Hiding In Fear And Trepidation

I went to FSJ today.... just for a quick trip. Teapot was supposed to get his new glasses. That didn't happen as it looks like they won't be ready till next week now. We also thought we would pick up our truck since we called lunch time and everything was going good... yes, once again The stupid truck is in for the same problem that they think they fix but don't. This is the forth time the truck has been in for repairs in less than a month. We were supposed to pick the darn thing up when they were closing... well we didn't get our truck and there's a bit of a story to that. We also took the Daughters with us because since they are on spring break and everyone of their friends are vacationing in some wonderfully beachy resorty place that we would try give them something nice too.... no we did not take them to a tanning salon... and no we did not find a place comparable to a beachy resorty place. We ended up taking them to the movies... we went to see The Hunger Games. The movie started at 3:30 p.m. and we expected to be out in time to go get the truck... and we would have been if the power hadn't gone out and then come back on... so that put us behind by 20 minutes or so.  Which meant by the time we got to the dealership it was closed.... but that was ok because our truck is NOT fixed yet. At least it wasn't out on the lot and usually they park the fixed trucks in the parking lot for pick up... we drove around but it wasn't there... which leaves us wondering why.... not.

Meanwhile, the movie was awesome... I loved it and now really really want to read the books. It is all about a futuristic world where war has been abolished through the implementation of games where each district gives up a boy and girl between the ages of 12 - 18 and they are let loose in a forest to fight to the death till only one person remains standing. Our heroine volunteers after her 12 year old sister is picked in an effort to let her young sister live a little longer. Most of the movie is about the dilemma of humans caught in a setting they they do not want to be in and how they survive. Interesting concept rather like Lord Of The Flies..... and will human goodness win in the end. Our poor heroine spent a great deal of time hiding and waiting for the others to kill each other off but of course there had to be a bit of politics and background machinations involved....

Like our poor heroine I am sitting here thinking of ways that I can hide in fear and trepidation. I stupid-like took on a project that I should have my head examined for. My new loom is sitting in the corner of the living room waiting for a warp.... I should have known at Christmas time when I agreed to the Shadow Weave project that I would be too busy to do this thing.... I loved the idea and I wanted to do it really badly but I have two friggin levels of homework to do and I have been really hard at it. That is my priority.... PRIORITY. Saturday is my day of reckoning.... I am supposed to have the warp on and my first block woven.... I do not. I would like a large hidey hole in which to lie low.  I am going to be killed. In no uncertain terms... dead.... d... e... a... d... dead! I'm even afraid to write that because I know just know that RG is going to be totally disgusted.... I'm scared.... really scared... she reads this... I think I will go turn off my phone... cause I'm really really scared. Even my knees are knocking. Yes I'm totally chicken... maybe I could sleep through Saturday....  So I am writing here today to say good bye to you all before I die a slow and painful death on the looms of my fellow weavers.... Squeak! I'm really a mouse at heart you know.

I'll let you know if I live through it all... I expect I'll be at least told off in style. Good bye my beloved blog followers .... thanks for all your support. I'm heading off to go into hiding....

Avoidance really is the only way out... maybe I should at least warp my loom... arggghhh! Would someone please take pity on me and help me warp my loom..... mwaaaaa...I'm going to diiiiieeeee.....

I'm Baaaaccckk... I Think... Or Am I Thinking

Holy Hell! How did it get to be the 29th? I mean it seems like I was here only yesterday... did I sleep through a day... did I forget to hit publish yesterday and my last post just drifted into internet eternity? No... no sign of a post yesterday..... I know I talked about swimming but that was yesterday... have I grown a beard... did I miss a day.... did I over sleep... seriously oversleep???? I have no idea how the last two days disappeared without my knowing it. I have been spinning... Lincoln and it is the worst damn shit I have ever spun in my life..... sorry for the swear words but honestly it really is horrible. I threw the whole works in the garbage cause it looks like stuff I would have spun ten years ago when I couldn't spin as good as a duck could! I am supposed to spin a 3 tpi 2 ply yarn... OMG... it's bad, just plain bad. 2 tpi and 2.5 tpi... but not 3tpi... I finally spun a 3 tpi today but the darn thing is so over spun that it looks like a cork screw in the skein.... no U there that's for sure. It is the coarsest Lincoln I have ever spun and I'll be honest, the hair from the tail of a horse would be nicer to spin. Yuck... with a capital Y. So now I have used up all of my Lincoln wool. I am relying on a friend to supply me with a wee bit of Lincoln to get me over the hump... honestly if someone had never spun Lincoln before and then spun this, they would never spin Lincoln again.

Meanwhile the keyboard is working.... so soaping it up and the rinsing with distilled water and cooking it in the oven did not hurt it.... I can't tell you how happy I am to have this keyboard back and working again... the other old one was a misery.

That's the end of my complaints... sort of.... I am having a bit of a down day today... my poor body is in a terrible state. I swam yesterday... and loved it... it truly was lovely in the pool yesterday. Just the right temperature and not too many people. There was a class of octogenarians learning the front crawl (I hope I never have to worry if my boobs are falling down through the leg of my swimsuit like theirs!!! Still it was cool to see the old gals learning to swim... mind you at the rate I'm going I'll never need a personal floatation device cause my boobs will just float and save me from drowning... : }) And... I swam a whole kilometre. 40 lengths... at 25 metres a go. It took me 47 minutes. Today though my body is saying Stop! so I didn't do my usual 20 minutes on the exercise bike. I will try the bike again tomorrow. Still all that swimming felt pretty damn good    but that was yesterday.

Ok something really strange is happening to my mind.... this is not the 29th..... so why is my damn computer saying that it is the 29th..............................................................................................................
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HA HA... very funny Teapot. He changed the date on the computer.... (I'm sure he is trying to secretly make me think I'm losing my mind....) well for a moment he had me going pretty good. I really thought it was the 29th... but no that is tomorrow... I know, because this is not Knit Night. And besides... Mom goes to Crib on Wednesdays and then Dad comes for a visit because he doesn't play crib "with all those biddies"... and he was here today, so that must mena that it is Wednesday... the 28th... right! I also had my Confirmation class... (of one) come this evening and that was supposed to be  a Wednesday appointment. And another reason... Saturday is the 31st... this is only Wednesday... I just have to do the math. But for a moment I actually thought I might be losing my memory... it does run in the family you know... hmm, that explains things eh?!

See ya tomorrow... I'm just going to go have my brain checked.... I need to know if any of my brain cells have left for warmer climes!

What's Happening!?

Ok so our keyboard is still not working. It's better than it was but it is still acting erratically so I am back to typing on this old piece of sh--! Sucks to be me... oh well might as well get over it.

Spinning: 2.5 tpi done on first try though I still have to wash it and that could change me into a blithering idiot in very short order. I'm tired tonight. Felt like throwing the stupid sample at a wall when I saw that there was a cork screw in it but it is near one end and after I wash it if it is ok then the cork screw will get cut off and I'll still have 11 metres... that'll work. But then I'm not thinking straightly tonight. Why am I so tired, you ask? I was talking to birds all afternoon. (yes I do talk to birds... and generally it is a great conversation... even better than some I have with people!) I was outdoors in the bright spring sunshine enjoying a fire on the deck in the fireplace. It was just too awesome to talk about. I finished the embroidery this morning and it looks great... I am now weaving  the back of the purse and should finish that tomorrow. Then I will weave on the inkle loom a little handle... or maybe on the Marudai I will braid a handle but I won't make that decision until I'm finished everything else since I need to know how much fibre I have left.

The Daughters went for a long walk today in the spring sunshine and took the dogs. They left at 12:30 and by 4:00 I was starting to worry about where the heck they were especially since they didn't have a phone with them. I don't normally worry about them much cause they're pretty good at letting us know where they are or not staying away very long... but there have been cougar  sightings lately in the area and that always is a worry. Teapot says I worry too much and while he's probably right it is hard to stop being a mother hen. Teapot eventually went looking for them and with the snow and three dogs with them they were pretty easy to track. By the time they got home they were all just about ready to fall over. I didn't say much .... but they knew I wasn't pleased... I'm glad they're home safe but they had better not go off without their phone again.... or it will be to the moon.... !!!

I'm so tired tonight that I decided to sit and read on the computer for a few minutes before going to bed early instead of working on the tpi sample tonight any more.... tomorrow is another day. Still when I catch up on all my favorite blogs/websites I realize that I have been letting the world pass me by I even forgot St. Patrick's day this year. My leprechaun stayed out of sight this year. Tomorrow our church is having a pancake breakfast and pancake day was three weeks ago... no wonder I'm mixed up. When I finally look up from all this homework that I'm doing, I won't know where I am or what time of year it is.

Spring is definitely here and tomorrow is swimming day. I'll be heading off with my seniors group for our last swim for the year. April1st the pool is closing for three months for updates on the chlorine equipment.... : ( sad face... but then in 7 more weeks our pool here in HH will be opening for the summer. We have the greatest pool.... and all the better for being an outdoor pool... really it's awesome. I look forward to it.... anyway I just yawned enough to split my head apart... I guess I better toddle off to bed... see ya tomorrow. 

How To Cook Your Computer 101

So I knew something was up when I tried to type here yesterday and all I got was.. 3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
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I wasn't sure what was wrong but knew it had to be something to do with the cup of tea that I tipped all over the keyboard. For now I am using an ancient keyboard from our old computer and it is a monster to use. ThespacebarsucksandIendupwritingsentenceslikethis. Meanwhile the other keyboard is in the oven. Yes you read that right! It was hooped anyway so Teapot went online to fine information on how to clean a keyboard. It told us to run it under water with a little bit of soap. Then rinse with distilled water and heat oven to 150 degrees. When the oven is heated then turn the heat off and put the keyboard in for an hour then remove it from the oven and place is a dry place with a fan blowing on it for 24 hours. It should be ready later today... and I'll be glad if it works cause this thing is dreadful.

In case you couldn't figure it out... that's why I haven't been here for a few days.

This morning I woke up after a really good night's sleep at 6:30 a.m. I decided to get up right away since I was wide awake and didn't want to wake Teapot. By 7:30 I was getting hungry. I decided to make breakfast and take it to the still sleeping Teapot. Half way through making breakfast he came downstairs since the rich brown smells of food cooking awoke him and his stomach. We had home made hash browns with lots of pepper, fried tomatoes (I wish they had been green), fried mushrooms in worchestershire, and a little bit of bacon. With melon and orange juice on the side, all food groups were met. I'm now having tea at the computer... tempting fate once again.

Sorry the picture is not clearer. I couldn't take a better one since we had eaten the food by the time I discovered that the picture sucked. : )

Progress is being made on the front of homework. I have completed another sample for my level 5 homework and I am working on another. I thought I would put a few pictures here this morning to show some of the samples that I have been working on....

This picture shows my knitted sample for the level 3 question for a yarn appropriate for a baby's layette. I love cotton on a baby and especially this colourful yarn that I spun for level 5 dye samples. At the time when I was spinning I actually spun enough extra so that I could make something not thinking that I could use it for this question. So I get to kill two birds with one stone.

This yarn is the yarn that I designed by using the picture of Noah's Ark (see previous post). There is the blue of one single that is in the sky of the Noah's Ark pic. Then the other single is brown linsey woolsey because of Noah's ark and all the grasses that Noah must have had to use on the ark for all the animals. Then I used little bits of cotton to represent the rainbow. And of course this pic does not do it justice. The blue is a combination of blue wool and turquoise bamboo.... and looks really pretty close up. Same for the brown... it is a combination of flax and rust coloured wool.

I love Northern Lights from Louet... I can spin a perfect 1 tpi woolen yarn from it if I don't draft... it gives me one tpi by default.

This is my cabled yarn for level 5.  It needs some fooling around with because it is not quite balanced and it hasn't been washed so it will just need a little more twist.

Then I got mad at my tapestry... and decided it was taking too long so I pulled it all apart and decided to do this instead.It will be a little purse when I'm finished. But so far it is looking great I think. I'm pleased that it is turning out as I had imagined the tapestry would. I will make a strap in Kumihimo braid if I have enough cotton. And I will show pictures when I get it finished.

The cold winter temperatures and the dreadful snow of last week seems to have passed and we are into more  spring-like temperatures. I love it. I am just waiting for the snow to melt from the deck again so that I can go out and enjoy the deck again. It won't be long if the temperatures stay high. Everyone is saying that the snow pack in the mountains is higher than normal so we will have good moisture... at least for the early part of the summer. Teapot and the girls started their March break on Friday. Teapot got up to another day of snow after two solid weeks of precipitation. He was so disgusted that he went to work like this.

The shirt would blind ya I think.... he  made that a good twenty years ago when I was sewing a lot and he wanted to make a really loud outfit.... he succeeded...there used to be orange surfer shorts to go with it... it was really nasty... but I convinced him that the pants should go in the garbage (actually I think they might have made their way into the garbage without his knowing!)

But now that it is 10 a.m. and the sun has finally burned off the fog it is time to go and do some work... hopefully there will be no more glitches with the computer and I will be here more regularly. See ya soon... I hope.

That Was The Plan

Yesterday was a bit of a bust.... I did try to get work done but really didn't manage anything until later in the day at which time Teapot announced that he was going to FSJ to pick up the truck from the dealership again. I got the brilliant idea that after selling our couch over the weekend I would go with him so that we could drop by The Brick and pick up the first installment on our furniture for the sunroom. This proved a bust too since the dealership gave us back our truck alright and even said that it was fixed... and we thought so too... that is until we got half way home. That's when we discovered that the transmission is still bucking when it goes into overdrive at about 62 kph. We have had the truck in to be fixed three times now and we can safely say that we are no further ahead than we were when we started. You can safely say that it will be the last Ford truck or Ford anything we buy since this is the second time that we bought Ford and were severely disappointed. It seems Ford sells nothing but lemons. Sucks to be us. Teapot will have to call again to let them know that the problem has not been fixed and something needs to be done.

Anyway, after we got to the Brick we decided against the apple green chair of our desires since it was not as comfortable as hoped. Instead we bought this one.... only in red....

It reclines... and is soooo comfortable.  I had a chance to really look around the store and I saw many things that I want.... I love furniture shopping. I wish for a whole lot of money so that I could go shopping and buy tons of stuff.... mind you I only have a wee house....so maybe lots of furniture is not such a good idea.

Meanwhile the level 5 homework is yes coming along... I did manage another sample yesterday... this time I have finished my 1 tpi question. I spun a 2 1/2 tpi but it wasn't consistent enough so I will give that a try again today. I started spinning another sample. It is my "design a yarn based on a picture. I am using turquiose bamboo and blue merino for one single... and rusty brown corriedale and flax for the other single and I will be dropping in a rainbow of bits of cotton and it is based on this picture...

I first saw the picture at the Blueberry retreat. It was an astounding 4ft by 6ft mosaic that the kids last summer must have put together to hang on the wall of the dining area... it was very eye catching and so I took a picture of it.... that night while I was lying in bed it suddenly dawned on me that I could design my yarn around that picture.  I will be carrying on with this today and trying to get some more of the bookwork caught up. So you see there is some progress... on all fronts.

Meanwhile Shadow Weave has been barking at my heels for weeks. I had joined the intermediary weaving group of our guild this year and they decided to do a Shadow Weave project.  I agreed to join in which I am now regretting... I might as well be honest. It's not that I don't want to join the people who are doing this project.... it's not that don't like the project... it has to do with the fact that I am short on time. I want to work on my two levels and I am feeling pressure on this project. It's not just put a warp on and weave... it is edges and perfect sizing and getting it right. So I am not as sure that I am going to enjoy it especially when every time I sit down to work on it, I am feeling guilty about not getting my homework for the levels done. Still it did force me to get my loom finally and fully put together and it is now in a place that is easy to get at and I can work freely. So I might try stringing the warp today and at least threading the reed.

Right now there are big flakes of snow falling.  I'm actually kind of glad about that since this has been a very dry winter and the snow will help make the ground a little wetter as spring comes along. Pop said that he passed by a construction site yesterday and the soil that they were digging out for the foundations was very dry and dusty. It is not a good sign. Still, yesterday an the way to FSJ I noticed that the water in the river is very high. when I mentioned this to Teapot he said that I guess all the Hydro people who work at the dam which controls the water levels are saying that the water is extremely high in the reservoir and there is a huge snow pack in the mountains... they are fearful of problems later in the spring when the runoff really begins. So they are running the water high right now. Evidently they will be running the water high all summer. This means that canoeing will be good for those shy of rolling waves but not so good for those who like the rolling waves. It certainly will be hard to find good camping places along the river. But then this is out of my control and so I will not worry about it at all.

And on that note I had better go get some work done since the day is passing and I don't want to wake tomorrow thinking that WAS the plan...

Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear!!!

I feel like the rabbit in Alice In Wonderland... you know, the one that is always checking his pocket watch for the time. How has four whole days gone by without my writing... I can answer that one easily... I have been head down and arse up getting work done and I feel satisfied in saying that I am making great inroads into the piles of work which have been languishing for over a month.... problem is I just have gone all over the place and don't know whether my head is down or my arse is up! I am finished the next section of questions in my level five books and written them up and gotten them in the book today. I have decided to leave behind the TPI questions for the time being since they were daunting and really keeping me from doing any work at all. So today I started at the end of the questions and working my way back. No I haven't decided to work on the 50 hour project yet even though that is the very last question.  No I started working on the dye section. Yes I have done work on it before and some of it is done. But very little of it was in my books though the write-ups were done. I had one question that was not done at all and so I decided to sort out the whole mess and get it in the book and looking good. I didn't quite get it all finished but I am making progress there too and to be honest I am very pleased with one question in particular. I had to dye skeins of cotton in the primaries, the secondaries and the tertiary colours of the colour wheel... then I had to make a colour wheel with my skeins and it turned out better than I expected...

The greens in this picture are barely distinct but for some reason I couldn't get a picture that showed that. Then I dyed a section of cotton roving with Procion dyes and that is my first time using fibre reactive dyes. I had to dye a section of cotton roving and then spin a two ply yarn from some of it. I have to say that the colours came out lovely and bright. Cotton can be very dense and does not always take dye well but this was not too bad. Still there were some naturally coloured parts to the roving that I dyed.In the end I was very pleased with the result... it lent the skein I spun some interest.

Here's a little better shot of the yarn I spun...

After I finished what I could of the Dye section I moved on to the section on novelty type yarn through using spinning techniques and I managed a nice 4 ply cable yarn and got it finished. Then I decided to catch up on book work and it will take a little more work to catch up on all the book work that needs to be done.

So the result of all my confounded work is that I am in a terrible tangle because I should have just kept right on going with the tpi questions... now I have spinning from all over the place that are partially in the book and tonight I'm so tired that I can't make heads or tails of it.... On top of all that Daughter #2 is going through a Phantom Of The Opera love stage. She has watched it over and over again and right now she is watching it and to be honest I want to take a baseball bat to the T.V. !! I guess I'm just tired and need a break... so this is my break.

Teapot just made tea and I think I will go put my feet up and drink tea for the rest of the night... and finish my work tomorrow. Yep... now I just have to find a place where I don't have to listen to opera... (I actually love the Phantom Of The Opera... but not tonight)!

So I will try to get back to writing here a little more often even if it means writing about my boring spinning and stuff. ( I wonder if I'll get in trouble for saying that! Eh RG and MF and CJ)! And tomorrow... I will just have to sort out another bit of the mess that is my homework books... when I'm not so tired.

 See ya...

Offline For 24 Hours

We can't quite figure out why but for twenty-four hours we have not been able to use our computer.  I thought that the batteries in the bluetooth keyboard had died but apparently not. This has led to the most unexpected and somewhat disconcerting experiment. I got up today knowing that I wouldn't be able to use the computer.... and yesterday I had finally struggled and man-handled the T.V. and it paraphernalia out to the sunroom but I hadn't plugged it in. This meant that today was a day of forced silence. I quietly sat all day working on level 5 homework. I am making inroads into that but it was so quiet that for a good portion of the day I was able to pretend that I was deaf.... there was barely a sound and no radio to occupy my mind.

Over the years I have wondered if I would be able to survive in the wilderness on my abilities alone and after much deliberation I think I could... but I'm not sure if I would be in as much comfort as I am now. Still, there is a lot to living on one's own and providing for ones needs.  I don't know if I could do it without some access to grocery store even if it meant only twice a year.  I would also need access to medical since when my back flares it's really impossible to do anything without drugs. But otherwise I've always maintained that I could survive if really pushed... After today I would have to say that I might not be so sure of that. I sat here quietly for hours on end and at the end of the day I wonder if I would get used to it and enjoy it or if I would be insane within a week... probably the latter.

As for level 5 I am back in the saddle again after a hiatus of 4 weeks.  I am once again cruising along at a rate of speed that would make even the most experienced spinner jealous... (snork)!!! Well, ok so that's a slight exageration... but I am making progress... no doubt as I go along you will hear about it.  All is quiet right now except for Narmin who is trotting back and forth across the living room hopeful that I will soon be going to bed. He will not go up without me... Teapot has gone and so have the Daughters but in the kitchen is a pot of cotton and some Procion dye doing their thing.... I will be having a quick check on it in a few minutes and then I am headed to bed too.  I might even post pics tomorrow... if it turns out alright.

For now I will say good night and head to bed since the sound of silence (the fridge is quietly running and the clock is ticking but that's all I can hear... except for Narmin...) is beginning to get to me... I'd rather listen to Teapot snore...

See ya...

Perplexing Questions

1. How do you get rid of spring-like temps....

Answer: Blog about how spring is in the air and there are birds twittering and the ground is drying out but that there's still mud everywhere.... yup... that will do it.

2.  Why do farts smell worse in the shower.... (this is Daughter #1's question...)

Answer: I don't know... I try not to smell them...

3. Why are husband's unwilling to help with good questions by reminding you of the lousy question your Daughter asked the night before....

Answer: ???

I'll leave it there since you can tell from this what kind of morning I'm having... I think I'll go back to bed and sleep for a while maybe then I'll wake up and have a better start to my day.

Swimming

Two weeks ago I started swimming with the seniors. I enjoyed it so much that I am headed off again this morning. Last time there were only a couple of other swimming and I basically had the pool to myself for the first hour. The second hour there were more people there but that first hour was awesome. I did 30 lengths of the pool which is almost a kilometre of swimming. After I had finished I got out and went and sat in the hot tub for about twenty minutes. I can only describe it as wonderful. The sun had been shining in full twenty foot high windows over the hot tub and I felt like a million bucks. That's what I'm heading out to enjoy today... no sun though. Today it is cold and grey and -13 degrees... the coldest day we've had for a while. Brr...

I finally have my floor loom ready for weaving... it took getting out all the parts that I hadn't figured out last fall and laying them out on the floor and reading the instructions one step at a time... it worked! I now have a working loom with a beater bar and reed. I'm ready to weave. Yahoo!  I was starting to wonder what I had gotten myself into.... but it's all good. Come summer I will give the loom a nice coat of paint and I've finally decided on a colour.... plum. A plum coloured loom... yep that sounds like me! Just nutty enough... for what... I don't know.

So I've just finished my tea so I guess I better go get dressed and fish out my swimsuit and shampoo and towel etc...

Yep, going swimmin'

Covered In Snow

The ground is covered in snow this evening... a far cry from the sunny skies of this morning when I could hear that woodpecker pounding out his mating call. Outside, snow is falling in an effort to remind me that winter is not over yet.  Sheilah's Brush I guess... always it snows this time of year. But at 7 p.m. it is still daylight.... so I know that this won't last cause this much daylight at this time of the day can only mean one thing... spring is coming.... right!

I'll go spin a while... maybe when I look up next time, the snow will have stopped. (Yeah right.... dream on eh?)

Frozen

Everything this morning is frozen... it is -5 degrees. All the pools of water that were around are now frozen over into sheets of ice, which are good for skating on. The ground which was almost bare is now white from the hail of the previous evening storm. I expect that since there are blue skies and not a cloud to be seen that by mid-day there will be a vast thaw happening. Still the storm of last night will probably have lingering effects for a few hours. Last night, I knew nothing of how cold to which the temp were dropping because I went to bed in sheer exhaustion at 9:00 p.m. and totally conked out. After nights and nights of the werewolf thing I guess I couldn't stand it any more.... I slept soundly all night and feel pretty darn good today.. all because of my wonderful night of sleep. 

In the last month since I went off to the Blueberry I haven't really written much about what things I have been doing in the way of spinning etc... but in actuality I have been working a little... not so much on homework although even a little has been going on there... though I do admit that I have really fallen behind. (I still believe that I'll get finished because I really do think that I have not that badly fallen behind but still level 5 has been hanging over my head and I do get mild panic attacks when I think how spring is just around the corner and I still have so much left to do.) However... I digress... I have been working. While at the Blueberry I spun three 100gm bags of alpaca and merino blend rovings and while I didn't quite get them all finished, I did almost see the end of the stuff. The spun fibre has been staring at me for weeks now, and begging me to finish them,  so yesterday I decided that it was high time to free up some spools. First I  finished spinning the singles, which didn't take a long time since there was only a little left.  Then I plied it once and for all and got it finished.  I must say that I am really pleased with the results. As you can see above, there are three skeins...

It is a fairly textured yarn but it is quite nice. I even had enough left on two spools after the first spool ran out to spin 75 metres of two ply yarn...

Aside from that I have been a knitting a lot lately... While at the Blueberry there was concern that our (the NPSW Guild) comfort blanket project was falling short of the desired results so I came home with a bit of a bee in my bonnet about getting some comfort blankets done.... so I started in and I have to say that there is progress in that area too...

I began the blanket project by going through my stash and finding a bunch of mohair that I hoped I could put together in some pretty way that would make comfort blankets sing... I started with a forest green mohair and knit a large triangle and when I ran out of that fibre I realized that nothing I had would look good with it so I bummed from a friend a couple of cones of mohair in brown and beige... raveled out the green that I had already knitted and started again. This time I started knitting with more purpose... and so far this is what I have...

I really like the meandering pink line through the whole project... the pink certainly brightens all the bland colours... it is a little more than 1/4 finished....

Then I got going on the pink... (of which I had the most in any colour)  and I knit a huge triangle.... and it looks like this...

 I know it kind of looks purple but its not... still it is a cool pink not a warm pink....

Anyway I was telling the Knit Night ladies about this project and one of the ladies was looking over my project and said that she had a mohair blend that I might be interested in so the following knit night she showed up with the biggest spool of mohair and a huge piece of crochet work that she had done and never done anything with and asked me if I wanted it.... needless to say my mind went wild!
Her piece looks like this....

 So I have this great idea.... I'm going to take her piece and my piece and put them together and then I will need another piece like the pink one I've already knit and two small blue pieces and then I will put them together this way....

With a white fringe around the edges... I think it will make a lovely comfort blanket....

So as you can see I have not been sitting idle... today I am making a futon couch. I know this sounds weird but it's true and since my sectional couch is now gone... we have nothing to sit on except for a couple of old ratty chairs that need some TLC.  It will have to stay like that for the moment... but I am working on level 5 today.... in between everything else I have carded some fibre in preparation for a sample... but more on that tomorrow. In the meantime I have bread ready to be put in the pans... so I had better go and get some of this outstanding work done.

See ya tomorrow with more on the wool front....

Oh and by the way since getting on this computer a few hours ago (I've had several interruptions.. ) it is now starting to melt outside and is not quite as frozen as it was.... I even hear a wood pecker working at that hollow tree again.

Thunder And Lightning...In Winter?

This has been an odd day. For starters I'm having lingering werewolf attack since last night I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. and by 12:00 a.m.I was awake again and I had began to feel the pressures of level 5 homework and not making large inroads into it... so I came downstairs and spun yarn till 2 a.m. Meanwhile the truck has conked out again because of a bad starter this time.  So Teapot spent his morning with a friend under the truck replacing the starter with a new one. I made a pot of red lentil soup with pre-cooked honey garlic sausage, carrots, red and yellow peppers and tons of garlic and pepper and a little tomato to flavour it up.  By the time Teapot and his friend were finished with the truck they were ready for a bowl of hot soup and some home made bread. Meanwhile I am teaching Confirmation class to a 13 year old gal who comes to my house each Sunday afternoon for lessons. It has been a few years since I have done confirmation classes. In some ways it feels strange to have the reigns of church business in my hands again after being away from it for almost three years. Still, I feel I am doing my part.  I had stepped away from organized religion for a few years because I found that the work of the church and the work of Christianity don't always go hand in hand... it is difficult to be a leader in the church when sometimes you just want to stand up and yell... "Hey, this is not right!!!" Too political, too organized, and not really always the Christian way taken... sometimes churches can be mean to people and they sometimes can be thoughtless, and hurtful... I'm not always sure I want to be a part of that.... Sometimes the way of loving care and thoughtfulness are not the ways of the church... I'll leave it there... my opinions are mine... and I really don't want to influence anyone except for the better through action... and only then when the person has decided to be influenced of their own free will... then it is not coercion.  I hate coercion!

The oddest thing about today though, without a doubt, was the weird storm that blew through here a little while ago. Thunder, lightening, hail.... it was just like something you would see on a mid-July day... not something you see this time of the year.  I don't think I have ever seen a mid-winter thunder storm. And let me tell you, the lightning bolts rained down in a ferocity unexpected. With the ozone depleted, and water tables disappearing, with plagues of Pine Beetles and dry summers, with wars and red Northern Lights and Dec 12 and the end of the Mayan calender pending..... it all seems a little too Armagedonish for my liking.  Makes me think I should build an ark or something.

So here it is supper is going to be ready in about five minutes. (A more strenuous gourmet supper you have never seen... spaghetti and sauce from a bottle with a bagged salad on the side... oh so tough to make.. snork!) The day has almost ended and I am happy to say that I finished the fibre that I started at the Blueberry a few weeks ago... 450 metres of 3-ply alpaca merino blend grey yarn and about 75 metres of 2-ply of the same stuff... washed and hanging to dry... now I can really start the level 5 and 3 homework again with a clear mind. Tomorrow I will be starting TPI.. oh joy oh bliss... my favorite!

I hope you've had a lovely Sunday with no thunder and lightning... unless you like that kind of thing...

Blue Skies... Where Are You!

I woke up this morning and looked out the window and as I was looking the sun came up over the horizon and was shining on the bales of hay... It looked so inviting that I got right up and looked for my slippers... (which Narmin sneaks off with in the middle of the night so that he can stick his nose in them) and it is always a bit of a hunt to find them. So it took me a little while to get myself downstairs. But when I got down here the sun had disappeared. It is now cloudy and grey. Still there is a little blue on the western horizon so we might get sun again later.  And with it being 0 degrees at 8:30 a.m. it will probably be a smashingly balmy day.... gotta love that!

Everywhere you look now, signs of spring are coming. The mud is drying and the birds are twittering and even some wood peckers have arrived... I heard them this morning pounding out their mating call on some hollow tree nearby. It's enough to make a person want to buy a new pair of rubber boots and go exploring in the bush. (...and of course new rubber boots are an absolute must for that...) I am missing the early morning checks for lambs this year... that is the hardest part of getting rid of the sheep. I knew that all year long, even though I didn't miss them, that come spring I would have a hard time with lambing season. There is nothing so tickle-me-pink as seeing a new wee lamb being born and the momma nursing it for the first time. Then a few days later when they come bouncing out of the barn into the sunshine... well you just feel that life is good.  I miss the ducks too since they were always funny this time in the year. Our yard has a large natural basin in the contours of the land, each spring there are a few days when the ground underneath has not thawed but the snow on top has, and a natural pond forms that only last a little while... the ducks always loved that and they would be charmed with their new bathing place and would spend hours rousting around in the water splashing themselves and washing themselves. I really miss those wonderful times with the animals we no longer have.

This morning even the trees are starting to bud.  Very small buds that will take weeks for them to fully form are beginning to show themselves, but the trees begin to not look so bare and grey. With the wind of yesterday the deer seem to have decided to leave our bales alone in the efforts of finding the first shoots of green on all southern slopes. For now they have gone away... and I'm ok with that. Jiggs discovered yesterday a newly shed antler among the hay on the ground by the bales that the deer have knocked down. She seemed quite pleased with her find and gnawed on it for hours growling at the other dogs when they came to investigate her new treasure. For a day or two the buck that threatened Narmin last week, will be carrying a lop-sided head and I hope he enjoys his days of discomfort... because he was such a nasty bugger.

As the days get longer I begin to think of the garden... I am soon going to have to think about getting some planning done for that since we have to move more soil and spread the remains. That means thinking about my raised beds and trying to lay out a plan for that It also means that I need to start thinking about the hot beds and where I'm going to put them. A south facing wall would be best if I'm going to have successful tomatoes. I am hoping to use the old sheep feeding boxes for the hot beds... they are wooden boxes that are about tenor twelve feet long, about 18 inches wide and about 2 feet deep... perfect for my tomato plants and for growing beans and peas. Up against a south facing wall I can maybe get them in the ground about a week or two... maybe even three ahead of schedule.

Well since it is only March 10th maybe I'm starting to get a little ahead of myself. Hey... I just looked up and now even the blue skies on the western horizon have disappeared too.... poop! Maybe I'm hoping for a sunny day that just won't happen... but then you never know. I'm off to spin... yes I'm actually going to get back at it today... for real!

I hope you're having blue skies where ever you are.... see ya!

Windy Night

The inner me.... yeh?!

I'm beginning to wonder when I started to dream so much. I never used to dream a lot... but here lately...

It is 4:00 a.m. It is a full moon night and the werewolf in me is once again rearing it's ugly head. About an hour ago, I woke with my heart pounding after I had been dreaming that the school I was in began to burn with me in it and as I tried to get out I could see into a dark night, that the lights of the last vehicles were going away from me leaving me to die with no one to help me get out of the school. My heart was just racing and my mouth felt like something had crawled in and died. However, I knew as soon as I woke that it was all a dream and that I was safe in my warm and toasty bed. Still, it was a disconcerting dream and then when I tried to cool my bedroom by opening the window, I discovered that the wind outside is howling and the window began to creak as it blew. Finally after an hour of tossing and turning and listening to the window creak, I realized that that full moon was once again chasing me out of bed.  A good thing to... for when I got downstairs I discovered that whoever let the dogs in last night, must not have made sure the door was closed properly, because it was open for every mouse in the neighbourhood to come for a visit... not that the mice would be out on such a night. Tis a blustery one for sure. So here I sit in the newly neatened dining room tapping away at the computer. Yes I spent yesterday cleaning house not that it did much good! Spring like conditions are also rearing their ugly heads because each time the dogs go out they come in with a wheel barrow load of dirt attached to their undersides. I have been chasing dogs with the mop for two days. I'm fit to be tied! (Newfy saying which means exasperated). Oh how I wish for a deck on the west side of the house so that the dogs could sit on it and wait for a few moments to dry off before coming in with all that mud. As it is now... they bound through the door, after having just run through alpaca poop and mud up to your neck.... oh well at the rate we are going, by next week there won't be a drop of water and the mud will be a dry barren wasteland in all this wind.

Later this morning... after it actually has become morning... I am going to clean up the blasted studio and the sunroom and make life a little simpler. I have already made up my mind that I can't keep pissing away my time. I actually have to wrap my head around level 5 work and get it done. Can you believe that a week of March is gone? I'll be gob smacked if I know where this last week went.

Tonight was Knit Night and for the first time in months, we all made it out for the evening!  However, Knit Night is once again moving digs. Since last fall when the Public Library bailed on us, and we had to move, we have been using the library at the school for our meeting place. But unlike the reading room at the Public Library, the library at the school is a large warehouse-like room that is cold because there is no heat on after hours and the windows have metal blinds over them for glass breakage protection, somewhat reminiscent of a prison or a barracks at best. So it is not the most pleasant space for us knitters. We decided a few weeks ago that better digs were required. So we have all been wracking our brains trying to figure out where else we could meet.  In the end I checked out a couple of ideas and concluded that the upstairs room in the church hall would make a perfect choice. We are going to go up there next time we meet and it was a unanimous decision. It is a lovely second story room in a log building with a beautiful view out over the river. It should be really nice up there for us ladies to knit and gab and laugh and drink tea.

Speaking of tea I think I'll end here since the wind is still howling and a drink of tea wouldn't go astray. With the chimes rattling in the wind and things blowing around outside, with the coolness of the room around me, it is time to wrap a warm and cozy blanket around me on the couch and curl up with my knitting needles and try to warm up... who knows I may even head back to bed at some point... that is if I start to feel my eyes getting heavy... Too bad I forgot to turn up the furnace when I first came down.... still a cup of tea while I wait for the furnace to do it's job wouldn't go astray... see you in the morning.... sleep well... don't let those werewolves just outside your door get a chance to pounce... or you'll spend an eternity sitting on full moon nights by yourself while everyone else sleeps peacefully!

Toodly doo.... (have you ever heard a werewolf say that to ya?)... : )

Running Amok

Running amok: I decided this morning to look up in the dictionary, the phrase "running mok". Apparently this most useful phrase comes to us via southern Asia... it apparently means killing spree but has recently been watered down to just going crazy. I was going to use it because I thought it meant going crazy... I had no idea that in reality it meant going on a dreadful killing spree.  This morning I feel like Running amok in the traditional sense because we have deer out ripping our bales of hay to shreds and acting like we're intruders when we try to drive them away from the bales.  One buck even tried to turn and nail Narmie to the ground with and antler.... as a result I look at him and see...

...and of course running amok seems to fit pretty well with that image.  It's just too bad that hunting season is over....

Now running amok also applies to life these days in the more modern sense.... I seem to be going crazy. I get up in the morning with my day planned out before me and I think, I can get this done. But more often than not night arrives and I have nothing done and I am left wondering where the hell all the time that lay before me in the morning has gone. See... running amok.. that's me with time. I have not worked on my level 5 homework for days... and it is seriously starting to stress me out. The sad thing is I can't figure out what it is that keeps me from getting it done. 

This is Wednesday for heavens sake and Teapot and the Daughters will be heading back to school tomorrow. No, the strike has not been resolved but the teachers are only allowed to demonstrate for three days. I'm not sure where they go from here. I think they are trying to disrupt the schools enough to inconvenience  the government so that they will do something about getting them back to work... but it's all so political that it is hard to figure out what the heck they are trying to do. I just wish that a negotiated settlement would be made once and for all. I blame the government for this terrible situation. They have resolved to take away the rights of teachers... rights that are promised to us all under our constitution.

I could go into why the teachers are their own worst enemies and talk about how most teachers like kids... they like helping kids.... they like teaching them not only in school but out of school too... they like doing extra curricular things with the kids... most teachers are conscientious people who like to improve their teaching capabilities. They spend hours of their own time doing professional development courses and workshops that better equip them for teaching. They do all kinds of extra curricular sports programs that they don't get paid for. They go into school before classes and after classes to tutor kids who need extra help.... and they do this so frequently that the public and the government take it for granted that these "extras" are all part of the job. I have had to really remind Teapot of this. Last winter the school district that he works for, wanted him to do extra math courses but he would have been expected to give up Friday evening for two months... and because he lives so far away from FSJ where the district would be holding the course, he would have had to leave here about 4 p.m. What was he getting for this... nothing... not even a pay raise at the end of it which is what any other business would have offered. Friday night is valuable family time and I reminded him of how the last time they went on strike they had an imposed contract... he thought about it for a few days and turned them down.  Recently we found out that the Shop teacher at our school has no funding for the high school shop courses... so there are no materials to work with for these kids. Then we found out that the shop teacher was going in to FSJ to buy supplies from the lumber yard because it was cheaper and he was paying for it out of donated money since the school was not giving him any budget for supplies.... in addition, he was picking it up on his own time and using his truck and not getting re-embursed for the gas money. When asked why, he said that they would lose the program if kids didn't enroll in shop (no supplies?!... why bother enrolling) and he would be out of a job and as well as, our small school couldn't afford to lose any more programs.... The public needs to know how bad things are becoming here in Canada for public education. Sometimes I want to smack these teachers in the head and tell them to smarten up. Stop being so damn giving.... Teapot regularly has to put in extra hours doing homework packages for kids who are off sick or, what really gets his gonch in a knot, is when parents come to him looking for a homework package for kids who are going on vacation... because they are taking their kids out a week before March break or taking a week after Christmas holiday to enjoy the Carribean or a cruise or where ever.... they always come back with none of it done.... like WTF! It's just a big waste of his time. But he does it because it is expected. Just once I'd like him to say, "no... there's no point... the kid won't do it anyway". The proverbial shit would hit the fan that's for sure. But parents never take into account that that's maybe an hour of extra work for the teacher when he could be correcting...

I read a really good blog post of a teacher the other day that is really worth reading... and it was an eye opener for even me... if you would like to read it then you can go here. She talks about her situation in Port Coquitlam and if that doesn't make you realize just how bad a situation teaching is here in this province then we might as well all quit.

Ok I'm off... now that I've had my speel about the teachers I promise to keep my mouth shut on that subject again except for maybe an occasional update on Teapot. Now see I've been writing here for a good hour.... yup... once again I'm running amok. Next thing you know it will be lunch time ... for heavens sake the day will be half over and I'll have nothing done. I'm outta here....

A Few Days

Yes, I do realize that it has been a few days since I wrote here last... problem is that there really hasn't been enough going on to talk about. Teapot has been striking... I have been knitting... and a little spinning. I have been doing some research on furniture... but these are all really mundane things to talk about. I will say that I have been enjoying the more spring-like conditions and noticing the birds that are returning every time we have a sunny day. Yesterday it snowed though so I kind of got busy trying to move things around in the house... I'm on a spring cleaning bend these days and thinking of getting my living room back out in our sunroom and moving our dining room back inside again.I did a little moving around yesterday and today I will do a little more.  Teapot and I agreed on some new furniture. We are going to sell our sectional couch because it doesn't fit in the sunroom. I do realize that we only bought it three years ago but I miss sitting out in the sunshine that's offered in the sunroom where this couch can't fit. So I've been looking at options for furniture.  I really want a wingback chair in my living room and have wanted one for quite some time... the reason: because it is a suitable chair for spinning... Most of the chairs that you buy today are far too low for spinning comfortable... you either have to have your knees up under your chin or your stretched out way too far. Spinning in anything other than an upright chair is not going to happen because my back will end up hooped again. In this day of leather sectionals and other types of low slung furniture... it is difficult to find a wingback that is nice.... and I tend to want funky things as I get older. This surprises me since I always leaned toward wanting more traditional styles in home decor. Instead I see different things like Jackson Pollock paintings and I'm swooning. Definately different from the Monets and Victorian furniture that used to turn me on. I also love Salvadore Dali. So as I grow older I tend more toward odd and modern... though I can't say I get Damien Hirst's stuff though I wouldn't mind owning the jewel encrusted scull if for no other reason than to pull off the jewels to sell them! Anyway... I ended up yesterday deciding on some pretty cool things for our living room... wanna see?!

I absolutely love this kiwi green wingback... and the cool thing is that it comes in several colours...

We have red....

And orange.... like how cool is that...

I was really struggling with which colour I liked best and then Daughter #1 said just get one of each.... I'm thinking about it. Still my eye keeps coming back to that kiwi green... I really like d that one.

Then I picked out a realatively normal couch....

Too bad it doesn't come in purple or blue!

And this rug would be nice...

and I even found Zebra skin ottomans...

So in the end, Teapot made the decision... he decided that kiwi green chairs would be right... cause the red with it would make it look like Christmas and the orange would be too much like brown... and since that kiwi green was my favorite... that's the way we'll go. This will take some time to do but I am determined to have the coolest sunroom ever....

Anyway that's what's been consuming me over the last little while... I'm off to have tea this morning with my dear boy before he goes off into the great white north to protest... right I still haven't written why teachers are their own worst enemy... maybe I'll get to that later today. Toast first though...
See ya.

Saturday Morning Once Again... And The Upcoming Teacher's Strike

At 7:30 a.m. I am at the computer and preparing for a day of level 5 spinning. Teapot will be heading in to FSJ later today to pick up the truck which we discovered has a bad starter on it and so needs to be replaced. (Since he is going on strike on Monday and money will be shorter than usual we have decided that that $500.00 repair on the truck can wait till later in the month... for now we will have to tweak the starter each time we start the truck... these are the trials of buying second hand). The girls are going to be having a normal day after having to spend hours getting their bedrooms cleaned up yesterday. All in all it is lining up for a normal weekend.  (who knows what normal is though!) The weeks seem to be flying by and I am getting nowhere lately on my homework books. I have been trying to finish some spinning that I started at the Blueberry a few weeks ago. Somehow it seems wrong to take that off my wheel and move on to something else when I am not really finished it. I don't have much left to do and so I got up this morning early with the intent of getting that stuff finished and off my wheel before I move on to TPI questions. Clearly I need to get myself motivated into working on the homework again.

I had thought I would write this morning about the upcoming strike but I decided after all the fore bearance is the better option... Except that I do want you to understand that our rights... that is the rights of the individual (as apposed to the rights of school teachers in particular) are being undermined and taken away from us... I'm not even sure that most people realize what's happening to their rights.

Imagine you lived in a third world country... Imagine you worked for pittance a day. Imagine you worked with children all around you, them working too. Imagine the boy that sat next to you in the factory where you worked would come to work each day with a black eye. Imagine that he was getting that black eye because there was another boy who worked next to him who had problems... you know like ADHD or FAS but the ADHD boy was entitled to work too because he had a family of six little sisters at home who needed their older brother to work and bring home money for food and medication. Now imagine that the ADHD boy was a threat in the factory where you worked to all the little boys and girls working there... imagine that occasionally that ADHD boy even threatened you and made it really hard to get your work done. Then imagine that one day you decided to walk off the job and protest to the government that you needed a safer working situation and more money and that most importantly you wanted there to be help for the boy who was getting the black eye and for the boy who was giving the black eye. Then suppose you were told that if you didn't go back to work and work with this horrible situation you would be fined a lot of money or thrown into jail or you would have your job taken away. Would you say that this person was bad for stepping out and trying to make their work situation better?  Would you say that this person deserves to have his job taken away? Would you say that he doesn't have a right to demonstrate in front of his work place?  Would you say that that person was doing wrong? No... I don't think so... you would probably say that they have every right to try to access better conditions and better pay. You may also say that they were holding up work that their fight was inconvenient.... but you would not deny them the right to try to get a better working  situation.

Our government is not negotiating with the teachers about teaching and schools... they are negotiating how people will fight for working conditions. This is truer and truer each time the government imposes a contract rather than negotiate a contract. Believe me, the teachers I know would much rather a negotiated contract but this fight is not just about the teachers contract... it is the government trying to seriously undermine the right of the individual to demonstrate. Make no mistake, if Bill 22, which goes by the Education Improvement Act (which I think is a stupid cover for a more serious intention), passes, we as a collective British Columbian people will be giving up our right to walk out on a picket line to fight for better working conditions. Yes the teachers strike is inconvenient... for parents who have to scrabble to find child care or lose several days of pay... but it is also inconvenient for the teachers.... they are also losing pay and for some of us even one day of pay is a terrible loss. But I ask you what is more inconvenient... the loss of a few days pay or the loss of your rights. The loss of your rights starts with one small thing and before you know it the snowball is rolling down hill getting bigger and bigger. Soon you have no recourse... no voice... no rights at all. It is a slippery slope my friends... remember that.

For two days I have watched emails coming in from the Union to Teapot (he is the union rep for our school) telling them what they can and cannot do under the guise of the law. He is not allowed to wear a placard but he is allowed to carry a sign. This is because evidently a placard suggests that there is a picket line and that infringes on the rights of those who would cross a picket line. They are not allowed to form a picket line but they are allowed to pass out leaflets. Once Bill 22 passes they have no right to do any of this and they are not even allowed to negotiate working conditions... pay... benefits... and that includes health benefits....

Teapot likes teaching... and he is a good teacher... that has been told to us over and over. Each year he gets up at the end of the year to hand out awards to his students and he invariably chokes up on stage as he is doing this. We are beginning to think that teaching might not be the best career... he certainly doesn't get the respect due to someone who holds the education of our children in his hands, and he certainly wouldn't encourage others to go into this profession... why would he?  According to the B.C. government and the media, teachers are the scourge of the professional world.

I heard an interview on the radio not too long ago... the person talking, I think, was a member of the UN and she was saying that we in the West take our rights too for granted. That it is easy to lose them and not even notice that they are going... It is easier to SEE what is happening when you stand from afar... we are very close to the situation... we need to every now and again step back and look around from another point of view. I ask you now... stand back... think about your inconvenience when your child doesn't go out the door on Monday to school, a little inconvenience now might mean that when you need to demonstrate,  that your right to do so will be there. Remember the whole problem in Syria started with some teenagers who wanted to demonstrate and what they received was torture and death.... I hope we here in Canada never come to that.

More tomorrow about the teacher strike... why teachers are their own worst enemies.

Blue

Brilliant blue seems to be a part of my life these last few days.  I was awake early a few days ago and happened to look out the window as dawn was coming. The sky was a bright brilliant blue... outstanding like something you only see at this time of the year. I did take a picture of it but as is the case with all pictures it just doesn't do the colour justice. Here's the picture of the sky as taken through my living room window...

Now isn't that an outstanding blue.

A few days later I had a dream that had a brilliant bright blue in it too I dreamed that I was visiting Sweet Davey's parents who just so happen to be my aunt and uncle.... (they read here so now I'm thinking they feel famous... snork!) Anyway, everyone was there... all my cousins and their families and my aunts and uncles and my mom and dad because my aunt and uncle had just bought a huge big Victorian style house in Toronto and we were having a celebration of sorts... (I have no idea where I was getting this but you do have to remember that it was a dream!!!) It kind of reminded me of my paternal grandfather's house which was kind of Victorian but not really.... but the house in my dream was even more huge.... I kept walking through the rooms and thinking how beautiful it was and finally I opened a door into what was obviously a rental space (my aunt and uncle were going to rent it to someone they knew.... this was all part of my dream)  but it too was Victorian and beautiful. There was scroll work in every corner of the ceiling... and there were beautiful wrought iron rails and even the french doors that led out to patio had wrought iron scroll work. When I walked out onto the patio there was a park, like something you would see in the English countryside. The patio was made of stone and the stones were grey with moss in between them. And all over the patio were the most beautiful little blue birds that were tiny.... even smaller than humming birds. The blue of these birds was the same colour as what you see in the above picture.... and they were friendly birds... those wee birds would come and land on my hand when I held it out. honestly that dream was like a small piece of heaven... I was very sorry to wake up from that one. I wanted to stay in that beautiful place with the beautiful birds on that quiet patio with elm and oak trees spreading away from me with thick rich green grass. Lovely.

This morning everything is anything BUT blue, green and lovely. Our truck, (white) which has been having trouble with the transmission from the first day we bought it, had to go to the dealership last week for repairs.  Supposedly the dealership fixed it and we picked it up on Wednesday of this week... Last night Teapot took me into town for Knit Night with the intention of him going to visit a friend while I was knitting. He had taken the recycling to the recycling depot before he went to visit his friend and there the truck died and there it still sits. It will need to go back to the dealership for more repairs. On top of that the teachers, with which Teapot shares the his career, are on the verge of a massive strike. (I will write more about that later... like maybe tomorrow...) The morning is sunny but I am feeling at odds with the sun... I am thinking of the blue birds... and I am thinking of peace.... and having read the news this morning there is anything but... So what's a body to do when everything seems topsy turvy and not at all like my dream....

I guess I will try today to put it all behind me... maybe today is the day for that fire out on the deck in the fireplace.... and maybe I will daydream a little about that beautiful place in my dream. Here's thinking of blue.... blue birds and blue skies...

Hmm... Aahh.... Ummm... Can't Think Of Anything To Say

When I'm stuck for words... then the world must be coming to an end.

I might have something to say later today... that is if the world hasn't come to an end!

In the meantime... rock on...