Pumpkin Sunrise

  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...

  How have you been? Over here in western PA the heat is back. I switched to exercising in my house in the spring and now more so than ever, I'm glad I did. The older I get the more my body dislikes hot weather. I've been busy helping with the grandkids and of course our son and his wife. My days are full and fun! If I'm not with them I am chilling out getting my energy levels back to normal. I am pleased to report that I'm knitting something else instead of the christening blanket (more about that on Wednesday). I am thrilled to be knitting something different not to mention mindless. Also, I went out of my reading comfort zone and picked up 'Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries' by Heather Fawcett and am thoroughly enjoying the story. It's light, entertaining and amusing. If I like the ending, I'll read the next in the series. We went to my sister's house for dinner last night and was lucky to spy this little fawn chilling out in the late aft...

  Hello! How are you doing? This past week the temperatures dropped and it felt like early spring. I loved it because I do not like to be hot. All the early summer flowers are blooming in my yard, the views are spectacular. I babysat the kids on Friday night with the help of my aunt. We had a fun time and they were good. I also went to their house on Saturday afternoon and sat while they napped so that their parents could run some errands. It's been a rough time the past three-four days because the antibiotic I was on (which I have finished on Saturday morning, thank goodness) caused severe nausea. I haven't felt that queasy since pregnancy. It was absolutely awful. In between bouts of nausea I managed to knit a little bit and get some laundry done. I think I'm better now, I am definitely not worse! Yesterday I took a walk, first time in months and I snapped these photos. I enjoyed being in the fresh air and seeing the neighborhood. I might just go for another walk today. ...

  Hello! How are you doing? I've been really busy. We went to Indiana for the last time (unless someone else moves there that we visit) to help our son and his family relocate to our area. The ride home with the kids was the longest ride ever, ha ha. They have been unpacking and trying to get settled while the kids stay with us at our house. Hopefully they will be sleeping in their new home in a day or two. I haven't knit a single stitch since Wednesday.  The contact learning curve is getting better and faster but I still have a few tries getting them in no matter what. I get less irritated though. These contacts hold preservative free saline on my corneas all day long. It has helped with the eye pain I was experiencing from severe dry eye.  Sadly I ended up with a salivary gland infection over the weekend and am currently on antibiotics, I am feeling better though. Hopefully I will be knitting this afternoon during naptime!

  Good morning! How are you doing?  Oh my, I've been busy. I saw the eye doctor on Friday and I see her again today. She is getting close to the final fittings of the custom made contact lenses to protect my severe dry eye due to Sjogren's Syndrome. I am getting used to putting them in and taking out, better than I thought I would! We went to the art museum a few days ago and then went out to lunch for our 'first' outdoor patio eating of the season. It was wonderful to be outside and to look at the pond. I wish I could photograph the frogs singing, but I guess you'll have to imagine that. They were delightful. I've been spending all my free time working on the christening blanket and have added the second skein yesterday. I've quit timing myself because the rows get longer and longer. I have 90 rows to go! If I run out of this yarn I have yet another 500 yards of a third back up yarn for the edging. I love the not knowing. I also love to knit with small siz...

  Good morning! How are you doing?  I have been busy these past few weeks learning how to insert and remove scleral lenses for the treatment of my severe dry eye caused by Sjogren's syndrome . These contacts are considered medically necessary for the health of my eye. I just started to learn how to use them when the electricity went out over a week ago. I guess I am learning and getting better but it takes a few tries to insert them as well as a steady hand. I see the eye doctor weekly and she keeps tweaking the fit and the vision correction. I still have to use reading glasses while wearing them. I see the eye doctor weekly as she changes the fit and the vision correction. I'm on my second pair right now with a third pair coming this week hopefully. This past six months have been challenging for me with the dry eye and the dry mouth symptoms. I am grateful that there are medicines and treatments for the symptoms but I really wish there was a cure. The inflammatory arthritis ...