Pumpkin Sunrise

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. How was your weekend?  Mine was wonderfully restful and calm.  While I'm all for weekends with family and celebrations like last weekend, I savor the quiet "boring" ones.  We only ventured out for Saturday evening Mass this weekend. I finished reading another book, working on tidying up the house and clean some rooms.  Menu plans were sketched out.  We took our daily walks with Frodo.  I love the nakedness of the trees and while it looks like winter, the birds were tweeting and calling to each other.  A soft sign of approaching another season. battery operated awesome candles  I quickly did laundry yesterday so I could enjoy the afternoon knitting and starting my fox softie kit . How was your weekend?

cupcake bouquet!!!  First of all, I have an immense desire for a cupcake...  Aren't they beautiful? Last Sunday, my sister had a birthday party and invited family and friends to celebrate.  The day was sunny and perfect.  The buffet food was mostly supplied by my sister and some family members and was healthy with lots of salads to choose from.  She also served soups with gluten free cornbread muffins. I was surprised at how much work goes into hosting a party.  I guess I forgot when I had the Wedding Luncheon two summers ago.  Memories fade quickly when you get older.  I mostly did dishes in the morning while we prepped in the kitchen and then lots more dishes after we emptied the rented hall and returned back to my sister's house. Dishes are my thing.  I love to do them, I guess.  My sister and I easily slip into each other's kitchens and have a rhythm that only sisters can have.  I know where most things are in her kitchen and she knows my kitchen system.

I was out of town over the weekend visiting my sister and my family.  Being the positive thinker that I am (ahem..) I brought both books along.  I did read but not very much.   Norwegian Wood is interesting and I feel like I've read this before.  So far the novel is captivating. Alexander Hamilton is nearly finished.  I enjoy reading this and I am definitely planning on more history book reading in 2017.  After a nice long breezy break reading some plot driven books.  Who knew I'd like to read history?  I hated history in high school with an intense passion.  We age, we grow as humans and our tastes change. I'm making steady progress on my gradient citron shawl .  I've added the above left over yarn since I ran out of gradient and want my shawl big.  Hopefully I like the way it looks and I'll keep going!! What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

This past Saturday I went to the Phipps Conservatory  in Pittsburgh with my family.  Both my sister and I carried around our "big" cameras and had lots of fun taking photos.  I'm thoroughly enjoying my new lens.   I was thrilled to see many other photographers toting their cameras and yes, I did peek at what camera they owned and their lenses.  I might have lens envy and some ideas for future Christmas presents. We had a fantastic time and went through the Orchid room twice!  My favorite though was the bonsai displays.  I would guess that working in a conservatory would be quite relaxing.  The atmosphere is gentle and soothing.  I love the water features and the sound of trickling, oh - they also played the cricket chirping through the speaker system.  My sister bought two little orchids in the gift store because she is fantastic at keeping them alive and blooming!  Not me...my talents are in wool.  I'm okay with that. Since Januar

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Hello! How was your weekend? I had a fabulous weekend celebrating my sister's 50th birthday. I'm still at her house and I have lots of photos to share on the good camera from the party and from a wonderful tour of the conservatory.   Here are a few photos from my cell phone.  Today I'm heading back home.  I'm a little tired and completely frazzled trying to blog from an iPad (not going so well).  How was your weekend?

can you see them?  Oh these January days are blissful.  I'm noticing the bits of daylight added each and every day, knowing soon that the after dinner walks are beckoning - can't wait. Yesterday, I was sidetracked by my aging computer.  I decided that the photos on my computer that are backed up to an external hard drive were not safe enough.  So I burned some photos onto CDs and then saved them onto a huge flash drive.  I feel good I've got three safe places.  Of course, there are some on the cloud but that doesn't feel secure enough for me.. Anyways, I love my new camera lens (50mm) and I see the world differently.  The creativity spark is most welcome when I walk around the yard.  Good old Frodo, he loves the walk as well.  We walk, we stop, I snap a photo and he looks at me wondering when we can keep on walking. I'm nearing an entire week of no company. Instead of focusing on my projects I've been cleaning and tidying my house.  I haven'

Both of my projects are growing and I'm pretty thrilled about that.  I love how my citron shawl  is showing off the gradient changes.  Now I have a crazy idea to add another yarn to make this a bit larger when I run out of the gradient.  Any ideas what color you would add? My anisos shawl that I talked about in a guest blog post yesterday is also a delight to knit.  I am past two charts which were the meaty parts of the pattern and now I'm blissfully knitting away on the body which is a mix of garter stitch and stockinette stitch.  I have to pay attention and not watch TV but I feel a bit more relaxed while working on it. My book!  Hey, did you see I started a new book?  I am reading, Norwegian Wood based on high recommendations from both my nephew and my son.  As you well may know, I'm still reading Alexander Hamilton .  One day I will be done.. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Frodo says "hi"  How was your weekend? Our son left on Saturday morning and I promptly cleaned the house.  Ah, it feels so good to be neat and tidy.  January is all about freshness for the brand new year. clean coffee table! I became quite creative in meal planning since I need to go to the grocery store (but didn't).  So I've been diving into the freezer for some forgotten meals to heat up quickly.  Of course there was curry! Yesterday I stayed home, read some, knitted some, listened to podcasts that I am three weeks behind! I've planned out this week what I'd love to accomplish.  In the afternoon, I met up with my friends for some much needed knitting time together. my aunt painted this bottle found on my dad's property :)  Today is th

my sister made the pants and shirt :) I know I'm one of the few who love winter.  Today, we have a dusting of snow that will not turn into rain.  Outside temperatures are chilly and wonderful.  This is what I daydream about during those hot humid days in late August and September.  My RA loves the cold weather and dislikes hot humid weather.  I'm lucky I live in four seasons and can appreciate each season! little tea light my aunt gave me for Christmas!! (I purchased the knit pottery at a festival)  My house is mostly put back together, Christmas decorations are packed away and all that remains is my son's "stuff" in the family room.  I think he is heading back to Penn State tomorrow.  My daughter is back on the west coast and I'm not sure when we will see each other again.  I know it will not be seven months worth or waiting. One of my Christmas gifts is the Fox kit from Posy gets Cozy .  I'm planning to start near the end of January and t

Good morning! My photo today is a bit deceiving... I threw in the Hamilton book but barely read two pages this week.  I'll blame the company that was in my house.  Having both my family here visiting and then my sister and her family visiting gobbled up all of my free time. The citron shawl has made great progress due to its ease in knitting.  This project can be executed while talking and multitasking on most of the rows.  I like that.  My sister and I sat in the front room knitting away (and talking). I'm participating in a yarn along with Girls in Sheep Clothing blog .  They chose Anisos shawl and while this photo above is pristine and beautiful and shows great progress, I stupidly dropped a stitch in a yarn over area and was unable to fix it last night. (I'll blame watching Doctor Who, Series Five with Amy Pond...)  So I ripped all of it out and started over. This knit is NOT for multitasking...Ha! Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams What are you knitti

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Happy New Year!  The beginning days of January feel fresh and new.  I love how I have a whole entire year to set goals and maybe achieve a few of them.  How was your weekend? My sister arrived on Friday and left on Sunday.  The weekend was a whirlwind of  activity.  We shopped a tiny bit (I bought nothing, I'm tired of buying!).  We had a lunch out and then we started with dinner preparations.  Overall, I had a fun weekend. I forget the work involved with house guests.  The making beds, washing laundry and dishwasher duty.  My daughter and son in law leave on Tuesday and my son leaves sometime at the end of the week.  What a wonderful long visit with everyone. My goals for 2017 are themed around health.  (I probably set this goal every year....)  I received some new coo