Carole Knits

october zinnia
october zinnia
martinis with a view
martinis with a view
gettysburg fence for
gettysburg fence for
germinate shawl on rocks
germinate shawl on rocks
field of flags 2
field of flags 2
color affection with edge
color affection with edge
cedar leaf shawlette 2
cedar leaf shawlette 2
3_27_2014
3_27_2014
3_18_13
3_18_13
2_24_2014
2_24_2014
1_11_13
1_11_13
peony-bouquet-for-carole-knits
peony-bouquet-for-carole-knits
dale-and-jackie-for-carole-knits
dale-and-jackie-for-carole-knits
nightshift-progress-for-carole-knits
nightshift-progress-for-carole-knits

Monday On My Mind

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It’s Monday. And it’s not a holiday. Time to get back to sharing what’s on my mind.

I read something recently, I think it was from the NYT Cooking, and it was describing a recipe as so good it would make you feel like you were eating in a restaurant . . . back in the days when eating in a restaurant was a solace and not anxiety producing. And I realized – that’s IT. That’s why Dale and I have no interest in going out to eat right now. It’s not because we are living in fear or overreacting. It’s because the thing we loved was to sit at the bar and have a drink and relax and eventually get something to eat, too. It was relaxing and fun and sociable. The idea of going to a restaurant and wearing a mask and being sort of . . . trapped . . . at a table just doesn’t appeal to us at all. So we continue to cook at home and get take out and we’re good with it.

One bonus to the change in lifestyle we’ve experienced since the start of the pandemic is we are saving money. Sure, I’m spending more at the grocery store, but we save a lot by not going out to eat because cocktails are spendy. And we aren’t traveling. Normally we would have spent a weekend in Maine this fall, shopping at L.L. Bean and the outlets, eating in restaurants and staying in a hotel. We decided to go with mail order for the stuff we wanted at L.L. Bean and we both now have new matching flannel pants for the upcoming season. Yes, we wear matching lounge wear and not just at Christmas. Go ahead. You can call us dorks.

Early voting has begun in Massachusetts and reports are that record numbers of people are turning out for this. I decided to google how early voting works across America and I was surprised to see just how many states don’t offer it. And just how many states have only in person voting and don’t offer absentee ballots without an excuse. I’ll refrain from going on a diatribe about voter suppression but looking at the states which are working hard to offer lots of options for voting vs those who aren’t . . . well . .. I have my theories.

And that’s what’s on my mind this Monday. Let’s have a good week!

Monday On My Mind

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Let’s got for week two of what’s on my Mind, hmmm?

I am having an issue commenting on blogs that use wordpress. See, in order to comment I have to login. And, well, I have a very complex wordpress password. It’s not that I can’t remember it because I have it. It’s more that I don’t want to be logging in to wordpress all over the internets that way. Which is all just a way of me saying, if you use wordpress and I’m not commenting . . . don’t think I’m not reading. I am.

I have this habit of pinning lots of recipes I want to try on Pinterest. I have several boards for recipes, from Friday Night Snacks to All Apps All the Time to Eat Your Veggies. But what tends to happen is that I save a recipe and then . . . I forget about it . . . or I remember about it but I can’t remember where I saved it. Yeah. It’s a mess. So I’m wondering. How do you track new recipes you want to try? I’m experimenting with EverNote and hoping I might use that to remind myself of the things I want to cook but it’s not a perfect solution and I’m hoping you might have one.

Last week Gretchen and Elizabeth discussed pandemic regret on the Happier Podcast. They went on for a bit about all the things we should be doing and how we’re going to regret not doing them when this is all over. You know what I say to that? Bullshit. Because this is a lot to handle. Masks and PPE, hand washing and shortages of things we never anticipated (I’m still waiting on the freezer we ordered in May when ours died) plus figuring out working from home and remote learning. So if you aren’t cleaning out your closets or baking the perfect sourdough loaf or learning Spanish . . . it’s OKAY. Really. What you are doing every day to absorb these changes and incorporate them into your life is enough. YOU are enough.

And that’s what’s on my mind this Monday.

Monday On My Mind

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Recently Brené Brown dropped a podcast episode that she called On My Mind. She talked about a few things she’d been dealing with and offered some great advice and insight – as she always does. The topic got me inspired, though, to give it a try for my Monday posts.

So. This will definitely evolve over time. I may decide it doesn’t even work. But for this week . . . this Monday . . . these are some things on my mind.

Books. Of course, these are almost always on my mind since I’m a librarian. But last night Dale and I had a great conversation about books. He’s currently reading The Dutch House and I was explaining to him that it was written by the same author as Bel Canto. Remember when we read that for Book Club? And he said, nope, he hadn’t read that one yet. I’m sort of jealous that he will get to read it for the first time, it’s just so good. We also touched on: East of Eden, The Sun Also Rises, Sleeping with Pancho Villa, and the works of James Baldwin because I am currently reading Begin Again.

Flowers. My home is bursting with flowers right now. There is a vase full of dahlias from week 3 of my flower CSA. There are zinnias in the bathroom and bedroom. There is a tiny vase of dahlias from week 2 that are still alive. And in my living room there is a huge bouquet from a local florist. This one was a gift from my coworkers at the COA to say thank you . . . and goodbye. You see, as of today, I am no longer serving as COA Director. I did it for 10.5 years and that’s enough. It’s another of those things the pandemic made clear and I’m excited about the change and ready to be “nothing” but a Library Director again. There’s a pay cut that goes along with this change but you know what? Money isn’t a motivator in this situation. Satisfaction. Fulfillment. Purpose. Those are my motivators right now and I feel great about this decision.

The loss of RBG. I have a lot of thoughts about this, as I’m sure you do, too. I won’t comment on the power grab and hypocrisy that’s happening with the rush to replace her because I just . . . can’t. What I keep considering, though, is the fact that so many of us were utterly gutted by her death and I wonder why. I mean, I know she did incredible things for women . . . the right to have a credit card in our name . . . the right to have a mortgage . . . and so much more. The future of women in this country had to have been such a burden for those small but powerful shoulders to carry. It makes me realize that we (women, in particular) need a deeper bench. When a powerful man dies there are plenty of other powerful men to look to as role models. But RBG? There’s just no one to look to who can be all that she was to women in this country. I know I’m preaching to the choir here but we need to teach our daughters to be leaders. We need to recognize the unique talents that women have. We need to promote women, uphold women, and VOTE for women.

Have a good Monday, friends.