Pumpkin Sunrise

  Butterflies are abundant in my backyard!  I've seen monarchs and swallowtails on the butterfly bush. My challenge is having a camera on hand when they are around.  How have you been?  Are you loving the summer days?  Or are you like me waiting patiently for the heat to abate and some cool breezes to waft slowly in?  I truly try my very best to enjoy what I like about summer even though deep down it's my least favorite season.   I love:  - the cicadas and the tree frogs singing in harmony - sitting outside with my husband in the shade chitchatting -  dangling my feet in the pool - big salads and easy dinners to grill - all the flowers - butterflies and bees enjoying my blossoms - witnessing the changing landscape as early/mid/late summer evolve eagerly awaiting soft signs of fall Today is my husband's last day of work and then he is officially retired.  I was teasing him this morning on what will fill his mind and his days.  His work has been stressful for the last few yea

How was your weekend?   Mine was busy but a good kind of busy.  I am loving the soft signs of fall approaching.  The oak tree has been dropping acorns and I'd say they are a week behind compared to last year.  Some leaves are turning - not many but every morning there are at least two leaves in the pool. Our son and daughter in law were in town for a friend's wedding.  I guess their friends were scrambling to change the venue and the plans.  Instead of indoor - it was outdoor.  The wedding list was hacked to a small gathering.  Such are the times! Who knows what will happen to their own wedding in January.  I know they are getting married no matter what. I was gifted the bridesmaid bouquet!  My daughter in law to be left it in my fridge and I placed them in a vase and put them in our bathroom which is a cat-free zone.  Holly would gobble these right up!  Today after blow drying my hair, I was blessed with a beautiful vista of flowers.  Maybe I should always have flowers in the

As I mentioned previously, I finished the socks !  Sadly I am disappointed in the very light splotches that look to me like the dye did not take.  Originally they were going to be a Christmas present for a family member but now they will go to my husband.  He will love slightly imperfect socks! I've been thoroughly enjoying the golden wheat shawl .  It's an easy addictive pattern that I know I will knit again.  I save this knitting for when I am 'zooming'.  I can talk and knit with this project. My last project that has been getting a ton of knit time is the never ending gradient shawl .  Yup.  I started to read and knit at the same time at great peril.  As you can guess both the knitting and the reading are extremely slow going but I feel like I'm getting somewhere with the multitasking.  If I make a mistake I will be doomed.  This wool is slippery with the silk content and yet I continue to believe I am invincible.   That folks is how I live on the edge.  Some peo

Summertime is in full effect this week.  Every day is hot and humid.  I am trying my best to not complain and to enjoy each day.  I am thankful for AC and for soft signs of the season to come.  Usually I am up around 5 a.m. and greeted by Holly the cat.  Lately the sunrise is an hour or so afterwards, so Miss Holly sleeps in a bit.  I eagerly await for her little meow 'hellos'. My mornings are restful and contemplative.  I usually journal about the previous day and do some religious readings and prayers while drinking my coffee.  I write a gratitude list daily which makes my day start with the best frame of mind. Acorns!!! In the beginning of the pandemic, I missed so much of my regular routines:  going to dinner at a restaurant a few times a week, aimlessly shopping and seeing my kids whenever I wanted to see them. Now I am content to not eat out, I have many recipes at my fingertips and ingredients in my fridge/freezer to pull off a dinner in a snap.  We do pick up a pizza ev

On Saturday we drove to State College to visit our son and future daughter in law for the afternoon.  We had lunch outside at a restaurant .  The weather cooperated with cloudy skies and coolish weather.  It was nice to see them, the days are counting down for when they relocate to Indiana.   After lunch we walked around Penn State University's Arboretum .  I daydream about having a lovely garden like they do.  If only!  Some of the arboretum is under construction for a garden attracting birds.  My husband and I might have to return in a year or so just to see that. Yesterday I did all the chores and found out that I'll be a Great Aunt again.  I'm thrilled to be knitting some baby items in the upcoming fall months.  How very exciting!  I'm will also be knitting a wedding shawl and so far it's looking like maybe, just maybe another citron?  We'll see.   I knit a whole bunch while riding in the car, then ripped out a whole bunch once I was home.  I didn't care

Around here I've been hiding inside my house while the humidity has slowly climbed to a somewhat sticky level.  The wild roses are finished blooming and at any moment the day lilies will bloom.  Every morning when I'm outside with Frodo we check the plants.  On our walks, I've seen bee balm blooming but mine is being kind of shy right now.  I've spotted some elderberry bushes blooming and they reminded me of my gram who would make elderberry pie when we were at her summer cottage.   The cement guy came and leveled all of the uneven pieces around the pool, sometime next week the landscaper is coming to do his thing.  We have some flowering plants that need to be relocated before he regrades the corner of our property or we'll lose them.  The new boulder retaining wall is supposed to take two days.  I'm excited. Around here I decadently read ALL day yesterday.  The memoir, Educated, is really good and I can't put it down.  It's funny because I was sure I w

Hello!  This week my knitting is mostly the same except for the new socks on the needles.  I decided to knit with non-pink yarn for now because well, I'm surrounded by pinks.  This sock is a Christmas gift and I haven't quite decided what pattern to put on the leg, I'm winging it as I go along. My blush cardigan is finally at the sleeve construction, I finished the body last night after the photo below.  I only have three skeins left and I'm positive the sleeves will be 3/4 length.  It's a summer sweater so I'm okay with that.  I'm going to work both sleeves with one skein each and then see try my best to use my last skein between the two.  It'll be interesting!! What are you working on?

Around here, the weather feels like mid summer with humidity and the thunderstorms that pop up at a whim.  Frodo has been policing the pool and has saved one toad out of many since they love to jump in but cannot jump out.  Of course he's been saving salamanders for the last two weeks as well.  He is living a full life.  Yesterday was the first 'I dropped the frisbee in the pool now you go get it' game.  He is quite predictable. June days are lovely - warmth sets in and jeans are set aside for capris or shorts.  I wake up to the day breaking and Holly sits at the side window, watching the birds, swishing her tail in excitement.   On Monday we walked by the river and then explored a new trail to us.  There was a dirt path down to the creek which we successfully navigated, however when I was walking back up hill I tripped and fell on my face and wrist.  My husband drove me to urgent care for x-rays and an examination.  My wrist was okay (phew!) and my nose, while swollen, see

Ah, a pair of s ocks finished for when autumn leaves are falling.  I bought this yarn when I was visiting my sister last November.  I was attracted to that brilliant yellow and new I needed a pair of socks.  Who knew I would be treasuring that memory of browsing a store without a care in the world! The sock pattern is a memorized pattern with 64 stitches cast on on size 2 needles constructed from the cuff down.  The body of the leg consists of four rows of stockinette and two rows of 2x2 rib.  Easy peasy. What are you working on this week? I have high hopes of finishing a cross stitch project in less than a week.  It's a daring goal.

Even though it doesn't look like I've made much progress on my citron shawl , believe me it's taking longer and longer to do each row. This is pure comfort knitting for me. As I've said previously though, I cannot watch TV unless the show is 'talky-talky'.  Based on how much wool is left I might be on the last increasing section.  I mentioned previously that I was thinking about what to make for gifts this holiday season (I know I am starting early). I was deep stash diving into my sock yarn collection and picked out colors for many of my knit worthy people. Will I do all this crazy sock knitting? I'm not sure but I'd like to think I would.  My gray and yellow socks are a pure delight to have on the needles and this project is a TV project! My second sock is just as fun as the first sock. What are you working on this week?

I am focusing on two knitting projects this week.  First up are a pair of socks that are from my own memorized pattern design.  I bought this yarn with my sister last fall during the Thanksgiving weekend, who knew I would be pining for LYS experiences now! This glorious blob of knitting is a lace weight citron shawl .  Sadly the photos do not do it justice, because it's beautiful to behold in real life, honest!  I'm thrilled with the gradient wool that has some silk content.  But the silk content makes the knitting ALL eyes on deck or else you lose a slippery stitch.  Who would want that to happen?? What are you working on this week?