Unraveled Wednesday 8/27/25

 Hello Friends,

Here it is the very last Unraveled Wednesday in August 2025!  Yikes but the year is slipping by quickly.  I'm ok with Fall being a little bit in the air.  After all, Fall is my very favorite season - using candles at dinner, having a shawl wrapped around my shoulders, warm beverages.  But still, it seems too fast.  And this morning I actually put the heat on in the bathroom while I had a shower!

Yesterday when we went grocery shopping we spotted gladiolas in the flower department.  I couldn't believe that a huge bunch was only $6.99.  These are much grander than any we attempted to grow, simply lovely.

It's now time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk about making and reading.  Won't you join us?

Guess what?  My Simple SKYP socks were finished Friday night!!  Woo-Hoo!

Obviously not blocked (confession:  I never block socks...just put them on and wear them - lol).  These did take forever to knit.  They might win the prize for being on the needles the longest of any pair I have ever knit!  But now they are finished and I love them.  Luckily they are for me.

I did wind up some yarn for another pair of socks, but decided I don't really care for the yarn all that much (Trekking 75% wool and 25% bamboo).  The yarn is extremely thin.  So I will go through my stash again and find other yarn to use.  It's good to have socks on the needles and I would like to get started on some gift socks.

My intention was to pick up the Heartwarmer Cowl again - the one I started months ago and then had to rip out a section and never got back to it.  That did not happen.  Nor did I pick up Semplice.  But, I will get back to both of these...at some point...

Last week I read an excellent book!  Crown by Evanthia Bromiley is a very strong debut novel.  A young pregnant mother and her twins are facing eviction from their trailer.  As their power is shut off, the mother goes into labor.  This book brought back memories of "Nesting" - one of our RWU books.  Different story, but similar themes.  I found it to be a very fast read and I highly recommend.

I'm now halfway through another book that I am finding hard to put down...but more on that next week.  And, Fletch and I are still reading (slowly, 8 pages or so after dinner) Force of Nature and it is ok.  Not great, but parts are interesting.  We are over halfway through it, but still have a lot of reading to do.

What are you making and reading this week?

Tiny Needle Tuesday 8/26/25

 Good Morning My Friends,

Here we are at the last Tuesday in August.  Time for a TNT update.  I'm happy to show you that a bit of stitching was accomplished during the past week.

I've made it to the other side!!  The clouds are not yet finished, but they are getting there.  And the brown, brown, brown stem/branch was filled in.  Plenty more brown to come since, after all, that is a tree.  But time for that later.  Right now I'm happy to see the width of the piece.  I started this sampler on 5/31/25.  So three months in and not yet halfway finished.  Much, much more to be stitched.  Luckily I'm still enjoying it!

Another happy thing:  we managed to have one gladiola stalk bloom!  Yup, only one.  The deer ate all the stalks - sometimes before you could even see any buds on them.  But yesterday mid-day I walked by the front door and spotted this one and ran out to cut it before any creatures came by.

I put it in the vase with the snap dragons I had picked earlier in the day.  I love the white piping around the red petals.  So delicate.

Yesterday's errands went well.  I skipped the library, but will head over there later today to pick up the four books (!) waiting for me.  And I forgot to mention that we did watch "The Friend" over the weekend - the movie based on the book that is our RWU selection.  I managed to stay awake (not sure Fletch did for the entire movie), but nothing great for sure.

Wishing you all the best for this last Tuesday in August.  Get out there and enjoy it!

Weekending 8/25/25

 

Good Morning!

The weekend has come and gone already!  I'm enjoying several days "off" from watching Iris (though I miss seeing her).  This coming Wednesday starts my full-time gig through most of September while Bonnie is in China.

My weekend included some chores (glad to have gotten them out of the way), some running around (always) and some cooking (always).  One night I made a delicious stir fry.  So good with fresh veggies.

One morning I made peach waffles (and forgot to take a picture).  I've said this before, the stone fruits this year are amazing.  Last night I made shrimp scampi with the addition of marinated artichoke hearts.  Again no picture.  We had that over linguini and I roasted a couple of large tomatoes (cut off the tops, sprinkle with EVOO, S&P and add a lot of minced garlic...then top with panko and more EVOO...bake at 400 till browned).

Fletch harvested the first batch of green bush beans.

The angle of that photo makes it look like not too many beans, but there were roughly 125 that he picked!  I steamed them Friday night and they were delicious!  And for something completely different, I tried making steak bites in the air fryer!  Though I honestly prefer a grilled steak, these were not bad.  I cut a strip steak into bite sized pieces, tossed them with a bit of oil, S&P and garlic powder.  They cook up quickly at 400!

I harvested the last eggplant.  Boo.  We ended up getting 3 this year.  Not bad considering the plant developed scale early on.  It looked so bad I didn't think we would have any!  I used one on a pizza the other week.  The remaining two are in the crisper drawer and I'm planning to make eggplant caponata with them.

More errands are on the agenda for today (we need wine and I also need some DMC floss).  There are more books ready for me to pick up at the library, but I may wait until tomorrow for that.

How was your weekend?  I hope it was a good one and that this Monday finds your week off to a great start.

Oh My! Delicious!!

 Hello My Friends,

Stopping by with a quick, but delicious, post.  Yesterday I made the Espresso Dark Chocolate Brownies to take over to C&M's for dinner.  I'm not sure I can even describe just how good these brownies are.  Dangerously good!

A little sprinkle of sea salt never hurts.  Colin made some whipped cream to top the brownies and that was perfect (ice cream would have worked also).

This Recipe is the one I used.  Highly recommend.

Also, Colin's pasta with a veggie sauce was excellent!  The weather was pretty much crap (constant rain or at least mist) so we skipped a fire and came home early.  That ended up being a good thing.  I was pretty tired.  I had picked up two library books earlier in the day, so I started one last night - more about that next week.

More rain in the forecast for today.  Again, I won't complain - we still need it.  But gosh it is awfully dark outside!  A perfect morning for crawling back into bed...but I need to head back over to watch Iris in a bit.  Hope your Thursday is a good one!

Unraveled Wednesday 8/20/25

 Good Morning All!

Yesterday I wore jeans and wool socks!  In August!!  I know these Fall-like temps will not stay, but I'm enjoying them while I can.  We are heading to C&M's for dinner tonight (pasta with a veggie sauce - all veggies from the CSA - onions, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants).  We have been hoping to eat outside and then have a fire, but it looks like it may be raining here by 2:00 or so.  We need the rain, so I won't complain.  I've been tasked with bringing dessert, so this morning I will bake some espresso dark chocolate brownies!

The large, mutant tomato I picked the other day (mutant because it was two growing together) was cut yesterday.  Thankfully it was full of good flavor (unlike our cherry tomatoes) and we had delicious BLTs for lunch.  Yum

Moving right along, 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.  Not only does inspiration abound on Wednesdays, but it is also easy to become enabled by others.  LOL

My second Simple SKYP sock has progressed and is now down the foot a bit.  I knit the heel flap and turned the heel over the weekend.  

My feet are large, so there is still a bit to do on the foot before I get to the toe decreases.  I don't think I have ever had a pair of socks take this long to knit and I'm hesitant to cast on another pair, but I probably will because they are so portable.  I'd like to get back to Semplice and finish that up as well.

As for reading, I finished two books over the past week.  The first was Black Diamond the third book in the Bruno Chief of Police series by Martin Walker.  These books are so enjoyable!  Even though there is usually a murder or two, these books feature life in the French countryside and there is usually a lot about food.  I have the fourth book coming in at the library.

Speaking of Bruno, I am still pouring over Bruno's Cookbook and dreaming of things to cook and bake.  So many good options!

The second book I finished was The Friend by Sigrid Nunez.  This is our RWU selection that we will be discussing in September.  I was pretty under-whelmed by this book and sort of bored also.  I found it a bit meandering and thought parts were unnecessary.  I will be watching the movie before our discussion and I'm curious what that will be like.

The four books that my library account is showing as having shipped did not come in yesterday.  Fingers crossed I'll be able to pick them up today.  It's very strange to have no library books on my nightstand!

Time for another cup of coffee.  Have a great Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 8/19/25

 Good Morning my Friends!

It's a chilly morn.  I'm dressed in PJ pants and a sweatshirt!!  The ceiling fan in the bedroom remained off ALL night!  Yep, a little taste of Fall is in the air.  I know it won't last, but it's a nice tease.

It's Tuesday which means it's time for an update on my stitching.  Not much was accomplished last week.

Only the bit of black in the cloud on the right.  This is the first of 3 cloud segments on that side.  I had thought I'd finish the first one, but that was not to be.  At least not this past week.

As a reminder, this is what the entire piece will look like once finished.

I want to get to the moon and stars!  They just look like fun to me.

Today includes a small grocery shopping and cleaning the bathrooms.  Maybe I'll fit in some stitching as well.  And, I'm hoping to get an email from my library that books are in for me (when I looked at my account last night I could see that 4 have been shipped!).

Time to refill my coffee cup.  Have a wonderful day!

Sometimes Monday...8/18/25

 Sometimes...Monday just doesn't start off on the right foot.  I woke at 4 a.m. to Mabel retching.  Ugh!  Not a very pleasant way to be woken up.  Luckily she got sick outside the bedroom.  But still...I had to go downstairs to get paper towels and clean it up.  Then, naturally, I had a hard time falling back to sleep.  Oh well.  She obviously wasn't feeling well, so I felt badly for her.

Meanwhile, the weekend really was very nice.  We had such a nice time at Colin & Mailing's on Saturday mid-day.  My brother and sister-in-law made it up safely from Delaware (despite horrible traffic and a long ride).  Bruch was delicious - Bellinis, a smoked salmon frittata, roasted potatoes, sausages, lemon basil scones, fresh tomatoes from the farm.  We had not seen Ray & Linda in over a year!  Although they live fairly close by (Delaware), there is no easy way to get between our houses.  One route involves the blue route and 95 (both of which are crazy roads, heavy traffic and often at a standstill).  Another route involves 202 which includes more traffic lights, and still heavy traffic.  

More hibiscus blooms!  Sunday morning I got laundry started and then ran a quick errand.  When I got home I ventured out to the garden.  I ended up picking over 100 yellow beans again as well as some cherry tomatoes and our first big tomato (which is actually two that grew together).

The cherry tomatoes (once again) were kind of tasteless.  We have not cut into the big tomato yet.  The beans were very tasty!  I made a yellow bean casserole (instead of green bean) and included some sautéed red onions and mushrooms mixed in.

The bush beans (green) are now ready to pick as well.  I predict we will be overrun with them shortly!

Sunday afternoon I carved out a short period of time for stitching and I finished another book.  All in all, a good weekend.  Now I need to replenish my coffee cup and have a little sustenance before heading out to spend the day with Iris.

Mabel seems fine now - she wanted breakfast and is out now.

Happy Friday!

 Good Morning All,

Still a bit muggy here in Eastern PA.  We did get a good thunderstorm on Wednesday (and I made it home just before the storm broke), but it didn't get rid of the humidity in the air.  That has been lingering, along with warm temps.  I think things will moderate a bit by next week and we may even get more rain today.

Our excitement is that our hibiscus finally has a bloom!  And another one almost open.

I was unable to reach over to move the leaf, but you can still see the bloom.  AND...there are at least 2 dozen more buds on the plant - amazing!

After a slow start, our snapdragons are finally blooming a lot.  More white than I would like, but still pretty.

I'm happy that our grass has stayed pretty green throughout the summer despite the hot, hot, hot days.

Yesterday I harvested the first two eggplants!  

I sliced the larger one very thinly, drizzled it with EVOO and broiled it.  That became one of the toppings on the pizza I made last night.  Delicious!  There is a third eggplant that I did not harvest yet - will most likely use that plus the second one here to make some eggplant caponata.

Yesterday was busy - laundry of course and then I ran over to the township to pay taxes.  I couldn't believe the line of cars waiting to park there.  Everyone anxious to pay their taxes - lol.  No stitching or knitting was done, but I finished one book and started another.

Today I'm back to watching Iris.  Hopefully a good day!  And then tomorrow we are back at C&M's for a noon time brunch.  My brother Ray and his wife are driving up from Delaware to join us.  It will be their first time to meet Iris.  C&M have a delicious menu planned including Bellinis!!  Can't wait for them.

Cheers to the weekend ahead - have a good one!

Unraveled Wednesday 8/13/25

 Hello My Friends,

We are fast approaching mid-August which seems so impossible to me.  And the mornings are so much darker now.  Getting up at 6 is becoming more and more difficult.

The garden continues to flourish.  Well, the yellow beans and cucumbers that is.  I did spot 3 tomatoes on our plant but they are still firmly green.  And there seem to be many figs, but they don't seem to be growing larger or ripening.  Oh well.  Happily Rob, our neighbor across the street, said a resounding yes to beans and cukes.  I went out and picked roughly 100 beans (I tend to count as I pick) for him.

I walked over to meet him in his garden (and included two cucumbers)  and he told me to cut some flowers.  YAY!  He has gorgeous zinnias and black eyed Susans.

It was way too hot to stay outside for very long, so I hurried back with the flowers and into a cooler house.

Seeing as it's Wednesday, let's link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for a look at knitting and reading.  The past week found me adding a number of rows to Semplice, but I didn't bother with a picture since it really just looks the same.  My second Simple SKYP Sock is now at the heel flap.  I was working on this yesterday afternoon and should have finished the flap and heel turn, but instead I ventured into the garden and over to Rob's.  I never got back to it.

Ten rows on an Eye of the Partridge heel flap.  Maybe I can work on this today while Iris naps?  Maybe not...

The only book I finished the last week is Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak.  Another spy type novel.  This one felt a little closer to home:  an unlikeable president in for a second term married to a foreigner, connections to Russia, etc.  It was ok - not wonderful and it felt a bit slow to me.  The pace did pick up towards the end.

A book that I have been lingering over is Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen by Martin Walker and Julia Watson.  Walker is, of course, the author of the Bruno, Chief of Police series.  The last thing I need is yet another cookbook, but I am really enjoying this one.  There are many recipes I would not make, but there are an equal number of recipes that (to moi) are mouth watering.  I will be copying some of those down (or just taking a picture of the page).  I'm enjoying the way the book is broken down as well:  a section on The Vegetable Plot and Market, Fisherman, Hunter, Butcher, Cheesemaker and Dairyman, Baker, Forager, Winemaker.  Each section begins with an essay which makes for enjoyable reading.

Once again, time for me to pour another cup of coffee and then pull some things (knitting and a book) to take with me when I go over to watch Iris in a short while.  Here's hoping your Wednesday is a good one.  Fingers crossed we get the forecast rain this afternoon.

Tiny Needle Tuesday 8/12/25

 Hello and Good Morning,

I'm sorry to say the heat and humidity have returned.  Ugh!  I missed posting yesterday - I was short on time before going over to watch Iris.  Our weekend was nice.  We had a lovely dinner outside at Colin & Mailing's on Saturday.  We had freshly baked sourdough bread, a chicken roasted with carrots and onions from the CSA along with roasted eggplant (also from the CSA).  The mixed berry crostata I made turned out well also.  Too busy playing with Iris and eating to take any pictures!  We wound up the evening with a nice fire in the pit.

It turns out that Fletch was wrong about our cucumber plant not producing due to mold or something.  We are now overrun with cucumbers.  I'd best make some more pickles and I suppose another cucumber salad will be on the menu one of these nights.

Sunday night I cooked more of the yellow pole beans for dinner.  They are so good...but honestly, I don't want them every night and those plants are over-producing!  LOL

Now it's Tuesday and time for a TNT update.  The weekend did provide some time for doing a little stitching.  The leaf was finished being filled in and the clouds on the right have been started!

And here is an overall shot of where things stand at the moment.

My plan is to work some more on the clouds, but also finish the brown stems on the plants.  After the clouds I will most likely stitch the moon and stars underneath them.  Lots of intense stitching, but also a very fun piece.

Time to pour another cup of coffee and do a few things.  I need to figure out what will be for dinner (I'm thinking scallops) and what's a day without a visit to CVS?  It would be nice if they could get it together so that all our prescriptions would be ready at the same time.  Hopefully some time for stitching and knitting and, of course, reading.

TGIF 8/8/25

 Good Morning!

Just popping in to quickly share a new recipe I tried.  Sorry no pics (I forgot).  And, of course, to say Happy Friday!

This is the Recipe I made:  Marcella Beans with Tuna and Pickled Onions.  Oh Yum!  And, I did happen to have a bag of Marcella Beans handy.  Boy are they good and boy was the recipe delicious.

I soaked the beans overnight and then put them on to cook in the morning.  Do NOT, as I did, turn the pot on high and then leave the room and forget that you turned the stove on.  I was sitting peacefully at my computer doing the NYT puzzles when Fletch suddenly shouted from outside that the pot was boiling over.  It was messy (but it cleaned up very easily).

Also, I had made the pickled onions a couple of days before pulling the dish together.  Fletch honestly was not thrilled with dinner prospects that night, but he ended up liking the dish - especially the pickled onions (to the point where he polished them off, so there are none to go with the leftovers!).

The recipe does make a lot.  I ended up taking some of the leftovers to C&M.  Next time I would cut the recipe in half, but triple (at least) the pickled onions.  Also, I don't think tuna packed in EVOO is absolutely necessary - especially since you drain it and then add EVOO to the recipe.  I usually buy solid white tuna in water and that is what I would use next time.

Anyway, a tasty and quite economical meal if you are so inclined to eat this sort of thing (we love beans).

After saying he didn't think we would have cucumbers to harvest, Fletch picked the first one the other day and then yesterday he picked a really large one!  And more yellow beans!

Good thing we like both cucumbers and beans.  Now, if only our tomatoes would behave in the same way...

Here's hoping your weekend is filled with good things.  We will be heading over to have dinner with Colin & Mailing & Iris tomorrow.  The forecast is nice enough that we will probably have a fire that evening.  I'll be taking a mixed berry crostata.  Yum!

Unraveled Wednesday 8/6/25

 Hello and Good Morning!

Posting a bit later than usual  because I decided to cook breakfast this morning.  I was hungry and we were both craving French toast.  And bacon.  Now I'm stuffed.  The dishes still need to be done, but the first load of wash is in the machine (2 more to go).

Mid-week, Hump Day, or as we call it, Unraveled Wednesday.  Time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk making and reading.  I love Wednesdays and catching up with what everyone is making and to add to my TBR ever expanding list.

This past week saw me making some progress on Semplice!

I'm a quarter of the way through the last pattern section (11 out of 44 rows completed).  The pattern has an additional 4 stitches added every other row, so it is growing steadily.  Obviously this will need to be strongly blocked once finished.  I looked at my notes and I started this on August 8, 2024.  It won't be finished by Friday, but hopefully before the end of August.  When I was knitting a row yesterday afternoon, Fletch walked by and said "you are really making progress on that!"  I said, I hope so, I've been working on it for a year!  LOL

My SKYP sock looks the same, but really 10 or more rows were added.  Not yet at the heel flap, but soon!

Reading slowed a bit...other things had my attention.  I did finish Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis.  When I first started this book I was enjoying it very much, but as I continued it just became over-long and at times tedious.  Interesting, but it could have/should have been shorter.

Fletch and I are in the midst of Force of Nature: Three Women Tackle the John Muir Trail by Joan Griffin.  This has been billed as a cross between "Wild" and "A Walk in the Woods."  We are enjoying it.  The writing is ok - nothing fabulous, but it is an interesting story (although a bit wordy in places).

We now have three eggplants on our plant on the patio!  I'm hoping they will get a bit larger.  Fletch mentioned that our cucumber plants have some kind of mold on them...or something...and he didn't think we would get any cukes.  But when he went out to water the garden last night, he came back with this:

At least we'll have one!

Time to check the washer and see if I can start another load.  I'll be using the dryer unfortunately.  It is overcast (I think from the Canadian wildfires) and a bit humid/damp outside.  Then I will fix another cup of coffee and clean up the kitchen from breakfast.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 8/5/25

 Good Morning!

How are you this morning?  My back and arms are a little tired (I was with Iris yesterday), but it is another very comfortable morning (temperature-wise) here in Eastern PA.  The temps are steadily rising though and we will be back in the heat soon.

Not very much stitching was done last week.  First it was too darn hot to hold needle and fabric.  Then, when the storms came in and cooled things down, I was busy taking care of other things.  Oh well, as I always say, it is not a race.

Only a portion of the green on that upper leaf was filled in.  The stems (brown and darker brown) are a bit tiresome, but there are loads more to do!  Perhaps today.  Or I may move further to the right and start some more clouds.

There is a lot of running around for me to do today - a prescription to pick up, library books to pick up (yay) and a package to mail.  And, of course, we are doing grocery shopping this morning so that we take advantage of the senior discount on Tuesdays.  The list is not too long - mostly fresh produce.  I've some cooking to do as well - Fletch requested spaghetti for dinner, so I need to make some sauce.  Last night I took grilled sausage out of the freezer to use.  And we will have a big salad to go with that.

Whatever your Tuesday holds for you, I hope it's a good one!

Weekending 8/4/25

 Good Morning!

What a gorgeous weekend we had.  Not a typical August weekend at all.  Moderate temperatures and very low humidity.  It was wonderful!

This weekend I managed to get the chores done that I had successfully avoided over the past week.  It was time...bathrooms, kitchen floor, scatter rugs washed and hung on the line to dry.  Trust me, there is still more to do, but at least a dent was a made in some of the things.

A bit of cooking was also done.  Colin had given me a couple of cucumbers from Zhongren's garden.  He gave me the smallest two and they are pretty big.  Long and slender like an English cucumber.  I used one to make some sweet cucumber chips.  I also made some guacamole and a large crab salad (just lump crab meat, chopped celery, mayo, s&p. a bit of Old Bay seasoning and lemon juice.  We had that last night on a toasted croissant with sliced tomato and a little bit of cheese on top - stuck under the broiler to melt the cheese.  Yummy.

This was the best though:

Yellow pole beans - so good both raw or quickly steamed.  The little cherry tomatoes were a big disappointment though - either no flavor or a bad taste.  This has not been a good year for tomatoes for us.  Our green bush beans should be flowering soon (fingers crossed).

I managed to sneak in a tiny amount of stitching and knitting as well as some reading.  Overall, a very satisfying weekend.  I hope yours was a good one as well.