A Little of this and a Little of That 1.29.21

 Happy Friday Everyone!!  It is so cold here today.  I don't want to go anywhere!!  I walked down to the mailbox and nearly froze!  I hope where ever you live, it is warmer!

Wednesday, the 27th was my oldest daughter, Megan's 40th birthday!  Seriously where does the time go!  I remember her playing with her baby sister, Jenny pretending she was Jenny's Mom!  She always drug Jenny around where ever she went.  She was a big help when Jenny was born, going to get diapers, burp clothes, etc.  It's really funny the things that come to mind when you look back on how they grew up to be the person they are today.  Here is a photo of Megan I took 2 years ago.  John, Megan's husband, Ken and I went out to dinner at Epic Chop House in Mooresville, NC.  It was a great night, but also very cold!

Last weekend Jenny and the grandboys were here for a visit.  Owen and Emma (my Golden) had a moment:

Owen is so good with my dogs.  He loves them.  I find him petting Emma and Ginger and talking to them.  It is really cute!!

I made 3 knitted hats this week.  They are out of the Harry Potter house colors.  Jenny will be working on some Harry Potter related homeschooling things, so she thought it would be cute to have hats to wear.  She would also like scarves.  I will be making them at a later date.   Here are the 3 hats:

When I walked down to the clubhouse to get my mail I noticed the Jan/Feb blooming cherry trees have started.  They always a welcome sign of Spring will be coming sooner than later.  They have such a delicate flower and I love the color.

I focused in the wrong place so only the ones at the top are really clear, but you get the idea.  

Well I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!  Stay warm and enjoy!!

Sherri

Yarn Winding Today 1.20.21

 Today started out by taking Ginger (my English Cream Golden) to the vet for her 6 month checkup.  She didn't like it at all.  When they took her into the building she was a bundle of nerves.  Poor girl.

When I got back I had 4 skeins of seed fingering yarn I needed to wind.  I got out my yarn swift and ball winder and got to work.  I find winding yarn very therapeutical!  You almost get mesmerized by watching the yarn swift go round and round.  Here are a few photos of the process. 

These are the 4 skeins of yarn from Heidiandlana that needed to be wound.  The pink is called Sugar Cookie and the green is Evergreen.  This is Seed Fingering weight yarn.  I love their yarn!!

The is the skein of yarn on the yarn swift.  You put it on here first and then thread it onto the ball winder (see the ball winder below) and that makes a "cake" of yarn for your project.  

The "cake" of yarn all done on the ball winder.

4 beautiful "cakes" of yarn ready to go for a project.

These 4 skeins didn't take very long to wind.  It was about 15-20 minutes.  

I was sitting at my dining room table winding the yarn and I looked up and my great aunt's candlestick holders that have prisms hanging from them made some beautiful rainbows on the table runner.  See below:

Well I'm off to knit another Harry Potter hat for my grandson.  My daughter, Jenny home schools them and one of the curriculum she is teaching to the 2 grandsons is Harry Potter based.  I'm making 3 hats (one for each grandson and 1 for Jenny).  They also would like scarves to make.  I'll post them when I get them all done.

Everyone have a wonderful day!!

Sherri

A Little of this and that over the Weekend 1.4.2021

I have to say this weekend was exceptionally quiet for me.  It really hit me this weekend how quiet it can be living alone.  I hadn't seen anyone since Wednesday, when I had my vein injections (the last ones I needed YAY!).  I hadn't talked to anyone on the phone since Thursday until I called my Mom on Sunday and spoke to my very good friend, Angie in Minnesota.  COVID has everyone staying at home, which really hasn't bothered me much until this weekend.  Today I get to meet with my very small group of ladies to knit.  I am really looking forward to that.  

Over the weekend, I managed to take down Christmas items, store them and get them out to the garage.  Jenny will be coming this weekend to help me get them up on the 2 racks in the garage.  We are going to do a little bit of organizing out there.  It needs it really badly!  We will also take down the tree and put it back into its box.  I have all the ornaments off, so it shouldn't take too long.  I didn't take down the garland on my mantel.  Underneath the greenery I have a roping of snowflakes and sleigh bells.  That still is appropriate.  I changed out the 2-tiered tray on my kitchen counter and I redid the top of my desk and the one cupboard I have.  I kept it kind of Winter/St. Valentine's Day.  I have to pick up a few wooden hearts or something like that for a small 2-tiered tray on the top of my desk.  Here are some pictures of what I did:

On Friday, I made some more yogurt in my Ninja Foodi.  I just love that yogurt.  I strained the whey from it, so it is thick like Greek yogurt.  I have started sprinkling cinnamon on it when I have it for breakfast-it is so good!!

Saturday night I brought the Ninja Foodi out again.  I made the most amazing chicken breast in the air fryer part of the Ninja Foodi.  I put a heaping tsp of Dijon Mustard in with a tsp of mayo.  I put that all over the chicken breast and then rolled it in Panko bread crumbs.  It was so good with Trader Joe's Roasted Veggies, which I did in the oven.  

Well that is about it for today!  I'm really glad I got back into blogging.  I miss chatting with everyone and seeing what you all are doing.  

Have a wonderful day!!  

Sherri

 

Night of a Thousand Candles - Brookgreen Garden, SC

 On the day after Christmas my daughters, Megan and Jenny, their husbands, Ken and Kevin and my 2 grandsons, Owen and Jack went to Brookgreen Garden with me.  We had such a wonderful night despite it was cold out. (I am so excited because for Christmas the 2 families gave me a membership to Brookgreen Garden!).  I hope I don't bore you with so many photos but I have to tell you this night there was so magical.  The pictures don't do it justice, but I'm sure you will get the idea.  There are 2,800 hand-lit candles and countless lights at this event.  Sit back and relax as I take you through our evening.  Enjoy!

2 Beautiful Ballet Dancers bathed in red light

Blue and White Christmas Trees

A field of lights that change color every few seconds with beautiful lights behind it.

Large stag sculpture with field of lights behind it.

Very romantic sculpture of a man and woman with candles floating in globes in a reflecting pond.

Tree of white lights

White lights cascading down from a tree.  It illuminated the Spanish moss so beautifully.

Blue and White Chinese Lanterns amongst the palm trees.

Candles through a black wrought iron gate.

Child riding a turtle sculpture in the Children's Garden.

Children sculptures in amongst white lights.  These white lights looked like dew on a spider's web.

Huge pine tree with lots of blue and white lights.

A boat floating in a pond with beautiful glass orbs inside.  Just gorgeous!

Field of lights with trees lit up in the background.

Closeup of white and red Chinese lanterns that lined a pathway.

Luminaries lit up this beautifully lit pathway.

A meadow of lights with a lit statue in the background.

Green and white lights hung up to look like Christmas Trees.

Green Chinese Lanterns hanging in a tree.

This is the beautiful white and red Chinese lanterns lining a pathway.

This is one of my favorite trees.  The red and white lights illuminated the Spanish moss.  It actually looked like smoke from fireworks!

A pathway lined with luminaries with red and white trees in the background.

The moon and the palm tree represents SC's state flag.

This photo I took just reminds me of peace and serenity.  A single white candle in a greenery wreath.

I have more photos, but for now this is enough to take in.  I just need to say Brookgreen Garden did a fabulous job.  I am so glad COVID didn't ruin this yearly event.  We all wore masks and stayed atleast 6 feet away from everyone.  It was a lovely time had by all!

Happy New Year - Welcome 2021

Happy New Year Everyone!!  I am sure we all were glad 2020 was over last night.  I didn't do anything to ring in the new year but watch TV and knit.  I doubt alot of people went out due to COVID.  It was really nice to just relax and enjoy the night.  After the rush of Christmas, we all need some down time.  I heard from both of my daughters and 2 sisters.  I spoke with my Mom today.  We all agreed 2020 needed to end!

I sometimes have made resolutions but this year was not one of them.  I do however, have some things I would like to accomplish this year.  Here is a list of what I could think of at the time of writing this:

1.  Read more.

2.  Blog more.

3.  Finish refinishing my Great Grandmother Sisco's vanity and matching chair.

4.  Refinish the farm table made by the Amish to replace my dining table.  

5.  Walk more around my neighborhood and hopefully soon on the greenway near where I used to live.

6.  Paint more watercolors.  Possibly trying scenes instead of still life paintings.

7.  Knit an Irish Fisherman's knit cardigan.

8.  Knit another cardigan for myself.

9.  Start writing in my journal everyday again or atleast every other day.

10. Work on my flower garden in my courtyard-make it more beautiful!

I think this is a good start for now.  I don't want to go crazy listing things and not be able to accomplish them.  

All of the list above, would make me feel good about myself.  It would also make me happy 😃!  I have been through alot in the last year, so things that make me happy are high priority!

I am going to plan out my garden in my courtyard and patio much different this year.  It was pretty this past year but I really want to use every space I can to make it beautiful.  I have a VegTrug raised bed (it is actually on legs) to put together.  I am going to try and grow my veggies in that instead of having so many pots on the patio.  It was just too crowded last year.  I have also decided that broccoli and cabbage should only be grown in the Fall here.  It just bolted when it got hot and the cabbage really never grew and was drilled through with holes from bugs.  

I hope that all of you had a wonderful New Years Eve and Day!  I hope to hear from some of my old blog friends on here and to gather some new ones!

Hugs,

Sherri

Books Read in 2020

 Hi Everyone,

Here is the list of books I read this year.  More reading/listening than last year.  I hope to read/listening to more books in 2021, lets see if I can make that happen!

1. The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers

2. The Nantucket Inn by Pamela Kelley

3. Olive Kitterage By Elizabeth Strout

4. Nantucket Neighbors by Pamela Kelley

5. Welcome to Moonlight Harbor by Sheila Roberts

6. The First Lady by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois

7. Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle

8. The Housekeeper by Natalie Barelli

9. The Operator by Gretchen Berg

10. The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman

11. Lavendar Blue Murder by Laura Childs

12. Brewed Awakening by Cleo Coyle

13. The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre

14. Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

15. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

16. The Chef by James Patterson and Max Dillalo

17. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

18. The Gardener of Baghdad by Ahmad Ardalan

19. The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick

20. Bella Fortuna by Rosanna Chiofalo

21. The Enchanted Garden by Ellen Herrick

22. The Villa Girls by Nicky Pellagrino

23. Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

24. The Mountain and the Sea by Kwame Dawes

25. The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James.