Good morning, friends. Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are all able to remember this special day in some way. I am not sure exactly what is happening today but I will let you know. I know there is no parade for the first time in 74 years. It will seem so strange. But I also heard there will be wreath laying ceremonies one of which is supposed to happen across the street at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society. If so, I will try to get pictures of that. Joe is part of the VVMS.
I was all set to post this yesterday, but I fell asleep. So better late than never.
The second book I finished was "When Calls the Heart" by Jeanette Oke.
You can see I read it on my Kindle. I love the TV show by this name and so wanted to read the book. I was surprised because it was completely different. The only thing the same was the name of the main character and the fact that she was a school teacher in the Canadian west. Oh, and that she met and married a Mountie. Even his name was not the same.
Once I got over my surprise, though, I found I could not put the book down. I read it in three days. It was so good!
The blurb on the back reads: Nothing in her cultured Eastern upbringing prepared Elizabeth for a teaching position in the Canadian West. Despite the many hardships, she cares deeply for the schoolchildren, but she is determined not to open her heart to any of the local frontiersmen. Then she meets a certain member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
I am not one to sit and read a romance book. But this was different. It was interesting to read about Elizabeth adjusting to the frontier after living a life of luxury in her parents' home. The relationship between her and her brother's family was so sweet. The idea of her getting to ride in an auto when most people were still using horse and wagon, and the long train rides she took to get from one place to another just brought you right into the time she was living.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had forgotten how much I like Janette Oke's writings. I think I will have to pull some of her books off of my shelves and read them again.
I will be back with a Memorial Day report. Maybe even later today! Have a wonderful time today no matter what you do.
Kathy
Do any of you have trouble keeping track of the days? I do. And I was talking to a friend this morning who said she has the same problem. Any day can be Friday to me. But I still think this cartoon is cute.
We started out with celebrating my birthday in the hospital and now we celebrated Joe's birthday on Wednesday in lockdown. I think his was better.
I had ordered a cake for him from our favorite bakery, Haegele's (pronounced Hay-glee).
Haegele's has been in business since 1930. I knew the orginial owners since we attended the same church. They still had their nice German accents even though they had been in the U.S. for so long.
I asked Joe if we wanted to take a ride with me to get it and he did. I ordered it for pickup at 1:00 p.m. and it was there waiting for us. Such a pretty cake. And so delicious too.
When we got back Joe said he wanted to take a nap. And so he did. If you can't take a nap on your birthday, when can you?
For dinner I made his favorite -- lamb chops. I had to ask for them at Shoprite and wait for 20 minutes while they cut them, but it was worth all of that. I googled how to cook them and they were perfect. Melt in your mouth good. I asked Google for the recipe for perfect lamb chops. I had some olive oil and butter melted in an iron skillet. Then I put in the chops, added salt and pepper to them and let them cook on the first side for 3 minutes. Then I flipped them, put on more salt and pepper, and cooked them for 3 1/2 minutes. Be careful that you don't put too much salt on them. I used just a pinch on each one.
I also had baked potatoes and Italian green beans. Dinner was delicious. Joe is still raving about it.
Then we had the cake for dessert.
I got a two toned cake -- a chocolate top layer and yellow bottom layer -- with buttercream icing.
Even though I got the smallest cake they made, we weren't going to eat an entire cake. We shared some with our neighbors. I got a message back saying it was yummy.
I had forgotten to get Joe a card. While he was taking his nap I went to Rite Aid and got him one.
He got a few cards and I hung them on the bannister.
Even the sunset was so beautiful.
I have so much to show you and tell you so I hope I have time to blog some more this coming week. Usually I sit down to do a post and end up falling asleep because it is almost midnight! But I will make a real effort to catch up with things.
Hope you all have a good evening.
Kathy
One good thing about being stuck at home is that I have gotten a lot of knitting done. In fact I have knitted some pieces and then torn them out because I decided I didn't feel like finishing them. Three projects to be exact. But the one I am loving is a shawl I am making. I love the weight, the texture, the color. Just about everything. And it is so easy -- all knit stitches with just decreasing one stitch every other row. Let me show you how it is progressing.
I bought a yarn called "Shawl in a Cake." I got just one cake thinking it would make an entire shawl, but the pattern I am using is going to take more than one. I have used all of the first cake and am waiting for a second one I ordered to show up. It is supposed to get here on Saturday.
The color is called Namaste Neutrals. I chose it because I love brown tones and the way it goes from medium brown to dark brown to medium brown to caramel to white and back again.
When I bought the yarn I didn't know that there was a gold thread running through it. But I love it.
I took pictures each day to show how the shawl was progressing. Well, I did for the first week at least.
Day one:
Day two:
It started out with a very dark brown. At first I wasn't sure how it would turn out.
Day three:
You can see the slant that is starting on it. It will turn out to be a triangle in the end.
Day four:
Now there is a lighter brown stripe in the dark brown.
Day five:
It's getting bigger.
Day six:
How pretty it is getting. Now the caramel/golden color is coming in.
Day seven:
Even bigger now. I am knitting 10 rows a day.
Day eight:
Now you see the white stripe.
Today:
Everyday it gets more beautiful. As I said, I ran out of yarn and have to wait for the second cake to show up.
I am also working on a scarf and the temperature blanket. I started a top, but didn't like how it was turning out, so ripped it out. I am looking for something to make with a beautiful and soft green yarn.
What have you been up to during this time? Whatever it is, I would love to hear about it.
See you later!
Kathy
