This was one of those summer evenings that will always hold a special spot in my heart.  

Where the temperatures are warm and the sun is still sitting high at 6pm.  

Where we ate our favorite take out.  

A lot.  

Spending the week out in Lake Tahoe and it's been very very relaxing! 

 I have some catching up to do!

{Lavender Farm / June 28, 2023 Orient, New York}

My schedule the last few months has been providing a lot of packing and unpacking.  All fun,  but that left little time to get organized enough to visit this space.

I'll be back tomorrow as I have plenty of past things to share as well as current!  

Well, hello there! It's been a while!
I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since I have been here.

The end of summer. I can feel it in every part of my soul. 

 My dearest July,

I realize that it is August 11, and my heart has moved on to love this beautiful month.  But I want you to know that you gave me some of the most incredible summer days that I have ever had the pleasure of living. 

Your cool mornings alone at the pool are by far and away my favorite way to start a day.  July, please know that your weather is far and away the most special to me.  You were so wonderful to give us days for the men to work on building our lovely kitchen. (If only you could have made them work faster.) While I'm cooking and baking, in our new kitchen, I will think back to when the scraping and pounding filled most of your week days.  

You welcomed my girl home and then my oldest boy.  Their presence is welcome anytime, but you do know how to give us so much love and light!  Your sunshine gave the hydrangeas just enough warmth to blossom into a beautiful bounty of gorgeousness.  

I want you to know, July, that I care so deeply about you, still.  That you and I held something so precious that it will never fade and you will always occupy a place in my heart as well as my mind.  

With all the warmth and love I can give.

Leslie

Good Morning sweet friends.  Hope you are all doing well.
We've been in self quarantine for a week.  My kids are all home and are on Day 5 of their self quarantine.
Libby had been exposed to a couple of kids in Boulder with Covid-19 and Charlie worked with many international peeps in Big Sky so they are all self quarantining in our guest house.  They also spent 21 hours in the car together on their trek back from the west.  Andrew decided he would rather be with them than anyone else, so he is with them, also.

I've had a hard time focusing on anything other than trying to keep busy.  I knit a little but not a whole lot.  Last week I had a hard time sitting still.  I plan to change that this week.  Accept the things we cannot change.  Continue to pray for the leaders and our world.  Be thankful for each and every blessing we have.  And knit.

Some of the things that can help to keep my mind busy and make me feel better.
• applying undereye concealer daily.  sometime twice a day.
• trying my hand at latte art.
• zoom yoga with my sisters.
• organizing my yarn.  again and again.
• organizing drawers.
• baking for the kids.

My sweet mom was a nurse.  During this point in her life she was a school nurse.  At the high school where my sisters and I attended.  It was pretty cool to have her as our school nurse.
I love this photo of her in the nurses office.  Knitting away.  And I remember that sweater with it's stripes wrapping around the sleeves.  Her fingernails painted as usual.  I just wish I knew what was on that piece of paper that was making her so happy.

Happy Birthday Mom.  I love you with all of my heart.

Time in the Sierra Nevada's.  With my man, my sisters and my Hipster Shawl totally put me in the mood.  I LOVE hand knits!
And my family.  ❤️

Well, hello there, sweet friends!  Happy July!
For me, July seems like the beginning of summer.  Maybe it was because we were away so much in June.  I literally spent the night in my bed 4 nights all month.  Crazy, but good.  I was in Florida visiting my sweet mama for the first week.  The second half of the month was spent in Boulder, CO visiting Libby and then Steve and I grabbed her and headed to Lake Tahoe for a couple of weeks.  Five out of our six kids were there.  It was FUN!  Steve and I finished the month in Calistoga, Ca  with a little (A LOT) of wine tasting.

Now I am home... for a bit.  Libby is home for a quick minute, and that has been special.  Andrew is home for the summer and it has been great.  A lot of golf for him.  And of course, I try to get Charlie to come home whenever he can.  Always bribing him with food.

But the big news is... I got a new computer! 😍  I haven't spent much time on my computer lately because I literally ran out of space.  With the amount of photos I have taken through the years, it literally took up all of my space. (50,000+)   I know, I know,  delete them or put them on a hard drive.  But, that just doesn't work for me because the chances of me plugging in the external hard drive to into my computer to find the one photo I am looking for just was never going to work for me.  SO, I would spend hours deleting 500 photos so that I could upload 10 photos.  Ack.  It was driving me crazy.

SO... I'm back with my computer and my camera and I plan on visiting this space a lot more often.

Hope knitting is happening a lot in your lives.  Just wait till you see my Weekender.  🙄

Before our summer schedules become too crazy, we took a quick trip to Florida to visit my sweet mother.
I miss my mom every day.

 The back patio is open and if it's not raining THAT is where we will be eating our meals.  I've missed the outside so much this past winter.
Having three helpers once again makes my heart not only full but gives me more time to knit!

 Yesterday was so spectacular.  One of those gorgeous days that give you hope that spring truly is right around the corner.  (Despite the impending snow we should be getting today. ) Yesterday I grabbed the basket where my Maine Squeeze sits and a tartan blanket. I headed outside and plopped the blanket on the freezing flagstone.  I let the chickens out of the coop and sat with them to protect them from the hawks that would love to have them as a snack.  They were in heaven.  So was I.  It felt so familiar.  Like I was sitting outside, knitting, watching my children play. It truly seems like yesterday that I was doing just that.
So, it's hard to believe that I drove my oldest baby back to college (OSU) on Sunday after his Spring Break.  I told him I couldn't believe that he only has about 6 weeks left until he will graduate.  He told me that he is more than aware.  That he has known to treasure every day of this year.  I reminded him that treasuring every day of every year will be the only way to think from now on.  Cheers to yesterday and more importantly to today.

It was the first time I made a peppermint cake.  I figured it was that time of year, and this year I am feeling particularly festive. It wasn't that pretty, but it sure was delicious.

 Ha.  So, remember when we decided to Rent the Chickens?!  Well, we loved it so much we decided to Adopt the Chickens.  The chicken experience was just too great.  And fresh eggs daily?  It's a dream!
Meet Scarlett, Violett, Gray and Lucille.

I hope I always appreciate a sunrise and a sunset.
I am grateful to have the winter sunsets to admire from our home.
As the sun rose this morning, I drank coffee in bed while scrolling through instagram and treasuring the beauty of a cotton candy sky.
Appreciating the gift of another 24 hours of being alive.

Three weeks ago, Steve and I headed to the Oregon Coast.  It's been on my list for a while.  We felt it was just what we needed after recuperating from my broken foot and ankle.  That all seems so silly now.
Our first morning there, I received a text that rocked my world more than anything I had ever been through before.  You see, my sweet Andrew had been in an auto accident.  The text came through in a group text that included the parents of Andrew's golf team.  Andrew and three other members of the golf team were involved in an auto accident.  Andrew was driving.  I crumbled to my knees.  The SUV hit a bank, flipped and hit a utility poll.  The utility poll fell on the car.  Three boys were rushed to the ER at Children's Hospital.  My son, Andrew, was pinned in the car.  It took the fire department two hours to get him out.  Once out, he was rushed to the trauma unit.
I was totally helpless on the other side of the country.
The next 20 hours are a complete blur.  Getting ourselves to Portland Airport.  We purchased tickets to Pittsburgh via San Francisco.  The San Francisco flights were cancelled due to the awful fires.  Rerouted through Newark, we finally made it home at 11am the next day.
Andrew had been through the first of 3 surgeries to repair his femur.  Three of the four boys had to be hospitalized.  Each sustaining injuries that will take care and time.
The accident has left scars on all of the boys.  Physical and emotional.  To say that I have been afraid has been an understatement.  I've worried non stop about all of the boys.  About their families.  I hate that they have all gone throw this extremely difficult time.  The love and support from our community along with the power of prayer from friends and family will never be forgotten.  God has answered our prayers and eventually all of our boys will be back to themselves.

The fragility of life is always present.  But has been even more so during these past few weeks.  Please, remind your people not to speed.  To pay attention.  To live life carefully.  It's beautiful and precious and by the grace of God they are all here to enjoy it.  Thank you God.

Happy March, Friends!

February was fun.  Really fun.  There wasn't much knitting that took place, but there were other things.  Things that filled my soul.  Things that ignited my soul.  From the magnificence of the Grand Canyon to this past week's Yeah Field Trip.

I traveled with a couple of friends to Yeah Field Trip to learn more about photography. But the funny thing is, I didn't take a single photography class.  There were so many other classes my soul needed instead.  I loved hearing about others creative journeys.  I loved meeting so many people that are following their hearts.  Their passions.  Like minded people finding their way.  I took few photos.  And, my photos don't tell the magic that happened deep in my heart.

It was a gathering of such.  And we gathered with others to learn.  To educate.  To connect.  To grow.  To laugh.  To cry.  To be fed.  To fill up.  To love. To listen.  To notice. To be curious.  Basically, to be deeply nourished.

I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this experience was.  I am forever grateful and amazed at the creative souls who gathered there and all of the goodness there is in this wonderful world.

Cheers to a New Year sweet friends!  I'm wishing you a year full of health and happiness with A LOT of knitting sprinkled in your days.
xx,
leslie