Rainy Days

We've been having a few days of rain and a few weeks ago while I was in Olds, certain areas in our region were dealing with flood-like conditions. The rain we've been having again this week is really making life difficult for those who were hit not so long ago. Teapot and I remain dry as we are on higher ground but our poor alpacas are suffering in this rain. They are in the new paddock and though there are tons of trees to get under, they are all soaked through to the skin.  I really wish we had a shelter for them in there. But you can't put shelters everywhere, so they will just have to suffer through this wet weather.

This rainy day started with me waking early and not wanting to wake Teapot I felt that perhaps I should evacuate the bed in an effort to let him sleep.

Normally rainy days in summer means that I would haul out a puzzle and go to work on it but not this day. I've been reading blogs and passing time on the Internet. (I'm giving myself a free day from spinning as I twisted my ankle again last night and thought that a day from treadling might aid it somewhat. And it was getting better too...) I happened to read a blog post that quite interested me... it was a review with a philosophical bent of a movie called The Tree Of Life. I've not heard much about this as I'm not getting a whole lot of information regarding current movies these days... (with no T.V. movie info and for that matter popular culture news is not really a prevalent part of life.) So after reading the review I went to IMBd to check out whatever info I could find regarding the movie.  It seems to be a somewhat philosophical look on life in the 1950s and familial relationships in middle America. So having read the review and watched several trailers I'm about to embark on a commentary that might be somewhat off base.  I will have a look at the movie at such time that I can find it on video... until then I must be patient.  So bare that in mind as you read what I have to say...

The movie opens with this quote apparently:

"The nuns taught us there were two ways through life - the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow.

Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.

Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things."

Opening lines from the movie, Tree of Life

I ran into trouble right away. The one thing that I have noticed in life is that Aristotle still reigns supreme in our concepts of how life is or should be... for I do believe that it was he who initiated the idea that the realm of the spirit and the realm of the passions... i.e. nature... i.e. our baser nature.. should be completely separate. 

I have a very different view of nature... I believe that nature can bring us closer to the spirit. I believe that the two cannot be divided. That they are intrinsically connected and that in trying to separate the two, it tears us apart and turns us into anything but the truly human. By exploring how the two are connected and by keeping them connected we are able to be more human. We are undeniable a source of both nature and spirit and when we try to separate them that is when we get into trouble. 

For example;

I see a dish of ice cream... I want to eat it but I know that if I do I will get fatter.

In Aristotle's way of thinking... I have two questions before me. Do I deny my self my physical want, thereby reaching for the higher moral of the spiritual, or do I succumb to my baser nature. 

I think that way of thinking is just plain wrong. When we deny one or the other that is when we get into trouble. It is the Middle-Road Theory that I prefer. 

For example: 

I see a dish of ice cream and know that if I eat too much it will make me fat and possibly sick in the future. So I eat some but not a lot, thereby not denying my physical wants but also reminding myself that too much of a good thing can be bad.

Nature and spirit are neither denied and in the end it is a healthier choice because I've learned to bring both together, denying neither part of my humanity.
 

This is a somewhat simplistic example but it helps to make my point.
 

If we were taught this from our youth the world would be a much happier place I think.
 

As we go along in life so much comes into play. The more we learn, the more there is to consider in each and every challenge we face or decision we make. In the end we only entangle ourselves further by denying that which is a part of us, be it spiritual or natural.  The natural is not the enemy. Just because we run naked in the rain is not a bad thing.... (I don't do that really!!! I might get a black eye. LOL) But neither is the spiritual the epitome of the enlightened life... have you ever found an intellectual to be someone you really want to spend time with?!  Even the Dalai Lama eats ice cream.

The human-centric idea in the initial quote from the movie is what has gotten the whole world in trouble in the first place.  We cannot separate ourselves as being above the animal world. It is the idea that we are better than animals that I have difficulty with...  I believe that we are animals. We are as much living beings as anything else on this planet and denying that is truly the mistake. We are no better or no worse than anything else... (which could lead me into a whole other area of this philosophy... maybe I'll expand on that tomorrow... or maybe I won't!)

So though I have not seen The Tree Of Life... I look forward to seeing it and exploring what was the view of the person who conceptualized the movie.  But always I will bare in mind that nature and nurture come together to be beautiful... in every aspect and should never be separated.

And that's it for waxing poetic on this rainy day... I'm off to move furniture at the parent's house... and maybe do a little spinning depending on this ankle of mine.

Hope you all like the new look of my blog...

While I Was Away

While I was away the kitten grew and started to really walk and play.

There was a terrific downpour which over flowed all the rivers, and washed out many of the roads.

 

And Daughter #1 attended the Graduation ceremonies this year. She was a candle barer for one of the boys that was graduating....

Thanks to my good friend G who was a mom to Daughter #1 and helped her with her makeup etc while I was not able to...

Sometimes I wish Fibre Week at Olds College was a little later in the year. (sigh)

Delightful Days

With summer here in full force I find myself stuck in the house.... which really isn't fair. I want to be out on the deck but the mosquitoes are heavy enough to carry me off and that's saying something since my backside is pretty mighty these days. During the day the wind comes up and drives those mosquitoes off in the direction of who-knows-where-land. And if I try spinning out there then the current fibre wants to blow away from me too.

While I was away at Olds there was a mighty downpour. It rained and rained and rained so hard that in two day there was more rain than we had all of last year. The rivers were full, the ditches were full and soon the water was trying to go in places it doesn't normally go. Everything is green and beautiful this year, everything is growing well. But in Chetwynd, a town some 63 kilometres to the south of us, trains were derailed and roads were washed out and they were hit very hard indeed. Hudson's Hope almost got cut off completely.  If it weren't for the diligence of one really good tractor operator who had his machine down on the banks of our wee creek building up the banks with rocks, the bridge would have been washed out for sure.  The strange thing is that everything went back to normal fairly quickly after the rain stopped... but now the forecast is predicting another rainfall like the previous one.  This morning the sky is blue with nary a cloud in sight. The farmers in the valley are starting to mow their hay. Rain right now is really a burden and not a good thing at all. Now we want sunshine to dry the hay that is already cut. Rain will just mean bad hay in the fall.

Sometimes I wonder if the weather will ever be right.  Dry summers like last year are devastating. The grass hoppers thrive and while they don't bother you much when you are on the deck, they do decimate veggie gardens and hay fields.... and drought is never good for gardens. Then if you do get rain in the spring everything grows nicely but the mosquitoes are plentiful... and you had better hope the rain stops when it is time to cut hay because if the hay gets wet your animals still suffer through the winter with moldy hay. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth having a farm at all.

Teapot has weeded our carrots and beets but for some reason the beets are not doing as well as they should be. We didn't get the potatoes in at all... that will have to be for next year.  I would be out there in the garden each and every day but I'm working on my 150 hour project and in a hurry to get it done, so I'm not being a farmer at all it seems.

Still, farming aside, you couldn't ask for a more pleasant summer. Teapot and I walk each evening a short walk to the highway and back on the trails through my beloved forest. A 2.6 kilometre walk and slowly I can feel that my ankle is strengthening.  These are the delightful days of summer. There are strawberries to be picked and eaten, and hopefully with all this rain the blueberries will do well this year.  We might not have potatoes in the fall but we will have carrots and some beets. And if all goes as well as I hope, the animals will be well taken care of this year too.

Yes, absolutely delightful.

I'm off to spin a little cashmere/silk/wool for that blasted 150 hour project. I'm so close to being done I can almost taste it. And guess what... I'm going to try doing it on the deck! Mosquitoes here I come...

By The Sea

Well, it has taken me a few days to realize it but summer is upon us. It's the time of the year when Canadians everywhere fit out their RVs or trailers or campers and head to the bush for weeks of mosquito munching fun.  As a child summer meant long trips to my grandmother's and grandfather's house where we would spend dreamy days on the local sandy beach body surfing in the crashing waves and re-diverting the brook that meandered behind the beach and eventually crossing the sand to the ocean waters. I would spend hours with my cousin playing in the water that entered the ocean from the brook because there and only there did the brook water mingling with the ocean currents make the temperature anywhere near bearable. The water of our local beach was cold... really cold but we still managed to have a wonderful time in the shallows swimming with the jelly fish.

My first swim suit that I can remember was a green two piece and I was really proud of it... it looked good on me... I looked great.

When I got older this did not appeal quite as much... I began doing what every other person it seems likes to do. I started camping. Swimming was still a large part of it because usually you would camp by some lake where you would tear down to the waters edge with your boyfriend at midnite to frolic in the cool depths.

I remember a yellow swim suit passed down to me from my sister and then a navy blue one with white that to this day reminds me of Jackie Kennedy... I don't really know why.

Then I moved to Ontario and camping became canoeing... and still I swum. We would grab the canoe on hot days and paddle to the nearest island (and there were plenty) where we would promptly remove our clothes for a skinny dip in the warm waters and cool ourselves down also taking our skin off the market for the abundant clouds of mosquitoes and black flies. As long as we were in the water we would not need deet.

Then I had a miserable bikini in a orange and purple multi colourway... Ick!

Then I moved here and was pleased to discover that though we lived next to a unswimable river there was a local outdoor pool for our amusement. The kids were little and so Teapot would stay in bed each morning as  rolled out of bed and head for the pool. An hour to swim and then home for breakfast. Soon the girls were old enough to come too... and so we all went swimming. After years of this we moved a little further out of town and I find that I have lost my interest in swimming daily. Occasionally when I can stand the heat and sweat no longer I will convince Teapot to load up the canoe and the kayaks and we head to the Cameron Lake School Centre for an evening of water activities and hot dogs on the fire... but we don't do that often.  Somehow, somewhere I have lost my summer need to submerge myself in water.

After that I remember a lime green bikini, and a black and white polka dotted bikini, after that there was a red one piece....

I never took official swim lessons... I learned the old way.... trial and error. First I learned to float... and that was in the shallows of a beach off the coast of Massachusetts. Then I learned to doggie paddle in the waters of a swimming pool where my father insisted we go each Sunday for a couple of years in my very young youth. Then I learned to spread my arms and do the breast stroke in the waters of that local beach by my grandfather's house.... where I also eventually learned to body surf. Soon I was diving and swimming under the water and acting more otter than human. I love swimming... and I miss it dreadfully.

Then there were numerous black one pieces... and now I have this aqua blue strappy one piece that probably is too small.

Yesterday I splurged... I bought a season pass to the swimming pool here and have decided that a swim a day would do me good. Adult swim to be exact... 6:30 -7:30 p.m.

Now I just have to get a swimsuit to fit... like pulling teeth that will be!

Things That Go Bump

There has been a slight bump in our otherwise smooth road... Teapot is not going to Australia after all... thanks to the passport office my dear one will be missing out on the biggest chance of his life. He's taking it in stride... on the other hand I'm super pissed off.... ( I even spelled that last bit out so that means I'm really really ticked)! 

It's just not fair.  He needed his passport yesterday ... he will get it next week.

I think I'll go kick Murphy out... he's been under that china cabinet too long... he's formally getting a dismissal from our lives.

That's it... that's all I've got for today... I'm just to spluttery at the mouth to say anything of any use to any one!

Numb

Yesterday was not the day I expected. By the time I had read through all the emails and blogs that I had been out of touch with for the last ten days, it was lunch time. I didn't eat lunch, instead I headed upstairs for a shower and to get dressed. I made my bed and suddenly I was falling asleep... so... I fell asleep on my nice soft bed and stayed there for several hours at which time I had visitors. I had a shower while the Daughters got tea for my folks. We had a nice visit which is not always what happens but it was good yesterday. After they left I unpacked the stuff that was still littered all over the living room.  It was then that I discovered that somewhere between Olds and home I had lost all the stuff that I had bought in Olds! No Ramie. No Merino in blue or yellow. No fawn mohair in the grease. No orange mohair batt. No grey yak/bamboo/cashmere blend. No dye.... Procion or acid. No knitting needles. I'm really hoping that all of my stuff got taken out at my friend's house and left there. If not I don't know where it is. Never leave husbands to unload vehicles... it just screws things up.  I was so numb from all the driving that I never noticed when I got to the switch what was being taken out of the vehicle and loaded into mine and what was being brought into the house.

Speaking of numb.... meanwhile my two fingers...the pointer and the middle finger on my right hand (the one with no thumb) are numb. Like I mean seriously numb. Can't feel a thing. Too much knitting I'm thinking. But of course I need to keep knitting if I'm going to get that 150 hour project done. So I expect numbness in my hand is going to be the norm for the next while. then there's all that worsted spinning which also adds to the numbness in those two fingers... ow! : (

After all was said and done Teapot and I went for a lovely walk down through the bush. We headed down the trail that takes us to the highway and we had a lovely time as I told him some of the stories of Olds. It was during the porn star story of one of the instructors that we noticed blood on the tail in tablespoon quantities every few feet that was fresh for sure. Then Jiggs came bounding back to us and there on her paw was a pulsing-blood two inch gash. Hmmm... so we turned around and headed home. Teapot set out ahead of me since he can walk faster than I. By the time I got back to the house Teapot had things well in hand... Jiggs was cleaned up and he was in the process of bandaging the gash up. So now Jiggs is numb in the foreleg too.

Oh lovely the missing Olds purchases have been found. I just got an email from my friend to say that she had discovered that my purchases were among her stuff. All's well that ends well.

I'm kind of feeling a little numb this morning... like I'm trying to figure out just what happened to me. Over tired. Over tired. And over tired some more. Even though I slept 14 and a half hours the first night I was home and I slept 9 hours last night I just sort of feel numb.  There even seems to be a bit of brain numbness going on. I hope nobody tells me anything that I should remember because my brain feels like its just plain numb.

I wonder when I'll feel.... well... not numb. 24 hours? 36 hours? I hope not too long. Maybe I'll go back to bed. Perhaps when I wake up I won't feel numb.

Numbny numbny numbnynumbny num num. (to the tune of the lone ranger) Numb!

And I'm Back In The Saddle Again

The saddle being the big blue comfy chair that sits in front of my computer monitor.

Well, I got back just after 6 p.m. last night after a full 12 and 1/2 hours bumping along over the road.  I was totally not a good partner for the trip as I was completely bushed from not sleeping much for the last several days.  Scintillating conversation was not my forte as we rolled along... I kept nodding off in the passenger seat. My poor driving partner had to suffer the trip with no one to help her stay awake. I did try my best but there was a wall that I kept hitting and the back of my eyelids kept me coming back over and over. When I got to FSJ, Teapot picked me up and we still had to get groceries... argh!  Somehow I managed to survived that and I got home quite exhausted. Teapot managed to get some supper into me and then I hit the bed where I promptly closed my eyes and slept solidly for 13 hours before opening my eyes for a quick trip to the loo and another hour and a half of more snoozing. I can't remember the last time I slept for 13 hours straight without a little wake up. I had to be in my teens. But this morning I feel much more rested and ready to face the day. But it is no wonder I was so tired yesterday since I arose at 4:30 a.m. (that's 3:30 a.m. B.C. time) and we were on the road by 5:42 a.m. Alberta time (4:32 a.m. B.C. time) a long day for sure.

So here I sit, breakfast in hand and I know some of you have been lamenting the written word found here at my humble blog.... (snork!) Why on earth you miss the happenings of my life is beyond me. But here I am, back again.

Fibre week was, as usual, a great experience.

My class mates, instructor and I.

 It was tougher for me this year and I missed some of the events in the evenings as I was fighting the swollen ankle thing the whole time I was there. The swollen ankle has improved some and I enjoyed the walking to and from from classes through the lovely grounds where flowers of every description took my breath away.

The first two days reminded me of how out of shape I've grown this past winter as I would have to stop and take a short few seconds on the many benches for a chance to catch my breath... I have made a resolution to try and get myself in shape this year so that when I return again next year, I will be in better shape to walk the grounds for more enjoyment. Still, by the end of the week I was doing better and though still finding it hard to not puff and pant, was able to walk the whole way without stopping to sit for a moment. I'm definitely needing some exercise though, and that will be the focus for this year. However, the bench moments were a great opportunity to get back to some art and while I was there I had picked up, at Staples, some gel pens, so I took the opportunity to draw whatever was around me.... usually flowers and trees and landscaping. Some of my drawings are quite lovely, even if I do say so myself,

This drawing was based on....

... this view.

so I at least used my time on the bench, productively.

Patsy Zawatoski was the keynote speaker this year and she was truly an inspiration. She is a graduate of the COE (Certificate Of Excellence) from the Hand Weaver's Guild of America, which is also something that I am interested in. (That may be my next endeavour but we will see.)

The Olds Master Spinning Program is suffering some growing pains and it is difficult to watch.  2013 will be the centennial year for Olds and the 25th year for the Fibre Week and the Master Spinning program. One would think that after 25 years the college would have their act together but it has only been about seven or eight years that the current continuing education coordinator took over the program and evidently he basically was working from scratch.  He has done an amazing job with the program taking it from being virtually non-existent to having over 400 registrations. I think he's amazing and I really hope he stays with the program for a long time yet. In the last few years they have introduced a curriculum which is still being modified and that is where the trouble begins. Curriculum always is difficult when being organized and decided upon. This expert will say that this is required and that expert will say no to the first one and introduce some other topic and that is what the Master Spinning Program is undergoing. This in turn, makes it difficult for the student, since we are constantly second guessing the program and ourselves.  It happened for me in level 1 and I thought, "well they'll have it sorted next year." But then it happened in level 2 and once again I thought, "well they'll have it sorted next year." Each year there has been a curfluffle of some kind with the work book requirements or with the Modules/text books and still, in level 5 it happened again. You could say that it is frustrating... I think mostly because I happened to land in a strange year.  I came at a time when the Modules were being introduced and have followed along with the updates the whole way. I'm not sure that the other levels are having the same problems. Next year is level 6... its the testing year/ in depth study year for me and I'm really hoping that when the instructors get together next time that they think long and hard about the level 6 students next year and realize that things need to be right for them. We've put up with a lot, I think, and I would like to see it settled for us. I want to know that I graduated from a program that I can be proud of.

I have always believed in life long learning. I think I might have mentioned that here a few times... for me it is necessary for keeping the mind active and it is a great opportunity to get out there in the world and not feel completely cut off as sometimes happens with people who live in the nether (well maybe nether is a bit strong) regions of the world. I am happy to say the there was an octogenarian in my class this year, which was a true inspiration to me. If anything ever encouraged me to continue on with learning, it was him.... (yes him! I had a him in my spinning class!) I hope that if I make it to 80 then I'm as alert as he is and as inspirational as he is.

We had a great group in our class this year and lots of laughter was the name of the game... even though the learning curve was kind of flat this year. We either have reached the pinnacle of learning in spinning or level 5 needs some bumping up. Mostly it was, "try this" and "try that"...  but really it was never demonstrated and so we were left to figure out a lot of stuff through reading. I'm not sure I believe my $543.00 in tuition was well deserved in this case and I'm thinking that the instructor I had, may have been better placed elsewhere in the MSP... I hope that doesn't sound terribly harsh... but I came away feeling that something was seriously lacking. I can't quite put my finger on it because I did learn... just not as much as I expected... perhaps my expectations were too high.

Level 4 homework has been left with my level 4 instructor except I did not complete the 150 hour project, as I had hoped... I just didn't get it finished in time... though I am close. I do have to send it to him in the next couple of weeks, so today will be spent knitting. My level 4 instructor will hold off marking my work till then... so I'm on the clock. I had intended it to be a shawl but I really wanted it to be a shrug... so now that I have it home, a shrug it will become... I will have to fix a few things on the write up like changing the word shawl to shrug and bumping up the time somewhat since I've already gone over the amount of time that I had guessed it would take me. But I am glad that I am so close to being finished. Then I will be biting into the next level.

While in level 5, I made a decision. I tried a new fibre called Swalesdale which is a very coarse sheep wool that has tons of guard hair and kemp (a coarse wirey hair for you non spinner types) in it, which makes a lovely scratchy yarn that no one in their right mind would like. But being me and a bit of a weirdo, I fell in love with it... so for my level 3 fifty hour project I am knitting a scratchy winter/late fall jacket and saving my cotton baby blanket for my level 5 homework. Mmmm I can't wait.

The dye retreat comes next and that is only a few weeks away. I will be starting to organize for that and I will be sending out reminders to the guilds for their reports for the summer issue of the Threads Along The Peace... the newsletter that I edit for the PCSW. That will take up the majority of July. Teapot is readying to go away with Daughter #1 for ten days in July and only is back for one night and then off to Australia after that, we hope.... the passport is still being awaited... and phoned about and so on... So July is lining up to be a bit of a freak show. I have a tapestry to be woven and I'm spinning wool and cotton for dyeing in August when a friend and I will be getting together for a few days of nature dyeing with logwood and cochineal... "25 shades of" to be exact. I won't be dyeing at the dye retreat this year, just facilitating those others who would like to.... I will be spinning Swaldesdale for that lovely winter jacket.

My roomies walking to class as I sat on one of those breath saving benches.

Looking back toward the gazebo and the rose garden where sometimes weddings are held... there was one while I was there.

Looking toward the greenhouses where much retting, braking, scutching, and other good stuff has taken place over the years.

And so you see... I am definitely back in the saddle again. It is now 9:31 a.m. and I've been drinking tea long enough. I'm off to shower, go for a walk, and then spin, spin, spin.... 

If anyone's got balls around here, it's you guys for coming back again and again and again.... thanks... and I'll see ya'll tomorrow.