Tiny Needle Tuesday 7/8/25

 Good Morning!

Like so many of you, we are in the major humidity/stickiness game.  Ugh.  Yesterday we had some nice thunder, but only a few drops of rain in the afternoon.  No relief.  Today looks to be even warmer with less of a chance of rain.  We will get out this a.m. to get groceries, but after that I plan to stay put.  Cold shrimp is on the menu for dinner.  Half the time in this weather I don't even feel like eating (which is pretty amazing - lol).

Anyway, moving on, it's Tuesday and time for a TNT update.  And All Was For An Appil continues to grow.

The second leaf has been filled in along with another blossom and a bunch of outlining.  A lot of this was done yesterday.  It makes a big difference to be home rather than at C&M's!  (But I am missing Iris a lot.)

I'm sorry to say that Mabel the huntress has been at it again.  She's been catching birds - first a cardinal and then a wren.  I love when she catches mice and moles, but I strongly lecture her when she brings birds around.  The wren managed to fly off yesterday morning and I hope that poor creature is ok and survived.

Well, time to pour another cup of coffee and then check to make sure Fletch is getting up.  The earlier we can go for groceries, the better!  Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Weekending 7/7/25

 Hello My Friends,

I guess I took a little holiday from blogging for a bit.  It's been nice, but I'm ready to get back to it now!

Gosh!  We are back in the heat.  Hazy, hot and very humid.  I've mostly been laying low and not doing very much.  Mailing's mom has been helping out with Iris - she took last Thursday and is helping out all week this week.  My back is appreciating the break (though I miss my little/big granddaughter).  I did manage to catch up on laundry and do a little cleaning.  I also did a dash to the grocery store - we had plenty of meat in the freezer but were completely out of fresh veggies.

Mabel has been taking it easy in the heat as well.  She now is letting me brush her and an amazing amount of hair/fur is coming off.

And this sweet mama has been resting in our yard here and there.

Her twin babies are never too far away, but they are growing fast and galloping all over the place!  Fun to watch them romp around.

We thought we were going to have a second wren family.  A wren was checking out two other birdhouses we have hanging in our apple tree, but so far nothing.  Our baby bluebirds have been around though.  We missed seeing them fledge, but most afternoons they are back in our yard looking for a feast.

Our 4th of July was relatively quiet.  We did go over to Bonnie & Zhongren's for a cookout - tasty!  But everyone left around 6:30 which was fine with me.  Our township did fireworks, but I didn't really hear much other pops and nothing on Saturday!

Our garden has been really disappointing this year.  Fletch harvested our garlic on Saturday and he only got about 25 heads from over 50 planted!  And the heads harvested are quite small.  I think my rhubarb plant has died.  I cut some stalks and then everything else turned yellow and wilted.  We've had that plant FOREVER.

Colin, on the other hand, has a garden that is producing a lot.  I ran by yesterday and picked up a nice number of green and yellow beans.  We had some for dinner last night and they were great.  He also gave me a couple of zucchini because they were overrun from the CSA.  Fletch does not like zucchini, but he will eat zucchini bread or muffins, so I guess I will be baking some.

Today I plan to stay put.  There is more laundry to take care of and I just want to relax and work on my stitching and knitting.  And maybe a nap.

How have you been?

Tiny Needle Tuesday 7/1/25

 Good Morning and Hello July!

We had some strong thunderstorms during the night, but the humidity is still stupidly high.

The first day of July and the first TNT of July.  Somehow I managed to get a bit of stitching accomplished over the past week.

A flower was filled in and a second leaf outlined and started.  Still many, many stitches to go.  I don't even want to think about how many stitches are in this piece!  LOL. Happy to say I am still enjoying it.

This is a short little post as I have some things I need/want to do before leaving to see Iris.  Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Weekending 6/30/25

 Hello My Friends,

Here we are on the last day of June.  How is that even possible?  And what a weird month it has been weather-wise.  After a cooler weekend, I can feel that the heat and humidity are building again.  But, after all, it is summer.

How was your weekend?  Mine was good.  I took absolutely no pictures to show anything.  Friday I took a 3 hour class on Continental Knitting (which is not how I knit).  Oh my!  Good for the little grey cells as Hercule Poirot would say.  I completely ripped out what I (attempted) to knit in class.  It was pretty pathetic.  LOL. But, I will be trying to get it.  I've been practicing some.  Luckily there is a video recording of the class that I am able to access.  But, my fingers are not behaving.  My right hand keeps looking for the yarn that my left hand is holding.

The balance of the weekend was spent running errands (Saturday morning), laundry (Sunday morning), cooking (both days, but nothing fancy) and there was time each day for knitting and stitching and reading.  All in all a very nice weekend.

My "work week" this week is short.  I'm only caring for Iris Mon-Tues-Wed.  Thursday Bonnie (Mailing's Mom) will take over.  She is also "working" the entire next week!  Friday, of course, is July 4th.  I need to make a dessert on Thursday or Friday morning.  We will be going to Bonnie & Zhongren's for a cookout on Friday.

Tme for me to get ready to head over to see Iris!  Have a great Monday.

The First Week

 Good Morning All,

The temps have eased up a bit I am happy to report.  It still feels humid to me but at least it's not a heat index of 105!

When I pulled into our driveway yesterday afternoon I stopped and got out to get the mail.  Rob, our neighbor and friend from across the street, was in his garden and called me over.  He handed me this group of radishes!!

These may be a tad too big to be tasty, but we shall see.  The funny thing is that Fletch gave Rob the extra radish seeds he had.  And then our radishes never sprouted!  Even funnier is that Rob and Eva don't even like radishes! 

My first week of caring for Iris full time went very well.  Colin said he thought it went better than he expected.  It IS tiring, that's for sure.  Iris is not yet very independent.  Not walking, not even crawling. She sits well, but will topple over when tired.  And, she gets bored easily.  She also still likes to be held.  A lot.  

On Wednesday afternoon there was some nature drama going on in Colin's backyard.  A fledgling blue jay was on the ground.

You may need to click to enlarge, but the fledgling is on the 4th slate from the bottom.  The mother kept flying nearby and calling to it.  The poor thing would flutter its wings and hop around.  I did not step outside to get a better photo as I didn't want to scare the baby or alarm the mother.  We lost sight of it after some time.  Thursday morning I didn't see it, but later in the morning I saw the mother swoop to the ground right by the door from the sunroom.  I looked out and the baby was tucked in grass and ivy taller than it is.  The mother was feeding it.  Later again the fledgling was gone.  I hope it survived and learned to fly.

Our snapdragons have finally started to open.

So far only white ones, but I noticed some deep maroon buds yesterday.  Sitting on the patio yesterday before dinner, Fletch and I both commented on how much we miss seeing our bluebirds.  The babies have flown off and the nest has been abandoned.  The same with the wrens, though we still see wrens and, in fact, noticed wrens checking out two additional birdhouses we have hanging in the apple tree.

I'm excited to pretty much have today to myself!  Fletch is taking my car in this morning for inspection.  I plan to knit or stitch or both.  And then I have my continental virtual knitting class from 12-3.  Really looking forward to that.  Some books in my queue have come in for me - I may pick them up later today (if it is not too rainy out), or wait until tomorrow or Monday.  No rush - they hold them for a week which is nice.  No other real plans for the weekend other than the usual:  catching up on laundry, a couple of cleaning chores and most likely cooking (especially with cooler temps).

I hope your weekend is a good one.  Have some fun!

Unraveled Wednesday 6/25/25

 Hello My Friends,

Whew it's been hot.  Everywhere!  My brother in Colorado has been texting about the extreme heat they are having.  That blasted heat dome.  I think today temps will moderate a little and then be even cooler Thursday and Friday.  It also looks like a rainy weekend which is unfortunate as Colin and his buddies who were all in his wedding have a 3 day backpacking trip in the Laurel Highlands planned.  Oh well, at least the rain should keep their temps down a little bit.

My second "full day" of caring for Iris was again a very good one.  Once again we read books, played with her keyboard, chewed (well really gummed - no teeth yet) on a lot of things (LOL) and had fun.  She and Colin had lunch together again which gave me a little free time.  I knit a bit.  So, I've made it through half of my first week of full time care!

And now it is Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to discuss all of our making and reading.  Be sure to check out the links you will find on her blog - so inspiring (and, as I've said before, enabling!!).

The leg of my Simple Skyp Sock has been finished and during Colin & Iris' lunch time yesterday I started the heel flap.  I plan to knit the foot plain as I don't like patterns so much on the feet (particularly the sole) of my socks.  This pattern, though, is a quick knit and a fun one!  The toes will be in the contrast color used at the top cuff and I will probably add a stripe or two before the toes.

As for reading, I've finished just one book.  I've been trying to catch up on magazine and newspaper reading (we get the Wall Street Journal weekend newspaper and The Christian Science Monitor and Colin passes on his New Yorker and Economist magazines).  Last week I mentioned that I had started Writers & Lovers by Lily King.  At that point I was not really wowed by it.  However, I continued reading and found that it picked up so nicely and ended up being a 4 star read for me!  Not sure why I wasn't enthralled with it initially, but am glad it picked up.  I'm now looking forward to her book "Heart the Lover" which will be published in the Fall.

After reading Sarah's book reviews last week I requested Banyan Moon by Thao Thai.  I received notice the next day that it was ready to pick up.  I'm a little under 100 pages in, but it is a nice family saga and a good summer read.

Well, I'm off to try and catch up on a little blog reading and have some more coffee.  Stay cool!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 6/24/25

 Good Morning Everyone!

My first full day of caring for Iris went very well.  The time went faster than I expected!  We read a number of books, played with a keyboard, took a couple of naps (Iris, not me).  When Colin took a lunch break from work, he had Iris sit with him in her high chair and have a bit of food with him.  I opted then to have a little break and managed to read a chapter in my book.  And before I knew it, it was time to go home.  Hoping for more of the same today.

We are now at the final Tiny Needle Tuesday of June 2025.  Hard to believe.  Although I did not stitch as much as I thought I would, I'm pleased with what I managed to do.

The leaf has been filled in and the beginning of the outline for a flower has been stitched.  I'm looking forward to more color!

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday.  The heat is on (here in the Northern Hemisphere)...remember to stay hydrated!!