Overnight, the weather has changed…dramatically. Yesterday it was windy and mild… today grey, rainy, and much cooler. It seems that this prediction is spot on, lol… I am shocked because that rarely happens! Oh, and it seems that there is some *snow* in the forecast as well. Sigh.
Here is the temperature outlook as we move into mid-October.
Below freezing temperatures and maybe even some snow showers could occur in portions of our region. Stay tuned for further updates. pic.twitter.com/CMU40i0hsV
There are bits of color popping up all around me and I maximized the Fall Feeling by baking Apple Slab Pie this week. My freezer is now stocked with a bunch of “bites” of a little something sweet.
Earlier this week Steve told me there are just six Friday’s left in the year. Wait…wut?!? Ummm, no Steve… including today, there are 10 errr, 11(thanks Karen, lol). Not much better but, my panic level receded a bit! lol
Isabell Kraemer has a new sweater pattern out… oh my it is lovely! I have color work on the brain right now!
Finally, this interview from last Friday really hit home with me. I am on the very short waitlist at my library for Maggie Smith’s new book and I can’t wait!
I hope you all have a great weekend! See you all back here on Monday!
This week, knitting for Olivia has consumed me! I working on the sweetest little layette set that I hope to have winging its way to her in CA soon! The evolution of my knitting has astounded me though… especially in this iteration of the timeless BSJ. I must have been channeling EZ because I thought about how the applied I-cord would flow into the other areas (even thought they are all knit separately!) So I had little clusters of 3 stitches on pins waiting to be joined. And I have to say… I LOVE how this one turned out! And that perfection was just calling for a pair of Saartje’s Booties and an Easy Peasy Newborn Hat! (and I hope have leftover yarn to make an acorn or two!) I just have some fiddly bits on the second bootie to finish up and sew on some buttons… oh and finish the hat! But I think the hat should be done today as I don’t have lots on my plate!
It almost looks like one continuous applied i-cord!
Those little fiddly button holes… but they really make the booties!
The reading has absolutely slowed down a bit… not sure what’s up with that, but I only have one finish this week.
What an interesting way to tell a story! Do memories have a taste? Do they smell? It was something I thought about as this story unfolded…and are those memories the door to pain and heartache? I loved the little “intermezzo” chapters where you got to know Leila’s friends more closely. And the ending… yes! It was exactly what I did not know I was hoping for. The only thing from keeping this book from a 5-star rating… at times the chapters dragged on a bit. However, I do highly recommend this beautiful story!
And, what about you? What is occupying your making and reading hours this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave you link below and thank you!
Last week ended on a stressful note… and then some. Oy.
Friday I had a doctors appointment…a stressful thing in itself…and after making it through the “COVID Screening” to get to my doctors office, I thought it would be smooth sailing from there, HA! Sadly, all my fears intensified when I walked into a very packed waiting room – like WAY too many people in a VERY small waiting room. I had arrived about 15 minutes early for my appointment and still had to wait about 45 minutes… gah! I have COVID fears right now… bad. But, the funniest thing happened in the exam room! My doctor is very soft spoken and wearing a mask does not inspire him to speak louder. I was feeling my age when I kept having to ask what he said over and over and over… yes, in hindsight, it was comical. At the time tho…oy.
From there, it was Flu Shot time! (Slightly shorter wait and, thankfully, way less people)
And if all that was not enough, somehow I thought hitting the grocery store would be a genius idea. HA! Grocery shopping at lunch time on a Friday… not so smart. But at least there is some food in the house now!
Our mail delivery has been sketchy at best, most days we get no mail. No bills, no junk mail, no mail period. I have long been signed up for “informed delivery” and you would think the PO would get sick of me telling them things were not delivered, but nope… it does not matter… I think we have Newman “delivering” our mail. Ha!
So mailing our ballots back to the county was not something I was willing to risk. Saturday morning we headed off to drop off our ballots. Yes, there were long lines! But it was like a well oiled machine! Want to vote? Enter Here! Want to drop off your ballot? Enter Here! So we excitedly, HAPPILY!! cast our ballots on Saturday! And let me tell you how amazing it felt to be voting with lots and lots of Biden Voters!! Hope springs eternal in the voting line!! (but again, LOTS OF PEOPLE!!)
After all that excitement, I was happy to return home and stay there for the remainder of the weekend!
I spent a good bit of time Sunday setting up my new calendar insert…and I am so excited to start this week with it! I have set up through the start of next year and it feels good! Now that laundry is underway I am going to spend some time organizing my inserts! Then I will feel ready to attack the week! I hope to share with you all next week how the new calendar set up is working!
Oh, and I have clean and fill some pens with autumn-y inks on my list today too!
First up, some incredibly sad news. I had already planned my post for Monday or I would have shared that Annie Modesitt lost her battle with cancer last week Thursday. This tribute posted on FB is exactly how I want to remember Annie. Bon voyage, indeed, Annie. May your next journey be as brilliant as you were!
(and then if that was not shitty enough, Eddie Van Halen died yesterday. 2020, you just suck. And true words… greatest rock and roll guitar player ever. This solo was just so damned amazing.)
On the knitting front, I am making my way through the increases in Olivia’s BSJ. It might have been done, but I made a rookie error and increased on the wrong side. I did not catch it until I had almost completed the decreases… so RIIIPPPP! I frogged back to fix the error. (I am 100% blaming this error on Last Tango in Halifax… lol) Anyway, I don’t expect this will take much longer and then I will be back to Sleeve Island and Acorn Production….two very nice ways to spend ones time!
The reading this week has hit a bit of a hurdle. I think when you have read so many excellent books, it can be hard to settle into a new book. That was the case for me this week. I tried several times to get into Girl, Woman, Other but it just was not happening. I returned it to the library and will try again later this year. When that happens, I find a nice palate cleanser is the perfect thing and I had two perfect palate cleansing books!
The Tradition by Jericho Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jericho Brown is a new to me poet, but a friend’s review of his poetry piqued my curiosity!
The Tradition did not at all disappoint! I listened to the audio version, and it was so good I listened twice! The words sing a poignant song that will not leave you unmoved.
Utter perfection and I highly recommend!
Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had recently heard one of Trethewey’s poems on The Writer’s Almanac and it inspired me to read more. This book of poems weaves back and forth between thoughts on her father and poems about artwork. It is magical how she can make you see the artwork with her words. But the poems about her father are simply magnificent.
And that is all I have for this week. I will be back on Monday!
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
September showed up right on schedule, and lasted a whole month. — Jenny Wingfield
This was a month that I wish felt like February… short and over almost before it began. The days just dragged on and I had the worst case of the blues in September. It was hard to find one thing good in any of the 30 days and even in this look back there are few things. It feels like each day is an exercise in finding something to distract me from my sadness. I am missing my family terribly and September was especially bad. I missed Heidi’s 30th Birthday (because, honestly… a call is just not the same as being there), Winston is growing *rapidly* and it feels like I am missing all.the.things. And I know there are so many of you who are going through the same things I am and I think about you every day… and I wonder will we get through this? How will this change us? I can’t imagine that any of us will be better for this enforced separation.
Thing I was most surprised by —
The smoke from the fires out west making its way here and impacting our skies (and the air we breathe). It made me understand better how this was impacting those living in the midst of the fires. And it made me more worried for my daughter who lives near San Francisco (as if I needed one more thing to worry about, but worry more I did.)
Thing I was most grateful for —
Winston has been smiling, but not on “cue” or not when my daughter had her phone (of course, lol) but there was a moment and she managed to get one on camera!
Thing that “got me through” but there is no image —
The book club from my church. This month our Dear Church Zoom Conversations have helped me tremendously. Being in a group of people who are trying to find ways to be a better ally was better than I imagined. And though we finished our book discussion, October will bring continued discussions with a broader group of participants. I am nervous, but very excited to continue this journey.
And with that… my look back at September is over. Happy Monday everyone!
Another week draws to a close with its own set of hiccups. I had hoped to have found more nuggets of time to feed my Acorn Obsession, but I think the diversion is one I would not trade for anything. And while I cannot share photos, I can tell you that I have a new granddaughter – Olivia Margaret and she is hale and healthy. Mother and baby are settling in just fine.
Yesterday I started the palest pink BSJ for her and managed to get a good start on it. I am making my way through the decreases and hope to find LOTS of knitting time this weekend so it can be finished next week and on its way to her!
My acorn bowl is sitting on the dining room table and I am eager to return to filling it. I love how I am using up the left over bits from Winston’s sweater. And, with luck, there might even be a pale pink acorn joining soon!
It felt so good to slam the door shut on September, whew… it was a rough month. I am debating with myself about even doing a September Look Back… and the don’t do it voice is winning right now. Thank you all for your kind thoughts regarding my struggle.
This morning I am trying to figure out how best to work on my budding phrenology chart as the days progress. It took me so long to get it set up… lots of erasing, lots of *hard* math because of course October has 31 days, thankyouverymuch. I have been thinking and thinking of how best to make this work in the flow of my days… and honestly, I don’t think a “circle” is the answer. I am toying with ideas… stay tuned.
In the “best Tweet of the Day” Category: @iamKimRL won hands down. This tweet… (and of course she did!)
Looks like RBG successfully argued her first case before God.
Because we are all still in the Stay at Home Boat, I really appreciated this Fall TV Preview from NPR. There are lots of interesting things there… something for everyone!
Gudrun Johnston’s Shetland Trader hit my email-box this week with a gorgeous sweater! (Rav Link). There is a woman’s and a unisex version (you get both with pattern purchase!) This green version made me stop, wow! And you can see a Plethora of Porty Pullover’s here on IG!
And my “informed delivery” email from the Post Office tells me that TODAY our mail in ballots arrive! Wahooo! By the end of the day I will have cast my ballot and will be hand delivering it to the drop-off site in Carnegie. Have you planned your vote? There is still time!
That is all I have for this week! Have a fantastic weekend everyone and I will see you all back here next week!
This week’s making is back to Sleeve Island. Slowly, round by round, I am moving towards the cuff…of the first sleeve! lol
In voting news, we got an email that our ballots were mailed 8 days ago but we have yet to receive them. Mail at our house has become something of a running joke… as in we *rarely* get mail these days even though bills should arrive, etc. We get nothing most days. So I needed a distraction… enter Hunter Hammersen with the perfect distraction!
Look, everyone has their own coping mechanisms. I’m apparently dealing with the collapse of society and the triumph of evil with, checks notes, tiny knitted acorn caps.
I have started my acorn knitting and boy are they fun! I’d love a bowl full of these little beauties to adorn my table for the fall! (The pattern is here… sorry it is a Ravelry link, and Hunter is adding the knit acorn caps in a week or so)
The reading this week has been varied. I think The Yellow House suffered a bit from being sandwiched between Hamnet and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And I should be reading The Women of Brewster Place but I am struggling to get into the story. When I saw that 10 Minutes 38 seconds in This Strange World was available from my library, I jumped at the chance. I have only started but I have been pulled in and can’t wait to see where this book will take me.
I had high hopes for this book, and while it was good… I did not think it was great. And it is long, perhaps too long… and I like to read long books. At times, it felt like it needed a bit of editing.
This book is a mix between a memoir and the painful history of the New Orleans East (part of the 9th Ward, I believe). But, how do you tell a story without knowing all the parts? This book is Broom’s journey to discover the unsaid. The one thing that most fascinated me was how all the history revolved around the yellow shotgun house.
Simply said, I did not want this book to end. I wanted to stay with Francie and never leave. And this writing will be some of the best I have read all year. And A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is now easily the best book I have read this year (yes, it has unseated Apeirogon).
Settle in to Brooklyn in the early 1900’s with the Nolan family… a place of struggles but so full of love and hope. The struggles were at times almost unbearable, yet Kate Nolan never once gives up, and she does not let her despair drag her children down. Her desire for her children to have more opportunities than she did are her driving force. This is a story of resilience and believing that things will get better, which was just exactly what I need these days…
I highly recommend this book!
That is all I have for today, what about you? What is distracting you? I am dying to know!
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
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
September was such a hard month. And that sentence is such a damned understatement, but I honestly have no words for how hard it was for me – even with a weekend away!
I thought that I was a pretty good manager of stress… oh boy. September showed me how I am managing nothing, and it is managing me, and it has been all along, if I am being completely honest with myself. Maybe I was just better at ignoring it.
One would think that 8 months into this insanity, I would be used to the mind-numbing sameness of the days. However, the reality is that 8 months in to this pandemic the “fake it till you make it” well has finally run dry. Instead September woke me to the malady known as cabin fever. Foolishly, I would have sworn I had experienced it before being snowed in a time or two, but no… being snowed in for a day or two, or maybe even a week ain’t got nothin’ on Pandemic Cabin Fever.
The things I can choose these days are not the things I want to choose, that is for damned sure! And so in September I chose to be absent from lots of things. Which, in light of my very bad attitude, is probably the smartest decision I made all month.
I would love to share with you that while I wallowed in the Sea of Self-Pity that I had some epiphanal moments resulting in a dramatic change of attitude. Nope, but what I did learn was that it was okay to not feel good. To not feel happy.
I know, I said I was not going to be back until tomorrow, but what can I say. Ha!
Do you ever feel in a rut? Well, I can tell you we sure do! Steve and I have been talking about how we are always doing/eating/listening to the same.things.every.week.
So this week, we changed things up a bit!
Happy hour was Thursday night, sans music, just quiet, some *different* food, and conversation.
Friday we did not have a happy hour, but rather we got take out (Pierogi Pie and beer FTW!) and we caught up on the Big Brother episodes we missed during the week. In hindsight, we probably would have been okay to eat there… it was a gorgeous day and we could have easily sat outside. It was surprisingly not busy, but of course, if we went with the idea of eating there it would have been packed, right? lol
Saturday, we tried to have an “impromptu” micro-happy hour out on the porch, as you can see above. However, we had to bail and head indoors because the mosquitos almost ate us alive! Which is very curious to me, especially since we have had virtually NO RAIN, as you can see from a tweet our local news station shared yesterday…
WEATHER: Today will be the fourteenth day in a row with no rain for our area. Find out when some much-needed rain could be on the way with the latest forecast from meteorologist @MaryOursWx! https://t.co/Qd85YxRkXD
Sunday morning Steve ran to Dunkin’ and brought home a pumpkin donut or two… oh man, are they so good!
The rest of the day was filled with Steve watching Steeler football while I finished the second sock for Winston! And they will be off in the mail today! Hopefully they will fit for at least a minute, lol.
And before we knew it, poof! the weekend was over and now we are looking Monday in the face. I have a substantial list of things to accomplish today, but I have a bright spot for this Monday morning… Pádraig Ó Tuama is back with a new season of Poetry Unbound!
I hope your Monday full of all kinds of good things!
I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice. — Theodore Parker, Sermon on Justice and the Conscience
In a week where any understanding of the “moral universe” is incomprehensible and I am absolutely not seeing it bend at all towards justice for BIPOC in any way at all, (although if your bullets randomly enter the homes of white people, police get indicted) it is hard not to feel beaten down and defeated. I cannot even begin to imagine how the Black community must feel, and yet they continue to make their voices heard. They are inspiring and so I will add my voice to theirs, hoping that with more voices joining that change will eventually happen.
This week though I did find some amazing things!
First up are some excellent finds from my new favorite newsletter: Biracial BookwormsBethany M. Edwards shares the best books each week in her newsletter and this week was no exception!
