It’s almost the end of July, something I find hard to believe! Before the summer slips away, let’s do a what’s-happening-around-here update.

Reading: Fly Girl by Ann Hood

Watching: Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey

Listening: To the podcast Maintenance Phase

Knitting: Dale’s Musselburgh Hat. But hardly at all.

Eating: Cucumbers from our garden

Cutting: Zinnias from our garden. But not dahlias. Yet.

Seeing: 3 varieties of butterflies, yellow swallowtails, black swallowtails, and monarchs

Appreciating: People who repeat the phone number when they leave a voicemail. This is really a work thing since phone numbers show up on my iPhone.

Watching: Fred & George stretch out longer and longer the higher the temperature goes.

Finishing: My July OLW prompt and monthly update. I’m almost there and will share it with you soon.

Embracing: Body positivity and wearing a 2 piece bathing suit (mostly at home but once at a local campground/pond!) because it’s just more comfortable

Wishing: For a good soaking rain

Hope all is well for you and your world.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post about what’s happening currently. And also, I can’t come up with another topic for today’s blog. So here we are.

Reading: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Listening: In Love by Amy Bloom

Celebrating: the Spring Equinox and Ostara. Hooray for this beautiful season of renewal and hope!

Watching: The Gilded Age

Hearing: Spring peepers, a most welcome and beautiful sound

Knitting: The Daytripper Cardigan and toe up socks and a Santa Hat. In other words . . . nothing new.

Planning: Garden beds. I’m thinking maybe all flowers this year and no vegetables.

Enjoying: the antics of Fred and George. They are funny and sweet and also full of the dickens.

Feeling: Good! It’s been a week since I’ve take any Advil and that’s the longest I’ve gone without it since last summer.

Remembering: My mom. She died 24 years ago today. I suppose I can now say that I’m used to her being gone but I still miss her and wish I could talk to her just about every day.

Engaging: In local politics. I can’t change much on the world’s stage but I can help those trying to do good things for my community and at least that’s something.

And that’s all the news from Carole Knits for today. Happy Monday, let’s hope it’s a good one!

How about a random gathering of thoughts and things that are happening around here?

Reading: Memorial by Bryan Washington

Knitting: Pink Socks. And The Shift.

Watching: Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. And reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond when I need to just veg.

Playing: Tetris. Way too much Tetris.

Missing: My blogversary. Yep, it was January 31 and I forgot to post about it. 16 years of Carole Knits, can you believe it?

Considering: What do to about our current heat situation. We need to replace our furnace but aren’t sure whether to stick with oil or change to natural gas. At the same time we are thinking it might be time to remove our beloved wood stove and convert to a gas log fireplace. Doing that opens up a whole lot of options for our living room . . . demolishing the big brick hearth, determining if we can open up a closed fireplace front and chimney for a gas insert, or even just converting that to a traditional wood burning fireplace and putting baseboard heat in this room. And all of that means new flooring and sheet rock. It’s a lot, and every component comes from a different sort of expert or vendor. Decision fatigue is keeping me from moving forward on this.

Taking: iPhone photos ever day. The 100 Day Project has been a good catalyst for getting me back in the habit of taking photos and I’m getting to know the iPhone 12 in the process. I’ve interspersed a few of my favorites throughout this post.

Growing: Herbs in an Aerogarden. Kym posted about getting one and I contemplated it for about half a second before I ordered one myself. The basil and dill are sprouting already!

Appreciating: The lack of drama that has taken hold when it comes to politics. I realize this may change with the start of the impeachment trial but seriously, I love getting up in the morning and not finding half a dozen upsetting updates from the NY Times on my phone.

Baking: with Jackie on Friday afternoons. So far we have made banana bread (his favorite, I think), brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. I think this week we may try muffins. He loves to help in the kitchen, adding ingredients, and he puts his little hand on my arm to “help” me when I do everything from stirring to measuring. It’s adorbs.

Loving: Our Christmas bedroom. This is year 2 with the gray walls and I adore how that neutral background allows for all kinds of Christmas decor.

Reading: The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey. It’s very good and I’m just about done, thank goodness, since it will be swept away from my kindle by Ms. Libby any day now.

Knitting: Dissent Cowl by Carissa Browning. I’m a little late to the party on this one, I think. I’m using Rowan Felted Tweed in Bilberry for the dark and Clay for the light. It’s great knitting for TV watching. I have a few hand knits that I haven’t been able to show you yet but Christmas is just about here so you can expect them over the next few weeks.

Baking: Swedish rye bread and cardamom braid. Because Christmas.

Watching: cheesy Hallmark movies and kids Christmas specials like Rudolph and Year Without a Santa Claus.

Considering: Dropping Project 365 from my daily routine. I’ve taken a photo a day, every day, since 2009! I originally started it to learn to use my new camera and improve my photography skills. Now, all these years later, it feels forced. I’m still committed to taking photos of things that inspire me, moments I want to capture, memories I want to keep, but I think I’m ready to let go of the task of taking a photo and just let myself be inspired by it instead.

Trying: a gravity blanket. I fall asleep just fine but wake in the night and have trying getting back to sleep. I know it’s related to hormones (thanks menopause) but add in some other stresses and pandemic anxiety and . . . it’s annoying. I’ve read that a gravity blanket can help and I’ve had one for 2 nights now. I will say I’m less restless, probably because turning over in bed now feels like strength training! Seriously, Dale came in the other night and said, how’s the new blanket? And I said, more weight.

Taking: vacation, not just from work but from blogging, too. I love having the week after Christmas off. It’s a great time to read and knit, play games, and do some things around the house. I’ll be popping in at some point, and I’ll definitely be blogging on Thursday the 31st but otherwise you won’t see me here much.

Wishing: you all a happy holiday season! It may look and feel different this year but I’m hoping you’ll find joy.