Hold On. I'll Be Right Back

 I probably won't get a Friday Fave Fives done today.  We are having a medical situation and that is taking all my attention.  If you a praying person, we would certainly appreciate your prayers.

All About Knitting

 If you don't care about knitting, you can just scroll down to the next post.

Here is my latest finished project.  Well, almost finished. I just have to weave in the ends on the back side.  Again, this is another baby blanket I will donate to the local pregnancy resource center.  It is supposed to look like the beach.

Details:  Yarn Bee yarn, Sweeet Dreams.  Needles, size 7 (4.5).  Pattern, diagonal blocks using 48 stitches.  It is a super easy blanket to make.

Now.  About this yarn.

Maybe I should have separated the colors into four groups.   Like this.

Does that make more sense?  Four little projects, identical except in color...

Late May Fave Fives

 This week was busy!  I really need this time to focus on the blessings of the past days.  Friday Fave Fives helps me be intentional and thankful.  Here are just five things that have reminded me how blessed I am.

1.  Lots of time in the garden. The flowers in the pollinator gardens are blooming!  I posted photos yesterday, but here are a few again.

2.  Saturday was busy all day and into the evening.  Knit group; graduation party for L, a family friend; baby shower for family members-- a baby boy is coming!

3.  I've been knitting and knitting, too, when I have a few minutes.  A photo will be coming soon of the crib blanket I am finishing up.  

4.  And...  I bought some yarn.  Planning my next project.  If you saw these eight colors, what would you think I am going to knit?

5.  We were planning to have coffee with T and S yesterday, but Tuesday night, we got a text saying-- going to ER.  T ended up having a serious surgery.  We are so so thankful that the issue was recognized, dealt with quickly and thoroughly (also thankful for good and careful techs and doctors and nurses).  We were able to see them today and take T home.

Bonus:  this comic made me giggle-- I'm LEFT handed.

Flowers In My Garden

 All those April showers?  They brought May flowers to my garden!  Most of these flowers are blooming in our pollinator gardens.

We finally got the rhododendrons in the ground.  Now we just need to mulch around them.

The white peonies have such a sweet fragrance.

Most of the red clover has already bloomed, but I did find one.

I hope you enjoyed all the spring time color.

Mid May Faves

 How can it be mid May already? The weather has changed. The grass is vibrant green. The flowers are blooming. Spring makes me happy. And posting my Friday Fave Fives every week makes me happy too.  Being grateful leads to being even more grateful.  Here are my faves for this week.

1. Saturday. I went with two friends, a mom and daughter, about an hour north of their house to place called Milk and Honey Acres which was having an open house.  Our main purpose was to talk to one of the owners who is a weaver and spinner.   We had a good conversation and learned a few important bits of information.  The extras? Beautiful views of farms from the car windows. Time with friends. Sitting in the back seat with an adorable one year old girl who my friend was watching that day.

2.  Sunday. Mother's Day.  All my four children either called or texted me.  I am proud to be the mom of those four.  (photo is an old one-- taken in 2011, but one of my favorite ever pictures of them)

3.  Monday. Nurse Daughter was off for a couple of nights (yes, she works nights on the cardiac critical care floor of our local hospital) so we had a mom-daughter date with coffee, lunch, knitting and of course a trip to the local garden nursery. Time with my family is always a favorite.

4.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.  Time in the garden.  I am trying to spend at least an hour each day (when it's not raining!) in the garden.  I'm weeding, planting, digging.  My garden is my happy place.

5.  Friday.  Today I spent the morning in my garden.  Then in the afternoon, I helped my daughters in theirs.  That is a win-win.  Time in the garden and time with my girls.

And I didn't even mention the wonderful time we spent with T on Wednesday morning at one of our favorite coffee shops.  And dinner with Nurse Daughter and her BF and then a walk around the area.  

How was your week?

Home Makes Me Happy

 And Friday Fave Fives Make Me Happy, Too.  I'm back after another busy week.  I've been home since Saturday evening, readjusting my schedule to 'home'.  Now I need to take a few minutes to write down my five blessings from this crazy week.

1. The health conference we attended last weekend was great.  So full of good and helpful information.  

2.  We've gone from blustery rain and thunderstorms to sunny spring weather.  I am thankful for the gentler days because we have been able to do some garden work in the afternoons.  Areas are being weeded, some seeds have been sown, one of three rhododendrons has been planted (the other two should be in the ground by this evening), the raised bed has additional soil added.  I love being in the garden.  A bonus here is that the two teenage grandsons came to help.

3.  One early afternoon the weather was perfect.  Younger Daughter, the Nurse, and I took a long walk/hike with the two dogs. The dogs hadn't seen me for almost three weeks and stayed as close as they could during the whole hike.  (my daughter's photo)

4.  Our wonderful next door neighbor is a musician.  He sings as a community member of the local university gospel choir.  Their concert was last weekend.  Wow!  It was beautiful!

5.  My last fave involves another neighbor on our street.  Sunday morning, just as we were turning off our dead end street/cul de sac, The Professor's phone rang.  He answered it.  "You have a ball of yarn hanging out the door of your car!"  We pulled over and checked.  Yep.  My cream yarn from the afghan I'm knitting right now was trailing us all the way from our driveway.  Oops.  We jumped out and gathered it all up while we laughed.  Of course, that neighbor was laughing with us.  And another neighbor family on their way to a soccer game saw us and giggled.  So now evidently we're 'famous' on our street for having yarn balls following us through the neighborhood.  Anyway, it made a funny story.  (But I was able to untangle and rewind the yarn, and didn't lose much at all of it.)

I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!  Watch for all the blessings every day.

May Day!

 I am writing this on Thursday evening, May 1st, even though Friday Fave Fives is usually written and  posted on...Friday.  I will post this as soon as I wake up in the morning.  Anyway, here are my Five Faves, my Blessings, from this past week.

1.  We had a wonderful visit with Chaplain Dan and Jeffie and PAL.  It was not easy to say goodbye and know that we wont' be with them again for several months.  We treasure every moment with them.  Driving out of Phoenix, we stopped to have breakfast with another couple who we were close friends with during our years of living in Oregon.  Our daughters were close friends, too.  They now are retired and living in Arizona. It was great catching up with them.  And then we were on our way.

2.  As we were driving through Oklahoma, we stopped and met up with a friend we knew in our church in California.  She moved back to Oklahoma when her husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer.   Now she is remarried after he passed away and we were able to meet her new husband.  We had a delightful time renewing our friendship over lunch in a classic Route 66 cafe.  I loved how she described us as life-time friends.  (We talked so much that we totally forgot to take any photos!)

3.  We arrived home safely.  That is a huge fave because driving all those thousands of miles from Ohio to Arizona and back again is not for the faint of heart.

4.  The next day, we picked up the grandboys from school and enjoyed their reactions of 'well, yeah, maybe we missed you a little bit' and 'yeah, we are glad you're home again'.  They came over to our house and Tall Boy mowed the lawn (long over due since we were gone more than two weeks), and his mom showed up with special ice cream treats for us all.  I love living near our girls and grandkids.

5.  And after less than forty-eight hours at home, we drove about an hour and a half to attend a health conference we had bought tickets for over a year ago.  I am thankful for this opportunity to attend sessions with some very wise and experienced doctors and clinicians.

A busy weekend again... I'll do my best to read and comment   And after this weekend, life should calm down for a bit.  I promise :) 

PS:  Will I ever get my photos onto my computer??