Hello friends and welcome to the first Friday post for May … this is the post where I like to look forward to a whole month through the helpful frame of TGIF.
Thinking about … finding a new rhythm for my days. Needing to be regular with Holly’s schedule so she can be “regular”, adding in-person lunches with my mom and Sunday church (and one church meeting and more to come), working out with Sara at 7am, more tennis, more traffic (ugh. ugh. ugh!) … I sort of flew by the seat of my pants this week and I’m not all that pleased with how it worked out.
Grateful for … the fantastic response to Summer Book Bingo! truly, thank you! I’m also thinking about some things I could do here to encourage the fun. A few thoughts I had were 1) weekly posts with book recommendations for “challenging squares” – I’d rely on y’all to provide the challenges and then the post and the comments would be a resource for all (and future summers); 2) highlighting Bingos from the community (unless that means I have to learn about how to host a link-up?!); 3) fostering community sharing of our cards – one idea would be to “swap a square” with someone – a square that has you flummoxed might be the square that someone else would love to have – do y’all feel like you know each other well enough to do that? (and I promise this is not just me wishing I didn’t have “about art/artists”) … because grateful, right?!
Inspired … to actually finish a sweater AND start another one. April was the first month in … ages … that I didn’t finish a sweater. Long Love is still on the needles and was getting regular attention until earlier this week when I finished the setup rows for the tubular bind-off on the body and set the thing aside. A tubular bind-off of a million (ok, maybe a little less) stitches requires a little concentration and a little diversion (to keep me going). oh, and then I have two sleeves to knit after that. Still – I want this sweater and I for sure want to be knitting something else.
Fun … we have plans to see more family this month! Tomorrow we are going to see Charlie AND SAM play baseball; my sister-in-law is hosting a May birthday party on the 22nd; and my mom has the huge lake house for Memorial Day week. no one has to get on a plane 🙂
I sure hope you have something FUN planned for May! and I would love to know your thoughts on my Summer Bingo ideas. Have the best weekend available!
p.s. yes this is four posts from me in a week, and yes that’s unusual. I am also behind on reading blogs, and responding to the comments you’ve left here – sadly, that’s not all that unusual for me these days. I have some time planned this weekend for some catchup. and plans for only two posts next week … which just might help me stay caught up!
mere-et-filles 
I love the swap a square idea! I got my book cart so I can start organizing my books and make sure I don’t lose my bingo card (like I did last year!). And you afternoon blog posting lands neatly during my blog reading time.
It sounds like your week was full in all the ways that USED to be the norm! But I know, in my case, this introvert is not used to that anymore… It was similar here this week–and only now that I think about, perhaps that’s why I’ve felt off-kilter?
Here’s to you and Holly finding your rhythm (I have to backtrack and see what her diagnosis is? I missed it somehow…). The right sleep makes all the difference–especially with regular 7am workouts! Good for you + Sara!
I think your BINGO ideas sound great. I think people would have fun with the square swapping. I also think it’d be amusing to read about how creatively people ‘interpret’ squares to make the right match! I might be having a little of that going on.
Enjoy all the goodness on your plate this month, Mary!
I need to carve out some time to “get my bingo card” – oh boy, it’s been a week and then some! Must have been something in the air because so many people were feeling the same way! Anyways, once I have my square, I think a “square swap” sounds FUN! Here is to a fun May!
The Lake looks so pretty in the morning sunlight. How fabulous that you are getting out a little more and spending more time with family.
This week has been busy here too.,,,and stormy! We had tornado warnings twice this week and the sirens went off one night. I was thankful that the tornado fell apart just as it entered the edge of town.
It’s graduation at the university tomorrow and it is crazy busy all around town!
I’m looking forward to book bingo and I like the idea of swapping squares. I always love planning out my card! Hope you have a good weekend!
(This is a catch up comment because I don’t want to flood your inbox.. I have loved all of your blog posts this week!)
You had an amazing reading month – I waas thrilled to see that you re-read Gilead. It’s one of my favorite books of all time, despite my uncertainty with religion. I loved how John Ames grappled with his life, whether he interpreted Scripture correctly and lovingly, and the legacy he was leaving behind. I also really loved Home and Lila in the Gilead series, but struggled with Jack. I was so looking forward to Jack – I think he’s one of the most interesting and complicated characters in modern literature, but I just couldn’t finish it. I’m going to try again though, because sometimes (always) my reaction to books relies heavily on my mood.
I’m also feeling out new rhythms for my days and am not happy with how the week turned out!! I’m excited to see what rhythm you fall into and what I can learn from it. Good luck with the bind off on your sweater – it sounds like quite a big task! I’m hoping I can return to knitting soon, but I’m not feeling very inspired lately.
PS – I’m also struggling with returning blog comments. I think I’m going to just start fresh on Monday and do my best to respond to everything moving forward. And please don’t ever think that you HAVE to respond to any of my comments!!
That’s a lovely lake photo, I don’t recall seeing boats before which makes me think the lake is bigger than I thought. I think the idea of swapping a bingo square sounds great!
I suspect that with the positive ways things are going, we’re all going to have to adapt to changing schedules and routines. Though I’m not looking forward to dealing with traffic again! It sounds like it’s useful to have Sara there to have a buddy for 7 a.m. workouts (and I’m sure you’re loving having her there in general).
I am all for anything you decide to do with bingo. I love talking books with others — that’s one of my favorite things about our weekly Zooms, though I fear my TBR list will never get any smaller! I did ask for some suggestions for some of my trickier squares earlier in the week and got some good suggestions, so I think crowd-sourcing that kind of info for folks having trouble would be great. Seems like Goodreads has a lot of thematic lists, but I have a hard time finding them!
I’m with you for finding a new rhythm for my days. The past couple of weeks have been a bit off-kilter for several reasons, but I’m hoping to remedy that in the future. It will really be fixed when I’m not shuttling back and forth between NJ and MD. It looks like just nine more months! Until then I’ll read, knit, and do what I can in whatever state I find myself in!
May is looking to be a blessed month! Life is slowly returning to normal by increments and I am glad to see it happen.
What a wonderfully tranquil scene … it must be so lovely to be able to be there in early morning with your daughter, soaking up the soft sunlight. Your social diary seems to be filling up fast! Things are more restrained here (watching the variants increase), but we may be allowed to be indoors with a few others from May 17th. This new societal landscape feels like a great time to be finding a new pace and a rhythm, doesn’t it – though it takes time for thought and noticing how we are impacted. Hoping you’re able to knit a new one for yourself which feels satisfying :).