Chill Man!

Chill is an odd word.... but it is most suitable for mt life these days... for several reasons. One time chill meant something like a cold. If you caught a chill then you were sick with a sore throat or a cold.... this happily does NOT apply to me right now. However there is a new meaning for the word chill which does apply to me. Chill can refer, of course to the temperature of the air... and recently around me chill has been the best word to describe it. It has been cold... really cold. Next the word chill can refer to calm down and take it easy and this more importantly refers to me. I need to chill.... seriously I do. So here's what's happening that makes me need to chill

I just heard about the earthquake in New Zealand... we have friends down there who are visiting their daughter and son-in-law.... I just hope all is well with them.  I have been looking at the pictures coming out of there and it makes me really worry. Our friends are enjoying their first grandchild and have spent the winter there for the last few years. They had emailed us with information about the house they are renting and Teapot has that information so we are trying to find out information about where they are and how the earthquake would have affected them. But as in any state of emergency it is very difficult to get information from specific friends due to power outages etc... but I have sent an email to our friends and hope to hear from them soon. I'm trying to chill.

Next reason to chill... I have been reading the blogs of friends and internet friends and have discovered that one of my intructors in the MSP was turned back at the border when she tried to enter the states to teach the MSP there. I was sorry to hear it since I think that these programs are  really good for any spinner and when I see people not allowed to teach for rather dubious reasons it feels like the most powerful and forward countries in the world has been derailed. Sad day indeed for Canada and the US. My instructor has been chillin' in Vancouver for a few days and while it is a big disappointment not to be able to fulfill her obligations I think she's doing the right thing keeping her wits around her and her head screwed on straight. The US border guards get really weird about teaching in the US... Visa's and all that are a little weird when it is just a few day workshop...

Next... we have our first new born lamb of the year. Queen my old pure blood merino gave birth on the coldest day of February. Thursday night while spinning a lovely Lopi yarn my phone blipped and there was a picture of a new white lamb in the barn. It was a whopping -27 degrees with a windchill of -34 degrees... (where I was it was -35 with a wind chill of -43 degrees). It is a lovely sweet female lamb and she's white.... and I want to keep her. Her name is Dewdrop. She's named after her dad who quite frankly surprised us when his ball did drop quite unexpectedly after making us believe for a full year that he was a whether and not a ram...  but ram he is... and lamb he has given us... So Dewdrop is chillin' in a shed with a heat lamp so that she's not chillin' too much.

The retreat.... one word.... outofthisworld!  Ok so I know that's not really one word but awesome just didn't cut it. It was a blast. Totally needed, in order to make February pass away quickly. The weather was cold.... like ohmygodit'sfreakingCOLD! But we persevered and enjoyed our time all the same. But while the weather was cold it meant that once again we were chillin'. When we arrived, the building had not been heated and so we were waiting for the building to warm, it was chilly and so were we in short order. But some of the rooms had heaters and we turned those on upstairs to warm our bedrooms so that we weren't too chilly at night. By the next morning the building was very obviously warming up, which made us all happy. I accomplished a lot but came away feeling like I got nothing done. Why? I don't know.... maybe I laughed too much. But in the end it was a great few days. I started out working on a flax sample then I did several Lopi sample with Icelandic wool and then with merino and mohair... then Saturday was spent teaching percentage dyeing and then finally I spun cotton... it all went well. The only thing is that I can't show my pics because Teapot has the camera with him today and I haven't had a chance to remove them from the camera and put them here. I got home on Sunday and am already looking forward to the next retreat.... but there's lots to do before that. I will post pics later.

Yesterday was a long day as I had to drive Mudder to DC for an appointment with a denturist... it snowed... I hate driving in snow. So today I'm having a chillin' day.... very relaxed. no spinning just a day to put my feet up.... a little laundry... a little cooking and a whole lot of unpacking and wrapping my brain around all that happened. 

See ya later and watch for those pics.....

Baking and Packing

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...

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.

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!

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!

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......

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.