Bye, February!

Wow. The second month of 2015 is done.  I don't think I'm keeping up very well.  I'm even late with my Friday Fave Fives.  Here are my 'stop and breathe and be thankful' moments from this week.

1.  Fave!  A hike with my hubby!  Between the three or four grey days this week, we have had beautiful, brilliant, sunny days.  One of those sunshiny days we decided to hike in Hill Canyon (again).  Before, we have always walked in the canyon, but this time we trekked up the side, navigating the switchbacks to get up to the top.  It was worth the walk!

2.  Fave!  Did you notice the yellow dots?  Those are correopsis flowers, a California native spring blooming bush.  Evidently you can't take too many photos of blooming correopsis.  I had to cull through and only choose a couple pictures.  Love these flowers!

3.  Fave!  Did you see the musical video of the llamas on the loose in Sun City, Arizona?  I laughed out loud the whole way through!  Love those llamas!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=810401092341773

4.  Fave!  Some new reading and dreaming material.  A lady in my Tuesday Bible Study group gifted me some knitting books and patterns.  Since she no longer knits, she wanted me to have them.  Ones I won't use I will pass on to other knitters.  Yay for new knitting ideas!

5.  Fave! Another walk, this time by myself in the hills above my neighborhood.  Lured onto the trail by the sight of more correopsis, I followed the trail above the dry creek bed to capture more pictures. 

No, you can't take too many photos of these wonderful spring blooms.  They will be gone in a week or two so I enjoy them while I can.

A little bonus bloom:  lupine

More February Fave Fives

How was your week?  Can you even watch the news any more?  I take a deep breath and focus and CHOOSE to be thankful, to not take life and beauty for granted.  Friday Fave Fives helps me do that.  Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for providing this venue each week.

1.  After almost completely ignoring my garden for the past several months, this week I have been able to spend a bit of time out there.  This is what I found.  The first California Poppy is blooming in my garden!

The lavender and Point Sal sage are growing chummy and attracting the honeybees.

2.  I have been knitting through several skeins of wool yarn.  Around here in SoCal, people don't wear wool.  It's too hot.  So this yarn is being made into hats to give away.  I'm almost done.  Eleven more hats finished.  The fave is really double--I use up my stash and I can bless other people.

3.  Lent began this week.  It had kind of sneaked up on me, and I wasn't prepared.  Usually I choose something to 'give up', to focus my attention somewhere.  On Thursday, I was still pondering it when I had an interaction that brought everything together.  A young man who lives on the other side of the world and who I have never met in person has been part of our lives for more than ten years because we sponsored him through secondary and technical school in his home country.  Now he lives a long way away and keeps in contact with people through our amazing world wide access to social media and other internet venues.  My communication with him deeply touched my 'mother's heart' and I immediately realized that my Lenten focus is supposed to be increasing my prayer times for my children and grandchildren, including this grown up orphan who is making his own way in the world.  Having found an unused notebook, I decided to write the Bible verses which I am praying for them.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I can do this small thing for the children of my heart.

4.  I know that I have mentioned my TA and how much I enjoy her.  But she just keeps on blessing me each week with her attitude, her conversations, her talent in helping in class.  How can you not love a coworker who enters the room and exclaims, "I'm so happy to be here this morning!"  And she brought me a scone and an Americano.

5.  A little love from Phoenix showed up in my messages.

So that was Willow's Week!  So full of blessings!

I *heart*

Last week was just one of those weeks when there was simply too. much. to. do. Writing lesson plans exhausts my brain, so there was not much bandwidth up there to spare for blog writing.  Fortunately, my work load was much lighter this week--maybe there is a little itty bit of spare brain to use on documenting the blessings of the past two week with my  Friday Fave Fives.

1.  First and most endearing is this story.  At least a month ago, I was wearing my favorite turquoise earrings and LOST ONE of them.  I know it was just an earring.  But I really liked this pair and I had made them myself.  I knew I had been in three stores that day so after arguing with myself about the silliness of it all, I finally went back to each place and asked if anyone had found an earring.  No luck.  I resigned myself to it.  I was still disappointed.  I was sad.  Here's the amazing part:  on Sunday morning, we stopped by our local Starbuck's and grabbed a cup of coffee on the way to church.  One of the barristas, Ashley, called to me and said that she had been looking for me for awhile.  She handed me my earring!  She had found it, remembered I had asked about it, and saved it to give me.  Ashley's dedication to service blessed me so much!  It made my whole week!

2.  We're having a heat wave.  The temperatures have been in the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit which has made pushing myself out the door for a walk so much easier.

3.  Spring is truly here in Southern California.  We had rain last week so the hills are green and the flowers are popping up!  The yellow coreopsis and  the poppies and the lupine are blooming!  I know it's hard to see the small patches of poppies and lupine in these photos but they're there, gracing our parched and stony mountainsides.  I had to zoom in quite a lot to catch the poppy patch.

Closer in, the poinsettias and bird of paradise are easier to photograph.

4.  I am making more progress on knitting through my yarn stash.  Last week I posted an update on the hats I made in January.  Since then I've added another eight hats to the pile.

5.  Those magical words---"I'm heading down for a visit.  Can you pick me up at the train station?"  Son #2 is coming!  Can't wait!

Bonus:  It's my daughter in law's birthday!  She was born on Valentine's Day, and we *heart* her and the joy and love she has brought to our son.

What I'm Knitting

Last summer I began this hat on our cross country road trip.  Quickly I realized that focused fair isle knitting is not ideal car travel work.  I put it away and finally pulled it out over Christmas break to finish it.

100% bamboo yarn

size 6 needles.

After a hiatus, I returned to knitting these flower fair isle socks.

100% wool

kind of my own pattern since I found fair isle designs I liked and used them with a basic sock pattern

size 3 dpn

More hats for the NICU

I turned in 7 little bitty hats and then finished these two last week

acrylic baby yarn

size 3 dpn

In my efforts to use up my yarn stash, I have been knitting hats from 100% wool,  Around here, no one wears wool hats, so these will be gifted to charity, specifically this organization.  It hurts my heart to know that there are children anywhere in the world who are cold and miserable.  I can knit them hats.

I am also working on another shawl.  No photos yet.  It's silk and alpaca handspun (by me).

The End of January? Already?

Can it be the last days of January already?  This first month of 2015 has flown by.  I am glad I have the Friday Fave Fives to make me stop in the whirlwind which is my life and give account of the blessings of the week.

1.  After way too many months, I finally finished this shawl.  Made from my handspun alpaca fiber, it is something with which I'm quite pleased.  The finished and blocked size is 26 inches by 84 inches.  The pattern, Bird's Nest Shawl, can be found in Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle.  The recipient, she who I call 'the world's best neighbor' looks lovely all wrapped up in it.

2.  My mother taught me by example to notice and appreciate the beauty in the world around me.   I'm not usually one to rise before or with the sun.  In winter, it's a bit easier since the sun lies abed later.  I do love watching that busy old fool, unruly sun, gliding over the hilltop behind my house and pushing through the high fog--if I'm awake.

3.  Truly, I'm more likely to be attentive and appreciative of sunsets.  The mountains across El Camino Real to the south glowed with gold in the sunset.

And to the north behind my house, the setting sun highlighted the rock outcropping which stuck up from the green grasses.

4.  January is nearly finished.  I will need to trim the mandarin orange tree.  So the last few ripe fruit will be eaten this week.  I try to ration them out because I love them so much.

5.  My dear friend, The Blueberry Lady, dropped by and delivered---blueberries!  Freshly picked and frozen by her, these berries are now in my freezer and waiting to be consumed with my breakfast cereal.  As much as I love my local blueberries, handpicked with love, the best part was sitting and chatting and sharing a cup of tea.

Books, Birds, Birthdays and Veggies

This week's Friday Fave Fives is focusing on the little blessings that I noticed throughout the week.  Nothing profound or particularly significant.  Some weeks are like that, and that's OK.

1.  The Professor's car has been been at the mechanic's shop so we have been sharing my car I have been driving him to the university.  I am always struck with the beauty of the campus with its California mission architecture and its signature 'bell tower'.   I'm thankful that his place of work is so pleasant. (And his four classes are full with waiting lists...)

2.  I love where I live.  Did you eat any fresh vegetables this week?  Those vegetables might have come from my county.  These cabbages are growing in the fields between our neighborhood and the university.

 Support Ventura County agriculture.

Eat more cruciferous vegetables!

Are these little lettuce plants?

A lemon orchard

3.   Even the herons love living here.  Finally, there's a bit of water in the river beds.

4.  It was Son #2's birthday this week.  He is a remarkably content young man.  I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and his reply was simply, "Nothing.  My birth and life is gift enough."  I think I'll take him out for Ethiopian food next time he visits.

5.  I discovered that my Thursday TA loves Elizabeth Goudge's books as much as I do.  Whenever we chat between classes or at the end of the morning, we discover more and more reasons we just 'click' as people.  It's a great blessing to have a congenial and dynamic woman to work with.  And obviously, if she reads Elizabeth Goudge's novels, she's a perceptive, brilliant, discerning reader, too. Right?

Sunshine

These photos are especially for those of you who are snow bound in northern places where the sun refuses to shine.  May they cheer you up!  All of these hills were burned in The Springs Fire in May 2013.  Since we have had some rain this winter, they are now verdantly green.

Just so you know, not every day is sunny.  This morning's fog covered the entire Oxnard Plain and shrouded the Santa Monica Mountains.

Rain and Shine

Hello!  It is time for Friday Fave Fives.  What kind of a week have you had?  I hope you have found some things in your week that have encouraged and blessed you.

1.  Last weekend we had rain.  This rain was a slow, steady, soft rain which nourished our parched hillsides but didn't cause any more mudslides.  We are at our 'normal' rain fall averages this season after three years of drought, and we desperately need rain.  Gentle rain in its season is a wondrous thing.

2. The weather has warmed up considerably.  Thursday's temperature was 76F.  That means we could get outside and mess around in the new shed to put away the tools and camping equipment that has been sitting outside in the rain and dust.  Evening walks have been more pleasant.  And I puttered around in the garden in the sun.

3. We replanted the native California rye plants and buckwheat in the front garden.   They had been languishing in pots for the past three months waiting to be transplanted after their home was destroyed and rebuilt.  Every time I turn into the driveway and see them there, I smile.

4. I finally pulled my camera out and shot some close up photos of this:

Rosemary twigs cut from my garden.

I think the flowers resemble tiny orchids.

5.  I'm a definite proponent of simplicity and I loved this post by Joshua Becker about "Jumpstarting your Decluttering".

Bonus:  Reading these words from Mother Teresa.  I know I have posted this before, but every time I read them, I am deeply moved.  Both comforting and challenging.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

High Five

Five seems to be the number of the week.  As usual, I am posting my Friday Fave Fives, but before I do, here are my other 'fives':
Number of classes taught: 5
Number of hats knitted: 5
Number of buckets of yard debris gathered: 5
Number of episodes of BBC's All Creatures Great and Small based on James Herriot's books watched:  5

Number of photos taken:  0.  It has been one of those weeks.  I have seen some beautiful sunsets but of course I didn't have my camera with me.  But I have been going through my photos from 2014 and trying to choose some of my favorites.  I'll be posting them over the weekend (so come back and enjoy the views).

Here's one---a favorite sunset photo from January 2014.

1.  We have internet at home!  I am actually posting this from my own house on my own wifi.  After three weeks of enjoying the hospitality of Starbucks internet access, we are finally hooked up to our carrier and we can even watch our favorite TV shows and movies again.

2.  On the topic of TV shows--my nephew and his company were featured on Tiny House Hunting!  So proud of Derin and Shelter Wise, his tiny house company.  We watched the episode on fyi.tv this week.  What do you think of tiny houses?

3.  This week I spent a few hours in the garden and finally cut back the rose bushes.  Believe it or not, there were at least a dozen roses still blooming.  I clipped them and gave them to a home bound neighbor.  Her great joy in receiving them made my day.

4.  We have a new storage shed.  It was delivered and assembled on Tuesday and we are already moving our gardening tools and camping gear in.  The best part is that the shed is slightly larger than our old one so there is room to keep our bikes in there.

5.  I've been in a bit of a funk on knitting--not that I'm not knitting but I was becoming a bit bored with knitting hats and more hats.  Switching to making little hats for the local NICU (newborn intensive care unit)  has got me going again.  I can quickly knit up at least one little itty bitty hat every day.  There's a sense of accomplishment and the pleasure of knowing I am blessing a baby and its family.  And it's bringing joy back to my art.

These are the things that encouraged and blessed me this week.  What about you?

Beginning

January.  New Beginnings.  I read these stanzas from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ring Out, Wild Bells"

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

I agree.  The old year is gone.  Ring in the new, the true.

As I wrote earlier this week, my word for 2015 is LIVE.  I want to live simply, healthfully, mindfully, devoutly and thankfully.  As part of my LIVING thankfully, I will be continuing to post my Friday Fave Fives every week.

1.  It has been cold here in Southern California.  At least, it has been cold for us.  Really cold.  Don't snort, all you northerners, but it was 30F this morning.  Below Freezing.  We are not used to this and we're not equipped for it, either.  I'm so thankful for a warm home which has a functioning furnace, for hot coffee, for a cashmere sweater and a hat and a scarf and gloves to add to my fleece jacket to fend off the frigid temperatures.

(yes, the camellias are blooming)

2.  We still don't have internet or cable at home.  I'm thankful for our local coffee and mobile hot spot (also called Starbucks) which allows us yummy drinks and internet access daily.  In fact, it's where I am right now typing this.

3.  I'm thankful for long time, special friends.  On Sunday I met up with an old Oregon friend who is now living off and on south of LA helping her parents.  Years ago, we homeschooled together and we still keep in touch.  We had a great time catching up.  It amazes me that sometimes friends grow in the same way I have and we end of being even closer than we were before.  It's like we're sisters.  I can't wait for her to return from her east coast visit so we can continue all those conversation trails we started.

4.  The Autry Museum is across the road from the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park.  We've been wanting to visit the Route 66 exhibit there and New Years Day turned out to be the best time.  Bonus:  it was freeeee!

5.  I'm thankful for being able to live healthfully. We have been walking regularly again.  I love walking the streets of my neighborhood and I'm thankful the mud has been mostly cleared and we can safely navigate the streets now.  Those daily three mile walks do make a difference.

What are you thankful for this week?

Live

I don't make New Years Resolutions.  It seems to me that resolutions fail epically in encouraging people to make positive changes in daily activities. Usually, one makes a resolution but doesn't have the plan in place to make that resolution last and so the momentum lasts only a few days or weeks at the most.  I prefer 'hopes and goals'. Some years at the end of December or early January, I have chosen a word that I think will identify what 'hopes and goals' I want to focus on during the coming year.  In 2011, I wrote a blog post about my word of the year which was Simplify.  Evidently, in 2012, I didn't write about that year's word because I have no post in my archives.  My word in 2013 was Save.  I seem to have skipped 2014, too.  In keeping with the trend of choosing a word every other year, I am focusing on LIVE in 2015.

This coming year I want to:

Live simply.  Continue to reduce the clutter and excess possessions in my life.  I don't plan to get rid of everything but 100 items and throw away things I use on a regular basis.  But I will keep what is useful, beautiful and has a happy memory which makes me smile.

Live healthfully.  I am making a commitment to exercise more consistently--three times a week for a half hour.  That doesn't include the nearly daily three mile walks I take.  We are still working on the details of this one.  Should we join a gym?  How about buying the equipment we would need and doing it on our own?  Healthy living also involves healthy eating.  We mostly have this part covered as I eat a whole foods plant based diet and The Professor adds in some cheese and meat.

Live mindfully.  This one could cover so much.  Here I am focusing on limiting my schedule to allow time for rest and relaxation.  I want to choose activities which add value to my life, my family's lives, and which are in line with my life values.

Live devoutly.  I want to focus more of my hours on prayer, Bible study and meditation.

Live thankfully.  Being thankful and grateful means not complaining or comparing.  Many people write a daily diary stating three things they are grateful for.  I'm not sure I have the discipline to write a quotidian journal, but I want to think thankfully on a minute by minute, hour by hour basis.

These 'hopes and goals' for 2015 which are embodied in the word Live are not new to me or unusual for how I have lived my life for years and decades.  They simply have a slightly different emphasis in the details for this year.

Have you made resolutions, written a list of hopes and goals, or chosen a focus word for 2015?

Christmas Day

I like the fact that Christmas Day leads right in to Friday Fave Fives this year.  Yes, I realize that I was awol last week.  Everything was just too much.  We were exhausted from moving back in to our house.  The Professor was finishing up his semester grades.  We had no internet.  This week we still have no internet but Son #2 and The Professor showed me how to tether my phone to my computer. Wah lah!  Internet!

So here are my Friday Fave Fives for the two weeks.

1.  Obviously, we are happy to be settling back in to our home after all the changes and renovations.  The best part is unpacking and having everything available again.  All our clothes are in their proper drawers.  My yarn is collected in the same spot as my needles.

2.  Son #1, his wife and our PAL came for a whirlwind three day visit.  They shared our first night of sleeping here again.  Would you believe I took NO photos??  I wasn't even sure where my camera was at the time.  I know. I know.  Epic grandmother fail.  Our little one is growing and is two months old.  She coos.  She smiles.  She's adorable.

3.  In our family, we don't load up on Christmas gifts.  Our tradition among the adults is to draw names and buy one special gift for one person.  My daughter in law received my name this year.  I have to say she is the BEST gift giver.  Knowing I love children's books and collect Newbery Award Books, she bought me several of the volumes I didn't own yet.  Now my collection is nearly complete.  I am missing only 1989's winner and the two most recent award books.  The best part?  I have books on the shelves waiting for winter reading!

4.  Our nephew and family were in the area for a family gathering and we caught up with them on Sunday for lunch after church.  They too have a new little girl, only a month old.  They stopped by the house to pick up a little knitted gift for her; her big four year old brother played Legos, and we chatted for a bit before they left for their across Los Angeles County drive home.  A pleasant time was had by all.

5.  Our streets are mostly clear of mud now from the mudslides in our neighborhood.  One morning a three man crew from our church arrived with shovels in hand to help us scoop mud from the front street gutters which were still filled and blocking any rain/water run off from flowing to the drains.  They cleared the areas in front of two of our neighbors too who could not get out to do the work themselves.  We were certainly thankful and grateful for the help of those strong young men.  And we continue to be thankful for how small our damage was compared to the people who live just 1/2 mile from us.

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas week.  May your last week of 2014 be filled with joy, peace, simple pleasures and many finished knitting projects.

December Faves, Take Two

I love Christmas, but it is also a stressful time.  This month it is more important than ever to focus on for what I am thankful.  Thanksgiving may be so-last-month, but giving thanks is always a current event.  Susanne's Friday Fave Fives is a great venue for doing that.  As I stare at mud everywhere on my street and in my neighborhood, I have been reminding myself of this quote I read last week (my paraphrase):  Be thankful for the many things that are right, and don't focus on the few things that aren't.)  Yes, my neighborhood is a mess.  But we are safe.  If you google mudslide, Camarillo Springs, California, you can read more about it.

1.  Strong and willing helpers were definitely a fave this week.  We had to move our piano.  Although it is a smaller upright spinnet, The Professor and I can not move it ourselves without help.  We asked around and could find only one young big strong guy to help us (huge shout out to Jason who is awesome!).  Then our dental assistant replied to our comment that we were stressed about moving the piano--as she was cleaning our teeth---her husband is big and strong and willing to help. And they brought another strong and big guy with them.  So we the guys got that thing moved right in up the five steps and into place in its new home.  They also moved all the book boxes (they asked, HOW MANY boxes of books do you have???) and the book shelves in less than a half hour total.  What a blessing it was for us to have found willing and strong helpers.

2.  As of Thursday afternoon I am on Christmas Break!  No more explanation necessary.

3.  Oh, those students of mine--they are hilarious and adorable.  One set of classes wrote poems and made cards.  One girl wrote a cinquain poem:

Ms. (my last name)

You're very nice.

I think that you should know

that I love you. Have a Merry

Christmas!

4.  This hawk has been hanging around.  The little wrens and finches aren't thrilled, but I think he's quite handsome.

5.  Blogger got hacked this week.  Did anyone else have a problem?  My blog spent about a day redirecting to some ad site.  The Professor did some research and found out where that issue was and knew google was working on the problem.  I'm thankful it's fixed and I can just let someone else do the fixing.

Have a happy weekend!  Hug the people you love, and be gracious to the people who are grumpy.

December Faves, Take One

Hmmm, it is Friday and I am a bit stumped.  I'm not going to lie or pretend.  This has been a crazy and challenging week.  Therefore I am searching my memories of the past seven days to find the little blessings to share with you in Friday Fave Fives.

1.  Oh yeah.  Saturday!  We took a hike!    I love this hiking trail.  It's easy.  It's level.  It's gorgeous.

2.  After hiking, we stopped by S*bucks and I ordered a soy hot chocolate.    Yum!

3.  Rain!  About 1.5 inches.  Any amount helps us fight the drought.  And sometimes rain comes with rainbows.

4.  And no mudslides.  Following the disaster from Halloween night where our neighborhood was inundated with mud in the first rain storm of the season, our local fire department and disaster relief teams gathered in the parking lot of the golf course and evacuated people from 75 homes.  But fortunately, although there was A LOT of water running down the streets and through our gardens, there were no mudslides and no more homes destroyed.  [If you want to know more details, google Camarillo Springs mudslide or just click here.]

5.  An email from Son #1 that stated "We checked our schedule.  We can come for a visit December 16-19."  'We' means Son #1, his beautiful wife and our newest grand girl!  Can't wait!