Summer has arrived in Pittsburgh in full force. We are on, what feels like, day eleventy billion of 90+ degree weather. My yard is entirely burned out, as is every yard in my neighborhood. Yard burnout brings a bonus though…it is not growing so Steve does not have to mow! But boy does it look bad! We had some brief rain showers late yesterday, but I don’t think it was enough to revive the grass! And all this heat is making knitting not much fun either!
I *finally* completed Clue 4 and have begun Clue 5…but I am still on the first chart of Clue 5. Yes, it is slow going. But my love for this shawl grows with each clue! I am so happy with my low-contrast yarn choice! This will be done and ready for fall weather, once it arrives… oh, maybe in November! lol
I am also working slowly on Purl Strings… I love the dark, inky yarn but boy… not after sundown!
I also have been looking at baby boy sweaters! I usually knit up a BSJ with fingering weight yarn…but this is not sweater weather! So, I am thinking that something for the fall will be just perfect. I welcome all your little boy sweater suggestions!
The reading this week has had highs and lows. One book I loved, and one that really missed for me. AND!! I am one square away from a Cover All on my first bingo card!
I did not like this book. I could not connect with Monte at all. A failed writer, who then flees his family… taking off with a criminal. Seems likely…not. I so enjoyed Peace Like a River and was eager to read Virgil Wander… but I think I am taking a break from Enger’s works.
If you grew up in Pittsburgh, you should read this book.
If you live in Pittsburgh, you should read this book!
If you want to know about Pittsburgh you should read this book!
We said “tele pole,” pronounced “telly pole,” for that splintery sidewalk post I loved to climb. We said “slippy”—the sidewalks are “slippy.” We said, “That’s all the farther I could go.” And we said, as Pittsburghers do say, “This glass needs washed,” or “The dog needs walked”—a usage our father eschewed…
It is the epitome of Pittsburgh! I highly recommend!
And that is all I have for this week! What’s good in your world this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. — Al Bernstein
Something New
My new “thing” this month is thanks to Bonny… yep, I quickly became an Animal Crossings addict! So.much.fun! (do you play? we should be friends! lol)
Best “Oh, Wow” Moment/s
Every year, I micro-control what we plant in pots. I have specific ideas and want specific things. This year, I had to let go of that…the greenhouses were basically cleaned out when we went to get plants. So I ended up with things that would not be my first choice…and they are just incredible! My pots are blooming and look gorgeous. So, perhaps I don’t need to be so controlling and picky!
What I did Well and What I can do Better
I finished a sweater, but I should be finishing the things in my “in-process” basket!
The Best Part of the Month / Something New:
The arrival of my new grand baby, Winston Gregory, was the absolute best part of the month! He arrived on the 30th, hale and healthy…and born at home! He weighed 10 lbs 4 oz and was 22 inches long! Yes, he is a big boy! As you can see, he is beautiful and is well loved by all! Genevieve adores him and is thrilled to be a big sister!
My plan for today was to share a completed (and well-fitting) Zadie Jumpsuit. Well, it is completed but not so well fitting. I shortened the rise, so the pants fit well but I neglected to contemplate the length of the bodice (which I generally never have issues with) and it is way.too.short! But, I am not out much… I used the cotton fabric I got from IKEA for $1 a yard… so for $4 I know what changes I need to make.
So today you get a progress shot of my Mystery Shawl as I am working my way through Clue Four!
I also am moving right along on Purl Strings at night. I will share an updated image on that next week!
However, the reading this week was stellar. Oh.my.gosh. So, so good! Mill on the Floss gave me another bingo this week, but still no cover all. I have two squares to go on that Bingo Card. AND…I have five squares filled in on my second card.
The Saga of Maggie and Tom Tulliver… from childhood through adulthood. This is truly and epic novel… there is so much to unpack here and days after finishing it, I am still processing this magnificent story.
I laughed, I cried, and I cried some more. And the ending… wow. I did not see that coming at all. The writing and the language are just spectacular. It is brilliantly crafted and it is perhaps the gold standard for Victorian Age writing. If you have not read this, why not. Really. Get it and listen. (the audio version read by Wanda McCaddon is a stellar choice!)
I am joining Honoré again this month to share an update on my word!
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. — Mary Anne Radmacher
Six months in and I finally got it! What intentional living is. What is should be. What it feels like.
And it is incredible!!
News Flash: I have been living such an unintentional life!!
Aimless (yes, maybe focused aimlessness…but still so aimless!) I am sad that it took almost four months of at-home-quarantine to figure it out. (but I am not sure I would have been able to any other way…)
I started out the year with an entirely different journey in my mind for this word. Haha! Well, it sure showed me!
So what changed? I finally gave up trying to pick the path and let the word show me where I needed to be. I stopped fighting it and gave myself over to it.
Here is what this month revealed to me:
Time in meditation is the best time I can give myself. And meditation paired with some time listening and a bit of writing sets the best tone for the day. (Listening, you ask? Yes… listening. Some days it is poetry, some days it is nature, and some days it is listening for a still small voice.) I have done some form of mediation regularly for a very long time, but this quarantine has helped me hone my meditation skills… or maybe it is that there is less on my “shopping list” (see below) and that has helped remove the noise and just be immersed in the meditation time.
Time mindlessly shopping was such a colossal waste. We have been grocery shopping once every 4-ish weeks…and you know what? We have not run out of things…once. I have not done any “clothing shopping” at all this year and have not died and my wardrobe is not lacking (see Me Made May for proof of that!) No aimless wandering in a store buying things out of boredom.
This month I’ve gone to bed earlier and I am sleeping better and waking up easier! (Most nights that is… sometimes the news just can’t be avoided and then queue the tossing and turning with a dose of worry)
I am giving up trying to control.all.the.things! (it’s a work in progress…) And as a result, I have started to stop worrying about those things. (okay, maybe not entirely…but I am working on it…see above, lol)
Now, here we are on the last day of June and I am excited to see what Intentional Living will look like in July.
“If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you.” – unknown
Use your VOICE. Use your VOTE. – The Chicks
I heard this last week and have not stopped listening to it. The words are powerful, but the images are even more so.
I also read this article and these words from Katie Mitchell were an arrow to my heart: “We’re making a lot of money, and we’re happy that people are reading books. But it took the lynching of George Floyd to be played on a loop for people to be interested in things that we’ve been pushing for, you know, for a long time,” she says. “I’d much rather George Floyd be alive.”
In doing better…it means long term…not just now.
for the moment
because everyone else is doing it.
Because after everyone else is done doing it…
We need to continue to (or start?) shoulder the burden that, you know, some have been carrying alone for a long, long, long time. Thank you, Katie Mitchell, remind us so eloquently.
We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough? — Wendell Berry
This week Bonny inspired me to share my garden with you all. We have problems with deer so the “main garden” is a little like Fort Knox. There is fencing, and netting, and woven mesh wire… and thus far we have been successful keeping the deer out.
We added the mesh wire (and a little garden annex) two years ago when the rabbits laughed at our fencing and netting. Peter Rabbit and his sisters slept under our rose plants (yes, they are in the main garden…don’t ask, lol). And they ate every.last.bean! Little rascals. They have yet to figure out a way around the mesh wire, but trust me…they are trying!
And around it all is netting, the deer really hate that stuff!
Let’s take a little walk through my tiny garden where I have four kinds of tomatoes (Pozanno, Oxheart, Husky Cherry Red, and Cuban Yellow Grape), yellow and green bush beans, and an unknown variety of orange sweet peppers…not too much, just enough!
Not quite open blooms
Open blooms!
Lots of open blooms!
Even the “patio pot” has blooms!
There are even tomatoes growing!!
And beans and sweet peppers are doing well in their garden annex!
There are bean blossoms!
There are even sweet pepper blossoms!
Yes, the patio pot is living on the edge. No fencing. No mesh wire. No netting. And curiously, not one animal has even shown a modicum of interest in it.
I hope you enjoyed my brief garden tour! Have an awesome weekend and I will see you back here on Tuesday when I join Honoré for an update on my word!
Post Script: I had written this post earlier in the week when the breaking news was, well, normal breaking news…and then all hell continued to break loose. From police brutality to an explosion of COVID-19 cases.
I don’t know what to do about police brutality, but their ongoing killing of people is making me so angry!
But, I do know what to do about the spread of COVID-19…Please stay home, and if you can’t – wear a mask when you are out, and wash your hands! But really… just stay home!
So brave, So young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
