Pumpkin Sunrise

  Hello! How are you doing?  Well now, I've been under the weather with a rotten virus most of this past week, but yesterday morning I went to urgent care and now with modern medicine I am starting to feel better. 2025 is not the year of great health for me but I am confident that 2026 will be new and improved. I've changed two doctors also added a new specialist and feel like we will get to the bottom of my medical woes. Even though I felt crummy I still was busy! We went to the local park with the grands. The colors of fall have been beautiful this week, I love them so much!! I did take some short slow walks and enjoyed the foliage. Can you believe we are almost through mid November. Time flies. We have been very busy with the grandkids this past week due to scheduling issues with the parents, we are always happy to help them out. I did make one more hat for the new grandson, photo below, but I'll just add that photo to the existing project page. I thoroughly enjoyed knit...

  Good morning! How are you?  Well we had the time change this weekend, the nights are super cosy now. I love it. I get so much more knitting done in the fall and winter compared to spring and summer and I give the time change the credit. We had chilly weather and I even wore a winter coat one morning. Holly found the perfect sunspot and I was able to document it. She doesn't like her photo taken usually, she finds the behavior suspicious. Over the weekend we hosted our daughter in law's birthday party and local family attended as well as her mom. The gathering was wonderful however, I was tired after all the setting up and putting away. My sister helped in the kitchen and that made my work easier. I do not remember how loud kids were when mine were little. I love how my memory is warped because you know they were loud sometimes, right? Despite my fatigue I did walk outside over the weekend and enjoyed the fall views. I have the rest of my tests for the pulmonary doctor this w...

  Good morning! How are you doing? I've been doing okay, I haven't been feeling the greatest but I could feel worse. My schedule is busy and maybe I don't get enough downtime to recharge my batteries. It's going to be busy with grandkids, adult learning classes and many doctor appointments in the next 2 1/2 weeks.  I still have a few tests for the pulmonary doctor to complete before I see her mid-November for a follow up visit. I have only myself to blame for the scheduling!  I found out that there is emergency knitting to be had! My daughter informed me that the baby desperately needs hats and socks for his tiny body. All the gifts she received are for 6 months and bigger. Well you know what I was doing yesterday, a deep dive into my yarn stash! I cast on a little hat yesterday afternoon. Bliss knitting! I've been walking outside and enjoying being in nature after more than six months of doing cardio in my house. There is nothing like fresh air and I believe na...

  Good morning! How are you doing these days? Around here, it's the same old stuff. I pick up the kids at daycare 2-3 times a week depending on the schedule. This week my adult classes start back up after a lovely one week break.  Thankfully we had some much needed rain yesterday and through the night. Also the temperature is reflecting October vibes, finally. I love to be cold. the rain and wind brought down tons of oak leaves! The awning on the back patio was taken down for the season.  Friday afternoon we went to the conservatory to see their fall flower show. I was excited to see my first turtle ever at their pond. Sometimes we see frogs, but never a turtle. He was sunbathing and wasn't thrilled we were walking by him/her. After the conservatory, we were supposed to go out for dinner but I was too tired to do so. We went home instead and had some soup. Yum! I am nearly done with the second Christmas stocking. I make two for each grandchild. One for their home and one ...

  Good morning! How are you doing? Even though I have lots more to knit for the holidays, I took a wonderful detour and decided to cast on a cowl for myself while on a car ride to visit my dad and my stepmom. I know, crazy! Hopefully I will update the ravelry page soon. The weather has been delightful and a big sigh of relief, I feel like I can breathe fresh clean air! I put the winter bedding on my bed. Below is a photo of some mums at my dad's house, they are so pretty! Autumn is my second favorite season, my first is winter.  The grandkids have been keeping me busy as always. Saturday was the last soccer practice which is nice now that the weather is getting chilly in the mornings. This week I only have one adult learning class because the rest of the week is a break between sessions. This gives me a chance to catch up on my reading. What have you been up to?

  Good morning! How are you?  Around here it's the same old happenings. I am completely over the summer weather and want the cold weather. My fingers are crossed the cold weather comes this week like it's supposed to arrive. Regardless of the temperatures, it looks like fall. I placed my winter bird feeder out and put the thistle feeder away. In less than an hour, woodpeckers and chickadees arrived! We bring in this bird feeder every single night because of our resident raccoon. The trick is to remember to bring it in at sunset. I've knitted each night this past week and finished one of the Christmas stockings for our new grandson, three weeks old already! I'm eager to meet him. I also started knitting star Christmas ornaments. I have to be careful with my hands and not create a flare up, so I only knit for an hour on this project. Holly loves to look outside and chirp at the chipmunks and birds. I wonder what she is thinking? I have a digital library book that is due i...

  Hello! How are you doing? I've been furiously knitting over the weekend because I had my covid and flu shots Saturday morning, that had me sitting on the couch for most of Sunday. I am not complaining because Tylenol took care of any aches I had AND I knitted my little heart away. We've been busy helping out with the local grandkids. We pick them up from daycare a few times a week and they also came over for dinner on Saturday night so their parents could have a peaceful dinner out and about. We love it! They are fun to be with and now that our grandson is three, he is funny to talk to and he gives me compliments on the dinner. (assuming he likes it...) I started a bear hat for our little grandson born two weeks ago. We will meet him soon and I want to give more hand knits. I love knitting for babies because it's so fast.  What have you been up to these days? I heard by the end of the week it's going to feel more like fall.

  Hello! How are you? I've had a 'busy' week and this week is another doozy. But I'm ready. I have a long list of to do's and I'm going to get them all done. Anyways, I met with a Pulmonologist last week and now I'm getting more testing done to see if the lovely autoimmune disorder is getting into mischief with my lungs (or is it asthma?). I won't know for two months since the various testing appointments are scattered throughout the eight weeks. Also I had my routine colonoscopy last week and since then I am eating everything in sight to make up for the fasting and prepping. All food is delicious now! Will it ever end??  Even though the outside looks like fall, the temperatures are still reflecting summer and I am so over it. I want to be cold. I want the heat on in the house and not the AC. Supposedly next week will be cooler, I cannot wait and I hope it doesn't change. I finished my grandson's sweater, yay. And I made a typo in my last post wh...

  Good afternoon! How are you? Finally it is fall like weather and my maple tree has decided to join in the celebrations. Crisp cool air in the mornings and evenings, what could be better? I had to wear a jacket on Saturday morning to watch my grandson play soccer. I loved it. On Thursday I went with my aunt and cousin to drive around the neighborhood we grew up in Pittsburgh. I cannot believe how everything looks so small. The houses, my old school, the streets, the length of the streets. It was so much fun.  On Friday afternoon, I went to a picnic at my school and a friend saved me a seat. Our table was the first to get in line for the food. That was awesome as well! I was thankful it was inside instead of outside like last year. I nearly wilted from the sun and heat. I finished knitting the granddaughter's holiday sweater and I need to sew buttons and do a beauty soak routine. I used maybe 4-8 yards of that extra skein. I see lots of hats being made with the rest.

  Good morning! How are you? After a wonderful cold snap, it's now getting warm again but thankfully not overly warm and the nights are still cool. AND it's September, finally!  Over the weekend, we celebrated our granddaughter's second birthday with family and friends. I enjoyed seeing everyone and of course watching her delight as she opened up her gifts, two years old is a wonderful age! I'm sure she will be in the terrible twos soon, but for right now she is happy and compliant and full of energy and discovery. We celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary on Friday! We went out to lunch at a new to us Chinese restaurant. They had a HUGE sakura (cherry blossom) tree in the middle of the eating area. I loved it! The food was fantastic as well. I saw my arthritis doctor and there's a chance I will be adding a medicine to manage symptoms. I guess I'll know in a week or so after some testing results. I'm not happy about it more medicines but I am happy if it se...

  Good morning! How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. I'm super excited that in a week the temperatures will be in the 70s instead of the 90s, may it stay true! Since I last wrote here, I've been busy with holiday sweater knitting for the grands. I started with the smallest sweater for the baby-to-be in September. Why? Well because that would be the fastest sweater to knit! I finished the knitting yesterday and now need to find some buttons and do the magical blocking. Instant gratification. Over the weekend, our grandson started soccer on Saturday mornings. What a joy to watch and I was thrilled there was a lone tree to sit under since I cannot handle full sun even with a hat. He had fun after being shy for 10 minutes. It seems every other day I see the grandkids which we both love so much. He is three years old and she will be two years old and they are at fun ages. Of course the terrible twos are around the corner but they haven't arrived yet. I started a nature ...

  Good morning! How are you??  We are into another heat wave, ugh. I am hiding in my house, enjoying the AC and the coolness. Thank goodness for that. Yesterday, I went to the local yarn shop and bought all the yarn for holiday sweaters for the three grandkids (one is yet to be born in September). I loved it! I love supporting a local business and I love to buy yarn.  I am amazed that I have a closet full of yarn and yet nothing matched up with the patterns I chose to knit this year. Hm... I believe it's because two of the grands wear super-wash wool or a wool acrylic blend for ease and I have very little to none of that in the stash. For the baby to be, I didn't have any red wool! It was all spoken for because I knit Christmas stockings for each grandchild. I can honestly say this revelation is a joy. Who doesn't like to shop for yarn?? Late last week, we went to the conservatory to see their summer flower show before it ends. (Yay fall!). I enjoyed this exhibit, they ar...

  How are you? Over here, I've been enjoying the cooler weather even though it's short lived. I went for a walk outside with a zip hoodie (gasp!) in the early morning. As you know, I quit walking outside in March due to allergies (I can't take allergy meds due to dry mouth and when my nose stuffs up I get dry mouth...ugh!) then when the allergies finally settled it was too hot for me (also heat intolerant, ugh). So my walk was nice! I am used to exercising in my art/office room now so that is the new normal for me.  In other news, I am nearly finished with the cross stitch baby sampler! Of course I will have to wait to see what the baby's name and birth date are but that's easy peasy. I enjoy the hour I spend each day on it and will miss this simple project. I finished the knitting portion of the baby sweater but I have to bury threads and sew on buttons. The weekend was 'busy' with the grandkids and I completely forgot when I had time to sit. It's on my...

  Hello! How are you doing? I am starting to feel better again, I'm hoping it lasts for a while now. This year has been 'whack-a-mole' with various symptoms and I'm so ready for a break from it all. Even while having symptoms, I'm still exercising when I can. And as you know I spend time with the grands as much as possible. They make me happy.  I continue to work on the small baby blanket , I think I am half way done. I haven't been doing much knitting on anything else physically. But mentally I'm planning and plotting the next project. I think knitters love to do that. We moved here in 2021 and the flower beds have really taken off this year! I love to walk around and see what's going on. My husband did all of the work. Our neighbor gave us plants and so did my sister. Whenever there is a flower the deer do not eat, I rejoice! I heard the cicadas for the first time last week. Now I know we are into the summer season. They don't seem as loud as they...

  Good morning! How are you?  Around here, the over 90 degree heat has left but it's still high 80's which I'm not fond of either. I've been hiding in my house ignoring it except to get the mail and to walk about looking at our flower beds. I've been knitting some, but mostly reading my books. I'm over half way reading The Great Gatsby, overall I've been enjoying the book. I'd love to be as idle as the characters are in the story. The other book I'm reading is Burnout which is interesting. I should finish reading that book today. I finished Red Bones by Ann Cleeves. I read her books on my kindle before I go to sleep. My comprehension is sometimes murky but overall it's a nice bedtime read and I remember enough to continue reading without re-reading paragraphs.  Sadly I am having a crazy flare up with my ever so lovely autoimmune disease (Sjogren's syndrome). It's the gift that keeps on giving. Currently I am having salivary gland swellin...