1.15.2021 Saturday-This Week's Antics

Hi Everyone!  Boy is it cold here-only in the 30's.  I know for some of you that doesn't sound cold but here in this part of SC it is.  It is a very cloudy day here today.  It is a good day to knit and read.  I have been working on alot of jigsaw puzzles online.  I find them very gratifying and I can listen to my Audible book at the same time!  Sometimes these old hands need a break from knitting!  I have been enjoying knitting though.

This week there were a few things going on.  First, Tuesday I had to drive Jenny (my youngest daughter) to the hospital at 5:45 a.m. for her hernia surgery.  She did great and is on the mend!  Then Thursday I took my 2 grandsons, Owen (10) and Jack (8) to Brookgreen Garden in Murrell's Inlet, SC.  They are homeschooled by Jenny.  They have homeschooling classes at Brookgreen.  So this class was on dinosaurs.  The boys had a great time and so did I.  They learned about the history of dinosaurs, fossils (they even made one), they were able to touch and hold real fossils and artifacts (like horse teeth, camel teeth and wooly mammoth tusks).  They also had set up an "archaeological dig" for the kids.  They really loved it!  Here are some photos of Brookgreen and the boys.

This gorgeous statue is at the entrance to Brookgreen Garden.  Just beautiful!

This was a statue right outside the pavillion the boys had part of their class in.  It is huge and just so beautiful.  I think the cranes in the statue are life size.  So detailed.

Jack got to hold a shark's tooth that was found right on the beach in the area. The thing was huge and extremely old.   They dredged sand from the ocean floor and alot of fossils came up when they did that. The horse tooth and camel tooth was in amongst those fossils.  So fascinating things to learn about!

Owen is holding the horse tooth on the right and the camel tooth on the left.  Those teeth were huge!  He loved seeing and touching things in person.  These boys are so lucky to have this opportunity at Brookgreen.  They have been to quite a few classes there.  They are also very reasonable.  They are $7/child per class.  

We were able to meet up with Megan (my oldest daughter) for lunch.  We went to a pizza restaurant.  We love it there.  They also have another restaurant in Charleston.  We had alot of fun before heading home.  The drive should have been an hour but there was construction and then an accident so it took us almost 2 hours to get home.

I got a few things for Christmas that needed to go outside.  Finally got around to putting them up.  Megan and her husband, Ken gave me both of them.  The first one was mason jars made to look like watering cans.  They have fairy lights inside of the jar and then fairy lights coming out of the spout like water.  So cute.  Here is a photo of them at night.  I put them in my veg trug for now.

The other gift was 2 uplighting solar spotlights for my 2 huge river birches out in front of my house.  I put them together and then put them in the ground.  I love them!

The same night that I put the spotlights out, when the sun was setting the sky was like it was on fire with color.  My neighbors have beautiful palm trees in their yard.  I was able to position myself to get this great photo-so beautiful!

Wednesday, I think I spent the whole day winding yarn.  I buy most of my yarn from Heidi and Lana from Ohio.  It comes in a skein.  I then take my yarn swift and ballwinder and wind the skeins into yarn "cakes".  Then they are all ready for knitting.  Here is a photo of Wintry Mix from Heidi and Lana.  Love this color.  Of course, I was drinking hot tea all the while I was doing this! :)

Lastly, my amaryllis opened all 4 of the buds up.  It is such a different color than what I usually grow.  It is stunning and I hope to plant it out in the garden this summer and then pot it back up so it will bloom again before Christmas.  I really have been enjoying all my plants that I have this year.  This house has so many great windows for light.  My orchid is getting ready to bloom again.  Well 1 out of the 4 I have.  The others are slackers.  LOL!!  Here are some pics of the amaryllis in the sunroom.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!  I know some of you are supposed to get a winter storm.  I think we are only having rain here.  I know the upper part of SC is going to have ice and some snow.  My family in NJ is supposed to get 8"+.  Stay safe and warm!

Sherri

Monday, 1.10.2021 Winter Has Arrived

 Hi Everyone!  I hope you are all staying warm and cozy on this cold, cloudy day!  Atleast that is how the weather here in SC is.  Yesterday it was 71 degrees and today it is 43 degrees!  The weather here has been so weird lately.  One day it even was 80 and 2 days later it was in the 30's!  Oh well, it could be worse.

I have really been knitting alot lately.  After I took all my Christmas down, I just felt like knitting.  I am working on a shawl called Boneyard by Stephen West.  When I'm done with this shawl, I'll be starting another one with a group of friends of mine.  We will be knitting at our homes all over the USA but we will be posting on a special group post of our progress.  We will also be knitting in all different colors from each other.  It should be really fun!

This is the Boneyard Shawl I'm working on now.  It is still on the needles and not opened up all the way.  When I'm done I'll post a better photo, but this is it for now.

I got all the Christmas things down about a week after Christmas and then I took the tree down a week after that.  Everything looked so bare, but it is getting back to normal now.

This is where my tree was in my living room.  It is so nice to knit or read here.  The light is great here!  I missed that when the tree was up.  The tree was really nice in the front and side window though.  It looked so pretty from outside!  I love the Christmas tree lights at night.  I even put them on sometimes during the day!

We had a warm spell here in SC.  One day it was in the 80's!  My parsley and broccoli started growing again and the broccoli was producing heads.  I cut all the heads off (left the side ones so more comes on).  The broccoli was so good!  Nice, tender and delicious.  I always steam my veggies and this was so tasty this way.  

Broccoli in the strainer and parsley on the paper towel.  I dried the parsley and I will be using it soon.

I now have an orchid and an amaryllis getting ready to bloom.  The amaryllis is blooming now and the orchid maybe in a little less than a week or a week!  So excited!

This is the orchid.  It is huge!  This is the second time since I've had it that I got it to rebloom.  

The amaryllis is open almost all the way.  There are 4 buds on there right now and it looks like more are coming.  Only 2 are opening right now.  I love these plants!  I am going to put this in the ground for the summer months.  I never have done that before, but I'm going to try it this year.

My youngest daughter, Jenny has been working on a hexagon Halloween quilt for probably 3 years.  She cut out all the fabric and sewed strips together.  Her sewing machine broke.  I sewed the strips she had done all together for her this past week and it came out really nice.  So proud of her for sticking to this.  It isn't easy working with hexagons.  She also made a smaller shaped hexagon quilt (not Halloween themed).  She completed that last week with the help of her sister, Megan also.  They will be warm in that house this winter!!

The skies at night and sunset have been so pretty here lately.  Here are 2 shots I got within 2 days of each other.

This Fall I had a chimney sweep come out and clean both fireplaces.  I have been enjoying the living room fireplace so much starting around Thanksgiving.  Today I decided to start up the other one in the family room/den.  That one is much bigger.  I will probably have to call the man that delivered the wood before Thanksgiving and ask him to drop off another load soon.  It makes the house so cozy and warm!

This is the Living Room fireplace.  It is small but it throws out the heat like crazy.  Nice and cozy!

This is the family room/den fireplace.  It is much bigger and although it was a little hard getting it started, there is so much heat in this room now.  The dogs went in the other room, I guess they were too hot!

Last but not least is a photo of my 2 lazy, sleepy Goldens.  Emma is on the left.  She is a Golden/Yellow Lab Mix ( looks just like a Golden though) and Ginger is on the right.  She is an English Cream Golden.  She is huge and weighs 92 lbs.!  She is a gentle giant though.  Emma is a bit on the high strung side.  Ever since John passed away she is so nervous and keeps following me from room to room.  I think she thinks I won't come back.  She was so in love with John and keeps looking around for him at times.  Even though he passed away 2 years ago, she still remembers him.  I'm sure she is wondering what happened to him and why he left her.  It has gotten so bad at times I have to give her a sedative from the vet.  They say she is still grieving just like the rest of us for John.  Poor thing!

Emma on the left and Ginger on the right.

Well I haven't been posting alot lately and I hope I didn't overwhelm you all!  I was sick for about a month.  I didn't have COVID.  I was tested for that.  I did, however, have bronchitis, sinus infection and ear infection.  I'm doing better now but I am still resting more than I was before I got this nasty stuff!

Everyone have a wonderful day!  Take it easy and enjoy life!

Sherri

Happy New Year! Books I Read for 2021

 Happy New Year Everyone!  I know I am late saying this, but I've been busy putting my Christmas things away.  I have yet to take down my tree.  I just love how it looks at night.  The lights twinkling makes me happy!  Maybe tomorrow I will take it down.  

I read 26 books for 2021.  Here is the list:

1. Nantucket White Christmas by Pamela Kelley 

2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 

3. The Restaurant by Pamela Kelley 

4. Sunset on Moonlight Beach by Sheila Roberts 

5. Golden Girl by Elin Hildebrand 

6. The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax 

7. Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena 

8. It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark 

9. The Noise by James Patterson and J.D. Barker 

10. The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait by Cleo Coyle. 

11. Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes by Karen Rose Smith. 

12. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell 

13. The Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey by Abigail Wilson. 

14. House on the Harbor by Elizabeth Bromke 

15. The Secret Wife by Gill Paul 

16. Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay 

17. Trick or Treat Murder by Leslie Meier 

18. Wicked Witch Murder by Leslie Meier 

19. The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki 

20. Haunted Hibiscus by Laura Childs 

21. Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan 

22. The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street by Karen White 

23. Flora's Travelling Christmas Shop by Rebecca Raisin. 

24. Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost 

25. The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews 

26. The Therapist by B.A. Paris

The last one, The Therapist was such a great pyscho-thriller!  My sister, Sue had recommended it and now she is reading all her books.  

Right now I am listening to Tell All the Bees I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon.  I love this series.  I have read every book in the series so far.  The narrator has a very soothing voice and is a great storyteller, so much that I fell asleep the other day listening to it.  It could also have had something to do with being so tired because we had terrible winds and rain during the night and I got no sleep!  

I have been knitting alot on my Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West.  I am using yarn from Heidi and Lana.  I use mostly just their yarns.  When I get the shawl done, I will post a photo on here.

Well, that is all I have for today!  I wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!

Sherri