a closing of a day

Night time rituals at my house have a way of hushing my soul inviting a settling down mood,  what I like to call a closing of a day.

* Oatmeal,  our morning's porridge, is put in a pan shortly after dinner cleanup to soak throughout the evening while we slumber.  Firstly, take 1 cup of dried oatmeal, 1 cup of water,  1 tablespoon of whey (fresh) and soak overnight. In the morning, drain and lightly rinse your oats, add 1 cup of water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the oatmeal; cook until done.
A note about whey. My preferred choice of whey is from fresh raw milk, but if you have no fresh whey in the refrigerator, lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs) works wonderfully. What the acidic liquid is doing is breaking down the phytic acid in the grains which will make them more digestible.  An extra bonus is I find it adds to the flavor.
*Knitting time to soothe with its ongoing rhythm
*A hot shower, a lavender-scented lotion, a cozy gown and robe.
*A bowl of popcorn popped in a well-seasoned iron skillet
*A small kitchen tidy up; wiping down, dispensing all dirty dishes and switching on the dishwasher
*Night time prayer with Charlotte, and tucking in
*A devotional, Spurgeon's, Morning and Evening
*An easy read novel on the bedside table, until my eyelids can't stay open a second later

This is only a capsule of what the closing of my day might look like on a certain evening in late March,  the soft glow of our table lamps surrounding me before they are turned off and we sleep.

 Drawing the blinds, snuffing out the lights, shutting down ...

...making ready for the morrow.

perfectly matched thread

 My current sewing project is a silk dupioni dress for Charlotte.  It is a dress being sewn for her to wear on Easter Sunday, and again when she plays the piano at her recital in May. I am thinking of this dress fondly as the last "little girl" dress I will sew for her. Since she turns twelve in May, experience has taught me that it is a stretch to think girls of an older age will be content with wearing styles like this one.

Because I am hand stitching the four buttonholes, I have been on a search for the right shade of silk thread, checking out various online sites. I was not having much success, but while looking for buttons in my grandmother's tin button box my hands grasped this small spool of silk thread. The shade of the silk thread was perfectly matched to the silk fabric.

Did you happen to notice the price of the four mother of pearl buttons?  

an o'henry tea

O'Henry wrote a favorite short story of mine and there just happens to be a hotel nearby named in his honor which serves afternoon tea. I took a friend there this past week for a belated birthday gift.

"No friendship is an accident", he writes in his short stories from The Heart of the West.  I believe no truer sentiment could be penned in light of the friendships that have graced my life.

home knitting

"Knitting not only relaxes me, it also brings a feeling of being at home" 

~Magdalena Neuner

But then one of the many glories of knitting is being able to carry a project along with  wherever you might find yourself.

Places I have knit outside my home:

in a park
in a swing
walking a country lane

at a soccer game

at a swim meet

at a ballgame

in a gym

in a car

in an airplane

in an airport

in a doctor's/dentist office(this also includes orthodontist...)

in a train

in a train station

at a picnic

in church (not during the service, oh my!)

during meetings of various sorts

by the waves at the seashore

by the pool

at the hospital

at a friend's home

in a store, mostly knitting shops

while waiting... in several other places... while waiting... for someone... while waiting...for something to begin or end.

Where are some of the places you have knitted outside of your home? 

the snow that came

It is not every year that we get such a snow

So when we do, we stop everything and go outside and enjoy it as any sensible one would do.

Or I should say, as a Southerner would.

I love the winter season especially when snow is in the package!  Actually, one of the distinct things on my bucket list is to spend a winter in a place where snow and wintry weather is common place. This post should have been done last week if I was up to date, but the snow came, we played, then before we knew it, Charlotte and I were packing and heading out the door for a Dance Festival held at the School of the Arts for the weekend.