On the needles

It’s summertime and the projects are slow as are some days. And then again June is almost gone along with one third of the summer.  New knitting on the needles the three balls of yarn are all from the same dye lot they have surprisingly long color sections. I started on the ball that looks the most green with my swatch. Just a few more rows and I will put the sleeves on waste yarn but I always use really narrow satin ribbon because it doesn’t have long fibers that get mixed up with my knitting.  The yarn is zauberball cotton. It will be a nice summer sweater. Ann

Coloring

 The little girls came over to play, well first they wanted “second breakfast “ which is always yogurt and fruit then they do puzzles or get out the blocks and they always ask to color, always! Olivia likes the black sheets and the chalky crayons ( the black sheets wash right off she has no problem with that) Madeline likes the regular old crayons and a coloring book but mostly she likes to build with her crayons but they kept rolling off the table so I put them on a plastic lid. She was very happy lining them up and making occasional marks on the paper. I sat and colored too.  I read in a book this spring Beachfront Bakery: A Killer Cupcake by Fiona Grace about a young woman, Ali, opening a pastry shop and involved in a murder investigation who might have been just a little stressed…..anyway Ali goes into an arts and crafts shop, the owner, Delaney, directs her to a table and tells her to do some coloring while she makes tea for both of them.  Delaney tells her that coloring with her non- dominant hand is a scientifically proven anxiety-busting technique. The book did not have a footnote to back up the claim but I found coloring with my granddaughters to be very relaxing especially on a page with large spaces to color. Those books with the tiny intricate designs might cause rather than eliminate stress.  I wasn’t stressed so I used my right hand.  Ann

Happy Flag day

Happy Flag Day

 

photo storage

I spent a lot of time last week going through photos on my computer.  I received notice that photo stream on my mac was coming to an end, I would need to move things to the cloud that meant buying more storage space.  Do I really need to save all those photos of quilts step by step of progression expecially since I posted the best pics on my blog?  Delete! or how about the group photos someone else took of our family and just held the button down 36 pics of my son getting his dog in position for the pic, it would have made a cute flip book if I printed all those pics and stapled them together.  Delete some more.  Just about all the photos that DD has shared with me were in duplicate or triplicate.  Then there were travel pics some have been made into photo books others in all honesty my kids will probably toss someday because they are not their memories. Some of the pics have been made into the annual calendar they get every year for Christmas and that is probably enough for them.  I think the kids have saved them if not they will find my pile someday.  I worked at it off and on until I had a knot in my shoulder.  How does clicking a mouse cause so much stress? 6000 some fewer photos in storage!!  I moved a lot of photos to shu....fly for the next calendar and photo books for the little girls just in case I didn't do things right and I still have them on the camera card.  Now how do I delete photos from the cloud in the future??  Just another of life's little conundrums.  Ann

Creative week

Hubby was off fishing for the week, I had a week of unlimited creative time. I moved the watercolors and a bunch of other creative resources to the dining room table ( I can eat my meals anywhere) the light was better there. I continued work on my little travel sketchbook. The second day of the trip it was raining so hard we stayed in the hotel since plans changed. No excuses not to sketch……I had enough photos on my camera and phone I had a starting point. The first few sketches were done in Italy and not in any particular order as the computer does its own thing when uploading….

 

My sketching improved with practice and my colors are brighter with my larger paint palette. I also got out my old Artist Sketchbook magazines and reread some inspiring articles and “how to” articles. I was trying to capture the gloominess of the weather we were experiencing some sketches are better than others and the really bad sketches didn’t make the post. But it’s okay to do a bad sketch I gave myself permission to make bad art and a couple days later it doesn’t look as bad. I also sent the inner critic out the door.  

I need to improve my workspace downstairs so I spend a little time everyday sketching.  Ann

A little travel.....

 

My Sister-in-law and I went on a trip to the Amalfi Coast of Italy with the alumni association of South Dakota State University.  There were 37 in the group and I knew the names of at least a third of them but didn't know them well.  We all got aquainted!! They were a fun bunch to travel with and everyone was on  time for all the departures.  The only negative to the trip was the rainy weather, I said pretend we are in Ireland then it rained hard so pretend we are in Scotland....... One day we all wore our blue SDSU t-shirts.  We stayed 4 night on the island of Ischia and took ferries to the islands of Capri and Procida then spent 3 nights in Sorrento.

Me and sil.  We ate lots of good food, really good food and wine and limoncello.  Pasta and pizza with fresh mozzarella and more wine.  Pastries for breakfast.....too much sugar for me, they did have yogurt, cheeses, coldcuts with lots of fresh breads.  And espresso and lattes and cappuccino.  Did I mention the food was wonderful?

Just wish we would have had more blue sky and sunshine.  It was a really fun trip and great travel  companions. An interesting observation of the group the first couple days people would ask would you take our picture then it was here let me take your picture.

I’m ready to go on another trip but haven’t made any plans.  Ann

Reading #2

New reading list and some travel......

1. The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie one of her early who dun its. 
2. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen an odd assortment of characters who all had trying childhoods, there is an imaginary bird, characters long deceased are telling their story as ghosts, it was a short book so I finished it. The story came together in the end about letting go of the past so your ghosts can rest and you can move forward. 
3. The Seamstress of New Orleans by Diane McFhail turn of the century 1900, Mardi Gras, a young woman from Chicago whose husband has disappeared goes to New Orleans looking for him and needs to find a way to support herself. She begins teaching sewing at an orphanage and meets a woman who gives her a room in exchange for sewing a gown for Mardi Gras. It’s a leap year and the women are in charge of the festivities. Interesting but not terrific.
4. Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger book #5 of the series and it ended on a cliffhanger. Wait list for the next book
5. Storm Watch by C. J. Box #23 of the Joe Pickett series read it during a March snowstorm it felt  like I was there almost.
6. The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne a grown up mystery by the author of the Winnie the Pooh  books. An amateur sleuth works out the details of who dun it and how. Just for fun.
7. Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman for book club fiction Southern California dealing with the loss of water. Arizona shut off water to California. 
8. Copper River by William Kent Krueger book #6 couldn’t put it down.The cliffhanger of book 5 resolved and a bunch of new crimes connected and unraveled. 
9. The Italian House by Teresa Crane 1922 a young married English girl inherits her grandmother’s house in Italy she connects with a cousin from her childhood lots of twists near the end of the story and not enough build up of how this is going to be resolved. Not a top recommendation.
10. The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake again this time for book club just as good the second time. 
11. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn fiction WW2 three young women cracking German codes at Bletchley Park they start a literary society because they can’t talk about their work. Some characters are pure fiction some are a combination of real people and a few are true historical characters including Kate Middleton’s grandmother. Very good book all 600 some pages.
12. Puzzles by A.J. Jacobs non fiction about all different kinds of puzzles including A couple chapters on cryptic cyphers. One of those books I read between other books to keep my reading streak going on my kindle.
13. Oh My Stars by Lorna Landvik for book club depression era 
14. Pompeii by Robert Harris reread for a very good reason.  Photos below are of Mount Vesuvis and the excavated ruins of Pompeii. 
15. Beach Front Bakery by Fiona Grace fluff airplane reading.
16. The  Revolution of the Moon by Andrea Camilleri takes place on Sicily in 1600’s a woman inherits the throne on the death of her husband, she makes some very important social changes for the good of the people and cleans up some corruption in the church and city council. More airplane reading, short book.
17. Secrets of the Cottage by the Sea by Rebecca Alexander fluff just for fun and started on the airplane.
18. To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite very slow to start 3 chapters for the first 4 or 5 minutes of the movie. I watched it again, the book takes place after WW2 the movie in the 1960’s. Both were very good.