Blessed rain

It's a rainy Saturday morning, and I have coffee brewing, which smells wonderful. I like coffee to drink, but I also love its smell. It's my incense.

Yesterday morning, I had a beautiful walk around the back yard with my dog. It had rained the previous night but was not raining when I walked. The ground smelled...like earth after a rain. The lavender plants by my shed were giving off their aroma. Every pine and evergreen needle had a crystal drop at its end. I saw a heron standing in the creek. I often catch a glimpse of one as it takes off, startled by my presence, but this time I got to see it standing in the water before it flew away.

The rain is delightful to me personally, but it also may serve a greater good if it helps bring wildfires in Washington State under control.

Sew-c-d behavior

Here's where I am right now on my needlepoint project:



It is a glasses case. The back, which is some suede-like material, zips to the front, which is the needlepoint. Picking this up and working on it has become a compulsive behavior with me. I think needlework--whether knitting or needlepoint or whatever--is a good outlet for anyone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. All that focus on niggling details that can become problematical in life reaps a reward in needlework.

Small updates

The hot weather has made a comeback. I was determined to plant some flowers this weekend, so yesterday and today I tried to get out on the deck before it got too hot. Both days, it was hot by 10:30 a.m. Bleah. But I did get some stuff planted.

In other news, this week I received a needlework kit that I ordered a while back. I did a little bit of it already. I'm also still working on the secret knitting project, and that's going well.

Last week I tried to get to bed on time and get good nights' sleeps. I'd better keep it up, but that means I need to go to bed immediately.

Update on Kindle Unlimited

So here's what I eventually discovered about Kindle Unlimited--the one where you pay about $9 a month and can download any title in the Kindle Unlimited library. You're limited to having 10 at a time. I've maxed that out, so now when I download another Unlimited e-book, I have to give one back. So it's sort of like Netflix for books.

As I mentioned earlier, I like to get the ones with narration, if I can, so I can listen while I knit. I listened to Barchester Towers, which was fun. I listened to I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, by Elinor Lipman, whose novels I have enjoyed. In one of the later essays, she wrote poignantly about her husband's death. Now I'm listening to her novel The View from Penthouse B, which she wrote after her husband's death and the protagonist of which is a widow.