Bugs...

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Perched on top of Bruce's gate, he was lucky enough to spy a Praying Mantis, I believe that is his second one this year, although it could be number three.  When I was a kid, I saw them all the time.  Below, his last harvest of green peppers with a little friend.  Looks like he will be having a mild winter.  After Sam saw an all black one here, looks like it will be a very cold winter for us.  I am hoping ours was a bit confused...or was just making a fashion statement.

 



 

So, after bemoaning the fact I never get to see these beauties anymore, I came home from work, in a 40mph wind that had the Jeep struggling to stay on the road.  I came around the corner of the house to see this BIG guy, also struggling in the wind.  I put my hands to the side of him, blocked the wind so he could make it the rest of the way across the walk into the plants (weeds).  I have never seen one as long as a dollar bill before.  I considered myself lucky for quite some time!! 

New on the knitting front?  I am working on a Hogwarts Express Shawl.  There are 29 owls along the bottom, each with amethyst eyes.  I am working on an easy garter stitch border a little longer than the pattern calls for to finish it off.  I just finished an orange cap for my best friend.  She requested orange, so I found a merino mixed with angora, I want it soft against her skin.  I have some orange left, to I will be making Jack Be Little Pumpkins,  They are adorable and are very easy to make.  It was so kind of The Sitting Tree to offer the pattern for free.  Won't it be fun to just leave them out at a friend's to let them find later?

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day.

Gardening in Pots on Deck...

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion

It has been a while.  Life is moving on, steadily.  As you may have guessed, I have Multiple Sclerosis.  I have finally applied to retire, much against my will.  My neuro and the specialist at Mayo highly recommended it.  It is still difficult to give up a job I truly love.  My approval has not come in yet.

One of the things I have added to the deck this year are Key Lime trees.  The baby limes are much slower growing than I would have assumed.  And the trees are still blooming.  Here is one of the babies with a back drop of 8 year old fingers! 

My friend Marge and I went thrifting and I found this great little watering can.  With a few holes in the bottom, it has become a good home for a Munstead Lavender plant.  The photo also shows red and orange cherry tomatoes my Granddaughter and I picked.  We also have green ones that have a bit of a peach tint when ripe.

Bohnen Kraut!!!  I can't tell you how happy I was to find Summer Savory at the farmers market!  It found an immediate home out on the deck.  I first learned about it during my time in Germany and now I have some, it will be great in green beans (bohnen) and stuffings and pork and....

I love herbs.  My bay tree didn't make it after my surgery last year.  I was in the hospital longer than expected.  Right there in front is my new little bay tree.  Not the 6' tree that passed, but it will be one day.  Bruce knows I need more room and a greenhouse.  He is such a good man.

Thanks for stopping by.  I am trying to get back into this.  It is nice to go back and read my online journal.  God Bless.

BATTLE!!!!

In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indespensible.

 

~ Dwight D.. Eisenhower~



Michael was a great movie!!!  I am doing battle.  This battle comes with moodiness and restlessness and leg spasms and sweats.  I am doing battle with a drug I have been on for months, since the knee replacement and all the set backs.  I refuse to take it much longer, I want off.   I am down to 2 narcotics a day.  It hasn't been easy.  I want to go back to work next week, I have been off way too long.  I have been told I am a determined person.  I will kick this.   Better to live with the pain and get back to the me I used to be.  Plans may be useless, but here they are.

And so, here I sit, knitting on bamboo socks.  My friend Penny gave me soooo much yarn for Christmas.  Way more than soooo much.  This was incredibly soft and I had just finished the Birthstone socks.    I have needles coming to start a red sweater., I can't wait.

This year, I have a plan.  I plan to make wrist warmers, to pile in a basket, for Christmas next year.  I want more handmade things to have ready for the great people who help me through out the year.  Just little thank yous really.  My goal, notice not resolution, is to knit more.  Do you have a goal?

And So It Begins

  Keep on beginning and failing.  Each time you fail, start over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished the purpose - - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you will be glad to remember.

 

~Anne Sullivan~

 

Happy New Year - 2013

 





I finally finished that pair of socks!!  It has been slow knitting that past few month.  I just started a royal blue pair of bamboo silk socks.  I was thrilled to finally be able to wear them.  My body is slowly feeling more like I have a little control.

 

This is what I showed you last summer.  I am very happy with the way they came out.  They make me smile and because of the colors, they make me happy.   Always a good thing.

This is the yarn I started with and I described where it came from and how I destructed the plies.

 

And the new year starts.  Like most Americans, I am deeply unsettled over how our elected officials cannot get along, cannot work together with the world's eye upon them and have failed to get the job done.  They need to begin again and again.  We need to begin again will all new elected officials.

 

I saw something on the news I thought was really pretty good for the first day of the year.  A man told the reporter his new year resolution was to step back and take a breath instead of reacting too quickly to situations that in the past have resulted in the hurt feelings of others.  What a great resolution and how insightful of him.  I wish him the best.

 

I am going to take one day at a time.  It will be nice to lose weight, but it is not a resolution.  I will save more and spend less, but that is not a resolution, it is a necessity to get my finances ready for more surgeries.  Like the man on the news, I will do my best to be a nicer person.  Doesn't that sound better than resolving to do all the things I have resolved to do and then failed?  I will keep beginning.