So I have a bad back this morning... should have figured that I'd end up in this state... I've been lifting and doing things that I really shouldn't be doing in the last few days. I have a batch of herb biscuits in the oven baking and I'm mostly packed except for my personal stuff and the food which I won't pack until the last minute. My back is not so bad that I can't move... but it is really touchy so I'm going to have to be very careful today. No more baking and standing on my feet for more than a few minutes and no more heavy lifting.
Most years I travel by myself in my own vehicle or for the last two years I have traveled with a friend who has been going with me, but this year I find myself in a bit of an odd situation. For the first time ever we decided that the Blueberry retreat was really too short and that we needed to start on Wednesday instead of Friday. This means that if I go by myself then I will be leaving Teapot with no vehicle... which I can't do since he needs it for work. The lady that I usually travel with is not going as she has made a grave mistake of agreeing to do some stupid horse workshop... (can you tell that I'm disgusted... since when do horses take precedence over spinning... : ( hmmm... ). This leaves me high and dry. So another friend is going to town today so I'm hitching a ride with her as far as town and then hooking up with another friend who will be going to Blueberry... then I'm doing the same thing coming back... I'm really feeling the one vehicle thing today... I would have liked to be out of here by 1 p.m. in my own vehicle with my own stuff and not having to lift it and reload in the middle... very inconvenient... I am thinking that I might like to look into buying a new vehicle... a nice little second hand one. Hmm...!
Still there is quite a list of stuff to be done before I go... thank God Teapot cooks... or I would have to be doing that for them too...
I hope to have pics ready when I get back.. see ya Monday...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Day Before
Ok so I have two pizzas in the freezer and a box of paprika and pepper tortilla triangles ready to go. I have the veggies chopped and ready for the Cavishe. I have packed the dye stuff and the Icelandic fleece and am starting to pack the rest of my gear in preparation for tomorrow. I have just discovered that I don't have enough medication to take with me and so called the clinic pharmacy to get more and they won't give me more without a Doctor seeing me first.... argh! So throw in a medical appointment this afternoon and you have a very crazy lady who is about ready to fall off her feet. I still have herb and cheese biscuits to make which I will get to this evening.... if I don't fall down first. Thank God there's lots of chocolate around to eat and keep me energized... anyone have a drum and a pair of sun glasses?
So Teapot surprised me after all and came home with flowers and chocolate for me for Valentine's Day... I'm feeling a little like a big zit on the bum of scrooge right now! So I have decided to leave him something nice on his pillow tomorrow since i will be gone when he gets home from school... hmmm... maybe some Easter eggs(since you can't get Valentine chocolate anymore... and maybe a nice romantic letter.... hmmm.... maybe.
This is a short post today, for obvious reasons... we'll see ya all when I get back.... where I'm going there is no internet, or TV. or cell phones.... ahhh... sweet bliss.
So Teapot surprised me after all and came home with flowers and chocolate for me for Valentine's Day... I'm feeling a little like a big zit on the bum of scrooge right now! So I have decided to leave him something nice on his pillow tomorrow since i will be gone when he gets home from school... hmmm... maybe some Easter eggs(since you can't get Valentine chocolate anymore... and maybe a nice romantic letter.... hmmm.... maybe.
This is a short post today, for obvious reasons... we'll see ya all when I get back.... where I'm going there is no internet, or TV. or cell phones.... ahhh... sweet bliss.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Crazy Busy
With the Blueberry retreat coming up it is crazy busy these days. I have spun three of my flax/linen sample though one will need fiddling with to finish it. It came off slightly unbalanced... rather a bit like me. (Teapot always says I'm spinny and unbalanced!) The Blueberry retreat is only two days away and I am greatly looking forward to that. For the first time in a long time the weather doesn't seem to be co-operating. every year there seems to be a nice little lull in winter so that we can go to the Blueberry without concern for driving conditions... but this year there is snow in the forecast for the next week. Blah! This does not concern me dreadfully since I will be traveling with someone else, except for when I get back I have to take my mother to DC for an appointment with the denturist. I hate winter driving... but the rest of the year I love to drive... I just wish I had a car of my own.... anyone out there with an extra car that they don't need... : )
Oh! Happy Valentine's day (she says as an after thought).... yeah you can see that it is of such great importance around here.... actually I did get a nice kiss on the cheek this morning. Flowers are pointless since I won't be around to enjoy them anyway and can't think of how chocolates say "I love you" when they just make you fat and your self image plummets. We might watch a romantic movie if a movie shows up in the mail from VM but then that's just a movie..... so I'll just wait till we're in bed at night and then I'll roll over and slide my..... (get your minds out of the gutter....) hand into his and say good night and I love you just as he is going to sleep, and just as we have done for years... I don't think you can get much more romantic after 20 years of marriage. Holding hands and being told you are loved is pretty good don't you think? Mind you if he wanted to give me jewelry I wouldn't turn it down... (hee hee)! I might even think about buying him a new fishing rod... like spinning wheels... evidently you can never have enough of them... go figure.
Hope you have lots of hearts and romance in your life today... and if not and you find yourself all alone, just remember... it just another big fundraiser for Halmark!
Oh! Happy Valentine's day (she says as an after thought).... yeah you can see that it is of such great importance around here.... actually I did get a nice kiss on the cheek this morning. Flowers are pointless since I won't be around to enjoy them anyway and can't think of how chocolates say "I love you" when they just make you fat and your self image plummets. We might watch a romantic movie if a movie shows up in the mail from VM but then that's just a movie..... so I'll just wait till we're in bed at night and then I'll roll over and slide my..... (get your minds out of the gutter....) hand into his and say good night and I love you just as he is going to sleep, and just as we have done for years... I don't think you can get much more romantic after 20 years of marriage. Holding hands and being told you are loved is pretty good don't you think? Mind you if he wanted to give me jewelry I wouldn't turn it down... (hee hee)! I might even think about buying him a new fishing rod... like spinning wheels... evidently you can never have enough of them... go figure.
Hope you have lots of hearts and romance in your life today... and if not and you find yourself all alone, just remember... it just another big fundraiser for Halmark!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Interesting.... That's life Around This Joint
OK so how's this for interesting....
Bloody bugger... It's bad enough that I've got hay that cost me $75.00 a bale and the flippin' deer have the idea that I brought it in for them... but now I've got this great ruddy beastie bighting off the tops of the bales without a thought! Every time we go out he runs off down through the bush.... but ten minutes later the bugger is back for another bight or two. My bales are starting to look like crap as he knocks hay on the ground with every bight he makes. I'm thinking Moose steaks are looking pretty good to me.... damn... if only I had a license.... and I guess it is kind of the wrong time of year..... damn!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Oh That Hurts
I spent the day on my hands and knees putting new flooring on the floor of my mother's and father's living room. I'm totally wiped and the job is finished. But I have blisters on my knees and one on my hands and things are aching that shouldn't be. I'm so totally wiped that this is it for a post today. So good night and I'll see if I can talk about something more interesting tomorrow.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz......
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz......
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Do You Ever Wonder Why?
Most of the time very little things occupy my mind like spinning the next skein and what I' going to get for supper and whether or not the pooches have been out recently. But every now and again very vast things enter my mind.... concepts like why? Why I'm here or what makes a person good. I even get to considering space and the vastness of that place. I see pictures on APOD of stars swirling around in darkness and wonder how far they go and how it all got started.
Lately my mind has been consumed with survival. I have received a copy of Alone In The Wilderness and have watched it a number of times now. For those of you who don't know it is the story of Dick Proenneke who back in the 60s at the age of 51 decided to hoof it off into the wilds of Alaska to live alone for a year as a challenge to himself and eventually turned into an odyssey of 31 yrs alone in a cabin he built by a lake. He left his home at 82 years of age because he felt he could no longer handle the -50 degree winters. It is a inspirational story of independence, survival and simplicity.
What is it that makes a man go off into the wilderness alone seeking contentment in a life so devoid of fellowship with one's own species? I spend a great deal of time on my own. There are days that go by where I don't see a soul except for Teapot and the Daughters and times where I can go a week and hear the telephone ring at all. The strange thing is that it does not displease me. I enjoy my families company but I know that one day the Daughters will leave home and head out into the world to create lives and families of their own. I will miss them greatly and I can't imagine life with out Teapot in it... but truth there is no other company that I crave. Still, I am not sure that I could go off into the wilderness to live without any contact for a year let alone 30. It seems almost overly decadent bordering on foolhardy. I love nature as much as anyone and usually can't wait to get out in the bush with Teapot and the girls... one of our best holidays was spent at a lake where no one hardly goes and we pretty much had the lake, and park to ourselves. But it is one thing to go there and know that there is a park ranger nearby if you need help and something else when you have no contact at all.
I have great respect for a person like Dick Proenneke. Somehow being alone instills a sense of inner quiet that is appealing. I think the word for it would be peace. But there is a difference between a man going off into the wilderness by himself and a woman. Not many would believe that a woman could do it and more than likely she would be labeled a witch in the end. Still, there is a local tale of a woman, who during the last century moved to the Northern B.C wilderness with her husband and bore him 6 children before he was attacked and killed by some wild animal. Instead of finding her way out of the wilderness to some kind of civilization she raised her children in the quiet and solitude of her wilderness home. When many years later, after her children had grown up and moved away to various places around the country, a journalist came upon her when happened to be out hunting, he was amazed to find her in her 70s and still living alone with a lifestyle that was to be envied. What got me about the story was that she evidently had enough leisure time to be able to make her own clothing from animals in the bush and be able to decorate the fabric with little bits and pieces of things that she found and even her home had embellishment to augment the decor. Obviously this was the life of a woman content and with enough know-how to provide for herself and at the same time carve out an exemplary existence that included more than just meager necessities.
I wish I had that kind of courage.
Lately my mind has been consumed with survival. I have received a copy of Alone In The Wilderness and have watched it a number of times now. For those of you who don't know it is the story of Dick Proenneke who back in the 60s at the age of 51 decided to hoof it off into the wilds of Alaska to live alone for a year as a challenge to himself and eventually turned into an odyssey of 31 yrs alone in a cabin he built by a lake. He left his home at 82 years of age because he felt he could no longer handle the -50 degree winters. It is a inspirational story of independence, survival and simplicity.
What is it that makes a man go off into the wilderness alone seeking contentment in a life so devoid of fellowship with one's own species? I spend a great deal of time on my own. There are days that go by where I don't see a soul except for Teapot and the Daughters and times where I can go a week and hear the telephone ring at all. The strange thing is that it does not displease me. I enjoy my families company but I know that one day the Daughters will leave home and head out into the world to create lives and families of their own. I will miss them greatly and I can't imagine life with out Teapot in it... but truth there is no other company that I crave. Still, I am not sure that I could go off into the wilderness to live without any contact for a year let alone 30. It seems almost overly decadent bordering on foolhardy. I love nature as much as anyone and usually can't wait to get out in the bush with Teapot and the girls... one of our best holidays was spent at a lake where no one hardly goes and we pretty much had the lake, and park to ourselves. But it is one thing to go there and know that there is a park ranger nearby if you need help and something else when you have no contact at all.
I have great respect for a person like Dick Proenneke. Somehow being alone instills a sense of inner quiet that is appealing. I think the word for it would be peace. But there is a difference between a man going off into the wilderness by himself and a woman. Not many would believe that a woman could do it and more than likely she would be labeled a witch in the end. Still, there is a local tale of a woman, who during the last century moved to the Northern B.C wilderness with her husband and bore him 6 children before he was attacked and killed by some wild animal. Instead of finding her way out of the wilderness to some kind of civilization she raised her children in the quiet and solitude of her wilderness home. When many years later, after her children had grown up and moved away to various places around the country, a journalist came upon her when happened to be out hunting, he was amazed to find her in her 70s and still living alone with a lifestyle that was to be envied. What got me about the story was that she evidently had enough leisure time to be able to make her own clothing from animals in the bush and be able to decorate the fabric with little bits and pieces of things that she found and even her home had embellishment to augment the decor. Obviously this was the life of a woman content and with enough know-how to provide for herself and at the same time carve out an exemplary existence that included more than just meager necessities.
I wish I had that kind of courage.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
A Serious Case Of Sleepitis
For two days I have indulged my inner me... and have gone back to bed after Teapot and the Daughters departed for school. I have had great pleasure checking out the back of my eyelids for several hours each morning and may do it for the remainder of the week. In the meantime though, that does not mean that I have been doing nothing. No indeed. I have been working very diligently on my work at home here with little or no thought to anything else (the dust bunnies are poking their noses out from under the china cabinet again). In the meantime, it is onward and upward with level 4. I have finished all of the cashmere questions a second time and still am not satisfied but I think this is the Freudian Annal coming out in me and so I have decided to carry on anyway. Two of the samples will do so I will use them and will put the other two away...
and get on with it. The next section was silk and I say WAS most strategically because I have completed that section as well. Reeled silk was the first question and since I had done that one last summer in class there wasn't a whole lot of work to with it... just a write up and voila... finis! Then came 3 wool silk blends.
My first was a Polwarth/silk noil blend in 75% and 25%. I'm absolutely enchanted with that one.
Then came a Finn wool/Bombyx silk in a 50%/50% blend and it turned out very lovely too. My last one is nice and even and nicely consistent but I do have to admit that it would not be my choice in a yarn. It is a 75% Dyed Tussah silk and 25% Polwarth wool rovings and I decided to try something different in the blending... something that is not necessarily recommended but I wanted to try it more or less as an experiment to myself. I carded the blend into a Sausage and then elongated it before spinning. The result was, that though silk is shiny, it lost most of its sheen. I figured it would do this but, all the same, I wanted to see what exactly would happen... like would it have any lustre at all. it didn't but it is still quite a nice yarn but more of a raw silk look and of course the wool really knocked the lustre back too. Anyway it is going along with the other samples and that is that! Meanwhile I was listening to Canada Reads on CBC last night, and while doing so, I decided there's no point in pi--ing away time and so out came my cards and I combed some Supima Cotton into punis and began the cotton section. I find myself at mid day today with the cotton section finished too. One of the questions for cotton was to spin cotton on a support spindle (that being a Takli) and I had done that last summer.
So With the two cotton questions done I have 5 sections done on my level 4 books. Still I'm not sure about my Takli sample and I may redo that one in the evenings. I carded some new punis and this time I'll be using yellow.
The next section is Flax. Yikes! I had a look this morning and the first question already has me scratching my head. We are asked to spin a 10 metre 2 ply linsey woolsey yarn and there's nothing in our text book about linsey woolsey. I think this is a serious oversight on the part of the MSP text book people. We are not asked to research linsey woolsey... so why they have that question there without some information in the text is weird to me. I must write to the instructor about that... It's just plain weird. Since I have the Blueberry retreat coming up next week and there is some organizing for that, I decided to put the Flax section on hold until I get back on the 20th. Meanwhile I am beginning the section on low twist singles yarns better known as Lopi style yarns. The fleece is washed and so I begin.
As for the Blueberry retreat.... my heart does flip flops when I think about it because I am so excited. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that. 5 whole days with only myself to think of. 15 other women all spread out with wool, cotton, dye, weaving, knitting, and more fleece... etc... I think it is going to be awesome. I am giving a little dye workshop on percentage dying with two colours. But other than that, its relax, and spin for five whole days... yipee, yahoo, hurray! It is what drags me out of my mid-winter blahs. For the last few weeks, even though I've been fighting it hard, I have felt it poignantly. (I think that's why I'm sleeping so much.) Something to get me out of the house... something to give me heart again... and who knows I might be able to come up with something interesting to write about again.... (because I'm sure you haven't missed the fact that you could snore your way through my blog posts/ramblings).
The Blueberry retreat is so named because we rent a summer camp for kids called the Blueberry on the Blueberry river. It is a vast log building with beautiful rooms and balconies overlooking the rolling hills beyond, and is just divine for a retreat. I am soooo lucky. I leave on the 16th.. and there will be pictures.
Meanwhile, Pops' thumb is continuing to improve slowly (more slowly than we would like) but with Diabetes, healing is not that easy, so we are glad of any improvement.
Now that my sleepitis has been dealt with, I am off to spin a little Lopi and do some write ups. But meanwhile, I think that I will leave you with this picture that I'm so proud of... (pat pat pat.... that's on my back if you're wondering)!
and get on with it. The next section was silk and I say WAS most strategically because I have completed that section as well. Reeled silk was the first question and since I had done that one last summer in class there wasn't a whole lot of work to with it... just a write up and voila... finis! Then came 3 wool silk blends.
My first was a Polwarth/silk noil blend in 75% and 25%. I'm absolutely enchanted with that one.
Then came a Finn wool/Bombyx silk in a 50%/50% blend and it turned out very lovely too. My last one is nice and even and nicely consistent but I do have to admit that it would not be my choice in a yarn. It is a 75% Dyed Tussah silk and 25% Polwarth wool rovings and I decided to try something different in the blending... something that is not necessarily recommended but I wanted to try it more or less as an experiment to myself. I carded the blend into a Sausage and then elongated it before spinning. The result was, that though silk is shiny, it lost most of its sheen. I figured it would do this but, all the same, I wanted to see what exactly would happen... like would it have any lustre at all. it didn't but it is still quite a nice yarn but more of a raw silk look and of course the wool really knocked the lustre back too. Anyway it is going along with the other samples and that is that! Meanwhile I was listening to Canada Reads on CBC last night, and while doing so, I decided there's no point in pi--ing away time and so out came my cards and I combed some Supima Cotton into punis and began the cotton section. I find myself at mid day today with the cotton section finished too. One of the questions for cotton was to spin cotton on a support spindle (that being a Takli) and I had done that last summer.
So With the two cotton questions done I have 5 sections done on my level 4 books. Still I'm not sure about my Takli sample and I may redo that one in the evenings. I carded some new punis and this time I'll be using yellow.
The next section is Flax. Yikes! I had a look this morning and the first question already has me scratching my head. We are asked to spin a 10 metre 2 ply linsey woolsey yarn and there's nothing in our text book about linsey woolsey. I think this is a serious oversight on the part of the MSP text book people. We are not asked to research linsey woolsey... so why they have that question there without some information in the text is weird to me. I must write to the instructor about that... It's just plain weird. Since I have the Blueberry retreat coming up next week and there is some organizing for that, I decided to put the Flax section on hold until I get back on the 20th. Meanwhile I am beginning the section on low twist singles yarns better known as Lopi style yarns. The fleece is washed and so I begin.
As for the Blueberry retreat.... my heart does flip flops when I think about it because I am so excited. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that. 5 whole days with only myself to think of. 15 other women all spread out with wool, cotton, dye, weaving, knitting, and more fleece... etc... I think it is going to be awesome. I am giving a little dye workshop on percentage dying with two colours. But other than that, its relax, and spin for five whole days... yipee, yahoo, hurray! It is what drags me out of my mid-winter blahs. For the last few weeks, even though I've been fighting it hard, I have felt it poignantly. (I think that's why I'm sleeping so much.) Something to get me out of the house... something to give me heart again... and who knows I might be able to come up with something interesting to write about again.... (because I'm sure you haven't missed the fact that you could snore your way through my blog posts/ramblings).
The Blueberry retreat is so named because we rent a summer camp for kids called the Blueberry on the Blueberry river. It is a vast log building with beautiful rooms and balconies overlooking the rolling hills beyond, and is just divine for a retreat. I am soooo lucky. I leave on the 16th.. and there will be pictures.
Meanwhile, Pops' thumb is continuing to improve slowly (more slowly than we would like) but with Diabetes, healing is not that easy, so we are glad of any improvement.
Now that my sleepitis has been dealt with, I am off to spin a little Lopi and do some write ups. But meanwhile, I think that I will leave you with this picture that I'm so proud of... (pat pat pat.... that's on my back if you're wondering)!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)