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 | Mar 22, 2021 | General, In This Moment
Each morning I begin my day the same way…before I can just sit with my thoughts I take Sherman out. He is a fine and quiet companion in the early morning… and he does not mind my silence while I listen to The Writer’s Almanac podcast and this morning’s edition was just spectacular. It’s Billy Collins’ 80th birthday today and if you want to listen to Garrison read a lovely Billy Collins poem you can do that here!
Listening to poetry really is a very good thing to start my day.
Another good thing I listened to this week was this episode of On Being. I think I knew some of these things, but boy did it help to hear someone talk about the stresses we’ve been living with… and how do we re-emerge when this is all over.
The On Being discussion on stress really helped in light of a conversation I had about gauge on Saturday with Sarah and Jane. You might have read about Kym’s gauge struggles so I felt a little déjà vu when I sat down to swatch for the Daytripper Cardigan… a MaryJane Mucklestone design… which, by the way, is the same gauge as 3 other MaryJane Mucklestone sweaters I had previously knit. I got gauge on each of them with absolutely no issues. This time? oh boy. I have a stack of swatches to show how I struggled with it! First I thought just do some knitty maths and go with my original swatch… good in theory, but the maths and the sizing did not work out for me. End result, while I have not measured my last swatch this morning, pre-washing it was on gauge. That swatch? Knit with a US 11 needle… on the bright side, my sweater will knit up even faster now! So even in struggles as you work your way out good things can be found!
Another good thing was this photo my daughter shared… and I just laughed right out loud!
Vivi, the chicken wrangler!
Finally, buds are appearing on my forsythia and lilac bush in my yard. It makes me smile to see them! Happy Monday everyone! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Mar 15, 2021 | General, In This Moment
I haven’t done a “weekending” post in eons. Thank you, Pandemic Living for making weekends utterly unsharable! How many different ways can you say… ummm, we did the same thing as every other weekend.
Well, this weekend was the not like the previous weekends, so I thought it was “share-worthy”!
We started out on Friday heading off to IKEA… it was busy. So busy. Too busy. Pre-pandemic, I would not have even given a thought to all those people… but now? Being in a group of people is just not comfortable… so we rushed and did not get everything we came for…sigh. So we went back first thing on Saturday. However, we were smarter about our second trip. I looked up where the things were that we needed to get, made a list and we were in and out in less that 20 minutes and only saw 4 people. Why did we need to go to IKEA you ask? Well, we needed to replace our outdoor table and chairs. And we needed rubber backed rugs. The remainder of Saturday involved deconstructing the old patio furniture and building the new patio furniture. We also put the awning up on the pergola so we are ready to go on the next “moderately warm day” to eat outside. It was the perfect day to do all that work. It was sunny, but not at all warm. I wore a lopapeysa and was NOT too warm at all! We got a bigger table so I need to rethink the patio plants, but I am excited for the possibilities! Oh, and Sherman… well, as you can see he was took his supervisory role seriously, NOT! Ha…rather, he soaked up the sun and slept during the work. Thankfully, we completed the task with out his help! LOL
New table and benches!
I also picked up another Råskog cart from IKEA to give some semblance of order to my “spinning corner” in the living room. (versus having things just laying around on the various flat surfaces) I spent some time on Sunday putting it together and organizing it. I think this is going to be an excellent addition and I love that I can see things, but they are not laying around!
Everything in a place!
Finally, we purchased 8 rubber backed bathroom rugs. Yes…8. Why so many you ask? Well, recently Sherman has struggled to walk on the wood floors. He slips and falls all the time. So I had a conglomeration of rugs and/or towels down for him… but they slipped around almost as much as he did! So, now Sherman has a non-slip “path” to get from the dining room to the living room and he LOVES it! We probably won’t win any house decorating awards, but a happy pug makes me happy.
The Sherman Super Highway!
There was also a bit of Happy Houring, some corned beef cooking, and… perhaps best of all… I managed to get COVID vaccine appointments this afternoon for Steve’s dad, Steve, and myself! Shot one will soon be done and I am so incredibly happy about that! AND! We survived time-change (but back to zero-dark thirty to walk Sherman, sigh) Hahaha!
Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend too!
by Kat | Feb 1, 2021 | General, In This Moment
“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.” ― Pema Chödrön
I stumbled upon this quote this weekend and have been pondering it ever since. It rings true for me as this new month starts… life is not “passing the test” or overcoming the problem. There is no point when it suddenly all becomes easier, no apex moment to achieve with a reward of “down hill” ease. No, new tests/challenges keep popping up and there is always a new problem…always. Yet despite all of that, Pema’s wisdom in the continuity of things coming together and falling apart is somehow comforting.
Good things to keep in mind as my household approaches one year of Safer at Home… yes, we started in early February 2020. A year of being distant, masking up, and thinking about “is this trip absolutely necessary.” A habit now it seems, yet this weekend our discussions included frustration, disappointment, and longing for life before COVID.
The science reports on wearing two masks seems to echo Pema… things don’t really get solved.
But!! I had an interesting discussion about the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this weekend, and while it might not score as high as the currently available vaccines, it does boast a very impressive stat… preventing hospitalizations and deaths! More Pema echo’s….they come together.
The reminder for me this morning is that there is no “magic button” but rather a determination to keep on going and hope there is more coming together and less falling apart. (Or if they do fall apart, may they be easily fixed!)
Finally, in these socially distant times there was some most excellent coming together… a small group of fiber enthusiasts got together Saturday afternoon via the wonder of the internet and we spent time spinning, and talking, and laughing, and sharing. We have plans to meet twice a month… and if you’d like to join us, you would absolutely be welcome!
Happy Monday, everyone! See you all back here for some unraveling on Wednesday!
by Kat | Nov 9, 2020 | General, In This Moment
Every election is determined by the people who show up. — Larry J. Sabato, Pendulum Swing
There was no magic at all in last week’s election, it was simply counting the votes of the people who showed up! (and show up they did!) But I fear we will need some magic to heal the rift in this nation.
There is absolutely something magical about transforming a bit of fiber into yarn. I spent quite a bit of time on Thursday ignoring the news media and instead I focused on plying my singles! I did this while watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. It is was so good! That combination – spinning and watching – was the perfect diversion from the angst of the day! I am happy with the end results, although it needs a bit more twist, which is, thankfully, easily fixed!
It’s not perfect, but I love how it turned out.
The other simply magical thing has been the weather these past few days! Sunny, cloudless skies and mild temps meant that we braved the “world” and sat outside (in NOVEMBER!!) and enjoyed lunch and some beers at Spoonwood Brewing. It was the perfect way to wind down the week (and eating wings is not conducive to doom scrolling on your phone…lol)
The other magical thing of the weekend was this soup!! (I hope the link works…if not, let me know) What an unexpected treat! The rice makes the broth so silky. It is my new favorite Chicken Soup with Rice!
And finally, two last simply magical things.
This one is just so awesome!
And this…
Make some Monday Magic people! See you all back here tomorrow with my look back on October!
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