Sherbet Colored Baby Blanket, and Politics Galore

 

Leia's blanket is coming along, a bit slower than I might like; but I tend not to knit as much in warm weather.  The colors remind of sherbet.  The bright pink section I'm working on will be the main section, then I'll repeat the mint green, bright pink, light pink for the edge.  It currently measurers 13.5 inches by approimately 40 inches wide.  I can't quite lay it out without the risk of losing stitches off the ends of the needles.

These books aren't listed in any kind of order, I just collected up the pictures of the political books I've read since posting any previously.

14 Hours of Audio.  Watergate, Deepthroat, Nixon's downfall.  A best seller, and a Pulitzer Prize winner.  I did not read this book at the time.  Actually my wedding day and the Watergate break in occurred on the same day.  I was too self absorbed to pay much attention to this at the time.  But, thought it was important to read/listen to now as a point of comparison.  Nixon was a crook, and a liar; but sorta looks like a choir boy compared to trump. 

12 Hours in the audio book.  This book details the hot mess that exsisted during trump's administration.  The temper tantrums, the last minutes changes in decision.  And how erratic the decision making process was handled in The Oval Office, In The Residence, On AirForce One, and even The Situation Room.  His staff would go into a meeting thinking he had made a decision and then he would change his mind, often as a means to embarrass a member of his staff.

I found this book absolutely fascinating!!!  What an accomplished woman.  She was involved in so many levels of politics her entire life, not just her adult life.  I listened (14 hours audio) to this as her retirement was announced.  It just seemed like the thing to do.

7 hours of audio.  Rumsfeld, Chaney, and Bush lied over and over again to the American people, and to congress about the state of affairs with regard to Iraq.  They refused to pay head to detailed reports about how failed the invasion of Iraq was.  How many lives were lost unnecessarily?  How much money was spent?  The infighting between those that hungered for power is also exposed in this book.

6 hours of audio.  This book focuses on Alexander Butterfield, an aid with far too much power.  He knew about the secret tapes that blue things apart for Nixon.  You can see how obsessed Nixon was with secrets and deceptions.

14 hours of audio.  Beyond a scary time, the end of trump's administration and the beginning President Biden's.  So much at stake, the most dangerous time in US history.  Woodward and Costa interviewed over 200 people to write this book.

11 hours of audio.  Much of this book seems like a repeat of many things you've already read about and or heard in the news; but to hear these tapes with trump's own voice, and all his dis-jointed sentences...run on, and or actually not sentences.  His ramblings, his utter lack of decency in all forms is beyond the pail.  

These important books total 78 hours of audio!!  That's a lot of political jazz, but it seemed to me to be truly important to read/listen to them all.  So much deceit, so many lies, so much corruption.  I really shouldn't include the book about Nancy Pelosi in this group, but since I was grouping the political books together; I did.

I've been doing yard work, going for walks, and trying to keep up with my planks.  I've not done well with trying to do any yoga, and I'm not knitting as much these days.  The hours just seem to slip by.

Oh My September Was a Bust

 

Well, I had hoped to be done with this scarf by now, but other things got in the way.  I have however made lots of headway.  You can see I have very little yarn left, so it will be done when the yarn runs out.  It's currently 47 inches long.  A bit shorter than I like for scarves, so I will have to see how long it ends up, and it may yet be joined to form a circle and be an infinity type scarf.  I really like the blend of colors with the greens and browns.

Decided I needed a change from all the WWII books I've read/listened to of late.  I really enjoyed this book, despite how sad Frank McCourt's childhood was.  I highly recommend the audio of this book, as the author himself reads it and that adds so much to the story in my opinion.

I enjoyed the first book so much I followed up with Frank McCourt's 2nd book and again enjoyed it.  His character is addicting, I think...perhpas not if you're his wife though.

And, yes I moved right onto his 3rd book.  I'm happy to report that after such a sad and brutal childhood, a less than desireable marriage, that if you google you will find he had a successful and happy 2nd marriage to Ellen, the one responsible for his writing his memoirs.  And if you google you'll be able to see a good number of photo's of his life.

Geesh, no real exercise to note for the month of September.  As you may have noted from my previous post, I got Covid.  Still not feeling 100%, but am negative now on testing.  Was in France and spent isolation in the hotel room.  Real bummer, we never got to go on our tour.  Between being sick, isolating, and lots of flights there and back...only exercise I've done is a little bit of walking which is where this Halloween yard decoration comes from.  I did mow a few times, and got some steps from that.  But, all in all...September was a real Bust. 83.6 miles for the month, down from 90.15 in August.

I blogged about France, The Tour That Wasn't Here.  

Or at least the wee bit we got to see before Covid enterted.

Yarn, Yard Work, and Not Enough Yoga...or is it Not Enough Time!

 

You may remember this scarf from a couple of posts back.  I needed a project with bigger yarn that I could see for something to do on a flight.  I barely got it started, back in July when we flew to Salt Lake, Utah.  I took it recently for a long flight to and from France and have made really good headway.  My lighting wasn't very good when I took the pictures, so tried editing it to show you the colors.  I mentioned before this scarf should work well for a man or a woman I think, given the color blend.

I normally try to work in my tails as I go because I hate doing them; but I didn't have my scizzors or darning needles so wasn't able to.  

Have you read either of these books?  I had to return them to the library before I got to read them, as I had several from my wait list that came all at the same time.

The first is a true story, one girls accounting of life in a concentration camp.  Not sure how different it will be than many of the others I listened to/read.  The 2nd is about the war in the African theater which is a part of WWII I know less about so eventually I plan to circle back around to it.

While another book about WWII, this book is a bit different.  It deals mostly with those Jewish people who escaped into the wilderness to hide from the Nazi's.  A girl who's kidnapped at an early age and learns the ways of the wilderness is able to help protect some of these Jewish escapees.  I really enjoyed this book.

Down, down, down.  Argh.  I went backward in August, only did yoga once (was 3 x the previous month), I fell down with planks as well, dropped from 12 x the previous month to 9 in August, fell from 14 walks to 5, from 134.4 miles to 90.15 miles.  Sigh...I'm not surprised as I did lots and lots of yard work.  I did yard work 13 days, you just don't get many steps when working in the yard.  I do consider yardwork tiring and very good exercise though.  September I know will be another down month, as we were scheduled to be on tour in France for a little over 2 weeks...however we were cancelled from the tour due to getting Covid.  So spending time isolating in a hotel room and then lots of time on a plane getting back to the states....well you can see there's not going to be good numbers.  Both still quite tired from the Covid and bummed about not getting to go on our tour.  We've managed all this time to stay healthy and not get it.......lousy timing for sure.

Hoping to have a project or two finished for the next blog post, stay tuned.

Knitting, Wine, Yard Work ...Thank Goodness for Audio Books.

 

Making headway with Snail Hollow Shawl.  Infact, I'm on the last section.  Not sure if you can see in the picture but am picking up stitches on the straight side to do the edging.  Then I'll need to tuck in tails where all the color changes happened.  I've mentioned before how difficult I find these colors to work with on the eyes.  Trying to pick up stitches is a chore.  I'm only part way through that process.  But, since my last picture I've completed two more sections, so I'm getting there.  This pattern has been problematic.  Both my daughter and I feel it's poorly written, as do a few folks over on Ravelry that made it.  The designer is Erika Flory.  I probably would shy away from purchasing another of her designs.  Not because I don't like the look; but because the pattern isn't well written.  Too many opportunities to guess at what should or shouldn't be.

Hubby and I really enjoyed this bottle of Chianti, Nippozzano Reserve 2018.  We purchased this at Costco's.  Chianti isn't generally a favorite for us, often we feel it's a bit heavy...but this was quite good and I think from memory was under $30.00.  We'll definately get this one again.  Very smooth.

I've mentioned before how many books written by Pam Jenoff I've read and liked (listened to actually).  The Kommandants Girl (book 1) followed by 

The Diplomats Wife (book 2), are 2 more I highly recommend.  I blogged about the author and why her historical books are so riveting.  That post is HERE.

Yes both are about WWII.  Add them to your list to read folks.

I mentioned in my previous post I had been doing lots of yard work which is why I hadn't been knitting, so thought I'd share a few more pictures of the flowers in my yard.  Cone flowers in the back ground, and an old fashion Flocks in the center.  Sadly most of these flowers are now done and I'm losing the color in my yard.  

Black eye Susans provide lots of contrast to the Cone Flowers.  I took these pictures over the last couple of weeks at the peak of the color.

Stella d'Oro generally bloom before the rest of the lillies, but, if you don't cut them back, they will bloom a bit later, just not as many blooms.  I love the yellow.

Hope you're all enjoying the end of summer.  It's gone too fast for my liking, and soon fall will be upon us.  I never look forward to fall as I know winter follows it.  I am not a fan of winter, cold, snow or ice.

Work in Progress, Month End Exercise Up and Down

 

Two asymmetrical scarves on the needles.  The smallest one is sock yarn and small needles so it goes much slower, and remains smaller despite it being started first.  The 2nd scarf is worsted weight yarn and larger needles and as you can see is much larger even though I've not worked as much on it.  The two have almost the same number of stitches on the needle, only about 15 more stitches on the larger one (the tri-color) scarf.  This is the same pattern, so it's fun to see how different they look.  Not the best background to see the colors, will photograph on a plain background next time.

 

Well another month has come and gone.  I have some improvements and some backslides:

PLANKS, backslide, went from 9 x in April to only 6 x in May (was surprised to see that when I checked my calendar)  Boo me

YOGA  Improved from 8 x to 11 (yeah me)

WALKS Status quo sorta?  I walked 12 x in May which is the same number as April....but, my miles are down booo.  Dropped from 128.34 miles to 119.62 miles.

I did do some circuit work outs, only twice which was new.  I'm doing lots of yard work, which is probably why my miles are lower.  When working in the yard, I'm not going for walks.  But, the yard work is hard work.

I was out of town a week during the month, and will be out of town a week in June as well, so not sure if that helps or hurts with regard to exercise.

Loved this book by Janet Skeslien Charles.  This book is based on a true story about The American Library in Paris, and how it was a beacon of Hope during the dark days of The War.  What do Odile Souchet in Paris in 1939 and Lily in Montana in  1983 have in common?  Quite an interesting mystery.  Consequences of ones personal choices can alter whom you become.    Add this to your list of books to read folks.  You learn about World War II, and how even a library can join the resistance.  

I have tried to identify this bush growing in my back yard.  Using Google search it seems to be Ligustrum obtusifolium (Border Privet), which originally comes from Japan, China, and or Korea.  It's also called Amur Privet, but....this bush smells heavenly, which doesn't match the description.  The description says it smells bad, and has berries.  This bush doesn't get berries and smells wonderful.  Additionally it says it's quite invasive.  This bush was here when we moved into the house close to 40 years ago and has NOT spread, therefore not invasive.  Several friends have indicated this is indeed a Border Privet, while others have said it's a Honeysuckle.  It doesn't look like pictures of a Honeysuckle.  Someone suggested it could be a White Potted Jasmine.  Well Jasmine smell nice, but all the info I found related to those plants aren't bushes.  Perhaps it's a Star Jasmine- Trachelospermum?  But, it seems they are often vines?  I'm at a loss.  Anyone out there know what this is.  I would love to plant another one.  Easy care and I love the aroma.  It fills the yard for several weeks; but is about done now.

Starts, Finishes, and Next Project

 

Finished!  As we speak this is in the washer and will soon be laid out block/dry.  Then it can be gifted. to my great niece.  I decided this was softer and more appropriate then the multi-colored blanket.

More fun cocktail napkins!

Not a cocktail napkin, but should be.  Got a kick out of this meme, and thought you might as well.

Code Girls, a New York Bestseller, award winning book tells the riveting secret story of over 10,000 women who were recruited from all over America and taught how to break codes.  They lived in difficult situations and worked long hard hours under much stress.  The vow of secrecy kept their life saving efforts out of the history books.  With much detailed research, their stories are now being told.  A movie was also made from this book.  Highly recommend this book.  Once again the accomplishments of women in The Second World War have been brushed aside and need to be told. 

A photo from my back yard of the purple iris.  I have a large back yard and these beauties line all 3 fence rows.

Am continuing to work on this, but having added about 10 rows, it doesn't look any larger.

Will be casting this project on shortly.  Not the best picture, but I love the teal, gray, and purple mix.  This will be a tri-colored asymmetrical scarf.  I will cast on before finishing the above scarf, lol.

Exercise continues, will see how the monthly stats are for May.

Knitting, Voting, Audio Books and Exercise

 

Picked up the blue and white corner to corner blanket again.   You can see  HERE,  how much it's grown.  The blue section has been completed and the 2nd white section, and now onto another blue section.  The decrease has also been started, so am now over half way with this.  

Oh Ohio!   What hot mess.  I know it's been discussed in some detail around the country.  Ridiculous amount of Republicans running for one spot, all but one trying hard to get the endorsement of "the orange one" , which tells you how pathetic the race was.  All we can hope for now is the author of Hillbilly Elegy doesn't win in the election.  Sad to me that he won the primary for that party, given how dysfunction he is.  Several of the debates almost came to fist fights between the Republicans.  Anyway, did my part yesterday and voted against them all.

Haven't done anymore work on the pretty asymmetrical scarf pictured in the last post.  Nor anymore work on the brown afghan.

My yoga mat on top of my Life Board.  I did much better in April with Yoga.  March was only 2 x, April was 8 x and in March the sessions were 30-35 minutes, in April 30-45 minutes with a total of 367 minutes or 6.11 hours.

PLANKS...I did them 9 x in April, which is the same as in March.  No going backward which is good, plus the last couple of days in March I increased the time from 4 x 40 seconds with 11 seconds of rest to 4 x 45 seconds with 13 seconds of rest.  So, that brings up to 3 minutes of planks.  I did side planks a few times which is the same as March.

WALKING...I jumped from 9 walks in March to 12 in April (which includes a couple of times mowing the yard). Fitbit says 128.34 miles which is up from March at 104.61.  I had 2 days of 8 miles.  April's mileage is the best of 2022 so far.

Elie Wiesel's "Night", is a memoir of his life in 1944 and 1945 in Auschwitz and Buchenwald.  Parts of heart breaking, parts are inspiring as so many of these stories from Nazi's horrific treatment of the Jews and others they didn't side with Hitler.  While many of these books from WWII aren't pleasant or fun or light reading; they are important.  We must NEVER forget what happened so that we may keep it from happening again.  History must be our teacher and our moral compass.

Can anyone identify these yellow flowers?  I spotted them on a recent walk through the neighborhood.  I know they're a perineal from a brief conversation with the homeowner who happened to be out in his yard.  He told me what they were, but I didn't remember by the time I got home, darn it!  He said I could come and get a start if I wanted.  I might take him up on his kind offer.  Now to remember which corner I was on.  I rarely walk the same route, and when walking get engrossed in listening to my book...so it may take me some work to locate this corner again.

Knitting, Wine, and Yoga

 Making good headway with adding the turquoise, then tangerine, then royal blue, and now the lime green.  This was the progress as of a week ago.  This afghan is now at a standstill, as it's at home and I'm not.

Currently working on The Buckeye Scarf because its smaller and easier to work on in the car.  No new pictures.

Sharing this because I thought it was cool.  Hope my fellow knitters enjoy it; as well as my non knitters as an interesting piece of art work.

Two friends and I toasting 25 years cancer free.  One of my besties, Congrats!

A novel, a story of courage, betrayal and more.  Jewish families trying to maintain, to survive, to feed their families and never knowing whom to trust creates many layers of intrigue and suspense as well as heartbreak and warm moments.  Another book to add to your reading list folks.  I love audio books.  You can walk, knit, do household chores and listen to your books.

It's a balancing act folks.  Still trying to maintain activity with planks, walking, and yoga....but sometimes you need a glass of wine.

More Color Play, Gnomes, Wordle and Audio Books

 

Start-itis!  It's a disease among knitters and crocheters...perhaps other crafters as well. When you have multiple projects in the works and instead of working on one of WIP (work in progress), you grab yarn and start another project.  These colors should look familiar...scroll back for the blanket of many colors with diamonds.  Still had plenty of all these fun colors and decided to make a basic striped ghan/blanket...but working on the diagonal is more interesting, I think; so, working a corner to corner until it gets the size I want then will start the decrease.  This is currently about the same size as the blue baby blanket (scroll back).  This has 151 stiches on the needles and measurers about 37 inches a side.  The weight of this yarn is slightly different than the blue blanket so it probably won't measure the same with the same number of stiches.

No new pictures of the blue baby blanket, or the Buckeye Scarf; as they remained unchanged since the previous picture and post.

The next audio book, a novel by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.  This book blends WWI, WWII, and the turbulent 60's.  3 Women experience love, and betrayal.  A heiress, a Resistance Fighter, and A Widow and The Ritz in Paris.  Lots of intrigue, mystery, and some history.  Check it out.

I've continued to walk, do planks and until a week ago rode a bike.  Being out of town with warm weather makes getting outside to exercise easier.  But, back home now...so no good weather and no bike rental...so, we'll see how it goes.  Hubby and I took a walk today; which felt good after 2 days sitting in the car for the return trip.  This picture is from a walk through the neighborhood I took last fall while it was still nice.  Another cute little Gnome Village.  I've posted a few pictures of interesting things I see in my walks. Fitbit says my 28 days average (starting with Jan 31st) is 4.17 miles per day, which is up 17% over the previous 28 day cycle.  However, I've not yet counted the days I've done yoga or planks...feel pretty sure it's less than last month.

Not a current Wordle, just a picture I found.  A different form of exercise.  Are you familiar with it?  Are you doing it?  Do you enjoy it or find it frustrating?  I've only been doing it a few weeks and find it rather frustrating.  Seems the bulk of the time I'm only getting the word on the 5th try.  For practice, I started doing a couple of the archives; doing a bit better with that.  I've made hand notes of words as I think of them and or when I type them in, for reference, but.......when I typed a google spread sheet today from my hand notes; sorted them in alphabetical order and tried to print...I can't print.  Any clue why I can't print a PDF file from Google Docs/Sheets?