Wedding Flowers...

 I was given the exciting job of doing the flowers for my brother-in-law's wedding this coming Sunday and was thrilled to find that our flower lady at the farmer's market in town had lots to choose from.  Look at the gorgeous bridal bouquet that she whipped up in a flash!  Peonies are such a lovely flower!  I also have an enormous bucket of wildflowers and herbs to make into little bunches for the tables.  I'll be a busy little bee on Sunday afternoon putting everything in jars and vases... for now, everything is peacefully living in the chilly playroom waiting for the big day! 

Honeysuckle...

Oh how I wish you could be here in the early morning when the scent of honeysuckle permeates the air!  It is wonderful!  We made a crown for Sugar Plum with a few vines and tried to get the little drips of nectar from the honeysuckle blooms this morning.  I remember my father showing me how to pull apart the flower when I was a little girl and I am so glad that our little ones are having that experience too!

The Farmer's Museum...

Monday was a gloriously sunny spring day.  It had been rainy, cold, and windy up until Sunday afternoon and I was relieved that Monday would be so lovely!  We had brunch with my father, sisters, brother, and niece at the hotel and then headed over to The Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York.  I had heard a bit about the museum from my sister, but wasn't expecting it to be as wonderful as it was!  I can honestly say that if we lived near this place, we would have a family pass and would visit very frequently!  From the schoolhouse, the animals, the working farmhouse where the farmer's wife cooks meals for the family right in front of you, to the broom making, spinning, and weaving, and the carousel, it was a terrific outing for us all!

Favorite Things: Dinner at Mid-Day...

With our flexible lifestyle (Father John works from home and the children are home-schooled), we have found that we can order our days in any way that we want. Right now, that means that we want to have our dinner at lunchtime (which we have done a little of in the past).  

The temperature is rising, and so the early mornings and late afternoons are the best times to be outside to play and swim.  Our family has also found over the years, that going to the beach at about 5 or 6 pm is best because all of the tourists have left to find food and entertainment elsewhere.  If I feed everyone a hearty meal at noon, then our dinner is often something easy like cheese, crackers, fruit, boiled eggs, small sandwiches, yogurt, muffins, etc.  It's all very easy to take with us or eat when we come back and the majority of the dishes, pots, and pans can be washed during the hottest part of the day when we stay in to play, read, and do crafts.  

Does your family follow a traditional meal schedule or do you do things a little differently like us?

Yarn Along: Minding Frankie...

Whew!  We took a little trip to visit family this past weekend and there was lots of time for knitting!  We drove for about sixteen hours (and by we, I mean my husband!) there and back and I was able to knit, knit, knit!  I had just done a row or two after dividing for the sleeve before the trip and now I have ten inches (from the underarm) of stockinette completed!  Hooray!  I have about three more inches to knit in stockinette and then I'll start on the garter stitch trim to finish up the body.  

I whipped right through Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy this week.  I found it on the sale table at the library and snapped it right up.  I enjoyed it, but as far as I'm concerned Circle of Friends was Binchey's best novel.

What are you knitting and reading?

Axios! Axios! Axios!

We were able to attend the graduation from Seminary and ordination of my brother-in-law to the diaconate on Sunday at Holy Trinity Monastery.  Axios, Father Deacon Peter!  God Grant You Many Years!

Seven...

Our beautiful, sweet, sensitive, and creative first-born is SEVEN today!  It is so hard to believe that it has been seven years since we became parents for the first time in the wee hours of a hot May morning.  

Happy Birthday, Sugar Plum!  We love you so very much!

Yarn Along: Elizabeth Zimmerman...

I am slowly moving forward on the Tea Leaves Cardigan.  Dividing for the sleeves is next on the agenda and then I will begin working on the body.  We're going on a rather long car trip over the weekend, so I am hoping to get a lot accomplished.  There was very little done on the last long car trip we took, so I'm not holding my breath!

I am reading Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  She had me with the following:

"Really all you need to become a good knitter are wool, needles, hands, and slightly below-average intelligence.  Of course superior intelligence, such as yours and mine, is an advantage."

Window Boxes...

During Holy Week, we filled the window boxes in the front of the house with salmon colored geraniums, lantana, and sweet potato vines.  I like them so much more than what we did last year!  So far, it seems that everything is blooming well and flourishing (we'll see how everything looks when the heat really sets in though!).  I've been watering just about every other day at varying times.  I plan on really getting into the routine of watering in the early morning while the children play in the yard.  It's nice to have something to putter around with when the little ones do their thing, and I suspect that knitting won't been too nice in the heat!

Monday...

Our thoughts and prayers are with those suffering in Oklahoma.

Reading...

The next morning Bilbo woke up with the early sun in his eyes.  He jumped up to look at the time and to go and put his kettle on - and found he was not home at all.  So he sat down and wished in vain for a wash and brush.  He did not get either, nor tea nor toast nor bacon for his breakfast, only cold mutton and rabbit.  And after that he had to get ready for a fresh start."

The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien

Four Blueberry Galettes...

Today was the bridal shower for my brother-in-law and his bride-to-be!  My mother-in-law and I hosted and I was in charge of the desserts and children's fare.  Have you tried the Summer Fruit Galette that Alicia posted awhile ago?  I lost count of all of the compliments that this recipe received!  Delicious!  I put four out and by the end of the shower there were only a few slices left. You should make it!

Disagreeable Thoughts...

So long as Mistress Mary's mind was full of disagreeable thoughts about her dislikes and sour opinions of people and her determination not to be pleased by or interested in anything, she was yellow-faced, sickly, bored, and wretched child.  Circumstances, however, were very kind to her, though she was not at all aware of it.  They began to push her about for her own good.  When her mind gradually filled with robins, and moorland cottages crowded with children, with queer, crabbed old gardeners, and common little Yorkshire housemaids, with springtime and with secret gardens coming alive day by day, and also with a moor boy and his "creatures", there was no room left for the disagreeable thoughts which affected her liver and her digestion, and made her yellow and tired."

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Respite...

Yarn Along: Trying Again...

I am still kind of in shock that I had a nearly complete sweater on last week's Yarn Along and then decided to rip it all out and start again.  It was the right choice though.  I would not have worn a sweater that was too big and that would have been such a waste for all of this pretty yarn.  I have finished the decorative part of the yoke and now have about five inches of stockinette to knit before I can divide for the sleeves.

I am reading through New England Knits.  My mother and father gave it to me for my namesday, and it was a huge surprise!  I also picked up a copy of Country Living UK at the bookshop last week and have not yet opened it...  I save it for as long as I can because I enjoy reading it so much!

What are you reading and knitting?  Come join us for this week's Yarn Along!