Author: annbh356

Retired librarian who remains a library advocate & enthusiast, loves knitting, reading, gardening & a variety of other items of interest.
Knitting · New House

Yarn: Sorted and packed

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four large plastic bins filled with yarn

I took up my knitting needles for the first time in 32 years when President-Elect Obama asked Americans to volunteer on inauguration weekend 2009. All of those first projects supported a new caring ministry at church, and I was very select in my yarn purchases: three skeins of Lion Brand Homespun for a prayer shawl or a colorful yet purposeful selection of Cotton-Ease for dishcloths. Eventually, I graduated to better quality fibers, but they were always chosen for a specific pattern. At the time, I was a “monogamous knitter” and that was also how I made my fiber purchases, one at a time. It would be five years before I ventured to that slippery slope of purchasing yarn without having already planned a project.

I have distinct memories of that 2014 purchase. For weeks, before the start of each sampler afghan knitting class, I gravitated to the bin of Frabjous Fibers fingering and admired the soft, springy texture. But the weight gave me pause. I had been working with thicker strands (worsted, Aran, chunky) and the fingering selections felt fragile by comparison.

But as brown was Dad’s favorite color and he would have appreciated the dark chocolate hue, I eventually purchased a skein in the Hedgehog colorway without any idea of what it might become. That was my first step into stash creation. Then there were yarn crawls hosted by local yarn stores – each an opportunity to purchase potential. And yarn clubs with boxes of squishy mail arriving monthly from Idaho and quarterly from Germany (although not in the same year.) Each purchase was photographed and inventoried, but organization was slightly haphazard with yarn tucked in six locations around our small house.

In preparation for our move to Solstice Place, that mishmash has been corrected. Each skein (all 115) has been sorted by weight and yardage, the location has been verified in the Ravelry database, and those skeins are stored in new plastic tubs that Two Men & a Truck will move in 39 days.

Happy knitting!

Gardening

Beta vulgaris (beets) ready for winter

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beets in a blue pottery bowl setting on a wood counter

There are those individuals who just naturally like beets – like Richard and Momma.  Then, there are those for whom beets are an acquired taste – and that would be me.  For years, I avoided this nutritious root vegetable complaining it “tasted like dirt.”  It was not until a local farmer shared a salad recipe with red wine vinaigrette, capers, and feta cheese that I decided to give this vegetable another try.  (It was the red wine that really convinced me!)

Since that long ago Saturday at the farmers’ market, I have evolved from buying 1-2 bunches a summer to growing beets in our small, raised bed garden.  While we have already enjoyed several side dishes fresh from the ground, this morning was harvesting day for this year’s crop.  These have been boiled until just barely tender enough to easily remove the rough peeling.  Once frozen, I can pull them out for year-round culinary enjoyment, whether roasted or dressed in herbal marinade.

Bon Appétit!

New House

Transforming Old Furniture

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There are those who enjoy refinishing furniture. They revel in removing layers of multicolored history. Some hues subtle and sophisticated while others so trendy that the era is unmistakably identifiable. I am not one of those DIYers. However, my long to-do list to get ready for our upcoming move includes refinishing two nightstands and a chest of drawers.

two drawer nightstand with yellow lamp and round mirror

In 1946, after returning to Wisconsin from wartime Washington, D.C., my parents purchased a dark walnut bedroom set which included a double bed, a five-drawer chest, and a vanity. When the practice of bedroom vanities fell out of popularity, my carpenter father dismantled the unit and created two matching nightstands. Thirty years later, the chest and one of the nightstands went with me to my first apartment, as well as the round vanity mirror.

I considered myself lucky to find an empty apartment in the small town of Brodhead (population 2,690) when I was hired as the school librarian. The apartment was so empty that while it had a stove there wasn’t a refrigerator. Momma and I worked non-stop for ten days to get ready for that post-graduation move.

We painted two wooden chairs dark blue that had originally been at Shirley McS.’s kitchen table. Momma sewed Delft Blue kitchen curtains and a matching tablecloth using remnants from Mary Jane K.’s drapery store. A plywood shipping box that Dad built to move their household items from D.C. (which still had my grandparent’s address on the top) was transformed into an avocado green coffee table with brass corner protectors and handles. We let the newly purchased yellow, lime green, and white plaid J.C. Penny drapes set the color palette in the bedroom. A brown iron twin bed frame that had been in the upstairs bedroom of my grandparents’ house, my parents’ 1940s five-drawer chest, and one of the nightstands were all painted a cheery yellow and these transformed the drab, empty bedroom.

With 46 days until closing on the Solstice Place house, this refurbishing project lacks that first move frenzy. However, with each layer of yellow paint that dissolves using the citrus stripper, Momma and I reminisce during my daily progress updates about all of our hard work 50 years ago.

New House

Curbside Freebie

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four drawer file cabinet with a free sign sitting curbside in front of a white house

With gigabytes of storage at our fingertips, I hope a paper devotee needs a file cabinet. As we continue our “rightsize” winnowing of household items, this morning’s activities included moving this freebie to the curb and giving away an assortment of woodworking clamps to our friend Ethan E. as he begins building furniture.  He will return in September for the small freezer chest, a pile of lumber, and motley assortment of nuts and bolts, nails and screws (more stuff gone!)  Already out of the house and at a new home is the two-drawer cabinet that I bought in 1976 at the Eau Claire Book & Stationery store when I started library school at UW-Madison.

PS – Three hours on the curb and then it was wheeled down First Street on a dolly!

Travel

Red Redux

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cake frosted like the Swiss flag with the German greeting beautiful 1 August

On the eve of Swiss National Day and as a final post in BeckyB’s #SimplyRed Squares challenge, I am reposting a picture of what I am sure was a delectable, delicious holiday treat.  My Swiss cousin Franz sent this in greeting on August 1, 2023, along with his warm regards following his family’s visit to Wisconsin. 

It has been a colorful #SimplyRed July and I am looking forward to Becky’s next Squares challenge.

And, just in time for tomorrow – Happy Swiss National Day! Or, more Appropriately- Alles Gute zum Schweizer Nationalfeiertag!

New House

56 Days to Closing (but who is counting?)

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new house under construction with siding one-half up the front wall
Work continues – July 17, 2025

There are no quiet days at our construction site. They hung sheetrock on a Saturday, finished siding the house on a Sunday and work proceeds steadily Monday through Friday. With our red door key (to match the red doorknob) we check the progress every few days. We are not looking for errors so much as we are curious as to the flow of all these sub-contractors who slip in and out of the timeline.

During one early evening visit, we discovered the electrician missed running the conduit for the in-floor outlet in the TV room. Unfortunately, we did not catch this omission until after the slab had been poured. But, as it was clearly noted on the approved plans, a worker with a concrete saw cut a trough and the electrician ran the wire exactly to my request. I had laid out the perfect viewing dimensions of the new TV room using a triangular ruler, graph paper, and snips of to-scale cover stock representing the furniture. Just as requested, we now have a double outlet 6’-5” from the west wall and 9’-6” from the south/garage wall for over-the-shoulder task lighting. The patched floor is ugly but all will be hidden when the LVP is installed.

With steady progress at the site, we fill our days with behind-the-scenes tasks. Two Men & A Truck walked through our 1st Street house and provided estimates for packing and moving. We selected window dressings at Hirschfields. And we continue the onerous task of evaluating 40 years of detritus tucked in closets. The timing of recent family visits allowed us to repurpose four bags of books and a unique selection of Cubs swag. As the days and weeks progress, our to-do list will continue to grow.

Gardening

First picking

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small basket filled with cherry tomatoes with a sprig of basil

This handful of just harvested summer favor will be perfect for personal pan pizzas enjoyed on the porch tonight. The challenge when picking these Sweet Hearts of the Patio, is to keep enough for toppings as they go easily from plant to hand to taste buds.

Another celebration of #SimplyRed Squares with BeckyB.

Reading

Gathering of Poetry | July 2025

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small boy with green shirt and blue jean shorts walking on diamond shaped stepping stones in a garden
An evening walk at summer camp

I offer a poetic homage for this month’s third Thursday entitled June, although I feel it is more aptly named Summer.  (But who am I to challenge John Updike’s wizardry of words?)  

As a child of the 50s, Updike captures the essence of my long-ago summer days.  Mornings that began with my name sing-songed at the backdoor screen calling me out to play; intense kickball games in the cinder alley with the bases unevenly spaced – the corner of the Davis garage, the edge of the Bush’s stone wall, and the large trunk of their oak tree; afternoons spent biking or skating round and round the block each rotation made more challenging as we fixed metal clamp on roller skates to our scuffed white summer tennis shoes; and then the languid evenings of hide and seek or firefly hunting as we counted our treasure trove of lighting bugs captured in empty Mason jars.

From July 2007 through August 2011, I stepped back into that magical time as we hosted Summer Camp for our nephew.  Most often these carefree days, filled with fishing and crafts, reading and games, took place at my parents’ cabin on Lac Courte Oreilles in northern Wisconsin.  There was one summer when hospice home care made that trip impossible and we shifted our play days to Rochester where evening walks replaced boating excursions but with no less fun in the “live-long light.”

June

The sun is rich,
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,

And long green weeks
That never end.
School’s out. The time
Is ours to spend.

The playground calls,
The ice-cream man,
And, after supper,
Kick-the-can.

The live-long light
Is like a dream,
And freckles come
Like flies to cream.

I am happy to join fellow bloggers, Bonnie at Highly Reasonable, Kat at as kat knits, and Kym at Dancing at the Edge for a monthly Gathering of Poetry.

Bibliographic credit:  John Updike © 1965.  Initially published by Alfred A. Knopf in A Child’s Calendar. A new edition of the same title was reissued by Holiday House © 1999 with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman which was a 2000 Caldecott Honor Book.

Travel

Jardin botanique de Montréal

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red and white rose with greenery in the background

Whether following a frenetic F1 race weekend or simply enjoying several days of international sightseeing, the Jardin botanique de Montréal is always on my itinerary when visiting this beautiful city.

With dozens of thematic gardens showcasing everything from fragile alpine flowers to monastic medicinal plants even including an opportunity to discovery Indigenous knowledge in the First Nations Garden, the colors and fragrances are ever changing. A stroll through the rose garden offers riotous hues as displayed by this variegated beauty; perfect for this week’s #SimplyRed Squares contribution. The Jardin botanique de Montréal Rose Garden was created in 1976 to mark the Olympic Games and features over 7,000 roses, representing more than 900 species and cultivars.

Check out the #SimplyRed offerings from BeckyB and others participating in this Squares challenge.