JANUARY...THE BEST

Tuesday E and I went 30 minutes east of us to a Post Office (tiny one) to get new passports. I was kinda nervous and why I have no idea, it wasn’t like we would show up on the FBI 10 most wanted list, I have never even had a speeding ticket( E has). It was all so easy and our pictures actually turned out good. After submitting all the paperwork ( we took along every legal document proving who we are and that we are US citizens) and paying a rather LARGE fee we walked out free as birds and hungry. We stopped in the towns’ local cafe, Gray’s, a authentic small town greasy spoon sorta a place filled with local ole’ timer ranchers and the decor pure gun loving conservative dye in the wool GOP (trump) supporters. Listening to the conversation E and I just smiled and ate. The food was great and the place entertaining if not a bit weird. We did say on the way home “I eat there again” though.

January, where did it go? We had an ‘eat through the freezer and pantry’ month here, grocer shopping only to buy fresh produce and milk. I am happy to say our January food bill totaled $73.06. I had set a budget for $100. It was easy too and though we made very little of a dent in the big freezer,  the freezer upstairs I can see the bottom of the drawers. February we will continue are freezer/pantry eat down but we do need to stock up on a few things to continue this winter project.

 

I have a quilt retreat coming up and am busy cutting out two large quilt top patterns to sew up in 3 days of quilt heaven. 1) Soldiers Cross(civil war pattern) and 2) Shoo Fly pattern. I am a reproduction quilter and can’t make enough.

The cardigan my DIL is wearing -Felix cardigan, knit in Nutiden Yarn from Honerocheir in Sweden. Love the yarn, single plied. Wasn’t overly thrilled with the service but I may order more at some time.

I belong to a Featherweight sewing  machine group and a women told me as a resident of Colorado I can get an Ecard to just about any library in the state, I now have an Ecard to the Denver Library! So many books to look through and no or little wait time. 

Books Completed-

The Churchill Sisters(Rachel Trethewey)-  excellent

Founding Mothers(Cokie Roberts)-excellent

The First Conspiracy(Brad Seltzer)- very good

February will be a good book month I feel.

My rug hooking project is so close to being done. Maybe it will be a PJ day to finish.

-20 this morning! 

Please join Kat at

Unravel Wednesday

 

FILLING TIME

Time has become almost surreal 6 months into this pandemic, a National Disaster for sure, that just keeps cycling around with more bad news. In the West, the more bad news - the fires! We have two burning, one within 10 miles from us, the other 40 miles. Both are burning hot enough for the smoke to block out the sun, almost daily. It's nearly impossible to sit for 20 minutes on the porch, fresh air, not at this time! Daily temps. are hanging around 99-100 degrees, we need cold and snow! The RNC is not helping my mental health

 with all the HATE they are spewing on TV! Oh, 2020 you have been one hard year!

But, a little break yesterday....Caitlin and I canned Roma Tomatoes. Jason first roasted them,    (4 cases in less than 10 minutes), never again will I do the blanching method to remove skins.

I thought we were going to make tomato sauce, the kind that is ready to pour and use for pasta dishes. Caitlin wanted to can whole tomatoes, because they are so much more versatile, open a jar, make sauce (by adding garlic and spices), open a jar and use the whole tomatoes poured over a roast, or make soup, spicy V-8 juice.......

You get the idea! So whole tomatoes it was and it was fast. We started at 1pm and I pulled the last jars out at 6pm. Not bad for a winter supply of deliciousness! 

The Brown and Pink quilt is on the machine and it is going to be slowing going!  Though it will be beautiful when completed and I have the time! 

Reading: 

~Caste: This is a hard read for me, but a much needed read for me! Please, if you are interested in Race and Race relations, this is the book you are looking for, get it, read it slow and digest the information. 

~The Mountains Sing- Is about a family in Viet Nam that survives the years of wars from the French through the Americans and last-the Communist Party. WOW. 

Connecting with Kat and Unraveled Wednesday

KNITTING WEDNESDAY

The heat here is oppressive! That dry heat here under the Rockies keeps me in the house with air conditioner running all day and into the evening! Yes, our humidity is low, but to walk outside, it feels as if my skin is burning to blisters within seconds. Summer, you are my least favorite season!

On the knitting front, finished the Indian summer sweater for my 2 year old guy and he is pleased over the moon with it....today. 

Started a 'Rainbow' sweater for the 4 year old per her request. Both yarns have been in my stash for years and I mean 10+ years. Since COVID has settled in, I have used this (opportunity?) to use what I have. My goal is , I finish 3 articles using stash then I can buy some yarn for one project only! Don't you love the silly rules we knitters make for ourselves, I know I am in good company with my knitting 'rules'.

Since I had finished more than 3 projects, (not all shown here), I went on line and purchased some self stripping sock yarn, from Must Stash. The colors give me hope for fall sock wearing weather.

I picked up 4 books yesterday at the library, curb side pick up only for now.

I was so excited for C J Box ' Long Range, only to realize I had already read this book in April! Such dissapointment for me yesterday!

I then started and completed "A Sin by Any Other Name" by Robert W Lee.

Robert Lee is a nephew of Robert E Lee. 

The book is about racism and Southern life, good and bad! He believes statues of Robert E Lee needs to come down and be buried with the lost cause of the confederacy. Robert W Lee is a minister, now without a church due to his position on these statues. He writes that it is time for reparations for the sin of slavery and for the South to come to terms with the sin of slavery. Only by doing this can the South move toward healing and social justice.

COVID this week has taken me to a low place, a place I have been from fighting from entering for a while. The virus is now out of control with little hope of containing its spread. My anxiety revolves around the leadership from federal gov. is beyond bad, it is advancing such lies regarding how this virus is behaving, giving little to no guidance on how to contain and fight its spread. It feels to me, the citizens of this country are thrown in a deadly pool of virus and being told,'don't worry it will just go away' and oh, by the way we are enacting policies that will make it all most impossible for you to fight the virus. I'm thinking about the long lines for testing, the feds pulling funds for testing, the slow dismantling of the ASA, no evidence base policies in reopening the economy. Just , if you are a trump supporter, hope to see you on the other side, definitely in November , if not a trump supporter, your health and life is dispensable. 

Oh Lord, how much longer?

Joining As Kat Knits

YARN ALONG

Boy, oh boy, having trouble uploading pictures to blogger. Computers, love hate relationship, that is how I feel about these machines! it must be an age thing.

Things I have been doing this past month:

cooking

bread baking

We are digging deep into the freezer for meat, experimenting with homemade salad dressing and cooking up dried beans that have been hanging around far too long in the cabinets.

Sewing, a spinning dress for the girl. She has decided she likes dresses and they must pass the spinning test! We have been having sleepovers every Friday night that have turned into dancing/spinning fest, and all to music that I grew up with...way back in the day;-/

Working on a REAL scrap quilt, using scraps that most quilters would just throw in the bin. I use telephone book pages for the base and willy nilly pull scraps from a HUGE plastic bin filled with every size and colors of fabric. One person's trash is another's treasure!

What I have finished that I can't upload the pictures :

Notice: the first summer shirt I have ever knitted for myself.

Triangle Quilt: finished the machine quilting.

Knitting:

TTL Mystery Shawl

Books:

Valentine  *****

Story of race, small community, Hispanic community, rape.

Pecan Man *****

You have to read this!

The Second Mrs. Hockaday *****

Civil War, women, South, rape, forgiveness, love marriage, redemption

Westering Women *****

Women, The West, Friendship, Redemption, Abuse.

America's First Daughter****

Jefferson, US Politics, Revolutionary War, Family, Slavery

May was a month of reading about Women!

Reading Now:

Tightrope

The American Plague

Nothing to See Here

Eleanor Oliphant

In the NEWS:

A new low, Trump now GASSING peaceful protestors, in AMERICA!  This man is EVIL, has no regard for the Constitution and will be removed from office in NOVEMBER!

YARN ALONG

UNRAVELED WEDNESDAY

APRIL HAPPENINGS

April is a Birthday month in my family. My granddaughter and I have our birthdays one week apart to the day. Of course, I am no longer able to celebrate my day for more than a nano second, since April is all about Betty's day. She started talking about her day early in the month, reminding all, that she is going to be four and that is really big! I was informed that since I couldn't go out, I should just wrap up some of my toys for her! Also, a blue cake was to be made by me, 'my mommy doesn't know how to make cakes, she can only make cookies'. Haha, her Mom owns and runs Me Oh My Pies and Coffee. 

Birthday presents consisted of 6 pints homemade strawberry jam, (Betty's favorite),  one Mimi made quilt, and a Blue Cake. Birthday was a success and a very happy day for Betty.

Yesterday, though cloudy, we went on a long drive up the canyon to look at the river, is it fishable or running to fast?  May, June and part of July, rivers in the West are rising with the 'run off'. All the snow melting in the high country, finding its waterway to the Missouri or Colorado River, depending on which side of the continental divide it's on. Though the run off has definitely started the river is not running too fast to fish. Hopefully we will be able to returned today for some socially distancing fishing. Fly fishing is ALWAYS a socially distance activity. Eric in the river and me on the river bank-knitting and reading.

April reads:

Read My Heart ****

A good 17th century  English aristocratic book. 

Rising Tide*****

Interesting story as well as extremely sad. Politics in the US  can and often is soo sad . 

This a story of taming the Mississippi River, a river that is crucial for the US economy. Though taming the river involves political, economic abuse of low income populations and especially people of color, think Jim Crow laws. 

The Mountain Between Us**

I found this book to be equivalent to a soap opera. I enjoy the part about how they got out of the mountains, but the love story, not so much. The ending was obvious from the first page....dumb.

Happy May day. Here's to hoping this month is better than the last few COVID months.

Take care and stay healthy.

SUMMER

Summer!

My yard is looking great! Eating lots of greens from the garden!

More hail in the neighborhood.

Pooh visiting the neighborhood.

Sewing, using scraps from last scrap quilt to make another scrap quilt, ( how does that work again)?

6 APRIL 2017

Life  many days, (most days) is a combination of the truly wonderful side of being alive and the bitter side of 'when will I learn' and 'why did I do that?'  Of course the lesson here is to learn from the 'why did I do that' and build up on the 'truly wonderful side of being alive'. To be grateful for the small miracles that happen each day, even the ones that take a little searching to find. Often, I can find many miracles daily with a little 'reframing' of my mind/thinking. I find myself having to reframe a lot of my thinking, (particularly since November of 16). I find myself mentally aware of my breathing and to slow it down, funny how slowing down my breathing-slows down my run away thoughts and my tongue. 

Yesterday, was one of such days. So many things that happened yesterday made for a perfect day, then-then one cruel spontaneous angry word fell from my mouth.... Why does something that lasted less than 10 seconds play such a big part in a day that was 24 hours long? Today, I will again build on the positive, watch for daily miracles, be grateful, while acknowledging the positive in my day and breathing before letting any negative words pass these lips. 

GRATEFUL

:: Baby B
        :: French Toast
                         :: Walks through the park

                     :: Sewing quilt for BB
                                      :: Using scrap fabric for BB quilt
  :: Reading

:: Family

                                ::  3 minute mediation breaks