by Kat | Aug 21, 2025 | General, Poetry
There are some too many days when the overwhelms of the world are so heavy I can’t even manage to open a book of poetry for a moment of respite. In these moments, the best thing I can do is to step outside for a moment or ten… even in the heat, even in the humidity, even with horrendous air quality… and just sit.
I don’t bring my phone or a book… I leave all distractions inside and just sit on my porch and allow the outside to seep into my inside. It has become a little act of escape that I partake of when everything is just too much.
The poem I have selected for August’s Gathering of Poetry speaks to allowing the outside to seep into our insides.
An Apple Tree Was Concerned
by Daniel Ladinsky
after Hafiz
An apple tree told me it was concerned about
a late frost and losing its gift that would help
feed a poor family close by.
And then there were the jams and lots of
apple butter that could be made in a banner
crop year
when the clouds were generous with what
fell from them and the sun rationed itself
with precision.
They can speak, trees, they can say the sweetest
things, and can even tell a joke,
but it takes special ears to hear them, ears
that have listened to people…with great
care.
An Apple Tree Was Concerned from A Year with Hafiz: Daily Contemplations, Copyright © 2011, 2012 by Daniel James Ladinsky.
You can read more about Mr. Ladinsky here.
A huge thanks to Bonny for providing a landing space for us this month!
Header photo by Tom Swinnen
by Kat | Aug 20, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dearest Unraveler’s!
I have a second baby blanket finished!! I am quite happy with both of them and will be weaving in the ends later today so they can have a bit of a bath and then a tumble dry. I will be casting on this morning for my first Welcome to the Flock sweater! I will be making two pink sweaters and one green. And as you can see, I have a variety of choices for sheep colors! It will be my first time using Knitpicks Swish, which says it is machine washable. I will be making a swatch that I will “test wash” to see how it does. Keep your fingers crossed!
I am going to knit the sleeves for these little cardigans a bit differently… my plan is to do them as Julia did… two at once. I have printed out the pattern and notated it for the size I am knitting. Now all that is preventing me from casting on is to swatch for gauge!
I left Bruno in France and headed to England to spend some time with Susan Ryeland as she solves another mystery. I have just begun, so I have no thoughts yet on this third installment in the series.
At night, I am reading The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce. I am about 2/3’s through and am very much caught up in this family story… it is full of characters you’d like to dislike… but somehow, I am not disliking them at all. I am enjoying peeling back the layers to discover the secrets each character is holding.
What about you? What are you making or reading this week?
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by Kat | Aug 19, 2025 | General, Making
It’s been very slow stitching week at my house… very, very slow! One would think that a basic shape like the double doors of the spring “house” would be one of the easiest bits of the entire project.
Ha… it might be if the stitcher could count correctly! (and gentle readers… that is a big IF!)
Somehow…I am off a half a thread on the right side of the door… which carried on to the next row in… for a few “rounds.” I did not notice this until I came back to cross the “x”
This bothered me for about an hour as I set the stitching down to contemplate my inability to count over two-threads! I crossed a few “x’s” and then sat the stitching back down. When I returned the next day I could not easily discern that half the “x” was just a thread off… so I tucked into “done is better than perfect” and stitched on.
I also might have imagined Vivi holding this piece… as she gallops away on her horse. Yeah… no one will ever notice! I stitch on!
Vera is always sharing such fun photos of the doe with her two fawns in her yard. Vera is wise to carry her phone with her … as you have read above… I am not so wise. Last Thursday morning… in the torrential downpour… I took Frankie out against his wishes (he does not mind the rain, but a torrential downpour… not so much.) We surprised a fawn who was hiding in the shrubs. No, I did not have my camera… but the poor thing tried to move away through the thicket of bushes so we exited the back yard to wait out the rain so Frankie could conclude his “business.” Later that morning… again without my camera… we “surprised” the doe as she came to collect her fawn. I am not sure who was more surprised… her or Frankie! Ha! The fawn was still covered with spots and quite adorable!
Perhaps I need to get myself some pjs with pockets so I have my phone with me!
Happy Tuesday everyone! (Also… for all the Word Peep’s… next Monday, August 25th is our update day!)
by Kat | Aug 18, 2025 | General, In This Moment
August rain: the best of summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time. — Sylvia Plath
There has been some August rain recently here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh…which has been extremely welcome because things are dry, dry, dry.
August also dramatically takes away daylight… we lose 70 minutes of daylight between the 1st and the 31st… sigh. Although, those August rains coupled with slower sunrises have made for some beautiful orange skies on my walks last week. I will date myself, but as I amble about with Sherman, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds plays in the soundtrack of my mind…Marmalade skies are glowing around me and it is quite delightful. The birdsong has diminished on our early morning walks so that soundtrack has no competition! Ha!
May your Monday usher in a week that has some bright spots and perhaps some “marmalade skies”! See you all back here tomorrow with a stitching update!
by Kat | Aug 13, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
I confess it makes me the tiniest bit happy that we are almost halfway through August! The yard has gone from green and growing to something quite the opposite of that… it is brown and quite crunchy to walk on! And I am now rising long before the sun does… I am reminding myself to savor the light because by month’s end there will be even less of it!
I have passed the halfway point of blanket number two! It does not quite feel “downhill” but I am enjoying seeing just a few balls of yarn to go in the knitting bag! My son and daughter-in-law have had a couple of hiccups in their lives recently… some flooding thanks to the onslaught of rains that Wisconsin got recently. They have been battling water in their basement and now the great dry out is going on. They really could use a dehumidifier… but so does most of the Milwaukee area, so finding one has been a bit tricky. However, this is not the thing most troubling in their lives right now. The twins are too small, they are only in the 8th percentile, so my daughter-in-law is now seeing a new doctor for high risk pregnancies. If you could hold them in your thoughts, I would much appreciate it. Someday, I will tell the twins about all the love, care, and concern that each stitch in these blankets hold.
I have gotten a bit behind on my August daily stitching, but I have been working on getting myself back on track from my lapse. I am contemplating what I would like to do next year, and I recently read about a Tabula Rasa stitching project. It has fascinated me… especially this quote by Pierre Janet: “Every life is a piece of art, put together with all means available.” I have purchased the fabric for next year – some vintage French Métis I got long before the tariffs were a thing. Originally, I thought I’d do another whole cloth year of stitching… but my mind is imagining a year of stitching like a scroll. I have lots of time to contemplate still… I love the contemplation process!
The reading this week has returned me to the French countryside with Chief Bruno. When nothing else works… he is a marvelous distraction! I also raced through the latest in the Gabriel Allon series. I enjoyed it. I also listened to Amity Gaige’s Heartwood, which was so-so for me. I listened to it… but I think it might have been better to read this one with my eyes.
How is August unfolding for you all?
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