Pumpkin Sunrise

a blurry but beautiful photo of daisies, it was a windy day How was your weekend?  Mine was fantastic, I stayed home and more importantly I had nothing on the calendar.  I decided my house is the perfect vacation getaway because it has the greatest coffee maker in the world, a comfortable bed and all of my knitting is here.  Before the heatwave arrived today, I managed to squeeze in a daily walk and discovered the daisies are blooming!  Sadly, I cannot pick a few for my home because someone (cough, cough, cough) would just eat them.  I'm sure one day in my future I'll be able to pick them and have them in a vase, worst case scenario is that vase would be in a non-cat room. forgot to mention we were in Penn State on Wednesday :) I read a book in less than 24 hours, now the book was a short one,  but still, quite impressive for me.  The book is  Failing Up , by Leslie Odom, Jr.  I highly recommend reading it - he reflects on his path to success (he played the ori

This was the first week of my 'summer' vacation and I spent the week getting caught up on car maintenance and inspections.  While sitting and waiting for each car, I read my books and got lost in a story just like I did when I was a teenager.  I finished reading ' Chilbury Ladies Choir ' and it was entertaining.  I didn't care for the diary/letter format of telling the story in first person by many characters.  When I was talking to my son about it, I expressed how I was disappointed in the 'tidy' endings of everyone.  All happily ever after - which is nice but for me it's not the reality of life. Today I've only the gym and a quick run into the grocery store (fingers crossed it is as quick as I believe it will be).  Once I am home, I'll be knitting and reading and officially starting summer vacation! We plan to have a staycation weekend.  I'm already thinking up some meals to eat to enjoy outside at the patio set.  As the temp

My knitting news is the same projects on the needles as last week with some progress.  The True Colors shawl  is the project that I work on in the evenings while watching TV.  I'm close to the color switch (main color becomes the contrasting color).  I'll be sad when I'm done with the pattern.  The fun of adding colors and watching the gradients is fulfilling as a knitter. Of course I'm already thinking of another one, maybe to use up scraps....or maybe not. The clover leaf shawl  gains an inch or two per week.  I love having a lace weight pattern in the summer, in a project bag that is ready to go.  This is my babysitting knitting and my car knitting project. The skein of fingering weight wool from my daughter and son in law in the photo below continues to wonder what I will make of it.  I'm leaning towards a cowl for me but haven't quite settled on THE pattern.  What are you knitting or crafting these days? 

Our daughter and son in law were here over night for a dear family friend wedding.  Our daughters were friends through middle school and high school.  Once the kids grew up, we continued to be friends through out the years.  The wedding was my first outdoor wedding!  All week the news station called for rain and by a miracle, the weather was picture perfect.  peace! I ate, I danced, I celebrated and had a ton of fun.  I'm exhausted!  I must say it's more fun to attend a wedding than to plan a wedding :) another selfie gone awry My family left this afternoon and I'm doing all those pesky chores:  dishes and laundry! How was your weekend?

Now more than ever I find myself reflecting on the kindness of others.  I truly believe most people are good kind people.  I see kindness everyday when I go to the gym and strangers who are now acquaintances say 'hello' to be and I feel like I belong to a community.  Focusing on kindness leads to seeing more kindness in our life. As Blogger continues to have its hiccups on our blog sites, I see blog friends reaching out to blog friends to help or give tips.  Whenever someone posts about a difficult time in their life, fellow blog commenters rally and give encouraging words.  I witness this on many blogs and that is why I love the blogging platform over the fast world of Instagram. I want to have tunnel vision towards the nicety of human kind.  Our world would be a peaceful place if everyone would say something nice and hold off on the criticism.  To celebrate the best of humanity should be a universal goal. Right when I was about to announce that my home has b

I'm enchanted with the true colors shawl .  I find myself sitting down and knitting, getting lost in a sea of thoughts -- just one more row -- just one more color -- Everyone should have a knitting project that becomes an obsession!  I will be sad when this knit is finished. I have been thinking of casting on another one though... The clover leaf shawl is my pick up and go knitting project.  The bag is tiny and portable and fits in my handbag.  I have the pattern memorized and can quickly see where I am so I can knit away.  I love having a lace knitting project in the summer months, light and airy in my lap.  This one is a great knit that I'm enjoying. I'm currently reading The Chilbury Ladies' Choir and The Beautiful Mystery.  Both are great reads! Joining Ginny

How was your weekend?  I hope as fun as mine.  I stayed home!  Going away for a weekend like last weekend makes me love staying at home for a weekend.  I did not go anywhere yesterday.  I wound up the above yarn that was a gift from my daughter and son in law.  There is no business name on the tag, just "kettle dyed" Lancaster County Pa.  It's a superwash wool sock blend - ah, heavenly.  I'm not quite sure what I'll be knitting. For now I like to sit and look at it.  And so does Holly. In my studio room, I had to cover all the pretty baskets of yarn with a towel because   someone was nibbling like a little rat.  Grr.  I think I won that battle. Yesterday, I sketched a bit - still trying to stop the negative dialogue and focus on what I like and what I'm learning.  I also pulled out the watercolors and dabbled a bit.  Yikes, that was a hot mess of thinking I don't know what I'm doing!  However, I was once a beginner knitter as a child/t

Can you believe it's June?  Where does the time go?  During this month, my babysitting will end for the summer months.  Space will be made in the day in and day out schedules.  I'll still be at the gym three times a week but those two days of not babysitting will feel a bit decadent for kicking back and feel like I'm on a summer school vacation. Summer weather has arrived as well.  Heat and humidity seeped in while I wasn't looking and my hair is frizzing out whenever I'm outside.  As I was driving home yesterday, the plants and bushes on the roadside were billowing in greenness.  Seems like yesterday I was wishing for foliage. So far, we do not have any official summer vacation planned.  I consider the Cape Cod trip a tiny vacation and we do have to retrieve our son when his internship ends.  It's been years since we've been to our state parks.  When the children were little, we'd go and have a hike, explore the stream and have a picnic. I&#