September Yarn Along

I didn’t post an August Yarn Along.  Which is a bit ironic because besides my immediate family, (husband, children, and grandchildren), reading was about the only thing that brought me any peace. August was an emotional month dealing with the problems of both my mother and my husband’s mother, problems that so many seniors face today.  September has always been a month for changes and new beginnings and this month has brought us a new normal I’m learning to adjust to.  And sometimes reading and working a puzzle can help an overloaded, emotional brain. 

For the September Yarn Along I just finished knitting two dresses, one for Rowen and one for Sophie. The pattern is River Dress.  It’s a fun, quick pattern, and best of all, it’s free.  But it only fits size two.  As for books, I just finished reading White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism.  There is so much to learn from this book, the most important in my view is that no matter how progressive we believe ourselves to be, “it is impossible to completely escape having developed problematic racial assumptions and behaviors.”  To say it was an eye-opening read is a vast understatement.  I can’t recommend this book enough.  I then moved on to the State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.  It’s been on my “to read” list for some time and I’m halfway through it.  I hate to think it, but once I’m finished reading it I can’t imagine having time to read much more of anything else until after Christmas because the full press of gift making will begin.

I’m always sad to say goodbye to the summer and watch the kids go back to school. It always takes me a week or two to change my mindset and adjust.  Now that fall is officially here there’s so much to do!  This month we’re not only busy with our grandchildren’s activities, (cheerleading, and football and soccer games) we are also helping to take care of two of our grandchildren while their parents are out of the country.  But this September is different because we are also busy with our commitments as chairs of our local Democratic party.  With only a little over a month until the midterm elections, we’ve been out canvassing door to door nearly every evening and weekend, passing out literature, putting up yard signs, and getting people interested in going out to vote.  We’re also passing out pens we made ourselves.  We wanted to order promotional pens but the best deal we could find was .22 cents apiece for 1000 pens.  The problem was they wanted $100 to ship them!  So we watched a youtube and made our own. 

Going out and talking to people really has been a wonderful experience for me.  It’s so gratifying to feel like you’re making a difference.  If in November my desired outcome doesn't come to be, at least I know I did everything I could to create change in my little corner of the world.

#16

 

Our youngest grandchild, Sophie's second birthday book.  I finished this one in the car on the way to the birthday party.  That's happened only one other time. I have to admit I was in such a time crunch, (literally sewing every spare moment) it was hard for me to spend much time thinking about this being my final book.  What started as a first-year memento for our first grandchild has morphed into a family birthday tradition, each grandchild receiving one for their first and second birthday.

They started with children's poems and song lyrics but with the need to make each one individual, we started using modern music as inspiration.  And that is where Paul stepped in to help.  He is very good at creating his own lyrics to popular songs.

For Sophie's final book we used the song Home by Edward Sharpe.  It was performed by Sophie's aunt and uncle at her parents' wedding, which is such a wonderful memory for us all.  Except for Sophie of course.  :)

Summer Break's End / Back To School

While the drought here in Kansas is becoming more severe, this week we finally had a little over an inch of rain.  There’s been plenty of heat, which does produce very short and spotty afternoon showers.  But we were beginning to feel as if there was a force field around our house keeping us dry.  This is the first year that I can remember our rainwater pond got too low to water from and there was no more reserve left in the cistern.  Then Tuesday we had an entire morning of downpours which was enough to fill the pond and yield overflow to the cistern.  It also reminded me to appreciate the beauty in a rainy day.

The drought has brought us one really cool consequence.  We have a friend who is a cattle and sheep rancher and a couple of weeks ago she discovered wild lotus growing in one of her ponds.  The pond was built in 1980 and never has had lotus growing in it before.  She thinks it has something to do with the drought and the water level being so low.  Since the lotus is one of Paul’s and my hobbies, we invited ourselves over.  We heard you could find it growing wild in Kansas but really didn’t believe it. 

Paul finished digging our own second small, ornamental pond, recycling what used to be Turtle Island, giving it a purpose again.  I want to dig up some of the rock from this cliff we live on to line around the edges.  He was only able to capture one of our fish to move from the lily rainwater pond to the new one, Popeye, our one-eyed goldfish.  He was blindsided.

We have all been trying to savor the last bit of summer.  Yes, the heat and calendar say we still have much left of the season but the schools here in Kansas and Missouri say differently.  Our two teacher daughters went back on Monday, while the grandchildren start next Tuesday!  To make it even worse, the local city pools are all closing this week.  For the past few years, they’ve been closing when the kids go back to school because they lose their workforce.  But grandma and grandpa’s little pool stays open until Labor Day!

So we’ve tried to fit in as much fun as possible here at the end.  It’s now a tradition on our last Friday brunch to go downtown on the streetcar to have lunch.  We made a trip to the farmers’ market, (which meant homemade pickles and peach cobbler), and we made it to the parade at the fair.  We had a back to school sleepover with the two oldest granddaughters.  Their littlest cousin ended up being part of the fun due to a daycare snag.  We had a great time going on a nature walk to gather materials and then making a sun catcher box.  And for the grand finale, the Perseids helped us commemorate with an outdoor movie and meteor night and a family sleepover.  Now I for one could use some recuperation time.

I’ve not knitted for two weeks, instead making Amelia’s second birthday book.  Her favorite song is Footloose.  Paul wrote the words for the book, using Footloose’ lyrics as a template.  If you think of the melody while reading it hopefully you can hear it.  I also made a little reversible dress for her.  I embroidered what I thought looked like a lower case “a” on the pocket.  But no one has been able to guess what it is.

Looking up over these photos I'm about to post, I'm struck by how full and wonderful my life is.  I am so grateful for what I have.  Blogs and Facebook are wonderful about showing us the very best of our lives.  But often, while living through all this love and happiness, we also deal with problems, stress, tragedies, and heartache.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded to not let ourselves become consumed with the negatives.

July Yarn Along

What a difference a  month makes.  Even though June was my first month of retirement, there were so many obligations that I wondered how I would have survived it all had I still been working.  But July has been much more relaxed, allowing me to settle into what I always imagined retirement life would be, giving me the time I want to spend with family and time to work on projects.

For the July Yarn Along I want to share the short socks I've been knitting.  I'm now on my second pair.  The pattern is Rose City Rollers, by Mara Catharine Bryner.  Although on the second pair I've opted to change the rolled cuff for a one-inch ribbed cuff.  I hope I will like the fit around my ankle better.

As for books, this month I've finished one novel, Commonwealth, and have nearly finished a second, The Nest.  Paul and I finished two short audiobooks, The Colorado Kid, and Blood and Smoke, both by Stephen King.  Definitely not as enjoyable for me as his more recent works. And now that I have more days a week that I can cook breakfast, I've also been reading Chicken and Egg. Finally, I checked out 5-Minute Sketching Architecture by Liz Steel.  Liz is an amazing artist I've been following for a few years.  I was delighted that my library had a copy of her book.  I'm working on a drawing that is now waiting for me to add watercolors.

Our lotus bloomed for the first time this season on the Fourth of July.  We had three granddaughters over for a sleepover the night before so they are in the picture as a size reference.  This year's leaves are massive.  Last Saturday we went to a lotus party at our local water garden nursery.  We learned lotus lore, a little more about growing this amazing plant, and then ate a lunch of several lotus recipes.  I had no idea that nearly all of the plant is edible, and for that matter, delicious. 

Also, our rainwater pond is really looking spectacular.  In the photo you can see a goldfish swimming in the fish high rise. One morning Paul was pulling sticks out of the pond from a storm the day before.  To his surprise what he had in his hand wasn't a tree limb, but one of the largest walking sticks we've ever seen. 

Unfortunately, one night a couple of weeks ago an intruder wreaked havoc on our turtle pond.  The next morning we found destruction, but no turtles.  So the tank has been sitting there as a sad reminder.  But today Paul started work to move and bury it in another location for a second rainwater pond that we can enjoy from the backyard. 

Another summer joy,  it's wildflower season.  My morning walks have been just beautiful.  We live on a river bluff and at one spot on my walk, I can look out over the river valley and farm fields.  And although I hate to think about the payload he's dumping, it's also crop dusting season.  It's like our own private little air show as he comes up the bluff, sometimes directly over the house, to swoop back down into the valley.   This time we hopped in the car to follow him and watch as he moved from field to field.   Although we were probably making his job more difficult.

We love all things to do with flight and space.  Paul recently put the app ISS Detector Satellite Tracker on his notebook.  For a couple of weeks during the first part of June, we were able to see the International Space Station pass over us a couple of times a night.  The last couple of nights we have been able to view the Chinese space station, Tiangong-2.  The app tells you exactly where it will appear in the sky, how long it will be visible, and exactly where it will cross into the shadow of the earth and disappear from view.  I like to think what someone who doesn't know what they are looking at, thinks about something that looks like a star, moving at a measured pace across the sky, then vanishes before their eyes.  Often long before it reaches the horizon. 

Finally, I'm working on Amelia's second birthday book.  I'm hoping to have it finished in the next two days.  In just a couple of weeks I will be working on Sophie's second book!