Weekending 10/5/26

 Good Morning My Friends,

So, October is here!  I took a few days off from blogging and October snuck right in.  The garden is definitely looking spent and I may have picked the last (or next to the last) zinnias.  After a few days in the house they are looking weary as well, but still pretty.

They kind of blend right in with my Fall themed tablecloth.

Well, after successfully avoiding chores for a couple of weeks, Thursday found me jumping right into them.  And, there was lots to do.  Bathrooms were scrubbed, shower curtains washed, towels washed, sheets changed and sheets washed.  You get the idea.  And Friday morning found me back at it dealing with a very dirty kitchen floor.  Luckily my massage booked for 10:30 Friday morning put an end to doing chores!

My massage was wonderful!  Pure bliss.  Mallory, my massage therapist seems to know exactly where to focus her attention.  I had been having some awful headaches for close to two weeks, and I walked out after my massage completely headache free!

Friday afternoon I went to a local nursery and picked up more mums for the front area as well as a couple of pumpkins.  I also got a Black Futsu Pumpkin which is a type of rare Japanese heirloom winter squash.

I LOVE winter squash and I'm looking forward to trying this one.  Last week we had an Autumn Frost squash which is a new one to me.  It is a cross between a butternut and kabocha squash and is very, very tasty.

There was also a little bit of excitement here as somehow a sparrow ended up in the house!  Fletch called to me and there it was sitting on a curtain rod in the living room.  Not sure if Mabel brought it in or if it flew in on its own when a door was open.  We were not successful in capturing it but have not seen or heard it since.  Hopefully it found its way out - we left doors open for a little bit.  Hopefully it is not dead under a piece of furniture - I guess we will know in a little bit if an awful stench is suddenly present!

Saturday was another beautiful day where we ended up at Colin & Mailing's for dinner and an evening fire.  It was the perfect evening for sitting around a fire.  Sunday was a somewhat wet and lazy day.

How was your weekend?

Unraveled Wednesday 9/30/26

 Good Morning My Friends,

How can it possibly be the last day of September 2026?  The days are flying by.  And, as they fly by, the temps are warming.  It could be close to 90 by the end of the week!  Yikes!!

Let's see:  my new credit card arrived and I've successfully (I think/hope) updated all automatic payments.  Today is my last day caring for Iris this week.  Bonnie is back from Paris and she will take over starting tomorrow.  I have a massage booked for Friday which will feel SO good!!

Now it's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for an Unraveled Wednesday update/post.  I may not be doing any stitching lately, but I am doing some knitting.  Woo-Hoo!

One of Iris' socks has been completed and the second is well on its way.  Yesterday morning I knit the cuff on the second before leaving the house and then the first half of the leg (in red) was knit while Iris napped.  I hope to finish the leg and perhaps the heel flap today while she is napping.  Socks generally go pretty fast (unless I put them aside and forget them), but Iris socks go really fast!  There are just 52 stitches around (rather than my usual 64) and I'm using size 1 needles rather than my usual size 2.

Some reading has been done.  Still no good fiction although a Bruno book is waiting for me to pick it up at the library.  That is a good thing.  I did read Thoreau On Man and Nature which is a slim volume (62 pages I think).  It is a compilation of some of Thoreau's writings.  There are gems in this book, though some of it seemed a bit "preachy" to me.  Still, worth reading.

Also completed was Local Wonders Seasons in the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser.  Another slim book that is just filled with wonder and beautiful words.  Broken down into four sections for the four seasons of the year, I had intended to read each section during its own season, but I couldn't stop reading!  Filled with kindness and caring, this book has been perfect for me right now.

Be sure to check out the links on Kat's blog post and let me know what you are making and reading these days.

Weekending 9/28/26

 Good Soggy Morning!

Yup, still very wet here in Eastern PA.  The ground is saturated and though I do love a nice rainy day, I have to say enough!  I think that today will be the last day (at least for a couple) that we have some rain and temps are rising - it might get near 80 towards the end of the week.  Is this an Indian summer?

Anywho, how was your weekend?  Ours was good.  We met up with Colin, Mailing and Iris for lunch on Saturday.  We went to Fitzwater Station which is along the canal where I used to walk quite a bit (turtles and blue heron!).  Of course it was raining when we arrived.  What I had not realized is that this place was a stop on the Underground Railroad.  Pretty cool and the food was tasty.  The rain had eased up some when we were finished, so the kids went for a walk.  Fletch and I came home and then I did a quick grocery shopping.

Since I did not post on Friday, I never showed Fletcher's birthday cake:

Very yummy!  More than half of it went to C&M&I, but believe it or not, there is still one piece left in the fridge for the birthday boy.

After a big lunch on Saturday we did not want a heavy dinner, so I made a pot of pinto bean soup.  YUM!!  There was cornbread in the fridge that I heated up in the oven to go with the soup.  A good rainy night dinner.  Yesterday I made  a Southwest Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet for dinner.  This turned out to be a great recipe and FAST!!  Plus enough leftovers for more than just another dinner.

Yesterday I also made a batch of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles - YUM!

Most of these will find their way over to C&M&I today.  Again, an easy and tasty treat.  Now I have leftover pumpkin, so I made need to make muffins or something.  Fall flavors!!

One not so pleasant discovery:  on Saturday while reviewing our credit card statement, I discovered a charge for over $1,000 from Walmart!  I don't shop at Walmart and certainly wouldn't spend that much money there.  When I called, it turns out that my card had been compromised.  There were a bunch of other high charges that the credit card company had denied (thank goodness).  (More charges from Walmart, some from an electronics store, a department store, etc. - all on-line purchases.) So, my card was cancelled immediately and hopefully my new card will arrive today.  What a PITA though - I've got to notify those companies that automatically charge my card each month (Netflix, Apple, etc.).

Other than laundry, it was another successful weekend of avoiding chores.  I found time to knit (a sock for Iris) and read.  No stitching though, so no TNT post tomorrow.  I'll get back to it at some point, but right now I'm busy with other things.

Tell me how your weekend was - anything exciting?

Thursday Musings 9/24/26

 Hello and Good Morning!

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my guy.  Yup!  Today is Fletcher's Birthday.  He is 79 today!  I've been up since 6 a.m. and his birthday cake is now in the oven.  Pineapple Upside Down cake - one of his favorites.  His presents are wrapped, but we will save them for dinner time when I am home from watching Iris.

Speaking of Iris, our neighbor Rob came over yesterday to get some lettuce sets we did not need in our Fall garden.  He and Eva have a new dog - another Great Dane and her name is Iris!!  She is a rescue from a shelter where she ended up from a puppy mill.  Sad.  They are guessing she is around 2 years old.  She only weighs 70 lbs (only!) and should by now weigh more like 130-140.  Malnourished and she has kennel cough, so she cannot yet be around Annabelle their other dog.  Anyway, they did not name her Iris - that was the name she came with.  Please say good thoughts and send all the healing juju Iris' way.

I walked out to the garden to get the lettuce sets for Rob and discovered this:

Another giant cucumber.  I had not even noticed this one.  The other two I had seen are still growing.  There are still plenty of beans, but once again I am not looking at the plant!  LOL. Rob doesn't really like beans (how can anyone not like beans??), but he said he would ask his ex wife if she would like any.  We still have many, many in the fridge and freezer.

Finally, these guys were lazing around the back yard when I got home yesterday.

There are three deer laying down by our shed and archery backdrop!  So peaceful.  You need to watch where you walk in our yard though!  Plenty of poop!

Time to check the cake!  Have a great Thursday.

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!