Rosy Pink

One skein of rosy pink cotton yarn.

It reminded me of these beautiful roses in Jerusalem.

And this lovely wall art.

Both of which just happened to be at the sports club close to the family home where we took our cousin's youngest son to play.

Something else in pink is the Mollie Makes Magazine I received yesterday from a friend, purchased on her recent trip to Dubai.

So I set about crocheting with the rosy pink yarn.

And finished a coffee coaster.

(Pattern from Repeat Crater Me)

Two washcloths.

(The background is free patterned paper found in the magazine.)

And two potholders.

I used up the rosy pink yarn right up to the very end.

This one reminds me of neopolitan ice cream.

Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

(Mollie Makes Magazine as the backdrop.)

According to Reader's Digest, pink roses signify Love, Gratitude and Appreciation.

(Photo taken in Amman, Jordan)

Thankful for all of you,

Crochet Here and There

Crocheting acts as a mental and physical therapy and there are many beautiful things that are created in the process.

(Today’s Crochet World)

This morning I met with my craft group for a lovely crafty morning.

We met at a Caribou Coffee in a new location which was nice and quiet and off the beaten path.

A beautiful day but a bit too hot to sit outside now.

Lots of wonderful projects being worked on.

Knitting, crochet, and cross-stitch.

Coffee, companionship, conversation and crafting makes for a great start to the day.

While in Jerusalem, I had the girls take me to the closest craft store for yarn.

There wasn't a huge selection, but I bought a few colors for a specific project I had in mind to complete while there.

We had given Salwa, who is in college studying massage therapy, a mini iPad, so I wanted to crochet a sleeve for it.

After this picture was taken, I added a crocheted tab and button so that it wouldn't slip out.

She was very happy with her stripey handmade cover.

I crocheted four of these coffee coasters while there.

Washcloths were made while on planes and buses.

And another washcloth and some coasters were crocheted while on a road trip in Jordan.

You can never go wrong with coffee and crochet.

And creative friends to inspire.

Best wishes,

Back from a Brief Break

An early morning departure from Kuwait.

 Turbulence on the way to Amman, Jordan.

A car ride to the Jordanian border with a stop for water on the way.

A bus ride to the Israeli border and by 1:00 p.m. we were in Jerusalem.

The reason for my week long break.

There were no hotel rooms available because May 1st was Orthodox Easter so there were many visitors to the Old City.

We stayed with my husband's 78 year old aunt who is blind and one tough cookie. 

It wound up being the best thing since the purpose for our visit was to spend time with family.

We did a lot of visiting.

And eating.

They always make sure to have vegetarian and vegan options just for me.

We had a wonderful trip. 

We weren't tourists this time so most of my pictures are family related.

 Everyone always goes out of their way for us.  Leaving was just a bit harder than it was last year when we were there with my boss and his wife.

Over the next several days I'll share more pictures of how our time was spent.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Happy Hibiscus

Pause and remember:

Every morning is a new page in the story of your life.

You are creating your life at every moment.

Think wisely about the day you want to create for yourself.

(Jenni Young, Simple Reminders)

The above photos show a day in the life of a hibiscus.

From bud, to brilliant bloom, and then the faded flower at the end of the day.

This is the first year I've had hibiscus on my balcony.

It has happily produced beautiful blooms for months now. 

Sometimes just one; sometimes more.

Today there were three.

Which makes me very happy.

This afternoon we had clouds roll in, but nothing ever happened.

Just a grand show at the end of the day.

I'd like to thank you all for your kind thoughts and wishes yesterday.

Blogger buddies truly are a lovely bunch.

I'm fine and all is well, but I will be taking a brief pause which I will tell you all about next week.

Happy Monday!

May Day

You are as welcome as the flowers in May.
Charles Macklin

Goodness gracious!

I can't believe it's the month of May.

 I have to admit, ever since my last post, I've been in somewhat of a funk.  I felt so bad about having to surrender that sweet kitty to the shelter and now that the heat has started back up again, morning walks are no longer so pleasant.  The weekend was a mix of haze and dust, plus clouds and just enough drizzle yesterday to make everything splotchy.   

The temperature is predicted to get up to 109 F by Thursday.

Not looking forward to that at all.

So I've just felt rather blah.

For now, I'm still getting tomatoes.

And there's even some more blooms

All of the plants require a lot more watering because of the heat.

And soon we will no longer see bees and moths and butterflies.

I've not been very creative lately either, so yesterday I did some crafting with nature.

I've seen some really pretty crochet trims on leaves, so tried my hand at it using a leaf I picked up a couple of weeks ago.

Not an easy thing to do since it's so fragile.

Definitely takes patience and a steady hand.

Wishing you a colorful, creative May!