Sheesh!

Home again.... a lovely day...... sun is shining.... the snow is melting..... nothing wrong with Pop's vehicle which is what we were hoping.....

Annnddd.....

Level 3 ..... here we go again......

and at the same time as level 4....

Somehow I've got a focus again. : )

And all is right with the world.

Off To FSJ

Pops needs help today. We are headed into FSJ to take his vehicle in for a recall. We will have to spend several hours waiting for his vehicle to be fixed. It will be a long day. If Pops has to go anywhere other than around town I usually drive for him since he has a heart condition and worries about his legs swelling when he has to drive longer than one hour. Driving just knocks him out so I do it and that is what will happen in about half an hour.

I have been working steadily on scarves  and a shawl for the gallery (more about that later) next year,  and the bedroom. I've been weaving with silk and a ball of bison and cashmere... I'm not happy with the results.... but more about that later too. Teapot did some work in our bedroom over the weekend and managed to get some more of the paneling up. Meanwhile we are waiting for the Contractor fellow who was supposed to be here by now. He hasn't come which worries me since I really want to get the house in shape for Christmas.... this may not happen if he doesn't show up soon.

There is snow on the ground and even though it was a lovely day yesterday and the weather was pleasantly warm, the snow looks like it might hang around for a while.  There is still lots of before-the-snow-comes-chores and I'm beginning to think that I might as well throw my arms up in resignation and realize that we can't do everything.

Anyway, I'm off and I'm not even going to do an editing check on this post...... want to make a bet it stinks... full of stupid mistakes.... if so please overlook them....

Invitation....

Come join me at 4-F

That's where I am today....

2 Of Everything

2 Scarves.......

2 Necklaces.....

Finito.....

I'm off to work on a shawl....

The Eerie Walk Of November

Down through the bush, one step after the other, I went. The wind was blowing quite rudely. Overhead trees were swaying and the grey clouds passed swiftly by. Squeaking branches sounded, off in the distance. The dogs gallumped along through the bush.

I quickly discovered that when the wind is that high, perhaps a tramp in the bush is not the best idea. There was a loud crack and quite close by, down came one of the towering pines, no longer majestic, with branches brittle from Pine Beetle kill.

November is usually cold and grey with fog around here. Usually the fog covers everything in a fine coating of frost that eventually turns into dripping stalactites of ice. Not this year though. This year, the wind has been blowing pretty much constantly. Dreamer, our horse, raises her tail in disgust, and gallops around her paddock as if she can run with the wind.

I thought yesterday morning when I woke up and looked out the window and couldn't see anything for the grey cloying fog, that the typical November weather had come at last. But by lunch time, once again, the wind had come up and was blowing.....blowing... blowing....

November is not one of my favorite months, I do have to be honest. Somehow, I feel adrift, with nothing but Christmas boring down on me. Even Ideas on CBC last night, which normally I really enjoy, was boring. I had spent the day clearing out boxes full of wool and UFOs (unfinished projects) which is a boring job indeed, and then when I started to develop a headache I thought a walk in the forest.... my beloved forest.... would be good. With trees threatening to fall on my head, I decided that the walk would be better shortened rather than lengthened. So far this week I have managed to wash a fleece, wash a second small amount of fleece, clear out two rather large boxes of junk, unravel a scarf, start another scarf and ravel it out three times, finish two necklaces and one bracelet, dye some sock yarn, organize the level 4 fibres that I will need, find a baggy full of bison (which I just spent a fortune on ordering from the States), ply a ball of silk, cable a skein of novelty yarn, and worked on two paintings. Still, I feel like I have done nothing.

It's November. I know it is. November always leaves me at loose ends.

Rather like my walk of yesterday through a forest of wind, where trees were falling on all sides, November descends upon on me....

Perhaps I should raise my tail, and run with the wind...

Time Of My Days

Like a giant rib cage in the sky, are the clouds this morning. As the sun rises over the horizon, the sky turns from a molten grey to a vivid purple and orange. Sun rise always is phenomenal!

I thought I would post some pictures of what I have been working on in the last few days.

Jewelry....

 Washing fleece for Logwood baby blanket.....

Paintings.... watercolours to be exact....

Muskox... started about five years ago and is now being finished.

The Daughters.... painted from a photograph.... background is only penciled in yet... lots of work left to be done.

Friends..... a painting I did years ago when my children were young.

The last painting requires a little explanation. This painting was done from a photograph when Daughter #2 was little. It was a photograph I had of my sister and I and and our friends when we were little. The photo was taken not far from my Grandparents house. I had worked many long hours on this painting as it was to be a gift for my sister. She's the second from the left and I'm the little tot partially covered by the grass. When I finished it I laid it on our dining room table to be taken to the framers and when I came back Daughter #2 was standing on the dining room chair with a pencil lead in one hand and a crayon in the other. You will notice the scribbles in the top left hand corner. I was horrified and of course took the crayons away from her. she was too young to understand the amount of work she had just spoiled in two seconds. I wanted to cry. In a fit of rage I tore the painting up later that evening thinking that I could never repair the painting. But afterwards, I  kept all the pieces and stored them away in a portfolio where they have been sitting ever since.  Little did I know at the time that had I not torn it, (yes, sometimes my temper gets the better of me.... these moments are sporadic... but every so often... well, I do have to say that I can be quite impulsive sometimes!!!) there was a product on the market that could have removed the pencil and crayon marks..... sigh!  Anyway, it has been sitting in my portfolio, a constant reminder of my stupidity in leaving it on the table in the first place. This week I glued it back together. I am using a soft eraser to remove the crayon marks and am touching up the glued areas with my paint brush. I'll let you know how this restoring project turns out.  (For those of you who say why didn't you just paint it again.... let's not even go there.... I am not a perfectionist and while this painting could be duplicated it would never be the same.)  I am using acrylic on watercolour to cover the rip marks. I'm not sure if it will work but I sure hope so.  If it does work then I will frame it and hang it in my new and improved bedroom.

The sky has turned to a dull grey... no wind.... I'm off for another day of nursing Daughter #1 and working on wool.But first I have a beading project that won't take long to finish....

Stay tuned for that.....

Last Night

The night was dark, the night was velvet. I lay warm and safe in my bed. Outside the wind blew, the roof rattled, the house shuttered, but all was safe under his watchful eyes.

Orion came to visit me last night. There... outside my window was my favorite constellation, peeking through my window, reminding me that far greater things abound in this universe than merely me.

How vast and rich this universe is.... how lucky I am to be a part of it....