I heard this poem Wednesday on NPR. It made me cry and it made me unbelievably angry that I am cloaked in my White Privilege, in my nice home, not living in fear of law enforcement (aka those who believe it is “open season on black people” with absolutely no fear of repercussions for their actions.) If you have not listened to it, you should…
And then George Floyd. And please don’t give me “but the aftermath is so wrong” because I don’t know how what is happening in Minneapolis has not happened all over America on a daily basis.
And I am really so over this. And not because I don’t want to hear about these murders – I am so over this because when will justice finally happen? When will racism die the death it needs to. How long will Jim Crow America still be Jim Crow America.
Even President Obama weighed in, “This shouldn’t be “normal” in 2020 America. It can’t be “normal.” If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.” Yes we can and we must.
Sadly, there is not enough poetry in the world to fix this. But Keedron Bryant’s song and the community poem, Running for Your Life are providing me with words that are helping me to better understand.
No Finished Objects this week, despite my planning that there would be! Enter a weekend of yard work and I was left with not much knitting time (and said yard work left me ready for bed! LOL)
So this week you get another progress shot of my Ranunculus.
Thank goodness audiobooks pair well with gardening! This week’s reads were fantastic, especially Drive Your Plow! IMO, this should have won the Man Booker award. I found it hard to stop listening – good thing I had all that yard work, lol.
Bingo One: Columbarium, Late Migrations, The Unquiet Dead, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, and The Hobbit. Bingo Two: The Hobbit, Eye of the Red Tsar, Drive Your Bones…, American Dirt, and Hot Milk
AND!! This week I have not one, but TWO bingo’s this week! I should have 2 more next week and I have mapped out the remaining books for this card! Summertime and the reading is so good! If you are looking for a square for multiple narrators, try the BBC production of The Hobbit! The cast is excellent! AND, looking for a “heard it on a podcast” book? NPR talked about Drive Your Plow in glowing terms (as did Kym!) I loved this quirky little book.
I have read 8 books this month and still have a couple of days to go, so maybe I can get to 9 books completed in May!
What splendid fun it was listening to the BBC cast! I picked this version to fill in a Summer Book Bingo square “more than one narrator” and this was really quite fun! I enjoyed it thoroughly!
I’ve fallen in love with Mrs. Duszejko! She is incredible! Is this story a mystery? Is this story about animal rights? Is this story about astrology? Is this story about life and death? Is this story about grief?
Yes. Absolutely, yes!
I loved every bit of this wonderfully translated story. It is brilliantly written and the audio version was perfectly narrated. It made me stop, think, and think some more!
“You know what, sometimes it seems to me we’re living in a world that we fabricate for ourselves.
We decide what’s good and what isn’t, we draw maps of meanings for ourselves…
And then we spend our whole lives struggling with what we have invented for ourselves.
The problem is that each of us has our own version of it, so people find it hard to understand each other.”
I highly recommend this brilliant little story!
There you have my week…what about you? What things occupied you this week?
If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
I am joining Honoré today and sharing my Little Word update for the month!
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
I am positive that this was not the word I should have picked for 2020 because here we are closing out May, and my struggle with intention continues. This was absolutely not what I ever imagined when I settled in with a word for 2020 late last year.
Words like uncertainty, circumspect, and home-body seem like they might have been better word choices, but I am not a quitter – so onward with intention!
But Mary Anne Radmacher’s quote still beckons and this month Choose with no regret has become my daily mantra. And sometimes I was even successful!
All month long as areas began to “open up” I confidently elected to stay home.
We have a Primary Election next week so I applied for a mail in ballot… and sent it in.
I trimmed my hair.
I have not yet given myself a pedicure, but I have been using this delightful scrub regularly accompanied by a foot massage!
I wrote more, thought more, and read more.
I had long (and frequent) conversations with my kids…perhaps talking longer than we would in person!
I spent time knitting (of course) and practicing my meager crochet skills.
I wrote down little bits of gratitude every day, even when it was hard.
I also found myself back in the circle of grief, visiting stages I thought I was done with.
Choose with no regret was absolutely what I needed this month.
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks around here, at least until we went “Yellow” last Friday.
Yellow for my house looks a lot like Red. Unlike my neighbors, we are not racing out to dine in a restaurant, shop at the mall, or get our hair done. It will be interesting to see in the next few weeks if the cases in the county reflect the colossal stupidity I see happening all around me.
But enough with the rant, how about some distractions!
While I have been gone, I have been doing lots of thinking about this blog and how to make it feel fresh to me. Some ideas are percolating around, but nothing concrete yet. For the time being, I will continue stopping in here at least a couple days a week.
Yesterday, we had a swarm of special visitors (who were welcomed, admired, and applauded). This immense swarm of honey bees is festooning on our trimmed bushes waiting for the Bee Scouts to come back and direct them to the new location of their hive! Somewhere in that swarm is their Queen, who left her previous colony and took about half of her workers and set off to find a new place to live. In a week of absolute shit news, this swarm lifted my spirits. I did not know that swarming is evidence of a healthy bee colony…yep, they don’t swarm if they are sick! I wish you could see the size (and weight!!) of these bees – the size of the swarm is about 15″x10″ in size and they are weighing down the sturdy branches so much that they are resting on my neighbor’s chain link fence!
My iPhone does not quite do justice to the magnificence that these bees are!
As you can see above, sweater knitting is moving right along, I have divided for the sleeves and am now just mindlessly knitting body. I am hopeful to have this done by next Wednesday!
These past couple of weeks I have been mourning the loss of singing – specifically choir singing. The realization that there won’t be any choir, or singing in church (if and when ‘in-person’ worship resumes) makes me very weepy. Who ever thought that singing would spread germs faster…certainly not me. So I spent a good bit of time watching all the “separate but together” choirs on YouTube – and there are lots of them, but this one kind of sums of how I am feeling…
I also have been practicing with “the big camera” this week. However, the weather conditions were either too windy, too sunny, or today – too rainy!
Lamb’s Ear makes me smile
Even in the rain, they don’t let go of each other. There is a lesson here for all of us!
That is all I have for today. I will be back next week to share an update on my word next Tuesday with Honoré! Have a good weekend everyone!
I am still working through the last clue of the Larissa Brown’s mystery shawl. I have some blocking of the pieces to get done (and a pattern update on dimensions just dropped yesterday) so in the mean time I am being entirely distracted with a Linen Ranunculus. The photo above is an hour or so of knitting, so I think this sweater will knit up quickly! AND it will be the perfect summer sweater! (and yes, I am totally copying these sweater mods)
This yarn is just incredibly yummy!
I have really hit my reading stride this week! No bingo’s yet, but I should have my first one in the next day or two!
I started this book and almost stopped reading it because I wasn’t sure I needed a rambling stream of conscious book right now. And then it clicked. Perfectly. Or rather, imperfectly.
Three things no one has ever said about me: You make it look so easy.
If you have spent any amount of time looking at your life wondering why everyone else’s life is perfect and yours is just, well, not. This is the book that will validate you and have you feeling good about it by the time you are finished. I wish I had read this book when I had three small children and contemplating divorce. I too was living in the Little Theater of Hurt Feelings as well, but I wish that I knew the name of if while I was there!
This could have been my Christmas Letter, had I ever made the effort to send one: Dear Family and Friends, It is the year of the bugs. It is the year of the pig. It is the year of losing money. It is the year of getting sick. It is the year of no book. It is the year of no music. It is the year of turning 5 and 39 and 37. It is the year of Wrong Living. That is how we will remember it if it ever passes. With love and holiday wishes.
Now I am looking at all those Christmas Letters I got and wondering…
Early Quarantine Days Me just could not settle into this book at all. I would pick it up and read a page or two and zone out.
So I put it down and waited. And about the 10th of May, I picked it up and started again and it all just clicked this time… and I suddenly found myself needing to pace my reading to make it last!
This is a brilliantly written book about Churchill and the Blitz of London. I thought when I started the book the first time that I would end up disliking Churchill, but I can tell you that is absolutely not true, in fact – I might love him even more!
If you like history you will enjoy this book. If you love history, you will love settling into the days with Winston, and you will appreciate the insight, the conversations, and all the things that are not in history books.
The preface gives a hint at the splendor to come:
Although at times it may appear to be otherwise, this book is a work of nonfiction. Anything between quotation marks comes from some form of historical document, be it a diary, letter, memoir, or other artifact; any reference to a gesture, gaze, or smile, or any other facial reaction, comes from an account by one who witnessed it. If some of what follows challenges what you have come to believe about Churchill and this era, may I just say that history is a lively abode, full of surprises.
AMEN! If you read nothing else this year, but this book on your list! I highly recommend!
And that is all I have for this week! If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you for joining us!
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)
