Mersydotes

I certainly do love a good, old-fashioned alliterative tile, and it had been much too long since we'd had one here on the blog- wouldn't you agree?  Well, that's one thing taken care of, then!  So on to apples!   Mr. Mersy and I joined M & Z for a day of apple picking at an orchard just north of the city.  The drive was phenomenal, winding through the hills along the Hudson, with nearly neon foliage surrounding us.  We were leaf peepers and loving it!  I'm glad it's possible to scamper away from the city and find yourself in the hills and forest so quickly. It was great to be out and about with such wonderful peeps (Penny was there, too!), but I have to admit that our orchard experience in NY couldn't hold a candle to Illinois.  This isn't coming from some misplaced, stubborn sense of homesick nostalgia- I promise!  It's just that an orchard should be a peaceful, calm, family-centered, warm place...

The temperature has dropped nearly 20 degrees this week, and people are already mentioning the "sn**" word!  But the briskness is refreshing, and to be honest, New York City was made for the cold weather.  One of my friends says that winter is when "the city has its bowtie on", and she couldn't be more right.  Early sunsets and chilly streets make the city feel more intimate and, oddly enough, more welcoming, provided you have a warm place of your own to curl up in. With the end of autumn approaching and with my eyes recalibrated and ready to peer at the world again, I realized that this week might be my last opportunity to photograph my favorite spot in Queens.  It's just a little spot- a few feet of sidewalk on my way to work, but it's pretty magical to me. Every morning on my way to work I walk through this an alley of morning glories, filtering the sunshine through their petals and leaves, tumbling through the fence of an abandoned lot...

Three years ago when I began Mersydotes, I hemmed and hawed for months before deciding to start a blog.  I so very much wanted a little corner of the world where I could only put the good and bright bits of every day life.  Moments that cause me to count my blessings, look deeper at the little things and step out of the stream of consciousness for a moment and breathe as I watch it flow by. Sometimes those moments come when I'm counting stitches, watching something grow and grow from the end of my hook or needles. But recently I think my eye for little moments of loveliness has been a bit clouded.  So maybe I need recalibrate it and keep a look out.  I'll be doing my best. Lots of love, ~Mersydotes

Several weeks ago, my boss traveled to Lake Tahoe with her family, and she brought me back two skeins of the softest, most glorious baby alpaca yarn in cream and charcoal.   Every since, I've ben enjoying slowly knitting up a little project while I commute in the train each morning and evening.  The yarn is so soft, as is the knitted fabric.  If I'm ever reincarnated, I think I must just insist on being a baby alpaca. I wanted to do justice to the quality and texture of the yarn, so I chose a special project from the Purl Bee.  It's their Hat and Hand Warmers for Beginners pattern which caught my eye because of it's minimalistic vibe.  I've ben very intrigued recently by the beauty of minimalist knits.  The only variation I made is to add a pompom at the end- how could I resist? They are lovely and gloriously soft, and my boss was thrilled to see what I'd made.  She took me up on my offer to make her a pair out of t...

We had an adventure yesterday in Hell's Kitchen (a neighborhood on the West side of Manhattan):  I'd heard the creative director of the New York Shakespeare Exchange interviewed on a podcast, and she was so happy about her troupe that her enthusiasm was contagious.  She said that Shakespeare wasn't meant to be read, but rather heard and experienced, and that's why the Shakespeare Exchange brought the Bard to the masses. So we went on our very first pub crawl yesterday afternoon, making four stops with a group of about 50 other Shakespeare fans.  At each stop there was time to kick back and relax and then suddenly a bell would chime and actors would hop up on the bar and bring to life a bit of a play.  They had chosen stand-alone comedic scenes from Much Ado About Nothing, Henry IV, As You Like It, and the Merry Wives of Windsor.  Here are the Merry Wives perched atop a bar, making us laugh. It was perfect and joyful, and every scene ended in a reso...

It's hard to believe that the best peeps in the world, our friends M & Z, are finally out here on the East Coast with us.  It makes it feel more permanent, less like we're just biding our time in exile until we can go back to Illinois.  It helps me feel more settled, and more content with the fact that life is moving forward, growing and morphing into something real and right. M & Z will be ensconced in a wonderful seaside bit of Connecticut where the breezes blow the dune grass sideways and houses still have ancient brick fireplaces.  We spent a beautiful afternoon at Silver Sands State Park wading in the water, watching the crabs and the gulls, hiking out to the protected heron nesting areas.  My shoulders were sunburned, my feet were muddy, my hair was wild, and I was so very happy. And just before Labor Day weekend was upon us, we got a phone call from one of my favorite people in the world- Mr. Mer...