Spring

Welcome to Spring in Nebraska. Chilly rain one day and sunshine the next. Earlier this morning, the sky was bright and blue and now it has clouded over. Cooler weather and precipitation, dare I mention a few snowflakes, are forecast for tomorrow. 

Yesterday my husband and I took advantage of a sunny day to drive out to the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska to view the sandhill crane migration. The Platte, a braided river that meanders around sandbars and shifting islands carries snow melt from the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri River. The short stretch near Kearney hosts the annual stopover of these birds. Between mid-March and early April, between 400,000 to 500,000 cranes feed in nearby fields and settle on the river at night. The average wingspan of an adult is between 5.5 to 7.5 feet. 

We arrived mid afternoon, found a safe place to park on a county road, and watched the birds. Now and then they spread their long wings to move about but generally seemed content feeding on leftover corn under a warm sun. After an early dinner in town, we drove back to the State Recreation Area and walked out on a pedestrian bridge that spans the river.

  

Standing on that bridge at sunset is magic. During the day, the birds call softly to each other in the fields but as the sun falls lower in the sky they call more frequently. Before the birds are visible from the bridge, their swelling chorus fill the air. Soon a few lone birds and then small groups begin to fly toward the river. And then ribbons of birds appear overhead, flying up and down the river in search of safe place to rest. They don't land near the bridge because too many of us are standing there with cameras and binoculars. Even so, their ancient music is the beginning of Spring. 

Happy Spring, Happy Easter, Happy Passover.

Linking with Kat and the Unravelers. 

 

   

Hope

March is Women's History Month. I was in college (1969-1973) when my Mom discovered women's history. It was a heady time. She sent my sister and I subscriptions to Ms. Magazine. She was fascinated by the Suffragettes, especially those with ties to Nebraska and Iowa. I still have a news clipping I found in one of her books with a list of these women. She often recommended books written by women, some more widely known than others. She introduced me to Mari Sandoz, a Nebraska author. She gave me books published by small presses written by and about women in the west. Many of them remain on my bookshelf today. Mom was the best as a mother, friend, encourager, life-long learner, registered nurse, and much more.

This morning before writing, I decided to learn a little more about Women's History Month. In 1987, the Women's History Project petitioned Congress to designate March as Women's History Month. Each year Women's History Month has a theme. The 2018 theme is "Nevertheless She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women." At this time there is an effort to raise money to build a Women's History Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Currently more women than ever are running for public office in the United States. And so the effort to represent women continues. As Emily Dickinson wrote, "Hope is a thing with feathers."

Spring's arrival is slow. In the wee hours of the new season, a flurry of wet snow fell. The goldfinches sport the first hint of their brillant summer yellow. Daffodils in my yard are up about three inches and the iris spears are green. I poked the compost for just a whiff of rich soil. The sandhill cranes are feeding along the Platte River in Nebraska.

My knitting has turned to small simple projects. I have the proverbial pair of socks on the needles. On a recent gray day, I cast on fingerless mitts in River, my favorite color in this yarn. Tomorrow I see the ophthalmologist for a new glasses prescription. When the glasses arrive in seven to ten days, I will be able to read with ease. I am grateful the cataracts in both my eyes have been successfully removed and replaced with new lenses. Literally, the possibility exists for seeing the world through new eyes.

Joining Kat and others for Wednesdays Unraveled.

Familiar Lessons

Yesterday we had a taste of Spring. The day was warm enough to walk in shirt sleeves and so I did. Earlier this week, we attended the funeral of an acquaintance who died suddenly. I decided grocery shopping could wait ninety minutes. At the edge of town, I walked on a trail and sat on a bench facing the sun. Later I carried my knitting to the deck. The sun was lower in the sky as the robins and finches sang to each other. I'm sure the dust continued to accumulate in the house but the warm day was too fine not to be outdoors.

On the deck, I bound off the Kindness Shawl. It was a well fought game of yarn chicken. I knew I might not have enough to finish the bind off but decided to try. I ran short so I cut the tails from the cast on and one other place where I had removed a knot in the skein. I used those two little pieces to finish. I confess I tied knots after pulling the ends to the back. That corner is not going to win any prizes but I did finish the shawl without tinking back two long rows. I think I won the game but a sudsy bath and blocking will tell the story. If the ends unravel, I will not.

This shawl will be a donation or a gift.  I am not crazy about the tonal variations and color in this yarn. Both looked better to me in the skein than in the shawl. The yarn has a nice hand and the pattern is easy to follow. It just doesn't seem to be a good match for me. Perhaps someone else will enjoy it. The lesson here is not to persevere when a little voice in my head raises questions. How many times do I need to be reminded that not all projects need to be finished? The yarn would have made great socks.

Today the sky is partly cloudy and the day is not as warm. No matter, my Texas grandson and his mother are in town and we are meeting them for pizza this evening. That will be sunshine enough for this day.

Ready for Spring

Welcome March, the month of windy mercurial weather, winter one day and spring the next. Today looks more like winter with the latest skiff of snow on the ground. The color block sweater is finished. I will enjoy wearing the sweater into the early Spring. Except for the cuffs, I used yarn leftover from two projects so my stash is a tad bit lighter. You know you are a knitter when you order yarn for a project that was supposed to be knit from leftover yarn.

After we photographed the sweater, I looked down at my feet. You know you are a knitter when you wear out one of a pair of hand knit socks but save the other to wear with another sock missing its mate. The lavender sock has been in my drawer since last winter waiting for a mismatched mate.

While the sweater dried, I knit on this shawl from another skein of yarn buried in the stash. It feels good to knit with yarn and patterns on hand. I picked the color to remind me of the spring flowers that will soon push up from the ground.

I am listening to Personal History by Katherine Graham. Graham became the publisher of The Washington Post after her husband's death. She experiences many privileges from being born to a wealthy parents. However she also experienced some anti-Semitism due to her Jewish heritage through her father. My Dad was a Circulation Manager of a newspaper and my brothers continue to work in the field so I am interested in the autobiography from the standpoint of newspaper history as well as the education and professional life of this strong woman. 

I am reading The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, a light hearted, feel good literary romp set in a small town in Iowa. It is good company for recovery from cataract surgery late last week. This is my second eye to be repaired and the procedure went well. I plan to have new glasses in time for Spring travel. 

Joining Kat and the Unravelers. What are you knitting and reading this week?

Knit, Read, and Learn

Every time I knit a sweater, I learn something new. This time I set out to knit a color block sweater from leftover yarns. Guess what? Yarn on the coffee table looks differently when knit into a sweater. The values of the blue and gray colors are quite similar. More contrast between the two might have been better. And, what was I thinking when I decided to make the cuff off white? That color will show all the dust and dirt in a sweater I plan to wear as a sweatshirt. The neck would have been a better place for that color but one skein wouldn't have gone far on the neck and shoulders of a top-down raglan.

The sweater fits fairly well. I carried the ribbing in the raglan line down the sides of the body and sleeves to create faux seams and to make the knitting a little more interesting. The pattern doesn't include shaping but the ribbing pulls in the body slightly. Don't you love the stitch marker jewelry down the sleeves?

I have some decisions to make. I could knit the rest of the sleeve in light gray but that seems boring. I ordered a little more yarn in a slightly darker blue to finish the sleeves. So much for my idea of knitting with leftovers. I plan to finish the second sleeve in the new color and see how it looks before unraveling the cream cuff. I also plan to reknit the bottom ribbing because it looks sloppy. I forgot to change to a smaller needle. Knit and learn. So today as I join Kat and the Unravelers, I will be unraveling.

I finished listening to Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterly. The narrator is excellent and the story is fascinating. I loved the grit of the women who contributed so much to space and aeronautics research. As a retired educator, I enjoyed the story of how the women completed their educations in the context of school desegregation. Don't miss the epilogue at the end where the author includes additional information and answers the question, "Why hasn't this story been told previously?"

The late winter sunsets are glorious. One evening I made a cup of tea and took time to watch the sun go down. The colors are consolation for the remaining weeks of winter.

Knit, unravel, reknit, read, and learn. It is a great way to look forward to Spring. March weather is fickle. Even so the cranes will be passing through central Nebraska.

Small Things

Early this morning I watched light come into the sky. The sun is visible from a slightly different point on the horizon than it was a month ago. The quality of light has also shifted. The early birds to the tube feeder were gold finches, with the sun on their gray/green breasts. Geese flew over the house. I recognized their calls before they came into view. No doubt they belong to the urban wild fowl that circulates among city ponds and creeks. They were not migrating sandhill cranes or snow geese but I am waiting for those ancient cries. 

Mornings at my desk, I watch the little birds at the seed and suet feeders. The last two weeks I've been watching this Downy Woodpecker. I know it is the same bird because the little black feather with white polka dots hangs askew from his back. Though the days are growing longer, February doesn't seem like a good time for molting. The feather blowing in the breeze reminds me of a loose tooth in the mouth of a seven year old. The bird just doesn't use a tongue or finger to worry the feather away.

I knit a hat and mittens for a child who needs them to keep warm. Some children don't have a Grammy to knit for them so occasionally I take up my needles to help out. Last night I worked on the first sleeve of the color block sweater. It is still a blob of gray and light blue, a little like a late winter sky.

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday. He passed away seven years ago. Dad was strong willed and not the easiest guy to love. Alcohol was a demon in his life. However in the days before Driver's Education, he taught me how to drive. The first time I drove for my license, he stood on the curb waiting for my return to the county courthouse. He shook his head as I scraped his Pontiac against the bumper of a patrol car while pulling into a parking place. He didn't scold but remarked, "we need to practice parking." The following Sunday afternoon, we pulled in and out of parking spaces all over town. I passed the second driving test. Many evenings he came home from work complaining about lights on all over the house. "Turn off the lights. Money doesn't grow on trees." He took me down to the Norfolk Savings and Loan to open a savings account based on earnings from babysitting and my quarter a week allowance. After watching his widowed mother struggle to make ends meet, he helped both his daughters and sons obtain college educations. He loved pastries and the smell of birthday candles burning on a frosted cake. He was fond of his grandchildren. After Mom died, he learned how to wash a load of towels and make a pot of coffee. When I drove to see him in the nursing home, he thanked me for coming and shooed me out mid afternoon saying, "you need to be home before dark." As long as he was able, he stood and walked me to the door of his room. I plan to bake a sweet treat this weekend to remember him.

I hope your weekend is filled with the goodness of small things.

This is a Winter Hat

Gentle snow fell on Monday and Tuesday. Today the sun is out creating a beautiful winter landscape. I may invest in some winter athletic shoes to make walking safe. Boots are so awkward for walking any distance. I'd love to be out walking this morning but I don't want to fall.

Though I am joining Kat and the Unravelers, my knitting projects haven't required any unraveling. I finished this hat late the other evening. The knitting with this DK yarn was lovely. As I came to the top, the hat looked so tall. I kept trying it on to make sure it wasn't going to be a cone head hat. Gathered up with needles at the top, the hat was quite a look over flannel pajamas. The texture creates a very warm hat. Even though it doesn't match my winter walking coat, I'll settle for warm. The snow won't be melting today and more is predicted for later this week. I should have cropped this photo but didn't want to enlarge the wrinkles in my face. Smile lines, let's think of them as smile lines. 

Last night I finished the body of my color block sweater. Something about round and round stockinette sweater knitting is perfect with a cup of tea on a winter evening. I am going to knit the neck band out of gray and then divide the remaining yarn for the sleeves. I hope to knit cuffs plus a little of the lower sleeves from one skein of cream colored yarn. All of the yarn is Chickadee (sport weight) from Quince and Co. I knit a panel of ribbing down the side and then finished with a split hem because I could. I have tried the sweater on several times and it fits.

As for reading/listening, I am listening to Hidden Figures, the story of the African American women mathematicians and scientists who contributed so much to World War II aviation and the space program. The narrator is excellent. Shetterly writes well and the story is fascinating. I am enjoying the details about the strong group of bright intelligent women. I think novels and nonfiction works would provide great discussions in history classes. I finished reading The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. My sister gave me this book as a Christmas gift and I loved it. The small book is full of good nature writing with a little personal reflection on illness. The small soft pencil half-tone drawings of snails along the edges of the pages are charming. As my sister said, "it is a book about patience."

Stay warm and enjoy the rest of the week.