Monthly Musings: 2022… April Musings

As usual, April is a whirlwind month for me… even before arrivng… and mainly due to my yearly join of the April A to A writing challenge… of daily blogging!

As I hadn’t planned my theme early enough to prepare, I came across a mention of “time travel” and it hit me… I’d time travel through my years of blogging. It has been so much fun as who can remember over 700 plus writings. I added a few new tidbits of info here and there… and it seemed to have been a big hit with my readers! Read my 2022 A to Z Here!

Time traveling through my blog this month yielded me a great hit on letter H… Honeymoon Mystery. Blogger, Donna Smith, left a message that she might have discovered the Inn where they honeymooned in Vermont. After reading my post, she searched for Inn’s in Vermont… coming up with Mountain Top Inn & Resort; after layering a photo with the mountain range behind over my photograph… Bingo… it lined up perfectly. I emailed the Inn with a link to my blog… hoping they’d be interested enough to take a peek… and you can about it on Letter Z.

Crafting this month was slightly on hold except for completing the knitted bunnies for Easter baskets… only stuffing and knitting ears. I procrastinated in making the Easter baskets from candy boxes, but finally pulled it together before the big day! My daughter in-law made the ones above for the girls in Florida; as shipping has become so price, I sent money to buy the items there. She did a fantastic job…. turning into quite the crafter!

My Easter baskets for the girls here constructed/glued together with a chenille handle… filled with goodies and a knitted bunny. The chocolate bunnies have now since dissolved into fondue!

With the arrival of Billie Bee 🐝 back in my front yard… also arriving are the many blooming of flowers. This often, solo lone “big” bee buzzing you anytime you walk out in the front yard… which he seems to think is his! I can’t wait for the honeysuckle to show up… Love the smells that will flow in through my bedroom window. Mama told me they as kids would drink the trickle of juice inside! I had to Google to see if she remembered correctly! She Did!

The bottom purple flower is known as “Money Tree”… have you ever heard of it? After blooming, many round silvery coin shapes soon appear on branches… later the thin outer covering on the coin quarter size shapes will blow away in the wind, along with seeds… and your left with branches of coin shapes dangling to arrange in a vase.

My WIP’s have dwindled down drastically… but I still have those socks on my needles, that desperately need addressing. For some reason, I just can’t get the drive to finish them, but I will! My problem is, I keep finding new projects to begin. I also need to finish my Nancy Drew EPP Scottie dog… which I’m hoping to finish once the April A to Z is over. I have begun sewing the gussett… so I’m making progress! I’m sure my doggie will make it’s debut by the end of May!

I’ve added a new UFO this month… and I’m blaming Arne and Carlos on this one. In having lots of colored yarn, this was the perfect project in using it up… so I jumped in on the bandwagon! The circles aren’t completed, as there is still one more outside color before they’re crocheted together… so stay tuned! Every week they have been teaching the design on their YouTube blog… soon comes the outside color… which really transforms it into a unique look. Give them a look over Here at their “Spring Along”. #kal #springKal #crochetalong #knitalong #springknitting #arne&carlos.

Birthday girl, Grace, turned the big 8 this month… celebrating with dad and mom and big sister, McKinley… who’s birthday arrives next month!

Besides the regular April blogging… April had a few birthdays to keep me busy… with May and June birthdays to soon follow. April 6th was my mom’s “heavenly 92nd birthday”, with mine following ten days later. She tried her best to have me born on her birthday, but I wasn’t having any part of it… doctor told her to go home and come back when I was ready! Two granddaughters are April and May, son-in- law is April, then hubby and daughter-in-law follow in June. After June… it’s clear sailing until October for my daughter, and November for my son. Then Christmas planning begins… which I usually am all set by then… thinking and buying back in September and October so I can get my gifts shipped to granddaughters in Florida before we head down. I am often done with shopping way before Thanksgiving!

My daughter surprised me for my birthday with the girls and a few cousins… hubby didn’t let the cat out of the bag, although while sitting in car waiting for my daughter, I mentioned to hubby that I thought I’d seen cousin Paul… but I let it go as normally he would be at work. Yes she actually surprised me… which is hard to accomplish!

I’m still playing the online game of Wordle… you probably see your friends post their success daily… have you jumped on that bandwagon? I had been backtracking through their archives on all I’d missed… until the very bad guys over at The New York Times insisted it be taken down. Seems there are newly clone sites that keep popping up… so I’ll have to keep my eyes open. I’m still waiting for the day when my first word I play daily… is the correct word!!!

Easter is never the same without my ham and rice pies, but ham won out! I don’t seem to have the stamina I did years ago… or the back! It felt good when I finally placed in oven… and hubby offered for cleanup detail! Only left is to make a chocolate, chocolate trifle, and if I don’t run out of steam, I’ll make pizzelles! If you’re interested in my ham pie, check my recipe out over here! P.S., I did make the pizzelles, but forgot to take photos.

Hope you were able to celebrate Easter with family and friends… and the Easter Bunny was good to you. Love to hear what you baked! Do you have speciality foods that you feel you must bake! The warmer weather is calling… so I’m off to sit at the beach for a bit and enjoy some sun and relax watching the waves roll in!

To view more family photographs, click Here!

Read Family Stories, click Here!

© 2022, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved

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