The swimming deer

Another dreary morning for a walk. Not only cloudy but with a misty rain as well. I don't usually walk around the lake on Saturday because there are so MANY runners but I did today and yes all the runners were out there. Also there was a charity dog walk thing going on and lots of dogs with their owners were getting ready for a walk too. This was all early at 7:30 in the morning. I can imagine how crowed it got later in the day.
I saw something I haven't seen before this morning. As I walking along the path down by the lake, a deer came crashing through the woods, jumped across the path, ran into the woods by the water, jumped straight in the water, swam to an island in the lake and went on to the island. It all happened in a matter of seconds and was quite a surprise.
Thought this looked so pretty while I was walking that I stopped to take a picture.I spent the morning doing my routine morning stuff and then read until lunch time.
After lunch I watched one of the movies I got from the library while I knitted. I'm back to knitting on the ripple afghan. The movie was The Rose starring Bette Midler and was one of the most depressing movies I've ever watched. This is off the back of the box.
"Bette Midler portrays a Janis Joplin-like rock star whose success is laced with so much booze, drugs and hard-living, it eventually causes her downfall".
I like Bette Midler and if it wasn't for her singing I wouldn't have watched it. What a sad pathetic woman she played.

I'm not that crazy about Halloween so I didn't turn my porch light on and I went up in my loft and listened to some more of the audio book while I made some more weave-it squares. Didn't hear or see any trick or treaters come around anyway. There are not many kids that live here in the town houses where I live.

Its time for my snack now and I'm going to have some chocolate chip cookies and milk.

I hope your Saturday was a happy day for you.
Karen :-)
If men would consider not so much wherein they differ,
as wherein they agree,
there would be far less of uncharitableness
and angry feeling.
- Joseph Addison

Home made pizza night

Another cloudy morning just like yesterday and it stayed cloudy and dreary all day long. The route I walked today is one where I pass by a school crossing guard. I have said Good Morning to her many times in the past and she grudgingly says good morning back so I stopped saying it to her. Today she surprised me by smiling and saying, Good Morning to me first. Maybe she liked me greeting her after all. :-)

I did some house cleaning and then went out to Weis and got in a new supply of ice cream.

I knitted this afternoon while listening to an audio book. George Guidall is reading me Foreign Body by Robin Cook. I really like his reading voice though I am used to him being Qwill in the cat series books and I feel like its Qwill reading to me.

Here it is Friday again already. I made some pizza dough and Ken came over after work and he made pizza. Its been a very long time since we've done that and it was a nice treat again. :-) We had red bell peppers and garlic for toppers. After pizza we watched the pilot and the first episode of Fringe which I got from Netflix. We both liked it and I'll add the rest of the series to my queue.

There has been a change in my chocolate chip ice cream from Weis and I don't think I like it. The chips are now bigger and are little rectangles. I'm hoping its just this batch and the next time it will be back to normal with smaller random size chips.

I read for a while and now I'm going to watch New Tricks on MPT and then I'll hit the sack and have a good night sleep.
Pleasant dreams all.

I hope you had a happy Friday and it was a great start to your weekend.
Karen :-)
The only people you should try to get even with
are those who have helped you.

No rain

this morning - just cloudy. I slept later than usual and didn't get started on my walk until 7:30. I think my body is adjusting for the time change this weekend already. My shoes were still wet from yesterday so I had to wear my old shoes.
I walked down the streets around the neighborhoods and didn't walk any particular route. Lots of leaves to walk through along the sidewalks.

I went to the library again. Dropped off a couple of books and picked up two movies and two audio books. I like listening to the books while I knit or make weave-it squares. And that is what I did this afternoon.

I had my usual nice quiet evening at home. It was Flash Forward night which I watched and then watched Waking the Dead on MPT.

I am going to go and read now until I go to bed.
I hope you had some happy times during your Thursday.
Karen :-)
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
- Albert Einstein

Wet Feet

Another rainy morning for my walk this morning. I walked 6.2 miles and went around the lake today. We have had so much rain in the last couple of days that the little stream I walk along is now not so little. On the way to the lake there was just a little water over the bridge and path and I tip toed through it and didn't get too wet. On the way back the water had risen a lot more and I had to walk through ankle deep water here. So I ended up with very wet feet. It wasn't cold out and I was pretty near home so I really didn't mind.
I have posted a few more pictures HERE of the stream on my photo blog if you care to take a look.

Stayed home during the day and just did my usual stuff around the house.

I got to Panera's a little before 6:00 for my Wednesday knitting group and added my baby blanket to all the other blankets that people knitted. There were about 30 people there and today was the groups third birthday so we had chocolate birthday cake. (a very small piece) My new friend Teri was there again and I met two more friends, Lillemore and Lorene. Had a great time and was one of the last people to leave. Teri always brings a strawberry smoothie home for her husband but by the time we were leaving, Panera was closing and they were no longer making food and the cash registers were closed. One of the guys said he would make the smoothie for her anyway. There was some extra so he gave me the extra and didn't charge us. :-)
I look forward to next Wednesday. I'm really glad I found this group.

I hope you enjoyed your Wednesday.
Karen :-)
A good rule for going through life is to keep
the heart a little softer than the head.

A bit of this and that

The rain came back this morning and I put on my rain pants and slicker and hit the road for my 6.2 mile morning walk. I just walked on the sidewalk and stayed off the paths because it was so dark when I started out. Not many people out there. By the time I got back home the rain was just a mist, but it has rained all day long.

I did a little bit of everything today.
- Cleaned
- Knitted
- Read
- Made weave it squares
- Sewed those squares
- Organized all my yarn

Date night for Ken and I today and he picked me up and we went out to dinner. I had Ravioli Ramona which is in a white sauce and Ken had ravioli too but his was in a red sauce, but I've forgotten what it is called.
We came back home, talked a bit, watched Jeopardy and when he left I sent him off with some chocolate chip cookies.

Now I'll watch a little television, have some chocolate chip cookies too and knit and then read.

Its still raining and is supposed to continue on through the night. It will be nice going to bed and listening to the rain. Always make me feel nice and cozy in my nice warm house and puts me to sleep.

I hope your Tuesday had some sunshine in it. If not weather wise then I hope you made some of your own sunshine.
Karen :-)
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs
and returns home to find it.
- George Moore

Hanging out with Taryn

A pretty chilly morning today as I walked around the lake. It was great walking weather and lots of people were out taking advantage of it. I saw more than a few people with cameras on tripods taking pictures of the pretty Fall trees. Lots of geese swimming around on the lake as well as flying above making their honking noise. I think we woke up them too early!

A picture of the path I walk along going to the lake.

Yesterday afternoon I picked up my granddaughter Taryn and we went to Joanne's to look at wool and just browse around the store. We also went to Walmart and I bought an air mattress and pump. Since Taryn was also spending the night she was the first to try it out . At home we got the mattress out of the box and after much laughter finally got the mattress filled with air. :-)

It was sunny yesterday afternoon and though it was a bit on the cool side Taryn and I sat out on the deck in the sun and did some knitting while we chatted. When it got too chilly we walked across the street and got some Chinese take away and had that for supper.

We watched some television and had both ice cream and cookies. :-)

When Taryn got up this morning I made us pancakes for breakfast and we knitted a bit more and just hung out. I drove her back home in the afternoon. It was great just hanging out together.

I finished knitting the baby blanket.

I will bring it to the knitting group on Wednesday and Lin will pack it up with all the other knitted items that the others have knitted and give them to the charity group.

After supper I did some reading and then made a few weave-it squares.
Next up is some evening television viewing and eating chocolate chip cookies.

I hope this Monday was a good start to your week.
Karen :-)
Sunny spirits make even
the darkest skies shine.

Amazing Grace

For this Sunday I decided to post a hymn - one that most people know and a favorite of mine.

Amazing Grace Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed. Through many danger, toils and snares, I have already come; Tis grace hath bro't me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise, Than when we first begun.

Have a blessed Sunday. Karen :-)

An Enjoyable Day

It was cloudy, windy and a lot warmer than I expected as I headed out the door early this morning for my walk. I went down the road, past the path that takes me to the lake and went to the little pond and walked around that.

I sat on one of these benches and watched the geese for a while.It was so nice just to sit there in the warm breeze.

I finished reading Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy.

I really like all of her books and this was another great one. The book is set in Ireland and is about a woman doctor who establishes a heart clinic at a hospital. There are many great characters and some are from previous books that Binchy has written. A book well worth reading.

This was book number 51 in my goal to read 75 books this year. I'm not sure I'll be able to read 24 books by the end of the year. If you are interested in knowing the books I have read so far the list is on the side bar.

Ken and I spent the afternoon and part of the evening together. Had lunch, did a couple of errands and watched a movie here at home that we got from the library. The movie was The Illusionist and was pretty good. A few twists and turns - a good entertaining movie. In the middle of the movie we took a break and went across the street to get that pizza that I almost got yesterday.

While at the library I happened to find three more books that I want to read so now I have quite a back log of books from the library. They are all new books so I won't be able to renew them. Looks like I'm going to be doing LOTS of reading!! :-)

We ended up getting quite a bit of rain today and it got cooler toward evening. I saw a bit of blue sky just before the sun set.

I'm off now to read, and then knit and watch some television later. Oh yeah, and have a snack. Tonight it will be 4 of those chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday.

I enjoyed my Saturday and hope you enjoyed yours as well.
Karen :-)
There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it.
It is like falling in love.
- Christopher Morley

Food

Our nice sunny days are now gone. A cloudy day with some drizzle, but when I walked this morning it was just cloudy. I went along the paths around the neighborhoods. Saw the usual deer and a few people out walking dogs.

I took a drive and stopped at Weis to get some ice cream. It was on sale 2 for $5 so I got my favorite chocolate chip and also just plain chocolate. Later on for my snack I'm going to have both flavors. I might even put a dollop of whipped cream on top. :-)

This afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies and put them in the freezer. I always like to have some on hand. And no I didn't eat any but I did eat some of the cookie dough!

I did my usual reading and knitting. The baby blanket is now 29 inches long, with 13 more inches to go. I'll be working on those 13 inches later while I watch an episode of A Touch of Frost which came in the mail today from Netflix.

I thought about going across the street for pizza but I stayed home and had a salad and baked potato for dinner instead.

A short post today and I've mentioned food quite a few times in it. :-)

I hope your Friday was happy for you and a good start for your weekend.
Till next time.....
Karen :-)
Never eat more than you can lift.
- Miss Piggy

A lazy sunny day

A walk around the lake started my day. Stopped to talk to my walking friend Jeanne for about 15 minutes, so I got home a bit late. While I was walking my friend Lin called so I got to walk and talk to her too. A beautiful morning for walking and the whole rest of the day was another day like yesterday. Lots of sunshine and blue skies.

Cheryl was in the area and stopped by for lunch. We ate the left over chili from the other day. After lunch we sat outside on the deck and chatted about this and that.

After Cheryl left I stayed out on the deck knitting and reading. It was just too nice to do any work, so I just enjoyed the sunny day.

I'm looking forward to watching Flash Forward this evening. I will have popcorn for my snack tonight. The only thing wrong with popcorn is that it gets in your teeth!! More knitting and reading for me tonight as well.

I hope your Thursday was as sunny as mine was.
Karen :-)
I don't know the key to success,
but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby

A summer like day

This morning was a bit warmer than it has been the last few days. I walked along the paths in the neighborhoods. I was surprised I didn't see very many people out walking on such a nice morning.

Here's a picture of a couple of golden Fall trees I took along the way.

I did my usual morning routine around the house.
The day continued to get warmer with lots of sunshine and blue skies. It was like a touch of summer again. I sat out on the deck in the afternoon and read.
I took a break to take a few pictures.

Looking out toward the street from my deck.
Look at the blue cloudless sky!

A couple of creatures shared the deck with me.

A pretty little Lady bug.
Lots of these on the back of the house today.

Don't know what this one is,
but I call them stink bugs.

Wednesday has rolled around again and I went to my knitting group. I worked on the baby blanket for a couple of rows and then stopped to have some supper. A delicious salad this week - Asian Sesame Chicken.
Back to knitting and this time started a dish cloth and got about half of it done. I've met a lot of people at this knitting group and though I really enjoy it and everyone is very nice, I haven't really clicked with anyone until tonight when I met Terri. Nice to make a new friend. :-)

So here I am back home. I ate the last 4 chocolate chip cookie while watching television and when I am finished here I will read until I get too tired to keep my eyes open.

I hope all is well in your part of the world and that your Wednesday was a happy one.
Karen :-)
In prosperity our friends know us;
in adversity we know our friends.
- John Churton Collins

My Tuesday

A chilly morning walk again, but the sun was out and the morning was a beautiful one to start the day. Part of the sidewalk was closed around the lake again today and I took the detour through the woods. Here is a bit of the lake seen from my detour.
A pretty quiet day. I got some laundry and cleaning done and a little knitting.

An email from the library had me going to the library to pick up a book that I had on hold. The book is South of Broad by Pat Conroy. You may remember me saying that when I put the book on hold I was number 243 on the list. I didn't have to wait all that long. They must have a lot of copies of that book. It sure pays having fantastic libraries in my county. I'd love to start it tonight, but I want to finish the other two books I'm reading first.

Ken came over tonight for supper to help me eat some of that chili I made. It was delicious with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top and some nacho chips to go along with it. There are lots of left overs for both of us.

The rest of my evening I'll be watching a bit of television, knitting, reading and eating some more of those devil dogs.
For those of you who don't know what a devil dog is here is a picture of them.
I hope your Tuesday was a happy day for you.
Karen :-)
The greatest mistake you can make in life
is to be continually fearing you will make one.
- Elbert Hubbard

A Special Snack! :-)

Yesterday after church Ken picked me up and we went to PA to my parents house to pick up the two chairs. The sewing machine will have to wait for another trip because we just couldn't get it to fit in the FJ with the chairs. Didn't get to see my parents this time because they were in NY visiting friends this weekend.
We left at noon and the were back in the area a little after 6:00. Stopped and had pizza before bringing the chairs home.

Here they are in their new home.

Ken had a gift certificate for Michaels and bought me this selection of yarn. How thoughtful - Thanks Kenny. :-) I see more afghans!

It was so nice to see the sun this morning on my walk.

After 5 days of walking in the rain it felt wonderful.

A nice brisk Fall morning. The wooden foot bridges were quite slippery today.

A small part of the path around the lake was closed. So I took this detour.

Stopped to take a few pictures here and there and also to talk to a couple of walking friends. The topic of conversation was how nice it was that the rain had stopped.

Not much food left in the pantry so I made a trip to the commissary to stock up. Things went well - found all I needed and there were no lines! I got the makings for chili and got it started in the slow cooker. That will be for supper tomorrow. It always tastes better the next day.

Before getting to the commissary I made a stop at the WalMart I usually go to get some more of the cotton yarn I'm using for the baby blanket. They were all out of my color, so I went to another WalMart and was happy to find it there.
Now that I have more yarn, it was nice to be able to knit on the blanket for a while this afternoon.

I also went up in the loft again and worked on some more weave-it squares and before I knew it, it was time for supper already. I finished listening to The Cat Who Went Underground while making weave-its.

I had a breakfast for supper. I made myself pancakes! I had the works, syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. :-)

The rest of the evening will be my usual. A little television while knitting and having my snack. A special snack tonight. I bought some Devil Dogs today and I'm going to have 2 of them. I am so looking forward to that. I can't remember the last time I ate Devil Dogs. Then there is reading another book and some blog reading.

I'm so happy that the sun came out today. I hope where you live you got to see the sun too.
Karen :-)
I am still determined to be cheerful and happy,
in whatever situation I may be;
for I have also learned from experience
that the greater part of our happiness or misery
depends upon our dispositions,
and not upon our circumstances.
- Martha Washington

Enjoy Life

Philip Parham tells the story of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked. "Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman. "Why don't you catch more fish than you need?" the rich man asked. "What would I do with them?" "You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me." The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?" "You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist. "What do you think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to sea. Some people are so busy preparing for a rainy day that they miss God's sunshine. Luke 12:15 Beware! Don't always be wishing for what you don't have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are. Happy Sunday! Enjoy your day. Karen :-)

And the rain continues

Once again I donned my rain slicker and rain pants and had my morning walk in the rain.I cut it a little short and only walked 4.8 miles because the rain was leaking down the front of my slicker and I was getting wet. It was chilly too! It was nice to get back to a dry warm house. :-)

Another full day of rain rain rain. It was a good day to stay home and read a good book and that's what I did.
I finished reading another book by Maeve Binchy, Quentins.
Another great book as I think all of her books are. This one is about a restaurant, the people who run it, and the stories of some of the people who frequent it. Sad, happy and everything in between.

I also went up in my loft and worked on the afghan of weave-its. Made a few and sewed a few together. There are a total of 303 of these 4 inch squares. I'm making this one to surprise another friend. She reads my blog so I can't say who it's for. I started this a while ago and feel good about getting some work done on it. While I did that I listened to George Guidall read me more of The Cat Who Went Underground.

I thought it was a good day for soup, so I had some tomato soup for supper. I put a slice of cheddar cheese in it and a piece of bread.

So here it is Saturday evening. I will watch an episode of A Touch of Frost and have some cookies and milk.

I hope you got to see some sunshine where you are. I'm missing the sun.

Karen :-)
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance,
the wise grows it under his feet.
- James Oppenheim

Another Rainy Day

Walked in the rain again today. This time I left the umbrella home and wore my rain slicker and rain pants and walked on the street and some paths. It was on the chilly side too so I wore a couple of layers.

Ken and I were going to drive up to PA today to get the chairs and sewing machine but since it was such a rainy day we decided not to go. It's suppose to rain again tomorrow so we may wait and go on Sunday. We spent the day together anyway though. We walked around the mall for a bit before going to the movies to see Surrogates.

In a futuristic utopian world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, an FBI agent (Bruce Willis) begins to investigate the first murder in years, and unravels a vast conspiracy.
It was a pretty good movie - not the best one I've ever seen, but it was entertaining and a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Afterwards we went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe. I had a blackened chicken Caesar salad with a blueberry muffin which I brought home.
Dexter (Season 3 disc 1) from Nextflix came in the mail and Ken stayed and watched 2 episodes of that with me. Lots of surprises - never a dull moment!

I think I'll go and eat that muffin when I get finished on the computer. I've already watched a movie and two shows, but I think I'm going to watch an episode of A Touch of Frost too. Then read until bedtime.

I enjoyed my Friday and hope you enjoyed yours too.
Karen :-)
Most of us would get along well
if we used the advice we give others.

A Rainy Day

A rainy morning for my walk today around the lake. The rain keeps most people inside so I saw few people. Every once in a while its nice to walk in the rain and hear the rain drops on your umbrella and in the trees. People just don't know what they are missing by giving up their walk just because of a little rain.

Here's a couple pictures of the lake in the rain.

The rain and cool weather lasted all day long and I was glad that I didn't have to go anywhere. It was nice to spend the day at home.
I did very little cleaning! I spent most of the day reading. I'm reading two books, and I looked through a couple of the sewing books trying to decide what I would make first when I get my sewing machine.

I did some knitting too on the baby blanket and I have just about run out of yarn. I'll have to buy some more because I'm only about half finished.

I missed Flash Forward last week so I went on line and watched that episode this afternoon. Now I'm off to watch the episode for this week.

My snack tonight will be an ice cream sandwich or maybe two. :-)

That's about it for today.
I hope you had a happy Thursday!
Karen :-)
Where one person reads the Bible,
a hundred read you.

A day passes quickly

I started my walk this morning a little later than usual at 7:15. I didn't take any special route, but just walked all over the place. It was a cool crisp morning which made it perfect for walking. Surprisingly I didn't see any deer but I did see quite a few blue jays which I haven't seen for a while.
By the old house when I walked I would find quite a few coins but I hardly find any here at this house. Today though I found 3 dimes and 4 pennies. :-)
I stopped and took a picture of these mums and pumpkins lined up on the stairs.

I did a bit of cleaning this morning and then a little reading. Walked across the street to the Giant and picked up a few things.

My mom read my blog yesterday and read that I was going to take up sewing and that I was going to buy a sewing machine. She told me she never sews anymore and asked if I would like to have hers. Yes Yes, thanks so much Mom. When I go and pick up the chairs I'll get the sewing machine too. I feel like Christmas has come early for me this year! :-)

It was cloudy and cool all day and by the time I left the house at 5:00 to go to the library it was raining. (My car sure didn't stay clean for very long.) I had to go and pick up a book that I had on hold. While I was there I looked up some books on sewing and checked out these 4.From the library I went to Panera's for my knitting group. Usually by 6 there are lots of people there already. Tonight there were only 5 of us. More people did trickle in later and we ended up with a group of about 15. As usual I had a nice time with all my new knitting friends. We have one man in our group and he likes to knit socks. Here's one he has knitted.
I had a half of a sandwich and a cup of tomato soup for supper before knitting. The soup was delicious and just perfect for this rainy cool evening.
I got home 9:20.

You will find me reading for the rest of the evening.
I can't believe how fast this Wednesday as gone by.
I hope your Wednesday was a day of happiness for you.

Karen :-)
One of the weaknesses of our age
is our apparent inability
to distinguish our needs from our greeds.

A New Hobby

I walked the connect the path route this morning. It's been a while since I took that route. Here are a few pretty colorful trees along my way.Lots of deer out this morning as well as LOTS of squirrels!!

It was a stay at home day for me today. I finished moving the furniture around and made room for the two new chairs. The two old chairs have been taken to the old house. (We will sell the house in the spring.)
I got some laundry done and hung up on the line. It was pretty windy out and the clothes kept getting tangled around the line and I was forever going out there to unwind them. But they eventually dried and they smell wonderful as always.

In the afternoon I gave my car a good wash. It was very dirty from driving in the rain. She is now a nice shiny red once again.

Here is a picture of the baby blanket I've been knitting. I started it a week ago today. It is 16 inches long and the finished length will be 42 inches so I have quite a lot more to go. It's an easy pattern though and I can work on it while watching television.
I walked across the street and had a pizza for supper this evening. I ate two pieces and brought the rest home for another day. I sat by the window again and watched people walking by while I ate.

I'm thinking about taking up a new hobby - sewing. I'd like to make things like curtains, aprons, table runners and other things for the house. I might even try quilting. I don't have a sewing machine but want to buy one. I don't need a fancy one that does millions of different stitches, just a nice simple model. I know a lot of you sew and I was wondering if any one has any advice about which kind of machine to buy.

I hope all is well in your part of the world and you had a terrific Tuesday.

Karen :-)
The future is that time when you'll wish
you'd done what you aren't doing now.

This and That

Yesterday and this morning I did my usual 6 mile walk. One day along the road and today around the lake. Jeanne, a woman I met while walking said she was going to start walking the mall because it's too dark in the morning.

Yesterday afternoon Cheryl and I went up to Thurmont which is about an hour away from my house for their annual October Fest. I had never been before and was surprised at how big it was. We must have walked for miles (I should have worn my pedometer) looking at booth after booth of crafts, collectibles, art work, and food. We ate pulled pork sandwiches and shared an apple dumpling with ice cream. Oh, that was delicious. We also each bought a big bag of kettle corn and walked around eating that too. Cheryl bought a little white Christmas tree for her collection of Christmas trees. I didn't buy anything though I kept a running list of the things I would have liked to buy. Money wasn't the problem, where to put it all was. :-) I had a thoroughly enjoyable time and was tired by the time we left for home. I find walking slowly looking at things like that is much more tiring than my brisk 6 mile morning walk!!
No snack yesterday evening - I ate way too much food!!

Today Ken and I spent quite a lot of time together again and had a very nice time. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant which we had never been to before and the food was delicious.

I have started moving furniture around this evening because I am getting those two chairs that my parents are giving me. The house is a mess with things all over the place. I'm tired of doing that now and will finish things up tomorrow. I will just leave two spaces in the living room for the chairs. Ken and I are going up to PA probably on Friday to get the chairs. I can't wait to get them. :-)

I'm off now to watch a little television, have some cookies, and knit. I'll be reading tonight also.

I hope your Monday was a good one for you.
Karen :-)
One can learn more from life's trials
than from its triumphs.

Psalm

Psalm 103

1. I Bless the holy name of God with all my heart. 2. Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me. 3. He forgives all my sins. Heals me. He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with lovingkindness and tender mercies. 22. Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And now I bless him too. May you all have a blessed Sunday. Be happy and bless the Lord.

Home Again

I left Thursday morning, after my walk, for Pennsylvania to my parents house. Enjoyed my ride up there, no traffic and things went smoothly. I tried listening to the audio book and once again I just couldn't concentrate on the story so I ended up listening to music.

My parents took me for ride up to the top of one of the mountains and I took this picture looking a long way down at Altoona far in the distance. The day was a bit hazy so the picture isn't very clear.

On Friday it rained all day long and that day we went to browse around a furniture store which I loved!! It had all country furniture with lots of cool country decorations. We went just to look and my parents ended up buying two new chairs. People who know my mom will get a chuckle because she is always buying new chairs - she has a thing about chairs. :-) Now that she has two new chairs, the problem is what to do with the old ones (which look like new). Problem solved - I get two new chairs!! Thanks Mom and Dad!! Kenny and I will take a ride up there soon to pick up my two new chairs. :-) Two chairs just wouldn't fit in the Vette!

My Dad got a model ship kit to build. He needed a place to be able to build his model where he would be able to leave it all out and not have to put everything away each time he was done for the day. So he built this hobby table. You can see the picture of the ship hanging up on the wall.
This picture his him working on the ship.

Just a couple of pictures of their yard.
Standing by the front door.
Looking out from the side of the house.

I left this morning for home. I drove through on and off showers. Not heavy, just enough to make my car very dirty. It will be getting a wash one day soon!!

We had a very nice visit. Talked, laughed, knitted and just enjoyed the time we got to spend together.

I spent some time with Kenny today. We did a few errands, stopped at Rita's for ice cream and had Chinese for dinner. :-)

I am way behind in blog reading and will stop by to visit you all tomorrow.

I hope your days have been happy ones.
Karen :-)
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
-Confucius

It was raining

when I woke up this morning but by the time I was ready to walk it had stopped and by the time I got home from walking around the lake the sun was shining. The wind came along with the sun too. It was very windy all day!!

I baked some more chocolate chip cookies this morning. I'm heading up to PA tomorrow to spend a couple of days with my parents and baked the cookies for them. My dad, especially likes cookies. :-)

I got an email from the library saying the audio book I had on hold is ready for pick up. Its the next one in the cat series. So I stopped at the library to pick that up and to drop off books too. I'm going to try to listen to it on my drive to PA tomorrow. I can't seem to follow along with the story while I'm driving. I suppose its a good thing that I pay more attention to my driving than listening. I don't like to talk much when I drive either and prefer driving alone.

Since it was Wednesday, I went to my knit group again. Lots of people there and now that I've been going for a while there are lots of people I know to talk to and I met a few more tonight. :-) I went early again at 5:30 which is going to be the time that I go from now on. I can get a good seat and I like to have supper there first. I worked on the baby blanket tonight.

Stopped on the way home and got gas so I won't have to do that in the morning. I'll still walk in the morning, have breakfast and then leave.

I was thinking of skipping my snack tonight because its later than usual, but I'm hungry and I can hear a few of those cookies calling my name. :-)

No more knitting tonight, but I will read.

Hope your Wednesday had some happy times in it.
I'll be back Saturday.

Karen :-)
He enjoys much who
is thankful for little things.

A New Project

Once again it was a beautiful morning for my walk. I didn't walk the whole extra mile today but I did walk 6.7 miles. I saw Sal again but we were going in opposite directions this time so just stopped for a short chat. I got an email from the organizer of the knitting group that I go to. She is asking all of the members if they would like to knit blankets, hats or sweaters for babies and donate them to the Family and Children's Service of Howard County. So I went through lots of knitting patterns this afternoon that I have saved to find a baby blanket pattern. I wanted to find something different that I haven't made before but wanted it to be easy and quick to make. I found one that I really liked and have started on it today. It has to be done sometime in November. So I've put aside my other projects until I finish this. As you can tell by the picture I've been knitting a lot today. :-) It was warm enough to sit out back on the deck and that is where I did most of my knitting. I did some laundry and just straightened the house up a bit and that was all I did besides knit. I'll be doing even more knitting later when I watch a little television and have some cookies. I'll do my reading just before bed. I hope you got more done on your Tuesday than I did on mine. :-) Karen :-) All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it! -Bob Newhart

A Happy Monday

Another gorgeous morning for walking. I walked my usual 6 miles around the lake. I thought the tree along the path looked so pretty with the sun shining on it up ahead.

Finished reading another book.

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue
by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Enjoyed this one as well as
all the others in the series so far.

Talked to a long time friend Pam, on the phone yesterday. We had a lot to catch up on and we talked almost an hour.

I met Cheryl and Bonnie for lunch at Ram's Head this afternoon and as always enjoyed the time we spent together.
I just had a salad for lunch and then went ahead and ruined my low calorie lunch by ordering a piece of Boston Cream pie for dessert. Bonnie and Cheryl did have a taste but I ate most of it.
Bonnie makes beautiful things out of glass and made me this soap dish for my downstairs guest bathroom. I love it and the colors are just perfect. Thanks so much Bonnie. :-)
After lunch Bonnie had to leave but Cheryl and I went in to a couple of stores to look around. Then I was off to an appointment, then pizza for supper and then finally back home.

I haven't done any reading or knitting yet today so I'll be doing both later. A little bit of television, a snack, and some blog reading and that will be my evening.
I probably shouldn't have a snack after that Boston Cream Pie but I think I'm going to have a brownie and milk anyway. :-) Maybe I'll walk an extra mile tomorrow.

I hope your Monday was a day with happiness in it.
Karen :-)
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
-Aristotle

Our Father

who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil; For thine is the kingdom, And the power, and the glory forever, AMEN Mathew 6:9-13 May you have a blessed Sunday. Karen :-)

A visit with Debbi

I walked around the neighborhood paths and some of the streets this morning. A beautiful sunny cool morning. I have been saying Good Morning to an older man who I see a lot of mornings and today I walked a little way with him. I learned his name was Sal and he moved here from Tennessee to live with his son after his wife of 44 years died.

I made myself some Saturday morning pancakes and ate them with syrup and a touch of whipped cream.
Then I baked some brownies and took some over to my daughter's house for her and the kids in the afternoon. I saved some for myself too, but I didnt' eat any and put them in the freezer.
Both grandkids had to work this afternoon but Debbi and I had a nice time together. I stayed a few hours and we chatted and knitted. Debbi was working on a pair of socks and I was knitting on a white square. I've never knitted socks before but I think I'll be giving that a try soon. Debbi says she has an easy pattern for me to learn. If I have any trouble I can always ask her for help. She is a whiz at socks!!

It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 70's. When I got back home I spent some time out on the deck. After I ate supper I walked across the street to pick up a couple of things from the Giant.

I guess it won't be a surprise when I say I'll be having a couple of those brownies for my snack tonight. I'll watch the part 2 of A Touch of Frost and knit on the ripple afghan.

Its still early so I'm going to go and read for a while.

I hope your Saturday was filled with happy times.

Karen :-)
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds,
can change the outer aspects of their lives.
- William James

Friday at Home

I woke up a little later than usual this morning and didn't start my walk until almost 7:30. I did my usual 6 mile walk around the lake. I left the paved path for a bit and walked down this dirt path. I saw the white egret again, a few chipmunks, and deer.

More trees got planted today around all the newest townhouses that are now finished in my neighborhood. The building is all done at my end with only one more row of 8 houses down at the other end where the model was. The house that was the model is a residence now.

I stayed home again today. It was cloudy all day though a bit warmer than yesterday.

I did a lot of reading and read Finger Lickin Fifteen
by Janet Evanovich.

I love these books. They are easy reads with lots of fun and colorful characters in them. Stephanie Plum gets into all sorts of trouble with Lula, Grandma, and the rest. A few more of her cars get torched as does her apartment - again!!

I watched a new television show yesterday called Flash Forward which I thought was good and will watch again next week.
The people of the world all black out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and get to see into their future ( I think its 6 months). Some people see things that they didn't expect to see, some see nothing, and some try to find out what caused it.

I ended up having ice cream last night! :-) So today I'll have the other option and go with the cookies and milk.
This evening I'm going to watch a Netflix - A Touch of Frost. Of course when I watch television I will be knitting too.

Its hard to believe that its already Friday. This week has really passed quickly for me.

I hope you had a fantastic Friday.

Karen :-)
When people talk, listen completely.
Most people never listen.
Ernest Hemingway

A short post

Though I didn't do all that much today, my day was a good one. As most days, I started it off with a morning walk. It was quite cool out this morning, but the sun came out and it was a nice crisp Fall morning. I walked around the lake once again.

I spent the day at home. Got the rest of my house cleaning done, read and knitted. In the afternoon it warmed up a bit and I got to sit out on the deck for a while. I love looking up at the bright blue sky.

I'll have my usual evening at home with my snack, television, and reading. I haven't decided yet on cookies or ice cream. Decisions decisions!!!

Just a short post today.
I hope your Thursday was a happy one.

Karen :-)
Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy.