the summer of my 39th year

Well, I realize that summer is not yet over but I gauge it by the school year and it feels over. I started out the summer in Vermont, a beautifully green and country setting. I realized more than ever this time how much of a city girl I actually am. The bugs and the mud got to me. Overall though, it was a great trip. We rented a beautiful farm house close to the in-laws. Everyone seemed happy and the boys got to experience things they would not have here in Oakland. I shot a gun for the first time, not too gracefully or too good of a shot, but oh well, I don't see target shooting as a future of mine.

I knitted a sock, a sleeve, part of a scarf and a couple of shawls.

I read a few books, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz, While I Was Gone by Sue Miller and White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I got some spinning done as well, finished the spinning for what I hope will be my first handspun sweater. I'm also drop spinning some cashmere silk and finding a new love and appreciation for drop spinning. It's been very peaceful and slow for me compared to spinning on the wheel.

I got to spend a few weeks with one of my very best friends and her kids who usually live across the world in London. I got to go to a girls weekend in Calistoga, which was like heaven. Just perfect in every way. And I feel very happy, trying not to get anxious about all the scheduling and busyness that is around the corner. Almost 40. It is amazing to me to be here at this juncture, I never thought as a young person that I would someday be 40. Not that I wouldn't live that long, but that the day would just be so far away in the future that it just wouldn't come. I'm okay with it. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by my incredible friends and family.