All It Takes Is One Sunny Day...

... and more flowers bloom.  Look at those daffodils showing themselves off and I swear the rhubarb shot up three inches overnight.







It's a gloomy day but we had a small thunderstorm earlier so everything got a little drink of nice fresh rain.







I really got into knitting yesterday.  In the afternoon a bunch of the Friday knitters got together at the home of a friend on chemo (who is avoiding possible germification in public knitting spots) so my Helical Sock Sock got a couple inches added on.  Then right when I should have been going to bed I succumbed to temptation and cast on a Brambling Shawl (the second of A Year of Techniques) in some Hempathy out of the stash.  The recommended yarn is fuzzy and soft, Hempathy is crispy (I'm hoping that, like linen, it'll soften with age--fingers crossed) but it's what I have and it's souvenir yarn from our last Yellowstone trip so I'm happy to find something interesting to make with it.  Ten more rows and the yellow gets added.  This color-block intarsia is a technique I've never tried, I've never tried any intarsia, which is what you use when you make a sweater with pictures in it like the ugly Christmas sweaters which I would never ever make, so this seems like a painless way to learn something new.  I wear little shawls a lot so this will be a welcome addition to my (pitiful) wardrobe.

I've got WW Balsamic Chicken in the slow cooker and it's making the house smell heavenly.  I decided to fish out the chicken breasts and shred the meat with two forks so I don't have to futz around with weighing the pieces and portioning them out.  This way I can just spoon it out in equal portions and not have to think so much.  I'll ask Durwood to make some brown rice later and supper tonight and for two more nights will be all taken care of.  I'm kind of on a slow cooker jag, it's making life a lot easier.


 
Look what I sewed this morning.  Now I can sit with my needle, thread, and thimble tonight while I watch Antiques Roadshow and get it all assembled.  See?  I told you the Easter Bunny would get done long before the deadline.






April 10--The Catalan Jewish Codex, Jewish Passover Feast.

the book is dated "1350"
family around the table
feasting, praying
tradition handed down
in words I can't read,
looking upside down
but telling the same story
as the Maxwell House Haggadah
does today

--with thanks to Kay Gardiner of Mason-Dixon Knitting
~~~~~ 

That's it for me.  I've got an appointment with our financial advisor in a little while.  Gotta gather up my papers and list of questions.  I feel so grown up.
--Barbara