Pumpkin Sunrise

Our daughter and son in law were here over night for a dear family friend wedding.  Our daughters were friends through middle school and high school.  Once the kids grew up, we continued to be friends through out the years.  The wedding was my first outdoor wedding!  All week the news station called for rain and by a miracle, the weather was picture perfect.  peace! I ate, I danced, I celebrated and had a ton of fun.  I'm exhausted!  I must say it's more fun to attend a wedding than to plan a wedding :) another selfie gone awry My family left this afternoon and I'm doing all those pesky chores:  dishes and laundry! How was your weekend?

Now more than ever I find myself reflecting on the kindness of others.  I truly believe most people are good kind people.  I see kindness everyday when I go to the gym and strangers who are now acquaintances say 'hello' to be and I feel like I belong to a community.  Focusing on kindness leads to seeing more kindness in our life. As Blogger continues to have its hiccups on our blog sites, I see blog friends reaching out to blog friends to help or give tips.  Whenever someone posts about a difficult time in their life, fellow blog commenters rally and give encouraging words.  I witness this on many blogs and that is why I love the blogging platform over the fast world of Instagram. I want to have tunnel vision towards the nicety of human kind.  Our world would be a peaceful place if everyone would say something nice and hold off on the criticism.  To celebrate the best of humanity should be a universal goal. Right when I was about to a...

I'm enchanted with the true colors shawl .  I find myself sitting down and knitting, getting lost in a sea of thoughts -- just one more row -- just one more color -- Everyone should have a knitting project that becomes an obsession!  I will be sad when this knit is finished. I have been thinking of casting on another one though... The clover leaf shawl is my pick up and go knitting project.  The bag is tiny and portable and fits in my handbag.  I have the pattern memorized and can quickly see where I am so I can knit away.  I love having a lace knitting project in the summer months, light and airy in my lap.  This one is a great knit that I'm enjoying. I'm currently reading The Chilbury Ladies' Choir and The Beautiful Mystery.  Both are great reads! Joining Ginny

How was your weekend?  I hope as fun as mine.  I stayed home!  Going away for a weekend like last weekend makes me love staying at home for a weekend.  I did not go anywhere yesterday.  I wound up the above yarn that was a gift from my daughter and son in law.  There is no business name on the tag, just "kettle dyed" Lancaster County Pa.  It's a superwash wool sock blend - ah, heavenly.  I'm not quite sure what I'll be knitting. For now I like to sit and look at it.  And so does Holly. In my studio room, I had to cover all the pretty baskets of yarn with a towel because   someone was nibbling like a little rat.  Grr.  I think I won that battle. Yesterday, I sketched a bit - still trying to stop the negative dialogue and focus on what I like and what I'm learning.  I also pulled out the watercolors and dabbled a bit.  Yikes, that was a hot mess of thinking I don't know what I'm doing!  Howeve...

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...

Sometimes I wish all of you could see my finished knits in person.  The softness and the shimmery effect of a wool silk blend is wonderful and cannot be captured with photos.  Oh well, I hope you can conjure up some wonderful images of what I am showing you. I finished my shawl before the busy weekend and blocked it once I returned home.  I have my priorities. Andrea of This Knitted Life  has embarked on indie dyeing some lovely yarns for her new business.  She knows what she is doing!  First of all, the quality of the single ply wool silk blend is spectacular.  The yarn is a delight to knit with. When I soaked the wool, I didn't see a hint of purple in the water.  The rinsing was minimal since I used a wool wash to soak the shawl.  Again, I love when a wool blend behaves exactly as I expect and makes the finishing a breeze. Thank you, Andrea :) I used a pattern by Helen Stewart, Amulet Shawl .  I love her design...

My weekend is still going strong - I am recovering from a whirlwind speedy visit to London Ontario to see my in laws.  Lucky for us our daughter and son in law came with us.  We left on Saturday morning, trying to make good driving time so we could stop and show our son in law Niagara Falls (Canada side).  I remembered to take photos! There were a ton of people there, well there is always a crowd.  The first time I saw the Falls was on our Honeymoon almost 31 years ago.  Time flies and all that good stuff. We walked around, stretched out our achy car legs.  Then proceeded to London Ontario.  I did not take photos there.  Sorry!  Sunday was stuffed with driving around doing all the things we would ordinarily do over a three day stay crammed into a one day stay. Today we drove back home and I'm doing the laundry.  We had a great time but traveling tires me out so I'll be singing the praises of being home sweet home once...