Pumpkin Sunrise

  Yesterday the air quality was horrible so we decided to have an indoor date. We first went to our favorite place for lunch for a quick bite then went to the Carnegie Museum of Art for the Joan Brown exhibit .  The paintings were fantastic to see in person! I felt very lucky to live near a city and to have a yearly membership to a group of museums that not only have a wonderful permanent collections but also have exhibits throughout the year that change.  Today the air has improved slightly but not enough for my daily walks to resume. I miss them. Frodo and I get out and about, to clean the cobwebs out of our minds. My daily walks are for physical and mental fitness. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great outdoor day.  I picked up a sweater that I started back in March and continually wonder if I have enough yarn (I doubt it) and wonder if I can creatively add another color (that is to be determined). I guess right now I am going to knit through the second skein of fiv...

  Isn't Holly just the sweetest? She's been sneaking into the 'Frodo' zones undetected. She has a swing in her step because she is successful. Frodo has got to know she is there and just doesn't care. If only they could talk to us. It's raining today and that makes it a wonderful day to read and knit. Yesterday we drove to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art for the morning to see their exhibit on Gate Crashers (self-made artists). The paintings were excellent and I learned about some interesting facts on the various artists showcased. The rest of the museum was just as informative and inspiring.  After a quick lunch at a local cafe we drove to the south part of Pittsburgh to return a purchased item no longer needed and we avoided 'highways' due to a major traffic jam. Let me tell you, I saw a lot of towns that I probably never have been to in person. It was fun! I hope the museum inspires me to dust off the paints and start exploring with technique...

  I have exciting news! I FOUND THE CANDLE REMOTE. This is me shouting from the rooftops and it was in the weirdest of places - the battery box. Why I placed it there is beyond my comprehension and just so you know, I've been in that box many times since moving but haven't looked at what was in there. We both were really excited because now we are officially unpacked.  My husband unpacked the garage and did another cardboard box recycling run. All of our spaces look put together now. Storage space remains tight in this older home but I'm so glad we did the major decluttering before the move because we would not be unpacked like we are now. My husband and I went on an outing to the south part of Pittsburgh to a new to him record store. I tried to be patient in there but ended up popping into the adjacent stationery store. After a yarn store, I do love to look at paper. We had lunch at a pizza shop then headed back home. The outing was fun but the high heat and humidity were...

Usually I write about how the month May reminds me of my grandmother and her garden.  I've written about her many times during this month and decided to expand my memories and write about other memories. I grew up going to Catholic schools and May was THE month when we all knew the school year was ending.  On warm days during high school,  the teachers would open the windows and I would struggle to focus on the lessons because my eyes would wonder to the windows and my mind would follow willingly to wishful thinking of being outdoors. Ordinarily I disliked gym class but in May we would play softball (outside!) and I would eagerly get into my gym uniform quickly so I could be outside as much as possible.  Every single class we attended, we would beg our teachers to have our class outside.  They nearly always said 'no' but I remember once a teacher said 'yes' much to our amazement. In Biology High School class we were allowed to walk the grounds loo...

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 h...

While my sister visited me over the past weekend, my husband was busy conducting a workshop with a colleague in San Francisco and brought me back two lovely gifts.  A shawl (can a knitter ever ever have too many?) and a handmade notebook.  He knows me well. My table is finished!  I love the newness of the surface and I hope that this refinish lasts us another 30 years like the first one.  As always, the table still has personal flaws that make it lovable and unique.  Now if I can only get used to the slightest whiff of polyurethane in the air.  This is even after a week drying. As I mentioned on Sunday, I ripped out my entire shawl on Saturday after finding a mistake near the beginning.  I confess I'm a perfectionist and the deed had to be done.  I dropped down a needle size and love the way the shawl is knitting back up. Oh and hey, a valuable lesson I learned from this shawl that I want to share with all of you:  look and cr...

Good morning! Thank you all for the lovely comments on my post yesterday :)  I appreciate all of you who take the time to visit this blog.  I am humbled by your loyal reading and commenting.  And yes, even those of you who are silent readers.  I used to be a silent reader for years. Did you know that I was the kid who never stopped talking? The sisters at my Catholic school used to be frustrated with me.  If only they would stop seating me alphabetically (W - last row last seat).  Everyone knows you put the talkers front and center in a classroom.  Make them work for that gabbing, jeez! Because of my love for talking to just about anyone who will listen, this blog space has been a creative outlet for me to express myself.  The best part is I don't have to leave the house :) Ginny wrote a beautiful post last night on new beginnings and life changing.  We all face changes don't we?  Sometimes we seek it and sometimes it seeks...