Summer is slipping away… and way too fast. While the mornings are nice and cool, often warming up during the day… it’s in the air that fall is coming. I look at the trees and see the lackluster in their leaves and cringe when I see them falling… thinking ahead of what’s to come!
In as I’m not ready to give up my warm afternoons sitting along the boardwalk… the cooler days are now finding me knitting at the beach. This small lap blanket is a Christmas gift, so I need to take advantage on knitting everywhere. This is blanket No. 2… the first one can be seen over here. No. 3 will be a different look… in figuring the best thing would be to knit each one in a different color pattern… don’t want to have the girls fighting over who’s is who! Update: No. 2 is now finished… onto No. 3… and I’m sure I’ll still be knitting on the drive to Florida!
September 8th brought sad news… Queen Elizabeth II, age 96, passed away at Baloral Castle in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, (year I was born) at age 26. She watched her father, King George VI, as he was crowned King at London’s Westminster Abbery in 1937; she was only 11 years of age… never imagining that she would she become Queen one day… and at an early age. Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a 70 year-long reigne… the longest Britich monarch to sit on a royal throne.
I’ve always had a fascination in watching the Queen, and always wanted to visit Buckingham Palace… maybe because my DNA runs across the ocean with over 50-percent ancestry in Scotland and Wales; my ancestry shows me related to Princess Diana… I need to do more research as I might also link into the Queen’s family lines. (For some odd reason, I could not upload or even paste a photo of the queen here in this post… very odd!)
911 at Savin Rock
September is always the saddest month… as it’s the month of when 911 happened. So many memories flow back and I’m compelled again in writing my memories in a 911 blogpost memorial… which can be read over HERE. We must never forget what happened that day!
I don’t know about you, but whenever I look out and spot a red Cardinal… I think about my mother and father… and that they’ve come to check in on me… bringing a tear to my eyes. This one appeared on 911.
I discovered this treasure while tag sailing on the 9th. In pulling up at the sale, I spotted a ceramic Christmas tree on a table… and made a bee-line towards it… in wanting a white tree for the longest. The sign read “Musical Xmas Tree, asking $5.00! I couldn’t get my money out fast enough… almost running back to the car with my treasure! The bottom of the tree was inscribed 1960 by Norma… so now “Norma” lives with me. As soon as we arrived home, I immediately cleaned it while my husband replaced the older electrical cord… I danced on pins and needles while waiting to turn it on… finally winding the key… and hearing Silent Night. I still can’t believe what a steal I had in finding this tree… and Christmas has come early in my house this year.. as I light it every night!
Christmas is coming, and I’ve begun working on more knitted Xmas Tree potholders… they make a great decoration for the table… perfect for hot dishes. A WIP… which won’t remain long on my needles, as many are needed for gifts.
On Saturday, (Sept.17, 2022) while out tag sailing, I finally stopped at the coffee shop that sells Boba (Bubble) tea… not sure on the tea, as mine was only made with milk and brown sugar, along with the boba bubbles … which are actually tapioca pearls, I think. I’ve seen people talk about this drink and watched a couple of videos, but today I finally took the plunge and bought one… hubby wasn’t interested in even trying! I have to say, I did enjoy it… and chewing the bubbles as they flowed up through the “larger” straw was fun! The con was… it’s much sweeter than my coffee, which I drink with no sugar… which was the biggest change, but I liked the boba bubbles. There are also fruity ones with exploding bubbles… think I’ll save those to buy for the girls. If you haven’t tried, do take the plunge and give one a try… it’s not a drink that I would drink daily, but I’ll definetly have one ever so often.
As most of my dark and light pink Hibiscus have bloomed and gone, the seed pods are now drying up, so I’m pulling off most of the pods to shake out their seeds… will be taking to my daughter in law in hope that she can grow them along her front fence. I spotted a red Hibiscus in a local store parking area recently… will grab some seeds from there also, as I’d love to have the red mixed in with my pinks. My Hibiscus originally came from my mother’s garden in Georgia… she grew mostly everything from seed… it was totally against her nature to buy plants! Whereever she went, she’d heist a cutting… mama’s digging tool was always kept in the car.
Hibiscus seed pods… each pod yields probably over 50 seeds… but who’s counting!
I’ve begun my Christmas shopping… in as I have five granddaughters to buy for… I need to start early! What’s great about Amazon is, I just have the items mailed directly to my daughter in law… and she wraps for me… what’s better than that! Thank You Rose! Sorry… can’t post pics on those items yet, as you never know who reads my blog! I still need more Ideas!
Photo Credit to “Samantha of Guilford” for this aweseome shot of Isaiah!
While I wasn’t one of the fortunate ones who met Isaiah Glenn Shields when he arrived in New Haven, CT. this month… on his “Walk America“… I did hook up in following him on Facebook on his walk through CT. We took a ride last Sunday in hopes of seeing him along RT. 1 as he left Guilford, but I think he was having way too much of good time there… not leaving until late afternoon. Darn! He left from the most Western part of Washington on May 13, 2021, and is walking to the most Eastern tip of Maine. When hitting Connecticut, he had walked over 7000 miles… I can’t even imagaine walking in his shoes!
If you’re on the East Coast… Isaiah is headed your way on the final trek to Maine through Massachusets and and possibly New Hampshire! LMK if you see him!
In searching for notes of this month… I came across many written words of last year; I need better organization! So what have I forgotten?
- The girls are beginning school soon (2021) and being told they are coming back to once again wear masks! Is this going to be another winter where everything is closed? (Yes, they began with masks, but they slowly disappeared… and things now are almost back to normal (2022); some still continue to wear masks in stores)
- On Aug. 30, 2021 our government pulled our Armed Forces out of Afghanistan: It was extrememly heartbreaking as I watched our planes surrounded by Afghanistan’s on the runway… trying to climb onto the planes. What direction is our country headed into… scary times!
- I finally ordered a new laptop… it’s something I’ve been contemplatig for over a year, but hate the idea of having no DVD drive. I know they say… “Oh, everything is in the cloud“… but I like my stuff more on hand. I have much of my photos and genealogy stored on DVD’s… and if I look hard enough, I’ll still find floppy disks!
- I don’t know if you hate change like me… it’s just not my cup of tea!
- My winter (2021-2022) project is scanning all the many hundreds… more like thousands of photographs I have of my family… and also my husband’s family. I purchasd a photo scanner that will scan a stack of about 30 photographs in about a second each. If I had never seen it in person, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. The other plus is that it automatically scans both sides… also saving what’s written on the backside. It instantly saves and edits the images… saving the before and after images. I was impressed!(Hate to admit, but I haven’t even begun the scanning… still a WIP)
- Hurricane Henri (August 2021) didn’t hit us as first said; it landed in Rhode Island istead… but we had lots of rain. It was the third hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
September sadly ended with Hurricane Ian slamming into the Gulf Coast of Florida on the 28th. While I’ve experienced a few hurricanes since moving to CT., but never to the magnitude of “Ian”… and pray we never do. I need to gather my notes on the hurricanes that have slammed into Ct. during my time here, and put together a post; hubby probably remembers more than I do as he took care of all the outside clearing of debris. As my son now lives in Florida… I worry more during hurricane season, but thankfully he was clear of the storm except for rain. Prayers for all who were in its path!
© 2022, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved
More Monthly Musings can be read HERE.
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