Three On Thursday

May 24, 2018 By Carole

Remember the other day when I posted the remaining photos of our Nashville trip and called it a wrap? Welp, yesterday when I took photos of the Islington Shawl and uploaded them to the computer, guess what I found on that memory card? Yep! More photos from Nashville. Specifically, more photos of murals in Nashville. I decided to share 3 that feature Dale today, hope they make you smile!

First up, Angel Wings.

Next, the Draper James wall which just so happens to be right across the street from . . .

The I believe in Nashville mural. Definitely one of our favorites!

Murals are a very big thing in Nashville and it was really fun to seek them out and take photos.

If you wrote a post for today please include your link below and thank you for playing along!

An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesdays Are For Knitting: Islington Shawl

May 23, 2018 By Carole

This shawl. Oh, this shawl. I love it and yet it has been a long long fezzle to get to this blog post. I started it on January 1, 2017. 2017. And then I finished it in November 2017. You know when I blocked it? Last Saturday. May 19, 2018. Good grief.

It’s lovely, though, and I’m so very glad it’s done.

The pattern is Islington Shawl by Kirsten Kapur and, like all of her designs, it’s well written, fun to knit, and really beautifully designed. Seriously, her shawl patterns get me every time.

The yarn is Woolen Rabbit’s Opal in the colors Chimney Sweep and Daddy Steelbucks and to me this section looks like stars on a night sky. It looks like a very complicated stitch pattern but it was really quite entertaining and simple to execute.

All in all, it’s lovely and I’m so very glad it’s done!

Nashville Wrap Up

May 22, 2018 By Carole

Remember that trip to Nashville we took last month? I have more photos to share with you, to round out our experience because, believe it or not, it was about more than music and food.

It was also about boots. Lots and lots of boots.

We each bought two pair. I love Dale’s new brown ones because they aren’t as pointy and in-your-face-I’m-wearing-cowboy-boots as some that he has. Mine, on the other hard, are very pointy and very I’m-wearing-cowboy-boots. Not just these brown ones . . .

But these black ones, too. Both pairs are super comfortable and I wore them all week. I’ve even worn them since we’ve been home but . . . since I’m in Massachusetts . . . I have not worn them with skinny jeans tucked in . . . it’s just not a thing here.

Nashville has some great places to hang out like Pinewood Social, which is complete with a coffee bar, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, and really fabulous food. We went there twice, once for late night drinks and once for lunch but we never did do any bowling.

This here is the pedestrian bridge as seen from the roof top bar of Acme Feed & Seed. We never did get to walk over it . . . you may recall it was rather cold for most of the week . . . but that just means we’ll have to go back.

Nashville also has great murals although technically this one is in Franklin.

And this one isn’t really a mural, just a cool (and rather appropriate) sign in a restaurant.

We made a special point of visiting the angel wings mural. I just love this one and I’m glad Dale was able to get a picture of me in front of them . . . it’s hard for this photographer to hand over the camera, you know.

And that’s a wrap on Nashville. At least for this time because I can promise you, we’ll be going back!

Weekending

May 21, 2018 By Carole

Happy Monday, friends! And can I just say, right now, how glad I am that next Monday is a holiday? Because this Monday work thing seems to come around much too quickly. I imagine that’s partly because we manage to cram so much into the weekend. Here. I’ll show you . . .

Friday:

A walk with Jack in the afternoon. He was tired and refused to sleep so we went for a walk since I thought the stroller would lull him to sleep. It didn’t but when we came back he fell asleep immediately and was out for about 90 minutes.

Friday Night Snacks. You know the drill. We caught up on some TV and watched the first episode of Little Women on Masterpiece Theater. It’s good but feels a bit rushed to me, I think it would be hard to follow if you didn’t know the story.

Saturday:

Up early (very early) for the royal wedding and some knitting. I thought the wedding was spectacular, loved the wedding gown, was utterly impressed with the ceremony itself (the gospel choir! the exuberant pastor! the flowers!), and it was all worth getting up for. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to take a late morning nap.

It was a raw and rainy day so there wasn’t much opportunity for yard work but we still got some stuff done around the house and then headed out in search of food. We had a wonderful time at The Olde Hitching Post, the restaurant where we had our wedding reception almost 21 years ago.

The music in the lounge was great and we had a really lovely evening. We even sneaked into the room where we had our reception on our way out and danced in the dark to Moon River (our wedding song) as it played on my iPhone in my pocket book. Tots romantic.

Sunday:

The weather finally cooperated for outside work and the first order of the day was getting our new window boxes hung. Dale did a great job getting them done and it really didn’t take much time at all, which makes me wonder why we didn’t do this 3 years ago when we first did the new siding on the house. This is step one of our new-front-yard-curb-appeal plan, all those plants you currently see in those beds are either being relocated or ditched, more on that as we make progress.

I went to a local nursery to get annuals for the window boxes and container gardens. I also picked up some lettuce but we’ll hold off on the rest of the vegetables until next weekend. It was awesome to enjoy the warmth of the day and wander through all the greenhouses making my selections.

And then I planted containers. I went with more foliage and less flowers this year although I’m sure I’ll get zinnias and some other things going, too. It started to rain just as I was finishing up – I actually planted the lettuce in a pretty steady downpour – but I got it done and the rain was a welcome way to get everything watered.

It cleared up enough for a cocktail on the deck but a passing shower drove us back inside where we hung out on the couch and caught up on more tv.

It was a busy, productive, fun weekend!

Eye Candy Friday

May 18, 2018 By Carole

I shared this photo on Instagram the other day and said how the smell of lilacs brings me right back to my childhood. The reason is because we had a giant hedge of lilacs growing down the entire side of our driveway. The scent was so strong and heady and I loved it. Now I find them too powerful to bring inside but I love to breath in their scent when I’m outside and it really does remind me of the home where I grew up.

I love that flowers are everywhere this time of year – it’s so easy to snap and share beautiful photos! I hope you’ll find some wherever you are this weekend, too.