New House

One Year on Solstice Place

annbh356Leave a comment

A year ago today, we closed on the Solstice Place house. We transitioned from a pre-construction deposit to a mortgage; a financial obligation we had not incurred in decades. While buying a house is momentous for any buyer, it was extraordinary for us as this was only our second residential purchase and real estate transactions had changed since 1985.

Even as Parkinson’s Disease limits Richard’s mobility, this slab-on-grade house puts everything on one level; from the alley-access garage to the front door. Gone are the multiple sets of stairs between levels that, at one time, were charming in our First Street house. Now, Richard can roll easily whether using his sleek red, carbon-fiber walker or his lightweight, electric wheelchair.

Through the year, we continued the “right-sizing” exercises begun before the move deciding what to keep and what might be repurposed or recycled. We experimented with the space, determining the “perfect” location only to forget where we put somethings. When we finally remember, we laugh knowing that we are creating new neuropathways.

The list of what we miss is short – the large shade trees along First Street and our garden, especially the rhubarb. But, we have a landscaping solution that is in the planning stages for next summer and pot gardening produced a steady supply of cucumbers, herbs, and Early Girl tomatoes this summer.

By comparison, our satisfaction with Solstice Place is high, from one-level living and an extra bath to energy efficient construction without chilly drafts, from the washer and dryer on pedestals to the kitchen island providing extra counter space for meal prep and baking. Lots to celebrate as we begin another year on Solstice Place.

Other items of interest

Unexpected Surgery

annbh3561 Comment
Mayo Clinic sign in foreground with summer flowers and entrance to St Mary's Hospital in background

With quick thinking, I packed Richard’s meds, a simple knitting project, both iPads, two power cords, and a water bottle before following the 1:00 am ambulance to Mayo’s emergency department at St. Mary’s Hospital. Having made this same trip with him 18 months ago, I remembered the long hours on uncomfortable chairs with a depleted phone battery, and I did not want to feel disconnected.

Unlike my sidewalk tumble a couple of weeks ago when the duration of my hospital visit was only two hours, his was in the Emergency Department (ED) for 12-hours. And, while my purple “glue job” was one and done, we were back at St. Mary’s two days later for out-patient surgery.

Despite the vastness of this world-renowned medical institution, with the thousands of staff required to keep 70 operating rooms functioning with the efficiency of high-tech assembly lines, his caregivers were attentive. They stayed with us for as long as was needed, offered thorough explanations, and provided care that never felt rushed.  The staff focused on his needs at that moment so that we could be home the same day where he is healing comfortably.

Graphic credit:  © Bill Klotz, Finance & Commerce, 2018.

Baking

Cucurbita pepo:  Zucchini!

annbh356Leave a comment
two slices of bread with chocolate chips on black slate with partial loaf of bread and a knife

Oh! to be blessed with a friend who, despite brisk spring air, spends hours planting hope in dirt that may not yet have reached an optimum growing temperature. 

Who mounds the dirt carefully and slips in a thin oval seed. 

Who worries that one seed might not germinate or that the voracious squirrels scurrying across winter-dry grass might discover this smooth, tear shaped gem (having forgotten where the stash of black walnuts was buried last fall) and, as insurance, slips another seed into the soil.

Oh! to be blessed with friends whose short-term memory of last summer’s vibrant bounty is forgotten when planting zucchini.

Along with missing rhubarb with this move to Solstice Place, we have missed the delicate flavor of garden fresh zucchini lightly sautéed in Palestinian olive oil with herbs from our backdoor pots.  I have even wondered how we will make it through a winter without a frozen zucchini bread to thaw and toast in December.  But, I need not have worried as a friend blessed us with the fruits of his summer harvest.  And yes – technically, zucchini is a fruit as it develops from the flower of the plant and contains reproductive seeds – but whether fruit of veggie it is certainly best when converted into Chocolate Chip Pecan Zucchini Bread. 

Delicious!

And with more thoughts on this abundant summer wonder, an excerpt from New Lines for Fortune Cookies by James Masao Mitsui:

If you feel like you are getting old,
secretly plant zucchini in your neighbor's flowerbeds.

Bibliographic credit: James Masao Mitsui, New Lines for Fortune Cookies from his collection From a Three-Cornered World. University of Washington Press, © 1997.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | August 2026

annbh3561 Comment

This month’s poetry selection is from the popular 20th century American poet, Anne Sexton, as she captures the lazy days of late summer.

blue and white flowered towel hanging on a wire with a rolling pin and a pie plate in the lower right corner
I Remember by Anne Sexton

By the first of August
the invisible beetles began
to snore and the grass was
as tough as hemp and was
no color – no more than
the sand was a color and
we had worn our bare feet
bare since the twentieth
of June and there were times
we forgot to wind up your 
alarm clock and some nights
we took our gin warm and neat
from old jelly glasses while
the sun blew out of sight
like a red picture hat and
one day I tied my hair back
with a ribbon and you said
that I looked almost like 
a puritan lady and what
I remember best is that
the door to your room was
the door to mine.

Bibliographic credit:  Anne Sexton, All My Pretty Ones, © 1962, Houghton Mifflin

Graphic credit:  Geometry.  Jar Jar Tea Towel

And with appreciation to Third Thursday bloggers:  Kat at As Kat Knits, Bonnie at Highly Reasonable, and Kym at Dancing at the Edge

Reading

Book Club: The Correspondent

annbh3561 Comment

The Correspondent was the latest title discussed by my online book club.  It came highly recommended by well-read friends, but I admit I wondered how a story could be structured strictly though letters and emails.  I need not have worried as this debut novel evolved naturally with well-defined characters and a narrative that eventually sucked me in.

At the onset of the book, I admit I was not fond of Sylvia Van Antwerp’s opinionated personality.  I wanted more refinement and finesse in her correspondence rather than blatant opinion.  Each letter whether to a friend or family member, the President, or a blockbuster movie director conveyed the precision of a prosecutor’s closing statement.  While many of book’s letters were written by Sylvia, we are also privy to a portion of the responses.  It is through these dialogues that we join her exploration of family history, court decisions with long-reaching consequences, and new late-in-life friendships, all moving toward a level of self-awareness and acceptance.  A recognition of her own frailties and a new tenderness for others.

Having recently joined The Sunday Letter Project with the intent of putting pen to paper rather than dashing off an ephemeral email or text, I was intrigued by the decades of Sylvia’s letter writing passion.  Her world of written correspondence is the stuff of future Ken Burns documentaries whereas everyday text messages with a smattering of emojis will be lost forever.

Other items of interest

A Purple Glue Job

annbh3563 Comments
close up of a bruised black eye with purple glue on the eyebrow

Growing up in the house of a carpenter and across the street from a grandparent who was also a carpenter, it was an everyday occurrence to experience a construction project in process. When I was little, I loved using Dad’s red hand drill so that I could work right along; turning the handle, moving the bit through my very own piece of wood until the concrete garage floor stopped my progress. Then I would begin drilling again. Years later I learned that, in those days before power hand tools, Dad used that same hand drill but that the bit was mine alone as it was too dull from my rough work for his finer details.

While questions were always welcome in the workshop, I learned early on that interruptions were better once the power tool wound down or in between the swings of a hammer. And, it was best to wait until the wood was carefully aligned and the clamps were in place when a “glue job” was in progress.

My most recent “glue job” did not involve finely planed wood with a smear of Elmer’s Carpenter’s Wood Glue but, rather Dermabond – “a cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive that forms a strong bond across apposed wound edges, allowing normal healing to occur below.”. I am still not sure just how it happened that my eyebrow kissed the sidewalk but I can attest that (just as when we were kids) the concrete won when face and concrete collided. The result of a healthy morning outing with Richard in his electric chair and me clumsy footed, was a trip to the emergency department and three layers of light purple glue sealing my laceration.

Ouch!

Knitting

Purls on the Promenade

annbh356Leave a comment
brown yarn on knitting needles with yarn ball in upper left corner and pattern creating background
handknit cowl in light brown wool on cream colored marble background

While Manchego sheep featured prominently in part 2 of my virtual tour of Spain and Portugal, cheese rather than wool was my initial introduction to this breed of sheep.  I first tasted Manchego cheese years ago when hosting an annual wine and cheese fundraiser with friends.  With its buttery, slightly tangy flavor, it paired nicely with a robust red wine.  We always designed our menus around 5-6 wines (sweet to dry) that were available without special orders to a vineyard, as well a selection of individually prepared hors d’oeuvres and less common cheeses. 

This time, rather than the edible byproduct of this Spanish sheep, the Purls on the Promenade cowl is a blend of Manchego and Merino wool purchased from The Woolly Thistle.  This latest design from Marie Greene features a mix of knit and purl stitches that create a subtle wavy design.  As I began knitting with this rustic yarn, I was a little worried that the final product might be rough or scratchy around the neck but after a good soak and blocking, the design pops and this cowl is soft to the touch just in time for chilly fall temperatures.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting

Arsenic and Old Lace

annbh3561 Comment
blue and cream lace shawl
close up of knitting stitches in blue and cream lace shawl

I enjoy my Agatha Christie as visual experiences rather than words on the page, whether it is the cinematic classic, Witness for the Persecution, (1957 with Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, and Charles Laughton) or the new streaming adaptations of Hercule Poirot starring and directed by Kenneth Brautigan.

While I know Marie Greene best as a knitting designer, instructor, and the author of six knitting books, she has a passion for mysteries. Currently she is expanding her repertoire while writing her first mystery.

Two of her fall mystery knit-alongs (MKAL) paid homage to her favorite author, Agatha Christie, with The Tuesday Night Wrap in 2023 and, most recently, last October, with Arsenic and Old Lace. As my attention was focused on unpacking and hanging art at Solstice Place, I cast on after the pattern was fully revealed. No mystery during my project.

Arsenic and Old Lace is a two-color shawl that begins by casting on five stitches and then, through a series of increases along the side edges and the center midline, grows into a lacy triangular shawl. This version artfully combines two skeins of fingering weight yarn. The pale blue is from my days as member of Sew Happy Jane’s Handdyed Yarn Club and the creamy variegated was a souvenir skein purchased during our great-niece’s destination wedding weekend in Tennessee.  It is always rewarding to stash dive and transform yards and yards of yarn into wearable art.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting

Geometric Designed Beanies

annbh3561 Comment
detail of a green and cream colored beanie with a geometric design
two beanie with geometric patterns - left blue and cream colored right green and cream colored
blue and cream colored beanie with a geometric design

I recently completed two thick textured beanies while awaiting a small shipment of blended Merino – Manchego yarn from The Woolly Thistle as part of my virtual tour of Spain and Portugal.  Marie Greene designed the Adventurer Beanie as part of her stash buster series, A for Accents.

Slipped stiches create the color changes while holding only one strand per row instead of a more complex colorwork technique.  Combining two high-contrast yarns produced the bold geometric stitch pattern reminiscent of the Interlacken Headbands and Lake Stroll Cowl that I completed in February 2025. These were also stash-buster projects made with yarn on hand and remnants from previous projects.  As a Minnesotan, I know that even during today’s extreme heat advisory, caused by high daytime temperatures and uncomfortable humidity, chilly weather is only months away and cozy caps will soon be essential.

Happy knitting!

Knitting

Armchair Travels

annbh3562 Comments
Spanish windmills along a hilltop with vibrant blue sky

And I am off (virtually) to the Iberian Peninsula to I explore Spain and Portugal with The Wooly Thistle Armchair Travels.  Without needing a passport, enduring cramped overseas flights, or wondering if US Customs will allow this liberal Midwesterner re-entry to the USA, I will traverse hillsides with Merino and Manchega sheep flocks and their shepherds, visit woolen mills, and learn about designs, techniques, and fiber traditions unique to that corner of the globe.  Barcelona has long been on my bucket list, so this blends nicely despite my lack of Spanish or Portuguese.

This virtual learning experience is a continuing adaptation that began with the pandemic and Richard’s Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis.  While my initial retirement plans had included an annual international knitting tour, the 2020 Copenhagen & Faroe Islands tour and Rowan Tree Travel and Fibercraft’s Wool & Whisky in 2021 were canceled due to the worldwide lockdown.  Instead, I discovered online alternatives – from the Strickmich Club with Martina Behm whose shop is in Damsdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to French knitting designer, Solène Le Roux, whom I worked with when she lived in Paris and followed her move to creating a retreat center at the Château de Parançay in southwest France.

For five years, 2020-2024, I participated in Knit Camp at the Coast with Marie Greene and enjoyed the Pacific Northwest from the comfort of Minnesota.  Her Zoom-based retreat offered technical instructions, theme related recipes, knitting accessories, and (of course) yarn.  I missed 2025 while we were in the midst of our move from First Street to Solstice Place but I am looking forward to a re-envisioned Knit Camp experience this August.  

What started in 2009 as a spiritual support project knitting prayer shawls, has evolved into daily practice with a wealth of learning experiences, camaraderie with fellow knitters, and even travel without leaving home.  As I continue exploring knitting with my fellow Knit Campers and now joining New Hampshire’s The Wooly Thistle Armchair Travels, I hope to keep my fingers nimble and my neuro-pathways flexible.

¡Bienvenidos! Bem-vindos!

Photo credit: The Wooly Thistle