by Kat | Feb 28, 2025 | Aging Gracefully, General
It has been A Week, friends. A Week.
Let’s start with the highs, shall we?
On Monday afternoon, I had my first visit with the delightful Dr. Napoe. She is a urogynocologist and I can’t believe my good fortune in meeting with her. Dr. Napoe is a most excellent listener and the first thing she did was ask my permission to use an AI app to record our conversation so she could be fully focused on me versus having to type notes as we talked. (Yay technology!) She was kind, attentive, and so easy to talk to… she “double clicked” often. It was a profoundly meaningful conversation… I felt very seen and heard.
Now for the lows… (and trust me the lows have won the week…)
My reason for a visit with Dr. Napoe is that I have been having some significant trouble “going” if you get my drift. As in I rarely “feel the need to go” and when I do… trying to get “started” is a Herculean Task. I have always had a “shy bladder” … using a public restroom is really no fun at all for me. Silly? Yes but knowing it is silly does not make much difference.
I figured that I would need a somewhat full bladder for the appointment, and I was right, but little did I know that I almost always have a somewhat full bladder! After a very thorough and, at times, embarrassingly frank conversation, she “scanned” my bladder and then off to the bathroom I went… (only to struggle to “go”) to then be scanned again… with the same volume as the first scan. She also did an exam and discovered, or perhaps confirmed, her suspicions from our conversation – tight, spasming muscles in my pelvic floor. I am not ever emptying my bladder (It is called Post Void Residual) and so we then talked about the “next steps”…
Silly me for thinking there would be some magic solution… alas no. I was prescribed PT (who knew there was PT for peeing…certainly not) but the first available appointment was not until the end of April. So until then, I have reverted to very early childhood… I am on “timed voids” until further notice. Yep… timed voids people. Every 2-3 hours during the day I am “going” whether I need to or not (an unexpected bonus for this activity is an increase in “stair climbing”)
And I am now keeping a Bladder Diary. Sigh.
She also suggested more relaxation… meditation… calming thoughts. I would laugh at this… if I was not so frustrated. Relax and Pee are not words I would ever use together in a sentence… but there you have it!
Getting old is not for the faint of heart, dear friends…
And I wish us all (myself included) a good weekend!
by Kat | Feb 26, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and happy last Wednesday of February!
It has been a month, hasn’t it? February in Pittsburgh contained almost all the seasons… we had rain and warmer temps and we had a good bit of snow and the month is ending on a rather warm week (we are heading to the 50’s today if the weatherperson is right!) But despite all the precipitation, there was also a good bit of sunshine and coupled with the visibly lengthening days… and that is a very good thing!
I am ready for March though… very ready!
I managed to finish the Bolin Cardigan… but… it has some issues. Sigh. I need to shorten the sleeves because I did not take into account the amount the shoulders would grow when being worn. Why? I believe the shoulder join is the culprit… yes, the 3-needle bind off is easy but it gives zero structure to a very unstructured garment with an incredibly drapey fabric. I should have bound off each shoulder and seamed them… that would have provided some much needed structure (or at least more than what it has now.) (Note… when I joined the shoulders and tried on the sweater, they shoulders did not sit at my elbows… where they do with sleeves attached) I also need to remove the button band and reknit it with fewer stitches. I do not like how high it sits on my neck. So there will be some alterations in the future but I am wearing it now with the cuff rolled back one cuff-length. However, all that being said … and knowing what alterations I would make knitting this again… I want to do just that… knit it again! I honestly think that a version in Lettlopi – held solo and sans sleeve cables, would be the perfect layering piece!
My finished, but in need of help Bolin. Imagine also, the outside three ribs removed from the button band!
The shoulders are a major culprit for the problems…
As you can see, the blanket knitting is making headway in the header photo… but stitching remains my life-saving force! My two daily stitching projects are always on my mind! I have just 3 more days to go and February will be complete! But I have not stopped thinking about those delightful little EPP hexies… I have a big bag of scraps and I have punched out a good number of hexie “blanks” on heavier weight paper… my plan is to practice the basting method in the evenings and see how I like that compared to glueing.
Pages 5 and 6… these were just so fun! I so enjoyed learning about Boro!
This week’s reading though… oh my! I finished Ann Cleeve’s newest mystery (coming in March!) and it was so good! There were a good amount of twists and turns and I did not figure out “who did it” before it was revealed! This mystery is solved in a rather communal way… and it was delightful! I really enjoy Ann’s mysteries series and I think that Inspector Ramsay will be one with whom it would most enjoyable to spend time with! And it is very good to still be in Northumberland!
I also finished Alice Hoffman’s When We Flew Away… and I loved it…so much!! The “what if” of Anne Frank’s life before she and her family closed the door to the annex was delightful! Hoffman really showcases Anne being just an ordinary girl… it was such perfection. The story is captivating and the ending is so powerful.
And that, my friends, is my week of making and reading!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 24, 2025 | General, Words
Dear February… for such a short month you sure are feeling incredibly long!
Yes, this month I began to work on what I have now confirmed will be the most challenging aspect of Yutori…at least for me… the embrace of silence.
Never miss a good chance to shut up! — Will Rogers
Truer words were never spoken… sigh. Back in the day I had a boss who shared a “sales tip” about silence… “he who speaks first… loses.” I was not comfortable with the silence then… and not much has changed since then. Silence is challenging for me.
But I tried to approach it from a different angle… listening more… and by listening, I mean actual, active listening. (not “reactive listening“) Big news… this was as much a challenge in my house as settling in with silence.
However, I did make some big changes to my “normal routine” and while it was still a struggle, it did get a bit easier. The Biggest Change… no audiobook in my ears for any walks with Frankie… instead be focused on listening to the change in the sounds around me. As you might imagine, my very early walk with Frankie is almost completely silent… no cars, no birds, no planes (we are in a flight path of the Pittsburgh Airport) and it is just the most amazing time… the only sounds are the ones Frankie and I make as we amble along. It has become my favorite time of the day… we even heard what I think was likely a coyote early one morning… something I would have missed if a narrator was talking in my ears! No other walk has the same silence… the noises of the day are companions as we amble along… kids shouting, cars coming and going, so many planes (which have their own hilarious quality… Frankie is fascinated by them and he watches them as they soar over head as they prepare to land at the airport!)
There has been a marked increase in birdsong as February has inched along! I can listen to “territory wars” from a plethora of birds! I am thankful that the birds are reminding me that spring is coming… and they are preparing for it by picking the perfect spot to “claim” as their own for nesting season!
I reinforced my return to “morning quiet time” … at least on the mornings Steve is not home… sigh. Quiet with Steve home is a challenge. But I have managed to stretch quiet mornings 4 days a week to a magnificent 40-50 minutes! My journals are reflecting this really excellent silence… now it is not totally silent… I can hear the hum of the refrigerator, and the furnace, and, most recently, the wild wintry winds… companions to the scratch of my pen as I write.
I’ve begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own. — Chaim Potok
I still have miles to go on finding comfort in the silence, but I have made what I hope is a good start and that start will, hopefully, be the foundation I build on as the year progresses!
So I ask this question to all of you who are examining what a word might bring to your days… what did you learn this month as you contemplated your words?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below!
by Kat | Feb 20, 2025 | General, Poetry
Confession time… I completely forgot today is the Third Thursday, so I have hastily gathered a poem to share with you all today.
Really, it’s a poem for me especially because I sure as hell could use a bit more kindness in my days. And of course, a poet must have had the same struggles… but they made sense of what I am missing. I am grateful to Danusha Laméris for gathering a small dose of kindness I can consume with my cup of coffee.
Thank you, Bonny for kindly gathering us all together this month. Stop by and inject your day with a slice of poetry!
Small Kindnesses
Danusha Laméris
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers will say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these b brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”
Small Kindnesses from Bonfire Opera. Copyright © 2020 by Danusha Laméris.
Happy Thursday, everyone. Stay warm and I will see you all back here on Monday!
Header photo by Jason Villanueva
by Kat | Feb 19, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
February is moving along… but not fast enough… sigh. I am so over the never-ending overload of BS… days that feel like weeks… and trying to stay focused on something positive seems a Herculean effort most days.
Thank goodness for making! Stitching continues to bring me joy… I have another page completed and have begun what will be a set of pages with the focus of Japanese mending. As you can see I have a bowl that I am doing some “kintsugi” stitching on. I will be adding in a few more “repairs.” The next page in the set will have a focus on boro stitching. I am enjoying the Japanese stitching rabbit hole… and I’d like to thank Laura of Daily Fiber for being the inspiration for these pages!
On the left are the delightful EPP hexies… and on the right my nod to Japanese Kintsugi.
I am close on a finished Bolin Cardigan… close, but not quite there yet. I while the rows are short, I will confess that it is a bit cumbersome flipping back and forth. I should have done the button band before I knit the sleeves. Note for any who might knit this in the future to jump ahead and finish the button band before you knit the sleeves! I will be happy when I am done and I can be wearing this delightful sweater though! The fabric is just scrumptious… the combination of Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze are a match made in heaven!
Then it’s back to the blanket knitting, and for those who asked, I am using the exact yarn colors that Hélène used… but I want to swatch for this vest in the coming days (thank you, Sarah for bringing this pattern to my radar!) I would like to use Holst Coast… a cotton/wool blend. I love this yarn… it wears like iron, does not pill, and works for almost all the seasons!
The reading this week is saving my life! I finished Hisham Matar’s memoir, The Return. I absolutely love Matar’s writing and his memoir was moving and so educational. I know almost nothing about Libya, but his memoir made me see Libya in a different light… which is a very good thing. I immediately got on the (long) waitlist for his follow up to The Return, A Month in Siena.
At night, I am fortunate to be immersed in a new Ann Cleeve’s mystery. A mystery that ushers in a new series! A Lesson in Dying introduces us in a round about way to Inspector Ramsay. I loved Ann’s forward explaining the method to this novel… and I am really enjoying the mystery!
That is all I have for today… what about you? What’s holding your attention these days?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
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