An Evening Walk

Good morning!


Colin came for dinner last night (which has thrown my whole week off - he usually comes on Thursdays, so all day yesterday I thought it was Thursday!).  He grilled chicken sausage and we had garlic bread (with scapes from the garden!!) and our first serving of Sugar Snap Peas from the garden (we always eat the first serving raw) - so good - sweet and very crispy.

After dinner he and I decided to take a walk along the canal.  We took our time (I usually do the walk in an hour...last night it was an hour and 20 minutes) and there was plenty to see.  A couple of guys fishing, lots of turtles basking in the last sunlight of the day, many geese (some with adolescents - definitely not goslings, but not full grown - still fluffy/fuzzy and just beginning to get their black necks), a number of ducks - some with tiny, tiny babies:

And a beautiful Heron who was patiently waiting for a fish to swim by:

The water was very high after all the rain we have had - the canal was almost level with the trail.  It was a little humid, but there was a bit of a breeze and it just felt so nice to be out and moving!  There were plenty of people out and about.


We didn't get home till after 8:30, and I think I was in the shower before Colin had pulled out of the driveway to head home!


I've got a busier day than planned at work, but that's ok - it should speed by.  I'm hoping to take a bit of a break mid-day and do some knitting, but only time will tell.


Hope everyone's week is going well.

Half a Leg

Good Morning!


I'm happy to report that the sun is shining and there is no rain in the forecast until a possible small thunder storm tomorrow.  Woo-Hoo!


Yesterday turned out to be an ok day.  I had completely forgotten that we had an off-site employee lunch at Bahama Breeze starting at 12:30.  That didn't end till after 2:30 and Bobby (CEO) said he was fine with everyone calling it a day and going home!  I don't need to be told that twice.  I was home by 3 p.m.  And that, my friends, meant more knitting time.  I now have half a leg on Sunflower Sock #2:

So sunny and bright!  I love these socks (the yarn more than the pattern).


I've got some work chores this morning and hope to get out at lunch to knit a bit more.  Then I have to leave early as I have a podiatrist appointment at 4:30.  I have hammer toes and other awful things going on with my feet and get very painful corns on the balls of my feet.  Hoping to get these taken care of as we are planning to go hiking on Saturday with Colin & Mailing and Mailing's parents.


Here's to a SUNNY day!!

Wet Monday

Hello All,


What can I say?  More rain here.  Two of the roads I take to work were closed this morning due to flooding.  Fletch mopped up 3 buckets of water in the basement last night.  The ground is so saturated!  And it is chilly again - 58 this morning. 


But, on to more pleasant things.  Sock # 1 of my Sunflower socks is finished!

I love it!  And the heel fits and feels great.  YAY!  I forgot to mention the other week that these socks are actually reversible!  The inside is a basket weave pattern:

I did not carry the pattern onto the foot, so the entire foot is just purl stitches on the wrong side.  Sorry these pictures aren't the greatest - it was grey and rainy yesterday afternoon and pretty dark.  The second sock has been started - the ribbing is done and I knit about 8 rows after that.


Saturday turned out to be a nice day.  My brother and sister-in-law came up in the early afternoon and Colin and Mailing showed up a little later.  Colin grilled burgers, made coleslaw and oven fries.  Thank goodness we could eat outside because the kitchen got very, very smoky from the oven fries.  They also brought over 3 different types of fresh sauerkraut from the Lansdale Farmer's Market.  One was curried, one was apple & fennel and I forget the 3rd kind.  I put the curried one on my burger and it was wonderful.  And my SIL made home-made rolls for the burgers.  The Cardamom Tea Cake did not turn out that great.  It seemed too dry to me and not flavorful enough.  Colin texted me this morning that he had a piece toasted with peanut butter that was really good.  Meanwhile the rhubarb sorbet was (and still is) delicious!  I will definitely make that again.


On the reading front I started Never Caught which I'm enjoying very much.  It is about Ona Judge, a slave who was owned by George & Martha Washington, who escaped.  Interesting reading.


That's it for this rainy, dreary Monday.  I would have preferred to stay home for sure!  Hope everyone's week is off to a great start.

TGIF 06-08-18

Good Morning,


I am so TGIF today!  I stayed up too late last night to finish The Crane Wife which I did enjoy.  The writing style was a little different from what I usually read, but I enjoyed the book based on a Japanese folk tale.  A quick read (and bonus:  it fits one of the squares on my Book Bingo card!).


We did have a fire last night which was so nice. 

Yup - that's a bottle of whiskey on the bench and nope...I don't drink that stuff.  It was a very pleasant evening to be out and we listened to some old, old music while sitting out there (Marvin Gaye, CCR, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young) - -fun times.  And someone hung around with us a little bit:

He had climbed into the apple tree and was heading towards the bird house where wrens are nesting.  Not to worry - no harm was done!


I've got a busy day ahead of me.  A conference call at 8:30 and another one at 10.  I am planning to get out of here no later than 1:00 (summer short Fridays - yay).  I need to stop at the bank to get money and the grocery store to pick up a few things.  And, just remembered, need some wine also.  My brother and SIL are coming up from Delaware tomorrow for an early cookout.  Tonight I'll be baking a cardamom tea cake and mixing up ingredients for rhubarb sorbet which I'll finish tomorrow morning.  And, of course, the bathrooms need to be cleaned and some other places as well.  I'll be happy when I can just sit down and knit this evening!


Wishing you all the best of weekends.  Enjoy!

Unraveled Wednesday 06-06-18

Hello All and Happy Mid-Week!


Joining Kat and Friends this morning for Unraveled Wednesday.  Fortunately there has been no unraveling (except time seems to unravel away from me...).  That, of course, is because there has been little knitting.  Last night I managed to add 10 rows onto my Sunflower Sock and I snapped a picture so you could see the garter ridge on the heel:

Click to enlarge, and you can see the little nubs where I picked up stitches along that edge.  Pretty cool and, for me, it was easier to see those nubs to pick up rather than picking up the slipped stitches.


I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness and am loving it.  Have any of you read this book?


What else?  I did make it to yoga Monday night which felt great.  Last night was busy - I had to pick up Mailing at a car dealership where she was having a check-up and oil change.  We got back to the house around 6:15 and Colin was grilling scallops, pineapple and asparagus.  Everything turned out delicious.  I poured wine while he finished grilling and then we ate...quickly...and Colin and Mailing left right after we finished because the car dealer closed at 8 and she needed her car to get to work today.  This morning, while having coffee, I spent 40 minutes chopping and prepping veggies for a stir fry dinner tonight.


Work is work.  The Lame Duck will be back in today - 3rd day in a row (which is more than he has been in the office in years!!!).  The jostling and preening has begun for those who are interested in his position.  They will go through the motion of having panel interviews, but I would bet bottom dollar they have already chosen his successor.  In some ways it is interesting and humorous to watch; in other ways it is just plain tiresome.


That's it for me.  Head on over to Kat's to see what others are up to this Wednesday.

Sometimes Mondays....

Hello All,


Sometimes Mondays can just about get away from you.  Whew!  A busy (busier than anticipated) morning here in work-world.


Of course the weekend flew by.  Not that there was anything of particular note - mostly crappy weather and lazy behavior on my part.  I did get a little cleaning done and the laundry (or most of it).


One accomplishment:  I printed out my card for Book Bingo. 

I like it!  I pulled up a few others, but this is the one I'm sticking with (the first).  Again, I'm not choosing books to fill squares; rather I'm seeing if anything I read fits any square.


Fletch and I did finish reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (which will fit in a square) and I gave it 5 stars.  I don't know why I never read it before.  It was fabulous!  I also finished Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman  which was very interesting - about Huguette Clark - and which I've heard is being made into a movie or television drama/series.  The end dragged a bit for me, but otherwise it was interesting.  4 stars.  I'm about half way through The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness which is loosely based on a Japanese folktale.  I'm really enjoying this one a lot.  That should fit in the first square (bird or animal on the cover).


On the knitting front, I finally am on the foot of the first sock in what I am calling my Sunflower Pair.

Loving the colors in this Trekking yarn.  Cheerful and fun...also easy to knit.  I'm not sold on the pattern (or it may be that the yarn doesn't particularly work with the pattern), but I'm far enough into it that I won't be ripping it out.  This pattern calls for a different type of heel than I've done before - there is actually a garter stitch section on either side of the heel flap...when the flap is done you use the little bumps along the garter ridge to pick up the gusset stitches.  Easy to do...will be curious to see how it fits/feels when I finally get around to sticking my foot into it.


Looking forward to getting back to yoga tonight after a two month absence.  I've been working out at home, but I have missed my yoga classes.


Tomorrow Colin & Mailing are coming for dinner:  grilled scallops, pineapple and asparagus.  Can't wait for that.


OK...gotta get back to the madness of work.  Hope everyone's week is off to a great start.

TGIF

Good Morning!


Thanks for all your good wishes on our anniversary.  I still can't believe it was 38 years ago!


A very slow commute into work again today.  Almost an hour to go 12-13 miles.  Found out from Colin that there is a huge sinkhole in the area that opened up, exposing a gas pipe and a local road is closed...thus my roads are a little more jammed up.  hopefully this will be fixed by next Tuesday.


My 10 a.m. finance conference call has been cancelled which is lovely; however, the CEO has already nabbed me to help him with some things...not sure what time I'll get out today, but hopefully by 1 if not before.


I'm feeling a little off kilter since I left my phone at home (at least I hope it is on the kitchen table).


Meanwhile, here is our friendly Friday feline...Tyg (or as Colin calls him, Tygus).  Lounging on a muggy day.

Wishing you all the best of weekends.  Enjoy!!