one more

One more year for my love today, and one more post with pictures of a finished project.

 I guess I went with the saying that the love of a man goes through his stomach - I baked a 'perfect lemon torte' last night, and prepared yeast dough for the cinnamon rolls this morning. I tried out 'spicy baked pears' as well. Lunch will be caprese salad with at least the basil fresh from the garden.

 We are going out for dinner, a tradition of sorts. This is the first birthday without T, the first birthday dinner without the whole clan present. Transitions, transitions.

Nevertheless, this will continue to be a day of celebration! YOLO! (you only live once- for the people not living in the usa).

saturday morning

Slept in just a little bit, we are having a chimney sweep over for the first time ever. We have 'only' been in this home for 11 years. We enjoy that fireplace with wood from our own yard. From what I can overhear, we might have some problems...

Yep, we did. Nothing too scary, although repairs will add up to over $1000. Sigh. They came with one of those 'real' chimney tools that you see in Mary Poppins- but no dancing on the roof was performed unfortunately.

Since I don't get much done during the week there are no new things to report, so I'll share some old stuff.

I made this quilt for my niece B. The five of us have never met her because she lives overseas. It makes me sad just to tell you that. However, we love her, she is a miracle, and a very happy lucky girl. One day we will meet!

A little hat that I knitted for her. Vibrant colors fit her personality I think. Well, instead of happy, writing this post made me a little sad, because I am missing out on two beautiful little girls (L & B) as an aunt.

That means it is time for some weekend-labor! Greetings from me.

planning

Something I am not really good at. I try, but things always end up different anyway, so I go with the flow. For instance, T's quilt. I have adjusted my original plan already.

Sometimes I plan stuff and then I just forget about it. Today I planned to bake bread, and I remembered it only tonight when my thoughts turned to the day ahead. Should have made a list.

Today was a good day- it is remarkable how well I feel when I don't have a stomach flu or a migraine. We had breakfast outside, looking up at a beautiful blue sky, listening to the birds and crickets and cicadas and the squirrels making a ruckus whenever they spotted a cat. The hummingbirds had discovered the feeder that T hung in the tree, although so had the ants. R cooked a dinner feast while I dropped T of on campus (no, he was not really home, he just needed a ride back after visiting his girlfriend at a college to the north). I even managed to get some cleaning done. And the best part was the temperature. No a/c or heating needed, windows wide open. On a day like this, I take deep breaths and simply ENJOY. That is something I never have to plan.

letting go

Much of life is a lesson in letting go- and as a parent one gets lots of practice with this. So last Wednesday was the first day of the last year of high school for my girls, and moving-in day for my boy.

Needless to say, this was not the easiest of days for me. Lots of mixed emotions. Excitement and sadness and other feelings and thoughts all churning in the blender in my head and stomach all day. The girls had no trouble making clear how they felt.

After they left we packed up the van. Lucy volunteered to become a dorm-cat but that was really too much letting go for me.

T is going in-state, so the drive was not so bad. The traffic on campus was another matter as it was official moving-in day. I sat next to the boxes with my knitting in an attempt to calm my churning blender.

Once all the stuff was in the room, nobody could move around much or sit anywhere, so I got a tour of the campus and then we went for dinner. It really is a nice campus and a fun town, but the best part for me is that it is not so far away.

T's  'sculpture' on Wednesday morning. My boy going to college...a happy day?!

done

I usually bring along tons of books and serious knitting projects (I've even been known to travel with quilting equipment) on family vacations. Not this year, for some reason. I brought one knitting project and I barely got it done- I finished it at home, to be honest. But here it is!

Two-at-a-time-toe-up-socks! I love the way the stripes turned out, but I am not too fond of the yarn- kroy socks by Patons. (love their wool, by the way)

In my enthusiasm, I knitted a bit too far and so, unfortunately, they are too big for my feet.

Next up is a pair in purple/grey, I'll be careful to reign in my enthusiasm a bit with those. Since I do not have that much time, that will likely not be a problem.

not so favorite

I will not bore you with details, but very early this morning I woke up with stomach flu. Of course, it is gorgeous weather and T and I were supposed to go shopping for some necessities for his move to college. Instead I am inside and everything hurts.

The good news is that we had saltines- and we always have tea of course.

So after a while I started thinking about what else my mother used to make for me in situations like this. Beschuit ! This is something like zwieback but less crunchy, and when I found it in the supermarket here a long time ago, it was called Holland Rusk. Hmm. Anyway, we don't have any. So I made toast.

Not exactly the white flour-low fiber stuff that I should be going for. So we'll see how this works out.

I'm going to think positive things, and on that note, here are some of my favorite people: my mom, my son T.

aaaahhhhhh

It is finally cooler and windy outside!  The forest around us is singing, and we threw all the windows open to catch the breeze. Reminds me of Maine, said my love. And so it does!

This was the night we were waiting for the spectacular sunset that never came. (Cadillac mountain).

This was as good as it got.
But it makes me sigh to remember the views, the air, the pine forests, and the rocky paths. Aaaahhhh, Maine. Serenity. Friday night. Cool air. The sound of waves, or wind in the trees.
( these are just some of my favorite things...).

...and some of my favorite people...

..and a favorite place

Enjoy your weekend!

tranquility now

Phew- after a full day at the children's hospital, a full evening at home...I have vague hopes that this will settle somewhat so I can also spend some leisure time at night. For making a quilt for instance, or knitting.

It takes some adjustment, this working. Not only from me. E asked tonight: "So are you going to be working every day?" Yep, well, for the duration of the maternity leave. And after that we will see. But I love the work, and I really do not want to complain.

a Vermeer R was able to photograph at the Metropolitan Museum

Preparations are under way for T's big move to University next week. My feelings are very mixed up.

  at the entrance of the Rockefeller center

New York City was an enormously overwhelming chaos after the tranquility of Maine. But it has it's charm. And certainly some charming visitors!

the girls and me (V , E, M) just before Times Square

Perhaps it prepared me a bit for the whirlwind in which I feel I am now (or, that I should be now...). I like it okay, as long as I have a little 'Maine' at the end of my day.

there and back again

We were gone for a while. Just the five of us.

This is where we were, among other places. We hiked as much as we could, and my love and the kids went ocean kayaking. We had a lot of fun, just hanging out and  and being a family.

When we came back, I started work right away. Now it is Friday night and although I am pretty tired, I also feel inspired. By the vacation and by the work that I am privileged to do. Hopefully the gazillions of pictures we took will keep the memories alive while I adjust to a (more than) full-time job.