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.

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.

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.

Finished Just In Time For Spring

This is Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty.com.  It is merino roving with some alpaca added in for more softness and airiness.  It is really a deep burgundy color.  There is black and other colors added to darken the color.  It was a top down raglan shaped shoulder.  I made the sleeves three-quarter for my own personal choice.  It was an easy pattern.  It just took me longer to make it because of the craziness in my life this winter.

It feels like I lost two months or more of my life this winter with GO's illness and death.  I am still moving along on the other sweater.  I am now shaping the back neckline.  About three more rows on that.  Then put the shoulder stitches on holders.  Then finally I can cut the steek on the armhole and start the arms.  Yeah!  So, yes, moving along.

I finished the pretty pink yarn.  I will wind the final bobbin on the skein holder and then wash and block that and be done.  It was a joy to spin.  BFL and silk are two of my favs.

We got another cold spell with ice, sleet and snow.  I am so ready for this to be over and done.  I am ready for Spring.  I have begun digging up the front flower bed and trying to get grass out of it.  It is a chore that I don't like.

This past weekend we began the dirty, nasty, odious chore of cleaning out GO's cabin.  I am now aware that I really didn't know him at all.  He was very secretive, and even though I have know him  for twenty-five years, I still am amazed at the hording and clutter and mess.  I don't think he ever cleaned.

So now I am down to one knitting project.  A customer in Little Rock wants some red socks.  I have ordered some yarn, but nothing else planned.  I guess I should just concentrate on the medieval sweater and get it done.  Soon I will not be interested in knitting as much, and I would like that sweater finished.

CJE has two sick mamas in her house.  H is feverish, dehydrated, and not eating.  She thinks she has won the lottery.  C started with a sore throat and is now having a respiratory infection.  I don't know how she does it.

So now I will go open the front blinds and knit on my hard sweater.  I use my insulated blinds when it is really cold.  Which it is right now.

Keep warm.  Keep going.  Winter does have to end sometime, doesn't it?

Back To Somewhat Normal!

Today is bright and sunny and very cold.  It is deceiving to look out and see the brightness.
Yesterday was very warm, and just a perfect Spring day in January.  It creates hope to have warm days pop in periodically like this.

My friend GO died on January 10.  His memorial service was last Wednesday the 15th.  It is a slow change to get back to a normal routine.  I have been spinning the pretty blue yarn and watching Netflix.  I have not gotten back to my normal knitting routine.  It just seems so tedious right now.
My friend CJE came over on Saturday to divert my attention.  We went to the Thai restaurant for bowls of soup and it was marvelous.  We sat in the kitchen and knit.  We talked about books and writing and the usual chatter.
 
I am now nine weeks into my new medications.  I noticed a change yesterday that I cannot describe to anyone.  I think the Vitamin D therapy is helping my chronic depression.  I mentioned to CJE that my SAD has not kicked in.  I attributed it to all the chaos of the past two months of taking care of GO. 

Yesterday I began looking up info on the internet about symptoms of Vitamin D depletion, etc.  I found psychiatric papers linking Vit. D therapy with Depression therapies.  Hmm.  So all these years that the doctors kept trying to drug me out were wasted years?  None of the usual meds helped and one doctor determined that perhaps it is a chemical problem and not an emotional problem.  You think?  I am going to keep looking into this.

I missed my class last night at the university.  It is a beekeeping class that is held by the state beekeeping group.  I am certainly not interested in keeping bees, but I am interested in learning more about them.  I have tried to encourage flowers that are attractive to them for a few years.  I have noticed that there is an increase in honeybees last summer.

A friend told me this is not a good thing.  Prior to the importing of bees along with the Spanish friars and the English, there were multiple species of wild bees in the U.S.  The honeybees have taken over and there are extinct wild bee species now.  I like honey; what can I say?

I bought a new suet feeder that are holes in a piece of wood and you put plugs into them.  I tried several places and no interest.  So Sunday I put it into a tree very close to the trunk.  Yesterday I noticed that even the cardinals were eating suet.  I never knew cardinals liked suet.  Maybe this method will keep the big old bullies (all the blackbirds) from swarming into the feeder and gobbling it up.  The things we do for our wildlife.

The last snow storm there was a bobcat trotting across the driveway and then across the street.  I was amazed.  I guess I will have to watch Noodles a little closer now.

I had determined that I was not going to do any shows this year.  Yet yesterday I made a check out for a booth in Missouri in October.  I did good with this show last year.  This year they are changing the date and the venue.  I don't know if that will change the outcome.  I have nine months to think about it.  I cannot decide if I want to do another one or not.  I like playing with my stuff, but I like to give it away too. 

I am now into the second editing of my book.  I like this process.  I am learning so very much.  I am really kinda sick of reading the stories over and over.  They are so done in my mind.  I am trying to just do the corrections first.  Then before I submit it back to RW, I read it through.  I have found a few mistakes of missed "the's" or other minor things that way.  I am crossing fingers and toes that we can get this done in time to take books to the show in October.  Pushing my luck, but we will see.

CJE told me about this site called First Line.  They provide a first line, and then the writer writes a story from that.  She is submitting one for February.  Pretty clever.  It's fun to play with writing.  I don't pretend that I am anything but a crazy woman who likes to record dreams.  I am not a "writer".

Well, I am ready to get to work.  Actually it is almost time for lunch.  I guess I should eat first.  Then I won't interrupt the flow with stopping to look for lunch.

I am glad to get back to this page.  It is fulfilling to just have streams of consciousness flow and magically appear on page.

Memorial Day!

I am so happy to say I am almost well again. I have been sick since May 14, and I never, ever have been sick like this before. I awoke at 3 am and started vomiting and had severe pain in my stomach, upper gut area. It stayed very, very severe for 5 days, and then the vomiting stopped. I finally went to a doctor, and if anyone knows me, that is like signing a death warrant. I had blood tests, a urinalysis, and an ultrasound. The urinalysis showed I had a bladder infection, but I was so not believing that with all the other problems I had. But I did take my round of antibiotics, as ordered. I never had any symptoms before, so I don't have any symptoms now. All the other tests were normal. So was this a gallbladder attack as I suspected? Who knows. I know I don't have any gallstones, so that is positive.

So everything I have been doing since has been to improve my diet, get lots and lots of rest, and just be aware of my body.

Then on top of all that, I started having severe pain in one of my back molars on the lower jaw. I had a repair done last November, and I guess it decided to fail. After an emergency visit to my dentist, he said I needed to go to an oral surgeon to get further help. So now that I am better, I can schedule that this week.

And my knitting has not been visited much in this past few weeks. I think I have slept mostly through everything. I did finish the BFL yarn and I started on the pink stuff. But sitting in that position is difficult, and I have to monitor the pain in my back and go back to bed.

On a happy note, a friend JH has a wonderful husband making her a spinning wheel. I have mentioned this before. He came by Friday to check some more measurements, and to pick my brain a little bit. In our conversation I mentioned I needed to make some templates for shibori dyeing. He went to a friend that has a laser computerized machine and I now have 126 new templates. I can hardly believe it. JH and LH came by yesterday and gave them to me. I am so thrilled to have them. They are heavy, thick, clear industrial strength plexiglass. They even etched the size of shape on the piece so I don't have to guess or stop to measure them.

Last night I started thinking up design ideas and pulled out my silk pieces. But now I really, really want to get an indigo vat going. It is finally into our summertime pattern, and I don't have to worry about fluctuating temps.

This Spring has had the worst storms in a long, long time. I am so thankful that I only got minor damage to my roof. I did get a new roof put on in the midst of all this illness. It looks very pretty, so let's hope it stays that way for many years. NO MORE HAIL!

My garden is flourishing, but it is very weedy. I have tried to go out and pull weeds, and to weed-eat some. But I don't last long. You know that commercial where the guy is up in the tree and shakes it to make a limb fall on your car? Well, I am now saying, "Shaky, Shaky. Time to quit." I am normally one to keep working until the project is completed.

I cleaned my little screened porch, and it is so pleasant to sit out there. It is like a little secret place to read, or do needlework. I am having a thing with a big, ole spider that seems to think it is her territory, but she understands that I bigger and meaner. But for the most part, she is never around. I just like to sit out there and listen to the birds.

I have a downy woodpecker and orioles that are feeding on the hummingbird feeder. I have had a major slowdown on hummingbirds, so I pulled one of the feeders so I don't waste sugar water.
A pair of brown thrashers have moved into the neighborhood and they are almost as pesky as mockingbirds.

So not a whole lot going on right now. I am laying low, and trying to stay focused on health. I will try to be more of blogger as I get my strength back. I am having to focus on just getting the riding mower mowing done. The trimwork has fallen behind. But those are not big issues, except to my neighbor who has a pristine yard.

Stay well and stay healthy. I am finally back in the world again.