A Full Deck

 To celebrate my birthday this year (52) I picked up my reading and my writing. Two things that are easily pushed behind other endeavours. It is with a relief that I am starting each day with some journalling. Knitting's siren song has collected my thoughts and my time for so long. While I drink my first cup of coffee and listen to the early news on CBC radio, I pick up a simple project and knit, almost without thinking. That is great, except when I feel I can no longer make choices. I am going to try something new.

My oldest sister very generously invited us to her cottage on Harrison Lake for a birthday lunch. You can only reach it by boat, but her husband is an excellent boater and the day was a wonderful break from the heat, with clouds and some spatterings of showers.

 The cottage is tucked away in a bay on a peninsula, under the old growth rain forest. We haven't been there since they had just acquired it and were pleased by the lovely welcome and the bright rooms.

 There were burgers and cupcakes. And cribbage.

 Monday was my real birthday, and Mom had planned a BBQ with excellent farmer sausage skewers. She bought a new bottle of gin for my G&T and made brownies with berries for dessert. My friends took me out for brunch and I was feeling rather well fed.

 But wait, there's more. D's mom often has us over for supper on a Tuesday evening and she made a favourite of mine, angel food cake. Well, what do you do with the left over egg yolks than whip up some creme brulee. Also a favourite, but not so light. Very festive.
I had to run to knitting, and that is a change I will be making. The group is growing and changing, as it does when it is made up of people. There are some new ideas and I applaud them. But I don't need to host every gathering. I miss the lessons and charity knitting that we did so well. But I have great friends now with whom I can knit, and I look forward to being able to "drop in" as the others have been able to do.

 There has been knitting. Secret Christmas knitting. Basement blanket knitting. This is my favourite birthday cake: a new ball winder with my Churchmouse Loft in Postcard. It will soon become a shawl, but not until some more presents are finished.

 I have a shawl on the needles. The Stripe Study by Veera Valimaki is as great as advertised. I am using alpaca bamboo yarn that was given to me by my MIL. So soft and natural colours.

I have also improved enough from my pneumonia to return to sewing. If I am the least bit blunted, I will cut the wrong way, or sew the wrong way. It's not worth the grief when I can still manage to knit. But the dream of some project bags is becoming a reality thanks to internet tutorials and youtube videos.
I am back to the packed to do list, walked on my trail this morning and am ready to start playing with a full deck.