I finished Romi’s Mystery Shawl and I love it!! It is exactly what I wanted – it is lightweight and perfect for “indoor AC deep freezes” Haha. It is one color, and knit from some centuries old Knit Picks Shadow Lace yarn from my stash. I could not be happier and I loved every step of this shawl from the brilliant center start to the superbly stretchy (but not sloppy) bind off. Now I am wondering what might be my next Romi knit!! I have been eyeing Miss Bab’s new yarn and contemplating…
I think I finally found solace in my reading because my reads this week were so good! I filled 3 more bingo squares, but still no bingo’s… My squares this week: Comfort Read = Tartine Bread (because homemade bread is the ultimate comfort food, amirite?), Originally published in the 19th Century = Leaves of Grass, and Borrowed = Shadow Pass. I am on the wait list for the third book in the Inspector Pekkala series and eager to get it! (and next week, I get even more creative with my square and book pairing, haha)
Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What does one do when you are stuck in the Great Stay at Home Pandemic of 2020… why you try to grow a Sourdough Starter! (Key word…**try**).
This book came highly recommended by a friend, and so I got it and began reading. This is truly user friendly. It explains clearly what to do to get your starter going, how to maintain your starter, and then how to bake bread (and dozens of other things) using your starter. I have several Peter Reinhart baking books, but they seem complicated where as this book is truly streamlined and tested! (With test bakers that were not all bakers!!) If your goal is to bake sourdough bread, look no further! Get this book and get going!
I had “read” this in high school and wrote a paper on When Lilac’s Last in the Dooryard Bloomed. Or should I say, I wrote a paper with the help of my maternal grandfather. The Lincoln poem was one he had memorized. When I read this a lifetime ago, I did not get it at all. But, now…
Whitman takes your hand and eases you into his world. I wonder what he would think of what this world has become. Through his eyes, I see new possibilities and with balanced longing for what was, and hope for what might be – I carry his words with me:
“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere – on water and land.”
I highly recommend you take the journey.
Shadow Pass by Sam Eastland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Book Two of the Inspector Pekkala series did not disappoint. More character development happened in a very good way. More of Pekkala’s past was revealed and the start of seeing that Pekkala is not entirely enamored of Stalin’s Russia.
The writing is very good and I will continue with this series!
That is all I have for today (and this week!) What is making you happy in your making or reading this week? Please share!!
And if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and I will see you back here next Wednesday!
I would love to share a post with all the exciting “Motherly” things I did this weekend, but well… on weekend nine (ten?) of Stay At Home… not much was different. We had snow/rain on Saturday and it was not warm enough to be outdoors on Sunday.
I did have calls with my kids… that was nice, but it would have been so much nicer to physically *be with them* (and honestly, there were tears all around)
Hilariously, PA is “opening Allegheny County” this Friday. However, without mass testing and contact tracing, I am not going to be running out to “re-enter” whatever used to be normal life.
However, I do have a couple of macro photos to share. Despite this miserable freaking weather, my chives have started to bloom! I love these little purple pompoms! They are one of my favorite things of spring!
That is all I have for today, I will be back on Wednesday for some Unraveling to share with you all. (And, for the next couple of weeks, it will only be Wednesday posts. I am taking a bit of a “blog vacation” but!! Wednesday’s will remain “vacation free days!”)
I hope you all had moments this weekend that brought you joy, see you all back here on Wednesday!
This week, oh boy. It was so hard. So damned hard. And so full of just horrific news… each day seemed to be trying to outdo the day before. I struggled this week to find a single thing for my gratitude list, much less a list of them. But here we are at another Friday and I will try and share some things that were, for me, beacons of hope in a very dark week.
Tiny Treasures:
Sometimes all you need is a letter to brighten you day. This week there were some incredible letters that filled me with hope. First up, Emerson – a letter writing devotee. (it’s a long thread, but a very worthy read!)
Sometimes, just one letter is all it takes to make a difference. Dennis Ruhnke wrote a letter with a huge impact.
‘My life is forever changed’ — The man who sent his family’s last N95 mask to New York just got an honorary degree from Kansas State pic.twitter.com/Aq3f6HFsZt
This week I am thankful that I live in the world with Emerson and Dennis (okay, and Kansas State as well!!)
Gather near and listen!
Something on my bucket list was to be in the gallery of the Supreme Court. This is one of those “gosh, I wish I could do that” things that my realistic mind knew would never happen. Enter the coronavirus, and with it the LIVE STREAMING of the Supreme Court! In my wildest dreams, I never imagined being able to hear Justice Ginsburg arguing for women’s rights LIVE, from her hospital bed. Yes, that is right – if you had doubts about her superwoman powers, doubt no longer! She might be small, but she is fiercely mighty! (Here is the LIVE STREAM link and here is the archived audio from Wednesday’s argument of Little Sisters of the Pour Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania)
Inspired Singing:
I don’t know about you, but when I am having a blue day – some music (that I can sing along with) helps. One thing I have loved is watching artists perfect together apart. This especially made me smile. And, a new word… CONFINATION.
Friday Birthdays Are The Best:
Finally, today is my Sam’s 28th birthday. He, thankfully, must work today. (that was not a guarantee earlier this week when he learned that his work was laying off 10% of the workforce) A solo birthday at home might not be the best thing ever – I sent off a care package and we will FaceTime later today where we will be together, apart.
That is all I have for this week; I hope your Friday is full of some shining moments that make your weekend glow with happiness! See you all back here next week!
Some of my making this week included making some modifications to my Traveler’s Journal. Normally, I have 3 inserts, and my set up works very well! I like having multiple journals in one convenient package. However, with the addition of a couple of new journals and I need a modification to my existing system. So, this week I gathered the tools necessary to make some simple changes. One new elastic later and I now have a modified cover to contain my journals.
I am cruising on my Lunar Fade Mystery shawl, this week’s clue included starting a new piece and I am really excited to see where this goes!
For as quickly as the Lunar Fade is moving, I am in the slow lane on Romi’s shawl – the final clue is out, but I am still working on the previous clue – taking my time and hopefully avoiding errors. And, slowing down has paid off, no ripping back happened this week!
April reading was incredibly good! I ended the month with 12 books finished (AND I could fit them all onto my Bingo Card!) And even though I don’t have any bingos yet, it is looking very good! This week’s finishes include:
A collection of twenty-one incredible voices.
A gathering of some incredible poems.
Poems that made me gasp at their beauty, cry with their poignant words…
These words from Natalie Diaz American Arithmetic will stay with me for a very long time:
Native Americans make up less than one percent of the population in America. 0.8 percent of 100 percent. O, mine efficient country…I am begging: Let me be lonely but not invisible.
“It is not those who inflict the most but those who suffer the most who will conquer.”
I foolishly thought I knew something about the conflict in Northern Ireland, this story quickly disavowed me of those thoughts!
This story takes you though the time known as The Troubles and the disappearing of Jean McConville. It was, at times, a very uncomfortable listen. Yet, at the same time, I could not stop. At the end of this book, I still have questions – but I think that is the reality for many – especially those living in Northern Ireland.
“We beat them with stones at first, and they had guns. Our people had to go and get guns. Wouldn’t they have been right stupid people to stand there? Our people got shotguns at first and then got better weapons. And then the British, who were supposed to protect us, came in and raided our homes. What way could you fight? So you went down and you blew them up.”
These words jumped out at me and I could not stop thinking about the truth in them… truth for so many conflicts in so many places… and the importance stopping the violence and listening to each other. I highly recommend this powerful book!
That’s all I have this week, what about you? What are you making this week?
If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
A gush of bird-song, a patter of dew, A cloud, and a rainbow’s warning, Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue –– An April day in the morning. — Harriet Prescott Spofford
These words from Harriet Prescott Spofford sum up my April perfectly. We had lots of rain, some incredible blue skies, and a cacophony of bird-song this month. It also felt like it moved by at warp speed – which I hope means that I am getting used to staying home because I think May will be more of the same.
The Best Part of the Month:
Although there is no photo documenting it, some of my best moments of the month were spent journaling. I started a Pandemic Journal this month and my morning writing helps me to “dump” my worries on a page so I don’t have to carry them with me during the day.
Something New:
A new 100 Day Project began for me on the seventh and I am trying my hand at crochet. While the motions of crochet are not entirely comfortable, I am enjoying the result! Each circle feels a little bit better than the one before, and I have memorized the pattern, which is helping tremendously! Maybe in a few more weeks I will feel confident enough to try Genevieve’s Poncho again, that is after I watch some more videos on how to change colors efficiently!
Most Hilarious Moment/s:
Sherman manages to win the prize again this month – if you look at the 14th and 15th you will see his normal routine while we are eating our dinner. He vacillates between intently staring down the dog food containers or staring at us as if to say, “ummm, my Pug-lepathic skills are not working, can you help me out here?!” While he gets no additional food, he does win points for making us laugh!
What I did well and What I can do better:
In the do well column:
Cocktails (although, this is probably not a good thing…lol)
Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Shadow Pass by Sam Eastland
