It's About Time for Another Finish! Exercise, Birthday, Afghans. OH NO Neo-Nazi's

 

Pink Petals is finally completed!  I say finally, because it took longer than normal.  I had it edged and tied together before we left for Sicily.  Then on return it was several weeks before I could begin working on it again.  Fall clean up in the yard needed my full attention.  It's here drying/blocking after it was laundered.  The light pink did tone down the super bright pink, and it's edged with one single row of light gray.

Here's the before.

Next up is Tweedy?  Anyone have other thoughts on a name for this one?

The variegated squares and rectangles made me think of tweedy.  And the beige yarn I'll be sizing them with looks sorta tweedy to me..  To liven it up a bit, I'm planning on crocheting it together with black.  I think the contrast will be helpful..  I might try to do a single crochet edge around them in black for a wider black border before joining....if I have enough black yarn.  We'll see how that goes.

Hubby bought these happy yellow roses for me for my BD which was just 2 days ago.  They're just starting to open up.  I love yellow and think they're beautiful.

One of my blog friends indicated she had reached her yearly goal mileage wise and was pretty excited by it.  She got me wondering what my yearly miles had been.  I've always looked at daily and monthly steps and miles; but never looked at yearly stats.  I started walking for fitness, and to relieve the swelling in my knees caused by arthritis back in 2014, when I bought my first of many Fitbits.  So in these 11 years my lowest miles is 1.106.07 for the current year (2024), averaging 3.46 miles per day.  My highest was back in 2016 with 2,050.8 miles for an average of 5.6. miles.  My total mileage for these 11 years is 16,178.86 which averages out to 1,470.86.  So, it looks like I'm fairly consistent; but am behind yet for this year on a average.  With bad weather upon us, and holidays closing in I'm not sure I'll be able to get up to my average; but hopefully I can get closer.

Set in WWII, but not Europe  A Malayan housewife becomes a spy, hides her daughter to keep her from being forced into service during the Japanese occupation at the "comfort stations".  She knows it's  her fault that her family is now in danger, but can she fix things?  A part of the war less known to most of us.  Japanese were terribly brutal, it wasn't just the Nazi that were horrible.

A while back I started another series.  Book #1 I already blogged about, "A Duty to the Dead".  Charles Todd has written The Bess Crawford Series.  She's a nurse in WWI.  Sometimes in France, sometimes in England; and sometimes at the front at a forward station.  Book 2 takes place in England, involving The Scotland Yard, a soldier burned beyond recognition.----but what's his wife up to?  I sorta liken Bess Crawford to an adult Nancy Drew; but she's so much more, given she does her sleuthing during a terrible war.

#3 A Bitter Truth is full of intrigue.  Bess trying to help a troubled woman and ends up accused of murder herself!

I'm enjoying this series immensely and highly recommend them.  They're both entertaining and educational with regards to learning about the conditions in WWI, and how difficult the nurses training was.  Nurses are referred to as Nursing Sisters and are highly regarded..

A Canadian friend of mine sent me this meme a few days before the election to try and bolster my spirits.  The day after the election, she texted me with sincere condolences.  I'm trying hard not to let it consume me; but I fear it's going to be a very ugly time in the history of our nation.

These Masked Neo Nazi's carrying Swastika's marched through a neighborhood about 15-20 minutes from my home just 2 days ago.  This has been happening quite a bit leading up to the election; and now with a green light of White Supremacy, from trump and his MAGA cult, I fear we will be witnesses an increase in this type of behavior.  They insulted all people they passed of color, yelled profanities about Jewish people and scared all who were unfortunate to witness this disgusting behavior.  There were no arrest made.  It seems to me, questions as to whether or not they had a permit to assemble should be answered, and it appears they did not have a permit.  IMHO I think they should be arrested, if their marching without the permit.  Sadly they achieved their goal to frighten people, to bully and intimate people.  And them with their faces covered...--so brave.

Afghan, Books, Movies, and Roses oh My!

 

Here is Firecracker done, being blocked/drying here as we speak.  I was pleased when I found more black yarn so was able to edge each square with black after getting everything sized with the red.  And then edged in black as well.

And here it was in the beginning.

And next up Pink Petals.  Some of the pink here is quite bright as you can see...sorta like the hideous pink car I posted previously.  So, am bringing squares to size in the light pink which I think will tone things down.  I may join in the same pink, or perhaps find a contrasting color...will see as it progresses what I think.

Hubby and I recently attending ball game, such a fun summer thing to do.  It was a beautiful night and our home team won.  Not something we do often,  maybe once or twice a summer.  Don't think we made it at all last summer.

There were places in the book where I definitely disagreed with trumpie's Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham; but found the book still quite interesting.  It points out, as many of his former cabinet and staff books have, that most of them thought they were doing the right thing........initially, then when they realized otherwise they were in too deep and or had become addicted to power and excitement of being there.  But, she was the first to resign after Jan 6th, when 45 and his gang/cult tried to over throw the government.  She recently spoke at the Democratic Convention throwing her support completely behind The  Kamala Harris Ticket.  It takes a big person to say, I was wrong and now am fighting for the other side. Recommended.

But, one can't read just heavy duty books.  One still needs the entertainment of the Elin Hilderbrand books.  Catch up with the characters from The Summer of 69 (the year I graduated from HS), 10 years later.

Bonfire at the beach to celebrate graduating from High School.  Drinking, cars, anger, young love........so much going on.  And the subsequent police investigation.

When summer jobs at the club change peoples lives, and coming of age.

*I continue to enjoy and recommend all the Elin Hilderbrand books.

Thoroughly enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.  I watched it on Prime.

LOVED this movie.  I've always been a huge fan of Eleanor Roosevelt, what a remarkable woman she was.  The time frame of this story about her is right after her husband passed and how she got on with her life.  Jean Stapleton did a magnificent job portraying her.  Highly recommend this.  This too was on Prime.

Meh....very disappointed in this.  It had gotten such rave reviews when it and the silly Barbie movie came out at the same time in the theaters.  Can't recommend this, even though I'm probably out numbered on this opinion.

Gorgeous dark red/burgundy roses tinged with grayish.  Hubby brought these home for me a few days ago.  I've never seen any quite like this before.

Another Ta Dah, Finished Project, Roses and Books Oh My

 

Falling Leaves is drying after being laundered.  This was the easiest project so far this year, as these were all crocheted squares (no knit squares), and while all are not granny style squares they were fairly close to the same size, so that required a bit less work on my part.  This ghan is a bit more narrow than I like, but working with the squares that I had this was the way to make the pattern of squares work.  It's unusual for me to have so many similar squares to work with.  My daughter and hubby like symmetrical things and so they liked this one..........me, I've gotten used to working with some of this and  that and sorta prefer the less symmetrical designs.  Either way, it will keep someone warm.  All the afghans I put together from pieces parts are donated to Homeless Shelters.

The before picture, though turned the other direction.  This ghan didn't change much as I worked on it.  Forgot to mention above picture it's edged with really dark green, though it may look black in the picture.

This one is the next project, though after looking at it awhile, I moved a few squares since this picture.  This will probably be the most tedious of the ghans so far this year, as the squares are really different sizes, some are squares, and some are rectangles and some are knitted.  I'm not sure I have enough of one color to do the edging and sizing for this, so may do a bit of a design/pattern with edging in order to use multiple colors....we'll see how it goes.  Current plan is to edge the middle row both horizontally and vertically in brown and do the 4 corners in the dark green, lighter green, and or blue left over from the previous ghans.  Trying hard to use my stash and not buy more, particularly after the work my daughter and I did over Christmas to sort and roll and donate 41.5 pounds of yarn.  Buying would add to the stash and that's not the goal.  Soooo, we'll see how this goes.

More gorgeous roses.  These white roses are tipped in pink and are so pretty.  Hubby brought this home yesterday.  I missed taking a picture of the last roses he brought home that were purplish.  

Post World War II, Paris and it's people are trying to rebuild.  Families are separated, missing and or dead and somehow life must go on.  The captivating story of two strong women from the same family generations apart finding a future with the commonality of a small neighborhood bakery.  A most enjoyable book.

Set in 1916, an intriguing story with a World War I nurse.  She finds herself in the middle of deadly secrets as she carries a personal message from a fallen solder to his family.  Lots of surprises in this book.  I'm not typically a mystery book lover, but found this book hard to put down.  I also didn't know befpre reading/listening to it , that it is  book #1 in a series, so now I need to find the listing of how many books are in the series and get them on my list.

I've read/listened to a good number of Kelly Rimmer's books and always enjoy them, and this was no different.   Though set in 1970/current day we're transported back to the cold war, double agents, injuries and danger.  Family loyalty vs patriotic duty with some very tuff decisions to make.  

Raindrops on Roses, No Whiskers on Kittens, but Other Things

 

Because it's ugly, drab, cold, wet outside many days now we all need some beauty and color in our lives.  Hubby brought these home for me a few days ago.  Aren't they glorious!!  The edge is pinkish, but the rose is purple.

If you're looking for a festive dish to make for Christmas and or New Years, I highly recommend this veggie mix.  It's so pretty, colorful and yummy.  The bonus is it's healthy and easy.  Cranberries, squash, Brussel sprouts.  I took 2 large casserole dishes for my Thanksgiving family gathering at my youngest nephews house.  Everyone brings something.  I cooked them at home and used those Pyrex heat things you put in the microwave and an insulted carrier.  You season with salt and pepper and olive oil, cook for about 45 minutes on 375, stir a few times.  Test the sprouts to see that they're soft...and browning if you like them a bit more cooked.  You can also add a bit of orange juice, but watch it because it can cause it to brown up too quickly.  I've made it for us before, but this was the first time I made it for the masses (26 people at the gathering), and it was a big hit.  So, I'll be making it again for Christmas Eve.

I realize I never noted my exercise for October or November.  October was really down due to weather, my elbow still not being 100% and it was a month of lots of doctor appointments...routine stuff, but everything came due at once.  Only managed 81.05 miles in October truly down.  November was better with 99.4 miles, but still down from my average.  The good news is, on Dec 1st I started doing planks again, and knee lifts and a few other exercises.  It was like starting over again.   Before hurting my elbow I was doing 50 second planks x 4 with 14 seconds of rest between.  On Dec I started with 30 second planks x 4 with 10 seconds between, and just the other day I was able to up things to 35 seconds x 4 with 10 seconds of rest between.  So, hopefully things are looking up.

An interesting book.  I'm not a tennis player, nor do I even watch it on tv, but thoroughly enjoyed this book about the will power and drive of a professional tennis player.  There's a family story with it, and a love story as well.  A totally different type of book for me; but sometimes you need a bit of change.

This story about Audrey Hepburn was fascinating.  I knew a little of her background, but didn't know how involved her mother was with the Nazi's, or how much she herself was involved with all things happening around her during World War II.  I highly recommend this book.

What a let down this book was.  I sorta forced myself to read/listen to the whole book, only because I LOVED Diana Babaldon's Outlander Series so much, I thought perhaps it would get better.  It didn't!!  Part of it might have been my expectations.  Things were left very much up in the air with Lord John when Outlander came to a finish, and I wrongly assumed this would pick up the story from there.  It didn't.  I don't know how many books are in this series, but I won't be searching them out.

Came across this picture from a hundred years ago.  Christmases of my childhood looks so different then Christmases of today, lol.  I think the dress was yellow, and probably flesh colored tights.  I hope you're all gearing up for a festive holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate.

Not much progress on the baby blanket, but hopefully the next picture will be when it's completed.

Still posting about my 14 day tour of The UK.  Here's day 8, part I, Edinburgh, Scotland

Gobble Gobble and More

 

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.  Spotted this turkey while out walking the other day.  Normally, I'm not a fan of blow up directions; but thought the turkey was sorta cute.

Making headway with The Sherbet blanket.  The bright pink section I'm working on now is the wider section you see towards the bottom of the picture, then light pink, green, and bright pink edge.  I think it's going to be a bit smaller than I anticipated; but was trying to be careful and not run out of yarn.  That's the problem when you're using up this and that and don't know how much yarn you have and wing it.

Leaves before raking.  It takes generally 3 rounds of raking to get all the leaves from these 2 trees, then another couple of raking and or mulching with the mower those that blow over from the neighbors yard.  His trees drop later than ours, and he tends not to rake until they're almost totally down...meanwhile they blow in my yard.

Switched out the pumpkin placemats for the more fall looking leaf mats.

These are my birthday roses from hubby.  They were called Hot Sauce.  I've never seen such a color combination with the red and yellow.  Gorgeous, and they go so well with my fall table.

I almost didn't read this book, given the title; but the look her face made me curious.  Jennette McCurdy was child actress, later a writer and maintains a podcast.  This book is a New York Times Best Seller and International Best Seller.  It's funny, it's sad, it's a autobiography of her growing up years, dealing with eating disorders and the toll that took.  It was enlighten for me, as I've not known someone who suffered from an eating disorder...at least not to my knowledge.  The audio book is 6 hours.

 This 9 hour audio book was a Pulitzer Price winning book.  A historical fiction that takes place in Alabama with a look at generations of White vs Black, backward social norms and what finding out the truth can do a family that for years was entrenched as a leader in the community.

A 4 hour Novella filled with intrigue, duty, money, flooding a rescue ? And of course love interest.......then throw in the criminals and you have an enjoyable griping story 

None of these 3 books are my typical genre; but I recommend the books just the same.  Sometimes you need to change things up.

Making my Way to Edinburgh, still blogging about my touring The UK

Mother's Day, Quick One Pan Meals, and The Crimson Field-WWI Field Hospital

The Crimson Field, the next series in my exploration of watching British TV.  LOVED this show.  It was an interesting glimpse into life in France (and England-Ireland) during World War I.  There was sadly only one season, as it was cancelled after that.  

It explored the importance of ladies who volunteered for service, and showed how difficult their lives were.  These 3 all had a story to tell and all joined the service for different reason.  They came from very different backgrounds.  At a time when it was scandalous for women to be in close company with me, nurses and volunteers had to learn how to bath wounded men...the difficulty of bridging their learned privacy rules from civilian life and that in service was huge.

Both men and women were drummed out, or executed for what was deemed to be unpatriotic service or cowardice.  Even though there is only one season, I do highly recommend it.  I was able to watch this series on Amazon Prime for no extra fee or membership.

This past weekend was Mother's Day.  My Darling Daughter sent lovely flowers on Friday so I was able to enjoy them for the whole of the wkend.  There were 3 bundles of flowers in the box, enough for me to make two large beautiful bouquets.  Thank you Darling Daughter.  This is a close up of one of the prettiest roses...look at the gradation of color on the outside of this rose as it begins to open.

I'm a huge fan of one pan, or one dish meals.  Makes prep and clean up so much easier.  That's even more important to me currently since I'm not super mobile with my broken foot.  In the beginning, I would do some prep, sit down...do a bit more, sit down again.  Was hard trying to move about the kitchen using a walker or crutches.  I would get things at the ready as much as possible (often it took a good while), so when hubby came home from work; he could actually do the cooking.  Generally, he put something in oven and with my chair-side direction........dinner would come together.  I am more mobile now with my ortho boot, but still trying to minimize how much I'm standing there in the kitchen.  It's just not that easy.  

Asparagus, potatoes, and chicken.  This required a minimum of work to prep.  The chicken breast's were cut in in medalions (smaller pieces cook quicker), plus the chicken breast were very large and thick.  They were dipped in an egg wash, and layered in the pan with thin lemon slices and topped with fresh basil.

Potatoes quartered, asparagus cut in half.  I put all in fridge, and when hubby called that he was on his way I sprinkled olive oil, dash, and Parmesan cheese on potatoes and asparagus and turned on the oven.  Cooked in pre-heated oven at 400-425 for about 20 minutes.  It cooked while hubby and I had our Martini's

Tasty, not time consuming with either prep or clean up.  The egg wash and lemon gave the chicken a nice flavor and helped keep it moist.  Was an experiment....one both hubby and I thought worth repeating.