Coming along. I’ve done more since this picture was taken. At times I sit down and spend an hour or two at the table. At other times, I stop by when doing something in the kitchen and invariably find a piece or two that I can add to the puzzle. That’s what I like about it. It’s all about the process, which is true for most things I do, whether it’s reading, quilting, working on a dollhouse, doing a jigsaw or crossword puzzle. I can be impatient about many things in life, but I’m not at all impatient about this kind of work.
It’s such a gorgeous puzzle.
So why wouldn’t I want to extend the pleasure of putting it all together as long as possible?
Also – it keeps me sane as we slowly, slowly run down the clock until the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. My prayers last night were for the safety of our leaders and everyone involved in our government. Sadly, I have a feeling that will be a constant prayer for quite a long time.
It’s another gray day here. Endless. Occasionally we get a hint of sunshine, but it quickly disappears. These are the challenging days, not just this winter but every winter. We work hard here at the cottage to maintain a positive attitude. But it sure is a challenge!
We watched PBS last night – the new series Miss Scarlett and The Duke and the second episode of All Creatures Great and Small. What a wonderful escape! I’m so enjoying both series.
Stay safe.
Happy Martin Luther King Day.
It is a georgous puzzle and looks quite challenging.
I binge-watched All Creatures and now I wish I had made it last longer. It was a lovely escape.
Michigan has been gray and dreary too. It is the hardest thing about living here in winter.
I guess Trump is going to pardon a long list tomorrow. I won’t be surprised if he pardons himself and possibly the insurrectionists.
Have a good day. Stay safe
I’m afraid to see the list. People have been paying for pardons. Only in this administration. I cannot wait to get rid of him.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
It looks one will be Bannon. Excuse me while I go throw up.
I’m not at all surprised. He and Bannon have been talking on the phone a lot lately. And Bannon is scum, so of course Trump will pardon him.
xo
the puzzle (love the sketchy line work and colors), new shows and pbs in general and being able to enjoy the journey made/make for a lovely day. glad for you!
taking it easy here today. with the passage of time, i notice certain movements come easier and with less pain. i thank God for that. also for knitting, that i have started to knit again after not for many, many weeks.
knitting (finishing this hat), a little bit of reading and napping will be what i do today. :)
tomorrow i get the first set of bone-building shots. process is to get these shots each month for a year, then hopefully return to one bone-stabilizing shot every six months. i pray they work and without any bad side effects.
hope you all have a good day and stay safe!
kathy in iowa
I’ll be hoping for a good result from your shots, Kathy. My Dr. prescribed them a couple of years ago, but I was put off by the cost. Hope I don’t come to regret staying with the pills. Hope they’ll be just what you’ve needed.
hej, shanna …
thank you so much!
i pray the medication helps you, too, and that treatment is helping your husband 100%.
between the cost and potential risks and benefits, it can be hard to choose among options, but we do the best we can, right?
hope you and your family are safe and feeling better every day.
thanks again.
kathy in iowa
If it is what I went on in 2016 I believe the shots work. I had the last one in West Va in may 2019. Returned to my doc. I did get a doc here fall of 2019… however here have to see a specialist and couldn’t do that because COVID…will wait and see in Florida…
Had first vaccine tonight. 21 days number 2 then 2 weeks more to see.. still warned to mask distance etc until more are vaccinated…
Prayers for Wednesday and all else
hej, brendab …
glad you got your first vaccine! hope it keeps you safe and gets you on your way.
good to hear the other shots helped you.
i am (starting tomorrow) getting shots called evenity once a month in both arms for a year, with the plan to then go back to prolia shots twice a year. praying for good results, no bad side effects.
and, yes, prayers for a safe inauguration and future for everyone!
hope you are well, safe!
kathy in iowa
I’m happy to hear that things are getting easier for you, Kathy.
Good luck with your shots tomorrow. We’ll be thinking of you!
Stay safe.
thanks, claudia!
kathy in iowa
xo
I didn’t know they had these bone-building shots; sounds like it’ll do you a world of good, kathy!
thanks, vicki!
i pray these bone-building shots (called evenity) help. the twice-yearly shots for bone density stabilization were prolia. hopefully i can return to them in a year.
hope you are staying cool and don’t get the high winds. stay safe in every way.
kathy in iowa
Yes it was prolia
glad it’s been helpful for you!
kathy in iowa
Glad to hear you are noticing some small improvements Kathy. It really does boost our spirits when that happens. Praying the shots work for you and bring you back to less frequent ones. Keep up your great attitude!
hej, donna …
thank you very much!
you’re right … seeing progress makes a big difference in attitude. i still have pain, wear a brace, will have those shots for a year and beyond, will have physical therapy and some things are off-limits for now, how i feel now compared to november and december is noticeably better … physically and emotionally. i was terrified, but now i have hope for my future. as i said before, i am grateful to God for not leaving me as i was!
thanks again for your support.
hope you are safe and well.
kathy in iowa
That is a beautiful puzzle – what is not to love about butterflies!
I watched PBS last night too and enjoyed both of those shows. I have to remember to donate to PBS as I do watch so many of their programs. Their news programs are always so thorough and I trust what they tell me which is important these days.
I am hoping for a peek of sunshine this week so I can get out for a walk.
Wishing our country peace on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
Stay safe!
Their news is the best in that it’s fairly reported with no bias.
Stay safe, Ellen!
I love your puzzle! We are working on one also. It’s the Polar Express. We had planned to do it before Christmas but never got around to it.
I didn’t watch PBS last night but I recorded All Creatures Great and Small. I wish I had recorded Miss Scarlet and the Duke. I wanted to watch last night but I think my sinuses are trying to kill me. I had such a headache that I finally gave up and went to bed. I feel much better today thankfully.
We plan to finish the walnuts today (YAY). We will have 16 lbs. or so in the freezer.
We’re trying to get everything finished today and tomorrow because we plan to be glued to the TV on Wednesday.
Stay safe!
Mine are troublesome as well – the occasional headache but mostly congestion.
Stay safe, Lorinda!
You are rocking that puzzle — it’s gorgeous and I can’t wait to see how it progresses.
I really love the new “All Creatures.” I was worried because the first was — well, so perfect. I wondered if this might be an unnecessary remake. But the characters are so lovely and there is such charm and love and joy in it — not to mention scenic eye candy. A friend calls it “Call the Midwife with animals” and she’s right. (Can’t wait for that one to come back this March — I think some of the loveliest writing ever on television.) I was pleased with Miss Scarlet and also that Rick liked it. Then I watched the Agatha Christie doc after that. I’ve read a lot of Christie bio/autobio and didn’t really learn much I didn’t know but it was fun to hear the memories of her grandson. I really need to whip out one of my Aggies for winter reading — I have them all, and all in those used paperback editions that you could find for a quarter at a used bookstore back in the 70s and 80s.
Have a wonderful day and keep that positive energy going. We lucked out in Michigan yesterday. Let’s hope it stays that way.
I’d love to see the Agatha Christie documentary but it was too late and we needed to go to bed. Hopefully, some day.
Stay safe, Jeanie!
We watched both of those last night, too. Loving All Creatures. Like so many, I was worried it wouldn’t be able to compare to the older one that I loved. Thankfully, not an issue at all as it is beautifully done! So enjoying it.
So very thankful that it was a peaceful weekend. Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying…that the remainder of the week is the same. So worried about safety on Wed. My worse fear is that someone on the inside has their own agenda.Hopefully everyone is being carefully vetted. The fact that this is even a thought in my mind is heartbreaking. Hope you have a peaceful day today, on this MLK Day. Take care.
hej, chris k in wisconsin …
i agree. when this last weekend passed without a repeat of january 06, i thought maybe the “online chatter” the fbi described was really posted by insurrectionists to fake out good-hearted people … that the next attempt would really be on inauguration day. i would like to be wrong about that. i also worry that some elected officials and/or other insiders were involved in the insurrection and pray i am wrong about that. and believe our elected officials especially should have to pass the strictest possible background checks and lie-detector tests.
less than 48 hours …
hope you and your family are well and safe.
kathy in iowa
We almost didn’t watch it because Don loved the original so much that he didn’t want to see the new one. But we relented and we’re really glad we did. It’s excellent.
I am very worried about Wednesday. Yes, you’re right. It’s normally something that wouldn’t even be in our thoughts. Thanks to Trump and insanity, it is.
Stay safe, Chris.
As for your gray, I wish I could send you our SoCalif abundant sunshine, but I wouldn’t wish this wind on anybody; it’s really grating on my already-shot nerves. At least it’s cooler after the 90s-temps (hotter) weather we’ve been enduring and, in this 10am hour, we’re only in the high 70s although it still puts us ‘above normal’ for a daytime temperature. Sometimes I look at the tall palms on the property adjoining ours, which have been there for over a hundred years, having made it through earthquakes and wildfire and Santa Ana winds, and…I swear…I feel that they’ll bend so far from east to west that they’ll break in these high winds, but they never do.
I’m going to combat the edginess with cleaning out a closet today.
Two people I know who have insisted on getting fresh food at the grocery stores (the quintessential devotees of French cuisine [wonderful French gastronomy]), several times out to shop per week since the start of the pandemic, have finally caved to curbside pickup as our Covid numbers get even more dire here. I do think they’re doing the right thing. Here, between the violent wind, unknown-as-yet unrest in our towns and cities, and the continual escalation of the raging virus, seems best to try to stay closer to home (and apart from shared air space) whenever possible. I’m once again grateful for the shelter of my little abode after going through a recent period where I felt like, more than ever, I was under house arrest.
Our friend in San Diego has been complaining about the heat as well. Much too warm for this time of year. And he doesn’t have air conditioning! We’ve been urging him to buy a window unit, but so far, he hasn’t.
Stay safe, Vicki.
Well, you know, climate change is real; ‘they’ say that California is just going to keep burning up with heat, more and more every year with the warming planet. And with heat is drought. So, it’s not a pretty picture. I would warn anybody to not move here. Overcrowding; too many of these hot and windy days with little to no rain; wildfire and earthquakes; can’t find a place to buy or rent without needing a lot of money in your wallet. Anyway, with such a hot January … well, I’m a native, pretty old now; I see the differences in the weather as the years go by. I can remember, gee, maybe 50 years ago having a really-warm February with these winds (was so strange for Valentine’s Day), but it was like one or two rare days; nothing like THIS.
Gracious, I couldn’t live without a/c in the SoCalif of today. San Diego is essentially at the border to Baja; as you well know, SD can get very, very warm.
My husband and I are feeling a bit wary that if the wind is THIS strong today, what on earth is it going to be tonight and tomorrow, when we’re in a high-wind warning (not watch) with the Nat’l Weather Service starting just about 12 hrs from now. I don’t want to lose electrical power. And of course we always pray we won’t have wildfire with these winds.
An aside, diff subject: What I think is so entirely graceless – – that Jill Biden and Joe Biden aren’t traditionally welcomed to The White House in their new role. They don’t deserve any snubs. Of course, consider the source of the problem. I wouldn’t want to shake either of the Trumps’ hands either.
When we lived in San Diego it was temperate. We hardly ever had to turn on the a/c. Things are very different there now.
Someone floated the idea that it would be great if all the former presidents were there to welcome the Bidens to the White House. They’ll be at the inauguration anyway. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Wish I could have a puzzle laying around my house, but the pieces would quickly become cat toys. I resign myself to Legos and Nanoblocks, which provide a different enjoyment, but are easy to bag away when I step away.
Not surprising that most of us are PBS fans….I loved that there was three hours of quality programming last night, watching, enjoying, stitching. I keep telling my daughter about the first All Creatures, and she’s interested in watching that series. Wondering if my library has it? At a minimum, I want to reread Herriott’s books.
Can you believe that I’ve never read his books? Don can’t believe it! I think I started one years and years ago and it just wasn’t the right time for whatever reason. I need to remedy that!
Stay safe, Wendy.
What a pretty puzzle. I’m glad you are hanging on and like you I’m waiting for Wed and then praying for a peaceful transition. Not sure what will happen.
I’m not either. Trump is doing everything he can to screw it up. Sigh.
I just want it to be 12:01 pm on Wednesday.
Stay safe, Linda.
Such sad times we are living in right now. I can only pray that changes will be made to ensure that the chaos that he caused can never happen again. Much, much, stricter laws and regulations regarding elected officials, especially the president, need to be in place. Lord knows that we have some in Congress and the Senate right now that are questionable at best.
Saw on the news that they are looking for a woman who is trying to sell a stolen laptop from Jan 6th to Russia. The media platform Parler is now back online thanks to Russia. Can you imagine all the people who are on it have had all their info, including the SS #’s I’ve read now being in Russian hands. God help us all.
Prayers that things go safely on Wednesday…..and beyond!
Yes, we need more protections in place so this never happens again.
Stay safe, Donna.