I had a very quiet weekend. Lily has moved out. But a lot of her things remain--reminding us of her. Despite how glad I am that she's now with her mother, I'm a little lonely without a laughing, dancing, singing, excited-about-the-world six-year-old in the house. Fortunately, she's only about 25 miles away so we will see her often. Now the task is for Don and me to figure out how to do this empty-nesting thing. It's been over 30 years since we've been only a couple (if you don't count the 6 months we had before Tessa and Lily returned).
So far, the past 2 days, it's gone okay. Saturday, I bought a couple of steaks for our dinner--I rarely buy beef and more rarely steaks! We grilled them and Don fixed a salad and we dined at 9 PM. With Lily here, dinner HAD to be at 6 sharp in order to have time to get everything done with her before bedtime at 8. So we truly enjoyed having a lingering evening with the late dinner.
Don has been picking cucumbers in the garden and he tried making pickles for the first time Saturday. I resurrected my mom's dill pickle recipe and he finished up with 10 jars. The goal is to have about 20 or 25 jars of, hopefully, delicious dills.
Sunday he picked green beans for the first time and I'll be getting them in the freezer tonight. I guess you can say the garden is starting to come in.
Quilting continues to remain on hold for the summer, it seems. I haven't been able to resume my enthusiasm for it since I finished the auction quilt even though I started a table runner--it's still on my table, half finished, covered by my knitting things. Knitting, however, threatens to become my new passion! I'm nearly finished with the cardigan I started in June and Saturday I picked up some really great light weight worsted yarn and started working on a triangular shawl. Today, I brought it to work and will keep it here to work on at break time.
I have to keep this knitting thing in balance--if I stop quilting, what will I do with all this fabric I have? If I'm really self disciplined, I think I can manage to do both--time will tell.
Maybe knit awhile and sew awhile. Yeah, you can do both.
ReplyDeleteBarb, I can't even begin to imagine how you feel. I'm sure there will be days you love it and days you hate it but you both will find your groove. When my husband was not working and I was home and the kids were in school I thought we would make a good retired couple because we do our own thing and don't have to entertain each other all the time. But we have at least 20 more years before that so for now I am glad that we are both working and the kids are home. But am looking forward to school starting again this fall! Best, Lisa
ReplyDeleteI give you two weeks. By that time you will be used to the quietness and calmness. The house remains neat, feser lunches, less laundry - lots of good reasons the empty nest is ok. It's so nice she lives nearby. I'm sure she really misses you and Don, too.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have a table topper cut out that hasn't been touched in 6 weeks or so. I've been cross-stitching, though. I find I tend to do mostly one or mostly the other, but when fall hits I will be downstairs with my machine more.