Unraveled Wednesday 9/23/26

 Hello!

And greetings from the still dark Eastern PA region.  It's been a sleepy kind of week with cloudy skies and rain and cooler temps.  Each afternoon Iris tucks some of her friends (Bunny, Dodo [a dog], Marcella [a mouse], Blueberry [a cat] and Doll [an Amish style doll that was mine] under a blanket so that they can nap while she does too.  So darn cute!

Now it is Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday.

While Iris naps I either knit or read.  I would love to nap, but Iris tends to roll some and she naps on the couch.  Yesterday she almost rolled off!  Quick Grandma hands grabbed her before she plummeted!  What is surprising is the amount that I am able to get done:

Fletcher's Birthday Socks were finished yesterday around 1:30 - including weaving in ALL the ends!!  I am so pleased with the way they turned out and I sure hope Fletch likes them.  And I already wrapped them this morning!!

The Farmer's Daughter August Sock Squad yarn (color way Harvest Lantern) was used for the main color and the olive or loden green parts.  The cuff and toes were knit using a mini skein I bought at the NJ Sheep and Wool several years ago.  I love the name of the color way - American Robin.

Last night I cast on for a pair of socks for Iris.  The cuffs will be American Robin and the main color is a dark red.  Hopefully these will knit up quickly.

My reading seems to have stalled a bit.  I was reading a library book and actually got through 150+ pages when I decided that it was just a ridiculous story and was not something I enjoyed.  I returned that yesterday morning on my way to Colin's.  I tried to start another book from the library and looked at a third and neither are appealing at this point.  I will return those this morning.  Yikes!  Am I in a reading funk?  Or slump?

Local Wonders is still providing good entertainment and waiting on my desk is The Wheeling Year.  There are also several books that I have started but not yet finished on my nightstand (including Braiding Sweetgrass and Amy Tan's Backyard Birds), so I am not without reading material.  I just can't seem to settle in on any fiction that I am enjoying.  I have not yet finished John of John (I keep forgetting to listen to it which tells you something).  And I have what I think (hope) are some good books that I am in the queue for at my library.  I am trusting that my funky slump will end soon!

Meanwhile, tell me what you are making and reading!

Weekending 9/21/26

 Good Morning,

Gosh!  It's s dark outside and it is later than 6:30 a.m.  It is also very cloudy.  I think we are in for a fairly wet week.  On the positive side, temps will drop back down into the 60's.

How was your weekend?  Mine was good.  A nice balance of getting some things done and finding time to read and knit.  I re-discovered some books on a shelf in the office room and am looking forward to paging through them.

Two volumes of poetry, Thoreau "On Man and Nature" and, of course, Annie Dillard's "Teaching a Stone to Talk."  These have now been moved to my nightstand (where the piles seem to increase all the time) for evening reading.  The piles do grow because usually by the time I go upstairs I'm too tired to do any reading!  But, there is comfort in having books by my side.  I'm sure most of you know that feeling.

We did head over to see Iris, Colin & Mailing on Saturday for dinner.  They had had a busy day with soccer early in the morning followed by a visit to the Farmer's Market (the Thanksgiving turkey has been ordered!!) and then they went into Philadelphia to hear Zhongren's band play!  It's a pretty large group - a couple of keyboard players (that's what Zhongren plays), a couple of guitars, a bass and some singers.  I think 8 band members total.  Iris loved it!

I made a new to us dessert for Saturday.  The Salted Maple Pudding Cake is quite good.  Very, very sweet (though Fletch says not excessively sweet - lol).  We did have vanilla ice cream to go with it which was good.  I think whipped cream would work just as well and Fletch thinks it would be good with the addition of apples in it (which I may need to try the next time I make it).

I've got a full week of watching Iris again and then the first three days of next week.  Mailing's Mom was back from Alaska for a week and now she is in Paris!!  I do love spending time with my best girl, so full time watching is not a problem.  I hope the start to your week is a good one.

More Beans! 9/17/26

 Hello My Friends,

Gosh!  This morning feels downright balmy compared to our recent cool mornings.  I guess the warmth will be coming back, along with some rain later today.

Yesterday a friend sent me a picture from my college days.  It shows me in a midriff top and I was skinny!

I'm the one in blue jeans on the right.  My friend Janet is next to me in white pants and a midriff top.  We were all getting ready for a Steve Miller Band concert!  I went to Wagner College on Staten Island and you can see NYC and the World Trade Centers in the background! What a throwback!

While cooking yesterday I went out to the garden to gather some parsley.  The caterpillars are still there, but I was successful in avoiding them and getting what I needed.  The beans though!  After saying I was done with them, I ended up picking more.  We had finished the large amount we had in the fridge and now that has been replenished.

This is probably enough for at least 3 servings!  I may have to blanch some more to freeze.  I've never seen a plant produce so much!  Meanwhile, our figs look good and there are a bunch of them, but they do not appear to be ripening at all.  Hopefully soon.  And the hibiscus is still putting out blooms!!

Today is flu shot day - hopefully with no reactions.  We had no reactions to our Covid shots last week.  Most likely a nap will be in order since I did not sleep all that well last night.  With the increase in temps, tonight we are having shrimp salad for dinner.  I need to remember to take the shrimp out of the freezer, thaw and cook them so I can make the salad.  Hopefully I'll find a bit of time to knit as well.

Hope your week is going well!

Unraveled Wednesday 9/16/26

 Good Morning!

I'm sipping hot coffee and have a shawl wrapped around my shoulders as I type this post.  It feels wonderful!  Yesterday morning I actually turned the heat on in the bathroom when I took a shower.  The days do warm up a bit, but these deliciously cool mornings are bliss.

Yesterday we had flower beds weeded and mulched.  It looks so nice!  Fletch is no longer able to weed and I tried it but I'm not really a gardening type of person.  I don't enjoy it.  So...I called the guy who sends a crew out to mow our lawn and they took care of doing the job.  It feels good to have that done.

It's Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to chat about what we are making and reading.

Though I have not done any stitching in two weeks, I did manage to find a bit of knitting time and the first of Fletcher's birthday socks is finished and the second one started!

I wish the colors were showing more accurate in the above photo.  The heel and toe are knit using a mini skein from The YarnSmith in the color way "American Robin."  The other two colors are from the Farmer's Daughter - the August Sock Squad colors called "Harvest Lantern."  The band below the ribbed cuff, the heel and the rows before the toe decreases are knit in the mini - it is really a very pretty loden green color.  The main color is very light.  I like how the first sock turned out and am eager to complete the second.  Hopefully by Fletcher's birthday which is next week (I'd best get moving on it).

Reading has slowed for me a bit.  As I've mentioned, it has been a busy time and there are many nights when I'm too tired to pick up a needle or even read more than a page or two.  I did finish another Bruno, Chief of Police book, The Children Return by Martin Walker.  This is just such an enjoyable series.

I am continuing to listen to John of John by Douglas Stuart.  After last night's Zoom meeting and discussion, I am more interested in finishing this (I still have about 9 hours of listening left), but I tend to forget about it!  

I'm also continuing to read slowly Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser.  The short little blurbs (for lack of a better word - some are only a paragraph) about life where Kooser lives (Southeastern Nebraska) are just delightful.  I'm taking my time with this one to thoroughly enjoy it.

After some false starts with other books, Fletch and I have settled in to listening to Landmarks, another book by Robert Macfarlane.  This one has been described as a field guide to the literature of nature.  We both enjoy his writing so much.

Now it's time for my day to begin!  I hope to get a bit of knitting in this morning before I have a haircut appointment.  No other plans at this point which is just how I like it!  I hope your week is going well.

Mid-September! 9/14/26

 Hello My Friends!

Well, that was a bit of an unintended break - LOL.  I decided to not post last Tuesday for TNT because I had no new stitching to show (and I still don't, so unless I manage to sneak in some stitches this afternoon there will be no TNT post tomorrow).  And then one thing led to another and life got busy and I just stopped even looking at the computer (which really is an okay thing to do).

Nothing major went on - we did get our updated Covid shots during the week (and I'm scheduling our flu shots for this week).  There was a trip to Quest for lab work to be done.  Meals were prepared.  A little (very little) knitting was accomplished and a bit of reading (but again, no stitching).  I had a quiet, but lovely birthday and managed to turn another year older.

One day I wandered out to the garden to pick some parsley for whatever I was preparing.  Look what I saw:

I think/hope this is a Monarch caterpillar and there were more than a dozen of these guys all over my parsley plant.  Now I need to be careful when I pick!  For the record, there were also plenty of yellow beans hanging and ready to be picked, but I did not bother.  Fletch will save some for next year's seeds, but we already have a large bag in the fridge and there is the full gallon bag at Colin's, so I let these go.  One can only eat so many beans!

The kids have been away again, so I've been running over to feed Talbot (and clean litter boxes) twice a day.  This morning will be the last run - the kids come home today.  I have a big pot of Brunswick stew to leave in their fridge for their return.  And Bonnie, Mailing's Mom, is back from her Alaskan cruise, so she is taking over Iris duties for the balance of the week.

No real plans for this week other than a haircut on Wednesday and a flu shot (whenever I book them).  I'm really (seriously) attempting to clean out the freezer, so grocery runs have been lighter (and cheaper).  Today is forecast to be cooler, so Fletch is planning to grill a pork loin roast I discovered in the freezer...and I guess I may cook up some of those yellow beans that have been hanging in the fridge.

So, nothing exciting, but I'm hoping to get back to checking your blogs at some point today.  And I hope everyone is doing well!  Cheers to another week (and how can it be mid-September already?).

Weekending 9/7/26

 Good Morning!

Happy Labor Day!  It's a long weekend here in the States, but honestly since retirement it's hard for me to keep track.  I will tell you that the weather has been just about perfect.  Sunny days but low humidity and modest temps - I think the high temp yesterday was 78.  I've had a few texts from the kids who are out in Pittsburgh and it looks equally beautiful there.  They've had fun meeting friends for meals, visiting Phipps and the Aviary and then yesterday they took off hiking/backpacking in the Laurel Highlands.  They will come home today.

Do you remember how the other week I said I thought the beans were winding down?  I was wrong.  LOL

Saturday afternoon I wandered out to the garden to get some parsley.  This is what I came back with.  The yellow beans completely filled (to bursting) a gallon zip lock bag.  There was a quart bag of green beans, some cherry tomatoes and the parsley is on the top.  And a cucumber too!  All of the beans and the cucumber have found their way to C&M's house.

Yesterday afternoon I walked out to cut some flowers and came home with another basket full of beans!  HELP!!!  Today I will be cooking up a yellow and green bean casserole.

Yesterday I made Slow Cooker Italian Summer Soup using THIS RECIPE.  Wow was it good!  I used both yellow squash and zucchini and I also added some asparagus stalks we had.  This is a great recipe for cleaning out the fridge.  I think it would be great with hot Italian sausage rather than the sweet (or a combination of both), but I used sweet as I plan to leave a big container in C&M's fridge this morning for their return later today.  The sweet sausage is ok for Iris but the hot is a bit much for her.  On my way over to their house this morning to feed Talbot I will also stop and pick up a loaf of crusty bread to go with the soup.

I'm planning a few chores for today (bathrooms, laundry, etc.), but am hoping that the afternoon will find me with either a stitching needle in hand, or a pair of socks in progress in my lap.  Or both.  And a book too.  Probably a nap will occur as well.

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

Unraveled Wednesday 9/2/26

 Hello My Friends,

Hoo-Boy it is hot and humid this morning.  Not what I consider to be typical September weather (but who knows?  That could be changing...).  We had a lovely thunderstorm last night which cooled things down for a short while.  I was hoping to fall asleep to the rain, but it ended before I went to bed.  But...nonetheless...I slept much better than the night before and I am thankful for that.

And now it is Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk all things making and reading.  Everyone always shares such interesting and fun projects and a wealth of books is explored.  So hop in and enjoy!

If you keep up with my blog then you already know that I finished the Honky Tonk Shortie Socks last week.  Needing something on the needles for easy knitting whilst Iris naps, I cast on for another pair of socks (naturally).  These will be for Fletch's birthday which is later this month...so I need to stay focused and get them done!

This is the start of the first sock.  The two solid colors (and the green is like a dark olive or loden green - very pretty) are the selections from The Farmer's Daughter August Sock Squad.  The variegated yarn that I used for the cuff is from another dyer (I can't remember who) that I picked up at a fiber festival (I think NJ a few years ago).  The color way is "American Robin" and I love how it blends with the two solid colors.

My Semplice shawl has been on my mind.  I really need to pick that up and finish it...I'm not far from the end.  But with a 4 stitch increase every other row, the rows keep getting longer and longer!  And though I like the pattern, I'm not thrilled with the color I chose.  Oh well.  Sometimes that happens.

Reading continues apace.  I did finish Country People by Daniel Mason.  The book started off great for me - lots of laugh out loud sections and the quirkiness of Vermonters came through.  But, after a bit it just felt ridiculous and a little stupid to me.  North Woods by Mason is a much better book in my opinion.

Next up I read Winter: The Story of a Season by Val McDermid.  What a delight this little book was.  I could have read it in one sitting but someone was hankering for dinner (not me).  This little gem was charming and cozy and made me look forward to winter days!

I am also continuing to listen to John of John by Douglas Stuart, but it is a slow listen for me.  My mind tends to wander while listening to this book and even though I'm keeping an open mind, I'm not really into this one at all.  But, I will continue to listen and hope that it gets better for me.  Our discussion is next week I think, so I'd best get moving on it.

Fletch and I did start listening to The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman, but we both are having difficulty getting into it, following it, and not falling asleep while listening!  I think we will go with another book.

What are you making and reading this week?