Honey bees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require it's social companionship and support.  Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die.
~The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men

(I love the inside of this cup!)

Many of you have seen this favorite quote of mine over the years.  It's no secret how strongly I feel about our little sister bees and the challenges that they are suffering with viruses, pesticides, etc.  We really need to protect these little pollinators because they truly hold in their little pollen collecting legs the future of our population. Without them many of the foods that feed us will cease to exist.

So…it makes my heart smile when my friends and family think of me when they come across beeutiful items and gift them to me in various ways.  I have received so many beautiful unique hand written and treasured cards that include bees from my dear friend Margene. Manise aka @manise2 is always sending me pictures of her beautiful sunflowers with sleeping bees, along with the lovely mug that she purchased in Rhinebeck this year and a treasured framed bee picture a few years ago. Lovely Wendy aka @hivetender gave me the most delicious NH harvested Honey last year when I vended at Fiber Revival.
I could go on and on and you see in the picture above that I treasure each and every one of them.

~

It is said that  Bees are a sisterhood of workers, devoted to each other and to the work that is so important to them.  Bees have a unique kind of communication called the "Waggle Dance"  This type of communication is very sophisticated and unique to the Honey Bee.  I love that the Fiber Sister Hive is devoted to each other as well and I love that we dance together in our own unique way, tending to each other when we need that extra little bit of love and honey.
~ Thank you grrls!

 

I'm not going to lie, I don't always love swatching yarn for a sweater, but historically when I haven't or I haven't trusted those little swatches I usually end up with a sweater that is too big.

One thing I have learned is needles can tell their own story as well. See these swatches?  The two in stockinette were both knit with size 9 needles, which is a size smaller than is recommended, but both swatches are still a bit big, with the first one I knit with a pair of circular needles being a whole stitch larger than the second one done with another pair of circular needles of the same size.

I'm going to drop down to a size 8 to see what this gives me, but knowing the I knit Helvetica with only a size smaller than the recommended needle with the same yarn substitution makes me a bit leary….but this is why we swatch, and why I always recommend buying that extra skein of yarn to sample.

I will be making Elizabeth Doherty’s Elorie and I really want this to fit well so this will all be worth it in the end. 

Seven geese pierce straight over frigid bay,
Intervals between them constantly equal,
Pointed wings slash as if joined to an axle:
Today is the ideal moment between yesterday and tomorrow.
~Deng Ming-Dao

It's been a while since I have been with you in this place, hasn't it?  Yesterday Carole posted about NaBloPoMo.
(which really means a month worth of blogging in November..every.single.day).
It's been a long time since I have done this challenge because I know how hard it can be to write something every day for a month, but I'm up for the challenge even though I am starting a few days late.

A lot has happened in my life since I last posted.  Another foot surgery and a serious bone infection were a few of the harder things, but a new job, lots of knitting and time at the ocean are all wonderful things.
A lot of things have remained the same as well, such as my daily walks that can be challenging somedays and rewarding on other days.
 It would be impossible to catch up, so I will start here with the new things of every day.

~

This was a working weekend for sure!  Saturday we helped Stacey and Jeff move into a new and much smaller space.  Cleaning up the old place and helping them feel comfortable in the new place was a true family event.  I love these people I get to call family!

~

Sunday was another full day of work for Ken and I.  He is building a new back porch that is also safe for the dogs, so it's definitely been a process. of moving fences until it is finished. A new door is going on next and I think I have finally convinced Ken to pay someone to paint the house next year instead of doing it himself.
If you have ever been here, you know that porch should have been replaced years ago…ha!

I spent the day dyeing a wholesale order for a friend who owns a shop called Yarn Social.  It's been a wonderful success for her and I am happy to have some of my yarns there.

I also spent time getting a few things ready for the season that comes next..sigh.  My kitchen windows are a beast to wash!  They are old windows with glazing that should be replaced, but hopefully we will be replacing these windows next summer to match the newer ones we have been slowly replacing.
Nothing beats clean, sparkling windows!  Well maybe a few things, but I do love clean windows!

It's nice to be back!

If you have ever had your foot in a cast, you know just how awful your feet can be when it's taken off.  I know myself, I have never seen the kind of peeling that I saw on my foot when the doctor removed my final bandages.  Ey yi yi, I was a bit horrified!.
Normally in the winter my feet like many of yours gets dry, but this was something else, so I set about trying to find something to help with the peeling and stumbled upon the Avaha products after reading a lot of reviews.  
It's a bit pricey but I was willing to spend the extra money after seeing the condition my foot was in and I have to tell you, I have NEVER had such unbelievable results in such a short time.  I purchased both the intensive mud version and the water foot cream version

I can't say enough good things about this stuff.  My feet in the middle of this winter look like they did when I was a young girl…amazing stuff!

After completion
Come new beginnings.
To gain strength,
Renew the root.
Deng Ming~Dao

I've been pretty quiet all around on Social Media these last months.  I'm not going to lie, January was a rough month dealing with a foot healing from bunion surgery and 2 rounds of Colitis, one of which resulted with a few days in the hospital.
…and the SNOW..ey yi yi.  I think every day I had to travel down to southern NH for a doctor's appointment it snowed and being the huge weenie that I am when it comes to driving in the snow, Ken had to take time off to drive "Miss Daisy" back and forth.

 

The good news is, my foot is definitely on the mend and my stomach is healing…and it's FEBRUARY!
Needless to say, I planned on writing this post a week ago, but as usual time gets away from me.  I think I am going to concentrate on creating short little posts to get back in the habit of blogging again.

With all of the down time I have had, I have managed to get a lot of reading and knitting accomplished.  This sweater is almost finished now that I have torn the sleeves out and started re-knitting them.  They were just too long in between decreases for my short arms.  This sweater is kind of big all around for me, so if it's comfortable it will just be a baggy sweater and if it just seems too big, I will gift it to someone because the yarn is just so pretty in this color.

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.
In the beginning, all things are hopeful.  We prepare ourselves to start anew.  Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment; our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.
 Deng Ming~Dao

"Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support.
Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will die."
The Queen Must Die and Other Affairs of Bees and Men-

Yes…I know that this is a bumble bee, not a honey bee, but I love this quote from one of my favorite books.  It reminds me of the time I spent years ago in Rhinebeck with some of my dearest friends from far and near when we all watched the movie, "The Secret Life of Bees".
You grrls know who you are..I will always treasure that weekend in my heart!

I found this sweet little bee on the very last of my flowers that the frost still hasn't taken away.  She was so cold that she was unable to move until almost noon on Wednesday.  I was planning to cut them and bring them in that day, but I just let her bee until she was able to find her way again once warm enough.
Tomorrow the last flowers will be cut and brought in and the rest will all be brought up to the compost heap up the road from us.
I am sad to see Summer…and I am hoping that we might have some sort of fall before the long Winter season settles in up here because this is what we woke up to yesterday…

 

 

 

 It's amazing how fast a weekend flies by isn't it?  Last week I told you that Ken reached a milestone birthday, so I wanted to make this weekend one he could tuck away in his memory book…and we certainly crammed a lot into a 1/2 days!

We got a late start because I had the rest of the yarn club to get packaged and shipped out along with a few orders, which was fine as it was raining and a bit gloomy.  I surprised Ken by taking him to a place we had never really been before other than to quickly drive through a number of years ago...Harpswell Maine.  We stayed at a cute little place called the Quahog Bay Inn, which was very clean and spacious with wonderful owners who didn't require a 2 night stay.  We loved it, and will definitely go back again!

 

After we checked in and spent some time enjoying the view from our room, listening to music, we headed out for dinner at a fabulous place called the Dolphin Marina and Restaurant.  The sun had broken out just in time for us to see a stunning sunset.  The pictures above and below are the view from the property…so.beautiful!!  Another place we will definitely visit again!  The food was wonderful and the service was exceptional.  They even made a lemondrop martini that tastes like one I would have made myself, which rarely happens.  Yum!

Sunday morning we got up and out fairly early and took a hike on both sides of Devil's back, which really was little more than a nice walk with some small inclines, but wonderful views.  What you can't see on this group of rocks on the small island are lots of seals sunning themselves in the warm sun, the only thing missing was a pair of binoculars.  Note to self…."Christmas is coming." 😉

We packed up and headed off to Brunswick which is very close by.  They have a wonderful recreation bike and walk path that we visited.  Almost 6 miles back and forth filled with beautiful views and nice areas to rest if you need to take a break or enjoy a picnic lunch.  I was glad that we brought our bikes along.  It was a perfect day for a ride!

Ken is a bit of a history buff, so anytime we go away like this, he always finds a few historical spots that he wants to investigate and this trip was no different.  The first stop was this swinging bridge that crosses the Androscoggin River from Brunswick to Topsham.  Built in 1892, Ken immediately recognized the Roebling name, which instantly made it all the more interesting to him.

From there we headed back into Brunswick to visit the grave of Joshua Chamberlain, a civil war general, best known from his gallantry in The Battle of Gettysburg who later became the 32nd Governor of Maine.

All in all I think Ken had a birthday that he will remember with a smile.

 

Lines on the face tattoos of aging,
Life is proved upon the body
Like needle-jabs from a blind machine.
Deng Ming~Dao

He goes on to say , "In life, it is we who select what we will become by the actions we perform.  There is no reason to go through life thoughtlessly, to let accident shape us.  That is like allowing yourself to be tattooed by a blind man."

Wednesday I put on my shoes and went for a walk.  I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by so many things lately, as I am sure each of you feel in your lives as you go along.  So when I saw this Blue Heron (look close) on my walk, it made my heart smile.  I have always felt that the Blue Heron is my Spirit Animal and they always seem to make an appearance when I need them to, even when I don't realize it.

This morning when I left the house, I saved this picture here on TypePad and was going to finish my post when I got home.  When I finally had time to sit down after a busy day and had time to think about my post, it was a completely different post than what I had planned in my mind.

 I pulled out my favorite book tonight thinking I would land on a meditation about feeling overwhelmed for inspiration for my post, but instead I landed on the quote above, which made complete sense today when I thought about it.

Last month I turned the page to a new decade…60, and today, exactly a month later Ken turned that page.  I won't lie, I struggled with it for a few days and then moved on, but today I watched Ken go through the same struggle…the struggle is real, but time marches on and we can either keep up with it or not.

When we are young, we never think about aging until we are, but yet in our minds we settle our brains to see our 30 something self because even at 60 you really don't feel that much different other than gaining some knowledge and experience along the way….and my thirties were fun! Days filled with children, work and new explorations along with the struggles of our 30 year old selves. I know our sixties will be filled with special times as well with different explorations and different struggles, but even when we make mistakes as we all will, we get to select who we will become by our actions and our heart.

Nope, this was not the post I had in mind when I sat down this morning.at.all.
That Blue Heron made me smile and contemplate beyond the moment.