Spring.... At Last?!.... Maybe?!

So I sat out on the deck yesterday....   oh it was lovely... The snow was almost gone, and it was warm... like really warm. Warm enough that I was able to pull up my top a little and get some sun on my Lily white belly.... but I kept my chair back on to the road, that's for sure, and you will never see pictures of that! I'd scare everyone away.  Yes those pictures of snow that I posted the other morning were very short lived. I knew that and that's why I took the picture. By lunch time it was all gone. But it was very pretty.

There's a light in the spring in the north that you don't get anywhere else. It's really bright and unfiltered by the green leaves, it can even be harsh. Right now there are pussy willows starting to burst forth and the sun shining on those soft frothy buds make the trees look like something from one of Shakespeare's plays... (As You Like It maybe). It all has a dream like quality about it. There are millions of wee birds around and the coyotes have been really active in the last few weeks. I hear them all the time just before it's time to get up or just after dark. The days are getting longer too. Right now the sun is rising at 5:43 a.m. and it is daylight long before that. The sun is setting some time after eight and it really isn't full dark until 9:00 p.m. or later. The ground is starting to dry out so it is not all about muck in the yard.

What did I do while out on the deck? Well, I didn't just sit. I spun. I finally finished off this...

 It now looks like this....

 Oh and this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

Later:
....Ok I've been trying all day to get this post finished and it just hasn't happened. I went to Chetwynd today to finish Easter shopping... I got kicked off the computer this morning to shower before I went. Then I got home and tried finishing again but almost fell asleep at the computer because I was awake half the night... (check the calendar... I betcha that we're close to a full moon) I was spinning half the night... I finished this...

dang it!....yup I haven't figured out my new camera yet and I can't get a good picture... so I'll just tell you instead.  In the middle of the night I spun a full spool of Denim Blue Cotswold (that's wool for you non woolies) that I had been given some years ago for Christmas... it turned out really pretty... I'll see if I can post a picture tomorrow.

Anyway... I tried finishing this post this evening but then remembered that it is Knit Night and I had to run off for that.... so now I am finished b---ching about not having enough time to .... well you get my drift. But at least I'm just about finished.

I'm sure that Good Friday will be better. I'm sleeping in late and nursing this darn pain in my kidneys... no it's not an infection... I don't think... and I'm going out to spin on the deck again if the weather stays nice.

See ya tomorrow.

Spring In The North

I went for my nightly walk last night... somewhere around 7:30 p.m. By the time I finished it was snowing again.... this has been going on all spring. I figured that it would be a quick flurry and then it would be over... but as it got dark the snow kept snowing and then it started to accumulate. Here are the pics from this morning when we got up...

Bailey loves to chase her tail...

Jiggs stands by and watches... but only for so long and then she decides to chase Bailey.

But you know... I'd rather this any day than tornadoes.

The snow is sliding off the roof as I speak and the nice thing is that at this time of the year we know it is not going to last long...

I'm off for a spinning day with a friend...

Self-Knowledge

Self-knowledge is a life long process.

That was my Facebook fortune for today. I've have an issue with the fortunes on Facebook. They are lame... lame... and more lame! Most of the time my fortune is a statement and not a fortune at all. Like what's that all about... and then this morning I get this one. Well, thanks for that! I'm sure that's going to make a big difference. So I'll know myself at the moment I die. Great! As it is, I look in the mirror and wonder who the heck it is that's looking back at me.

Last night the Daughters and I watched Forrest Gump... they had never seen it before and it was quite a few years since I had seen it. The line that I like.... "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." I can't figure out how some people know exactly what they want from life right from the get go and go after it with a steadiness that is inspiring. Then there are people like me... I'm the feather blowing on the wind... and actually I'm ok with that... Still, I think that the more you know what you want and where you are going the more successful you probably will be... but I'm not sure about that.... that's the feather in me. I'm quite happy to drift along through life being blown willy nilly. It makes for some interesting life experiences and sometimes they say that being flexible is good for your health... I'm not sure about that but maybe they are right.

So yes another Birthday has passed and I can scratch another notch in my canoe. The day was pleasant.... not outstanding... not horrid... nothing strange or weird... nothing fantastic.... but it was pleasant. That was good with me. New camera.... new video... house cleaned by the Daughters.... flowers.... a little money... yup a nice pleasant day.

I went to FSJ on Saturday and did a demo on how to make shoelaces on a Maru dai. It went well and then I came home and spent yesterday watching movies and braiding. I now have a Tencel set of boot laces just about finished. The gallery show that I am preparing for in the fall is called Scarves, Shawls, Socks, and Shoelaces.  I will need lots for the show so I thought I'd work on that a little in the next while... though today I'm back at level 4. Worsted and Woollen samples all the way.

I'm back at level 4 because I've pretty much made up my mind to carry on with the next level in the Master Spinner Program. So that means lots of work, work, work. Teapot has been encouraging me... RG has been encouraging me, even the Daughters have been encouraging me. So that is what I will do.

See?!... Willy nilly... that's me.

"Know thyself" was the maxim of Plato.... but I think the "getting" part is the best.

Hmmm...

The number for today....

... that would be 46.

Prospective Son-In-Laws

Teapot has a penchant for giving people nicknames.... thus Frankie, which has been my nickname since almost the first day I met him. I have been looking for years for a nickname for him that would stick and then last year I came up with Teapot... it was perfect. It was with nicknames in our minds that the following occurrence happened.

Tonight the dear boy (that would be Teapot) took me and the Daughters in the truck and we dropped the Daughters off at the school's Coffee House as agreed, and we then proceeded on to a local food joint for some supper. As the Daughters were leaving us it became almost poignant that I could see a day when they would leave us for good. They carried on into the school to meet up with their chums and Teapot and I began to talk about them as we drove off for our dinner out. Daughter #1 is now 15 years old and is about 8 months from getting her driver's license. Daughter #2 is just 17 months behind. It is getting more and more apparent to us that there will come a time when it will no longer just be Mom, Dad, and the two Daughters. Teapot has been threatening the Daughters for years, with forcing their boyfriends (when they get them) into digging holes in the garden to tire them out before there can be any dating. I think this has something to do with the fact that Teapot knows how the teenaged boy thinks (probably about sex and nothing else). Tonight I decided to ask Teapot if he would give any future prospective son-in-laws nicknames and he said he would if I wanted him to. I said absolutely.

We discussed the nicknames of his best buds in University. They were dickie (with a small d), Pube, and Ralph. Perhaps you are beginning to see where this is going. By the time we got home we had come up with really good nick names for all prospective son-in-laws....


Booger and Skid Mark

I wonder what the Daughters will think....

Of course we mean it with the utmost respect, you understand.... ; }!!!

Rats

Stomach ills and a migraine yesterday. The day before?... was a day to demo spinning to school students at our local school. All went well except my voice gave out again... hmm.

Will write later today when I'm feeling better. For now I will go and brood about snow... which once again is falling.

Juried Art Show

I've entered this painting... (mixed media.. acrylic and silk on wood) in the Peace Liard Regional Art show...