Zibaldone|28 November 2022

November brought 1- Congressional elections; 2 – spectacular color courtesy Mother Nature; 3 – old, new and many-paged books in my reading stack; 4- delightful morning walks, although for about ten days, the temps hovered in the low to mid 30s. 5- birthday celebration: floral bouquet for my 80th birthday trip around the sun and 6 – my great grand nephew, Elias’ 5th. AmaZing! 7 – The photo that shows a doll on my path caused me to think how sad it got lost. 8 – I was intrigued by the painter capturing the autumn scene in watercolors… 9 – I walked to the Franciscan Monastery Saturday and was delighted to see the Koi pond filled with fish.

I am also delighted with this quilt-let, approx 12” x 12.” I made it after my trip to Sisters OR in July. I call it “I Left My Heart in Sisters…” and am embarking on a new and exciting “slow stitching” program.

Stay tuned for December’s magic. And thanks for joining me on my journey.

Cheers~

simply a moment | 11.15. 21…

Normally on the 15th of the month, I aim to document and share a moment from the day. It occurred to me today that only on the 15th of November can I share the day’s moment/s at the time closest to when I was born: circa 7:42 pm.

Today is/was my birthday; I’ve had many trips around the sun and looking forward to many more. The story goes that when I was born, my father had not left the hospital more than ten minutes, out to get a burger, thinking that it’d yet be a while before I made my grand entrance. Hah! Fooled him!

I had a grand day filled with well wishes and my favorite eats: pizza (this time Panera’s flatbread), salad and of course, Prosecco… all topped off with a couple pieces of delicious lemon ( my fave flavor) cookies. I am filled not only with good food but more importantly, the well wishes of Family and Friends, far and near.

Before I leave, enjoy this photo from today: this Japanese Maple, probably close to 34 years old, is exceptionally beautiful this year. Sorry, the goodies are all gone…they were indeed delish.

Cheers~

In my last post, I pondered what June’s weather would be …Now, I know: H-O-T! I took an extra long walk this afternoon, primarily because for the past few days, it has been very h-o-t. The sky, as usual, was/is a study and my route, naturally took me to and through the park, which is just hilly enough that I can see the view from different heights…

I’ve spent most of the week attending zoom sessions with family, friends and strangers and a few hours, here and there, learning the fine art of foundation paper piecing, stitching my Confetti Quilt. The fun part of this project is selecting the fabric scraps for each block…

I started Great Circle – a title I chose for summer book bingo…I think it could fit many, many bingo squares on at least three different cards. I say that tongue-in-cheek though perhaps t’is truer than I think. I suspect I’ll know for sure once I’ve finished the 589 pages…

Great grand nephew Chris is 7 today! This photo was taken this morning and shared by his mom; his birthday breakfast wish: donuts. This evening – soon – family gathers via zoom to sing happy happy. I understand next weekend there will be a gathering to celebrate all three of my sister’s grands who have birthdays the 4th and the 10th of June.

Joining Kat and friends for unraveled wednesday.

thursday 3 | 3.25.21 …

~Pink is the color of Spring ~

It has been cloudy today; yesterday was all rain … but the nice thing about Spring is the budding and blossoming of flowers and trees. Always a welcomed sight and a boost to one’s morale, especially on a rainy day.

My week began with a fairly empty calendar – no medical appointments for us. Wonderful. And because Monday was sunny, warm, I took my car for a much needed interior cleaning and exterior wash. An item that had been on my “let’s do this” list far too long! I’d forgotten that a car wash was just about 4 blocks away; that was a nice perk.

I finished Hamnet Tuesday evening. Such a wonderful book. I continue to think about it; it has been a long time since I read any or about Shakespeare. I have a huge tome of his works so I think I’ll revisit Hamlet.

I’m on the threshold of starting the Confetti Quilt; the background fabric arrived – I was a half yard shy; my mistake. Today, I ordered more. As Bonnie, I’ve an errant sock that put the brakes on my knitting so I’ve added it back to the stitching queue. One thing’s for sure, I won’t be running out of stitching projects any time soon.

And – drum roll please: A shout out to my grand niece Dolly! Sunday she celebrated her 35th birthday! I can’t begin to wrap my head around that! Seems that just yesterday she was a little baby. Now she’s the mom of two boys, ages 3.5 and soon to be 7 in June.

Joining Carole and friends for Three on Thursday.

3 for …

 

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1.  and now he is SIX!

Tuesday, June 9, Chris graduated from KDG to First grade – virtually!  Yesterday, 10 June, he turned 6. We celebrated via Zoom and watched with drooling mouths as his cake was cut and eaten. Despite being miles apart, as far away as Ohio where his great grandad lives, we had a raucous good time…Norman and I celebrated with champagne, of course!

2. back to the future is now 

Earlier this month, in this space and on my Instagram, I allowed as how I was learning the 3 Needle Bind Off  technique for joining squares of the LogCabin9Patch lap blanket I’m knitting – or is it that I’m being knitted? Whatever, I’m running into a problem with dropping stitches, losing count. So it’s tink, tink, tink. I am determined to master this and have the 4 PM hour reserved for the endeavor. So far, success remains elusive but I shall push on

3. it ain’t just broke 

 IT is Central Air and has to be replaced! The entire system, mais oui (but of course). Naturally one finds this out when the temperature is in the 90s with the humidity equally high! I guess it’s a good thing I am not going to Oregon this Fall, as I’d tentatively planned before Covid-19 …

Joining Unraveled Wednesday and 3 on Thursday this week.  Do visit Kat and Carole and see what’s going on with others this week.

I think I feel a slight breeze. Wahoo!

Cheers~

 

 

unraveled wednesday | 12.18.19

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~a friend is a present you give yourself~

Is unwrapping the same as unraveling? Of course not, silly. Today, Pat, my longtime friend of 33 years and I met for a long overdue lunch and reconnection. We’d not seen one another for nearly three months! We had a lot of catching up to do…and we did. We also celebrated my birthday (Nov); the lovely journal – despite the light’s glare – a gift from Pat, is made by an artist who lives in Oregon. After lunch, we stopped at a delightful store that sells all sorts of art supplies… I needed to replenish ink for my LAMY pen. And we both had our creative juices stirred a bit by some gorgeous iridescent watercolor paints; for sure, we’re coming back in 2020, just around the corner!

After two days of rain, today was sunny, lovely and cold! Perfect for spending quality friend time. Tho’ I have not included any knitting or other fun craft update in this post nor nary a word about this past week’s reads, I encourage you to join Kat and others for Unraveled Wednesday… lotsa good books and fun knitting projects are shared there!

Cheers~

celebrating…

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~Atlantic Ocean view from restaurant,  4:20 pm, 15 Nov 2019 ~

 I had an absolutely delightful weekend celebrating my Fri, November 15 birthday with friends: some from far away and long ago; others, right here in the area:

  • Thursday, friends Kathy and Laura (both former work colleagues. Laura lives in FL; Kathy, DE. Laura was here Wednesday for an end-of-training session celebration in Columbia MD. I picked her up Thursday morning} and I drove to Bethany Beach , DE for a retreat in the off-season!

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~sunset, Bethany Beach, 15 November, 4:55 pm EST~

  • Friday, we walked the beach; collected shells and pictures of the ocean, sky, waves; ate; laughed; chatted; journaled; shared books and ideas and caught up with one another.  Friday was also Journal Club  and we joined in, sitting at the same table!  Afterwards we went to a fun restaurant for an early dinner, more laughing, sharing, reminiscing,… wash, rinse, repeat…
  • Saturday, we awoke to a roiling ocean. Sadly, our gathering was ending and we had to resume normal lives. After depositing Kathy at home, I dropped Laura off at the airport, drove home arriving  about 8 pm. Exhilarated and tired. Ready for my own bed…
  • Sunday, monthly Friendstitch gathering. More birthday celebration: good friends, good  food (pizza; champagne; salads; cookies and lemon tart cake) and fun… and on
  • Monday, she rested!

I am so grateful to my friends for this wonderful celebration and forever memories.

just life …

 

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… Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” is a quote frequently featured on this blog over the nearly 10 years I’ve been blogging. The events in my life last week…and I don’t intend to be melodramatic, eclipse any previous examples I’ve shared to illustrate RBurns’ ode. I don’t know why I didn’t get around to last Wednesday’s post, just that I’d decided to gather Wed, Thurs and Fri bon mots into one post, slated to publish Friday.

All of that changed Thursday morning, approximately 9:15 am.  Norman had a 10 am appointment; I was dropping him off and planned to proceed to join my Thursday Stitching group. I’d put my stitching basket in the back seat of the car, tuned to go back into the house and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my face. Yep! I fell! Fortunately, I didn’t beak any bones or teeth but I did have to go to the dentist because tissue from my upper lip got stuck in between my two front teeth.

I am on the mend; bruised but not broken, thankfully. I’m not sure what caused my fall; I do recall feeling a little roughness in the curb’s concrete; perhaps the sole of my shoe got stuck momentarily. It’s all a mystery. Whatever, gravity won – always. The bruising is beginning to fade.

Today is my niece/namesake’s 51st birthday.  To celebrate, my niece decided to have a family PJ party Saturday with her mom (my sister), girls (my grand nieces),  the little boys and Hazel (Chris’ pup). I opted not to stay overnight. Everybody had a grand time; I’m not too sure how much sleep anyone got.  Happy Happy Mimi as her grandsons, Chris and Elias, call her.

Yesterday (Sunday)  it rained buckets and more buckets. Today has been a perfect Fall day; it has been cold enough to spur the leaves to begin changing colors. Finally!  I have a quiet week ahead and I’m looking forward to resuming my old +new = different rhythm/cadence‽ And the Wed and Fri blog post schedule.

Cheers~

 

just in case…

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Kayla reached a milestone: her 18th birthday on Jan 29. Due to lousy weather, the planned gathering at a restaurant of her choice was postponed. Sunday afternoon, friends and family – including little Chris (Elias and Mama Dolly were sick) finally gathered for Italian food, thankful that earlier predictions for snow, ice, freezing rain, etc did not materialize. That was then…

Today, as I pen this post, we are gearing up for another round of  icy rain and possibly snow. I went to the grocery store to get basics: bananas; eggs; soup n’ salad mixin’; another bag of ice melt… and just in case we’re snowbound: cashews and wine,

If predictions indeed do materialize, we’re ready!

Cheers~