End Of Summer

Well, folks this is the last day of holidays before Teapot and the Daughters head back to school.  The weather has definitely turned... there's lots of rain. The funny thing is that the grass is finally starting to grow and turn green.

Yet, the trees are turning gold, and around my yard (which, for some reason is a little different from other areas in this valley) the leaves are actually falling off the trees. It's been a strange year for weather indeed. On our way to town the other day, I was amazed by the colour of the Fireweed. It has turned a brilliant red and gives the sides of the road beautiful depth as other bushes turn gold and melon. Many of the Pine trees have died again this year and so there are tons of brown trees in the forest as well. While most people are harvesting their gardens I am not... and I miss the harvest.  I had great hopes that this would be the year that I would get the animals out of the garden and get the vegetables back in but that didn't happen and so now I have to wait till next year for the garden and shop at the grocery store for my veggies.

The electrical shed, on which should be a new roof, will have to wait. I am still hoping that some fine weekend this Autumn, Teapot will get this project done. I am not sure the roof that is there will stand up to any big dumps of snow. The cedar shakes that are on there have rotted now to the point where you can see daylight in lots of places.  I worry that the Hydro lady who comes to check the meter, will report us and we will have no choice but to replace the roof in the middle of a -40 degree cold snap. So I am hoping that Teapot will find the time somewhere, somehow and get that new roof on the shed before the snow falls.

Teapot thought I looked particularly studious in this picture. Basically I couldn't see the yarn to count tpi... thus the headlight and magnifying glasses. I guess I'm getting old!

I have been working away at the level 3 homework, which, I am happy to say I am just about finished. I have now caught up everything and gotten all the write ups done for all the samples finished to this point.  This means I am again able to go back to spinning. I have spun enough singles to try my 12 tpi question for the 80th time!!!! (well that is a slight exaggeration. But I certainly have tried that one a lot... argh!) Then I just have to finish the two commercial yarns, and if the 12 tpi sample doesn't work then I'm going to give it up for a really bad job and work on the commercial yarns while I wait for my sanity to return.  That's it then.... I just have to send in the books to my instructor for marking, during which time, I will relax with some fun spinning and wait for my marks to come back. The beginning of October is the date I'm giving myself to start the level 4 homework.

In the meantime I have been playing off and on with my Takli which is a small support spindle for cotton and I am getting quite good at spinning with it.  I have decided that I love cotton spinning and now am going to attempt to grow some cotton in my house this year.  Yes, I do realize that I live in the great white north and that there are many days throughout the year where daylight is not very long, but I will use full spectrum light to see if the seeds will grow into something usable. Meanwhile all my sample and practice cotton that I am spinning will be used in the single form for place mats, napkins and table runners.

All the old timers around here are predicting a hard and early winter.  I don't know how much I can trust the old guys, especially since people don't work in the woods like they used to. There are no trappers around here and the loggers have gone the way of the Dodo bird.  But if it is a hard winter then I'm not looking forward to it. We've already had a hard frost.

I thought I would include here a little rant, so if you are not into rants then you may want to stop reading.....

I hate reading blogs where the husband is referred to as DH.  I realize the DH stands for dear husband but every time I see DH I think, how rude!.... because I see DH as di-k head..... does anybody else get that out there in computer land?  Or is it just me? I've been thinking about starting a protest group.... The Stop Calling Your Spouse DH Society.... I mean how many of us would want our husbands calling us the old bag..... (ha! I bet you thought I was going to say the old bat!!!) I mean there is BH for better half.... or OH for the other half, TBK might work if you are looking for something a little on the funny side, TBK for the big knob,.... there's TS for the spouse... and MH for my husband... DB for dear boy or DM for dear man.... DH just is mean....  If you love him call him something nice..... : )

I think that's the end of my rant....

Hmm maybe I should come up with something better for the Daughters...... any suggestions?

Well I'm off to spend the last day of summer vacation with the family..... maybe some laundry, maybe some helping Daughter with clothes... for school.... maybe a little spinning.... we'll see.

Tomorrow is the first time I will use our new tub... everyone else has used the new tub, but I've been saving the wonderful experience for the first day of school.... can't wait!