And it's December

Hello Gentle Readers. We've been away and are home. We had the best Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family. We flew out on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The weather held and the Kansas City airport was well staffed. Our travel day was smooth sailing. I helped Kate in the kitchen Thursday morning. We made an excellent Mushroom Wellington and favorite side dishes. She baked lemon cranberry bars and bought an apple pie for dessert. Jonah and I made the sauce for baked Mac and Cheese and whipped the cream. 

That weekend is their church's annual fund-raising Christmas Tree sale. All proceeds go to local charities and it's all hands on deck to unload and set up 500 trees. The kids love the event, not to mention the doughnuts and hot chocolate, so it was fun to be there in person. 

On Monday Kate and I walked around New York City enjoying all the festive decorations and store windows. We shopped at the McNally Jackson bookstore and were treated to lunch at The Bakery Room, a Greek bakery also serving soup and salad. The owner is a friend and member of Kate's running group. 

Her hat reads, "Pray for Snow." I think we were the only two people in NYC not wearing black coats.

In their little town, I walked to school with the kids. Instead of bringing gifts, we take them to the local indie bookstore to choose a book. It's fun to watch their reading tastes grow and change. A visit with Thanksgiving and a little bit of Christmas was such a nice way to celebrate the holidays. Our nonstop flight home last Thursday was delayed by 3 hours so I came home with one and a half new socks.

All of this brings me to Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and company. Since I didn't want to juggle three balls of sock yarn seen in the previous post, I searched my stash for an appropriate single skein. I found this West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas yarn named Candy Cane and cast on my version of the Candy Floss pattern. It was perfect travel knitting. My plan is to finish this pair and go back to the Comfort and Joy socks. Before we left, I ripped out the sweater but that is a story for another day.

As for reading, I'm almost finished with One of Ours by Willa Cather. Rereading a good book always brings a new perspective. As I read about the main character as a doughboy in France, I wondered how Cather researched the fighting in the trenches. She wrote one vivid scene about Claude experiencing the effects of being very near a large explosion. Perhaps by 1923, the information was available. It's also obvious that Cather loved rural France. While in Connecticut, I reread some of Ship Fever, a collection of short stories by Andrea Barrett. The stories revolve around science and love and are well written. The collection won the National Book Award in 1996. By the time I got into bed to read, I was tired so I only read a few stories. I'm currently listening to an old comforting favorite, Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher. This is a re-listen but right now I'm in need of a happy ending. 

Look what welcomed us home. Have a good week friends. 

Thanksgiving Eve

Hello Gentle Readers. Light wind blows the few remaining leaves from the trees. Overnight temperatures drop below freezing on this Thanksgiving week. A thriving parsley plant in a pot has finally succumbed to frost. Since it is a biennial, I'm leaving it and hoping it will grow again next year. Monday I looked out the kitchen window to see a Cooper's Hawk perched nearby on the deck railing. The pigmentation of his/her feathers is so striking and the range of motion in the neck is something to behold. I know they attack song birds but what fierce beauty and grace in this bird. 

Wednesday is the day to post with Kat and the Unravelers. The deep red Leaflette Shawl/Scarf blocked out beautifully. I enjoyed knitting it and I'll enjoy wearing it. I've worked on this pair of holiday socks. As per pattern and in the same needle size, I knit the ribbing and colorwork over 64 stitches. When I switched to the cranberry red yarn, I decreased 4 stitches to my typical sock circumference of 60 stitches. The sock is going to fit and not be too tight in the colorwork section. 

I worked a bit on the sweater. The yarns work well together but there is too much ease in the sweater and quite a wide deep neck. Likely, I'm going to start over but not this week. I knew this project was an experiment. I'm learning I don't like too much ease in my sweaters. 

Currently I am reading Becoming Willa Cather: Creation and Career by Daryl W. Palmer. This nonfiction is not biography but a literary analysis of how Cather came to write as she did. The author examines elements of Red Cloud newspapers, citizens, railroad, and community activities, as well as Cather's early short stories. He explores use of gender in her writing in a thoughtful way, reflecting on how gender roles of white settlers were less rigid given the necessary work to survive. It wouldn't be for everyone but I'm enjoying it. 

I listened to The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This is the sequel to the book I mentioned last week. I found it equally charming and touching. Somehow Bradley manages to incorporate many elements of World War 2 in the lives of Ada and her community while also portraying a young teenage girl with all the angst and joy of that age. 

In the spirit of giving thanks, I am grateful to all of you for reading my posts. We are traveling to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter and family so I'll be absent for a week or so but will look forward to catching up on our return. I wish you a warm, safe, happy Thanksgiving with someone you love. 

Mid November Days

Hello Gentle Readers. Rain fell on Monday. The sun shines brightly on Tuesday. The light and changing November skies are beautiful. I love that deep blue-gray-periwinkle color that comes with an overcast day in November. Despite a dry dry early fall we have had some lovely autumn color. A maple tree down the street is a stunning orangey-red. For some reason it has hung onto its leaves longer than others. Fall is my favorite season and I mean to enjoy the remaining days. 

Wednesday, I'll link this post to Kat and the Unravelers. Both the previously mentioned hitchhiker and the Leaflette Scarf/ Shawlette are finished and blocking. There is some kind of knitting irony in finishing one piece with progressively longer rows and the other with progressively smaller rows. 

I cast on a top-down raglan sweater that may or may not get finished. I have this crazy idea to use the gray yarn as a base and fade in handspun yarns in several different colors. I swatched the gray yarn but have no idea if I can wrangle the gauge and colors of all the handspun yarns. I thought it would be fun to try so I threw caution to the wind. By next week, I may have frogged the whole thing. 

I also cast on a pair of holiday socks. I plan to knit the colorwork portion and then knit a vanilla sock the way I usually knit socks. The body of the sock will be a deep red with green accents. I knit a swatch and washed it to make sure the red won't bleed into the white. 

I am still thinking about Held by Anne Michaels. To me, the novel is a meditation on remembering and thinking of loved ones. Since that story began with an injured soldier in 1917, I decided to reread  One of Ours by Willa Cather. Her writing, although different from Michaels', is also beautiful. Just last night I read a lovely passage about falling snow. Cather's Pulitzer Prize winning story is based on a Nebraska-born nephew who served in France during World War One. It always reminds me of my grandfather who was also born on a central Nebraska farm and served in France. It pleases me to be reading an old worn copy from the second printing in 1922. I bought it years ago. 

How about you? What are you enjoying these November days?

Colors of November

Hello Gentle Readers. As I write on Tuesday, the sun shines and a delicate breeze blows. Red maple and golden oak leaves remain on trees. When the wind picks up later today, most leaves will fall from branches that held and nourished them this past season. One side of this oak has leaves with gradations of color while the other side of the tree has yellow leaves. The sun must hit them in different ways. It's curious. 

On Wednesday, I will link this post with Kat and the Unravelers. This past week, I knit a few more rows into this Hitchhiker, my last travel project. I took several close-up shots in natural light hoping to capture the subtle colors in this yarn. The little blips of hot pink and gold are soft speckles while there are a few spots where green and lavender are woven into the yarn. Indie Dyers are talented. 

I listened to a very sweet middle grade children's book this past week, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. My sister mentioned this book to me quite some time ago but I forgot about it until I saw the title on Libby. This historical fiction is the story of two young children, a brother and a sister with a club foot, who are evacuated from London prior to the Blitz. They meet and are cared for by a reluctant but loving lonely woman. It's a heartwarming story with a happy ending. I enjoyed it. Just now, Goodreads tells me there is a sequel. I plan to read or listen to it soon. 

I'm currently reading Held by Anne Michaels. Many of you have already read and recommended it. The story of four generations is written in a sparse lyrical prose. The stream of consciousness writing style reminds me some of North Woods of even Virginia Woolf. I feel like the author is posing questions about life's mysteries and human relationships that invite the reader to her own ideas.  

I'm off to get my hair cut and then enjoy the last leaves during an afternoon walk. Dusting can wait for another day. May you feel nourished and held as life goes on.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening

Hello Gentle Readers. Thursday I saw the first juncos of the season. The small gray and white sparrows with pale pink beaks have returned to brave the cold and wind of winter. This afternoon when a partly cloudy sky carried the promise of a brighter blue, I made a cup of tea and threaded a needle to finish this little piece. I stitched one more star in the upper left hand corner. 

It's been a hard few days. I am deeply sad over much of the election of last week. If you disagree with me, I hope you keep reading as I continue to read blog posts of those with differing opinions. I'm listening to you with respect. 

Kamala Harris is a thoughtful intelligent gracious leader. She has accomplished much in her life. Although I wouldn't ask her to do more, I have no doubt she will find ways to continue her work. Some of my sadness comes from the loss of possibility. When it comes to the potential of women and persons of color, the loss of possibility is a too often told story. 

For now I'm following the lead of Krista Tippett and looking for what stitches us together. My hope is that we find away around bitter division and the "us vs. them" mentality that dogs both political parties. Maybe, just maybe, this is an opportunity for a shift in thinking. Maybe together, we could find a different way. I have no concrete ideas on how to do this. Still, I choose love, hope, and imagination. I have children and grandchildren and can do no less.

Wednesday I went for a walk on the edge of town and was reminded by a poem I wrote at another time of loss. I put it away for awhile but it is finished enough to share. The work is copyrighted and it is illegal to use it without my permission. 

November on the Prairie

On this day heavy with autumn's hinge,                                                                                                        I need to breathe in the wind, taste the grit                                                                                                    feel tears created by dust in my heart. 

Under yellowy sunlight of an old woman's hair,                                                                                            I wrap brown and gold around my shoulders.                                                                                                Inhale the prairie's wisdom.      

Song of white throated sparrow                                                                                                                     leads me through tall dry stalks,                                                                                                                     then disappears.

Away from the blustering world                                                                                                                     I lean into the upward grade                                                                                                                          each breath a season, each sound                                                                                                                   a lullaby that rocks me home. 

Jane A. Wolfe

copyright, 2024

May you find your way home in this blustery world. 

  

Now it is November

Hello Gentle Readers. The decreasing time of daylight, cloudy skies, and leaves underfoot tell me it is November. Much needed rain fell Sunday and Monday nights. The sound of rumbling thunder was so welcome and almost strange as I hadn't heard it for some time. I'm writing this post early as I won't have time on Wednesday morning. Today, the national, state, and local elections loom large in everyone's mind. Our church is sponsoring a forum this coming Sunday to promote civil discussion and focus on the common good in "the beloved community." 

On Wednesday, I'll link this post with Kat and the Unravelers. I finished the Scrappy Cold Brew socks knit from several partial skeins. Mostly I knit the slip-stitch pattern every ten rows. Since I needed an easy one skein project for travel knitting, I cast on a hitchhiker. I haven't picked it up since I returned home but it will be good knitting for this evening. I've finished the center section of the Leaflette Scarf/Shawl. Last night I knit four rows of the next chart and discovered an error in my stitch count/pattern. Here I was sailing through this project, patting myself on the back that I hadn't had to redo any rows. Pride goes before a fall. I plan to fix the mistake in daylight hours. 

While I was traveling, I read some fluff, The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmore. I rarely read romance novels but chose this one because it had literary twist. A book with notes between two young people is discovered in a musty library basement by a struggling young woman. She sets out to find out more about them. It was ok reading after full days with family.  I'm currently rereading The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich because it is this month's selection by my local book group. This 2021 Pulitzer Prize winner stands up well to a second reading. Erdrich's beautiful descriptions of the natural world and very human characters is a joy to read. Several of the main characters are watching out for each other in various ways. The layered themes will make a good discussion.

I see the bright blue gray sky that comes only at this time of year. Here's to taking care of ourselves and others this November.

TGIF 11.1.24

As I post, I'm watching a squirrel carry leaves up the birch to construct a winter shelter. While squirrels are not my favorite critters, signs of seasonal changes comfort me. This past Wednesday was a reentry day and so I'm posting today. 

I am thinking about Jane Hirshfield and her poetry. Lately, I bookend my days with her poems. In the morning I read from a large collection, The Asking and in the evening I read from The Beauty. In an "On Being" interview, Hirshfield stated she continually asks questions of herself and the world. Her way of looking at the world makes me stop and think. After listening again to the interview, I hear her voice in my head. I wish I could hear her read more extensively. The subtle inflections of words spoken by the poet make for a rich experience.

I am grateful for my visit to Connecticut. Both traveling days were uneventful. I spent four glorious, ordinary days with Kate and her family. The weather was gorgeous. Kate and I walked the three younger ones to and from school. The mornings they were in school, my daughter and I walked trails along the Mianus River and Long Island Sound. 

I bought her a coffee, hung out at home, attended Trunk or Treat on Saturday and church on Sunday. Patrick was in charge of the event so he didn't make it into many photos but he was the perfect 1950's Dad in a white shirt with a pocket protector/pens and black pants. The days filled my heart. 

Back to the Future costumes

I am inspired by Kamala Harris and her campaign. However this election turns out, she has made a difference in our world and inspired a new generation of women. Once a long time ago, I listened to a keynote address by a nationally known early childhood educator. I can't remember her name but I do remember one of her remarks. "Somewhere a future president of the US attends preschool and she could be sitting in your classroom tomorrow." 

As for fun, nothing beats an October day playing in the leaves with kids. Norah and I made some leaf rubbings with crayons. I helped Micah and Norah gather leaves into a pile. They wore shorts, I had on long pants and a sweatshirt.  Go figure. In their joy, I see hope.