Best Five Faves of This Week

 It never slows down.  Life just keeps barreling along.  When I feel overwhelmed by all that is happening, I stop, take a breath and focus on what is most important.  And remember to be grateful for all the blessings.  Like food, water, shelter, clothes.  What else?  Here is a list of five things from this week (the link will take you to Susanne's blog where you can join a bunch of us listing our Friday Fave Fives).

1.  I am thankful for an excellent dentist and dental care, generally.  My dad told us, "Take care of your teeth and your feet."

2.  I am thankful that several items on our to do list were marked off.  The Professor fixed the tires on our bikes (and we took a short test ride).  He installed the new bike rack to make sure it fit on the new car.  While those items were out of the garage, I took advantage of the time and reorganized some areas to make more room.  We took several items to electronics recycle and lots of old tools to St. Vincent de Paul.  The garage is so much cleaner and tidier.

3.  While I was at St. Vincent de Paul, I received a five dollar credit, so I popped in to peruse the women's tops.  I found a cute pink cotton blouse for $1.99.  Sold!

4.  We had a fun evening with our three teenage grandkids.  They chose Panda Express take away.  Then there was a discussion on what movie to watch.  Star Wars, The Phantom Menace won.  The rule was no electronics, just conversation.  I think a good time was had by all.

5.  Our Chinese fortune cookie fortunes were fun.  Mine read, "You will take an inspirational journey to a faraway place."  The Professor's was, "Adventure awaits you."  We stared at each other.  What trip shall we plan?  The grands had 'grand' ideas:  California.  Papua.  We thought, "Alaska?  Hawaii? Scotland?  Cornwall?"  Who knows?

As you can see, my gratitude has been focused on 'home' this week.  Small blessings.  It was the best.

Just a bit of eye candy to enjoy.  

Hadrian's Wall

Hexham Abbey, Northumberland

Just a Quiet Week at Willow's Cottage

I've been pondering this today:  where did the week go?  I had big intentions to photograph all the baby hats I've made in the past three weeks.  I thought I'd post a couple of times but then--I didn't.  However, I did work almost every day outside on that ongoing garden project.  (That's not in my faves, but I am pleased at the progress I've made especially since it involves digging rock and dirt, sawing roots, moving heavy edgers and pavers, and using a plumb line.)  Even though it seems like I didn't do much this week, I still find lots of blessings, things that make me smile and make me happy.  That's what I'm sharing for Friday Fave Fives. Five things that made Willow's Week.

1.  I am loving these early autumn slow days!  The weather is noticeably a bit cooler. At least twice this week, I've stayed home ALL DAY.  That never happens.  I've decided to be intentional about being home this year, the first year in decades that I haven't had a pile of responsibilities pushing me out of the house almost daily.

2.  I'm not really a foodie kind of person; mostly I eat to live.  But this week I did have some yummy meals.  Burrito from my favorite restaurant: it includes black beans, brown rice on a whole wheat tortilla, cilantro and green salsa.  Then I made an Indonesian dish called gado-gado:  homemade peanut sauce, various veggies both cooked and raw (cucumber, spinach, broccoli and potatoes) served over rice.  I also made three batches of my granola recipe.  Mostly I love having the cooking and baking finished so we can contentedly consume our meals without alot of fuss.

3.  A high school classmate messaged me on facebook to ask me some questions about people from our class as she is evidently on a committee to put together a class reunion in 2018.  It was a treat for me to reminisce a bit and the result was my digging out my old high school annuals and thumbing through them.  I loved reading all the notes and seeing all those old photos.  Also I found my grades from my senior year.  I don't remember getting an F in study hall...

4.  Back in May, I mentioned that I had some handspun wool from Canada that I was planning to use to make a shawl for my niece who lives on Vancouver Island.  I finished the shawl in June and it was delivered to my niece by her mom in August. But I never took any photos of it.  (Silly Willow!) This week on facebook she posted a photo of her wearing the shawl.  So now I have a picture of the shawl and more importantly, her wearing the shawl.

5.  I have had some crazy, funny conversations this week about BUGS like spiders and ants.  First, my cousin's daughter who with her husband is visiting his grandparents here in Southern California.  She mentioned finding black widow spiders in the garage.  So, yeah, here in SoCal black widow spiders are everywhere.  You just deal with them.  But she didn't know because she doesn't live here.  No, you don't vacuum them up with a shop vac.  Poison them or smash them!  In the end, we decided that if you vacuum them up and feed them growth hormone, you can use them on Halloween to scare all the kids who come to the house to treat-or-treat.  (Really you shouldn't even let her own a shop vac or medicines.)  Then, I told my daughter that we have ants in our microwave, and I'm not sure how they're getting in.  BUT.  They don't die when you run the microwave.  WHY?  We think they're mutants and will grow into giant radiated ants that will take over the world.  And they all started in my little microwave.  Maybe you shouldn't have conversations with me about weird stuff. (But it makes me laugh.)

What made you happy this week?  What made you laugh?

Friday Fave Five, #67

Wow! Is it really FFF #67? Sixty- seven weeks of celebrating our blessings! Thanks, Susanne, for hosting us every week.

It is The Week Before Christmas Week, and I have finished my teaching and tutoring for the month/year 2009. Now is the time I can focus on preparing for Christmas and enjoying social activities.

1. Christmas cards. Because I love receiving cards every year, I also send them. The Professor and I worked together to update our address list on the computer, print out labels, write a Christmas letter, stick labels on envelopes, stuff the envelopes with cards and letters, seal them and affix correct postage. For more than one hundred cards, that's a lot of folding, stuffing, licking and stamping. The project is done and now it's up to the US Postal Service to do its job of placing the cards in the appropriate mailboxes.

2. Driving PCH--which means Pacific Coast Highway, not Peace, Charity, Hope--to spend the day with friends in Manhattan Beach. With the beach on my right on the way there, I drove through Malibu, peeking at the ocean whenever I could take my eyes off the road for three seconds. Mist, a few clouds, low flying pelicans, crashing Pacific Ocean waves, bikers, runners, surfers.

3. Celebrating a special birthday with friends! I spent the whole day with the birthday girl and enjoyed lunch with several of our mutual friends.

4. We decided that we ought to walk off our pizza lunch and cookies and ice cream dessert. By the time we finally left the restaurant and drove to Manhattan Beach Pier, the sun was thinking about setting. The temperature was still in the high 60s, so we didn't take our jackets with us. (You can see in the photo that the children digging in the sand are wearing summer beach attire.)

Three miles of walking along The Strand, gazing at this sunset:

5. After driving home along PCH in the dark, with the ocean on my left, I arrived at the cottage to find The Graduate Student sitting in the family room--home for the holidays!

It has been a most pleasant week here at Willow's Cottage! How was yours? You can share in the comments or go check out what others have to say over at Susanne's blog.

A TAG

My friend Bethany tagged me for this game:

TAG!

You're supposed to do the following:
1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer
2. Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same!

This is a picture of the Beaches Blanket I designed and knitted last year. It is worked in mitered blocks, all garter stitch. The yarn is wool from my stash I chose because the various skeins worked together to make a blanket that reminds me of the beach--sand, white foam on the waves, shells, pebbles. The base yarn is the cream colored black and grey flecked wool a friend brought me from Scotland. This afghan is my favorite, and I was snuggled up in it last night while we watched an episode of Foyle's War. The Professor was using it and I grabbed it from him and gave him another one I had knitted for him several years ago. I have to say that this photo is not a great one; it didn't make the original cut for lighting or composition to be named and edited in any way. But here it is: Willow's basic photography.

Four people to tag:

1. Flower

2. Ellen

3. Melialissa

4. Marg

This little tag was quick and fun to do! Enjoy!