THESE SUMMER DAYS

Some old fashioned things
like sunshine and fresh air
are hard to beat.

~ Laura Ingalls Wilder 

I am enjoying these slow summer days,
are you?

There are trips several times a week
to the beaches [ I visit Hunting Island
and Edisto ]. The beach is my happy
place and with heat indexes in the 100's
and humidity that makes me melt I
am in the water as much as possible.

There is time in the gardens, weeding,
putting up all the fruits and vegetables
I can to be enjoyed during the winter
months.

I made my favorite lacto-fermented
salsa that I eat with everything!
{recipe at the end of post}.
If you make it let me know what you
think.

There is always knitting, knitting, knitting!
Did you know that as of yesterday
it are only 6 more months till Christmas?

I have been trying for over a year to get
my hands on the book, Slow Stitch
and Amazon finally was able to deliver.
The book is just as wonderful as I knew
it would be.

I finished watching Nurse Jackie and
have now moved on to Orange is the
Black, a show totally opposite of my
world, but maybe that's the hook?

I hope you enjoy the video of the waves,
it is one of my favorite sounds and I
wanted to share the calming sound with
you.

Enjoy theses days.
Peace.
XO

Lacto Fermented Salsa

4-5 pounds tomatoes,
1 head garlic
1 large onion
2 large jalapenos
1 bunch cilantro
2 bell peppers

Chop all ingredients fine,
Add: 

juice of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons canning salt
1/2 cup whey [I get mine from
staining homemade yogurt]

Mix well and spoon into jars making
sure vegetables are covered with liquid.

I check my jars daily and if the salsa separate
I just give the jars a little shake .

Let sit in a warm place for three days and
then store in ice box.
Do not water bath! 

YARN ALONG

I believe in the ocean curing all bad moods.
I believe in the waves wiping away worries.
I believe in seashells bringing good luck.
I believe in toes in the sand grounding my soul.

~ happsters

Lots of sock knitting in my world
these days, some with chevron's
some with stripes, the perfect
summer knit, especially when
you're sitting on the beach wave
watching and soaking in a few
sun rays.

I down loaded The Border of Paradise
after seeing it on several blogs. It is
a story told from several character's
view all of which are haunting, dark,
and totally masterful!

Joining Ginny

THESE DAYS

What's difficult in life is to stay centered
when somebody does or says something
that tempts us to close our hearts because
their heart is closed. That is hard. But that
is also how we grow. We go through those
circumstances in order to evolve into people
who can hold to our loving center no matter
what the world throws us. 

~ Marianne Williamson 

These days have been hard,
and I awake each day and
seek peace.

My Alex has been house
sitting for over a week
now and it's funny how
just one member of the
family being gone can
make the home feel so
different.

My Mike and I have been
escaping almost daily to
the beach, away from emails,
phone calls and endless texts
that come at all hours of
the day and night, we escape
the stress and wickedness that
can come [sadly] from one's
own family when someone
passes away.  We walk
for miles and miles, talk,
take photos, knit [well,
I knit] and listen to the sound
of the waves and the birds
as they call to one another.
It's a place that soothes me and
I am forever grateful to live
so close.
.
I'm still finding time to practice
each day with my camera,
and I'm going into my fourth
month of slow stitching on my
little piece of linen.

We have been eating lots of
salads as it's just too hot to cook
 [we have already hit 90F] and I
refuse to turn the A/C on just yet.
 My new favorite is mixing
leftover quinoa patties, beets,
onion, goat cheese and romaine
lettuce with a apple cider vinaigrette.

There's been time in the garden transplanting
a zillion wee kale and weeding, weeding, weeding.
The onions, potatoes and garlic all look wonderful
and there are even little tomatoes growing each day.

I finished my book, it was wonderful!
and watched the last episode of the Soprano's,
I've knit on socks and my yoga shawl and
gone out for late night milk shakes,[berry
lavender for me, chocolate for him].

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, or even the
next hour for that matter, but I do know that I refuse
to let horrible situations change who I am and how
I see the world.

Much love.
XO

RETURNING, AGAIN and AGAIN

We all come from the sea,
but we are all not of the
sea. Those of us who are,
we children of the tides, must
return to it again and again.
Until the day we don't come
back leaving only that which
was touched along the way.

My week seems to have had
wings and flew by quicker than
I was prepared for.

It's been very warm here in the
deep south, in fact, it has been
down right hot! I am not ready
for summer! My Alex cut grass
for the first of many times this
season and I have given up
my snow wish until winter.
The pollen has covered every
surface a pale  yellow and it
is an amazing sight to see a
cloud of yellow blowing across
the fields.

My Mike and I slipped away for
a day and spent some time at the
shore [my most favorite happy place,
but I guess you knew that, right ?]
It was a perfect beach day and I can't
wait to do it again and again.  With
all that life has thrown at us over the
past month it was nice to escape for
the day and just reconnect.

This week there was a trip to the yarn
store to breathe in some yarn fumes
and while I didn't more yarn [is there
really such a thing? ahem}  I did bring
home a few skeins and have already
cast on  this shawl . I have loved this
pattern since it was first released and
really Needed a project that is a little
more long term than socks or dishcloths.
The Folio yarn is a dk weight, not fingering
as the pattern calls fo,r so I am knitting on
size 7 needles to get a better drape. There
is no rush as I won't have any need for
a shawl until late October so I am just
going to enjoy the whole knit process.

So, how was your week?
I hope you enjoy your weekend and it
is all you need it to be.

Much love,
Tracey
XO

HARRIET

There are certain people
that will inhabit a small,
quiet space in your heart
despite any circumstance,
happening or situation.

~V.E.

A week ago today my mother in law
of almost 34 years suffered a massive
heart attack in her home and passed
away, leaving my family in shock and
tremendously sad. I have spent the
week on the phone notifying family
and friends, preparing for a funeral
and just trying to make it through each
day, one breathe at a time. There hasn't
been much sleep and I think I have lost
ten pounds because I can hardly eat.

On Friday she was laid to rest and now
we begin to find a new normal to our
days. Tomorrow we will have school
lessons, the laundry will be tackled,
there will be some much needed home
loving and I should really clean out
the ice box, but today I spent time at
the beach, my happy place, her's too.
She will be missed.