Pumpkin Sunrise

Do you see that cupcake on the right?  Ah!!  It was vegan and it was delicious -seriously delicious.  We drove down to Ephrata Pa and had a lovely lunch at Scratch Bakes , not only was my egg bagel sandwich great, but the mood in the eating area was perfect.  The music was mild and unassuming.  (frequently it seems that restaurants want to blare the music).   After lunch, we met up with our daughter and son in law to tour the Historic Cloister . I enjoyed the tour but wished we could have had a guided one but the times were not convenient to our limited schedule.  Once we finished up in the museum store, we drove a hop over to Lititz, Pa .  I was impressed!  Lots of little shops to meander through, a few coffee shops to sit for a second to relax.  Unbeknownst to me, a yarn shop was there.  Our kids have been Lititz a few times and raved about it's quaintness.  I chose not to research for yarn stores, I was u...

I'm in disbelief that another week has flown by.  Where does the time go?  I miss those days as a child and a day of boredom lasted forever.  I would agonize over how slow time went.  Now I'm stunned that lunchtime arrives briefly after what seems minutes from breakfast.  I guess when you follow a schedule that happens.  Time is fleeting, time marches on whether I'm busy or not, I want to savor the moments as they come.  I've been loving the temperate weather we've been having this week.  A little rainy, a little bit cooler and a whole lot of fall vistas where ever I look.  Finally the season of beauty! My husband has resumed playing his guitars after a long hiatus.  I usually go up to our bedroom to read with Frodo in tow.  Holly stays downstairs (probably relishing a dog free zone) with my husband.  I lay in bed reading and here faint guitar playing.  It's nice.   Everyone should have a hobby...

The needles have been flying this week.  In fact, I finished yet another cowl.  I'm managing a cowl a week which is incredible.  I remember those days when I could not knit for five minutes and my back would be spasming causing me to be in the depths of frustration and depression.  I am loving this pain free knitting spree!  The gratitudes are endless. Anyways here is the teal cowl project page .  My shawl is coming along, I'm getting close to another increase row where the stitches nearly double.  I'm amused that I only noticed the subtle color change when I looked at this photo.  I'm enjoying this knit and it's my 'thinking knit'.  As opposed to auto pilot knitting, which are the cowls.  I've got to have a nice balance of both in my knitting arsenal.  How about you? Of course, I cast on yet another cowl, this time in burnt orange.  And if you are wondering, I am not tired of the cowl knitting.  I'm ...

glorious sunrise!  How was your weekend?  I hope pretty good, mine was wonderful.  First off, the weather has cooled off (finally).  I wore a jacket yesterday and today.  Autumn is trying its best to arrive, I welcome it!  The kids were here this weekend.  Our son arrived Friday night and we had a lovely meal together and for dessert apple pie.  buzz buzz  Saturday morning we took Frodo for a walk since the weather was cool.  The leaves are dropping and the quietness of the woods soothed me.  Our daughter and son in law arrived Saturday afternoon and shortly after their arrival we went to the local fair.  We took in the sights and sounds.  We ate fair food which sadly made me feel unwell last night.  I told you the older I get the less I can tolerate.  sheep!  baa baa Everyone left in stages today and my house is mostly put back together again.  I'm currently knitting my t...

Life is slowly returning to normal around here.  Well, a new normal around here.  After a flurry of high self imposed stress from worrying and my father in law passing away, I'm back to plain old normal days.  My gratitude journal is a crazy mix of thankfulness.  I'm all over the place with being grateful for good health, having electricity, the working AC and my routine in the mornings of utter silence while I sip my coffee as I plan the day. My longer commute to work twice a week has been a delight.  I listen to a podcast while driving and the time flies by.  I am still adjusting to working 5-7 hours a day twice a week.  The first three hours are good, but as we approach the lunch time hour - EEP - the terrible two-ness rears it's ugly head.  The poor Toddler Girl is feeling all the feels. I'm trying to be a step ahead, averting a tantrum, being savvy and sly.  I take pride that I can do this until there's a tantrum over som...

I'll confess that I love that I can knit as much as I want without a back spasm.  I'm taking advantageous of this blessing and knitting all the knits while also taking responsible breaks to stretch and rest.  I don't want to be too crazy. Okay, let's talk knitting!  The above photo is a new knit, and yes, another purl ridge scarf  by Stephen West.  This is the third cowl for the holiday season and I have the pattern memorized so it's easy breezy happy knitting. Because of all the easy breezy knitting, I started a shawl, Sprite's Fen Shawl , by Helen Stewart.  I highly recommend her shawls if you are beginning to start some lace knitting and are afraid of charts (but you should NOT be afraid of charts).  She writes her instructions, line by line, with a stitch tally at the end of each row.  Also she gives you a percentage done along the way.  I am between 5 and 10% done...it's a long knit! Here is a photo of the first cowl ...

Holly!! When the weekend started on Friday, I was excited for a 'boring' weekend.  I thrive when nothing happens and after the past three weeks, well, it was necessary.  Guess what?  Friday night I was hot, so much so that I went downstairs to check the thermostat and found out quickly that the AC compressor wasn't working.  The air blowing was not cold air.  Ugh! It's not a big deal but for me it was a big deal.  We have a fabulous company that helps us out when the furnace or AC goes wacko.  I called Saturday  morning and was thrilled that they sent a person out and my AC was fixed by 11 a.m.  What service!  Our heat pump system is 16 years old and maybe we need to replace it.  My husband and I would rather replace it on our terms than on the whim of Murphy's Law.  You and I both know that my system will die during a heat wave or a cold snap.  Saturday night we attended Mass and picked up the pizza....

Hello!  Goodness was this week a busy  week.  I'm trying to get used to my seven hour babysitting days.  I work Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  In a few weeks the hours might be less, fingers crossed.  The Toddler is amusing, we play 'muddy puddles' which is a Peppa Pig themed story of jumping in muddy puddles.  We just have shallow un-muddy puddles but they are coined 'muddy puddles' and she delights in repeating it over and over while running from one to the other. Her dad asked her why her shoes were wet.  She said "Miss Karen told me to run in muddy puddles".  Um....no....Peppa was the one with the original idea, I just thought it was a fun idea. I delight in her happiness in the simplest of things. golden retriever at work who LOVES me So my anxiety is resolved and now I'm ready to give you the story:  Three weeks ago, I was called back for another mammogram and after that magnified mammogram they found micro calcifications...