Finished

I’ve concentrated on finishing 3 projects: mittens, charities, and bougainvilleas. First up, the mittens I’d started some time ago with yarn from Mountain Meadow Wool Mill. One was almost done, then set aside.  Not as abandoned as some projects I’ve started, since I bought the yarn after our 2021 trip to Yellowstone. I had planned to finish them before our next trip to cold weather, which turns out to be this Saturday. 

Not a difficult project, lovely to the touch wool. Just needed time with needles in my hands. Not too much at once since I haven’t knitted in a while and I didn’t want to aggravate my wrists or shoulders. Fifteen minutes at a time over the past couple of weeks: done. However they are too large for me, so Grant gets a new pair of wool mittens. I will wear my fingerless gloves inside a pair of polyester ones. Should I consider buying more yarn for the next cold weather event? Not until I’ve finished the socks I will make with the yarn I bought last year in Nee Zealand. TBC.

Inter-lapping with the mittens was deciding our charity donation, then sitting down at the computer and entering the info at the brokerage to have the checks sent. The first part is mostly easy because we tend to repeat, with amount adjusted for inflation. Once on our list, we rarely take a group off. The second part is just tedious, making sure there is enough cash in account, selling stock if not, being careful with addresses and amounts. The government makes us take out a required minimum deduction, RMD, from our IRAs each year, based on our life expectancy, or pay a fine. One way to do this is with qualified charitable deductions, QCD, which are tax exempt. Happens each year, must be done by December 31st. Never a surprise; we know each January 1st what our year’s RMD. I could do it then, which I swear I will do next year.

Last of the projects was to repot my 3 vintage bougainvillea, which predate Grant, having been moved from ground to large terracotta pot, Fort Lauderdale to Windermere, via a stay at Patten’s. It was all we could do to get them out of their pots, loaded into the wheelbarrow, then repotted into their pots at their new location along our north property line. There they will have enough sun to bloom and provide a screen for our neighbor. I’d already planted wild coffee, Simpson stoppers, long leaf pines and Florida viburnum. A few salvias, spiderworts, and perhaps other flowering plants will finish the area.

Not done quickly, but done finally.