On the go, now go slow(er).

I have been on the go of late.  I actually did go one time on my own, for a movie I wanted to see, but the rest, either stuff to keep the place going, (read: groceries and animal feed), or ‘stuff’ for the volunteer work.  I am getting to the point that the volunteer work is going to be scaled back. Pruned, even… I have already turned in notice to one group.  I turned in notice earlier, IN WRITING, to another group, but they still have me as lead.  They will learn…

But due to varying personal reasons, and just the fact, hey, I want some “ME” time…  I am going to be cutting back.  And you know, I am (mostly) not feeling guilty about it.  I am still volunteering for the Sheriff's Office, and I will still do a few other things from time to time, but I am really needing to back off, and maybe work on some things closer to home...

I will still be knitting for others, but I have two projects I wanted to knit for me.  I have knit one, a vest.  I have yet to sew it together and finish it (it has some fluffy edges that needs be done after being put together), and a nightcap from the 1840’s.  The juxtaposition is rather astounding, one is quasi-hippie, the other is somewhat highbrow London.  I am not eccentric eclectic for nothing!

Deciding to sit down and read casually again was a good thing on my part.  I read through… Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Dance of the Bones (J.A Jance), and decided to try Don Quixote.  I saved Swarm of Swords for faire reading.  I think it will fit in rather well, actually.  Even if Mister Martin doesn’t have a clue about the melting temperature of gold… Sorry, my willing suspension of disbelief sort of fell by the wayside for that chapter.  Hopefully I haven’t dropped any spoilers.  My reading speed seems to have been fine, but I am most glad I have my "superpower" glasses (bifocals) now, I don't have to put the book against my nose to read print!

This week will be getting costumes and such readied for faire.  It will be a bit bittersweet, this will be the first year I am not going to be manning much of anything.  I will help a friend with her booth, she is going through some medical issues, and she is scaling back, too.  I will help with one or two items, but faire is more or less free for me this year.  That said, one of my friends there passed away this morning.  It was expected, and we are going to have a memorial for her there.  Several of my friends that started faire are gone, and while I still see the fingerprints of them, I miss the people…

My Auntie is coming for a visit next week, not sure what that will bring.  She lives in Arizona, so I hope she remembers to bring her down parka and long underwear!  (I do think perhaps she won’t be quite that bad, but I do know the temps are supposed to cool here, and she had been dealing with 100+ for a bit.  Sweaters will indeed be a good thing, though.)

I have been working on keeping the garden picked.  However, keeping up with zucchini is a challenge.  If you miss one, you end up with a baseball bat. Husband and I joke, there is a recipe for Zucchini Boats.  When they get that big, you have Zucchini Battleships…  The chickens don’t seem to mind, so it works out.  And it’s been a pretty prolific year for my tomatoes, I hope to put some up, but man, oh man, right now, I need to start figuring out who would like some, because I could make tomato soup for a LARGE group at the moment.  Blackberries gave me several pints of jelly, I could probably make more, but I probably have enough jars to last at least a couple seasons.

I also have apples.  I had to laugh, I had spent most of the morning picking tomatoes and zukes, Husband commented, wasn’t I going to pick apples?  I told him no, I was getting a bit tired.  He said, uh, I could pick some, I don’t want the pie crusts you have to go to waste…

So, there is a pie cooling on the stove right now.  I will have to see about getting something done with the tomatoes, but you know, there are priorities.  If Husband was willing to go pick a mess of apples, well, I was willing to make him a pie!