Monday Musings-9 January 2011

Right now...5:50 a.m., dark, quiet and cold.

This weekend...was cold!  It snowed a bit on Friday and again last night.  Not a lot, but enough to make everything white outside.  Luckily we had nowhere we had to go, so Bret made a fire in the wood stove in his shop and did a little repair work out there.  I pulled out my old sewing frame from the bindery and brushed off the thick coat of dust, and I started work on some pocket-sized watercolor albums to put into an Etsy shop in the near future.  I sewed them onto linen tapes with flax thread, and found some nice paper from my stock for end leaves.  It has been a couple of years since I bound anything other than little pamphlet notebooks for the kids, so it felt rather good.  I have been wanting to make an autograph book for Una for one of her birthdays, so it is good to get into practice again.

I also did laundry (I am missing my clothes line!), made beef-barley soup and baked bread to go with it.  And all of the Christmas stuff, other than a couple of cookie tins, was put away.  Good thing, too, as the tree was on the brink of becoming a fire hazard.

Yesterday we went to Mass at the Chapel of Divine Mercy, and the ride was beautiful.  It was only around 18 degrees when we left the house, but sunny, and every branch and blade of grass was faceted with frost and blazed as if diamond-encrusted in the sun.  It was something.

Some plans for the week:  School, naturally.  I have a dental appointment on Wednesday afternoon, and Bret has a checkup on Thursday.  I also need to bite the bullet and make a move to Samaritan Ministries.  I have finally been priced out of my private health insurance.  I also need to purchase a few things for Adrian's birthday next month, and figure out if there is anything I can actually make for him.  I wanted to knit him a raglan sweater, but I haven't time now, and I have had to put a hold on purchasing any new yarn (I had intended to buy some bulky merino for him, but alas...!)

Special prayer intentions:  Jobs for Bret and health for my family top the bill, as usual, but I also pray for Judy H, who is undergoing cancer treatment and will have surgery this week; for the seminarians of the Fathers of Mercy, as they head back to school this week; for my sister, who has to manage without her husband this week, as he is off on a training course for work; for S., who has placenta previa with her tenth child and had some bleeding problems last week, that there will be no complications for the rest of her pregnancy and the birth of her baby.

If I find a little time for myself:  I would like to...work on those watercolor books and my knitting.

Something that makes me smile:  working on the sewing frame again, sewing up signatures.  The old frame, as well as other pieces of equipment, were given to me by Courtney, my mentor in bookbinding and restoration, who passed away about four and a half years ago.  Using it, I almost feel that he is standing at my side.

If you feel you'd like to join me in sharing your past weekend and plans for the week ahead, feel free to grab the header image and use it, then link back to your own post in the comments.  Have a great week!