A New Project, Reading About the Past to Understand the Present!

 

Started this corner to corner project a few days ago, and I currently have 83 stitches on the needles and it measures 26 inches across.  LOVE the colors.  Have had this yarn probably 2 years?  My favorite local yarn shop was going out of business, so I purchased a fair amount of yarn with guesses about how much I needed and or what I would make with it.  It's called Marble.  I bought 3 large balls of this and 2 that seems similar to me, but darker in colors.  My initial thought is to start and end with this and use the darker blend for sections 2 and 4 and this lighter for section 3...so every other section.  But, I'm not sure if there's enough yarn to make an afghan, given the yardage on each ball.  Sooooooo, I'm knitting this to see how much I get from 1 ball, and may continue with that plan and or once I see how far this goes....it might become a trainangle shawl.  The colors and textures would well for a shawl, as well as an afghan.  Only time will tell.

Snow number 2!  This is about 4.5 inches, and as luck would have it this hit the day we left town for a couple of weeks in Hilton Head, just after the Thanksgiving weekend!!  I'm a happy camper to have missed it, since I'm not a fan of snow or cold or winter for that matter.  My neighbor across the street took the picture and said......you got out at a good time.  She knows me.

A fascinating read.  I had no idea we, the USA smuggled books into The Soviet Bloc during the Cold War to help mold descent among the peoples of the U.S.S.R.  The brave people involved were incredible.  10 million books were smuggled in.  To read about this when here in our country currently the far right is banning books every single day is extrodinary.  Please put this on your to read list.

A backward island,, a dysfunctional family, an alcholhic actress and hiden treasure linking the present with the past.  LOVED this book, very entertaining.  Oh and let;s not forget a love story!

Wow......a long book.  The audio of World Enemy No 1 is 17 hours.  A very interesting look at WWII and how Nazi Germany, and The Russian Bolshevik's manipulated their own people, as well as the rest of the world about who was the aggresor, who was the victim in WWII, who suffered more and who gave more.  Very insightful.  Quite a lot of history to absorb.  After reading this, I did some googling to understand better what I read/listened to.  Highly recommend this book.  trumpie dump is trying very hard to use the same playbook about manipulated public opinion.

84 Years ago yesterday.  A day to pause and remember!

Still standing with Ukraine.

Blogging about my French Adventure HERE!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

 

I've never made this cute relish plate that looks like a turkey, but saved the picture from a few years back.  Someone was pretty creative.

This was many many years ago.  This was Mom I'm thinking maybe 40ish years ago.  

This is about the same time frame, as the family was small enough we were all able to sit together around Mom's beautiful table.  Those days of using the family china etc and all sitting together are long gone.  I think there were 8-10 of us back in the day.

One year when people were sick and we didn't get together.  It was just hubby, Darling Daughter and me at our place.  We used the antique family dishes.  This might have been during Covid?  I didn't date it, so am not 100% certain.

Fun outdoor decorations I spotted on a walk through the neighborhood a few years back.

Darling Daughter, Myself, and Hubby, the same year as the table picture above.

Our Thanksgiving this year will be at my youngest nephews house.  He has a nice large house with plenty of moving around room for 21 of us.  At least I think that's the latest head count.  We'll take a Pumpkin and Cherry pie with whip cream, 2 veggie casseroles (cranberries, Brussel Sprouts, and Butternut squash), and Bakes Brie in a pastry sheet with fig jam and crackers.

If you're traveling for the holiday, safe travels.  AND Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The First Snow, In the Kitchen, The Hawk on the Deck, Resist

 

Not a fan of winter, waking up to this on November 10th did not make me a happy camper.  AND you can see we hadn't put away the remnants of summer with outdoor umbrella still there.  Plus, as you can see the trees still haven't dropped their leaves.  This is really really early to have snow.  MELT and chant with me 130 until Spring!!

Not too long ago hubby got a good picture of this big hawk resting on one of the chairs on the deck.  See the sun and plants vs the above white ick!  I love seeing hawks in the neighborhood to try and keep some of the over abundance of chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits in check.  Though I think we need more hawks, cause each year it seems we have bigger problems with the other critters eating and digging in the yard.

This is not something I stitched, but spotted on the internet and really liked it, so thought I would share it.

A very simple and tasty way to make a yummy sauce for your pasta.  Cut up onions and tomatoes (I cut mine tomatoes in half, as I use those sweet Compari tomatoes), a whole container of Boursin cheese.  I had some nice large basil leaves to add flavor.  Cook in the oven on 350 for about half an hour, then stir together.  I took out the leaves at that point and crushed them to mix in well and serve over your paste or blend your cooked pasta right in the dish.  Excellent!

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray is a book many women can probably relate to.  At work or at home feeling that what they do goes un-appreciated.  A funny twist as she becomes in fact invisible and her son and husband fail to notice she's not really there.  Though her best friend does.  Then it gets really entertaining as she's able to spy on folks being invisible.  When to be naked and when to dress....now there's an interesting question.  A light hearted and entertaining book, but......it does touch on a real problem.

Love story, beach, money, and a mystery all rolled into an entertaining book.  Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores.

Mailman by Stephen Starring Grant.  A nonfiction story about a man who loses his job, can't find another one and settles to be a mailman in rural Appalachia Virginia.  He needed insurance so he took the job.  It turned his life around in such a positive way.  A real eye opener for me.  The hard work that goes unseen.  Entertaining, and educational.

E. Jean Carroll's book about trumpie and a detailed review of the courtoom with all it's drama.  She is very entertaining in the book, even though this is a serious topic.  It's her personality.  Of course we all know she won, we know he's guilty and sadly has still not paid her.  Between this book and Nobody's Girl (previous post), women trying to take down important and wealthy men is not a new problem.

I recommend all 4 of these books.  Let me know what you think.

I've started blogging about my France Adventure, click HERE.

Good Bye Summer, boooo Fall Has Arrived.

 

I'm happy to see so many Democrats won in yesterday's election, and hope things will continue that way as we move towards the midterms.

I haven't worked much on this variegated afghan, as summer really isn't the time to have something this heavy on your lap; but now that the weather has turned; time to pull it out and get busy again.

This past summer I planted Milkweed for the first time, and this was the first of 2 caterpillars I saw.  The season was almost over before I spotted any, and as you can see the plant was on it's way out.  After he ate a good bit, I moved him to a 2nd plant that was looking a bit better, I thought.  Then several days later as the cat was getting bigger, it moved it'self to a smaller plant and ate almost all of it...hopefully next year will be a bit better.  It was exciting to see the caterpillars.  Monarchs and all butterflies need folks to plant accordingly.

I finished this book a few days ago and am sorry I took the time to read it.  I stopped reading it multiple times and switched to other books that became available on my Libby.  I should have returned it unread.  Really HATED it.  I'm surprised it's rated pretty well.  I thought it was boring and slow moving initially, the story disjointed, and the ending DEPRESSING.  If it's on your to read list, do yourself a favor and delete it.

This book, How Fascism Works is a must read for everyone.  I wish I thought some of trumpie's supporters would read it, but I'm not hopeful.  

A very talked about book.  A bit hard to read.  We all know how horrific Epstein and Maxwell were, but to hear the details of what this poor child went through, as did others........heartbreaking.  I hope it's read by many and that increases the pressure on the pedophile protectors to release the files.

I've not kept up with documenting my exercise, as the summer's heat kept me from doing much walking beyond yard work and mowing.  However, hubby and I spent 16 days getting to and touring France and got lots of walking in.  Over our 16 days we walked 237,453 steps for an average of 14,841 per day with our highest day of 19,879.  Our total mileage was 96.53 for an average 6.03 miles per day.  The balls of my feet actually got sore, felt almost bruised.  I think it was all the cobblestone, and uneven terrain.  I'll be blogging about the trip with lots of pictures once I get them all edited.  

Been ages since I've blogged, must get back into and look forward to visiting all your blogs to catch up.  

Another Completed Afghan, Audio Books, Memes to Help Us Laugh

 

If you've seen many of my afghans, you know I rarely make one that has a pattern.  In part because I'm using up donated squares made from lots of different people and rarely have many of the same color or design.  This is obviously the exception to the norm.  They were squares from the different people, but I did have multiples of the color or similar color.  The pink in the right corner for example is lighter then the diagonal strip of dusty pink, but it works.  I also prefer working on ghans that aren't patterned.  Fits my personality better, lol.  

iT'S oriented differently here, but this is what it looked liked as I was designing it.  I've named this one Summers End.  Had a hard time coming up with a name; but thought the darker dusty rose, the darker green etc looked liked flowers at the end vs bright colors in spring when everything is new and fresh.  Like all the afghans it will donated to Home for Families.  Counting my pictures, it looks like I've made 106 of these over the years from donated squares, plus about a dozen that I made without donated squares.

 I've read several of Mary Trumps book and have enjoyed them all.  She really had to work at it coming from such a dysfunctional family.  Her father Freddy one of 5 children of Fred Trump's (Donald's Father), had only room for 1 winner in his family, so the kids were pitted against each other constantly.  Freddy was kind, sensitive and had his own interests other than his Father, Fred's obsession with real-estate.  He wasn't cutthroat and vicious enough to satisfy his father, so Mary grew up watching her Dad be constantly humiliated by his father.  That's what drove him to become an alcoholic.  Her parents divorced and she had to find her own way.  Much insight not just in retelling of her story (and The Felon's), but the added insight of a good behavioral psychiatrist.  A good read.

Some memes I thought worth sharing.

Some folks are so creative when they make the memes.

Lord knows we need to laugh so we don't loose our minds with all the horrible things going on.

And who doesn't LOVE Kermit!!

These are 2 books I recently returned to library without finishing.  I was 3 or 4 chapters in for both books, and just couldn't get into them.  I was tempted to force myself to finish the 2nd book, "The Serviceberry" as it's only a 2 hour book; but NO!  I see no reason spending time reading a book that's not enjoyable, or educational that you just can't get into.  Clearly my opinion does NOT match others, as the 1st book was rated 4.32, and the 2nd book rated 4.38 on Goodreads.  If you read either book, let me know what you're thoughts were.  I only rated each of these books a 1 star, because you can't give them a zero.

LOVED this book!  Put this on your list.  It's a fascinating story about a very strong woman who played an immensely important role in FDR's Presidency.  She was initially involved with FDR when he was The Governor of NY.  She was a Hungarian Jewish Immigrant who advised FDR and was The First Woman to be Assistant Secretary of Defense back in 1950.  This woman worked behind the scenes and accomplished so much for so many years, her story now needs to be known.  

On the blogging front, you may notice my blog log decreasing in size/or numbers of blog names listed.  as I've been deleted some folks from the list.  Why?  Because I like reciprocal blogging.  You visit and comment on my blog, I always visit your blog and return the favor.  In reverse, there are folks who no longer seem to be returning the favor when I visit them.  This does not include folks who are taking a break for health reasons etc.

Pink Lollipops, Civil War, World War II, Mothers Day

 

Pink Lollipops in the beginning.

Oriented differently due to the bed size (twin).  All squares edged to equalize sizing and tied ready to be joined.

Drying, click to enlarge to see the little scalloped edge.  The pictures for this ghan somehow ended up in the wrong folder on my computer, so not sure how long ago I made this one, but think it was last December.  So, a bit late sharing with you.

Two beautiful bouquets from my Darling Daughter for Mothers Day.

I thought maybe the florist had made a mistake when 2 boxes came, but she says no.  First one is displayed in the living room, and 2nd in the bedroom.  Aren't they gorgeous!  Hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day filled with love.

Some signs I've seen posted on social media around the country at various protests.  I thought they were worth sharing.  People are quite creative in their contempt for the many horrific things that have happened so far under this administration.

An interesting read, though not my favorite Ann Patchett book.  Lots of food for thought about the secrets of scientist living on the dime of drug companies doing their research in dangerous and unhealthy conditions in the Amazon.  Who's beholden to who?  Lots of mystery as this story unfolds.

The build up to the Civil War.  Once Lincoln was elected the turmoil started.  Some wanting war, some not wanting war, some thinking they could just vacate the union without consequences.  Inner turmoil, Major Robert Anderson a slave owner himself, but loyal to the union.  Big Ego's of too many men and the mistakes made that caused the worst war our country ever fought ....in terms of the death toll and the families torn apart fighting on opposite sides.  Highly recommend this book.

Mary Trump, the Felon's only niece is a highly qualified psychiatrist who explains how we're all suffering from PSTD from the 4 years of Donald J. Trump.  AND things are so much worse now, as this book was written about his first term.  She also discusses how we've got to come to grips about the things purposely done during and after slavery to keep an entire race down.  A very good read, put this on your list.

Back to my World War II genre, this book tells the story of 2 extremely different women who were war correspondents.  One is a follower, one a very strong woman.  One pushes Nazi propaganda.  Add this one to your list.

Stats are down on all fronts from March, steps are down 253,997 for an average of 8,466 per day, Miles  down 105.72 for an average of 3.5 miles per day.  Only 4 planks done for the month and likewise only 4 leg lifts.  Where did the month go?  Geesh.  I know I had a couple of appointments, and a couple of travel days, but still a very disappointing month.  Reporting this and I'm 12 days into May, which aren't looking better.  Must see what I can do the remainder of the month to bring things up a bit.

Spotted this t-shirt on Facebook, saved the image as I think it says it all.