Three beautiful things from my past week:
1. A friend who’d been out of work for a while started a new job this morning.
2. A friend who had a baby last month sent new photos of her daughter.
3. I spent the evening at the park reading amidst the irises.
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?
I continue along The Lincoln Highway with Emmett and Billy and Duchess and Wooly, but theirs is not a journey that can be hurried. So I’ve dipped into a couple of other books, looking for a companion read. I’ve found it with Kelly Barnhill’s The Ogress and the Orphans. If you read her The Girl Who Drank the Moon, you’ll know that she is an amazing fairy tale storyteller, and the first chapters of this book do not disappoint. I only wish I had a small person to read it aloud to. I read the first chapter to the cat, but he didn’t seem impressed. I think it’s his loss.
My rainbow socks are finally off the needles, and the Tour de France knitalong begins in a little more than six weeks. Rather than start something new, I’m trying to see what other lingering projects I can wrap up. Next up are my Smock Madness socks, which date back, I believe, to 2018. As you can see, this is not asking for a huge time commitment, because all I have are a toe to finish (and I think a hole to patch on the foot).
Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are reading and crafting.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is to share books that we were desperate to get our hands on, but that have sat on our TBR pile ever since. Here are ten of mine, which include books by some of my favorite authors:
How about you? Do you have any books lingering on your TBR pile that you just had to have?
Hey there. There are a lot of really important things that are not beautiful in the world right now and it’s easy to get caught up in that and to feel that the negatives are winning. But they aren’t. They’re just the loudest. There are beautiful, positive things, too, either occurring naturally or of our own or someone else’s making. That’s what these posts on Thursdays are meant to focus on — finding the kind, the wondrous, or the beautiful moments that are just waiting for us to see them.
Here are three of those moments from my past week:
1. Every vacant lot, field, verge, or tuft of plants are dotted in buttercups at the moment. They’ll be gone in two weeks, but for now I’m appreciating the cheerful jolt of color every time I see it.
2. As I was reading posts in a forum on Ravelry leading up to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, one poster suggested adding insoles to galoshes to make being in them all day more palatable. As I wore my wellies all day on Friday about town, I was reminded how much more comfortable mine used to be when I had more supportive footbeds I’d switch into them. I picked up a new pair (I’d never replaced the old pair after I drove off with the hiking boots containing them on the roof of my car) on Saturday and my feet, hips, and knees were so grateful on Sunday.
3. Rudi and I were biking back from the Mets-Nationals game (yay, Mets!) this afternoon when we passed some of the local daycare child caterpillars out for their afternoon stroll. I dinged my bell merrily for them as we each went our own way, and the wee children stared from their group strollers and walking ropes and waved.
How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?
While Sunday was overcast, it was not pouring, which was a pleasant change from Friday and Saturday. I was going to Sheep and Wool regardless, but I’ve been in the rain before and it definitely is a drawback. So to only have to deal with mud seemed pretty easy. I pulled on my wellies, and headed up to the fairgrounds.
It ended up being a nice afternoon all things considered, without the need for my coat, but with the advantage of it being cool enough that all the knitters were able to show off our handknits one final time for the spring.
I went with a limited budget and I stuck to it. I wanted something I couldn’t just buy at one of my local yarn shops, and I think I found it. Urban Girl Yarns is made locally in Virginia by a Black woman knitter and dyer. This is her Virginia Fingering in Caliente. The necklace matches a shawl pin I bought a number of years back and is made by a Maryland metalworker, Silver Siren Designs. I also came home with two jars of local honey and six seedlings, which have already been planted.
On the reading front, I’m still alternating between two print novels, The Lincoln Highway and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. I gave up on the overly descriptive romance novel I’d been listening to when it came due and I’ve downloaded Ruth Hogan’s The Keeper of Lost Things to try instead.
Head over to As Kat Knits for the weekly Unraveled Wednesday roundup.
Two literary endeavors in one post!
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, May 9th, and runs through Sunday, May 15th, in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 34 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
It’s not too late to sign up and Bout of Books is super chill. I read a couple chapters of Alexis Hall’s Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake for it this afternoon.
On the Top Ten Tuesday front, That Artsy Reader Girl has asked us to share our top ten bookish characters this week.
How about you? What bookish characters do you love?