by Kat | Jun 17, 2024 | General, In This Moment
… ushers in a week of praise for air conditioning.
Seriously… most days I could leave the AC, preferring the windows open. But this week… one that includes a seemingly endless heat advisory…. I am thankful for it.
I have been out early for a walk and I have watered all.the.things!
A Monday in which I can delight in laundry in the basement seems not quite right… but delight I will!
I also have some linen I got on sale last week that will soon become a tunic! Sitting at my sewing machine when it is 90°+ seems like the perfect thing!
Stay cool everyone and I will see you back here on Wednesday for some Unraveling!
by Kat | Jun 10, 2024 | General, In This Moment
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
This week, this quote is going to be my guiding light… I am throwing off all the dark spots of life (news media and politics, I am looking at you!)
My new morning beginning with coffee and my “abbreviated” desk on the porch are going marvelously! I am sitting outside longer… and that is NOT a bad thing. My mornings last week were full of the raucous calls of Pileated Woodpeckers… a morning Pileated serenade is a treat and I would have missed it if I was indoors focused on other things!
I also am savoring the delight of my daughter when she received her “book”… there were so many happy tears for both of us. I also got some text messages from her siblings… I think there are more books in my future… at least 2 more. (This is really an awesome problem to have!)
This is the last full week of Spring, so if there was something on your Spring To-Do List… you still have time!
Happy Monday everyone… I hope you are all able to slow down and savor these days!
See you all back here on Wednesday for some Unraveling!
by Kat | May 20, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Is it just me or is May just flying by? It sure feels that way to me… and I have really focused on slowly savoring the days!
So perhaps a bit of a celebration of what May has brought to my life this year….
It’s a Bud-o-rama!
Starting with my poppy… it is unbelievable this year! My single plant is loaded with dozens of buds with more appearing each day! It is also pacing itself on blooming… only 5 or 6 new poppies open every day. We have been lucky with cooler days but we have also had an abundance of rain (which is not a friend to the fragile poppy blossoms!) But I am so happy with the gradual opening and that each day there are some magnificent new blooms. I am savoring and celebrating them while they last!
I love their fragile, fleeting beauty!
Next up on my May celebration is the lavender plant which last fall I thought for sure was on its last legs… well, a mild winter must have been the exact CPR needed because this spring it is suddenly enormous and so heavy with buds… I am very much looking forward to this blooming! (as will the bees!)
We have some ancient weigela bushes on the east side of our house and some years the blooms are few… not this year, the branches are weighed down with the volume of flowers! Hummers love this… so on my list this morning is to finish opening the porch so I can sit in the morning with my coffee and savor those hummer visits!
My porch is a riot of dark pink!
I had huge success with the first allium bulbs that I planted last fall and second wave of bulbs is on the precipice of blooms! These are much more tender and fragile looking than the first alliums. I have no idea what kind of alliums they are, sorry. I will have a better idea when these tender buds open!
I am so excited for these alliums!
Some weeks ago I shared a recipe for sourdough crackers… my first attempt was an epic failure (entirely my error!) the recipe clearly states the need for an offset spatula to spread the dough. Well, I forged ahead with just a plain spatula… and my outcome showed clearly how necessary an offset spatula was – the crackers never achieved cracker status… rather gummy, chewy, unappealing lumps of seasoned dough. Once I got home from Erie, I ordered an offset spatula and tried again… I am happy to announce that my second attempt was a HUGE SUCCESS!! (However, I might have now put myself off “store bought” crackers, lol) My second try was with Za’tar added in… oh yum! There will be LOTS more of these in my future… the recipe is super easy if you use the right tools, lol!
These crackers were the perfect addition to tomatoes and mozzarella! (they were also excellent on my Friday Happy Hour Board!)
Finally… slowly but surely the pages of my 100 Day Project are coming together! It should all be together this week! I have a tiny hurdle about how to make the front and back covers work, but I am hoping that by putting them together some light will shine at the end of the tunnel… stay tuned!
Happy Monday all… I hope you all have things to celebrate today as well! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | May 13, 2024 | General, In My Backyard, In This Moment
Like much of the world on Friday, time stood still for a few minutes while I saw the effects from the coronal mass ejections (or CME’s) with my eyes in the south hills of Pittsburgh!
Yes, it was amazing. Yes, I took pictures (because our eyes are limited but a camera lens is not!)
And I have not stopped thinking about the aurora borealis since… and those memories will carry me through my list today as I count the minutes to being a hearing person again tomorrow! (1893 minutes at this writing!!)
Happy Monday all! See you back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Apr 22, 2024 | General, In This Moment
The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. — Lady Bird Johnson
Earth Day 2024… it seems somehow more important after a winter that wasn’t really winter. And spring, well… she has been springing. Lots. But last night’s hard frost will set back things a bit. Sigh. This will be the second year in a row that our “backyard” tree will lose its first leaves to frost. (In previous years, this tree had not bloomed until mid-May.)
Ironically… I put up the new Oriole feeder and heard the sweet song of a Baltimore Oriole yesterday. Fingers crossed they like the jelly I put out for them!
I spent a good bit of time doing some “knitty maths” around my gauge over the weekend. This always makes me a bit nervous, but took my calculations and cast on based upon those calculations… a big yay that I am knitting a smaller size, thanks to my gauge! But still… there are nerves, it is bottom up construction – which is not always the “easiest” to try on for fit… I managed to knit about 30-ish rows which I then threaded on some waste yarn and “tried it on” and then promptly ripped back… I am bumping up a size, because I do not want “snug around my ass ribbing”… so I have a bit more confidence with the second try. I think once I get going, this sweater will move quickly! The pattern is fun… so fun! I am knitting with some skeins of Briar Rose Fibers yarn… Chris has been much on my mind recently and my plan is to knit some love her way…each stitch a meditation for her.
The one yuck thing on my list is packing this week… We head to Erie Thursday afternoon and I have LOTS to get ready between now and then.
So I better get started! See you all back here on Wednesday!
