Unless you have been living under a rock, you will recognize this character as a Pikachu.  That's all I know about it except for the fact that it plays a large part in various Pokémon games. 

I am not a Pokémon player (and I think it's funny that blogger automatically adds the accent over the e) but my girls were when they were growing up. 

"But Donna Lee" , (I can hear you saying), "why are you sharing this with us?"  I'll tell you.  After several weeks of ungodly hot and humid days/nights, we have been finally blessed with a few days of absolutely delightful summer weather.  The kind you think about but don't experience very often.  It was sunny and warm but with a breeze and low humidity.

Just the kind of day you might think to yourself, "Hmm, it might be nice to have dinner in the park by the river tonight".  And so you make plans and rush home and pull together dinner and chairs and drinks and pick up your spouse at the train and head for your favorite park.  Only to get there to find that there is no place to park because the lot is full to bursting and that the park is full of people. 

This is a popular park but not usually on a Tuesday evening.  There were over 100 people milling around.  As we sat there, we noticed they were all looking at their cell phones and it dawned on us that they were Pokémon Go players.  I stopped a young woman and asked what was going on and she confirmed that indeed, these people were playing the game.

We had to turn around and go on home because it would not have been peaceful and/or relaxing to have all of these people milling around as we tried to eat our dinner.  I had no idea that there was more than one "release" of characters for people to find.  I have since learned that there are something like 7 generations of characters. 

So, we will find a new park for the time being.......

We have turned of the a/c for the past few days and it's been so nice to air out the house and let in fresh air-except for Mr. Skunk who seems to have taken up residence in either our yard or our neighbors. He (or possibly she) gets agitated around 2 in the morning and the smell is strong enough that it wakes me up.  I am all for Live and Let Live but I think he/she should live somewhere else. 

On Sunday, Pk, Elanor and I went to Smithville Inn for brunch and to walk around.  It was warm but not uncomfortablly hot.  We bought some chocolate flavored coffee and some toasted coconut flavored coffee and if you mix them, it tastes like a warm Mounds bar.  Just delicious.  I also was talked into this.  It holds Jelly Belly jelly beans.  I love jelly beans and these are my favorites.  It is sitting on the file cabinet in my office and has become very popular.  The machine itself was not expensive (it's all plastic) but keeping it filled with jelly beans might get to be.  I'm thinking I could use M&Ms as well. 

I am no longer teaching Handle with Care as my body protests (and I promised Pk I would give it up after my detached retina surgery last summer).  My supervisor asked if I could do a presentation on the verbal parts of HwC and I said yes.  I have been teaching it for over 12 years and have a good deal of information on handling aggressive patients.  I don't particularly enjoy speaking in front of people and if I start thinking about it, my heart rate goes up but I will be presenting my information on Sept 21 at our All Staff meeting.  I am using a book called Verbal Judo (G. Thompson).  If you have to deal with people all day, it's a terrific book on how to talk to people and defuse possibly volatile situations. 

Other than that, life is moving along.  We have a long weekend coming up for Labor Day and Pk and I are going to stretch it an extra day and possible make a day trip to the beach.  We haven't been for a while and we both love the beach.  Today, I am going for the final dental visit of the summer (it's number 5).  I have had 2 crowns, a root canal and a filling.  Today the last crown is placed in so it's a relatively easy visit.  No drilling or needles or other painful stuff. 

Time to get some work done.  Happy Wednesday!

We are hopefully coming to an end of over a week of "heat warnings" today but the temps are still in the 90's (it was 85 at 6 o'clock this morning).  I spend time each summer reminding my clients that they should use good sense in the summer.  Medicaitons can make you more vulnerable to the sun and getting heat exhaustion.

But do I listen to myself?  Apparently not.

We had a very warm (record breaking) weekend and our a/c (which is only in the bedrooms) had a hard time keeping up.  On Monday when I was coming home from work, the train car had no a/c.  It was unbelievably hot and I could feel my bod reacting to it.  I got headachy, nauseaus, dizzy.  Did I pay attention?  No.  I kept on doing what I needed to do and went to bed.  When I woke up Tuesday morning, I had a blinding headache and the room was spinning.  I called out of work and spent the day  drinking and eating lightly and binge watching Call the Midwife.  Today, I feel a bit better but not great so I am once again home.  If today were noticeably cooler, I might have gone to work but since it is another day over 90 degrees, I am going to be kind to myself and stay home.  My bedroom is cool and comfortable.  I keep a glass of unsweetened decaf tea or a glass of water at my side and drink all day.

When it's this hot, we don't open the front curtains to keep out the sun.  As a result, Pk has a crop of rather large yellow mushrooms growing in his fern.  I have no idea what kind they are or if they're poisonous.  They just look funny growing there.

I got in on a swap that I have wanted to do for a few years.  Molly at Celtic Swan Forge makes hand forged needles.  They are beautiful.  One year I bought a paiir of strights with rose quartz on the ends for Emily.  Molly likes handknit socks but doesn't knit.  She offers a set of 5 dpns in exchange for a pair of handknit socks.  I think this is a good deal!  I enjoy making socks and would love a pair of her needles.  I am making a pair of purple socks for her and will get a pair of size 2 dpns in exchange.  How cool is that?

I finished this pair for Kate's birthday.  The yarn is a single and the colors are fall-like.  The pattern is Stout Grove from Fiiberwild's Sock of the Month club.  This year is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service so all of their selections have something to do with National Parks or trees.  These are wonderfully soft and will be warm when this summer finally lets go and winter moves into the neighborhood.

Two of my three girls have moved out and have homes of their own.  We are tying to find new holiday traditions to accomodate this very natural part of life.  We used to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve and then get together the next morning to open our presents.  This means that Em and Kate don't get to enjoy Christmas morning in their homes.  We tried the "open the presents on Christmas Eve" but I didn't like that so much.  It felt rushed and not relaxed and joyful. I am pondering other options so that everyone can enjoy the holiday and have it stll feel specal.  It feels funny to talk about it while it's still so warm but it will be here before we know it.

I am also working on a Saroyan for my sister in law for Christmas.  It's an easy pattern and I'm using a skein of Zen Yarn Garden't Serenity Silk (merino, cashmere, silk).  It is so pretty and so very soft.  This pattern is a small shoulder piece and will work well under a winter coat.  I am keeping the scale close by because this is measured out in percentages.  The increase are 27.5% and the middle is 45% and the decrease is 27.5%.  I weigh the skein and keep going until I reach the percentage I am aiming for and then begin the next part.  It's a new way for me to knit.  I'm used to just eyeballing it but this yarn is so beautiful that I want to use it all.

NOAA says it's 85 degrees with 67% humidity with storms headed this way tonight.  There is not a breath of air outside.  I think I am ready for summer to be over.......

We are planning to go to brunch at Smithville Inn this Sunday.  They do one of the nicest  brunches around.  They are in the middle of a "village" of shops.  I like to get some scented soaps for Christmas stockings and they have a coffee/tea shop that is filled with imaginative food stuffs.  I also never miss a chance to walk through the Christmas store.  It's a lovely way to spend a Sunday.  

How do you end summer?  Kids going back to school (I admit I miss the smell of new notebooks)?  Vacations?  As much as I enjoy the relative ease of summer's lighter schedules, I look forward to the days shortening and wearing sweaters and cooking (I cook as little as possible in the heat).

It's been six months since my last post.  I wish I could say it was because Life was so boring there was nothing to write about but that is not the case.  2016 has been an interesting year.  So, let's explore what's been going on in my neck of the woods.

In January, we attended the memorial for Peter Kevin's sister.  It was lovely, as these things often are.  Her daughter (who looks so much like her mother, it was eerie) gave a wonderful and loving eulogy and the minister kept calling my brother in law Ronald, "Roland".  We thought there was another man involved somewhere.....

In February, I learned to make Danish. These are just out of the oven before they were glazed.  Oh my goodness they are good.  The pastry is buttery and not sweet and the fillings (which came out of a can) were so tasty. Peter Kevin liked them more than the ones we get at the bakery.

In Feb, I was Employee of the Month and Peter Kevin turned 58 (so he can stop calling me the older woman).

I finished the Moria mittens.  They came out just perfect.  I had to alter the pattern a bit since it has a pointy top and Pk doesn't like that.  He likes them and since he lost his gloves somewhere, they came in handy.

In March, I learned to make yogurt and it was good.  Then I caught a noro virus and the last thing I ate before I was sick was yogurt so I am (still) not able to eat it. I also learned to make poviticia.

It's a bread from the Ukraine area of the world.  The filling is chocolate and chopped walnuts.  It was delicious.  And surprisingly fun to make.

And I almost forgot!  We paid off our mortgage in March.  THAT was so very cool.  

Easter came and went and we got snow again on April 9.  Huge flakes fell and covered the new, green growth on the rose bushes

I did a bunch of baby knitting for our anticipated grandchild and then in June, our granddaughter was stillborn (after an uneventful full term pregnancy).  Our entire world collapsed around us and we wandered around like zombies for a long while.  Kate and Patrick are picking up the pieces of their lives are moving forward.  This tiny person left a huge hole in our family.

Pk had a car accident and we had to buy a new car.  So we had 2 months of having a bit of extra money and now we have a car payment.  

I made jam and pickles and as we come to the last part of summer, we were planning to can some tomatos but we have not harvested a single fruit.  The weather has been weird.  Very hot or very rainy.  This week we are having some perfect summer weather-sunny, warm and low humidity.  It's so nice for a change.

Last week we traveled to Indiana to see Pk's brother and his family.  It's been such a long time since we saw them.  He is sick and may not have a lot of time left.  Three of Peter Kevin's sisters came with us and it was a nice reunion for them all.

Our life goes on and we are all well.  Peter Kevin likes his job and is settled there.  I am still in the same job and am content with that.  We are so fortunate in a lot of ways.  Life can be full of awful but it is also full of good and mostly they seem to balance out.  

Tomorrow my "baby" turns 27.  Kathryn Margaret is such a wonderful young woman.  She is hard working and loyal and smart and funny and just a joy to know.  She is endlessly creative and has just opened an Etsy store to sell hand painted nail art.  The young woman who didn't want makeup or nail polish when she was a teenager now has a shelf full of nail colors.  

As for this blog?  I have taken the last 6 months to decide that I do want to keep it going.  I think I missed it.  I want to get back in the habit of taking photos to share (when we were at MDSW, I took 2 pictures all day) and noticing things around me to write about.

So, what have you been up to?