My weekend thus far has had a good bit of “making” and weekending activities – there has been planting, and gardening, and grilling, and time with family (or at least phone time!) and friends. I stopped at JoAnn’s and got LOTS of fabric so some sewing is on tap for this grey Memorial Day.
I also created the most wonderful Rhubarb-Thyme Collins! It is so good and so refreshing! And, the rhubarb is in all the farmer markets in my area so if you try this recipe, please let me know! (if you are not a gin fan, I think this would work equally well with vodka, or with no alcohol at all to make a delicious Rhubarb-Thyme soda!)
Rhubarb-Thyme Collins
2 parts Rhubarb-Thyme Syrup (recipe below)
2 parts fresh lime juice
4 parts Dry Gin
Sparkling water
Combine syrup, lime juice and gin in tall glass over ice. Stir well to mix. Top with sparkling water and enjoy!
Rhubarb-Thyme Syrup
2 Cups rhubarb, chopped (about 8-10 stalks)
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups water
4 sprigs of thyme
Combine rhubarb, sugar, and water in saucepan and bring to boil. Once mixture is boiling, turn down heat to medium and stir occasionally. Cook until rhubarb has softened. Turn off heat, stir in thyme sprigs, and cover. Allow to steep for 7-8 minutes. Strain out to separate the liquid. Cool and refrigerate. The syrup will last about 12 days in refrigerator.
In all my making – I did not want to forget that today is Memorial Day:
On Memorial Day, I don’t want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets, who started preaching peace, men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live. – Eric Burdon
Memorial Day is not only the “Official Start of Summer” or a long weekend filled with planting flowers, gardening, grilling, and spending time with family and friends, (or making!) And while these are all great long weekend in summer activities, Carole has posted a wonderful reminder of what today is really about! Please go and read her words and allow them to wash over you – let them fill you – and hold them in your heart as you go through your day.
I am going to pause today and spend some time thinking about Carole’s speech and about all those who have served and are serving.
I am joining with Julianne today and touching base with my word.
You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. – C.S. Lewis
As the fourth month of focus draws to a close, I think I am ready to share some of the frustrations that I have felt with myself as I have explored being more focused.
Honestly, I should have done this word years ago – perhaps decades ago even! All sorts of things have been running through my brain about where I might be today if I had been more focused so long ago. There have been some extremely unpleasant (and highly critical) conversations with myself and lots of “what if’s” have filled my brain and I was spending a good bit of time dwelling on the “would of” rather than letting it go and refocusing on the now and, more importantly, the future.
And then I stumbled upon that quote from C.S. Lewis and a light bulb went off in my brain.
Despite how much I want to I can’t go back and change anything. Beating myself up for my lack of focus does no good but changing my focus today can make all the difference in the world. I have now been gently reminding myself that my start back in January has been very productive and I have learned so much!
This is a year long process of honing my focus – not a miraculous overnight change – and the purpose of this year with this word is to change the ending not the beginning!
Monday’s are never fun, but when Monday and Tax Day fall on The.Same.Day. Well, that should just be against the law, imo!
Happy Tax-Monday…NOT!
So, rather than dwell on the Monday-est Monday ever – let’s rewind the weekend a bit, shall we?
Friday, I managed to get a good bit of knitting done on my sweater, but it did not get anymore “knit time” during the weekend except for a few brief moments on Sunday. Still – borrowing a great idea from a brilliant blogger – I have visible progress! Woo hoo!
Happy hour was fantastic – martini’s with bleu cheese stuffed olives are simply divine! And, the meatballs were not bad either! Haha!
Saturday, oh Saturday… we wondered if Janoski’s might have asparagus in – but alas, it is still a couple of weeks out. So, back to the task of the day… taming the back yard. It took most of the day, but not as long as either of us imagined… which was a good thing. Steve grilled burgers for dinner (which as also a good thing!) Now, here is where our age factor showed up – by 6PM I was MORE than ready for bed – as was Steve. I wish I was kidding… but sometimes reality bites…and early bedtimes are a must! Haha!
Sunday brought rains and Palm Sunday church was wonderful as was the pedicure after church! Remind me to do that next year the day after “Back Yard Clean Up” because that massage chair… oh yeah! The day rounded out with a jump start on laundry, a wee bit of knitting, and omelets for dinner.
The perfect, and simple, ending to a too short weekend!
It has been a hell of a week and I have been eerily reminded how history repeats itself. Yet, knowing how history happens does not make the here and now less stressful. Yet this morning gentle rains filled my senses with a sense of calm and then I found Sara Teasdale’s poem. Her words filled me with a sense of calm – someday all of what is happening right now will just be history and “no one will care at last when it is done.” May these words give you peace as you welcome the weekend, and may you spend more time listening to the robins “whistling whims” than worrying about the latest news. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here next week.
There Will Come Soft Rains
Sara Teasdale, 1884-1933
(War Time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
March has been a month of questioning so many things. And, my thoughts have been turning around the “can you teach an old Kat new tricks” idiom. Yes, I have been focusing on the things I do (and don’t do) and the whys of them.
Things in my focus this month have been –
keeping my closet clean ✘
better dinner planning ✔
and moving more consistently ✔
One of those things continued to be an epic failure all.month.long. (Hello, closet!! I am looking at you!)
Being organized in the tiniest closet ever is not easy – but part of the problem might be too.many.clothes.
But help is on the way!!
Some Closet Kondo-ing is already underway and maybe some Wardrobe Styling are in order. But hopefully, next month my closet (and wardrobe) will have a new focus and stay that way!
What about you? Do you struggle with closet organization?
And, March? One of my favorite months from the Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak!
Bring on those blow-y winds, March!
Thing One:
Sometimes, the best things ever are posted on Twitter. Rabbit Hole warning…enter at your own risk: Terrible Real Estate Agent Photos (My inner 4th grader loves that there is a #terrible toilets hashtag)
Thing Two:
I think I might have finally unlocked the complete and total insanity phase as I am contemplating a 100-day Project… and this one is totally out of the box, I am contemplating quilting! I have not done any quilting in years – so long in fact that I don’t remember much about my feelings about it. But, I have a stack of fat quarters and some years ago I thought about doing this little Bernina Project which has a difficulty level of “beginner” and complete in 4-weeks, but I think 100 Days might be a much better plan! (And, if I start soon, it just might be done in time for Christmas!!)
Thing Three:
Being an avid student of history, Cohen’s testimony struck me yesterday as an eerie repeat of a much earlier testimony…that of Joe Valachi’s 1963 testimony before Congress. I laughed when I Googled “mobster congress testimony” and both Joe and Cohen info filled the web page, so I must not be alone with that thought! However, the best part of the day was when Rep. Elijah Cummings took us to church to close the hearing! Preach it Mr. Cummings!!
That is all I have for today! What things are new with you?
