by Kat | Jul 30, 2021 | General, In This Moment
Or, a “Currently” update…
I have not done a “currently” update for a very long time. Too long, maybe. Anyways, one has kind of been rattling around in my brain so I thought I’d share a bit. Sadly, it is not all of it is good… but that is often life, right?
Remembering — I read this morning that Senator Levin died and it reminded me of an interaction I had with him a very, very long time ago. I was at a gas station filling up my car on my way to work in Saugatuck. Senator Levin and his brother pulled in and while Sandy filled up their car, Senator Levin engaged in conversation with me. I, of course, recognized him and was kind of awestruck that he would talk with me. In our conversation, he asked for a recommendation on a place to eat. I asked him what he was hungry for… fish was the answer. I gave him a couple of options and he asked me where would I go… I gave him my response and he said that’s where they will go then! Such a great man with a legacy that will live on.
Tackling — This morning I have queued up a YouTube video on how to do horizontal mattress stitch. Honestly, it feels a bit daunting with all the “steps” because you bind off X stitches at the beginning of the row for X rows… which creates a series of steps. If I knit this sweater again, I will contemplate doing some knitting math and do some short rows to create the shoulder slant, which would allow me to bind off the row in its entirety (making seaming easier, I think…)
Reading — This week has been a banner week. First, I was finally “next in line” for Uncommon Ground and I stayed up a bit too late reading the past two nights – my plan for today is to get those shoulders seamed and then knit some mindless stockinette and read! Yesterday, I completed my Summer Book Bingo card with the finish of Ian McEwan’s Saturday. A brilliant way to finish my card… I just love his writing. And it is a book that will “sit with me” for some time.
(not) Growing — This summer will likely go down as the worst year ever for growing things. My vegetable garden has been a serious disappointment this year… I planted beans, some peppers, tomatoes, summer squash, and zucchini. Lots of things that are just not producing anything. Half of the zucchini have produced nothing… and this morning I noted that one plant has two zucchini starting… so maybe? The summer squash provided only 3 squash… and it appears there will be no more. Normally, I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with but it looks like I will be lucky to get a dozen tomatoes from 6 plants. I am holding out hope for some beans (to date, I have picked 5… that’s right, five beans) because I have blooms (again) so maybe this time I will get some beans. The peppers have had flowers, but no production beyond the flowers. One might think that my problem is bees… or the lack thereof. This is not the case… I have bees galore! So I am not certain what the problem is and Steve is now complaining about wasting water on a garden that is not producing.
(over) Grown — We made a decision earlier this year to not trim the bushes in the back yard in the spring, but rather cut them back significantly this fall. I worried about how “unkempt” the riot of bushes would look like, but I never imagined that those untrimmed bushes would be the source of some surprising visitors this summer! I usually hang a couple of hummingbird feeders, but had not gotten them out yet when the warnings went out about not feeding birds this summer… I was disappointed, because it is just so much fun to see hummingbirds from our porch. But, I never imagined the volume of birds that would flock to our Rose of Sharon… time spent watering in the yard is a joy with all the hummers zooming around. I have seen more of them this summer *with no feeders* than I ever did with feeders. This has caused me to reconsider garden beds and things that need pruning to “look good” … some good food for thought for the fall and winter!
Counting — Nine weeks from today we leave for Michigan. And while it seems like eons away… I know it will be here sooner than I think. I just can’t wait… although I have some trepidations about the trip (thank you, Delta Variant) My fervent hope is that both PA and MI will continue to stay out of the “red zone” as they currently are!
And there you have my “current” thoughts. I hope that you all have a great weekend and I will see you back here next week!
by Kat | May 17, 2021 | General, In This Moment
…is a respite from The Very, Very, Incredibly Busy Weekend.
It was full. So full.
My weekend started with some al Fresco-soak in the sunshine-sip a couple of beers dining. Yes, sunshine!! Temperatures that were well above freezing! Gosh, it felt so good and was the perfect way to welcome the weekend!
Saturday we headed out to find some asparagus (we didn’t) and get plants for both the flower containers and the vegetable garden (we got a few…sigh). Our local vegetable/garden center was a huge disappointment. A huge, gigantic disappointment. They had plants… lots of the same kind of plants. Perfect if you want pink petunias in every container. Less than perfect if that was not the look you were going for. Oh… and there was not one single impatien. So… on my list this week is to get out to another greenhouse for some variety for our shaded patio!
The remainder of the weekend we spent working on some major changes to the current garden beds. We lost a couple of shrubs over the winter, which has given us the opportunity to rework a couple of garden beds. Plus I have a few things that needed dividing… and once we started, we just kept on going… until we were about ready to fall over on Sunday afternoon! (and no, we did not finish, but the remaining little garden beds just need a wee bit of weeding. Oh, and we need so.much.mulch…ugh)
So that brings me to Monday… my take a big breath and ease into a busy week day. On the top of my list is to give myself a little rescue manicure this morning. (a desperately needed manicure thanks to the weekend!)
And the only other thing on my list today is to put together a bag for tomorrow when I am helping at the polls for our election. It is an entirely local election for us this time and so it won’t be busy… (how sad is that!) I need to have some things to knit and some things to read so I need to get that sorted today.
I hope your Monday will be amazing no matter how many things you have on your list. I will see you back here on Wednesday (albeit a little later than usual) for some Unraveling!
by Kat | Jun 26, 2020 | General, In This Moment
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!
by Kat | Jun 22, 2020 | General, In This Moment
I discovered this weekend that there is a poem for Lamb’s Ear. As you can see, my garden has a sea of Lamb’s Ear! And it has an army of happy bees that spend their days marching the stalks to harvest every drop of nectar held within those “pink tongues”.
I swore off vegetable gardening after last year, but then the coronavirus changed what life looks like (at least from my perspective) And it made sense to put in a SAH Garden. Apparently, this was the plan of everyone else in the area as well because the nurseries were all cleaned out by Memorial Day Weekend. My choices were not usual, but perhaps that is a good thing. So new varieties of tomatoes are growing quickly and I even have some tomatoes growing on the plants! There are sweet peppers instead of spicy ones. And beans – yellow and green. One important key is that I planted what I can manage by myself, in case Steve bails on me again this year. Rather I should say, he has bailed. His gardening input was to add some fresh dirt to the beds. But, a garden planned for a solo gardener is not a burden at all.
My containers are not full of the usual things either, my thoughts are mixed on how they look right now. But I count myself lucky that there was one lone verbena left for me to get! The color is really lovely!
I am almost done with Clue Three of the TTL Mystery shawl… and my love grows for the design work! I will share photos on Wednesday – but it is the perfect pairing of yarn and pattern!
But!! I started swatching last night and I am very happy with my initial results. It needs a bit more knitting and then a nice bath. But, I think this yarn will work beautifully!
I hope your Monday is full of good things!
by Kat | Aug 2, 2019 | General, In This Moment
This first Friday in August just seems like the perfect time to do an “around here” post!
Around here – I am so happy to welcome August with its warm, sunny days – although there is a perceptible difference in the hours of daylight. It is no longer light out when I get up and the light is fading much earlier…BUT!!! We still have so much summer to enjoy and there is still lots of time for Al Fresco Happy Hours!
Around here – I will celebrate some special dates next week: the 8th would have been my paternal grandfather’s 112th birthday and the 10th will be the 26th anniversary of my Nana’s death. Both people were so influential in my life and I still miss them so much.
Left to right: my dad – Gordon, Grandpa John, Aunt Janice, Grandma, Uncle Kenneth As I recall, this photo was taken about 6 months before my Grandpa John died at age 62.
Heidi’s Baptism, left to right: My sister, Susan, my mom (holding Heidi) me holding Rachel, my ex, and finally, My Nana – Mae Huxhold How about those hair styles? I have permed hair – so awesome! Haha! This picture was taken about 3 years before my Nana died. I looked for a photo with her from Sam’s baptism – but there are no photos that include her and that makes me so sad. She avoided the camera – so photos that include her are rare.
Around here – I have happily reached the “little flowers” portion of my shawl and the end is in sight! Good thing because, as you can see above, I am well into the second half of my yarn! Also, a good thing because I am itching to cast on a new project! This crossed my radar last month and I have been bouncing it around in my brain for about a week now and I think going to Sock School sounds like the perfect thing to do and I might even learn something that will inspire me to knit more socks! Plus Carole’s finished socks really inspired me and I have a skein from Knitterly Things that needs to be socks in a bad way!
Vesper Sock Yarn in the “Happy Accident” colorway
Around here – I am picking more and more from my garden. I have a plethora of peppers that will make their way into our meals this week! I am also picking more than a handful of tomatoes each day as well and I am this.close to the raspberry apocalypse!
Around here – I have been surprised by some of the unexpected moments at the debates this week! Now, granted, there were way too many unsurprising moments, but those brief unexpected ones are standing out for me! But, best of all might be the post debate commentary – from Clorox discussions to how much “Moscow Mitch” hates his new moniker and I laughed at all of them, but this one… well, I am with Miranda Yaver!
And, there you have my brief but, hopefully spectacular “around here” moments! I hope today ushers in an amazing weekend for all of you and I will see you all back here on Monday!
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