wrapping it all up

It turns out that taking a little break from knitting did the trick.

My perspective regarding knitting was way off and reeling it in has given me a different view on my much loved hobby. Gone is the march that drove me to knit constantly even to the point that my arms/elbows hurt. Replacing the gruel, is a slower, even paced formation of stitches. Relaxing and enjoyable which is what a hobby surely must be!

I've cast-on for a Christmas stocking that was intended for Bugg eons ago.

The neglected needlepoint project has been finished. This is a bargello pattern that came with a stitch guide. I doubled it and had plenty of fiber to stitch it all. It will go to the framer this afternoon and a huge sense of completion has replaced the nagging guilt of having something so close to being done and just sitting there.

My thought is to begin another project (which has all of it's parts and is just waiting in the wings) and have another needlepoint project around to play with on occasion.

The flowers and garden is growing well. If you look close, you can see the watering system that we tacked to the bottom level of the fence. It rained buckets yesterday and they received plenty of moisture from that.

Planted: tomatoes, cukes (not shown), green/red/yellow peppers, okra, radishes, peas, and garlic (separate pot)

After asking around, I discovered that mums quite possibly will bloom twice in one year. This climate never ceases to amaze me! There are two potted mums that are healthy and are abundant with bloom. One which was potted in a separate area of the yard looks healthy, but has not produced blooms yet.

My blog reading has languished. There were over 550 posts this morning and I made it through 200. Some of the blogs I read are merely 'browser blogs' where I look at the photos and scan through for information. Most of the others are the ones I prefer to read in detail. It will take me a bit to get through those and my goal is to work through them during the next week. There are so many wonderful bloggers who have much useful or entertaining information to offer - I don't want to miss a thing!

FYS is finishing up his last month of school. Summer basketball has begun and he scored 10 pts in a game last weekend! Not bad for a kid who grew nearly 2 ft and hadn't played organized basketball in 6 years. The coach gushed about his work ethic during the banquet last night. I was so proud and a little tear snuck into the corner of my eye. Some of it was the realization that we only have one more year before he graduates. He is my baby and I just don't know where the time has gone. We have had a few conversations during the past week about how tall he is, his eye color, his physical characteristics. He says those things are nothing like mine. True, but I then remind him that all of the stuff inside - the way he thinks, reacts, completes things...those things are like me spot-on.

He just smiles.