Almost All Chores Completed

I am strong enough this year to do my Fall chores.  Thank God(dess) that the doctor took me off the statins.  I have only one or two things to do yet, but it isn't as if they are pressing.  Today I got the fuel stabilizer in the riding mower and she is draped with her cover and ready for a winter's nap.

I am on my 7th hexagon now, and it is interesting to see how these colors play out.  Here are the first six.  That last one-lime and turquoise and purple- started with some handspun for the white part.  I had just a little teeny ball and wanted to experiment.  Close up it is obviously not the smooth worsted spun mill yarn.

 

 

 

I can't seem to get Blogger to work right.  For some reason it started out in the center of the line.

 

This morning I heard a white-throated sparrow.  This is always an indicator of changing seasons.  I just kept on filling up feeders and water stations.  For some reason the birds like the dog watering bowl on the deck instead of the official bird bath.  I also put a shallow dish my friend CF made a long, long, long time ago out front.  I see birds bathing in that a lot, and sometimes I see squirrels and chipmunks drinking. 

 

See how it is doing this crazy thing.

 

We have had 80's for a number of days.  It was fine the day that it was gusting 40 mph winds.  But yesterday and today it is HOT and HUMID!  I hate being all hot and sticky in mid-October.  I know that I absolutely hate cold that lasts and lasts.  But I don't want to be hot and sticky in October. 

 

I have been revisiting some books that I am not sure if I have read on the library audiobook selections. If it turns out I have read them a while back, I will still listen.  If for some reason I remember how the mystery turns out, I return it.  It is amazing to me how listening to a book makes it a different book than one that I have actually read.  I guess our imaginations really do fill in gaps as we read.  I like that part of reading.  I just find it entertaining to listen when I work.

 

Supposedly a front is coming in with cooler temps and rain.  We have occasional clouds moving overhead.  A frog was singing for rain earlier. 

 

I have pulled out all my cat fabrics and I am amazed at the amount that I have.  I didn't even count the smaller pieces from my cat quilt.  I think it is time to make a child's quilt for my neighbor's charity.

 

Noodles has been really busy killing rodents.  His teeth are so bad that he can't quite eat them like he used to.  But he can still KILL the darn things.  It is gross, but it is nature.

 

I am knitting a jacket finally.  I am using my blue handspun that is larger than my normal handspun.  It is soft and squishy and I am really liking it.  It is simply large mitered squares.  The first row is a triangle, a square, and a half-square.  The second row is three squares.  I am on the middle row.  Then the third row is a square, a half-square, and a triangle.  It is fascinating to see how it coming out.

 

I am also still knitting on the stripe-y blanket.  I love the colors in this one.  Not sure who it will go to.  I am sure I will find a deserving home somewhere.  I always find a good home.

 

So I am now making myself a toasted cheese sandwich.  I am a tad bit hungry.  Have a good rest of the week and a good weekend.  Just not 80 degrees, please.

It's Been A While

I am no longer a regular writer on this blog.  It doesn't really interest me as it once did. 

Yes, I am a hermit, a curmudgeon, and I like living in a peaceful routine of my own choosing.

Sometimes I am pulled away by others.  Sometimes I am pulled away by things I read or see or hear. 

For the most part Noodles and I are peacefully co-existing in our lives together.  (He is in my lap now as I type).

I have a friend that is a little off center.  She has had a very traumatized life and she does not deal with it well.  She and I met some friends yesterday, and today she has built a part of the conversation into a conspiracy to prevent her from learning something or getting something - or something.  She called this a.m. to discuss her feelings.  It took quite some time for me to understand what she was talking about.  I clarified what I heard in the conversation. 

It also made me realize that my life is simple, peaceful, and not quite so dramatic. For that I am most grateful.

I am presently knitting Persian Dreams.  It is a series of hexagons that are knit in color work.  Each is different.  Each is designed to represent Persian tiles.  My hex's don't look like tiles.  They are just pretty.  I have completed six, and #7 is on the needles.

I have also started a jacket made with handspun.  I like it.  It is squishy and soft and rather pretty.  I am not sure it would make anyone else happy, but it is making me happy making it.

I am also knitting a ripple blanket using six colors.  I also like it.  I don't know who sill get it when it is done.  Of course, I spent a long time the other night un-knitting (tinking) six rows to find a mistake.  I never found the mistake, but my numbers were right.  So I started knitting again.  It is coming out correct this time.  I have made up the part that I tinked.

I have also discovered some pretty purple-ly merino that I had in the drawer.  After I divided it out, I have spun and plied one skein.  It is time to get to the next bit so I can finish out the roving.  I love the colors in this one.

I have listed to several books on tape while I have knit, spun, and rested my eyes with a warm compress.  I am into some of the J.A. Jance books I haven't read.  I also have a new Hamish McBeth mystery audiobook on Hold at the library.  When I checked tonight I am next on the list.  It has been two months since I placed it on hold.  I continue to read my Kindle at night before bed.

I have been preparing for winter, and today was "drying apples" day.  I like to snack on the dried apples, but they are also good in oatmeal.  I have made apple butter.  Applesausce is next.  I think I still have one container in the freezer that needs to be eaten soon.

I have been cleaning gutters, trimming trees away from the house, and trying to get things done that have to get done before cold.  I did get the furnace checked and ready.  I still have to put the stuff in the gas tanks of the mowers that keeps them from separating and the water freezing.  Whatever that is called.  There are some plants I need to transplant.  Nothing urgent now.  Just a few chores.

I guess I can say that my life is moving slowly and steadily.  Nothing earth shaking going on.  I still don't know exactly what the phone call was about this a.m.  I just listened and didn't try to stir the pot too much. 

I found a light blue cashmere scarf at a thrift store, and I am studying it.  I think I need to dye it somehow.  Don't know yet.

My neighbor has started some of us making quilts for the new children's hospital scheduled to open next year.  I pulled out my "cat prints" and I have tons.  I think I can make at least one, maybe two.  I am going to make courthouse steps quilt as you go.  It is easy once the pieces are cut and prepped. 

So sorry I haven't care enough to write.  Really there is nothing exciting going on.  Just routine chores and knitting and spinning, and sewing going on.  I will say it is time to prepare for winter, although it is 80 degrees outside tomorrow.  It won't last.

Happy Full Moon.  Enjoy the moonlight and thank Grandmother Moon for blessing us tonight.

The Light Is Changing

It is the second week of August.  I noticed that there has been a shift in the light and that there is a change in the yard.  Sometimes I can complain continuously of the rainy-ness that makes lawn  mowing a necessity.  I know that we are blessed to have rain.  I know intellectually that rain is a blessing.  It isn't a blessing to wait until 7pm or 7:30 pm to mow because of the heat.  Taking a shower can't take the stickiness away. Rain also equates higher humidity.

Yet, the light has shifted.  The cicadas and crickets are noisy.  The web worms are making bigger and bigger messes.  Leaves are beginning to break away and fly around through the air.  The robins have migrated back.  I have seen large groups of blackbirds migrating through.

All these minute changes that one takes for granted.  It really sneaks up on us.  We are so used to summer and we isolate ourselves in our air-conditioned spaces.  Yet-when one sits quietly on a porch or outside, the changes are all around us. 

I don't want to be one of those people who suddenly realize it is time to get the woolens out.  I want to notice all the changes that move us towards the woolens. We only have about six weeks until Autumnal Equinox.  I want to feel and hear and smell and see the changes.

So, I finally finished the second pair of Roxanne's socks.  I told her I am taking a break from sock knitting.  She has a fantasy going that I am going to be her personal sock knitter.  I am going to figure out a way to get out of this gracefully.

I started knitting Persian Tiles, but I am not doing much knitting.  I also picked up the Striped Blanket again.  It is going fast.  It is worsted weight yarn on bigger needles.  I find that larger needles make my hands tired.  So really not a lot of knitting.

I went to Fiber Christmas in July, and I was really good.  I did buy two braids of roving of different colorways.  I am combining them into a really pretty yarn.  I finished my book on tape, and so I stopped yesterday at the end of that.  It is satisfying to me to listen as I spin.  I love my library loaning system over the internet.

I have also been watching some of the Olympics.  I finally realized what it is about the televised mess that was off-putting the last Olympics.  The commentators pick and choose what they show to their audience and they tell all these stories. I love when they build up all this crap about the athlete and then interview them after an event.  The poor athlete is trying to catch a breath and normalize his body systems.  The silly cow sticks a microphone into the athlete's face and asked a stupid question. Last night she asked Michael Phelps about pre-race jitters with his opponent doing something stupid right in front of him.  Michael Phelps looked perplexed and looked at the monitor. "Oh, I wasn't even noticing that.  I was just watching the race before mine on the monitor."  He smiles and walks off.  No drama there.

I finally had enough and turned on Netflix.

Noodles is beginning to show signs of change.  I am trying a state of denial and making up excuses for his silly behavior.  I am also beginning to get glimpses of truth edging in.  He is much more needy than he has ever been.  He is still killing, just not eating as much of the wild.  I guess it is inevitable that his age is beginning to show.

I am going to stop now.  I need to shower and get ready for an appointment in town today.  I decided to combine several errands that can be done in that part of town.  Ugh!  I hate traffic in Fayetteville.  It is just going to get worse as the college students trickle back for Fall semester.  Another sign of age creeping in on me, I guess.

No new news on the brother front.  B is still traveling with his job.  He also spends a lot of free time on his boat with his dog.  K hasn't  shared anything more about L.  She is so extremely secretive.

CJE and AE are going to Sante Fe for a week.  Time for AE's birthday trip to the Opera.

CF is thrilled that I ordered her a new practice book on her flute.

And my LYS should be back from holiday. 

Nothing else new on the home front.

It is time also for the Tontitown Grape Festival.  Will have to stay away from that part of town.

Stay cool and get out to notice changes around you.

A Whole Lot Nothing Going On!

I guess we sailed through May.  Perhaps literally.  I think that was the wettest May in a long, long time.  Luckily I live on a dried up hillside of carst limestone.  It all percolates down and filters into the aquifer.

Then June arrived, still coolish and wet.  The second week of June, summer arrived with heat advisories and the meteorologists talking about dew points and humidity.  Thank the man who invented air conditioning. 

Of course, there is absolutely NOTHING on t.v., so a lot of time is spent reading and listening to audiobooks.  Netflix is not all that interesting either.  I love to spin while listening to an audiobook.  I find that I continue the practice while I am knitting in the evenings.

My health is finally almost back to normal.  I am getting more yard work accomplished, and the yard is fairly trimmed.  I know it isn't to my neighbor's standards, but I am pleased at the work I have accomplished this season.  The sad thing is the push mower I use for trim work is deceased.  It didn't survive hitting the crosstie.  I did buy a new battery for the weedeater, and it is working like a charm.

I am noticing that I don't seem to have a lot of honeybees.  Most bumblebees.  Hmmm. I also don't have a lot of hummigbirds.  The downy woodpeckers drink more syrup than anyone.

The feral cat that was eating me out of house and home found the cat door last winter.  I started locking the outside door on the porch to keep him from coming in the house, eating, and spraying.  Of course, now that summer is here, Noodles wants to go out and be in the cool hunting time of the night.  He yowls and protests and tries so hard to get me to let him OUT!  Even though he is almost sixteen years old, he is an active hunter.  He also still fights and he and Mr. Stinky got into a fight the other day.  I try to explain to him that if he gets an infection from the nasty cat, he could get very sick.  He just yowls.

I have slowed my knitting on the Fisherman Kep.  I am knitting a pair of socks for someone and I want to get those done.  I don't know why I have such a hard time with the second sock.  It isn't Second Sock Syndrome.  It is more like, "This is boring, I just want to get this done, why isn't it going faster, oops, that doesn't look right, " and then I slow down.

That leads me to all these internal dialogs one has with oneself.  I find that I talk a lot to myself, I comment to myself all the time, and I find that I have to be really careful when I am in the grocery store.  Sometimes I suddenly realize I am singing out loud to the music overhead and discussing my grocery list with myself.  I only realize it when someone is staring at me.  Oh, well.

I haven't been dyeing.  I want to set up an indigo dyepot, but my get up and go hasn't gotten up yet.
I talked to CP from my LYS about sprinkle or speckle dyeing.  Maybe I should do some for her.  I think I will call her next week.  Maybe that will get me going.

I have been doing a bit more sketching.  I am following a class online, and that is fun.  I also have been doing a bit more weaving. 

Although it seems I have a lot of things going on, I don't seem to be getting anything done.  I think it is part of the summer time heat doldrums.  I don't know that I need an excuse, tho'.

My friend CJE has made a most beautiful jacket from her handwoven fabric.  It is a challenge piece from an exchange within the guild.  I think she did a really great job.  I am rather envious that she can see the project completed and done.  She can use it when she goes to Sante Fe.

My friend Beth Brown-Reinsel is teaching at the Taos Wool Festival this year.  So we have plans of meeting up and visiting for a coupla days.  I am really looking forward to that.  It will be a fun trip.

So I guess that sorta catches me up.  I feel like a slug because I am not getting a lot done.  I am happy to be able to still manage my yard work.  That is satisfying.  I will finish the second sock this week.  I will start decreasing on my Kep.  So I do have goals that are manageable. 

Stay cool.  Stay happy.  Stay healthy.

Every Day Is Earth Day!

 My new pedestal sink in the hall bathroom.  Perfect size!

 The new flooring in the hall bathroom!  Perfect!

The bedroom flooring.  Perfect!

And now there is a match of the flooring in the bedroom and bathroom.  No more carpet and linoleum!  That was pretty gross!  Now it is perfect!

My neighbors wanted to get new flooring.  She had already replaced one room-the family room-and she wanted all of it to match!  Of course, I don't understand the matching stuff, but I was the recipient of their old flooring.  What a wonderful gift and a wonderful way to recycle the old. 

We had some major hiccoughs along the way with the contractor company.  What was going to be a two day job at their house and a two day job at my house turned into three weeks.  I will not go into that ordeal.  It will ruin the good feelings I have for my clean new flooring.  I am so happy to have that nasty carpeting up. 

So recycled flooring is in.  I have a bit of work to complete everything.  I need to caulk the baseboards and paint them.  Eventually.  Today I am tired and I am just going to look at the pretty new floor.

I am on the toe of the first sock for my friend OSM.  Her house burned and I can't go to California to help.  I can knit socks.  So I am making the prettiest purple socks that can be found anywhere.  The color is gradated subtle-y from deep purple to a dark burgundy purple to purple to lilac to pinky purple.  Really nice dye job.  The colors are in short stripes that make dashes around the foot instead of stripes.  I love it.

I also started knitting a blanket in a striped chevron pattern.  I like it too. 

So maybe my knitting blahs are abating.  I did get the pattern booklet from Shetland for The Fair Isle Fisherman's Kep Pattern.  I am kinda getting excited to start that.  I want to finish the socks first.  Of course, I am thinking of colors and imagining the colors I want to use.  When I get to actual color choosing, it will all be different anyway.  I am thinking I want it made with handspun.  I don't know, tho', I have a whole lot of Shetland Spindrift.  Hmm.....  See how this works.  A lot of thinking and thinking to do. 

I mowed the yard last evening.  This is the period I call creative mowing.  This year I have left patches of bachelor buttons, but they are few and far between.  I don't know why that is.  Some of them have spindly stalks and look sad.  So I guess attrition has reached that population.  The hollyhocks are not doing so well, either.  I don't know why.  The Solomon's seal is doing great!  The irises haven't bloomed yet.  The comfrey is doing exceptionally well where I moved it last year.  It is quite happy.  I noticed the catnip has a bunch of little black bugs on it, and it is also covered with lady bugs.  I can't spray it with the lady bugs there and Noodles eats the leaves regularly.  The tansy is now officially gone feral.  The mugwort is not as thick as it has been in the past.  The lamb's ears I got last year are exceptionally happy.  The Echinacea and the coreopsis are slowly growing along.  I haven't seen my milkweed this year. I don't seem to do well with that.  I had an exceptionally pretty display from all the violets this year.  I know that a list of all the plants would bore anyone to death. 

It is such an odd Spring this year.  I don't know yet how that has affected the plant population. I have something new in the weed world this year growing in the back yard.  It grows thickly and quickly.  When I mowed it last evening, my eyes burned and tears streamed down my face.  My mucus membranes were telling me pepper plants of some kind.  You know that feeling you get when you are processing hot peppers and want to get the seeds out?  That's how my eyes were feeling.

I have gotten about two-thirds done on the second bobbin on the spinning wheel.  I am spinning some pretty blue targhee.  I will probably have enough to do something with when I complete it all.  I think there is close to eleven or twelve ounces of wool to begin with.  I divided it into 6 balls to make three skeins all total.  I'll see how it turns out.  While I was sitting patiently (not) during the flooring ordeal I was able to spin and listen to an audiobook. 

I have a new phone.  So great!  Another computer to deal with.  It is amazing what one can do with a phone!  Mine is just an entry level phone, but it is more than I can deal with most of the time.  I haven't figured out how to access voicemail.  That's the only glitch-so far.

Well-off to knit a toe.  I am taking it somewhat easy today.  I had a restless night, and I awoke tired.  Noodles is so insistent that I feed him and open the damn door-right now!  It is almost time to think about some lunch.  I am eating a lot lately.

Oh-I had the echocardiogram this past week.  I will have to wait until I go to cardiologist to find out the results.  Since he took me off statins, I have been feeling really energetic and almost normal.  Yay!

I am still walking on the treadmill daily-except on the days I do a LOT of yardwork. 

So lunchtime.  Yum!  A piece of chicken is waiting on me.

I Have Almost Recuperated

This past week I have had to ride a roller coaster of emotions and deep down feelings about blood family, obligation to said family, and solutions to these rambling regurgitations of memories.

For the most part I have settled my Life to have my chosen family and my chosen circle of friends. I do talk to the older brother periodically.  It is to assuage his feelings that he is the elder in the family and he should know what is going on.  He knows me, but he doesn't know who I really am or what I really do.

So I found out that my younger brother has not been "doing well" through a Facebook message from his wife.  Essentially this has been going on for a while, but he was getting worse.  So she took him to the ER and they admitted him to the hospital.  He had a stroke.  At the discharge I found out this is his second stroke.  The undiagnosed stroke evidently occurred 4 or 5 years ago when I questioned K. She said that was when he changed.

I will not go into the details of everything.  It is too boring to talk about how to educate the spouse about the changes that occur with strokes.  Luckily he did not have hemiplegia.  I did assess his basic ADL's and he was able to dress, shower, brush his teeth, and shave with an electric razor.  He tied his shoelaces.  His greatest loss is cognitive.  He has a flat expression on his face.  I am not sure about his ability to read and comprehend.  This brother was the brainiac in the family.  He was reading Edgar Rice Burroughs at age 6. 

So I visited with my former SIL AT one night.  She is in a great depression since her husband's death last Fall.  The next night I stayed with R and H and their two dogs.  That was joyful and made me very happy to see their Life.

I essentially was comatose on Friday.  I almost fell asleep in the lounge chair around three o'clock.  I couldn't think.  I just managed to be awake, eat, and then back to sleep.  I tried to follow my normal routine. 

Yesterday was a joyful day of seeing some friends from the weaving guild celebrate their first book signing.  They researched coverlets, blankets and quilts in the archives of the Shiloh Museum in Springdale.  They published a book through the museum.  It took three years for the book to be birthed- that's including their time in research.

My friend CJE came over early, we ate lunch, and then we went to the museum to watch the opening.  It was a fun day.  I finally feel like I am back on schedule.

Noodles is happy to have his slave back to follow his feeding schedule.  And to have someone open and close doors-even though he has the cat door.  And to have someone to warm up his feet when he has been outside and he is cold.

The birds are ecstatic to have their feeders filled.  I noticed that the cardinals are eating suet along with the woodpeckers.  I guess egg laying is happening.

The weather has turned again to cold.  It was strange to be in Little Rock in 87 degrees in March.  Everything was in bloom, including the azaleas.  I noticed as I drove down I-49 it was gray and wintry looking.  There were pockets of white from the early bloomers.  By the time I got to Ozark on I-40 things were greener.  By the time I got to Clarksville it was green everywhere.  It was such a difference than up here in the mountains. 

My redbuds in the front are in full bloom.  The ones in back are partially open.  There was a Facebook memory posted today from 3 years ago.  My redbuds were just showing pink and were still in tight bud.  So we are early this year.

I am spinning the prettiest blue targhee yarn.  It is a mixture of pale to dark blues and some golden yellow mixed in.  It is making me happy to watch the colors develop.

My knitting is flagging.  I am on the second sock for K.  I just got the yarn I ordered for my friend O's socks.  I think I am going to start knitting squares for a blanket.  I don't want another sweater right now.  I don't need another hat.  I don't need another scarf.  I am not motivated to do a lot.

I am binding the quilted table mat for H and R.  I thought I would finish it while I was in Little Rock.  I didn't.  They are remodeling their kitchen.  So this will be a little something for them.

I am getting interested in dyeing soon.  As the warm weather approaches, my interest rises.  I saw some pretty indigo dyed pieces on Facebook, and that gets me excited.  It is almost time to dye. Come on warm weather.

So today I get back to walking.  I have missed walking every day.  I just couldn't do it the last two days.  Today I feel as if I am almost recuperated from my discombobulating week.  Surely my days will return to the same boring routine that I have established as my normal life.

February Has Two Birthdays in My Family!

Before I rush off to discuss my family, I just want to give a shout out to a movie on Netflix- Evening.  I had never heard of it, but since it has so many notable names (Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep) I had to watch it.  OMG!  This was the best movie.  I think I could watch it again if I had to.  Why has no one mentioned this movie?

I am really excited about something I purchased last week.  India Flint has spent the summer in Australia thinking of ways to reach people that want to know more about her work.  She knows that folks just can't afford to jet around to places where she teaches.  Most of her workshops in the US and Canada are sold out in hours.  There is only so much one can absorb with books.  Yes, dyeing is practice and practice and practice.  So first off- she set up a private group on Facebook and newest info is posted there.  It is a fast way to get information disseminated.  Then she has created a new card game for dyers.  It is four sets of ten cards.  Three sets will have words or instructions printed on them.  The fourth is for notes or whatever we want to put on them.  When she received them from her printer, she then dyed on a whole lot of them.  That is cool too.  She said the person could use them like a tarot reading-pull one card from each pile.  Then figure out how to use that info.  Or one could just pull one card and do that activity.  The fun will begin soon.  She is preparing them for mailing out on February 29.  She is wrapping the sets in a piece of cloth that she will have dyed.  They are placed in a cardboard box for shipping.  She wanted to do a small wooden box, but the postal service told her she would have to go through a lot of customs crap declaring what is in the box, etc.  She also added an option of a dyed silk scarf for an additional fee.  I chose not to get that.

I think I mentioned that I am trying to walk every day.  My friend CJE gave me a FitBit primarily to monitor my heart rate.  I find that it does not record every step I am taking on the treadmill.  I tried to discuss this with the company without any success.  Nonetheless, it has been entertaining to view my sleep habits and the steps I take.  I am trying unsuccessfully to pay attention to the weight part.  With my history of anorexia, I am really not supposed to even use a scale.  Since I have been dealing with this for over 45 years, I think I can handle weighing once a week.  The weight is not as important to me as the Lean vs Fat part.  I really need to lose some fat.  Don't we all?

I did a strange thing this week.  I decided to go to Devil's Den State Park.  I walked a trail that  I always walk- and that I haven't had any difficulty with- because it is a loop trail.  It is only 1.5 miles. Perfect for a day that was in the 50's.  I really didn't think anything about the fact that it is a mountainous terrain-lots of up and down and roots and rocks and there were downed trees to climb over.  I got about halfway when my gas ran out.  It was a lot of sputtering and then boom! no more gas.  I leaned up against a tree thinking about my options.  Essentially it was a lot of pep talking to myself.  "you got yourself in this, now get yourself out"  "I got down here and I have to get up there" and looking up the bluff line.    As I was climbing up the rock steps to the top of the bluff, I would say "one step at a time"  "one step at a time"  rest, rest, rest  "one step at a time".

Once I was back at the car and leaning on the head rest, I had to plan how quickly I could find something to eat.  I was thinking I needed fuel.  I stopped at McDonald's and got an egg mcmuffin.  They are 300 calories with some protein in it.

After I am home for perhaps 30 minutes, I think that my blood pressure must be sky rocketing.  My ears are ringing.  No-my blood pressure was actually Hypotensive.   So this was perhaps one hour after my episode.  I wonder what my blood pressure had been when I was leaning on the tree wondering how I was going to get back to the car? 

The other thing is my FitBit gave me a badge because I had climbed 25 flights of stairs. 

Well, my body is beginning to fall apart.  I just have a hard time changing with this. 

Now to family matters.  My brother's birthday is next week.  My little grand-nephew's birthday is in 18 days.  Hmmm.

I had a dream about my brother's dog.  We had a great conversation about her sailboat with two sails and how much fun she has sailing.  So I started painting a picture of this for my brother.  I spent the best part of two days working and I hated it.  It was AWFUL!  So this morning I put aside the stupid board I was painting on.  I pulled out a sheet of my watercolor paper.  I did a fast sketch and I loved it.  It was whimsical and obviously just a sketch.  Not a painting-just a quick sketch.  I also wrote a short story of our conversation about sailing.  So those are now packaged with a note explaining it. On the outside of the note I wrote From Sukie and Judy.

.I like it.  It is silly and funny all at the same time.

MH will be getting a hat from me.  He is at the age that he will probably pull it off.  I just thought he needed a new hat when they go to Colorado.  I have to find him a new book too.  That's what Aunties provide.  Knitwear and books.  Ha!

I am still spinning the mystery brown stuff.  I am still knitting my girlfriend's socks.  I haven't touched that last sleeve on my sweater that is taking too long. 

I also have not woven.  I made a promise to weave every day.  Hasn't happened.  I had another one of my memory jumps this week.  I remember when I was wanting to weave Josef Albers color studies to demonstrate how color works differently with fiber vs. painting.  That was nixed by my art advisor.  I don't know if that shipped has sailed.  I don't know if it is something that still needs to be done.  I just don't know.  Too much happened this week after that epiphany.  I will have to think on it.

I watched a wonderful video with Susun Weed about Artemis Vulgaris-Croneswort.  Most folk call it Mugwort.  Susun's plants told her it does not like to be called Mugwort.  It makes one think of drinking from a mug.  I think I will have to go to YouTube and watch more of her videos.  She is a wonderful storyteller.  She also said that was how people knew where the herbalist lived.  There would be Croneswort growing right by the door.  When folk moved to the city, they would hang the dried plant by the door or paint a picture of it on their door.  I have it growing by my back step.  I have had these plants for at least 20+ years.

Herbs are such wonderful plants.  They have been around for a lot longer than pharmaceuticals have.  It's too bad that alternative medicine is not given more credit. 

Well, I have chattered a long, long time today.  Enjoy the sunshine.  It is a beautiful weekend.

A Random Day-A Random Friday!

Isn't Life the strangest thing?  I can wake up groggily determined that this is going to be the most productive day of my Life.  Then somewhere when the fog clears and I look at the clock and it is 11:00 AM.  Where did the morning go?  I should have a lot of things to account for the time, but there isn't anything to mark the time.

I do start every morning with feeding Noodles and the birds.  He will never ever give me slack about that.  He will yowl loudly if I don't get a move on.  The birds are not so insistent this week. On cold, yucky days they are clamoring over each other to get to the feeders.

We have had the most delightful week of nice weather.  I know it seems that during the winter I complain a lot about the cold, the yuck, the wind, whatever is happening.  This week I wish to declare that it has been a delightful week.  Especially since it is January and it is so nice.  There is wind, yes, but there is sunshine!

I am slowly gaining ground on the second sock for my friend.  I did not touch it once yesterday.  It is a slow down kind of week.  Just sit in the sunshine and warm up the bones kind of week.

It is a week like this that there is hope for Spring.  Of course, I am realistic that winter will return next week.  I have had a glimpse of Spring and I will cling to that.

I always, always have such high hopes for yard work about this time of year.  There is so much to do and so much work, but I am eager to begin.  I won't uncover the hollyhocks yet, nor will I cut all the little weeds.  I wonder why I have so much hemlock in the yard?  I don't think I have ever lived anywhere that there is so much.  The bachelor buttons are popping up in the yard already.  Green onions are sending out shoots. My garlic has tall shoots too.  A friend said he saw Spring Beauties.  It is way, way, way too early for those.

I have started spinning some wool that is a mystery wool.  It was supposed to be Polworth, but it isn't.  It is a short fiber, very soft, and a wonderful chocolate brown natural color. It will be pretty, no matter what it is. 

I have been watching PBS videos while I spin.  It is amazing what one can find on their web page.  I can't get PBS on my t.v. for some reason.  So I enjoy some of the current shows a few days later than they air.  But I love the archived videos just as much. 

My sweater that is taking too long is lingering again.  I really should just get that sleeve finished.  Sigh!  See-nothing done today!

I will have to run a couple of errands, so I will try to sit down this afternoon and get that second sock cuff finished.  That is my goal today.

I have to find a way to reconcile my time on Facebook.  It is a black hole that can suck away a day.

My friend CJE is friending me now on Blogger.  Thanks for your support.

India Flint is creating a wonderful kit in lieu of a workshop.  I ordered one.  She is mailing it out on the 29th of Feb to everyone that orders.  A great thing for a Leap Year gift.  I have been itching to dye something.  This will be a jump start-maybe.

Well, have a great weekend.  Get out in the sunshine and enjoy it while it happens.  Screw "should" and "would".  I am going to enjoy the day of warmth and sunshine first.  Then I will knit or spin.

I'm Getting Squirrel-y Early

Yesterday I answered my door to a stranger that was asking me if I needed some trees trimmed.  We went through the usual greeting in the South, "Do you know _____?  They have the place down the road.  I'm their cousin."  After going through that ritual, we walked around the house.  I needed my gutters cleaned out, "We can do that ma'am.", I need to do something about those hollies that have taken over the east side of the house, "We can cut them down to the ground ma'am." etc.etc.etc.  We listed about three or four chores, we agreed on a price, we shook hands, and they got to work.  His son and his son's girlfriend arrived in his car, and he got a big chainsaw out of the trunk.  They were through in two hours.  The son even climbed up into the box elder tree and re-hung my huge bell. 

I have spent an enormous amount of money this year getting jobs done by others that I usually do myself.  I know I couldn't repair the deck, and I did have to pay a huge price for that.  But all this yard work I normally do myself  makes me feel strange.  I think I am finally beginning to see I cannot keep up with everything myself. 

Today I didn't feel "right".  I was restless.  I couldn't focus.  I finally got tired of it and decided to sit down with a snack and watch t.v. this afternoon.  My God!  there was another shooting.  Well, that riled me up and I was even more restless.

I spent an enormous amount of time looking at casitas to rent in New Mexico.  If I ever go back again, I am thinking of renting a small casita and using it for a base camp.  I can spend the days roaming around my favorite places. 

When I reported this to my friend CF, she immediately said, "You are already getting squirrely and it isn't even winter yet.  You normally don't get this way until late January."

I guess I am just not in favor of cold weather.  I know we haven't even hit the winter button yet, but I am already tired  of it.  I don't like being cold.  I don't like to wear a bunch of clothes to keep myself warm.  Thank goodness I have wool sweaters.

Some outside cat has figured out how to get in the cat door when I am asleep and eat Noodles' dry food.  I only confirmed this when I was awakened by very loud crunching sounds in the night.  My first thought was Noodles was eating very loudly.  As I aroused, I remembered Noodles does not eat dry food very often any more because of his teeth.  When he does, he is very quiet-no loud munching. I got up to check, and whoever it was darted out the cat door before I could register it.  This morning the cat bowl was down to crumbs.  The stinker came back after I went back to sleep.  Tonight I have locked the cat door.

I have five bird feeders out now.  They are eating me out of house and home. 

I am almost finished with the linen stitch scarf.  Whew!  I got tired of it about two inches ago.  I am pushing myself to say it is done!  I think I will give it to Holly.  She likes scarves.

Then I can get back to knitting sleeves on my sweater.  I will be happy to call it done also.

I am working on the quilted memory wallhanging for the kids for Christmas.  I have the pictures and fabric squares completed in a nine patch.  I need to be quilting it soon.  Oh, well, good thing their anniversary is in January.

I made cookies today.  I have to freeze them to keep them out of sight.  I have probably eaten ten already.  They are small chocolate chip cookies, but still I've eaten too many.

I am waiting for St. Nicolas Day on Sunday to put up my little tree.  I like to see the lights blinking.  I turn out the lights and just sit and stare at them.  I like to see my little spinning wheels and my sheep  and my personal ornaments on them.  Years ago I quit collecting my handblown glass icicles.  I also decided to hang some of them in the windows.  I do like the little tree that can sit atop the book case.

I just now thought that it has been such low humidity I could make some candy.  That would be fun.

So have a great weekend.  I hope you are jolly and bright and not dreading the cold weather as much as me. 

September-A Transition Month

Tomorrow is the first day of autumn-the Autumnal Equinox.  It is a time for transition.  I notice it is very subtle how it happens.  Suddenly we are having bits of cooler weather that move back to summer within days.  On the cooler days we have little humidity.  On the warmer days we have high humidity. The light is changing.  That I am not ready for-ever.  I like to have light to work by.  I find overcast, cloudy days or late mornings early nights light depressing.  I guess I am Persephone at heart.

I have been preparing for winter to come.  I am still working on the sweater and the Sanquahar scarf.  I finished a pair of socks for my niece, so I cast on a linen stitch scarf.  I am really not in a knitting mode, but I know what I have is fairly easy to do and mindless knitting.  I am not sure I will ever do a complicated all-over pattern in the wintertime again.  The light was dim and I had trouble reading the chart.  I had to sit by a window and I had to only work a few hours on it at a time.  How did women do it by candlelight or lantern light?

I have been cleaning outside preparing for the Fall weather.  I had my deck repaired-a big cost for me.  I painted the front rails on the porch, and I painted the new railing on the side porch and the replacement window sill.  I like it I don't have to mow as often.  The grass is changing.  I moved the garden bird feeder to a more open spot that I can still see out my windows.  I cleaned it out and it is waiting patiently for a fill up. 

I am still getting hummers, so the sugar water continues.  I heard geese in late August, and I am pretty sure they weren't our usual guests down on Barrington Road.  We do have a large group of geese that come in and stay there over the winter.  They rear young and then migrate again.  We had a large group of blackbirds that migrated through.  The robins have come and gone.  Birdsong is different now.  It isn't the usual mating songs that I hear in early summer and the melody is different now.

Noodles is still fighting fleas.  I am giving him Capstar every two weeks.  I have never had to do that.  Usually I can give him one and that is the end of it.  Of course, I use the topical flea and tick stuff once monthly.  That usually takes care of anything.  At the knitting circle everyone said they were having a terrible time.  One woman said her vet mentioned this was the worse flea season she had ever seen.

I am still working on Following the Lines on the tapestry loom.  I am close to finished.  I have dragged my heels finishing it.  I am planning to take a course with Rebecca Mezoff online and the sign up is October 5.  I want to just advance my warp and keep on weaving without cutting off this one.  I have the tension set and it is perfect and I don't want to mess with changing that.

A bit of a break while I talked to CJE.  The neighborhood crows are talking outside.  The bluejays have been fussing.  It is a lovely day-the eve of Fall.

Have a good week.  Enjoy the transition.  Prepare as you must.  The seasons will change regardless of preparation.

Is It Fall Yet?

I have been mosey-ing along through summer.  It got really hot for a while.  Our normal heat plus humidity.  It is the kind of weather that makes one sit in air conditioning and try not to think about our ancestors sweltering in layers of clothes and unable to breathe properly.

Then in August we had a cool snap.  Normally in August it is HOT and 100% humidity.  I was able to turn off the a/c for a while.  The nights actually got down into the 50's on some nights.  This is unheard of where we live.  No one, and I mean no one, has ever imagined an August like the one we have had the last two weeks. 

Today the heat is back on; the a/c is turned on. 

I have had a lot of stuff happen at one time.  Since I retired, I don't do catastrophe well.  I get a bit melodramatic-the woe is me routine.  No one cared.  It's nice to have friends that just shrug and move on. 

My riding lawn mower died right at the end of a row I was mowing.  I made myself finish the mowing with the push mower.  That nearly killed me.  I find that my heart rate fluctuates wildly when I am hot, tired, exasperated, and mad.  Sears will send someone out to take care of your mower for a very hefty sum.  It also takes about two weeks or so to get in queue. 

Then I stepped out on the deck in back and thought that something wasn't right.  I went under a little ways and could see the support board was katty-wancuss.  I don't know how to spell that.  Phonetics are good for some things; others not so good.  When I returned on top, it was with a LOT of dismay that I saw that the deck was actually pulling away from the wall of the house. 

Then when I really looked, I saw the reason it was pulling away from the house.  The boards it was attached to were rotted and ant filled.  I don't mean a few little ants.  I mean ant filled.  I called my handyman service, and they sent someone out within a few days to inspect and give me an estimate. I also called the termite inspector to come out and inspect for termites.

So after a long drawn out ordeal, two men jacked up the deck, replaced the support wall, reattached the deck properly, replaced some siding , and left me with a secure and badly scarred up deck.  This Fall I have to seal it for winter time. 

The mower gets fixed in another week or so.  So I had to hire someone to mow and trim.

Money is precious to me.  I hate to splurge on things like house repairs.  Sigh!  More drama.

My SIL lost her husband a week ago.  It was very sudden and unexpected.  I have called her a few times to check up on her.  I guess I will have to visit in Fall.

I have finished the pretty green yarn that I was spinning.  It was dyed with tansy.  I am now knitting my indigo yarn.  It actually started as an experiment with prickly pear and that went wrong immediately.  So I rinsed that off and tucked it in the indigo bucket.  It will be pretty when finished. On the electric spinner I am still spinning the green dyed with redbud leaves.

I finally got the yoke increased on the raglan sweater and the sleeves taken off to waste yarn.  It is just a basic sweater and nothing fancy.  I am knitting a pair of socks that have been promised to my niece.  I am using the Monkey pattern for those.  The stranded work got put on time out for a while. I have cast on 450 stitches to make a linen stitch scarf. 

I have a pretty tapestry going on the loom.  I feel overwhelmed at times, so I have dragged my feet on that.  I dreamed one night that I was told to "Follow the line."  I had an art instructor that used to tell us that all the time.  If we sat too long staring he would nudge us with "Just follow the line". 

So nothing else too new.  My niece and her man have finally set a date for the wedding.  I look forward to going to Florida in April.  I will be really sick to death of winter by then.

Keeping busy, but nothing earth shaking to report.  I had the goats out to clear some of the brush on the west side.  I hear geese overhead periodically, although it is far too early for that.  The robins have moved back to bulk up for their journey to wherever they go.  The hummingbirds are feeding well.  A noisy wren is setting up camp in the back.

The chives and the mint are all that are blooming.  Usual end of summer routine.

Sorry to not write more often.  Just nothing happening around here.  Next time.

Blogger Is Maybe Working

I have been using Blogger for a long time now.  Sometimes it gets a glitch from somewhere.  Hopefully today it will go through. 

I have been busy this week dyeing with my indigo pot.  The dress is an old one of mine that I normally just wear around the house.  It has been overdyed twice before.  The dye before this one was orange, and it shows through the indigo.  I have mended the holes and it is ready for around the house wear again.

The two cloths were single dipped.  I wanted some more moons, and some of them are perfect.  Some are a little blurry.  When I ironed the dried finished pieces, it appears that some of the blue skies are snowy and there are clouds around the moons.  So there is hope for this piece.  The other was accordion folded and then folded like a flag.  It came out an odd pattern.  I could redo another pattern or leave it to fussy cut from.  I don't know yet.

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I don't know why the cursor keeps going to the middle.  I am having some struggles with this post.

 

It has turned seasonably hot and muggy.  We had a drizzle the other morning, but it lasted less than an hour and made it more humid.  I am watering my new flower bed.  I don't know how established the plants are.  They seem happy and are blooming.  The new milkweed lost three of its branches.  Hopefully I won't lose all of them.  The one from last year that I transplanted is doing okay.  No sign of butterfly eggs.  The bumblebees are happy anyway.  Not too many honey bees.  Sigh!

 

I did find a box turtle by the step the other night.  Hopefully the concrete blocks will act as a deterrent.  It can munch all it wants to on other things.

 

The roadrunner is mostly at my neighbor's house now.  It strangely goes from door to door and pecks at the doors and low windows.  It has visited me  a few times and sits on the rail of the screened porch. It looks me in the eyes when I talk to it.  Some scrawny looking hummingbirds are feeding at the feeder. My friend has a Carolina wren nest in her asparagus fern basket.  She moved it away from cat availability. 

 

The Mugwort is blooming nicely.  The bachelor buttons didn't do as well this year as years past.  I ended up with patches in the yard that I mow around.  Only one hollyhock rose to glory.  I found new sprouts when I was weedeating.  Maybe next year we will have a great show.  The Echinacea is blooming.  The Brown-eyed Susan's are blooming.  The Black-eyed Susan's are big and lush, but no blooms yet.  So the garden is slowly doing it's thing.   I am waiting for the Tansy to bloom so I can use the flowers for a dye.  I like the color that the leaves produced.  I am spinning that right now on the electric spinner.

 

I am trying ever so hard to walk every day.  It means I have to get up early and go somewhere.  Today it wasn't going to happen.  Instead I am going to a sale at the Junk Ranch.  It is a two-day sale outside a rural town near here.  Vendors bring vintage and repurposed and refurbished stuff.  And some things are still junk, but one never knows if it is just the junk one needs.  I am looking for storage ideas, but either wall mounted or small, small, small. 

 

Yesterday the plumber came to check out the leak in the back shower.  He said it was the drain; he crawled under the house (ick!); confirmed it was the drain; gave me an estimate; went off to buy a new drain; came back an hour later; fixed it in about an hour with his helper (his son); and now supposedly I do not have a leak.  I have a fan blowing on the floor hopefully to dry that out.  I don't want to replace the board unless I really, really have to.  I was concerned about the mold, and a friend said to bleach it.  So I have sprayed a lot of bleach on the board.  I think after it dries more I will really scrub the corners and edge with a brush and bleach.  When it is all dry I can decide what to do. If I don't replace it, I will have to seal it with that white stuff.  I can't remember the name.  I used it on the sub floor before the installation of my bamboo floors in living room and hallway. 

 

I finished the sock carry-along project, so now I only have the scarf.  I tried taking it to knit night last week, but I had to rip out one row when I got home.  So yesterday I wound off the two balls of turquoise/multi color handspun and started a shawl.  It is a very simple 8 row pattern, and I almost have it memorized.  It is a pattern that I used for a shawl for a fiber show. 

 

The shawl sold in the last hour of the show, and I did discount it because the woman really, really wanted it.  She had on a green shirt with her jeans, and the green matched the shawl.  She tried it on and pranced around.  Everyone told her it looked like her.  So the sucker that I am, I would rather have someone really happy with my knitwear than be rich and have someone give it to Goodwill after one wearing.  I have an idea that this new one is going to be a Christmas gift. 

 

I am spinning on the treadle wheel and the electric spinner.  I mentioned that the tansy green is on the electric spinner and I am still spinning some purple on the treadle wheel.  I was looking for some white fleece to dye with the tansy.  I happily re-found a pound of the purple that I had stuck away for later.  Hopefully I will have enough for a sweater when all done.  I don't know yet what my annual winter sweater will be.  I am leaning towards one of Anne Hanson's patterns.  It will depend on the yardage.

 

I made the muslin for the new top I want to make.  I have hips and now I have to accommodate for those hips.  Sigh!  This sagging business is ruining my memory of my figure.  I have a new scale that tells me the BMI and the percentage of body fat.  Not a comforting thing to find out.  I know that I am 67 years old, but inside me still hides that athlete I once was.  Oh, well, I will keep on walking.

 

So off to shower and clean myself from top to bottom.  I have to get ready to go sweat and look for junk at the big sale.  It is kinda exciting.  A treasure hunt.  Happy Friday everyone!



The Interminable Rain

Yes, it is still raining.  We have had so much now that the ground is saturated.  It just runs off into the ravine-down the hill it goes. 

Yesterday was my birthday.  My grandmother always told me that I was born in a thunderstorm.  I love storms-it excites me; it energizes me; I get jazzed.  I am somehow not excited about the weatherman staying on the t.v. all the time, giving minute by minute reports.  I have a wonderful APP on my IPad that my brother recommended to me.  I look at the location of the storm cell, I calculate how long it will take to arrive, and I calculate how long it will take to go through.  That is all I need to know.

My poor flowers look ragged, forlorn, and soggy.  A good day or two of sunshine would perk them up tremendously.

I am sick to death of discussing my health issues, and I am not thinking about it any more.  What I can do is walk.  I can get into some kind of regular walking, exercise mode and just do it.  Today I tried a section of the new Razorback Greenway.  The first part was really lovely.  It is a wide expanse of concrete that runs along the edge of a creek.  If you listen to the sound of the rushing water and the bird sounds, you can almost tune out the sounds of urban life. Especially the sound of traffic on a nearby roadway. 

Since CJE gave me a FitBit, I can now calculate the distance I am walking, the time, of course, and mainly to monitor my heart rate.  I try to keep my heart rate at 135 when I am climbing a little hill, and I push to walk faster.  Somewhere inside this slug is the old body that used to ride bicycles every day and row three times a week.  This is the same physical shell that used to be a master rower and race in regattas.  I figure within three months I should be doing much better. 

I have repairmen coming on Thursday to do some simple repairs that are necessary for maintenance of the homestead.  I do have one major repair job, but I will ask for an estimate and save up for that.  I was thinking today I might ask how much it would cost to put two ceiling fans in the kitchen and one in the guest bedroom.  I would also like to replace the outside lights, but it isn't a necessary thing.  Just a "maybe" job.

I listened to a Joe Gray cozy mystery on audio book yesterday and today.  I finished up my small skein of purple BFL and got it wound onto the skein winder.  I haven't blocked it yet, because it surely won't dry with all the wet and humid air.  I love that I can download a book from the library and listen while I get something done.  All for free!  Free is good!

My birthday was uneventful, but it was heartwarming to have so many people think of me.  I have a lot of gratitude for the messages I get.  I even got a card from CF, and she and I just don't do that.  We have known each other 25 years, and we never give birthday or Christmas stuff.  We give each other things all year whenever we think of it.  When I called her to ask, she said she was looking for a card for her daughter, and found this one that made her think of me.  Funny. 

I think I am going to go to bed and read for a while.  There isn't a thing on t.v., and I am not going to go through Facebook again.  I don't want to get on Pinterest and get lost.

Check your toes and make sure there are no webs there.  At least we will get a good crop of mosquitoes out of this.

Well-It Is Soon To Be Another Birthday!

Isn't it funny?  Years ago I would celebrate my birthday month.  Now it is just another day.  I have gotten cards in the mail from friends.  And my friend CJE gave me a FitBit to track my Heart Rate.  She is concerned with my health issues.  So now I can track my activity level from slug to pushing it.  I monitored my sleep last night.  As I already know that I never sleep well or completely through a night, the graph showed I was up or roused 28 times last night.  I am not sure I need to know this.

I tried taking Patty on a walk today, but she balked all along the route.  She did not want the harness on.  When I first got her, I only put the harness on to indicate we were going for a walk.  She did not want that thing on, but I prevailed and snugged it up.  We would be walking along quite well, and suddenly she would stop.  She wouldn't budge.  Finally what I had to do was click and snap the lead a couple flicks, and say "Let's go."  And she would for a while.  She kept looking around like she was trying to figure out where we were.  I was too busy trying to dodge the goose and duck poop.

CJE came over yesterday and gave me the new toy.  She also made me a pattern for a simple tank top that she created.  I am thinking I could sew a few summer tops out of some cute fabric and have some nice tops.  Unfortunately we are in a cool snap.  Right now I have on a sweatshirt and socks.  I cannot remember when was the last time I was still wearing cool weather clothes in late May.

I went to the doctor this a.m. and now I am stable and seem to be accepting the meds without complications.  I don't have to go back for three months, unless, of course, I have some weird symptoms.  What a relief.

I did come straight home and got the riding mower out to mow the majority of the yard.  It was wet down close to the ground, so the mower wasn't happy.  I haven't done any weedeating or trip mowing with the push mower.  It started to rain and I was glad to not do anything for a while.

I am going to get some minor chores done for house maintenance next week.  Unfortunately I did find my floor is soft in the back bathroom.  Sigh!  I did not want to do any major repairs this year.  I told the company I need an estimate, so I can plan when to have the work done.

Noodles caught a mid-size rabbit the other evening.  It seems I have a large population of rabbits this year.  They are always in the yard, and I have walked right past them without them running off.  I only hope that he doesn't get some disease from eating them.  He did get something when we lived out near Devil's Den.  A tick fever the vet said probably came from rabbits.  It is better than Bobcat Fever.  That kills domestic cats within 24 hours.

My flowers are starting to grow well in the little bed I made out back.  Noodles keeps the catnip trimmed, so it is really getting thick.  Hopefully he will allow it to flower.  The butterflies and bees really like catnip flowers.  The coreopsis is blooming.  The milkweed flowers are reddish, but they haven't opened fully.

I have been spinning the purple yarn, but now I am wanting to spin up the green that I just dyed.  With the electric spinner I am spinning some white merino.  I am thinking that I might just dye the skein when I finish that.  I got a coupon from Paradise Fibers for my birthday, so I think I will order some more white fiber.  I haven't set up an indigo pot, but surely it will be getting warm soon.

So Jeopardy is coming on.  Time to try to outwit the smart folks there.  Sometimes I yell at them, and it frustrating why they can't get it.  The pleasures of living alone. Ha!

Have a safe holiday weekend.  Surely we will soon have sunshine and warmth.  

It's Still Raining!

 Today I picked a few stems and leaves from my tansy out back.  It has flourished this year due to the excessive rain we have had.  It hasn't begun to set flowers, so this is perfect timing.

I am really, really pleased with the pretty soft green I got.  I used copper sulfate as my mordant.  The wool is Polworth.  There is 8 oz drying and waiting to become yarn.

Yes, it appears that we are in for a very wet May.  This is extremely unusual, since May is the first month to get hot.  Not the oppressive heat of June and July and August, but a blessing from the cold.  Now we have had some cooler mornings and a lot of wet.

Patty has been sick twice this week.  We got very little sleep two nights in a row.  I finally tried a low-dose aspirin, and she slept.  Who knows?  It's a shame dogs can't give us a hint.

I am desperately trying to keep up with the mowing.  It is difficult.  If the ground and grass is too wet, it can clog up the mower. 

My bachelor buttons did not do so well this year.  They are scraggly and not really blossoming into a beautiful carpet of flowers.  This may be my last year to promote them.  My hollyhocks did not return as well, either.  There is only one plant where there were three last year.  I don't know why it is so hard for me to grow them.

My weigeilias did exceptionally well.  They were covered in flowers all over.  The two are thick bushes grown together now.  I trimmed the pink azalea this morning, getting it ready for next year's blooms.

My friend CJE is finally getting her new doors and she now has new flooring in her bathroom and in the kitchen.  The pictures look good.

My friend BBR is not coming in November.  It is too expensive for her to come from Vermont.  We exchanged emails this morning, catching up on news.

I don't have a lot going on.  Just wanted to post the pictures of my afternoon's work.

There Ain't No Sense to Anything

This has been the craziest April yet.  We have been swamped in rain-which is a good thing.  Unfortunately it means I can't keep up with the yard work that needs done.  It has been hard to look out and see the high grass or the weeds.  And it is pouring rain.

It has been unseasonably warm.  Highs in the 70's.  Wonderful to have the sun and warmth.  We did get a new front and it is going to cool down to normal next week.  Back to a sweater in the mornings and still wearing long pants.

I just had a quick visit from my cousin and it was a nice calm visit.  We talk about family a lot, and it is interesting that we are closer to each other than to our siblings.  We eat and talk a lot.  Last night we did genealogy for a good long time.  We studied maps of England to locate where ancestors lived.  We looked at photos and discussed history.  While he was talking to his wife and discussing a trip they are taking in May, I rushed outside to look at the sky.

He joined me to look at constellations and discuss names of stars and planets.  I love my Star Guide on my IPad.  I recommend it to everyone.

My older brother told me they had such a bad storm Thursday night.  He said he was afraid he would wake up in Kansas with Toto.  I am glad they are getting some rain for a while.  It is so dry in Texas in the summer. 

I am knitting along on my Sanquhar Cowl.  I started a pair of socks as a carry along project.  I am now at the point of making up my mind who is going to receive them.  That will tell me how long to make the foot.  I have two people in mind, but I guess I will have to toss a coin.

I am itching to start another sweater.  I really don't need another sweater.  I just like the length of the project.  It takes a lot to commit to a project like that.  I think that is a stupid reason to start a sweater.

I have been putzing along spinning my last bobbin of orange yarn.  I watched Wolf Hall yesterday on the computer while I was spinning.  I think this is going to be a beautiful yarn.  Such vivid color. 

My doctor finally is beginning to listen to me.  It has been so frustrating to me that I can't make them believe what I am saying.  I am on the third kind of medicine.  Fingers crossed this one seems to be the answer to the problem of regulating my b.p. without side effects.  My daily readings are pretty stable and I am not dizzy or woozy feeling.  It almost is like a cloud was lifted off my head after three days.  So-we will see.  Funny thing that the doctor told me all my blood work is normal.  They can't find anything else wrong, no matter what they dream up that needs to be tested. 

I got my serger back from the repair man.  I am lucky that I have found a guy that will come to the house and pick up either my sewing machine or the serger and bring it back all fixed.  Of course, I have to pay a little more for service.  Now I have to just make myself get up and start making those pillow cases that are on my shelf of "make this now" stuff.

Patty got her Spring haircut.  It was a traumatic experience for her and me.  She jumped, bucked, squirmed, jerked about.  When he was getting to the close trim with scissors to sculpt around her face and legs, I just held her down.  What should have been a one-hour job took two hours.  She is changing fast in some things with this dementia thing, and then there are days that she seems her usual self.

Other than that, my life seems to be on a slow-boat to nowhere.  I have my routines and my life is super simple.  It is very nice to just putter around and do a little bit of work every day.  I am very blessed.  I am just happy that my one little bit of health problem is probably on the road to okay.  Maybe now that my head is clearer I can actually get things done.

Happy Spring.  Maybe now most everyone around is experiencing green happenings instead of white and cold happenings.

Everthing is Green!

After our unusual winter, we are having an unusual Spring!  Why does that surprise me?  It shouldn't.

I am actually mowing the weeds.  There are spots of real grass, but the usual Spring weeds are flourishing.  We have been having our storms, our rain, our unusually warm April.  My redbuds are so beautiful right now.  It is so pleasing to see the gorgeous colors.  My daffodils bloomed quickly and were done.  The iris and other bulbs are well on their way to popping open.

Unfortunately I am not going to get such a great hollyhock year as last.  I love hollyhocks-their tall stalks blooming little bit by little bit with cups of flowers.

I am so excited that my roadrunner visited today.  Noodles alerted me of something outside.  I stood in the doorway of the screened porch.  After spotting me, the roadrunner raced up the steps of the porch, hopped up on the railing and stared at me.  I very softly said, "Hi.  I am happy you have come back."  It hopped down to steps, hopped up to rail, hopped down to steps, hopped up to rail, and stared me right in the eye.  After a coupla minutes, it flew up to rooftop and started cuckooing loudly.

I know all the bird people are going to pooh-pooh me.  Birds don't have the memories to do something like that.  I know the first hummingbird always hovers in front of one particular window, and last year an oriole hovered in front of the studio window.  I feel like they recognize me.  It makes me feel loved and appreciated.  I don't want to know that this is some random behavior. 

I am doing very little knitting right now.  I started the Sanquhar Cowl, and I love the sampler idea.  I don't get bored with an endless pattern and as soon as I get bored, I get another pattern to learn.  I am also knitting a pair of socks.  I don't need a pair of socks, but I needed something to haul around.

I love having the windows and door open to the fresh air.  I know the pollen is bad right now, but I am into the fresh air thing.  I assume we will still have some cooler weather before May, but I love the sunshine, the warmth, and all the green.

I am still having some difficulties with my blood pressure.  It is so worrisome.  I went back to doctor yesterday, and I was assigned a different doctor.  She seems to think it is okay to have fluctuating all over the place b.p.  So I guess right now I am not going to worry so much.

My cousin will be here next week.  At some time I do need to clean up my house.  UGH!

Going to a quilt show tomorrow morning.  I am really excited about it.  I need some kind of motivation to get back to sewing.  I did clean up the room and reorganized things so it doesn't look like a tornado hit in there.  I need to vacuum, but I always need to vacuum.

So-as usual-nothing new and exciting.  This is my busy season.  Getting beds prepared, planting things, mowing, trimming, and generally getting ready for summer.  By the time the heat is on I will be in the maintenance stage.  That isn't so hectic.

Have a good weekend.  Enjoy Spring!

OMG! August's Almost Over

Well, I am going to moan and groan a bit about the heat.  We have had an unusual summer this year.  It has been cooler and wetter than usual.  Until two weeks ago anyway.  Then one of those highs that get the weather man going.  It moved into the central part of the US and hasn't moved in two weeks. We have had really HOT weather and  humidity.  There is a promise of cooler weather and maybe rain by the weekend.  Hope so.

My friend Beth is coming from Vermont this weekend.  She will be staying in Eureka Springs for two weeks.  I warned her it may be hot.  She is a New Englander-she doesn't do hot.  Oh, well, she chose to come in September.

I haven't been doing a whole lot of anything since the heat moved in.  I did mow the yard this morning.  There is a bit of Bermuda mixed into the regular pasture weeds.  It does grow in the heat.  So it was a lick and a promise type of mowing.

In the back yard I have a swath of rectangular grass that does grow thickly.  It must be where the gray water comes out.  It is away from the septic tank.  I couldn't mow it this morning because of the wetness.  I will tackle it close to dark tonight.

Tommy Cat is officially a member of our family now.  He likes to have regular meals and he likes air conditioning.  I didn't think he would ever give up his wild ways of survival, but he is much tamer now.  He and Noodles have a truce going on.  He finally respects that Noodles is old and is the head cat in this family.  I don't know that he likes it, but he does lower his head during the staring contest.

I have finally gotten somewhere with my stranded sweater.  I have cut the steeks on the neckline and I have to cast on to finish that bit of work.  It actually looks like a sweater now.  Boy!  This has taken me forever to make this one.

I have been spinning and spinning and spinning.  I think I am going to quit for a while.  I have enough for the show in October, and I will have to think up things to do with the yarn that is left over.  I may buy a little more roving at the Greenwood fiber show.  Otherwise, I am done for a while.

I have been trying to decide what sweater to knit next, but I am kinda burned out on sweaters for a while.  I have been looking at patterns.  I really would like a sweater coat, but I don't have enough yarn in stash to make one.  I don't want to buy any more yarn.

So we are in the summer doldrums right now.  I am feeling lazy.  I don't want to cook, and food is not interesting to me.  I have been able to keep myself from living on ice cream so far. 

I guess nothing of interest has been going on.  I have been trying to decide how many books to order.  I have dipped into the last box, and I have a busy Fall calendar ahead for book signings.  I have been writing quite a bit, but nothing has come together in a solid way.  I've been thinking about that a lot.

Friends of mine have gone on vacations this summer.  I am home with the three animals.  I wanted to go to Taos for the wool festival, but I just cancelled my room reservation.  I am going to be good and not spend money.

So moving onto September next week.  This summer has passed quickly and without too much fuss.  It will soon be time to clean out the sunflower stalks and pokeberry stalks.  The robins have moved in for the pokeberry season.  I saw a huge flock of geese on the mossy pond on Barrington yesterday.  Soon it will be time to put away the hummingbird feeder.  A change is coming again.

Stay cool.  Have a fun Labor Day weekend.

Well-Pooh!

I am really depressed about my stranded sweater.  I thought maybe it was coming up a year soon that I have been working on it.  So I went to the archives and damn! my first mention of the planning was July 9.  My next entry on the blog was July 23 and I said I was moving along on the pattern.  That is really not right. 

I don't think it has ever taken me over a year to complete a sweater of any kind.  Even when I was a newbie sweater maker in the 8th grade.  I am definitely going to get this sucker finished sooner rather than later.

I lost about three months with my friend's illness and subsequent death.  I also started another sweater and finished it quickly.  At least in my three month normal time frame.  I have finished a lot of things other than that sweater.  I am not going to keep making excuses.

I normally have two or three projects going.  I have a tendency to put things down and walk away for a while.  This particular pattern I could only do in the daylight.  I found putting a chair by the window allowed me the right light to see the pattern without strain.  There was no glare on the pattern propped up on the magnetic board on the table by the chair.  My eyes did get tired and I would have to stop.

Once I started the sleeves it should have been a breeze to finish.  It is a simple trellis pattern that is easily readable for any mistakes.  On the first sleeve I was two or three inches along when I realized I had made a mistake.  I ended up unknitting three times until I finally got the thing in my head. So now I am on the second sleeve and I have the pattern in my head and I know immediately when I have made a mistake.

 I think it is a geometry thing.  When I was in high school I had to be tutored to get through all the math classes.  My father was a whiz at math and tried to explain things.  He got frustrated and hired someone to tutor me.  When it came to geometry he would actually make the 3-D things and try to explain it to me.  I never got it.  I am so amazed when I see 3-D knitting or crocheting.  How does one think up that stuff?  They have a head for geometry and advanced math formulas that I don't.

I was in the fifth grade when the teacher explained to my parents that I was able to get the correct answers on the math problems.  The problem was I was not using the "correct" formulas or methods to get the answers.  When I tried to explain how I got the answers my father would just look at me like I was nuts.  I couldn't understand his language and he couldn't understand mine.  Sometimes I still use my old methods to get answers.  It does seem a little convoluted.

The irony of all that was the summer I stayed with my parents in my twenties.  I needed a part-time job until I moved on with my life.  I got a job in the superintendent's office at the local school system doing secretarial go-fer stuff for the administrative assistant.  It was boring.  My old fifth grade teacher found out I was there and she asked if I could help some of the kids being held over for summer school.  These poor kids were having the same problem I had with math.  She told me that she didn't care what method they used as long as they could get the correct answer in the end.  So I spent a lot of time with fifth graders helping them pass their math tests using a weird math system.

So isn't it strange that I can do the simple math stuff for knitting?  Sometimes I have to go over my notes just to make sure the numbers are right.  With weaving I had no trouble since I only wove with four harnesses.  So everything was divided by four.  Simple everyday math I can handle.  I can make change in my head so I know how to make money transactions. 

So is this a long drawn out excuse for not getting the sweater finished.  No, but it is an explanation of my warped thinking.  I now have the map in my head of how the knitting is to be done.  So now I can finish my sleeve.

So back to this other thing.  I have met a lot of people in my lifetime that have a greater math phobia than I do.  I mean I really lock up when someone starts with "Let's do a little math game." or "Do you remember how to do this algebraic formula?"  I shut down.  When I told one of my weaving students 30 years ago or so that weaving is basically a simple mathematical tool and she shut down.  She could not figure it out.  I finally asked someone for help.  This was in the days of early computers, so he built a program for me that would show the draw-down and when I pushed a button the woven piece would show.  By changing it to a visual thing she understood what I meant.  She went on to do beautiful work from that point on.

So, yes, I will finish this sweater before it is cold enough to wear it.  Yes, I have two other projects going that require work.  Oh, yes, I am already planning the next sweater.  It is going to be a simple thing-maybe a gansey or something. 

The weather is warming again.  It is in the 80's and the humidity is returning.  The yard needs attention.  I am lazy and have not been out in the garden lately.  Just this morning I was thinking I need to get that ragweed out of the front bed.

Gotta go.  Sorry to make so many excuses for my poor knitting habits.  I am going to get this sweater finished soon.

Is It Really Mid-July?

This is BFL that is so lovely it hurts.  I bought the roving from the same dealer and the name is the same-Oatmeal.  It may be difficult to see, but the bottom one is browner than the top batch.  Sigh! I had intended that this be a bottom half of a yoke sweater if it doesn't sell at the show in October.  Now-I don't know.  Maybe something else entirely.

Today is another weird weather day.  We had the low 50's when I woke up and I had to put on a sweatshirt and a light pair of knit pants.  IN MID-JULY!  With this polar plunge front from the north, the humidity is nil-thank goodness.  I have to go out and stand in the sun to warm up my fingers.  Crazy-Crazy-Crazy!

A new kitty has adopted us.  He began hanging with us in the winter and I did not encourage him.  He and Noodles got into horrendous fights.  Since Noodles is an old grumpy cat, he lost most of the battles. 

Well, tomorrow the new kitty has an appointment at the Spay/Neuter Clinic.  I am so thrilled for this service.  They are neutering him and giving him a rabies shot for $35. 

He has become tame enough to love on when he sets the terms.  He still jumps and runs if I do any weird arm motion or clomp too loudly around.  Today he actually played with some toilet paper rolls.

I had thought in my head that Noodles would be the last kitty I would have.  He is fourteen and could live a while longer.  I am not getting any younger either.  And here is the new one coming into our lives.  Noodles hates him, of course.  He is not adjusting well.

I finished the sleeve of the sweater and I have done two rows on the second sleeve.  I cast on a quick mosaic stitch cap that is fast and easy.  I am thinking I need to think about the show in October, but I am not really motivated.

The book got off to a good start.  I have signings set up and I am thinking of ordering more books.  I just don't know.  Unfortunately my momentum has slowed down and I am not pushing myself to sell what I have.  I just don't have the get up and go.

We have had a lot of rain and it has become hard to mow around the rainy days.  I am slowly mowing down the seeds for the bachelor buttons and the fleabane.  It has been a hard job.  I found some sweet annie sprouted that I didn't realize I had until I had mowed a coupla times.  So now I have a patch of tallish grass to allow that to continue growing. 

The tansy is blooming and I could get a nice dyebath out of that.  I just am not motivated to push myself anymore.  Oh, well.

Not a lot to tell.  I am so amazed at our weird weather that it consumes me.  I have noticed signs of late summer- wooly worms, orb spiders, walking sticks.  The finches are devouring the sunflowers that are seeding.  The bees are pollinating the sunflowers that are blooming.  I have marigolds, black-eyed susans, calendula, verbena, and other flowers blooming.  Oh-the catnip is in full bloom and the bees are in heaven!  They love catnip.  So a typical wild flower place.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend.  Enjoy the coolish weather while we have it.  It will be July again soon.