It has been a full week… a bit too full perhaps and next week does not look much better! But even in “not busy” weeks it is so easy to get bogged down by the Tsunami of Chaos that is barreling down on us each day. I have found it crucial to identify things saving my life right now… I thought I’d share a few of them with you!
I have been trying to get back to my old morning meditation time… not the easiest with a boisterous puppy! But he is getting older and I can handle his “bone chewing” in the silence… especially since he puts up with me sometimes reading poetry out loud to him (and whoever else is listening!) The thing I most noted in this very busy week… the mornings I missed any meditation time led to a day that was more stressful.
Has bone, will stay put!
I have even managed to do some quick watercolors and it feels good! Water brushes certainly help with the quick factor… a quick spritz of the paints to moisten them and I am off and painting. I would like to expand the time a bit and do something a bit more involved… but for right now, the fact that I have picked up a brush again is a very good thing!
Margaret Renkl’s Leaf, Cloud, Crow is a fantastic morning companion as well. Her prompts are inspiring and if you ever told me I’d become a “backyard journalist” I’d have laughed… but I am even getting better at drawing those pesky squirrels that visit my yard!
Finally, getting outside each day (multiple times each day!) is such a good thing! Snow, wind, cold, sunshine… it is all good. I just adjust my “level of bundledness” and we (Frankie and I) head out the door. He is even … slowly… getting better at walking on the leash (versus yanking me down the street!) These bursts outside are such a balm to my mental health… and I can tell you that in the past ten days, I have noted an increase in birdsong, especially two wrens that are engaged in “song wars”! They are so vociferous that even Frankie stops to listen to them!
And with that… I am going to let this Friday unfold as it will! What is saving your life right now?
My doctors appointment on Monday did indeed result in more appointments (one surprised me with the urgency… I see specialist #1, the ENT, next Tuesday. I assumed my stomach issues would mean I would see a gastroenterologist…but nope, I am seeing an ENT because I am having some major issues swallowing.) The second specialist, a urogynocologist, is not as urgent an issue and I have made an appointment with them as well. And despite the “state of the country” my blood pressure was phenomenal… now I just hope my bloodwork is equally good (I go Friday morning to get that done!)
I am allowing my making this week to take credit for my low, low blood pressure! That’s right… I am in making Nirvana right now. My year long whole cloth stitching is making me so happy! As you can see, January is all done and I am right on track with February.
January stitching, done!
February's beginning!
Flying Geese... two ways!
My take on the 9-patch pattern
Up next!
And my 100 Day Stitch Book is also a thing of joy! Pages two and three are done! Page two is part of the two page spread on the Flying Geese quilt pattern. Page three is my take on the nine-patch pattern. I have pulled fabrics for page four, but have yet to cut any shapes. I got this fun book from my library because I was inspired by the quilting that Laura does here. I will find a block to emulate and cut shapes shortly and begin stitching. I also have my next “two page spread” set in my mind… it will revolve around the log cabin pattern!
Lest you think that I have abandoned knitting… fear not! As you can see in the header photo, I have departed for delight journey to Sleeve Island! Sleeve knitting that has no decreases and clever cables every 10 rows to keep your place… pure genius! I hope to have sleeve one finished momentarily and begin sleeve two shortly after that! Then all that remains is the front bands… I am feeling a sense of urgency because there is only so much “sweater weather” left this season!
The reading this week is so good… I am listening to There are Rivers in the Sky and loving it! I am just over a third of the way through and it is a delight story to meander through. I am happy to report that I “caught up” all my missing book reviews this week… a task that was not at all painful thanks to the book notes I have been making as I read.
I also began the RWU March book selection, a re-read of The Secret History. I was so surprised at the things I am noting with this read! I am even more excited to discuss this book!
I had one Netgalley finish last week that I have not stopped thinking about The Garden by Nick Newman. The description is what drew me in to request it. The story though… I could barely put it down at night. If I was not reading it, I was thinking about it… wondering what might happen next. The book will be published on February 18th and if you like a twisty bit of a mystery, you might very much enjoy this book! (And are there twists!!) The book happens at an unnamed time in the not too distant future and while I can see that it has been “categorized” on Goodreads as: Dystopian, Apocalyptic, and Horror… I would not place it firmly in any of those categories. It is really about the lives of two sisters… and what happens when another person is suddenly inserted into their lives. It is about beliefs and the fears that are based on things you were told. If you are in need of a book to shake up your reading… The Garden might be it!
How about you all? What are you excited about this month?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below!
February is the border between winter and spring. — Terri Guillemets
And that border became very visible in my backyard over the weekend! Why you ask? Well, those daffodil bulbs I planted 2 years ago… colossally huge daffs… are poking leaves through the dirt and well-decayed mulch! Likewise, the allium’s that the rabbits love have also poked some green shoots up… only to be nibbled by said rabbits. Sigh.
Yes, Welcome February!!
However, my much wiser and less eager snowdrops have yet to poke their wee little leaves through the myrtle that holds them safe.
I have a short-ish list this month… apt for a short-ish month (that I am hoping does not feel as long as January felt!!)
Clean out the refrigerator… sigh.
I will cross off “Visit my doctor” today! However, I think this appointment will trigger a couple of additional appointments. Sigh. But, ignoring problems does not make them go away… so yes, I am putting my “big girl panties on” this morning and doing a bit of adulting.
And, if things one and two were not enough… I would like to get our taxes done this month. (perhaps while there is still a somewhat functional IRS)
I figure that with this line up I won’t have much spare time to stress over what chaos the Orange Ogre unleashes this month…. and perhaps that is a good thing.
I sincerely hope that your February does not include any problematic things… and it is a month of sunshine, roses, and chocolates for you all!
Happy Monday, see you all back here on Wednesday!!
Being a person with an overly large case of ophidiophobia… I am not certain I will be celebrating “the year of the snake” but I did not know that this year is considered “transitional” and prepares the way to the year of the dragon, which is next year! And there you have a bit of trivia to carry you into February.
My thoughts have mainly been focused on stitching… particularly my 100 Stitch Book. I am going to try some “two page spreads” this time… and my first grouping is around the Flying Geese quilt pattern. I have page one done … just simple triangles of geese flying, with some rogue out of formation “stitched” geese. And you can see my beginnings for the part two page. The loose tree and “geese” will be stitched on last.
Page One, complete… Page 2, in progress.
Also. as up can see above, Frankie has had some “stretches” of time where I have taken the cone off, thus allowing me to get back to knitting. (AND as of Tuesday, he is COLLAR FREE!!) That great “greige” blob is the almost finished body of a Bolin Cardigan! This pattern is, so far, a delight to knit. I am eager to get to the sleeves… which are “up next.” I am doing the wide sleeves, but a shorter length than the pattern calls for. I have a sweatshirt with similar sleeves that I will be using that for my guide.
Now for some Knitting Inspiration from Norah Gaughan. I saw this not once but twice this week and I cannot get it out of my head! I might even be playing around with colors as well…
The reading this week has been powerful. I finished Wright Thompson’s The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi. This is one of the best books I have ever read. Period. I listened to the author read it to me. Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half… a place that I knew nothing about before I began The Barn. Now it is a place along I have not stopped thinking about since I finished it. A place with a history that I, sadly, knew nothing about. Thompson has changed that… dramatically. If you are looking for a book that will not be an easy read but will change your life… this is that book. Thompson weaves together history in a masterful way… revealing connections that astounded me. Really… read this book!!
There you have my week. What about you? How has your January making and reading been?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
Welcome to all of you who are focusing on a word for the year… I hope that your January start helped your settle your feet on the path of your year and even it the path is bumpy now, I know it will smooth out soon! The link up is at the bottom of this post!
January with a new word is always my favorite month of the journey! It is normally a time that I spend looking up definitions of my word and learning about the basics of my word. I also make a bit of a list based on those definitions of where I’d like to go with my word … yes, my ideas of where the word and I will go. Please note, this is generally NOT where the word takes me, but in my nature to control the narrative… I do try.
But…
There is no definition for Yutori in the English language so my beginning was bumpy right from the start. I did, however, find a “definition” on the inter webs:
yu • to • ri (noun) The conscious act of slowing down to allow me to savor the world around me. The refusal to rush. No talking(!!) Just absorbing the world around me with no goal except to look and (most importantly for me) to listen.
Then I wrote down a list of Yutori Ideas that flowed from this rough definition. Things I wanted to explore, try on, perfect… sort of.
The biggest “aha” for me from this list was this:
Stepping away from the urge to multitask.
Yeah… that is a thing I do all.the.time. My life is one long multitask. I am not sure multitasking is a thing I should be proud of and this year, I plan to find out how it feels to NOT multitask anything! To savor a task… for the task itself.
Second to stepping away from multitasking is for me to find comfort in silence. I don’t need “a background noise” all the time… but I always have “a noise” going to fill the silence. Case in point… I can’t just sit and knit quietly, I need to either listen to an audiobook or watch television. Why? I don’t know… perhaps this habit is the result of needing a sound to “drown out” my tinnitus. However, with my hearing aids in, I do not notice the tinnitus at all… so the need for noise is not tied to that.
However, I noted that I do not listen to or watch anything when I am stitching. The stitching is the one activity that my entire brain is engaged with… I can’t listen and remember what I listened to when I stitch. And I love the silence of those minutes of stitching.
My list has a few other things, but my biggest takeaways were these two items. If I can conquer them… I will have achieved something big!
January… it’s a tremulous start, but I will take it!
What about you? How did your January go… was your start rough? Or smooth?
I am taking a page from Kym and will be occasionally sharing the hope I find in my days with you all… perhaps my hope will inspire your hope as Kym’s hope has certainly inspired mine!
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. — Martin Luther
This morning’s 15°F felt downright balmy in comparison to this week’s bitterly cold temps and I felt hope. And that bit of hope increased as Frankie and I observed the tiniest beginnings of light in the east… yes, that light is returning and the lengthening days are noticeable as January winds down.
We have had snow cover that stayed on the ground since the beginning of the month! That snow cover increases my hope because even though it makes walking Frankie multiple times a day a bit more challenging… I loved the hushed quality that a snow covered neighborhood has and the crunching of the snow as I walk… normal winter things! And let’s face it… I love wearing woolly socks and sweaters and hats and mittens! Knitting is the penultimate thing of hope!
So is gardening and as I look out at my snow covered yard and think about the bulbs that are tucked away under that snowy cover… and I have hope!
And as you can see… Inside my house is not without hope either! A couple of weeks ago my littlest Christmas Cactus began to sprout a flower bud! And the bigger cactus seemed to jump on the bandwagon and sprout all sorts of buds! Hope is a thing with… petals! Those delicate little pale pink blooms have given me lots of hope!
Hope also comes with a pup that for several weeks now has been sleeping entirely through the night. I worried that post surgery this trend would revert to a middle of the night potty run… but nope, sleeping through the night has continued! Hope is much more hopeful with a good nights sleep!
And there you have some glimpses of hope in my January days. Have a great weekend everyone and I will see you back here on Monday with the link up for our word updates!
