Unraveled Wednesday 2/19/25

 Hello All,

Gosh it is cold here!  BUT, any snow that was in the forecast has disappeared off the radar, so that is a good thing.  And, even though it is bitter cold, we have been having blue skies and sunny days which lifts the spirits so much.

Once again it is mid-week - Wednesday - and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk making and reading.  I'm excited to let you know that (FINALLY) the first sock is finished!!  Woo-Hoo

Sorry for the crappy picture.  The cuff and toe are actually purple; the upper leg and lower foot are a pale bluish-grey and the middle section is more of a mulberry color.  Gotta love these mid-winter shots!  I finished this sock yesterday afternoon and have not yet cast on for its mate, but hopefully today.  I don't want to linger too long on that lest I end up with second sock syndrome.

There were no books finished this past week.  I was catching up on reading some "New Yorker" magazines that Colin had passed on to us and I'm focusing on "The Secret History" to finish that up (now I've only got around 100 pages left!!).  Donna Tartt's writing is just so good, but what despicable characters!  And what a nasty story!  Though I'm enjoying the writing, I will be happy to move on to something else...perhaps a bit light hearted.  I think our group discussion of The Secret History should be a good one though and I'm looking forward to that at the end of March.

Time for me to get going.  My stomach is growling and I could use another cup of HOT coffee.  Have a great Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 2/18/25

 Good Morning!

Happy Birthday to my brother Philip.  We spoke yesterday as he will be spending today skiing with friends.  There is roughly 2 feet of new snow where they are going, so it should be a good day.  Me?  I would be hanging in the lodge sipping a hot beverage and knitting and/or reading hopefully in front of a roaring fire!  I used to cross country ski, but I think those days are over.

Our winds are still whipping around here.  I heard the wind off and on during the night.  Thankfully not quite as ferocious as the day/night before, but still enough to be noticed.  Hopefully they will die down before I have to go out today.  There are prescriptions to pick up and groceries (mostly fresh produce) to buy.  It's getting to that point where I am craving summer meals - you know - grilled stuff.  Back in our younger years, Fletch would go out and grill - even in the snow - but not now (and I can't blame him).  Yesterday I did place an order with Rancho Gordo for a bunch of dried beans, so still plenty of stews and soups to be made.

But let's get down to business.  Today is Tuesday, so time for a Tiny Needle Tuesday (TNT) update.  Progress was made on the Summer Iris piece from Blackbird Designs.

A couple of flying birds have appeared, the vase/urn is complete and the beginning of the flowers (well stems and leaves) is complete.  I love the blue in this piece. It is "Dove" by Weeks Dye Works.  It won't be long to finish this, so I need to start thinking about the next project!  That will necessitate another stash dive which is always fun.

What are you up to this Tuesday?  Stay warm and cozy and out of any storms!

Weekending 2/17/25

Hello My Friends,

How are you?  Isn't that lily gorgeous?  That's from the bouquet Fletch gave me on Friday.  Just stunning in size, color, fragrance - glorious.

So, we did make it to Repperts on Friday and got Fletch his dark chocolate covered pretzels...and a few other candies as well.  The Flying Pig was not as good as we had hoped.  My drink - The Limerick Swine (what a great name - vodka, ginger beer, cranberry and lime juice) was just ok - really rather weak.  I had a turkey wrap with smashed avocado, tomatoes, red onion, etc. and it tasted like it had been made a week ago.  Fletch had chili which he said was just average and sweet potato fries which were not good.  Oh well, at least we know we don't need to rush back there!  And, it was still fun to do something different.

Saturday was a crazy day.  We ended up with snow in the afternoon.  I stayed in and actually did some cleaning and laundry.

Then Sunday came with heavy, heavy rains.  Torrential downpours...water in the basement...but somewhat warmer temps.  The kids stopped by with Iris in the afternoon - luckily during a lull in the rain.  After they left the rain picked up again and the winds!  Horrible winds.  Just as I started to cook some dinner our power went out.  Luckily it came back on in a few minutes.  I made baked mushroom quesadillas using this recipe.

They were good.  Really tasty and I think some beans would make a good addition in the filling.  I also made some fresh guacamole to go with them.  Dessert was some flourless chocolate cake which C&M had dropped off when they visited.  Yummy!!

And then we lost power again just after 10 last night.  Like earlier, it was only off for a few minutes.  Thankfully.  And those winds?  Still howling this morning.  I was up at 4 to pee and had trouble getting back to sleep because it sounded like the house would be torn apart!

The plan for today is to put a big pot of soup on the stove and let it simmer all day.  I do need to run out for a couple of things at the store and Fletch has to go out for a doctor's appointment.  Otherwise, I intend to stay in and out of the howling wind!!

How was your weekend?  Here's hoping that your Monday will be a gentle one to ease into the week.

Weekend Time! 2/14/25

 Hey-Hey and Good Morning!

Happy Friday and Happy Valentine's Day.  May your day be sweet and filled with lovely things.

I was up early this morning (thank you Mabel), but feel well rested for a change.  I don't believe we got as much rain as they said we would, but temps rose and ice and snow melted.  Then the winds picked up and man! they howled all night and have been howling this morning too.

When I came downstairs this morning I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table!  And some chocolates!!  Later this morning Fletch and I will venture out to Repperts - they make the ONLY dark chocolate pretzels that Fletch likes.  I bought a different kind for his birthday and he never ate them (they ended up in the trash), so today we will get him some!  And then we are going out to lunch at The Flying Pig - a recently opened bar that we have not yet tried.  Looking forward to that.

We were supposed to babysit Iris tonight while C&M went out to dinner, but they cancelled their plans.  Iris had her 2 month check-up yesterday and got some vaccinations.  C&M were worried that she might not feel all that well today.  That little girl has gained more than 5 lbs since birth and is now 22.5" long.  Colin said she cried when she got jabbed, but then quickly settled down and fell asleep.  C&M went out to lunch and Iris slept in her stroller the entire time.

Yesterday I not only got some stitching time but I also (finally) turned the heel on my sock and am now cruising down the foot.  There was even time for reading.  A good day in my opinion.  There was even time left for cooking dinner (fried blue fish for Fletch and baked cod for me and smothered cabbage for both of us).  Here's hoping today will turn out similarly (minus the fish - lol).

And that's a wrap!  Happy weekend - enjoy!!

Unraveled Wednesday 2/12/25

 Bonjour and Hello,

I'm posting a little later today.  We have a snowy winter wonderland outside and I decided to fix breakfast for my love and me (bacon & eggs, pastry for Fletch, English muffin for moi).  One load of wash is in the dryer and another in the washer, so it has been a productive morning.

A snowy feeder and Cardinals in the bushes.  (The pole keeps the feeder propped up high enough that Mabel cannot jump into it...)

Those are Mabel's footprints going out into the backyard.  There are deer tracks all over the place and the birds have been feeding (only a junco at my window feeder though).  Yesterday I ventured out the front door and poked around in the ice to find the piece of the feeder that Mr. Squirrel had removed.  I found it, almost slipped on the ice, and then re-filled that front feeder with the "hot seed."  While poking around, I saw buds on my lilac!!

They are small, but they are there.  And now they are covered in snow.  The "white stuff" in the picture is the ice that is still on the flower bed.

Of course, tomorrow it is forecast to be 50 degrees with rain...which will make a mess of everything.  Then the temps will drop in the evening into the 20s which means the mess will freeze...sigh.  And, Colin told me that one of his employees said they saw that we could have a MAJOR storm next Thursday with 15" of snow!  I'm not looking that far ahead and anyway, by the time that date rolls around the forecast will have changed.

So, it's Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk about making and reading.  On the making side of things, my Eye of the Partridge heel flap is finally finished.  Whew!  That sure took a long time.  I hope to turn the heel today and then rapidly progress down the foot.  That would be nice.  Time will tell...

This past week was another good one for reading.  I finished reading Braided Creek which is the collection of Haiku-like poems that Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison sent to each other.  It is a wonderful book.  Some are funny, many are poignant, and all tend to be soothing.  Highly recommend.

I also read Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato and loved it.  This is a book I learned about through Mary's blog.  Based on her review and recommendation, I requested it from my library.  It came in within a couple of days and I picked it up after lunch one day.  I read half the book in one sitting and would have finished it except that someone was hungry for dinner (not me and not Mabel).  A wonderful, beautiful book filled with love and yearning.  Again, highly recommend.

And, I am still plugging away on "The Secret History" for our RWU group.  I'm past the halfway mark and am still not fond of the characters or the story, but the writing is just so good!

And that does it for me!  Time to rinse out my coffee cup, check the laundry and do a few things.  I hope your Wednesday is a good one!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 2/11/25

 Good Morning!

Well, it is still cold here (22 this morning).  There is still ice on part of the yard and flower beds and on the picnic table.  Sigh.  I did manage to get out yesterday to run a couple of errands - we needed sunflower seeds and peanuts for our feathered friends.  The roads were fine and the sun came out.  It was a pretty day, but there was a chill wind stirring everything which I did not like.  When Fletch took the trashcans out last night at 10 p.m. for pick up this morning, he said it was really nice out.  No wind and almost mild.  10 p.m.  Not a time for walking....

Meanwhile, it is Tuesday and time for a TNT post.  After finishing my BIG sampler piece last week I went stash diving over the weekend to find something new to stitch.  At first I thought how about a tiny red sampler?  Then I found some red linen in my stash and thought why not a tiny ecru sampler on red linen?  Well, that did not look good AT ALL.  It was pretty fugly as a matter of fact.

I ditched that idea and pulled out some ivory linen and some red DMC and started stitching a small bird piece.  Then I looked in the dough bowl I have in my office filled with smalls and found I already had that one done!  Kind of like starting a book only to discover I'd already read it.

Next I pulled a different sampler and tried that.  Awful!  I persevered but did not like it and then discovered I had stitched over 3 instead of 2 at the very beginning of what I stitched.  So, naturally, everything was off.  I decided it was the fabric that I just wasn't happy with, so that went in the trash (it was only a 7.5" square random piece of linen, so no huge loss).

Yesterday I pulled an old small Blackbird Design piece to stitch.

It is called "Summer Iris" so of course I HAVE to stitch it!  (You can click on the picture to enlarge so you can see the design.). Not liking the pale, pale border I decided to make that darker.  And I just managed to get the top border completed last night before my eyes grew weary.

A small start, but so far so good.  And, most importantly, I like the linen and floss (Weeks Dye Works).  I've also come to realize that I really prefer stitching with one thread over two (or over one) rather than two threads.  It just looks neater for me.  This is a small piece, so it shouldn't take too long to complete.  After this, I may have to go back to a BIG piece!

How is your Tuesday moving along?  I hope you have something fun to do!

Weekending 2/10/25

 Good Morning!

Last night sounded like New Year's Eve here with the Eagles winning the Super Bowl.  You all know I am not into sports AT ALL.  Fletch did have the game on, but then we watched All Creatures at 9 after which he flipped back to the game, so I was aware of the win.  But I didn't (and don't) care.  Ha!

I made some Ginger Cream cookies at the end of the week.  These are cookies that my Aunt Ellen used to make all the time.  They taste like gingerbread to me, so I find them delicious.  Fletch doesn't really care for them, but I thought Colin & Mailing would enjoy some (and I was right).

We had a nice time seeing Colin, Mailing and Iris on Saturday.  They made home-made maple-sage sausage and then fixed biscuits, sausage & gravy.  Yum!!  Once again Iris was a bit fussy, but I can't blame her - she pooped 3 times in the first hour we were there!  I'd be fussy too.  LOL

We got home before any of our wintry weather started.  We ended up with sleet and freezing rain.  Since it didn't really warm up yesterday, everything is still coated in ice.  Even the yard is icy!  Mabel was pretty slow coming across the yard yesterday...stepping gingerly and trying not to slide.  Luckily the wintry mix they had been forecasting for tomorrow is now not showing.

A friend emailed me this poem over the weekend:

The Nest

           For Alfredo Espino

 

This morning

I watched a goldfinch

Disappear into a tree

Through a hole no bigger

 

Than my open mouth.

From the hollow

The bird

Began her crooning.

 

That’s what poetry is

I thought – 

Not the tree,

But the hidden song.

 

Not the yellow bird,

But the instinct to climb

Inside the darkness

To sing.

                          – Benjamin Gucciardi

I found the poem beautiful and thought you all might enjoy it as well.  I had never heard of Benjamin Gucciardi and ended up down a rabbit hole when I googled him.

Wishing you all a beautiful start to the week - enjoy!