Pumpkin Sunrise

  Good morning! How was your weekend? You know you are officially moved in when you hang your cuckoo clock. My husband's brother and sister in law gave us this clock from their time in Germany in the 1980's and it still runs perfectly. I love it! However, I'm afraid of Holly the cat being interested in it as well, so at night I stop the tick tocking, my husband thinks I'm ridiculous. Honestly, I'm thinking like a cat. After months of thinking about finding new salad dressings to make at home I ventured with a new tahini recipe, it was 'okay'. The garlic was a bit much and it was too thick to pour. So I'll be going back to the drawing board for some new ideas. I spent the majority of my weekend --- KNITTING. I started two new projects while still getting so close to the end of that never-ending shawl. I'm positive I'm on the last repeat but I've thought that many repeats ago. I snapped this photo of Holly looking at the world below from our be

  Finally, it is October! Are you celebrating? Are you excited? All through end of July, all of August and half way through September I've been pining for October. This is the secret sauce month of Autumn and we are finally finally here. In my planner I have set up some monthly pages, one of which is 'October Ideas'. This page will be the catchall brain dump of what I'd like to do, or investigate during the month. Usually I write each week what I want to do but I have to carry it over to another week (sometimes repeatedly). Maybe a monthly catchall place will work for me. Near where I live there are plenty of farmer's markets and there is one in particular that is a compound of buildings. They have a few animals for children to say 'hi' to and chat with, you can feed them some food as well. I snapped the photo of this sweet pig (hog??). I'll be missing the big fair that was close to my old home. I find it weird that the last time at the big fair I didn&#

  I have been religiously working on this project and only this project for a few days now. I have high hopes of finishing this by next week. I need space in my knitting bag for some serious holiday knitting. I perused my knitted gift box and there aren't many gifts to give that I've knit throughout the year - I'll blame the move. I'm happy to report that my knitting mojo is back and I'm thoroughly enjoying sitting down with wool in my hands and on my lap. I'm sure the change in the weather has helped me along the way. What are you working on this week?

  I love how Holly stuffs herself in this small cat perch. How are you? How was your weekend? I had a relaxing and restorative weekend. I did a lot of knitting on the never ending shawl  but with every single row I am one more row completed. I am thoroughly enjoying watching Autumn shove its way in while the remnants of Summer continue to cling desperately but unsuccessfully. My husband and I did a lot of walking and chose a different neighborhood route. I do appreciate all of my wooded secluded walks in my old town. It's been an adjustment living in a suburb with a lot of traffic. Twice a week we drive to a local park to walk where the traffic is scant, that is lovely. We are here almost three months and I am finally feeling like myself. It takes me a long time to adjust to change. Sunday I did all those pesky household chores and finished them in lightning speed so I could read my book and later do some more knitting. Dare I say my knitting mojo is back? I'd like to think so!

  I've been reading a lot this week. I started 10% Happier by Dan Harris and it is really good. He writes about his personal journal into mindfulness and meditation, I've been captivated and squeezing in reading here and there during my day to gobble up the book. I highly recommend! I've been also reading a chapter a day/or every other day of Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn (revised edition), also a good book but jammed packed with lots of science and data so the reading is slow going - almost like a textbook but worth the read. The Madness of the Crowds by Louise Penny became available on my e-library loan request so I've set aside all the other novels to read this one in 21 days. Nothing like a deadline to make you rejigger your reading priorities. I love her writing and have read all of her books. I convinced myself that I did NOT need a Hobonichi Weeks planner until March 2022, then broke down and ordered the January start Hobonichi Weeks planner for 2022.

Good morning! I finished the baby sweater ! Somehow finishing a project and sewing the buttons on feels like such an accomplishment since we moved. I continually feel like I'm not getting much knitting done and then boom I have a lovely sweater off the needles for a dear friend's daughter who is expecting at the end of December. The yarn is from the baby blanket stash that I over bought. The pattern is my tried and true Elizabeth Zimmermann two needle baby sweater . You know very well that I'll be casting on another baby sweater for the new grandbaby-to-be shortly. What are you working on?

  Our daughter and son in law came for a weekend visit and we had a great time. Boy was it busy! We drove to the south of Pittsburgh to go to an art store and a book/greeting card store on Saturday afternoon. Then we drove all the way back up north to another town to toodle about - that's were they grabbed some coffee and croissants (I had iced green tea). In the evening we had my sister, brother in law and aunt over for a family dinner. I keep forgetting how much work is involved with hosting - and navigating the small kitchen, but I was successful at both. The key is to keep cleaning as you go. Yesterday was saying goodbye to them and putting the house back together again. I was thrilled to finish all the laundry by dinner time and the best part is we have tons of leftovers so I did not have to cook. Thanks for all the comments about how you drink your tea/coffee and your morning habits. I have done the 'tea in the morning' for about four days and I'm going back to co