The Porch Postscript

Title:   Notes From a Blue Bike Author:   Tsh Oxenreider Type:   Spiritual Growth I wanted to like this book.  I really did, but it wasn't meant to be.  The subtitle " The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World" made me think this would be a bit of a how-to with tips and advice on small things to work toward living a more intentional life.  Nope, not really.   In this book, Tsh Oxenreider focuses a great deal of her book on her children, first homeschooling them, and then putting them in public school.  I felt this book was more focused on raising children than living intentionally. This is a book that I could not force myself to finish.  I struggled through about half of it before calling it a wash.  The focus was too much "mommy life" for my interest.  I'd think twice before I would pick up anything else by this author.

The Station On Old Highway 13 July 2008 “Fill ‘er up Joe” echoes in my ears, as I pass by on my bike. I wonder was it really full service back in its glory days? Would “Joe” really have pumped gas, checked the oil, and washed the windows, all while spouting town gossip? Mismatched boards cover the windows of the little white service station on Old Highway 13. There’s a for sale sign in front and a tarp covers what was most likely the garage door. White paint peels from the trim, but you can almost hear the ding of the service bell, as the next customer pulls in. The awning, still supported by two stone pillars, would have kept “Joe” dry, as he serviced your car in the Missouri spring rain. White gravel still paves the circular drive, in spite of the weeds that have begun to push their way through. Highway 13 may have a new route and “Joe” is no longer there to service your car, but the station remains, as a reminder that travelers once passed this way.

  wan·der·lust ˈwändərˌləst/ noun a strong desire to travel. Lake Marie - Snowy Range, Wyoming This article  from  She Explores  made me homesick for Wyoming, the state where I spent the first 29 years of my life. I miss the varied landscape, from the mountains to the prairie to the plains to the desert. I miss the clear lakes, streams, and rivers.  I miss the openness of it all.  As I was explaining what I missed about Wyoming, Hubby just smiled. Not because I was mildly homesick, but because he knew exactly what was really causing these feelings. He took the opportunity to point out that I have wanderlust, something I didn't know I had until I met him and we began moving around the country. Well played Hubby...Well played. Aspen Alley - Battle Mountain, Wyoming He is of course spot on the money. I do have wanderlust, and during our time in Alaska, it's only gotten more intense. For the first time in our married lives, we're financially able to enjoy trave...

I’ve been spending my time in the Alaska sunshine.  The winter here was long and snowy.  I won’t lie, when the first snow falls in mid-September and it keeps snowing all winter long it gets pretty damn depressing.  Break up began in late March, but as I write this post there are still a few traces of the large pile of snow we pushed up with a loader over the course of the winter.   Our plans of camping and enjoying the great outdoors this summer have been slashed by the great gas price hike that is happening across the nation.  We’re currently paying $5.21 per gallon as I write this.  Not exactly conducive to towing a camper around the state.  So in lieu of grand camping adventures, we planted a large garden. I know there is a lot of fear-mongering, stereotyping, and normalcy bias right now.  In a time of predicted food shortages, soaring gas prices, and inflated cost of living what better way to spend the summer than tending to a beautiful garden...

When I say my first pair of socks, I'm not talking about fancy knitting on double-pointed needles.  There is no toe or heel to construct with this pattern.  It's an easy pattern that creates a basic tube sock.  The pattern comes from  Teach Yourself to Knit the Easy Columbia-Minerva Way publication from 1967.   My mom has made this style of sock for us over the years, we generally wear them as a house slipper of sorts.  She shared the pattern with me ages ago and I am finally getting around to making them. I had some Lion Brand Baby Wool, worsted weight, in my yarn stash and decided it was the perfect yarn to try out this pattern.  I used two skeins to make one pair of socks.  I also followed my mom's suggested adaptation of using the magic loop method for knitting the sock, which eliminates the seam in the finished sock.   Since the yarn I chose was a variegated one, I got some funky striping or maybe we should call it color block...

At the beginning of January, I picked up my knitting needles after a crazy long hiatus.  I finished the project that had been on the needles for literally years and fell back in love with knitting.  Knitting is a very relaxing creative outlet for me and I enjoy easy patterns that finish in small amounts of time, excluding the times when I put them down for ages.   The Stripy Spring Shawl is a fantastic pattern, with little knitting knowledge needed.  If you know the basic knit stitch and how to increase using the knit in front and back of a single stitch, you'll be able to complete this project without fail.  I enjoyed the project so much that I've made two of them.   The first version was created using yarn I purchased in Hawaii in 2016, which is when I cast it onto the needles.  I'd picked it up here and there as we crossed those for years, but pandemic times brought me into the grove of finishing a few projects.  This first version t...