Trish Knits.com

Category: Random Ramblings

  • What I Am Thankful For

    Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to answer the big questions in life that I am always confronted with on Thanksgiving Day. What is it that I am thankful for, that wouldn’t sound to obvious or trite? The thing is, my list is long! Of course there’s the usual. I’m thankful for my family, and our relative good health this year. But really, there’s so much more:

    I’m thankful that even though so many in my country are facing hard times, we’ve still got our heads at least a bit above water.

    I’m thankful for our incoming president, and pray that his hopes for our Nation come true.

    I’m thankful that my husband’s family will all be together this year for dinner, and wish we could do it more often. I find it sad that one sibling had not yet met the other sibling’s two-and-a-half-year-old son until this week, and hope we never allow so much time to pass among us again.

    I’m thankful that I have a job, even though I hate it sometimes, because I know so many people who don’t have a job that they’re lucky enough to hate.

    I’m grateful for discovering my son’s ADHD now, so early, so I still have plenty of time to learn to be a better parent to him.

    I’m also thankful for my daughter, whose generally patient, cool-headed nature coupled with scary-smartness just might make her a true leader someday.

    I’m thankful for my husband, who can always find something to laugh about.

    I’m thankful for our kids’ grandparents, who are all healthy now and such an integral part of our lives.

    I’m thankful that I have a small circle of true friends. That there are enough of them to actually form a circle around me means that much more.

    I’m thankful for my knitting, which brings me peace on a daily basis.

    I’m thankful for the friends I’ve met through knitting, so that I can spread and share the peace. I wonder at times what would happen in the world if everyone could knit, instead of fight. Somehow, knitting makes my head calmer and my thoughts more clear. If I could spread the knitting throughout the world, would there ever be a reason for fighting? There must be a knitters for peace movement out there. I will find it. And when I do, for that I shall be thankful also.

    I’m thankful for the daily din of giggles and squeals I hear throughout my house each day, which is the music of my children.

    I shall be thankful for a snowstorm, if we have one. It’s been a while, and I have a secret fear that I may never see a big one ever again.

    I’m thankful for hot chocolate on a cold day, and fudgecicles on a hot one. Chocolate is good in any weather.

    I’m thankful for another Thanksgiving, a day that I can pause to remember what I am thankful for. Sometimes I need that reminder.

    What about you? What are you thankful for? I’d love to hear your answers, and I wish you a great day.

    Listen to this article
    Listen to this article


  • And the Letter of the Day is…

    O.

    Way to go, America!

    I went first thing this morning to vote. They said on the news that the lines were terrible and many people were already waiting for hours by 7 a.m. when the polls actually opened in Maryland. The parking lot at our polling place was more crowded than I have ever seen it and the line actually snaked around the entire inside of the school building. I had never seen that before, either.

    I had my knitting, and I was ready. Mindless garter stitch is good for stuff like this, waiting in lines. It was going to be a long haul, I thought. But then, a poll worker came up to me and told me I could go to the front. I guess being in a wheelchair does have some perks sometimes, but really, waiting in lines does not bother me. I told them it would not matter to me if I went through the line if my DH could not, since we came together. But they let him come up, too.

    Turns out they have provisional wheelchair accessible parking on Election Day and they wanted to keep turning it over. So, in the end, while I was a bit disappointed to be deprived of being able to tell my “I waited in line for two hours” story, we spent the time by going to Starbucks afterward. So, it’s all good. Only 20 stitches were knit today. But there’s something much bigger unfolding in front of us. I am so looking forward to the ride.

  • Boo.

    halloween light fixture in the rain
    halloween light fixture in the rain

    Today was one of those days where the sun just refused to shine. It’s that time of year where the sun doesn’t come up until about 7:30 in the morning, which is bad enough by itself. But today, it seemed like daylight just never came. The sky was heavy and gray with the beginnings of autumn colors in the foreground. And it was cold. I waited, certain that the sun would come streaming in my window by mid morning, but there I sat, cold and dejected as if I’d been stood up on a blind date.

    It was cold and dark, a perfect match for my rapidly worsening mood. We went from summer to winter in the space of one day. Perfect knitting weather, but I have to get out of my slump first. I’m still working on the simple hat I started last week and the garter stitch mitered square. Alas new photos of either one at this stage would be too boring to show. But I do think that the mindless knitting required for each is just what I need right now.

    The sun will come out…. tomorrow… bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow…. there’ll be sun….

    Harumph.