I am in squash recovery. Processing and preserving 26 litres of pureed squash was a big job. Attila put the last tub into the chest freezer this morning, making room for 26 litres of pureed squash in the freezer was also a big job.
Attila installed and painted siding in the section below the used-new-to-us, smaller, window in the bedroom. Once the caulking has set, he will paint that too, and the job will be done. He has moved on to yard work, as the annual fall yard waste pickup is on Wednesday.
I have been working on my crocheted blanket, stitching in the last ball of yarn now. I will put a simple border around it. I enjoy listening to audio books while sitting and stitching. Because the stitching is repetitive, my mind can fly away. I discovered this form of sweet release when I picked fruit during the summers of my teenage years. There is a beauty to repetition; even when it is physically strenuous, it acts as an anchor while the mind soars. During those long summer days my mind savoured the words I’d read the night before, in those wonderful books I’d managed to find at the library. I read several books a week during those hot months of hard labour.
My winter’s reading, Kristin Lavransdatter, sits quietly by my chair. It waits. I look at it sitting there every day. Some days I think about picking it up, lifting the cover, turning a page. But I do not. I know that once the magic of this story begins for me, there will be no putting it down. I will know when it is time to take the book in hand.
After a very rainy weekend, the sun is shining again, and very welcome it is.
Attila had one more day of his vacation to enjoy, and he chose today. When he took his one week vacation in September, it was cold and cloudy and wet. It is a gift that today, the last day of this years vacation days, the sun is shining.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
9°C
Date: 2:00 PM EST Monday 6 November 2017
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 9.1°C
Dew point: 2.3°C
Humidity: 63%
Wind: WNW 25 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“We may go to the moon, but that’s not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us.”
Charles de Gaulle
1890 – 1970
I don’t blame you at all for being in squash recovery. I would be too after all that work!
So glad to hear that Attila has more vacation time. What a boon after all those hard times up north.
Teri, the vacation time is heavenly! But even better are the weekends! Having two day breaks from work has changed our lives, for the better. Making people work six or seven days a week is not healthy for them, physically or psychologically.
I am feeling very relaxed today, and pretty good about having all that great tasting squash sitting in the freezer, our winter supply.
I should look into audio books more. I have only listened to 2 of them, one was a frivolous novel, sort of Pride & Prejudice follow-up book called Pemberley that just put me right to sleep, and the other was fabulous – Pepys’ Diary – not the whole thing but the portion around the Fire of London which was spectacular. What are you putting for a border on your blanket? Plain (I have used half-double crochet which makes a nice border) or something like a slip-stitch?
Bex, I find audio books online, some of them are free, like https://librivox.org/ and http://www.gutenberg.org/. There are others too, on youtube. In Ontario our library service also has audio books, but I have trouble getting through a book within the 14 day loan period, I am up and down from my chair too much I guess.
I hadn’t decided on what stitch to use for a border, and your suggestion of a half-double crochet stitch is very timely! I find the half-double stitch the most difficult for me, and a border is just the right length to give me some practise without frustrating the bejesus out of me.