TGIF

Hello!

Hard to believe that Labor Day weekend is here!  My 8:30 conference call was cancelled - YAY.  I still have another one at 10, but once that is over I plan to get out of here and head home. 

Colin stopped by for dinner last night and it was such a beautiful evening we had a fire in the pit.  We sat around for a long time just chatting and listening to music.  A very fine evening.

Not much knitting has been accomplished this week.  I did manage to get past the cuff on Watermelon Sock #2, but not too far past:

Hoping to get quite a bit completed on this one over the weekend.

My plan is to get some chores out of the way today (cleaning, paying bills - yuck!) and then have the balance of the weekend to relax and do what I want to do (knit, read, nap!).  We are going to Colin's for dinner Saturday.  Planning to take our bows and arrows and a target and get some archery in.  It has been too long since we did that.

Meanwhile I am starving!  I need to find some breakfast.  The yogurt I had in the frig here at work expired at the beginning of August!  And for once I did not bring any fruit.  Hopefully the little cafe downstairs is open.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend and for those of you down south - please be safe in the pending storm.  My thoughts are with you.  Take care.

One Done! Unraveled Wednesday 08/28/19

Good Morning All!

Our temps are still cooler than they have been, but they are steadily going up and it is grey outside.  I think before long the rain will set in.  Perfect because I am sleepy again - lol.  After not sleeping all that great the other night, on Monday I slept straight through for 9.5 hours!  Heaven.  Then last night I was awake from around 2 a.m. to 3 or 3:30.  I was also having the weirdest dreams.  Fletch told me he was having strange dreams too.

Meanwhile, before going to bed last night I did finish the first watermelon sock and started #2!

All that in spite of Tyg's help!  He so desperately wants to have those DPNs as toys.  Even clicking on the pics to enlarge, it's difficult to see the start of #2, but I think I managed to start it around the same place in the yarn pattern as #1. 

Yesterday I brought in onions from our garden for Bill (one of my bosses).  He, in turn, brought me garlic from his garden (because we didn't get enough in our garden!!) and fresh bay leaves.  The bay leaves are gorgeous.  So glossy and shiny.  He said they grow it in a pot - putting it outside in the summer and bringing it inside for the winter.  I may need to try that.  I never though of growing bay leaves.

My "guys" are all back for day 2 of training.  They've asked me to keep them stocked in Advil - lol.  And, there is a surprise birthday luncheon for one of my co-workers today.  Which reminds me that Bill's birthday is Monday.  I don't expect him in the office again this week, but I need to remember a card and a nice bottle of wine.

No new reading since I finished "Late Migrations," but I'll start something soon.  Linking up with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday.  Hop on over to her blog to see what everyone is making and reading.

Sleepy Monday

Good Morning!

I am just so sleepy this morning.  I seem to be going through another phase of waking at 3 a.m. and never getting back to sleep.  Nothing going through my head, no worries, just moonlight streaming into the bedroom and me wide awake!  Hopefully I won't nod off at my desk today - lol.

The weekend was a mixed bag.  Lots of frustrations about various things.  But Saturday was so nice.  I met up with Dee and we went to Echo Valley for some fiber enhancement.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, but I bought a lovely skein of Hedge Hog Fiber Sock Yarn in the colorway Hawk.  Gorgeous.  We went out to lunch and then to a coffee shop for some knitting.  I started a new pair of socks (no, the watermelon ones are not finished yet - not even the first!!), but I ended up ripping them out.  Somewhere along the way I messed up and my count was way off.  I tried *tinking* what I had knit, but the pattern had so many K2 tog, SSK and YO parts to it that it was a mess to do that, so I just pulled the needles out and re-wound the yarn.  I will try again.

Before I left my house Saturday morning, guess who showed up?  Mr. Fox went loping across the backyard and Tyg who was on the patio ran out to the garden to join him.  Yikes!  The fox did run off when he saw me and Tyg came back to the house thank goodness.  Then Sunday morning this guy showed up.

He had been under our apple tree munching on some fallen fruit.  A little later a doe showed up too.

One of my frustrations:  Sunday I went to 5 different stores looking for kitchen curtains.  No one sells them these days!  They carry floor length drapes, but no short curtains.  I guess I will need to buy them on line, but I would really prefer to see them in person before purchasing.  I could make them (which is what I did the last time), but honestly I don't feel like it!  I will continue to look a bit more.

Fletcher pulled all the onions out (they were beginning to rot in the ground) and dug up the few potatoes we got from the couple of plants he put in the raised bed:

Some of those potatoes are so gnarly!  They sure are tasty though.

I finished reading Late Migrations and enjoyed it very much.  Her essays are short but so well written.  The sub-title is A Natural History of Love and Loss.  So, it won't appeal to all, but I liked it quite a bit.

This is going to be a busy week at work - I have a group of 15 or so coming in for 3 days of training.  I may need to pump a bit more coffee into my system! 

Wishing you all a great week!

Friday Felines

Hello!

We made it to Friday!  It is grey and drizzling out there and it still feels awfully humid to me.  The temp has dropped, but it is not yet really comfortable...hopefully soon.

The frog population has grown again - last night we spotted five frogs!  Someone was very, very happy:

All his attempts to capture a frog failed.

Here's to a wonderful weekend - enjoy!!

Unraveled Wednesday August 21, 2019

Hello!

Still pretty HHH (Hazy, Hot, Humid) here.  Truly the Dog Days of August.  I think we will get a break in a couple of days.  Meanwhile, there was a very pretty sunrise this morning.

It is so dark in the mornings now when I get up.  I have to put lights on inside and outside when I come down to the kitchen to make coffee.

The leaves on the left in the picture above are from our morning glory vine which has done nothing this year.  Not one single bud!  And now it looks like some disease has set upon it (and my eggplant which is on the patio).

On the knitting front, very little has happened.  That means no unraveling which is a good thing.  The first watermelon non-wool sock is progressing slowly.  The heel has been turned and the gusset decreases have been completed.  The balance of the foot should be smooth sailing.

The yarn is fun!  But this weather doesn't inspire me to pick up my needles.  I just feel sticky when I start to knit.  Oh well, that will change eventually.

I did manage to get more reading done and finished The Day The World Came To Town which I enjoyed.  A quick read that makes you realize there really are some good, caring people in the world.  I've also read a few excerpts from Late Migrations which is also enjoyable.  On my nightstand I have Before We Were Yours which looks very good.  I'm happy that my reading slump seems to be over.

Joining in with Kat on this Unraveled Wednesday.  Head on over to her place to see what others are making and reading.

Monday Miscellaneous

Hello!

It is pretty stupid hot and humid here.  Heat index is supposed to be 101 or above today.  It is hard to get motivated to do anything.  I don't even feel like knitting at work today!  Last night my hands felt sticky while I was knitting.  It's just not comfortable.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it.  It should break by Wednesday, I think.

Dee and I did get together for a few hours on Saturday which was nice - tea and knitting and lots of chatting.  It was perfect!

The frogs continue to multiply! 

There are three visible in the picture above (all on the stone part - the third is at the very top left of the photo) and a fourth one had jumped in the water just as I snapped this picture.

We are finally going to have a fig on our tree!!

I love figs.  Several years ago Fletch bought me a fig plant that was supposed to produce fruit by the time it was a foot high.  That never happened.  And the fig got bigger and bigger and out of control.  It is now over at Colin's home.  Fletch bought another fig this year - one that is winter hardy for our area!  He planted it in front of our vegetable garden and it has done very well.  Last Friday Fletch spotted the beginning of a fig!

Finally, the first of our potatoes from the garden:

We did not plant many and we won't get a lot, but boy were these tasty!  I just boiled them yesterday while a roast was in the oven.  There is something about tasting a potato that you dig out of the earth.  So delicious!

That's all I've got for today.  I hope to do some knitting tonight, but we'll see how that goes.

Pretty Things

Hello,

The weekend is here!  Still summer, so I am hoping to leave work by Noon or so.  I have one or two stops to make on my way home, but not really much.

Yesterday afternoon Fletch and I were enjoying our beverages on the patio and we noticed that at the edge of our property we have honeysuckle blooming again!

It's right in the midst of a Rose of Sharon tree - so nice to see as the Rose of Sharon blooms are beginning to dwindle.

Then we were gazing at the vegetable garden (which is looking pretty spent these days) and noticed that the hibiscus had a lot of blooms (after looking like it was finished):

We did see a hummingbird, but he/she did not go for the hibiscus.  There are a few late blooms on our trumpet vine that were attracting him/her.  We have a lot of cat birds around this year and there are still brilliant goldfinches coming to our thistle feeder.

Yesterday I managed to finish "The Dakota Winters" at lunch.  Despite it taking me longer than it should have, I did enjoy this read.  A good look back at NYC.  Last night I started reading The Day The World Came to Town and also Late Migrations and am enjoying both.

Weekend plans include meeting up with Dee tomorrow for some coffee and knitting.  This weekend is the 58th Philly Folk Festival which is not too far from us.  Often Fletch and I have either walked or biked on a rails-to-trails path that goes right behind the Old Pool Farm where the Festival is held.  But, the weather forecast is for pretty hot and very humid weather, so I'm thinking we will skip that.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.  Summer is winding down - enjoy the last of it!

Unraveled Wednesday August 14, 2019

Good Morning!

It is foggy and very damp outside.  I woke up around 4 this morning to the sound of rain which was lovely.  But we are at about 95% humidity which is fairly uncomfortable.  It's the type of weather that when I leave my office (highly air conditioned), my glasses fog up as soon as I walk outside.  LOL

At any rate, time is marching on.  How are we already at mid-August?  It seems like just yesterday we were greeting the start of the month.

Fortunately there has been no unraveling this week.  There also hasn't been a whole lot of knitting, but here is where the first watermelon sock is:

I'm loving the way this yarn is knitting up down to the dark grey/black specs that look like seeds.  The yarn is Regia Cotton Tutti Frutti Color.  72% cotton, 18% polyamid and 10% polyester bought specifically with my friend Leslie in mind (since she is allergic to wool - can you imagine???).  The yarn feels better than I expected and is knitting up nicely.  Since the yarn is so colorful, I am just knitting a plain vanilla sock.

On the reading front, I am still working my way through The Dakota Winters and enjoying it (though it seems to be a bit heavy on the John Lennon side of things).  I'm more than three quarters of the way through and will hopefully finish soon (it was due back on Overdrive last Friday, but oops, it is still on my Kindle).  Meanwhile, I stopped at my library on my way home yesterday to pick up this book which I had requested - it looks really good!

Fletch and I watched another movie (!! - me!!) last night:  The Hundred Foot Journey with Helen Mirren.  It's free on Netflix.  I really like Helen Mirren and it was about food, so what's not to like?

Head on over to Kat's to see what others are up to making these days.

YinYang Kitty Socks...With Whiskers!!!

Hello All,

Thank you for your kind comments on the YinYang Kitty socks.  Nance reminded me (as did Fletch) about the Whiskers!  How could I have forgotten?  I think I was just happy to have them off the needles.  Well, last night I re-did the eyes on the dark kitty - much improved.  And I added whiskers to both:

Now I love them!  The yellow eyes are just a duplicate stitch over the green (knitted) eyes that did not show up very well.  For anyone considering knitting this pattern I recommend that you do the eyes and nose as duplicate stitches rather than intarsia.  If/when I make these again that is how I will do them.  I was thinking these would make cute slipper socks in a heavier yarn.  Just an idea.

I mentioned that Fletch and I are planning our Fall camping trip.  That will be at the beginning of October - heading up to New England and going along the coast of NH and ME, then back down to CT and the Woodstock area of NY.  And, my annual Sisters' Weekend is now set for the 24-27 of October.  Yesterday I booked my flights.  Excited!!!  We will be back in Providence, RI so we can see Mom (my friend Leslie's Mom).  I've already bought some "for coming" gifts...need/want to get a couple more things for Mom.

We are expecting some heavy rain later today - I've been receiving texts and email alerts about possible flooding.  Hoping I can escape the workplace before the deluge happens!  Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Another Monday

Good Morning!

The past few mornings have been beautiful - temps in the upper 50's and no humidity.  I think that humidity will creep in today though and temps are to rise.  The weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather-wise.

I'm happy to say that I did accomplish so much this weekend (and also managed to relax a bit).  The bathrooms are once again safe to enter - lol - and the kitchen floor has been scrubbed.  I'm not clear on how just two people can create so much dust and dirt, but it is what it is.  All clean for a day or two anyway.

The YinYang Kitty socks are finished.

Yes, the eyes and nose on the dark kitty are difficult to see (a little better in person).  I will probably go over the eyes with more green and use an embroidery stitch...but that is for another day.  Right now I am just happy to have finished these.  And, yes, one of the ears looks a bit wonky.  But that's real life folks!  I'm a relatively new knitter, so I'm just proud that I was able to get these finished (and ALL the ends woven in).

To celebrate that finish, I have some new starts:

On the right is the start of the first sleeve for my sweater that was started a year ago.  On the left is a new pair of socks for my friend Leslie.  She is allergic to wool, so this yarn is cotton and nylon.  The stripes look like watermelon!  I want to get these knit and finished before Sisters' Weekend at the end of October.

We had some visitors in our yard yesterday.  Early in the morning I saw:

Later in the afternoon 4 showed up to eat the apples that have fallen from our tree.  They also nibbled ALL the hostas and were beginning to consume one of our burning bushes!

Yesterday I looked and there are once again two frogs in our little water feature:

So cute!  They are multiplying like rabbits - lol.  There had been two a few weeks ago and then one of them was dead in the water (Tyg's doing??).  Now there are two again.  Hopefully they will remain safe, because this guy...:

He is so anxious to *play* with Froggy and Froggy Jr.  They need to keep a sharp eye out for Mr. Tyg.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

TGIF August 9, 2019

Hello!

Another work week winding down - thank God!  I feel as though I have been groggy ALL week.  hopefully the cobwebs will disappear over the weekend.

Colin was over for dinner (he grilled ribs that were delicious) last night and snapped a couple of pictures of Froggy.

A little hard to see with the glare of sun, but we enjoy having him around.  Tyg particularly is fond of him!  Luckily Froggy is quite quick and has not come under Tyg's *influence.*

So...last weekend was tres busy for moi - so much running around.  I only have a few errands to run this weekend, but I desperately need to catch up on chores which have been neglected (I'm looking at you bathrooms and kitchen floor).  I'm hoping that I can leave work by Noon today and get a lot accomplished this afternoon.  I'd really like to be able to just relax over the weekend and do some knitting.  I need/want to get back to the shawl - Odyssey I was working on (but seem to have abandoned) and I re-discovered the sweater I started last summer - Juniper - AND I have so many other patterns that I want to cast on NOW.  I need to calm down and finish some things first.  Hopefully the YinYang Kitty socks will be finished this weekend.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - enjoy!

Unraveled Wednesday August 7, 2019

Good Morning,

Here we are mid-week already!  I'm happy to say that my knitting tote finally dried out after Monday's spill.  Thank goodness it was just water!  I have not done much knitting this week - work has been busy and I've had *things* to do at night (e.g., pay all the bills that had piled up - ugh!!).  But here is the second YinYang Kitty Sock:

The heel has been turned and I'm working on the gusset decreases (I think I've done 10 rows since picking up the gusset stitches).  Only about 12 more rows and then the ears will show up!  These really are a quick (though fiddly) knit.

Still reading "The Dakota Winters" which I need to finish - my loan expires on Friday. 

As you all know, I'm not much of a TV or movie watching person (I get fidgety and need to move around and do something other than just sit!).  But, Fletch and I have watched some good things recently (I should save these for Thursday because there are 3, but...).

Last night we watched American Experience on PBS which was all about Woodstock.  (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/woodstock/ )  Oh the memories!  No, I did not go...I was 15 and not even driving until a month after the event.  Fletch was living in NYC at the time and some of his friends did go.  I'm thinking it was probably a good thing that he did not, but still...such great music!!  And a whole lot of mud - lol.

Over the weekend we watched Antonia's Line which we both enjoyed.  Definitely a foreign film vibe and it was so nice to see actors with whom we were not familiar.  Similarly, we watched Agatha and the Truth of Murder (no subtitles in this one, but new-to-us actors).  I recommend both of these films - we really enjoyed them.

Finally, August is often known for "the dog days of August," but what about the Cat Days?  Here we have Tyg in one of his yoga poses, just relaxing and trying to stay cool.

I feel like I need to stretch like that right now!  Linking up with Kat and friends on this first Unraveled Wednesday of August.  Hop on over to see what others are doing!

It's Monday.....

Well Good Morning!

It's Monday and the sun is shining.  I am so freakin' groggy - did not sleep well last night and, apparently, did not have enough coffee this morning.  As I was leaving the house I put my water bottle in my knitting bag...not making sure it was closed tightly...it tipped over on my way to work and everything in my knitting bag got wet.

So, it is all spread out by my printer in hopes that it will dry.  The bottom of my bag (which is felted) is soaked.  I have that on a lower window sill with the blind open hoping the sun will dry it.  Ah well, at least it is just water (mint flavored).

The weekend certainly sped by.  It was filled with entirely too many errands - many of which were fruitless which is fairly annoying.  In spite of too much running around, I did manage to finish the first YinYang Kitty Sock!

Cute, huh?  Obviously I still need to put the whiskers on.  I will wait until Sock #2 is completed (and I'm on the heel flap of that one!!) and then decide how to do the whiskers.  I may use embroidery thread and put them on that way, or I may use the yarn.  Tacking it down is the issue.  The green eyes are only 3 stitches each so tacking down/sewing in the ends of the yarn was an issue and a bit fiddly - I didn't want the green showing through the white in other places.  Likewise with the nose/mouth.  But I also don't want lumps in the socks - lol.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Still, I'm happy with the result.  The 2nd one is the reverse - white on the cuff and the kitty body will be the dark grey.

This is shaping up to be a fairly busy week at work, but I'm hoping to show the second YinYang sock before the week is over.

Fletch and I did finish reading The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (I liked 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea better, but this one was very good).  Last night we started Around the World in Eighty Days - I guess we are on a Jules Verne kick!  I'm more than halfway through The Dakota Winters and still enjoying it very much.

The big tomatoes are starting to ripen (I picked two yesterday) and Fletch counted 5 cantaloupes on the volunteer plant!

Hoping you all had wonderful weekends and I'm hoping I will soon feel a little less groggy!  Here's to a great week!

TGIF August 2, 2019

Good Morning All!

It was kind of a misty/foggy drive into work today.  Dawn is definitely a bit later these days and this morning felt surprisingly cool (REFRESHING!!).  I ended up turning off both the AC and the ceiling fan last night and just slept with the window open - it was wonderful.

A few more garden things for you this morning.  First up these are the sunflowers we have growing in our tall raised bed box (this is where our garlic was planted - already harvested, and we have a couple of potato plants at the other end which are just about ready to dig):

These sunflowers have grown tall - the other ones we have are fairly short.  The purple blooms in this picture are loosestrife - an invasive species, but we love it.  Another spot of color and it really has not spread in our yard - it stays in our boggy area.

More tomatoes.  I picked these last night from one plant.  There will be the same amount ready to be picked tonight!

So many!  And so delicious!  The cukes in the background are from Colin's garden.

What are you doing for the weekend?  Mine is shaping up to be fairly busy which is a disappointment.  We have a lot of errands and running around to do tomorrow.  My hope is that we can get it all done and just be home on Sunday.  Fingers crossed.

Finally, because it's Friday, there should be a feline picture.

Here is the handsome Tyg looking like he would like to say "put the camera away and just let me be."  He is sprawled on one of the deck chairs on the patio (he stole my seat when I got up to pick the tomatoes).

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - Enjoy!

Welcome August

Good Morning!

It is a clear morning and feels better than the past few days have.  We had some fairly strong storms yesterday afternoon and that helped break up some of the humidity and it lowered temps (70's when I got home from work!!).

Fletch and I were sitting on the patio enjoying a beverage before dinner (red wine for me; coffee for him), enjoying the view of the garden, listening to bird song and waiting for the hummingbird to appear (he did not).  We have a hibiscus plant at the edge of our garden and we both suddenly noticed that it was blooming!

The buds were not even visible the day before.  We don't do anything with this plant (never have) and it just keeps appearing year after year.  Always a gift.

Next to this gorgeous plant is one of our raised bed boxes.  This one is filled with:

 onions!  I think it's time these get pulled and hung up to dry.  They can't stay in the ground forever.  We have both white and red onions here and these are some of the largest we (that is the collective "we" - meaning Fletcher) have ever grown.

Towards the back of the garden is another raised bed.  Fletch did not plant anything in it this year, but thanks to composting (and birds) we have several volunteer plants:

There are at least 3 cantaloupes in there, a cherry tomato plant and a tomato plant that is producing fruit that is more the size of Campari tomatoes (which I LOVE).  Fletch picked a bunch last night.

Tonight's dinner will include both onions and tomatoes!

Joining Carole and friends for Three on Thursday.  Woo-Hoo to the weekend being in sight😄