by Kat | 6 days ago | General, In This Moment
The weather people are telling us that it is supposed to be the tiniest bit cooler this week… a good thing because last week I was certain we had truly arrived at the “hell on earth” stage of existence. These scorching hot days are my least favorite thing of all… truly. We are supposed to get a bit of a break this week… fingers crossed that prediction is accurate!
I am having to rework my to do list a bit today… there won’t be any laundry on the line today (thanks to a forecast of “all day rain” with a 90+% humidity out…) So instead a day of mostly indoor tasks and if I hurry I might be able to finish Sleeve Number Two on my Airy Ranunculus! A finished sweater would be so lovely to share with you all on Wednesday!
What about you? Are you surviving the heat?
by Kat | Jun 22, 2026 | General, In This Moment
Between the dusk of a summer night
And the dawn of a summer day,
We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,
And we bade it stoop and stay.
(From Praeludium, XXII by W. E. Henley)
Yesterday brought the arrival of summer… days you’d really hope to pause, inhale deeply, and linger. However, if you know me… then you know summer is my least favorite time… and really, what I hate is AC. I much prefer having the windows open perhaps with a fan running. I am going to try and spend less time in the AC and more time out-of-doors. (And for those moments that I absolutely have to be inside… well, my Ranunculus is just flying! Sleeves have been divided off and I am racing down the body… AND I AM STILL ON THE FIRST SKEIN OF YARN… WHAT?!? Photo coming Wednesday!)
I am also still on the “high” of last week’s amazing opening of The Obama Presidential Center. (Michelle Norris had the most amazing special Friday night: Hope Comes Home.) Anyways, it is a place I want need to see and it has gone on my list of places to visit soon!
And so here we are on the first Monday of summer and my big plans for the day? To “win the war” with the squirrels who have decided that it’s their job to “unplant” the pots on the patio.
See you all back here on Wednesday!
P.S. For those who wanted to join in on the NYTimes Summer Challenge… sorry I missed last week! This week you get a two-fer! Last week’s Better Sleep Tips as well as this week’s 90’s Style Hangout (sans phones!) And for those wondering… yes, I am leaving my phone behind on walks. It has been incredibly delightful!
Header photo by Chris Abney on Unsplash
by Kat | Jun 8, 2026 | General, In This Moment
Hello dear friends and Happy Monday!
Today I am sharing three things that have lifted my spirits recently and lord knows… we all could use a LOT more of that!
Lift Number One:
Entirely by chance, I discovered a new podcast recently… which has led me down the rabbit hole of Toni Morrison! I have read very little one of Ms. Morrison’s works but this podcast has spurred me on to read more of what she has written. I think making this summer the Summer with Toni Morrison could be a very good idea! I have a few things I am currently reading to finish up and then I am clearing the decks to read some of her work. Perhaps you have read Toni Morrison… I think you will find the podcast discussions fascinating. Or maybe, like me, you have very little knowledge of how amazing a writer Morrison was… the podcast is a great starting point to Morrison’s writing! (And I am on the waitlist for Serpell’s new book, On Morrison!)
Lift Number Two:
The NYTimes has a bit of a Summer Challenge going over the next four weeks and I will be sharing each week’s update with you all here. Week One: Get Outdoors! I really love this bit: put your phone down and just go outside for 20 minutes each day! I go outside frequently but rarely do I head out without my phone but I will be doing that at least once on my treks outside. I hope you will join me in putting down the technology and just being in the out of doors… even if (or especially since) summer decided to arrive with all the heat and humidity in full force over the weekend.
Lift Number Three:
I don’t know about you, but I have been entirely dreading any thoughts of celebrating July 4th… My thoughts have been focused on this: What on earth is there to celebrate? Leave it to Heather Cox Richardson for bringing a tiny celebration… yes, one that you need technology for but the celebrations are short and sweet! (I have been queuing them up to play once a week as a companion while I wash dishes… I listen versus watch!) Week One in 250 to 250 is here and Week Two is here. (these are all on YouTube if that is easier for you) I like the idea of highlighting the people that have made this nation what it is versus the nation itself. (I find the nation entirely flawed right now… perhaps it always has been… I don’t know but that is a conversation for another post!) Anyways, I have been enjoying these tiny bites into the people, places, and animals… (yes, there is a bit on Man O’ War) who make up the fabric of America!
And there you have it, gentle friends… some “things” to give your week a lift! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Jun 1, 2026 | General, In This Moment
Brings a new month…
June is the time for being in the world in new ways, for throwing off the cold and dark spots of life. — Joan D. Chittister
As I tuck May away, I am mourning a bit because it was such an amazing month. But Joan Chittister’s idea on June is so enticing and as I checked this morning… yes, my life definitely has some dark spots… and thinking about the the idea of “being in the world in new ways”… Yes, I believe I am ready to step into June.
I have some new books to ease into the month with! A new poetry book: A Nature Poem for Every Summer Evening that begins today. And so I will shake up my day again… and that change is giving me something to look forward to… a bit of quiet as the day winds down… settling in with a poem. Which I am hopeful will mean some quiet porch time after the day’s busyness is over enjoying the delight that is an early summer evening.
And later this month I will begin Angela Harding’s Summer’s Hum. Her artwork coupled with her words is a delightful pause in a busy day. I will also continue with James Crews Breathing Room, which seems like the perfect analogy for what summer should be… a season of creating breathing room!
The month of May… in stitches.
Of course, stitching continues… five months are done and I am excited to begin June later today.
I love the contrast of the impromptu daily stitching versus this more precise stitching… and when you add in a bead or two, well… it is just the best thing!
And, I am thirteen days and five stripes in to an Alabama Chanin Variegated Stripe scarf. I am working on it as I participate in their 100 Days of Sewing. I am certain that I will have this done well before the 100 Day mark arrives but that is okay. I am having fun contemplating my next stripe! I am quite certain there is nothing that compares to the joy of sewing down a bead or two!
What about you? Are you also a little sad to turn the page on May? What are your plans for June?
I will be back on Wednesday! Happy Monday everyone!
by Kat | May 18, 2026 | General, In This Moment
Brings the NO’s!
Yes, I realize I live under a rock and am unaware of so many things going on around me… so many things. And I honestly wish it was so many more things… sigh. (News… I am looking at you here!)
Anyways, two things crossed my radar recently and to say I was shocked was an understatement. So yes, I guess I am still capable of being stunned by “advances” that should not ever be “a thing.”
First… did you all know about IG for TV? I have ZERO desire to watch IG on my television… ever. This brings doom scrolling to a new level of pain. Who on earth thought THAT would be a good idea! Just NO! (Yes, we have a Google TV, sigh, and it is inundated with ads to install it!)
Second… Dunkin’ Dirty Soda… say what? Pepsi™ mixed with “creamy coffee milk (that is not brewed coffee but rather coffee extract) and velvety cold foam.” What the hell? Umm, absolutely no… never… ever!!
On a brighter note… I’d like to say a resounding YES to Adrian Bell. I just finished A Countryman’s Spring Notebook and gosh… I want more! So much more! I know he has other notebooks and I am on a mission to find them!!
I will be back on Wednesday! I hope your day has some things you are saying yes to!
by Kat | May 11, 2026 | General, In This Moment
Is for letting go and moving on…
You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles. — C. JoyBell C.
For a good bit of last month, I spent time reminding myself about all I learned in my Year of Release. It was a good thing to revisit… and I thought I’d share a bit of Ankle Weight Free Kat.
Way back in January, I began the 100 Day stitching project and somewhere around day 45 I hit a wall and rather than giving myself grace to move on. I began adding Guilt Reminder’s to my weekly calendar. Those guilt reminders to catch up X number of pages did not spur creativity to catch up… rather they were an ugly reminder of how easy it is to bully oneself. And yet, I continued to write a reminder in my planner until mid-April… in the midst of revisiting all I learned with Release.
Forrest… Trees… my name is Kat.
I need to tweak the cover page and make an “end page” but I plan on finishing this abridged book this week. But I feel very good about moving ahead and wish I would have given myself the grace to do that from the beginning. Lesson learned… hopefully!
I also, very briefly, contemplated stepping back from my daily stitching. I did not take it with me when we headed to Erie last week… and I missed it. But the break was a good thing… it reinvigorated me in many ways – even for stitching! I have caught up the end of April days while doing the current May days and that worked out really nicely!
The other things that I have stepped away from are Goodreads and Audible. Now, I was never a regular Audible subscriber… but I was really good at dipping in and out (especially if there was a “come back” deal!) But Goodreads was like a religion for me… so stepping away from Goodreads was a bit of a challenge. I started in January… half-heartedly. I did not set a “reading goal” again this year and I was surprised how frequently the app reminded me that I did not do that. It was so irritating that it actually helped me leave faster than I intended. And last week, I removed all traces of Goodreads from this space. I am happy to say… this was a very good thing!
But!! That does not mean I am without any sort of way to track the books I have read… I do! I write notes about the books I am reading in a journal and I also keep track in TheStoryGraph. I mentioned TheStoryGraph here before, but I wanted to update you all on things I have discovered in using it regularly! Of course, there is an app for the phone (both iPhone and Android) and there is an app for my Mac mini as well (yay for having a desktop version!) One of the things I really like is how I can look back at the books I read for the month. There is a monthly review that is dynamic and would suit many needs. It can be simple (like just page covers) to more data intensive… and it is so simple to use. It also does book reviews better, imo, than Goodreads did. It has a better rating system and it offers you options with quick review categories that you can check. The only draw back is that it is a bit trickier to link to link to your review, so if you are leaving reviews with Netgalley, for instance, it is a few more clicks to get to the link.
And for audio listening outside of my library, I have moved to a Libro.fm subscription. It is roughly the same price as Audible but I can select a local bookstore to support with a portion of my subscription fee. So each month, City Books gets a portion of that fee. It makes me feel good about spending money on audiobooks! I have been using the app about 3 months now and I don’t notice any significant differences between any other audiobook player. I can make a list of “favorites” I can adjust the playback speed (I like 1.3x) I can save passages all like I could on Audible. It just feels better not to be adding more dollars to a billionaire’s pocket and Libro.fm is an employee owned company.
I will be back on Wednesday!
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