Evolving Sweetie

Smoke & Sunlight

Last weekend the friend family camped up at Deception Pass. What a lovely weekend get away. Relaxation, campfire, toast marshmellows, hiking, laughter, friendship and sunshine. 

Fun summer time tradition. We all enjoyed this destination. 

As I'm processing photos, I'm going to start with the interplay between smoke & the sun. Here's a few morning pics of the light streaming through the campground. Entraced by capturing the light.

 

POSTCARDS from Deception Pass Campground

810 Stitches

Working right now on a scarf pattern that is knit in length wise rows. Cast on (start with) 810 stitches. To put this into perspective most scarves I've worked on start with 24 stitches or less. It's a challenging little mental battle. I knit my poor little fingers to the bone all night long and in the end I'm on row 3. 3! The axis turned and my progress seems so small in the grand scheme of the project.

Patience is not an inherent virtue that I possess. 

Reminds me of the prayer beads I've worked through in tougher times. 108 beads in all. Deliberate knots massaged through fingers. Prayers breathed into the smooth and soothing spaces between. Body packaged in stillness until the practice is completed. Moments the mind races forth, unbridled..."Are we there yet?"  And when that evening's practice is completed maybe a tiny space of peace, hope or relief is revealed. But in truth, it's the cumulative efforts that weave forth the cloak of gratitude, shawl of peace or blanket of contentment I'm so desperately trying to see take shape in each the individual prayer. 

Every little stitch and reverent prayer in the moment of creation is unique.

And surrendered to the beauty of the whole.

 

 

 

Weekend Bliss

Last weekend was perfect!

• Super fun gathering with the gang on Friday night enjoying our Park and a beautiful summer night. 
• Back to school shopping and a one-on-one date with my lovely niece Mairead. 
• New hair-do and visit with Joel. Always a pleasure.
• Greek food and dinner with my friend Preeti.
• Long catch up with Janie in Belgium.
• Coffee & pastries at my favorite bakery.
• Yummy berries from Spooner Farms.
• Baked a scrumptous blueberry pie.
• Check in with my parents
• Rounded out with wonderful dinner at my sisters. An evening enjoying family.

Relaxing and filled with the peeps I love. What could be better. 

This is a hectic, but short week for me. The gang is camping for Fri-Monday up at Deception Pass next weekend. Lots to do between now and then, car repairs, accupuncture, Mariner's Game, Baby party, Work, Work Picnic, shopping and packing out the car. Makes me equally tired and rejuvenated to think about it. Excited for a getaway and some quality outdoors time.

Happy Tuesday!

Photo book ~ France 2006

Completed one of my photo book project for August. This is the one I put together for Chuck's & My trip to France in 2006 - Paris and Reims. 

Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Scarf for K

Excited to share my scarf project. Figured it was only fair to let K receive it in the mail as a surprise before letting the cosmos in on it. K's been having a rough summer. I wanted to send her a bundle of cheer and love.

Knitting is a calming, almost mediative practice for me. Love to imagine that I am weaving in my prayers and good thoughts for the recipant as I am working. Inspired on this project to track and convey what wonderful LIFE was happening while I knitted. 

•     New Jobs
•     Concerts with friends
•     Baseball games
•     Quiet R&R time
•     Visiting and laughing with family & friends
•     Bus rides and sharing with admiring strangers
•     Backyard fires with close knit friends
•     Amonst adoring nieces
•     Ferry rides & a road trip

Think I will do that with my projects from now on. Not that the list above would change frequently. But you never know what surprise you'll find woven in there. I've knitted at 30 thousand feet, on 2 continents and across the Atlantic Ocean.  Sorry K - nothing that fun on this one.

Very happy as it's the first project I've seen to completion in months. Yahoo!! And it turned out beautifully! Best yet, I've built momentum to wrap up a few more projects in the upcoming weeks.

Good things are a knitting!

 

POSTCARD a scarf for K

starting point

making progress

finis!

close up

love the vibrancy of the color and it's movement

For you knitters out there, I found the pattern on Ravelry - Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty.com.  My version was knit with a sport weight yarn on US Size 6 needles. I reduce the width to 3 zig-zag lines from 5 by casting on 35 stitches and repeating the pattern 2x. I also took the length to 100".  A nice cheery, light weight cotton scarf.

August Goals

The other week I was ranting about my lack of motivation. Swimming in a sea of too many choices. Narrowed the focus down to these 4 things on my to-do list.

1. Meditate or Tap 2x minimum per week. Spiritual, check!

2. Complete 2 vacation books on Shutterfly - France 2006 & Christmas Markets 2008. - Creativity, check!

3. Restart Accupuncture and work in a few walks per week . - Self care, check!

4. Clean sweep my bedroom. - Nagging chore, check!

This gives me some small and larger goals to concentrate on this month.

The bummer this month is that my feet and hip are so ouchy at the end of the week that I can't face early morning meet up, 7+ miles and 1700+ elevation gains on the trails by the time the weekend approaches. Been battling sleep depriavation (less than 6 hours per night), which shows up as deep muscle and joint aches for me. Been trying to catch up on the weekend. I'm leaving the house 1.5 earlier than my last job, yet can't seem to swing my bed time sooner.  My classic battle of being an inherent night owl vs normal working hours.  Desperately need to find the balance as I'm exhausted come week's end. And it's impacting my play time!

 

Queen Anne's Lace

Lamenting the vast volumes of memories that disappear with age. Where are all the loves, hurts, joys, accomplishments, dreams and heart breaks? Woven in the fabric of my being so tightly that the individual threads disappear. Leaving the impressionistic  overview, details fading into the background. 

Sometimes my memory will attach to a tiny little detail breaking forth a tidal wave of love lost. And so it is with Queen Anne's Lace. This delicate bloom always bring me back to my Grandmother's in rural Pennsylvania. Sunny days picking bouquets with my sister or cousins on the way to the school playground. A golden glow shimmering all around.

Happy, warmth, laughter, love, kinship ... just beautiful. 

Miss you Grandma! These blooms are for you wherever your soul is today.

 

POSTCARDS from the Garden

 

Back to School ~ Part 1

Starting a tradition this year of taking my lovely nieces on a one-on-one shopping trip for back to school. Our lives are so full that I rarely get to solo time with each girl. Love being let inside their own world for a while. And they revel in my undivided attention, snuggling in closer. 

Today was Emmie's turn. Oh the joys of being five.  Leaping over cracks in the pavement with abandon. Her laughter is infectious and bubbly. Inspiring quite a few smiles from onlookers.

The beauty of the aunt role is it's fluidity to switch from the responsible adult to co-conspirator to playmate and back again. And their charm isn't diluted with the sameness of the everyday. Truly I get to  enjoy the moment and be present. Although I must say kid time ticks by in a quarter the speed of adult time. 

Adore seeing what Emmie found beautiful and worth of buying. A few outfits, metallic pink loafers, lime green beaded necklace, flower with pink hair extension {had to let her have it for the look on my sister's face alone!}, some books and a glitter heart necklace. At lunch between the giggle fits and gentle coaxing to eat macroni & cheese, as frequently happens she asked me about Uncle Chuck, God and heaven. These are the moments I earn my strips as her Godmother.  We ended our time together at Golden Gardens running through the grass, eating bombpops and watching the turtles and ducks swim by. A glorious Sunday afternoon.

The details of today may pass into the halls of Emily's childhood. My prayer is that someday  Emily remembers her aunt as someone who showered her with love, that she had fun with and who would honestly answer any question she asked. Personally, I will treasure Emily's delight that I joined her in leaping over the cracks, our holding hands for the joy of connection and the tiny whispers in my ear. Love you little Em!

Thistledown

Splendid contrast - spiky sharp edges topped with feather soft plumbs. Thistles are in bloom. Small wonders to behold.

POSTCARDS from Magnuson Park P-Patch

 

This is actually my artichoke

aerial shot of my artichoke

 

 

Bee Cause

Life surprises you in small ways. Someday, I'll fill you in on my affinity with the humble bee and why one is tattooed on my right ankle. That is a story for another day.

Editing my evening photo shoot from our P-Patch, I was quite tickled that I captured a few of my winged friends by lucky chance. 

 

POSTCARDS winks from the bees

 

 

It's Friday! Bee Happy!