Pumpkin Sunrise

  Good morning! How are you all doing on this fine Monday? Finally after weeks of no rain, we are in a rainy season. Yesterday we took a long walk in the drizzle while taking in the signs of fall. We were a little wet but it was worth the fresh air. We visited his mother earlier this week and yet again, I have no photos to share. However, once I was home I was back at the documenting my life. Whenever we are visiting people we eat out a lot and so when I get home I need to get back to healthy eating and living. There is nothing like a fresh salad except a fresh salad made by someone else. Also when we got back home I started to feed the birds with the 'winter' feeder. Word was spread within the hour and I had my birds back. I love them so. Also my hydrangea bush is heading into the fall season beautifully. Saturday morning I ran a bunch of errands and did some returning at a few stores. Once I was home, I wrote down a quote I stumbled across, then did some knitting. I'm wor...

  Good morning! How are you? I am doing well, I continue to ignore the summer weather. It hasn't been too hot this week. I had to buy some more items to repel the sun: sun block, sun hat, and another fishing shirt that blocks the sun. Even though I cover myself head to toe, the sun still finds a way to get me! (sun exposure activates my auto-immune disease). I am determined to win the battle. I saw a fallen leaf on the ground as well as an acorn. Delightful!! Promises from Mother Nature! Above is the sock I forgot to photo for the knitting post. I'm doing four rows of stockinette, a purl row, four rows of 1x1 ribbing, another purl row then repeat all of it. I need to do something to keep the knitting engaging.  I've been thinking about my priorities and how I am sometimes skipping out what is important to me on the days that I get a little busy. I started changing my exercising routines and incorporating more healthy meals as well as making sure I get my much needed down ti...

  How are you?  I am doing well and so is dear Frodo. Everyday I believe he is back to himself and then the next day I see more improvements. He's on two antibiotics until the end of the weekend so I imagine coming Monday he will be the fully restored and rebooted Frodo.  Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers, they meant a lot to me and they worked! Every day is a bonus day with him, and I take each day as it comes. He will be 15 years old in October. Yesterday we went out for lunch at our favorite outdoor restaurant near a pond in a local park. The ambience is fantastic. Over the fence by our table, we watched a bird sitting on a nest built amongst the reeds. The best kind of lunch entertainment. I have slowly eased back into ordinary life. I knit a bit, read a bit and journal a bit. It's a wonderful existence. I am enjoying my non-credit classes and as you know, I am once again in Tai Chi, if you ever have a chance to take a class, I highly recommend it.  B...

  Hello! How are you all doing? If you celebrate Easter, are you ready? My sister is hosting this year and it will be a very small gathering. This week has been relaunching my 'regular' life. After playing catchup with all that was left undone before we went to Indiana, I've been slowly re-entering my daily habits. My husband is still dealing with a nasty asthma flare up. These spring allergies are crazy! During an intense heat up in one day, we quickly assembled our back patio only to welcome back cold cold weather. Yesterday it rained all day and I drove up to my dad's house for a little visit. I haven't seen him since he was in the hospital. Frodo strained a shoulder muscle before our trip and is good as new after his kennel stay. He is back at 'patrolling' the neighborhood. (patrolling is code for barking). He loves when the kids get off the bus! I've been seeking inspiration in my life. Whenever I think of a meal that we both like and I haven't ...

  Yesterday my husband and I went to the Phipps Conservatory with my sister and brother in law. We are trying to visit every season. We had such a good time, the butterfly exhibit was open (yay).  This time around my favorite spaces were the children's garden and the Japanese garden, both outdoors.  We came home with some new ideas for what to do with our backyard and the abandoned in-ground filled with dirt pool which is the ultimate gardening challenge for us.  My weekend was calm, I did a lot of knitting and reading and avoiding the computer, tablet and phone. I dug deep into art journaling and watercoloring as well. I am perfecting my skills at frying tofu and the photo below is my first attempt. The texture turned out fantastically. Next up is seasoning the tofu without salt (such a sad state of affairs because I love salt.) How was your weekend?

  Good news! Our grandson, Blaise, was born earlier this week! All is well and good. We hope to see him in person within a month and fingers are crossed that the weather cooperates. Now I have to stitch his name and birthdate into that space and get this little sampler framed. We are beyond excited to be first time grandparents. He will be called Grandad and I will be called Grammy. I had a Gram who was formative in my life and so I hope to carry on her legacy. I continue to read a chapter a week out of Code Girls which is very interesting but dense information. I'm excited if I finish a chapter each day!  I decided to paint my Valentine cards and I enjoyed this process immensely. My watercoloring habits have slipped away with pursuing other creative pursuits so it was nice to sit at the kitchen table and be creative in a different way. My dinner below was an approximation of bibimbap. I was missing a few ingredients so I improvised to the best of my ability. All I can say is ...

  How was your weekend? I helped my sister at her craft show both Friday and Saturday and in return for my help I received the above beautiful project bag! (she does not have a website currently but maybe someday she will). I started a sweater for her for her January birthday and you can see a tiny peek in the bag. I haven't made a Ravelry project page yet for the sweater. The craft show was outdoors and I was cold down to my spine, it was fantastic! I haven't been that cold in such a long time. I'd rather be cold than hot, but you already know that. Being in the fall elements I had a chance to wear my wool sweaters, hats and mitts. A knitter's dream come true. Also many family members that I haven't seen in years popped in and it was a fun family reunion of sorts for me. Over the weekend, I ventured into making a gluten free pie crust (sister has celiac disease) and after scouring the internet I chose this recipe . My only substitutions for the crust were to use ve...

  Good morning, how are you doing?  Today is looking to be a sunny day and that is a welcomed sight since it was overcast and blah for two days not to mention rainy as well. As you can see by my photos we still have snow on the ground but I'm confident that pile will disappear over the weekend.  I've been knitting only at nights now instead of during pockets of my day. Can't say why but I've been trying to read more in the afternoons and not multitask while I do my reading. My other reason to read more during the day is because when I read at night I fall asleep so quickly! I don't think I read more than a page or two and I have trouble remembering what I've read. I've decided to decrease the sugar I put in my coffee (again) and decrease the amount of salt I add to my food (again). Yesterday was a slow going morning drinking sad coffee. Today the same coffee tasted happier. About a year or so ago I worked at decreasing and eliminating the sugar I put in my g...

lamby cake! Happy Easter!  How was your weekend?  My weekend:  -family gathering - lots of good food -  a sister outing - more desserts than I could eat - Easter Vigil -  lovely weather - seeing all the kids - car rides - little to no knitting because of the family gathering - How was your weekend? sisters!!!

How was your weekend?  My weekend was stuffed with walking!  We went to NYC for the day on a bus.  I'm not sure I'd do a bus again, but hey we got to NYC and back so there is that! We arrived in the city near Macy's Department store around 9:30 am and left around 8 pm.  We focused on walking the High Line, Chelsea and Greenwich Village.  It was bitterly windy and cold for most of the morning but that didn't stop us.  We had great fun until around 5 pm when our bodies betrayed us from all the walking.  We walked 10 miles yesterday (crazy!!).  I'm sore from head to toe today.  Sadly, whenever I over do it my joints go wacko---it's a RA thing.  After today's rest, I will be back to normal. I've linked websites the best I could to what we saw or did with the photos below.   highline Eduardo Kobra mural Dorothy Iannone mural Another Eduardo Kobra mural chelsea market Osgemeos hip hop mural ...

my son washi taped his computer top Hello!  How was your first week of 2018?  I've been running around every day this week and sometimes I wish I was at home with miles of time to knit.  However, the gym three times a week is so good for me.  I haven't felt this great in a long time and I'm motivated to keep going back again and again.  What a wonderful state of mind. linens my mom made that have a tiny bit of red stain that I've been getting out  I've been reading so many blogs that have a word for the year.  I'm not a one word person, never was.  You'd think I would be since I like writing and talking non stop.  However, settling on one ONE theme word is hard for me.   I have enjoyed reading everyone's words and their meaning.  I have a few resolutions but they are completely doable so it doesn't feel like an overhaul of my life.  I plan to cultivate a better way to practice mindfulness and imagining the be...