Monday, August 26, 2013

While I was away

While I've been neglecting the blog , the summer has been filled with ...

 spending time with this trio of munchkins .
 
 
Knitting . I've been on a streak with the baby knits . The purple shrug is for Stella , as well as a cardigan and vest for my expected grand daughter .I also knit a pair of socks for Jessey and there are another pair in progress for Stella. I`ll have to get going to knit some for Mason .

Reading .This  pile of books is more reflective of currently reading (The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith , also known as J.K. Rowling in another incarnation ) and to be read books . The book that I most enjoyed reading this summer and one that I can`t recommend highly enough is And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini .  The book begins in Afghanistan the 1940s and continues on through the decades and to other parts of the world with a series of interlinked stories . It entertained me , moved me to tears in places , and taught me a little more about the history and culture of the Afghan people. I have read his other books and thoroughly enjoyed them , but in my mind this is his best one yet .
 
 
On a sad note , we had to say goodbye to our cat Hey You , so named because when he wandered into our lives 17 years ago we had no intention of keeping him ,  the logic was that you can`t keep a cat if you don`t give him a name . He stayed and the no name stuck . He`d been showing his age lately but then started having seizures and getting weaker every day . We finally had to face the reality that it would be kinder to end his suffering . It`s particularly hard for me because he came to us just 3 weeks after my mother died . She loved cats and I always felt that she sent him to me . He was a very good companion , kept the dogs in line (they knew the pecking order ) even the big guy Alaska . He accepted the kids even though he wasn`t too sure about them in the beginning . They loved him in return . We will always miss him , but mom has him back with her ...