the real new year

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To me, September has always felt like the true new year, when you buy new clothes and pencils and organize your stuff and have a new schedule to attend to. Even as a 48-year old grown woman, Labor Day to me is the time when I set new resolutions. And one of my resolutions for the true New Year is to get back to blogging on a more regular cadence. It’s been hard for me since my dad passed to find a lot of joy and comfort in self-reflection because the pain of missing him is always right near the surface. But although that has not changed, and probably will never change, because he was such a massive part of our lives, I’m ready to pick up this stitch and keep going.

So here’s a few recent photos from my camera roll to ease me back in.

I finished up my mom’s birthday socks! These took me forever because knitting also sort of fell by the wayside. These are Raveled but I’ll tell you that they are the Kia pattern by the wonderful Dawn Henderson (find her on Insta as knit.yarn.stuff) knit with Six and Seven Alfalfa base which is stunning.

The little one is back to school in-person for the first time since the pandemic. And not so little anymore. She’s vaxxed and they wear masks. (And seriously, adults – neither she or any of her friends have lodged a single complaint about full day masking. Quit your bitching. If my 13-year old can wear one without issue, SO CAN YOU.) She’s very happy to be back, and is expanding her fashion sense now that she can see all the different “lewks” at the morning bus stop. (So far she is heavily favoring a ‘90s throwback, with ripped boyfriend jeans, t-shirts of bands she probably has never listened to, combat boots and oversized flannels, with a sk8ter boi undercut for her glossy red locks.)

Watching a lot of stuff lately – a very mixed bag. A pretty bad Heidi Fleiss doc, ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’, and ‘Val’, which Brandon and I highly recommend. Heartbreaking and interesting and nostalgic and ultimately uplifting.

And lastly- shame, shame, shame on Texas. For my friends not in the US, this state has recently enacted the most restrictive abortion law in the country, banning abortion after the sixth week,when many women don’t even yet know they are pregnant. Moreover, the Texas law deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who performs an abortion or aids an abortion. So yeah, think – Uber driver. Friend. Any plaintiff unconnected to the patient or the provider can bring a (frivolous) lawsuit, collect attorney fees and a $10k bounty. As you may expect, this law disproportionately affects vulnerable populations- teens, and low-income populations who can’t afford to travel to obtain safe healthcare. As well as allowing a bunch of self righteous Karens and Bubbas to clog up an already taxed legal system.

Withholding critical healthcare, without ramifications for the young men who participate in insemination, without aid or assistance after that baby is born, no carveouts for rape or incest, taking choice away when this is the ultimate choice of the woman and the woman alone – nothing good can come of that. And don’t ever tell me you are “pro-life” if you don’t care what happens after that baby is born. It’s the most nonsensical and cruel virtue signaling.

Abortions will continue to occur – now they will just occur in more highly risky conditions under more barbaric and traumatic circumstances.

1 in 4 women

I hope everyone out there in the US has a fantastic Labor Day and in other areas a great end of your weekend / beginning of your week.

a long short week

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As expected this week has been a doozy, even if I wasn’t at work for 2 days. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to realize that sometimes a nice normal 40-hour workweek can be far easier than an abbreviated 3-day workweek full of “life stuff”.

The camp dropoff went well and I won’t see or hear from Miss L for over a week. She has entered the stage where she wanted no pictures taken and the sooner I left and stopped cramping her style, the better, ha. I hope she has a great time and meets a lot of nice kids. She’s been a trooper during this last year and a half and she deserves a summer of fun and friends. I already miss her, though, and am thinking about her all the time.

Upon arrival home in Suburban Elysia I was greeted by a storm cell of intense magnitude. It swept through my area with torrential rains, high straight-line winds, and hail. There were loud booms, pops, and cracks and when the rain and gale abated the damage was shocking. Trees uprooted, downed lines and branches, and flooding.

thankfully missed the neighbor’s house by inches

We are still without power in my neighborhood. Which I could look at and be super annoyed by. Instead, I’m choosing to be grateful that I had no property damage; that no one was hurt in the storm; and that it is cool at night and we are perfectly comfortable with no A/C and the windows open.

I am, however, entirely sick of the racket of generators all the time (we don’t have one – YET).

lunch break at a park near my office

The power outage at the home office pushed up my return to my actual office. We are still hybrid, so the office isn’t full, but I did see lots of familiar faces. Everyone looks perky and tanned and fit, as though they experienced major glow-up during isolation. By contrast, I trailed in pale, puffy and unwashed with a bad attitude and very little sleep from the generator racket all night. But I had French press coffee and was able to do my work and recharge all my devices. I’m trying to look for silver linings.

So I’m limping into the homestretch of the week. I’ve survived but not thrived. And that’s okay.

silver lining

post-solstice

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Miss L and I are finishing up a week of vacation with my mom in northern Michigan. It’s been raining quite steadily for the last day or so, so the beach plans were scotched. We happily pivoted to retail therapy in Glen Arbor, Leland, and Traverse City. I was planning on a long run this morning but the heavy rain has pretty much dispensed with that idea (I’m dedicated but not THAT dedicated).

The three of us are fully vaccinated but it was still a bit of a shock to see the tourist crowds, mostly unmasked, thronging the shops and restaurants. It will take awhile for us to feel fully comfortable and remind ourselves that it’s okay for us to take our masks off and get a bit of normalcy.

I’m still working from home but we will be reverting back to a hybrid schedule in early July. I’m not sure how many days a week I’ll be in the office but I think I’m going to start with 2 and see how that goes. Luckily, my team is small, and my boss is very flexible – she trusts me to make my own decisions for whatever works best for me, my family, and my workload.

I’ve been ramping up my running miles but am still way behind my typical YTD. I’ve also been knitting and cross-stitching, reading and watching lots of vlogs but those all deserve their own separate posts, I think.

Until next time, I hope you are well and safe and returning to a bit of normalcy wherever you are, and have access to vaccines if you want them. It’s still raining here in northern Michigan but we will make the best of it!

may finished objects

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The weather here in suburban Elysia has been cool and grey and the tree pollen is carried in yellow showers by the wind. Work has been busy, so in the evenings I don’t have much energy – I just want to cuddle up with a blanket and a vlog or Netflix. I have been spending a lot of that time with knitting and have some finished objects to show you, and some new projects as well.

First up is the Log Cabin blanket – finally off the needles. This is a pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting and I started it in February 2016. At that time, my knitting had been dormant for a long while, but on that day, Miss L had a birthday party to attend and I had a couple of hours to kill. On a whim, I grabbed the book, a skein of Lions’ Brand worsted, a set of needles, and sat at a coffee shop around the corner and cast on. In the early days, it was small enough to tuck into my purse and take with me for travel and movie knitting. I worked on it off and on for several years and it had no end in sight. Finally, though, I realized it was becoming unpleasant to work on due to its size and weight, so I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to crochet an edging (also very fun and relaxing, I may try granny squares!) and finished it up.

I also finished the Beatrice mitts, which is a pattern by Leslie Friend of A Friend to Knit With. I knit this in the recommended yarn, which is TurtlePurl’s Striped Turtle Toes in the Trench Coat colorway (available from Etsy). The pattern was quick and easy and this yarn is wonderful – highly recommend both.

Both Raveled.

I have cast on for a new pair of socks and a summer sweater, and I think my next blanket is going to be a scrappy Cozy Memories with lots of leftover sock yarns and a dark grey or black border around each square. In addition, I picked up a counted cross-stitch sampler kit and have been working on that with a lot of satisfaction. It’s my first counted cross-stitch project and won’t be my last unless it ruins my eyesight in the process. I have long wanted to stitch an old-fashioned sampler and this one isn’t quite what I would ultimately want (I want something more complex and detailed, and more old-fashioned) but it’s a good start.

happy may

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Happy May, happy Beltane. It was quite a week here in Suburban Elysia, full of dentist appointments, board meetings, nighttime calls with my colleagues in Japan, waves of pollen and allergies. But somehow we muddled through and the big news, the event that capped our week, was Brandon and I receiving our second doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine.

24 hours post, we are both feeling fine – sore arms, some fatigue, but that’s all, so we are pretty lucky, I guess.

I hope you are all well. I will be back next week with a couple of finished objects (!!) and more nattering.

some warm days

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Author’s Note: In March my family suddenly lost my father. There is no way that I can ever put into words what that has been like. For awhile, I didn’t want to talk about it, except with y mom and brother, and I didn’t want to be online at all, much less on my blog. But this space is about celebrating the things (mostly small things) that make me happy and bring me joy so I feel like that is positive and something I can do. My family has pulled together and we are dealing with our grief the way he would expect us to- by loving and supporting each other and moving forward as best we can and with humor. I don’t want to share any more, but not sharing our enormous loss at all didn’t feel right, either. I appreciate your support as always.

We’ve had a spate of warm days and spent most of them in the yard. We’ve raked up the detritus of our willow tree and I weeded and raked one small bed which contains a day lily, coneflowers, and sedum. I also planted container lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries.

Brandon’s passion project this year is our grass. He’s spent an inordinate amount of time overseeding and patching and consulting with the Scott’s expert at our local hardware store.

I’ve been enjoying so much knitting lately although I don’t have many FO’s to show for it. I finished my Mittens to Fit by Slavi Thomsen in March so had to photograph them amongst the new spring growth. They’re Raveled, blocked, and go into the mitten basket for next winter (unless, in typical Michigan fashion, we get a spring snowstorm).

I’m currently working on these Beatrice mitts by Leslie Friend of A Friend to Knit With. They’re a super easy and quick pattern and the recommended yarn – Turtlepurl’s Striped Turtle Toes in the Trenchcoat colorway – is divine to work with. Although I’m really trying to de-stash this year and only buy yarn for specific patterns, I might buy another skein for another pair of Mittens to Fit.

I’m swatching a couple of different options for a cotton short-sleeved summer sweater.

I’m also watching some wonderful new-to-me crafting vlogs- Tales from Cuckoo Land and Ollie and Bella, both on YouTube. Chelsea Yarns is a newish one as well although I may have mentioned that before. So many beautiful things.

I am still working from home and still fine with it. It looks like we may go back in July and in my current frame of mind I am not eager to do so. I can’t help but feel exhausted at the thought of the commute and constantly being surrounded by so.many.people. The upside is that I will be fully vaccinated by that time. Brandon and I got our notifications that we were eligible for our first dose at the big Covid clinic being held at the home of the Detroit Lions, Ford Field. One sunny Friday morning we went down and got our shots. It was a quick, friendly, efficient process and apart from slightly sore arms (similar to the flu shot) we felt no side effects. Our second dose is already scheduled for April 30.

I think that brings us somewhat up to date. I hope your spring (or fall, depending on your hemisphere) is lovely so far. xo

tgif – a week of thaw

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Good morning from suburban Elysia! It’s been a week of mild – nay, dare I say – warm temperatures and the world is mudluscious. My allergies are starting to go a bit haywire but that has not prevented me from trying to fully enjoy the thaw.

The mailman has been bringing some happy mail this week!

Brandon bought the Detroit print and we will have it framed for our living room! He also bought a new reading lamp and we are ordering swatches for a new loveseat for the den. Long overdue. The current loveseat is a hand me down from some friend’s basement, and poorly slipcovered via Target. Still, I am sad to lose it, as it is supremely comfortable, and I had some of the best naps of my life on it.

The mug discussion has been ongoing in our house as we always have too many – mostly mismatched, chipped, cartoon mugs. Brandon is Mr Aesthetic and I can tell this pains his soul but I cannot get rid of the owl shaped Hedwig mug that Miss L used to drink hot chocolate from or my Whistler’s Mother mug from the Detroit Institute of Arts. I did, however, have my heart broken when my final gorgeous blue pottery mug from my mom broke in the dishwasher. I love thick pottery mugs with gorgeous heavy handles. So I got these as a gift to us. Miss L does not like the color but they are a joy to hold and can suffer through all the indignities of modern life such as the microwave and dishwasher.

My mom also sent me a gift – my brand new favorite t-shirt!

I’ve been dedicated and productive at work in the old home office this week and received news that our work from home has been extended through June. I am on our county list for the vaccine but happy to wait my turn as more at-risk populations get theirs.

I hope you have a fast Friday and a long slow weekend! We are looking forward to Indian food and at least one nice run in this sloppy warm melting world before Michigan turns on us again and sends snow back (I know it’s coming at some point! It can’t be this easy)!

Be well and I hope you are as pleased with life as Pot Roast.

show us your books – february 2021 reads

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As always, joining our hosts Steph and Jana for this monthly reading link-up!

This month I read two thrillers, a YA fantasy, and two graphic novels – a real mixed bag.

Shiver by Allie Reynolds was a sort of reunion-revenge-closed room mystery. A group of former snowboarding hotshots reunite in a remote ski resort in the French Alps. Told partly in flashback to the last time they were all together, they quickly realize they have been lured back together for a reason – which involves the tragic death of one of their former snowboarding compatriots years earlier. This was a quick, fast paced read that kept me coming back. There’s a lot of lithe bodies and talk of “shredding the pipe” which is apparently snowboarding jargon but despite that it was solid.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong is a YA fantasy set in 1920’s Shanghai, with themes reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet’s young lovers and warring families. (If Romeo and Juliet had a monster swimming the depths of the Huangpu River.) I enjoyed the creativity and characterizations in this book but it felt like it took me a very long time to get through and I’m not sure I’ll be reading the follow-up.

Frank Herbert’s Dune (the graphic novel) – I first read “Dune” when I was a middle schooler and had a crush on Kyle McLachlan (who played Paul Atreides in the David Lynch film). It was fun to reread this first portion of the book in graphic form and look forward to other installments.

The Neil Gaiman Library (volume 1) is a collection of four Gaiman graphic novels – none of which I’d read before. Includes ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ and ‘Murder Mysteries’ – both of which I read twice to fully absorb both the stories and the art. Highly recommend and will be reading volume 2 this month.

The Nightmare by Lars Kepler – you can just expect a Lars Kepler in my monthly rundowns until I am current. These are absolutely fantastic, gripping nordic noir thrillers featuring Joona Linna, the magnetic Finnish detective. They are gory. They are intense and occasionally brutal. But they are unputdownable.

Life According to Steph

tgif – a sunny friday four

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Just a quick check-in today as this week has been a doozy at work and I have meetings right up until 5pm today that will likely run over.

1. The red squirrel has moved into the deluxe birdhouse thankyouverymuch.

2. The weather here in Southeast Michigan this week has been really nice. It’s hit the 50’s several days with copious sunshine, and we’ve lost most of our snowpack. It’s still cold at night so I am loving the humidifier and fuzzy sheets but the break in the winter weather has been enjoyable for everything except for my sinuses and allergies.

3. Brandon & I got out for an afternoon of cross-country skiing last weekend, just on the cusp of the warmer weather. It was my first time so I spent a fair amount of time on my ass but at the end of it I’d sort of gotten the hang of it. And really enjoyed it. I would love to do more next winter. An afternoon of strenuous activity and sunshine after a period of cold and sloth was just what I needed.

4. My folks got their first Covid vaccine this week and I am so relieved. So far their aftereffects are minimal so fingers crossed that their second shot in a few weeks is as smooth.

I am happy it’s Friday and I am looking forward to Chinese takeout tonight and hopefully more nice temperatures and sunshine. What are you up to? Whatever it is, I hope you have an excellent weekend with your special ones.

winter break

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Miss L had the week off for her winter break so we scampered up north for a few days to visit the folks.

It was pretty cold – a few degrees above zero Fahrenheit- but Miss L still wanted to ice skate at the local rink. She spent a fair amount of time shoveling and sweeping the rink free of snow, which I suppose is an occupational hazard for kids in the northlands.

We also played quite a bit of poker with my folks & tried to get their cats to love us (in vain).

“back the f- up, karen” – tessa

I’m working on a pair of sock yarn mittens – the Mittens to Fit pattern by Slavi Thomsen is a Ravelry pattern and I’m using some old – very old – sock yarn from my stash. (Leftover from legwarmers, it’s Berroco Sox in the now-discontinued Huddersfield colorway.)

I’ve been looking for a sock yarn mitten pattern for awhile and this one is very cute, except as I start the second mitten I am plunging into the unknown. The pattern is written for the right mitten and the pattern note says to be aware to make the thumb on the opposite side for the left mitten, so they fit your hands. There aren’t any other pattern instructions as to how to put the thumb on the opposite side. I assume that I just reverse the pattern for the increases for the thumb? I’m going to try it. If worst comes to worst, I’ve tried the right mitten on my left hand and it seems to look fine, so maybe if I utterly can’t figure it out I can just knit two “right” mittens but if any crafty knitters know how to do this, please leave it in the comments!

My mom made a great Bay City ham and sent us home with a big container of leftovers so once we got home I put a pot of white bean and ham soup simmering on the stove for dinner.

The great thing about a vacation in the early part of the week is that you get back and it feels like a Monday but here it is Friday and I only have one day of calls and catch-up before the weekend! It is warming up into the mid-20’s F. here so Brandon and I are going cross-country skiing tomorrow – it’s my first time and I can’t wait! What are you up to with your weekend?

Be well and enjoy. xoxo

PS – I also wanted to share the great news that one of my favorite vlogs – A Simple Swedish Life, about a Korean / Swedish family living in Stockholm – now has an Instagram account. His vlog is simple, silent, about the Swedish lifestyle, and his imagery is minimalist and striking. His subject matter is heartwarming and pure, especially when he features his cooking, musings, his wife, and his 1.5 year old son. Please go follow @asimpleswedishlife if you have an IG account – well worth it. Thank you!!