In Between It All

1. I didn't get my worsted and woollen samples finished. But I did get a fair bit of work done on catching up on my write ups. I only have one true worsted sample left and a blend of the same wool fibre with mohair.

2. The weather was amazing and I was able to sit out on the deck and enjoy the beautiful spring all weekend... which is one of the reasons I didn't get my woolen and worsted samples finished.... I kept falling asleep in the sunshine.

3. I woke up about a half an hour ago with a really bad stomach because stupid me forgot to take her medication... so now I'm trying to get my meds to digest a bit by sitting in an upright position before I go back to bed. (Taking meds and then lying down will cause raucus heart burn and ulcers.)

4. I am going to lose a day of spinning because I am getting up in the morning and heading off to DC with ma Mere for another appointment... (I've got the forks ready!) Hopefully this is the last appointment.

5. I cannot find a recipe for bleaching linen/flax. I may just wing it.... which is never good.

6. I curled my hair with rollers yesterday (which I haven't done in years) and Daughter #2 told me I looked like I had horns... so I told her that I was the devil.... and that I was her worst nightmare. Bad hair day supreme.

7. I'm starting to get panicky about my level 4 homework... (I go through this every year...)

8. I wish it would snow again.. (yes I do) since the air is startlingly bright and warm... with no leaves to filter it, it is scary how hot it gets on the deck. I don't want another hot-excruciating-nothing-growing year again.

9. I have a sore throat again... thanks to the Daughters and their little flirt with the flu.... right that's just what I need.

10. Easter is over for another year. Boo hoo...that's not fair. No more sleeping in until the May long. Whahhhh!

So I think I'll go paint my toenails while I'm waiting for this stupid pill to digest. An-hour-of-no sleep... blah!

A Happy Easter

Been up since 6 a.m and this time I was not the first one up. Daughter #2 beat me to it and was out in the yard with her horse. We had a lovely Easter morn. Easter gifts (and all things fit) ... check. Easter  egg hunt.... check. Easter chocolate.... check. Easter tree... check.

Easter breakfast... check. Easter Sunday service.... check. Now cooking an Easter family din din. An old fashioned pot roast with all the trimmings... yum. Teapot is out cutting trees and doing some yard work which for him, is the next best thing to Godliness. : ) Daughter #2 is in bed with a head cold that's the only draw back but while she is snoozing Daughter #1 is teaching her best bud to ride horse back... looks like fun to me.

What a pretty day... and while the veggies cook I'm on the deck with my wheel and wool... what more could you ask for?!

Hope your have a fine old Easter too...

Working Hard

Teapot and I have been working hard. Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 have been laid low with head colds for Easter weekend. It was lovely to have them all home yesterday and I know they enjoyed it too. Daughter #1 hardly got out of bed which was fine since I don't want her germs and they are confined to her bedroom for the most part. Daughter #2 is not feeling so raw and was up and about for part of the day. Meanwhile Teapot was out cutting down trees as we are still trying to clear the Pine Beetle kill trees out. The yard is once again starting to look very bare. After lunch I convinced him to finish the small project of putting the full length glass in the door to our balcony outside of our bedroom and over looks my deck. Meanwhile I spun. All day I worked on the blasted worsted and woollen (Canadians spell it with two ls) samples.... I have four of them finished and I am working on the fifth. After about 4 o'clock, when it was too cold to sit out on the deck any longer and spin I started work on the write ups for all of my work since back in February. I made good progress and by 11 o'clock last night I was completely done in. I have my first binder completed and I'm now working on the second binder. I finished writing up the work for the flax samples. I still have Lopi samples to write up and worsted/woollen samples to write up.

There is nothing better than the warm spring days to invigorate you and make you feel like you can do anything.Even though there are still heaps of snow around in the yard and in the back country it is still quite winter-like, spring is definitely making headway around this end of the country. The trees are coming out in bud and I am beginning to see little sprouts of green grass on the south sides of things.  This morning the sky is blue and the sun in shining brilliantly. Teapot and the girls are enjoying a sleep-in while I nurse a stiff back (after all that spinning and computer work yesterday) over a cup of coffee and some breakfast. All is quiet, but I expect that to be short lived... although i might just go back to bed for a little sleep-in since I'm starting to loosen up again..... Nah, now is my chance to catch up on this level 4 work.

I always did love Easter.... maybe because it is in the spring and how can you not like something when the sun is shining.

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.