by Kat | Oct 23, 2023 | General, In This Moment
Is for finding my routine again!
It was a delightful break! Erie was, as usual, wonderful! We walked so much! In rain and shine… and I loved it! We watched the colors get more brilliant as the week went by! We had so many wildly windy days! We saw wildlife galore and I think I might have been channeling Vera with the plethora of Great Blue Herons I saw (dozens… it was so fun!) We found new places to walk as well… which always amazes me! I even managed to take a photo or two AND… I did the tiniest bit of painting! All in all it was a most needed break (although, I confess I was so happy to get home to sleep in my bed! LOL)
However, vacation wonder aside… I have to reacquaint myself with “real life” and all its mundane things… like laundry! Ha!
And… catching myself up with all your blogs! (that might be the most monumental task of all!)
Happy Monday and I will see you all back here on Wednesday with some unraveling!
by Kat | Oct 9, 2023 | General, In This Moment
Has an extra-big list!
Yes, that is what my Monday is looking like. My list is long… as it looks like it will be much cooler this week than we anticipated. So just to be safe, I am prepping some warmer coats, hats and yes… mittens! Ha! My mantra is there is no bad weather only bad clothing choices! I am also making the suggestion to Steve that he pack some things to keep warm and maybe this year he will listen! Ha!
On top of my usual Monday List, I am thinking about Indigenous People’s Day and I looked over the weekend for a list of books to read…and yay New York Public Library! Of course they have a list! I have read some of the books, but there were a good number I have not!
Finally, Israel is also very much on my mind this morning.
Now, I better get to that long list! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Sep 11, 2023 | General, In This Moment
I pondered posting today because I don’t really have anything significant to contribute. In my pondering I wondered if a pandemic that has killed so many has somehow diluted the impact of what happened 22 years ago. Perhaps today’s significance is more personal – not that I lost someone 22 years ago – but rather because I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news down to the very minute.
However, life moves on but it does not mean we forget…not that horrible day 22 years ago or the long slow march of COVID. Rather it means we are living and hopefully fully living each and every day.
So sometimes Monday is for remembering… and living. And perhaps cleaning out my painting space with a sigh of relief that one small brown dog seems to be doing a bit better.
See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Sep 8, 2023 | General, In This Moment
I had other plans for today post but life got in the way yesterday… bigly.
A small-ish issue with Sherman required some extra attention yesterday morning and a rather lengthy vet visit yesterday afternoon. But we have some new meds to try and I am hoping he is feeling better soon!
My plans for reacquainting myself with my painting spot did not happen … and it might not happen this morning either. I will have to see how Sherman is doing today… but it is absolutely on my radar!
I am falling back on the simplicity of a bit of a Friday RIFF… so let’s get started!
Re-adjusting —
Kym shared some links this week that I had been contemplating one of them until I saw this fun little knit from Leila Raven and I realized that this is exactly what I need.. fun, stripe-y, and I have the yarn in my stash! This is the motivation I need to finish my Pressed Flower wrap because I want to knit this next!
Investigating —
This week I saw a *new-to-me* butterfly in my back yard, Google told me it was a Great Spangled Fritillary… a member of the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. It was so fun watching it hang around for all of Wednesday afternoon. A lovely addition to the plethora of Monarch’s that are in love with my butterfly bush this year!
Hello, Lovely!
Fresh (air) Poetry —
You Are Here… Yes, yes Ada Limón, The Library of Congress, and National Parks are getting their Poetry ON! I discovered it on that site formerly known as Twitter this week and yes… I am super excited for the anthology of poems! (Especially since poetry has been in the spotlight this week… and if you are a member of the Armed Services who writes, reads, or recites poetry… well done you!) I will be reading some poetry this weekend… it is the best sanity-saving thing I do!
Finally —
Today I am going to hope that Sherman has a good day and I can spend some time refreshing my painting spot. But… I am not beating myself up if I don’t because outside of that my week has been very productive. My *computer desk* has been decluttered and I have used it! My calendar got some “face time” with me… and that felt so good! We even had a bit of rain yesterday… not enough, but some is better than none.
That is it for me this week! I will see you all back here next week. Have a great weekend everyone!
by Kat | Jul 28, 2023 | General, In This Moment
I have very much been enjoying my blog break… perhaps a bit too much. I have done some serious contemplating on my continued blogging. Most of it has revolved around the “creativity” issue…
i.e. Do I have any fresh ideas, thoughts, or anything of value to release into the void…
My answer to myself was… maybe a thing or two… maybe. Jane, who is much wiser than I am, once shared this wisdom in a comment here “Blogging once a week has advantages.”
It certainly does… and so these thoughts continue to rumble around my brain. I am not ready to give up blogging completely, but I need a shake up a bit in an effort to find a new creativity well to drink from!
So as a more quiet July draws to a close… a quiet that may extend into August as well.
So why am I here today? Well… some months ago I read a book and that book has stayed with me in a most profound way. I have not stopped thinking about it… but better, I have been applying it to my life… that is, I have been paying much more attention to the world around me with some delightful effects!
(and if you are not currently following Margaret on Instagram… you should be!)
I thought that a nice way to close out each month would be to share things I have noticed from the month… things outside and inside…
This week I have been closely watching my tomatoes begin their journey from green to yellow to orange to red. For a tomato lover this is absolutely the best thing of gardening… harvesting the fruits of my labor. A couple of FB friends have prolific gardens… and they both shared some advice recently that I am taking action on. It is all about when to pick those tomatoes… and both of these ladies pick their tomatoes when they begin to break color from green to yellow. (Judy Wright shared this article that explains it clearly.) I have a baker’s dozen tomatoes all at various stages of ripening on my kitchen sill and I am prepping my living room sill today as well!
Last Saturday, I watched in awe as our resident rabbit, a proud and watchful poppa, carefully dig a new nest for his mate. This will be the 4th nest I have noticed this year. However, this is the first one that I caught in the construction process. I have only seen the mother near the nest a couple of times this week, but he watches it all day. These rabbits have brought such joy to my days… I feel honored that they trust us to raise their young in my yard.
In July I began putting a few shelled peanuts (unsalted, of course!) out for our resident squirrel and imagine my delight when I discovered that putting peanuts out meant I would see more Blue Jays! Now, the Blue Jays greet me every morning with the hope of me putting out a peanut or two. Their antics are quite hilarious and I am enjoying them so very much!
The hot weather means that I have been putting out more water for the wildlife. I have also been making sure the gravel dish has water for the insects as well. That same heat and humidity has kept me indoors most mornings this week… quick trips out with Sherman that finds us both wilting a bit as we head back indoors. There is no joy at all for me in this heat and it must be even less joyful for the animals, birds, and insects that can’t escape to a cooler place.
Since solstice, we (Pittsburgh, that is) have lost 39 minutes of daylight… I did not notice less light so much as the month began, but I absolutely am noting it as the month ends. I am missing those minutes of daylight very much… and I am wondering if winter would be more delightful if it was brighter!
In the quieting of the days… I have much been thinking about my making. I am wavering a bit on finishing projects… my desire is to have small portable things… easy to pick up and put down. I don’t want to be “chained” to a room to craft so I did not sign up for a painting class this month. And despite all that I found myself craving artistic inspiration so I really am shaking things up!! I have signed up for a hand appliqué class that begins in August. I know nothing about appliqué and I am looking forward to learning more about the process. I have this lovely idea in my mind’s eye of me sitting in the cooler morning air as I get comfortable with needle turn appliqué. This idea fills me with joy and I think that it will give me something to challenge me… something to inspire me… and something to help me extend summer beyond August and into September sitting on my porch stitching something.
Last but not least… did you see these!? I have plans to begin them this weekend!
What about you? I would love to know how your are quieting your days or what you noted in July!
See you all back here on Monday with my word update!
by Kat | Jun 23, 2023 | General, In This Moment
First Summer Friday is a rainy one in my neighborhood… but that is okay, we need the rain and it smells so good outside! My tomatoes are growing by leaps and bounds and they are all loaded with tomato blossoms! I hope this means an abundant year of tomatoes… my fingers are crossed!
But how about a bit of a RIFF to ease into Friday…
Reconstructing —
I began the cosmetic knitting on poor Gnifty this week. A new nose and a bit of a beard have been knit and are awaiting attachment. And I have begun bird knitting! I am using those tweed mini skeins I got from Fibernymph Dye Works with this years Pi yarn! Tweed yarn makes for some cute birds! Ha! And, Vera will be excited to hear that there will be a crow!
In (search of) —
June has been full… but it has also been empty. Empty as in Monday is our “check in” with what we did with our word this month… and I have…nothing. Not one singe thing. So… my challenge will be to pull *something* together so that I can give an update… of all that I did not do this month. LOL
Oh… and then there is a certain summer painting class that I have not done one single thing for. This morning I sat down and hashed out a plan to attack those 6 lessons and get myself back on track.
(neighborly) Frustration —
This week our neighbor chopped down all their bushes (which provide a “fence” on the east side of our back yard). And I mean chopped… as in to the ground… sigh. So this morning we are heading off to a plant nursery to see what we can find to plant in our yard to compensate for all that.
(more neighborly) Frustrations —
It is summertime… and that is very evident in the volume of vehicles parked at our neighbors across the street. They have 4 kids of varying young adult ages that all live at home… yes, all.still.at.home. And it seems they all have a plethora of friends who all have cars *and like to spend the night* and that volume of cars is making it challenging for Steve to get out of the driveway for work each morning. I am waiting for the morning that I hear a huge crunch when he hits one of those cars… accidentally or on purpose… oy.
And with that… let’s get this weekend started!
See you all back here on Monday with something about my word!
