Pumpkin Sunrise

  Hello! How are you? How has your week been? I've been seeing fall leaves and I'm rejoicing in seeing the signs of fall. You and I both know that the falling leaves are from a lack of rain, but I don't care - It's so exciting to see them and I'm going with the eagerness of what is coming.  I hope you will join me.  This past week I've been thinking about gratitude in everything I can do. I walk with Frodo, I eat some great salads, I'm enjoying my knitting etc. Having a stance of gratefulness makes for a most wonderful day. I have a gratitude notebook where I write down what I am grateful for and why. This morning's entry was all about being grateful for hearing the local high school band practicing outside in the distance from my back yard. Both of my kids were in band and I spent endless hours shuffling them to and from the football field for practice in the summer. I am so lucky to live here and hear them practice. What are you grateful for today?

  Good morning! How are you on this first day of March? March!, can you believe it? Time just fly by sometimes and sometimes it moves at a snail's pace. I love winter but I have to confess, I'm excited about spring jacket wearing weather.  With a new season so close to arriving, I'm thinking of goals. Personal goals, menu planning goals and what I want to focus on.  Whenever the summer schedule is released at school, I might do more exercise classes, maybe. I enjoy Tai Chi so much, maybe I would like the others and the only way to know is to try one out. What I choose depends on what class it is and when it is offered. I try to bundle my classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I like Thursdays and Fridays free for my regular life and other commitments. My knitting goals are to not have knitting goals. I am thoroughly enjoying my free and easy knitting time. Below is a shawl I started early in January. After a month long break from it, I have returned to leisurely kn...

  The Happy List: - blue skies - cloudy skies - early morning walks with Frodo - the quietness of the mornings - the no plan plan (doing nothing?) - reading lots - sketching some -inspiration from others - reorganizing art supplies - big salads - lemon poppyseed dressing - green goddess dressing - romaine lettuce - radishes - back patio dining - sour dough bread  - endless reading and gobbling up knowledge - heavy eyes while reading (the best doze ever) - steady stitching on a sampler - phone chats with kids - lunch out with my husband - tv watching at night - daily journaling  What would make your happy list?

  This week I've been working on 'being present' in what I do. When I'm on a walk with Frodo I notice what I see, hear and feel. The wind, the neighborhood dogs barking to say 'hello' to Frodo, the birds singing and feeling my cold hands and face while Mother Nature dips into wintry weather (I am not complaining!).  I've noticed that mornings are favorite times to notice the here and now.  I am a part-time dabbler in the 'what if' scenario thought process. "What if this happens?"  "What if that happens?" These thoughts are not being present. And so I work hard at my mindfulness techniques, a constant work in progress.  Guess what is NOT a constant work in progress...I finished that blanket! Oh boy what a labor of love. I hope to have some photos of the blanket for you next week. I'm excited that I can now do some casting on of short term projects while I mull about what long term project I want to do in the future (not a blank...

  Hello! How are you doing?  This past week I've been pondering about a mindfulness prompt in a book I'm reading throughout the year, A Year of Living Mindfully by Anna Black. It's a really nice book and I've enjoyed the prompts throughout this year. Anyways the prompt this week was to consider what you believe to be nourishing or draining. I've thought about this all week long. My obvious nourishing events are knitting and reading. But over the course of the week I've added some surprising concepts to the nourishing list and challenged my draining list. I had the opportunity to help my cousin at her house with her preparing for company this past week. I found helping her nourishing to me, an added bonus was making her very happy. I also initially considered walking 150 minutes draining because of the amount of time it takes to get that done and I'm not doing other 'things' but then I changed my mind because I am nourishing my physical health which i...

  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....

  Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen before dawn writing this post. I've been reading many books at the same time about mindfulness and taking notes. My sister and I are reading together Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Since October, I've been reading and learning about being mindful in my everyday movements and meditating daily. I'm learning I have a lot to learn.  My husband and I were discussing that this new house does not feel like home ... yet. We feel like we are on an extended vacation. He thinks it's because we eat lunch on the patio daily weather permitting and that's something we would do on vacation. I think it's like a condo rental with all of my 'stuff' in it. When I go to cook it's weird trying to remember where everything is, just like vacation. Yesterday the electrician was here updating the original electrical panel (eep!) and the electricity was turned off for five hours. That then felt like we were at camp. We are...

  Hello! How have you been? How are your days as we approach the shortest day of the year? I'm still in shock that the winter solstice is so close. It seems like yesterday it was the middle of July and I was yearning for cold and bemoaning the hot and humid weather.  I've been keeping busy at home doing all the crafting, if that's possible. As you can see I'm making steady progress on my sweater . I might be half way through the yoke charting - I also want the color work to never end because I love seeing the pattern emerging.  I don't know how Santa knows, but he's giving me more yarn for more color work sweaters. Santa is a clever man. The deer started huddling in the yard the past week or so. I was lucky to get a photo before they scattered. We has some snow earlier this week much to my surprise. I don't think it was forecasted but then I wasn't paying attention to the weather news.  I've made a conscious effort to sketch and paint daily since the...