Pumpkin Sunrise

  Yesterday we went to the art museum and then had lunch out. Above is the nativity the museum displays every holiday season - the arrangement of figurines changes year to year which makes it fun to see the differences with the aid of a photo of course.   Are you ready for the holidays or getting ready? I am trying to be ready. I continue to take it easy with knitting and barely do one hour a day. My hands are mostly recovered but I don't want to risk any repetitive injury. While my hands may be idle, my mind is active with what to knit next. My daughter wants a sweater (yay!) and I'm itching to knit something for myself. I'm creating lists and more lists as we inch closer to Christmas Day. My son and his family will be here almost a week. I have menus to consider and outings to plan out and to offer. Hopefully the grands will be healthy this time around which will help me sleep better. I'm still recovering from lack of sleep! Are you baking this year? What are you baki

  Good morning! How was your weekend? How was the time change? I have a rough time with the time change no matter which time change it is. I am tired and hungry at the usual times that are now changed. This morning, both pets were confused with the morning routines. As I sit and type this up in the kitchen, the sun is shining! It's supposed to be partly-cloudy, but the sun didn't get the forecast yet. Let's hope the sun stays for a while. This weekend I gnomed myself out. I worked on them, inching closer to my goal of seven total. I finished number five yesterday and cast on number six. I have more to knitting projects for after the gnomes are completed for the holidays and gosh, I'm starting to dream of knitting for myself.  I also painted a birthday card for my mother in law who loves my artwork. She is a talented artist herself but has advanced macular degeneration and cannot see well enough to watercolor. With her vision aid, she can enjoy my handmade cards. Over th

This past week my creativity has rebounded. Phew! I tend to go in waves on what exactly inspires me to knit, read and/or sketch. I've learned through the years to just chill and see what inspires me and when inspiration strikes, run with it. Currently, I'm knitting gnomes and the gnome knitting obsession initially was slow and somewhat of a chore. Yesterday, after I completed the fourth one, I was officially in the gnome zen of knitting. What helps my creativity is being out in nature. My daily walk is good for me physically and mentally. I see color combinations that would be great in a hat or a mitten. May there always be days where I have more ideas to knit and the projects are overflowing in my notebook. I have been thoroughly enjoying the dip in the temperatures and wearing wool on my walks. Frodo would disagree, since he is 14 (!!) he will be outside for a little walk if it is above freezing, he just cannot take cold weather like when he was a younger pup.   Of course, th

  My weekend was nice and a beautiful change from the chaos of getting new appliances. The chaos was worth every single minute. The temperature has been dropping, finally. I am all in for some chilly weather. Those little ones on Halloween will be freezing!  I've been working on gnomes, making steady progress but slow process. So far I have two completed. I have found my rhythm though and that makes the knitting feel fast.  Can you believe it'll be three weeks until Thanksgiving? I will have a full house and I am hosting dinner this year. My lists are detailed - the more I write down the less overwhelmed I feel about the time together with family. How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How are you?  I've had a full week with classes and yesterday our fridge and dishwasher arrived. Of course it was stressful, beginning with the fridge not fitting through the kitchen door. The team really wanted to call it quits but we pleaded that they try the back door which goes through the family room which doesn't have a doorway. Thankfully one of the men said yes and my husband was scrambling to remove the back door and unhook the screen door. Bless sweet Frodo, he cannot hear anything and just sleeps through it all. So the fridge was installed but then there was a water leak (of course), we have a plumber today coming to fix that. Apparently it's our end of the plumbing and not the fridge. Every single fridge we have bought and installed we have had waterline leaks for the water dispenser hookup, it must be a rite of passage. I am grateful that I saw it early and no permanent damage was done. The dishwasher installation needed a new shut off valve bec

  How was your weekend? My weekend was rainy but I managed to do a daily walk in between the raindrops. I have officially started my mad gnome knitting. Last year my schedule was wide opened for knitting. This year I'm taking non credit classes and feel like my time is limited but truly it is not. It's a state of mind. I've got a big bag a scraps and just knit. That is all there is to it. I am so glad we did our country drive north on Thursday because I believe that was peak colors. The rain over the weekend has brought most of the leaves down. It's the last full week of October already - time is flying by. On Saturday my sister and brother in law came over for dinner and we had a nice time catching up with them since they did a little trip to see their fall foliage as well. My Sunday was the usual chores after Mass. I do love a regular weekend. My house will be full for the Thanksgiving weekend and I'm already plotting what I need to do from now until then. The lis

  Good morning! How are you doing these days? So far I am enjoying autumn and the trees changing. Yesterday, we drove north, taking country back roads to a lovely restaurant  to meet my dad and my step mom for lunch. We had wonderful food and a lovely visit with them. We drove back a different way, again, using back country roads and the views were amazing. I don't think the trees are at peak colors but it's very close to peak.  I pulled out some scrap wools for my gnome-marathon knitting. Hopefully I will start today. We are hosting our families for Thanksgiving (12 adults and 3 children) and my list is long on what I want done around the house and what I need to purchase to stream-line this event. I'm happy to report that we did buy a new fridge and dishwasher this week and they will be here next week. That gives me one week to eat as much food as possible, ha ha ha. What a big purchase! I'm looking forward to our families gathering together.

  I had a busy weekend but a very good kind of busy. My sister had a fall craft show at her house and I was there keeping her company while her friends came and perused her items. I saw family members and had a great time all together.  Yesterday, we all went to the conservatory in Pittsburgh for the fall flower show. I love how creative they are in creating displays and arranging the flowers. We had such a great time! On a whim, my husband and I started shopping for a new fridge and dishwasher. All of the appliances that came with the house are VERY old. We will be hosting Thanksgiving and will have a full house with our kids and grandkids. A new dishwasher will help immensely because my current one can only do dishes (no pots, pans, trays etc...). Just the thought of running a dishwasher multiple times a day warms my heart (and to know they are CLEAN). I just plainly hate our current fridge. It's old and inefficient. How was your weekend?

  After being away last weekend, this whole week was kind of a catch-up week where I didn't quite catch-up but kept adding more to my to do list. I am behind in my holiday knitting but then does it matter? I don't think so, only I know of my arbitrary goals.  This week, I started my granddaughter's Christmas sweater and I have been thoroughly enjoying working on this little project in the evenings and even during the day. Maybe it's the wool maybe it's the pattern or maybe it's both at the same time. So far, I don't think I have any mistakes but then again you never know. My husband and I received our flu and covid shots on Wednesday late afternoon. Yesterday was a challenging day. Tylenol fixed everything, but golly,  I was dragging myself around.  I only have a sore arm this morning, I am grateful. Of course my husband had a minimal reaction, grr. Autumn is fully here, the leaves are changing and the mornings are quite cold. Frodo and I moved our early mo

  Our weekend was wonderful, how was yours? On Saturday morning my sister and I had an outing and did some shopping. Our favorite smoothie shop closed down a month ago. Instead she has been making the smoothies and they are delicious. We were both home by lunch time.  Over the weekend I found a mistake on my grandson's sweater so I had to rip it out and fix the mistake. It was a mistake I couldn't live with (aren't they all?). I am almost back to where I was before I ripped it out. Twice the knitting fun! Sunday morning, we attended Mass and afterwards I visited my aunt and cousin for an hour. I did the laundry and cleaned parts of the house. The weather is heating up for the week and I'm pretending that isn't happening. I hope this is the last heat event of the year.

  How delightful to see the oak leaves falling. On my daily walks with Frodo, I've been soaking in the changes of the seasons. Entering into Autumn never disappoints and this time of year is when I think about new knitting projects and writing projects. All the books I want to read stare me down and I rethink my priorities of what I really want to focus on.  Surprisingly I picked up my paints yesterday and dabbled a tiny bit in my creative journal. Weeks have gone by since I created anything remotely related to art. Just like knitting, my interests hop around and one form of creativity over takes another form of creativity.  The older I get the more I allow grace and ease in my days. I have goals, but the goals are fluid and open-ended in a specific time frame. (I always do what I HAVE to do). My holiday knitting goals are lofty and maybe delusional but I know what I can do, what I might do and what can wait til next year.  My non-credit classes have been such fun. I enter them wit

  How was your weekend? Thank you so much for the well wishes, I am feeling much better. Modern medicine has yet to fail me.  My weekend was fun! On Saturday, we had my sister and brother in law over for dinner and dessert. I made chili, cornbread, salad and a pumpkin pie. I celebrated fall.  On Sunday, we drove to southeastern Ohio for the day for our granddaughter's baptism. Afterwards we attended a little luncheon. We had fun seeing everyone and being with family. Our grandson was great fun, full of smiles and hugs. Our ride home was slightly delayed due to a major accident on the highway, my family in another car was stuck in that traffic jam due to the highway being shut down for over four hours. I am grateful I was home by dinner time and felt awful for my aunt and cousins who didn't get home until 9:30 - 10:00 in the evening. I worked on my grandson's Christmas sweater  in the car and had a wonderful time knitting a short project.

  How are you doing? Around here autumn weather has been showing up. The nights are cold and daylight is dwindling away, I love it and I'm all in for the change of seasons. I'll be surprised if there is one more heat wave. Even if there is one, it will be the last one.  Yesterday my husband and I went out to lunch at a local restaurant that has outdoor seating overlooking a pond. We each ordered a salad and enjoyed our views. We did a little shopping as well. Earlier this week, I had an intense arthritis flare (ouch) that had me calling the doctor for medicine. I am so grateful that my doctor and her nurse responded quickly and I was able to pick up and take the medication by dinner time. I'm thrilled to report that I am feeling a bit better.  It's difficult for me to take it easy, but that is what I am doing.  I should be finishing up the sweater today! I'm excited to get it off the needles and blocked. I am already planning out the next knitting projects (holiday

  Good morning! How was your weekend?  Mine was relaxing. After we returned home on Thursday from seeing the grandchildren in Indiana, my Friday was a catch up day. Saturday and Sunday were completely relaxing.  Saturday I fiddled about with organizing my online photos for 2020, 2021 and 2022 (yes woefully behind but done!). I still have to save some photos on this computer to save to a flash drive yet. Isn't it silly to be virtually organizing? Remember when we had physical copies of everything and would place the photos in photo albums? Saturday afternoon, I read books and worked on the last hitchhiker shawl (still not done). Sunday after Mass, I did laundry and cleaned the house somewhat. I read some more and knitted some more. That last hitchhiker shawl is taking forever but I am so close to being finished. I'm sure we are still going to have hot weather but honestly it's been refreshing to be cold in the mornings and see the changes in the trees. Fall is rushing in and

  How was your weekend? I had a fabulous one. Nothing much happened and I guess that is what I like most of all, nothing happening. I did a lot of knitting and a  lot of reading. Friday evening we went over to my sister and brother in law's house for dinner. After dessert and a quick board game, she gave me a tour of her beautiful garden where I captured some pretty photos. Saturday was all the knitting and reading and then back to knitting, so so so good!! Sunday we went to church and I did a bazillion household chores. (I'd rather be knitting or reading!). I tried a new shampoo and my hair is all over the place. I can't decide if it's a win or fail.  While I was walking Frodo around the house, I spied this maple leaf wishing me good things to come. I don't care how hot it gets or how humid (and it is humid = hair all over the place) I know and you know that FALL is coming and there are signs of it's arrival. That is all I need.

  Good morning! Isn't Holly funny in that photo? She snuck into the 'dog' zone while Frodo was snoring away beside me in the afternoon. I looked up and there she was, surveying the room - she is always shocked he is sleeping right there beside me. Her adventurous spirit never ceases to amaze me. We have discovered that Holly hates thunderstorms and quietly hides somewhere in the house. Frodo, bless him, is deaf and cannot hear them anymore which is wonderful since he would tremble so! We close the blinds so that he cannot see flashing light from the lightning just in case that upsets him. We had a wonderful day of rain, thunder and tiny bits of lightning yesterday. Such a refreshing change of weather after the heat and humidity.  I've been enjoying my classes so far, especially Tai Chi (which is using different muscles than my yoga!). The instructor is fun and the class members all have a willing spirit.  I've been bitten by the knitting bug, in that I want to knit