Unraveled Wednesday 2/5/25

 Good Morning,

Hope this Wednesday finds you well and enjoying life.  I think that watching the birds at our feeders is good for me and good for my soul.  I think it helps lower my blood pressure...until Mr. Squirrel comes calling that is.  BUT, he's gotta eat as well and his antics can be amusing.  The other day I caught a weird sight:  a squirrel on the ground under our sunflower feeder was busy munching away.  His tail was in the usual question mark shape, but it looked like a skinny rat's tail!  There was no hair or fur or whatever on it.  Fletch came to see him and said that it looks like either Mabel got ahold of him or he had some strange birth defect or disease.

And now we are expecting wintry weather again!  We are supposed to have snow, sleet and freezing rain starting late tonight/early tomorrow morning and going through 9 or 10 a.m. tomorrow.  Getting around should be pretty miserable.  Be safe and warm if you are in the path of this mess.

But right now it is Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to chat about making and reading.  Goof stuff!

I will spare you yet another picture of my sock that is taking FOREVER for me to knit.  Perhaps if I would pick it up and actually knit on it there would be progress.  This past week all I managed to do was 6 rows on an eye of the partridge heel flap (I did get a lot of stitching accomplished though as yesterday's post revealed).

This morning I pulled out an old, lingering project.  My Hitch on the Move shawl.

This has not seen the light of day in months...maybe 6 months?  My intention was to pull it out and rip it out...or rather unravel it all.  I had not been happy with it.  BUT, when I pulled it out and spread it on the table, I liked it!  Whoa - maybe I should try knitting on this for a bit and see how it goes.  To be continued.

Meanwhile, on to the reading.  I finished Winter Morning Walks which is a collection of poetry by Ted Kooser.  After he had undergone some treatment for cancer, his doctor advised him to stay out of the sun, so he took to taking (very) early morning walks.  And, after a lull in his writing, he found that he was writing again.  These are short poems that he wrote and sent on postcards to Jim Harrison, another poet.  This is such a calming selection of poetry and I found myself sad when I finished the book.  But then I had also ordered Braided Creek which is a collection of poems that Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison wrote to each other.  They are haiku-like and quite beautiful.  There is no indication as to which poet wrote each poem - it makes it fun to guess.

Fletch and I stopped listening to The Warmth of Other Suns a week or so ago.  He was getting bored with it.  I will finish listening to it as I think it is quite good.  We have not yet come up with something to read (or listen to) together.

I am also reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt which is the current selection for the RWU book group.  I'm roughly 150 pages into it and am enjoying the writing a lot.  The story?  Not as much.  BUT, I still have a long way to go, so the story may grow on me.  I'm not finding it a fast read, but luckily I have enough time to finish it before our Zoom discussion in March.

And finally, I started reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  I had bought this book a few years back, but never started it.  After enjoying "The Serviceberry" by Kimmerer, I moved Braiding Sweetgrass from a bookshelf to my nightstand.  This will be a long term read as I can only read a few pages at night before my eyes start to close.  I've gotten through 1.5 chapters and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Today I will venture to the library as four books came through on my queue!!  Three for me and one for Fletch.  I need/want to get them before any winter weather comes our way.  I'll leave you with a picture of my Valentine Cactus with its second bud opened.  It is gorgeous!