am fully recovered from the stomach bug, for some reason fatigue was a huge factor for a week. Yesterday on my walk I felt like I had the energy to walk.  Can yo