A HHH Tuesday!

Hello All,


Yes, another HHH (hazy, hot, humid) day in Eastern PA.  It was 78 on my patio at 5:30 this morning!  BUT...my office is closing at 12:30 today and I am off the balance of the week, so all is good.


Colin & Mailing took yesterday and today off and decided they would rather have a cookout tonight instead of tomorrow.  They wanted a typical 4th meal - hot dogs, baked beans and coleslaw.  Col will grill and he is making the coleslaw and a cherry pie!!  He is also in charge of drinks which I think may be frozen (or slushy) mojitos.  YUM!!!  Once I taste and consume, I will post a recipe as Mary requested.


Speaking of Mary - check out her latest sewing projects.  LOVE!!!  The shorts and Esme top look so cool and refreshing.  I have the Schoolhouse Tunic pattern and some fabric for that, but it will be better suited for Fall (long sleeves, heavier fabric).  I may need to hunt around for a cute summer top pattern.  As I mentioned some time ago, I have a TON of fabric and need to start using some of it.


I know I'm way behind the party, but I finally bought a Bluetooth speaker and paired that with my phone last night.  We can have great music easily now - lol.


On the knitting front.  The latest MDK Field Guide Ease arrived on Saturday.  Great patterns in this one (as in all of them).  And my yarn for the sweater arrived too.  Despite my anxiousness to cast on, I have held off.  I really, really want to finish up my Winter Sea shawl before starting anything new (or else I may never finish it!!).  Here's where it stands as of last night:

I know it looks pretty much the same as the last time I showed it, but progress has been made.  The pattern is a 16 row repeat and I have one more repeat to go before binding off (though I may decide to make that two repeats depending on how it looks).  That little orange stitch holder/marker is my issue.  I somehow messed up (again) a row and had to tink back and pick up a stitch or two.  I managed to do that and have the correct number of stitches on the needle...but that marker is holding a loose stitch.  I think I can manage to secure it and everything should look fine (fingers crossed).  I hope that by the time the weekend is over I will have completed this and cast on for the sweater (and maybe a pair of socks...).


With the overly hot weather we've been having all we are eating are (mostly) cold things.  Saturday night we had cold lobster and corn on the cob.  Sunday I made deviled eggs for lunch and we had chicken salad for dinner with sliced tomatoes.  Last night was just BLTs.  Maybe I'll make some gazpacho on Wednesday.  That should taste refreshing.


We have no plans for my time off work.  My car will be in the shop Thursday (the overflow reservoir keeps draining, but we can find no leak...).  I want to plan cold meals and just take it easy.  Our friends Carol & Gregg are coming over on Saturday for a cookout and to celebrate Gregg's birthday.  Fletch is going to grill steak and shrimp kabobs with a bunch of veggies and I promised to make strawberry shortcake.


On the reading front, a couple more books have been finished:  Brutality by Ingrid Thoft (#3 in the Fina Ludlow series).  I enjoyed this quite a bit.  Fina is a PI in the Boston area and is a pretty enjoyable/funny character.  I'm now reading This Book which I am also finding to be fun.  I've had about 5 or 6 books suddenly come in on Overdrive, so I need to get busy!!  Fletch and I finished reading The Rural Life which we both enjoyed a lot (the author has quite a way with words and descriptions) and we have started reading Mornings on Horseback after dinner which is about Teddy Roosevelt.  I love David McCullough's writing and, so far, this book is not disappointing. 


Between all I want to read, knit and sew, I am more than ready for retirement - lol.  And, on that note, I have yet to hear who the Lame Duck's replacement will be...the announcement should be this week.


Wishing you all a fun and happy 4th of July!