Sunday, April 15, 2018

A Finished Sweater and Blessings on Sunday

I woke up feeling less than energetic, today.  So, I decided to take it easy.  I spent a good portion of the morning and afternoon watching cooking shows on TV, reading blogs, responding to comments, etc.

My neighbor T called around 11:30 a.m. for our weekly Sunday chat and, after that, I went out to the garden for a bit.  The little mourning dove was no where to be seen, so maybe it found a better place in which to stay, far away from a crazy lady following it around with a cell phone! 

The pomegranate tree can't fly away, so it stood patiently while I took a few more pictures of it:

Pomegranate Tree
"It's for the blog", I told it, "they liked your flowers",  Yes, I am the crazy lady who talks to the trees, in addition to walking behind birds!

Doesn't it look like a dress with a frilly skirt?

One more
I had leftover milk rice and the last bit of chicken curry for brunch, today, followed by an orange.  There are maybe 10 oranges left on the tree; after that, no more until this year's oranges develop.

In the afternoon, I finally got around to sewing up the other side of my sweater:

New Sweater
I haven't blocked it
The sleeves are a little too big, as I suspected they would be, but they are not too bad, so I will not redo them.  The rest of it fits:

New Sweater
In the picture, I am wearing the sweater over the white skirt and blouse I put on to go to temple.  The temple was holding a ceremony to offer New Year blessings.  In addition to the usual chanting of blessings, being given blessed water to drink and having the blessed thread tied around our right wrist, we were anointed with blessed oil.  I gave a donation to the temple in memory of my father (whose birth anniversary was on March 28) and in memory of my step-father (whose birth anniversary was on April 8).  

After I came home, I put water to the front garden.  The forecast says there is a 20% chance of rain, tomorrow, but I thought I'd better water the garden, today, without counting on it to rain.

By the time I watered the garden and came inside, it was already 8:00 p.m. and I was hungry!  I decided to make spaghetti for dinner.  While the pasta cooked, I heated up the spaghetti sauce I had in the freezer and added some of the ground beef I had cooked, earlier in the week.  Dinner was ready in 15 minutes or so.  There's enough leftovers for tomorrow's lunch to take to the office.

Later, I video chatted with my daughter.  Unlike me, she did her weekly meal prep and cooking:

Brown Rice, Meatball Curry, Glazed Roasted Carrots, Zucchini and Corn

Cauliflower made two ways, Spiced chick peas, Roasted Beets, Potato Wedges (2 different seasonings)
She has 4 baking sheets.  She said she found recipes for the potato, cauliflower, beets, and carrots, that all required baking at 400F, prepared the vegetables and baked them all at the same time!  The zucchini and meatball curry were made on the stove top.

It was raining in Berkeley, she said.  They've been having a rather wet spring.

I called Aunt C in the evening, because I hadn't heard from her all week.  Apparently, she had been in hospital with pneumonia!  I wish cousin N had told me; I could have prepared some food and taken to them.  I will call aunt during the week and cook something and take to them, next weekend.

Today, I am grateful for:
- New Year's blessings at the temple
- My new sweater
- A relaxed day
- Aunt is home and recovering
- Video chatting with my daughter

Monday's To Do List:
- Go to the office
- Take the trash cans to the curb
- Do the dishes
- Water the back garden (if it doesn't rain)

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday? 



26 comments:

  1. The flowers of the pomegranate tree are such a gorgeous colour. I'd be photographing them all the time!

    Your daughter's meal prep all looks very tasty. She is very organised isn't she.

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    1. The flowers are very pretty, aren't they? Yes, daughter is very organized. Not like her mother! :D

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  2. The flowers on the pomegranate tree are stunning. How long do they last?
    I love the sweater. The pattern is really pretty. X

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    1. Only for a couple of days; then the petals fall off. If the flower has been pollinated, the calyx remains; otherwise, it falls off, too.

      Thank you; I'm pleased with how the sweater turned out.

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  3. Your flowers look wonderful! Still not a lot here - the daffodils finally are coming out, but it's cold again (little snow today). I love your jumper. The colour is so pretty and I like the cable design in the middle.

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    1. I hope the daffodils survive the cold and snow! Hopefully, you'll have plenty of flowers in a few weeks time. Are you visiting your daughter this week?

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  4. That sweater is beautiful. Is your new office cold like your old one, so you can have a chance to wear it there?

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. Yes, the new office gets cold in the afternoon (morning is warm in my cubicle because the morning sun shines through). I plan to wear the sweater to the office, tomorrow.

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  5. Such a lovely sweater. It turned out wonderfully. Love the cable design.
    I see only meatballs in your daughter's dinner preps. Does she eat mostly vegetarian meals, or will she fry up some meat to go with the veggie dishes? I look forward to seeing her weekly preps.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. I am pleased with how it turned out.

      Daughter used to be vegetarian as a child. She just didn't like the taste/texture of meat. These days, she does eat meat, but not that much. She bought some cold cuts, so that and the meatball curry will be her only meat for this week. Unless she decides to have sardines on toast, one evening since she bought two cans of sardines, as well.

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  6. The flowers look like they could be worn as a dress by a tiny flamenco dancer! Beautiful! Have a wonderful week!

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    1. That's exactly what they look like, Anne! Wonder if there are any flamenco dancing fairies? :) Hope you have a good week, too.

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  7. You are such a talented knitter! The sweater is gorgeous.

    I love seeing the food that your daughter cooks. It's very satisfying to see it displayed like this in all the containers, for some reason :)

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    1. Thank you, Nathalie. :)

      Yes, she puts it all in containers and makes sure to wash every single pot, dish, and spoon after she cooks! Not at all like her mother! LOL!

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  8. The sweater is beautiful.
    Your daughter's food looks delicious and healthy. She is very organized.
    Your Monday to-do list reminded me that I also have to take the trash can to the curb. I hope I will still remember it by the time I get home. :)

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    1. Thank you, Nil. Yes, she is organized, unlike me! LOL! I hope you remember the trash can when you get home! We have weekly trash collections; is it the same there?

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    2. Haha I think most daughters learn from their moms, so if your daughter is organized, you must be too. :)
      We have twice a week trash collection. But I don't have that much trash, because I have a compost bin.

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    3. Well, I try to be organized. :)

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  9. Your sweater is lovely and fits nicely.

    Do all the ladies dress in white when you attend temple?

    Sunday the strong wind was bitterly cold. We attended early church service and
    shortly after that I went grocery shopping. We were almost completely out of milk and I had delayed my usual Thursday shopping. Later in the day we needed to cover the tomato plants etc. looks like it will need repeating tonight. Usually no danger of frost this late in April.

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    1. Thank you, Sandy. Traditionally, everyone, men and women, wore white to temple. These days, things have relaxed quite a bit and people wear colored clothes, as well. But, I prefer to wear all white to temple. I had on a white skirt, a white blouse, and a white cardigan. It is supposed to symbolize purity.

      Hope your tomato plants survive the cold spell! Glad you were able to go grocery shopping on Sunday. I debated going, myself, and got as far as making a list, but then, didn't grocery shop, after all! I will need some milk, later this week.

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  10. Bushlady, I am sorry, but I think I deleted your comment by mistake, although I couldn't find it in the deleted comments! When I tried to publish it, I received a message that the comment no longer existed!

    Bushlady said:
    "
    The pomegranate flower does indeed look like a frilly dress. Your sweater is pretty and looks nice and warm. I can understand you wanting to wear the traditional white to the Temple. It is part of the whole sanctity of the ceremony. Your daughter's food looks great as usual.

    The whole route of our intended trip today was a story of freezing rain including the destination city, where it was particularly bad, so we wisely stayed home and did feed the birds and squirrels. In fact I lost count of how many times I topped up the bird feeder so that all 6 perches would access seed. We had a lot of snow this afternoon and everything looks like the middle of winter. But in about a week I believe we are going to get some warmer weather and maybe it will stick around for a change!"

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    1. Maybe I should send the new sweater to you! Sounds like you could do with another sweater! Hope you'll have better weather in which to travel when your trip is rescheduled.

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  11. Replies
    1. Thank you, Debbie. It knitted up fairly quickly. Wore it to the office today and received several compliment on it.

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  12. Your sweater is lovely, I like the blues. Your daughter's meals look delicious and colourful - a good cook.

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. Hope you are feeling better, now.

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