All In A Day...

Sabbath Rest

2011-10-09T13:06:00.007-04:00

Providence Canal charcoal on paper 2010

No reason or rhyme this morning...just off the cuff as it were. Over loaded with much so to do, subsequently accomplishing nothing. Studying for a mid term on Thursday coming in Renaissance Art History this week, so my brain is twirling the names of Cimabue, Giotto, and Duccio around. In the shower I am thinking about the Enthroned Madonnas and altarpieces automatically. Feels like I am in a fun house, on a speeding ramp and I can not get off. Holding on for dear life...and life is dear. But being the mature student that I am ( that kills me ) I have many other things, too that I also must twirl around and find solutions for. But the loss of Steve Jobs this week and a very thoughtful commencement speech he made at Stanford a few years ago helps to put some things into perspective, at least for me. You have probably already seen this but I need to see it again and listen to the words because they are important ones...and on the off shot that you have not, listen and ponder.

"Love what you do and don't settle"... I love what I am doing, finally... Even with all the stress and deadlines at present, I am learning to work through them and meet them. So with that said I am painting a lot of pears these days just because I think they are interesting and each one different and beautiful. They ripen quickly which presents its own set of challenges. But for me, the hope it as I continue they, my pears will show me where to go next...

As for 'Sabbath Rest', I think Maggie, as usual has it down. She just knows how to do it. She is also pretty resourceful...she has made use of my shower towels. Good dog, Maggie, good dog...

As I stated at the start, there was no reason or rhyme other than felt the need to post...Have a peaceful day and a thoughtful day,maybe... and thanks for reading. Comments are always nice...

A Mary Oliver Kind of a Day...

2011-09-09T14:10:00.003-04:00

As I move along in my studies as an art student with my concentration in painting... I have reached the place on this journey of being directed to begin thinking about and writing a proposal for what I want to focus on this semester. That gave me pause, what do I want to put my attention to...there it is, the thing which stops me, blocks me, my cement wall in the road with seemingly no way around it.

I wrote it out and handed it in. Today I reread it and thought more about my words. I said in effect that I "want to focus on the ordinary, the simple...trying to keep in mind that everything is a potential set up...learn to look beyond the whole and find the beauty in the parts. There were some words about technique and things I would like to work on such as economy of strokes and light and shadow being the thing that drives everything on the canvas.

I have started with pears, old faithful pears...beautiful shapes, subtle colors. I have scraped off my canvas twice already this week, in disgust. But I am working on it, staring at it, mumble, moan inwardly and continue see things I could change...that is the important thing. I am researching things I may want to work with and in so doing I reached for one of my books by Mary Oliver book, which I do when a little out of sorts and found a poem, Wild Geese and that led me to look at and begin to draw some wild geese...now there s a stretch. Not so much because the poem was specifically about geese but the thoughts and feelings that came about in the reading of the poem and the geese are now the connection for me...and maybe something to take me over that cement wall in the middle of my road.

I found the reading of Wild Geese by the poet herself and that was an emotional moment. The poem being read by the author brought me to tears. So I offer it to you today and hope you hear something you needed to hear today as I did.

Then I happened upon Messenger. As I said earlier, it is just that kind of day...

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Calm Before the Storm...

2011-08-27T13:11:00.007-04:00

India Point Park, Providence, RI ( Narragansett Bay)

Well the preparations are finished, yard cleared of summer, nothing left to become a missile and the drizzle has begun but the storm is 24 hours away from Rhode Island. The storm being Hurricane Irene. We have not gone through a large one here in 20 years or more...not sure what to expect as the reports change frequently. Everything has been canceled for the next few days. The warning goes from our south coast, on the ocean, right up the mouth of Narragansett Bay ,

Cranston, RI on Narragansett Bay

all the way up to Providence and all the cities and towns that surround it, with where I live being one of them. I live far enough away from it to not have to worry about the predicted surge. But on the other hand, I live not far from the Pawtuxet River and therefore our water table is usually high causing concern because of the copious amounts of rain also predicted.

We will possibly loose power as my electricity provider just sent an e-mail giving specifics... Didn't know they had my e-mail address but the big clue to this storm's impending presence was the arrival of Jim Cantore, of The Weather Channel to Providence on Thursday...now you know when he shows up it can't be good. I believe he is in New York City now, 3 hours away from us.

But for today, it is calm, quiet, and oh so humid. You could 'cut the air with a knife' is one saying or 'swimming on land'...or 'wearing your air', some what uncomfortable. I plan to take pictures and watch the power and might of weather...awe inspiring. I'll move my car, 'Gracie', to the other side of the house as I have a huge oak tree near the drive way and the house for that matter. That tree is probably older than me and I don't think it is going anywhere...I hope not anyway, I love that tree. But rather be safe than sorry...love my car too.

It has certainly been a strange year for extreme weather here in the Northeast. More snow than we have ever seen in a long time, then the terribly uncomfortable heat and humidity of this past summer. and let me not forget the earthquake near Washington, DC this week that some felt as far as New England...I was not one of them.

So that is my day today...I wish I was down by the shore to see the surf, maybe some chowder, clamcakes and the spray of ocean...can't imagine not living near the ocean.

Thanks for reading, have a great day and God bless...

Taking Stock...

2011-08-22T10:07:00.005-04:00

Well summer, for all intents and purposes, is almost finished. It has been a strange one filled with loss, a wedding, a summer class, bugs, bag worms( arborvitae pests),

bee stings, oppressive heat and humidity...and accidents as well as the regular ups and downs of life. I didn't get anything done that I had planned to, which has been weighing heavily on me. My loom still has the same project on it since May...painted only three little paintings.

My finger is still swollen and weak...told it can sometimes take up to 6 months to heal...bothersome. Amazing how much one depends on that finger for some as simple as a mug of coffee can prove to be too heavy if not held right. Weaving has been some what difficult...those of you who are weavers, think about how we send the shuttle back and forth.

I did make it to the beach, once this summer, but with all that said, I am ready for the change of seasons. I love Fall, it's my favorite.

This post is somewhat disjointed...guess that is how I am feeling. Classes start next Monday and I think I could rest another 6 weeks...feeling that fatigued. My words skim over the top of what I really think... and need to write but leave unsaid. Hard navigating through life sometimes...Still
trying to learn the lessons of surrender...

Something Maggie seems to have down...That's my knitting bag she has claimed to rest her little head...good dog, Maggie, good dog.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Busy Days...but Not Exactly What I Had Planned

2011-08-07T11:44:00.004-04:00

Each day has a way of just running into the next...not sure where one begins and the next leaves off. I had great plans to work hard but found many interruptions and distractions and accidents have hampered my plans...The heat and humidity I do not enjoy and it really interferes...Then there is the flea battle...even though poor Maggie has been on Frontline Plus since May. I have spoken to the vet and the company...vacuum and wash floors daily. Well I could have done that without the Frontline? I comb her and I am disgusted. Company says kills new fleas in 4 to 18 hours...never had this problem before. But evidently I am not alone because the company has extended new guarantees regarding the problem according to the papers sent out by my vet. So I comb poor Maggie, vacuum and wash floors.

Then there is the sprained finger. Walked my regular three miles two weeks ago then pick up Maggie and took her for a little walk. I began to run, turned my head to check to see if she was running and hit a curb and slid on my knees, elbow, and fingers. Quite the mess. Had an ex-ray and came back as a bad sprain. Ice and elevate. Still not working right, swollen and stiff.

Then there is the bag worm invasion of my arborvitae trees in front of my house...long story but suffice to say one needs to pick them off...yuk, gross...and I got stung by a hornet on the other hand, same finger while picking. So now I was icing both hands. So no weaving or painting has found it's way to completion which has been frustrating.

And that is but a few of the things keeping me occupied this summer. There have been some good things too, fun things. A trip with my small Art Group to Boston to the Museum of Art, and a Studio Tour in a another part of out state and Southeastern Massachusetts on another Sunday afternoon. There have been parties and a baby girl born to a wonderful young couple, wedding shower for another couple leading up to their wedding today! She is my best friend's grand daughter. So I am looking forward to this afternoon being with people I love and celebrating a new marriage, a new adventure for a loving young couple...so God Bless Jessie and Ben today and their future...and may the rain stop any time now...

Have a great day and thanks for reading...

Walking, Observation, Searching... and a Full Moon

2011-07-15T09:48:00.006-04:00

I find books to read from many different sources...kind of fun really. Like a hunt. I can access my library from home and order anything I want, from any library...books, music, and films. Here, in Rhode Island, all of the local libraries are connected which makes inter-library loan available. I also now have access to the college library system which also is connected to other college libraries in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and beyond if need be. Amazing... I can find almost anything I want or need and do.

So how do I find what to look for, titles, topics...? It helps that I have an insatiable curiosity...always wanting to know more about something. I read little fiction, hard to find something that holds my interest all the way through. I am more of a nonfiction type of gal. I just finished Devotion by Dani Shapiro. A personal account of of what Jung calls her "afternoon of life" in the search for what she believes in, if anything. I found it via a blog that was inviting readers to list their favorite memoirs...Dani's name came up frequently.

In the case of the current book I am reading, last week my friend told me she was reading a book that she thought I might enjoy. She thought it reminded her of me though I am not sure as to why she thinks that. The title is The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. I have begun reading and I find it fascinating and hard to put down. It really is about the power of observation and the peacefulness that comes with really taking in our world or then again, maybe the thing that is right before us. Being present, keeping our minds where our bodies are. We really miss out on a lot because our busyness, our speeding around getting from here to there...our thinking about all the things that most of the time we can not do anything about or at best can not do anything about at that moment in time.

Last night I 'needed' to walk as opposed to the exercising kind of walk. Filled with tension I felt I needed to walk it off. My ipod's battery was dead so it meant I had no music to walk to. At first just random thoughts and the walk began in earnest. I started to notice tree lines and the coming dark and then the beautiful full moon. My thoughts turned to all that I had been processing, turning over and examining for the past few days. Which then lead to a prayer, just this conversation with God, which lead to my recited the Rosary( from another time ) using my fingers as prayer beads. I was praying for my life, the lives of my children , my husband, grandchildren, friends...all the losses, all of the things that have been weights...and all the time keeping track of the moon and crying. I love walking in the dark...no one can see the tears. But more importantly, I was being present , in the moment, with no distractions...I came home lighter, peaceful, and somewhat different...I had turned a corner it seems, a necessary one on this map of life.

Have a great day and thanks for reading. And comments are nice...

Sigh of Relief...

2011-06-30T10:40:00.004-04:00

An audible sigh of relief...I have just finished a six week summer session having took two needed classes. It was such a push because I was already exhausted at the end of the spring semester which ended in May. The following week the summer session began...so very little breathing space. I took a Painting Workshop, having taken Painting I, this was a needed elective and spent the time painting from a model and focusing on the figure. I also took my third(out of four needed) art history class, 20th Century Art. It was an intense 16 week course squeezed into 6 weeks, my head and body still ache...two quizzes, midterm, final, and a 6 page research paper, oh, and let me not forget all the reading for the class and the ten sources for the paper...exhaustion.

I have been going to school to earn a second degree in studio art with my concentration in painting, and have been going straight through for a year and a half now. Last summer I did both sessions. The work load is intense...so much so that I would never have believed it if I were not doing it for myself. So I am some what flat out tired but have accomplished a lot. For the summer I have been told to start right in and paint everything and anything...find my interest, what do I want to know more about, explore and continue to study the work of other artists that I enjoy or maybe those I do not enjoy and look at why. I have also been told to draw, draw, and draw some more, experiment, take risks. So I have my work cut out for me for the next 7 to 8 weeks.

So I am excited to begin after doing what professors have wanted now I can do what I want with what I have learned. I have weaving to do also for gifts and for sale. I owe a certain bride her towels before her wedding, and I have a garden screaming for attention...well the house appears to be screaming as well...just want to do the things I have not had the time to do. I have a very busy semester coming up in the Fall...

So for now just drinking my coffee, savoring the morning, and eavesdropping on the birds.
Lest one thinks all in my world is just about school and I have nothing else on my list of things to do...couldn't be further from the truth...a chronically ill husband, weaving to do, adult children with joys and problems that come up on daily basis of their own that I am either joyful or worried about...life just comes with it's own baggage but I do my best to wake each morning with a sence of hope and gratitude for what I am able to do by which reality usually hits by noontime...so today I prepare canvases, plant some seeds, listen to what ever child( they are always your children ) that needs their mom's ear, and take my husband to the doctor and maybe get to walk my very lonely dog and breath...

Have a great day and thanks for reading...

Lost and Found...

2011-06-23T22:59:00.004-04:00

Her Grave

by Mary Oliver

She would come back, dripping thick water, from the green bog.

She would fall at my feet, she would draw the black skin

from her gums, in a hideous and wonderful smile----

and I would rub my hands over her pricked ears and her cunning elbows,

and I would hug the barrel of her body, amazed at the unassuming perfect arch of her neck.

It took four of us to carry her into the woods.

We did not think of music,

but, anyway, it began to rain

slowly.

Her wolfish, invitational, half-pounce, her great and lordly satisfaction at having chased something.

My great and lordly satisfaction at her splash

of happiness as she barged

through the pitch pines swiping my face with her

wild, slightly mossy tongue.

Does the hummingbird think he himself invented his crimson throat?

He is wiser than that, I think.

A dog lives fifteen years, if your're lucky.

Do the cranes crying out in the high clouds

think it is all their own music?

A dog comes to you and lives with you in your own house, but you

do not therefore own her, as you do not own the rain, or the trees, or the laws which pertain to them.

Does the bear wandering in the autumn up the side of the hill

think all by herself she has imagined the refuge and the refreshment

of her long slumber?

A dog can never tell you what she knows from the

smells of the world, but you know, watching her, that you know

almost nothing.

Does the water snake with his backbone of diamonds think

the black tunnel on the bank of the pond is a palace

of his own making?

She roved ahead of me through the fields, yet would come back, or

wait for me, or be somewhere.

Now she is buried under the pines.

Nor will I argue it, or pray for anything but modesty, and

not to be angry.

Through the trees is the sound of the wind, palavering

The smell of the pine needles, what is it but a taste?

of the infallible energies?

How strong was her dark body

How apt is her grave place.

How beautiful is her unshakable sleep.

Finally,

the slick mountains of love break

over us.

From New and Selected Poems Volume 1

Amy has been gone 4 weeks today...I miss her terribly and still find it hard sometimes to believe she is gone but today I received a card my vet sent with caring kind words...totally unexpected and I was brought back to that day but tonight opened my book, New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1 by Mary Oliver to look at papers inside it only to find this poem and the first line that jumped out to me was: "A dog lives with you for 15 years, if you are lucky." And I was lucky...So after the surprise of that line, I read the whole poem, realizing she was writing about her own loss of a dog...amazing, I can always turn to Mary Oliver and she can express for me, through her own grief...to express for me even when that was not my intention, or even knew it was there to be read regarding the loss of her dog...I was actually looking for something I have lost track of and it belongs to the library, have not seen it sence the day Amy died...life is funny, you get what you need sometimes when you are least expecting it...the item is still missing.

It was so comforting to read comments yesterday...others coming up a long side and speaking a few words is so encouraging...thank you. Animal people are some of the best, kindest people...

Thanks for reading...have a great day.

Amy

2011-06-22T13:29:00.007-04:00

This is Amy... she was a little 13" Beagle who was just shy of her 15th birthday. She had been a fixture in our home because she had been here as long as we were. Most people think about decorating their new home...I on the other hand just wanted a dog after years of apartment living...so I brought home a dog.

I said good bye to her on May 27, 2011...I had no idea I would be so moved by the passing of one little pup. She had changed from a terribly timid dog all her life(that is how she was born) to extremely funny, deaf, pushy old 'lady'. She begged, jumped on us for our food, and because of the deafness nothing scared her any longer. She just walked with an air of confidence she never had before. She was pretty funny.

Then all of a sudden her age caught up with her and she was dying...still can't go there. No warning, five days of denial, that's it...then she was gone. I did get to love her, hold her and even gave a bath to sooth her. But I do have funny, light hearted memories of her that I now allow to come out and comfort me. Like how she would forget about her terrible fear when it snowed and she would run and sail off the deck with beagle ears out straight like little wings along with her out stretched legs and land in the snow. Where that came from I will never know but being a snow lover my self I always enjoyed her response, that was always so out of character...

Maggie misses her, sometimes seems to be looking for her and has changed her napping spot as they always napped together. She always stays with one of us now and sleeps in my room. It occurred to me that Maggie had never been alone, she came here as a 7 week old pup 9 years ago and Amy became surrogate mom. And now she is gone...

Rest in Peace my sweet, funny Amy girl...I so miss that wise little face peering out at me from those dark seal eyes.

Thanks for reading...it has been a while I know.

Noticing...

2010-07-31T09:36:00.006-04:00

A long, difficult week has come to a close. There has been much to process, to ponder and to pray about. Children who are now men with children of their own, people from the past who we have not seen for years, both friends and family, new family members met. Information exchanged, sadness about how we only see each other at funerals. Suggestions on how to change that ...but I fear we will not, we will probably in most cases carry on with our lives.

I am very tired, weary even...but still much to do, much I want to do, and will do. Maybe that is what makes all the difference. Not to sit in sadness but rather to put it in a sack and bring it with us if need be, but to 'carry on'. Very important to keep moving through life, one foot in front of the other. Birthdays, Water Fires, studying, Grandson headed back Tuesday to base after his leave before deployment in August to Iraq

...as I said much to pray about, much to do these next few days and always writing in my journal...thoughts, some flower petals, and an obituary, all pieces of one's day are entered. Even my empty loom is glanced at, longed for...thinking it would be nice to sit and weave and start up a rhythm to life again. Maybe pull out my paints, wet my brush...find those parts of me that have been shelved for a variety of reasons. Not a good sign when one's paints and brushes must be 'pulled out'. They should have been out. But I am feeling like I want to do these things, so all is not lost.

I turned to Mary Oliver this morning and found this poem from out of her book, Thirst. I think it speaks well to where I am this morning.

Heavy

That time I thought I could not
go any closer to grief without dieing

I went closer, and I did not die.
Surely God had his hand in this,

as well as friends.
Still, I was bent,
and my laughter,
as the poet said,

was no where to be found.
Then said my friend Daniel
(brave among lions),
"It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it-
books, bricks, grief-
it's all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,
put it down."
So I went practicing.
Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes,now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind, and maybe

also troubled-
roses in the wind,
the sea geese on the steep waves,
a love to which there is no reply?

-Mary Oliver

So carry on today and have a wonderful day of noticing and admiring...I am looking forward to my day of noticing and smiling and sighing with gratitude that I am here to admire.
Thanks for reading

Live and Find Joy...

2010-07-27T11:14:00.006-04:00

I guess one only feels like they can only post on their blog when life is smooth and one appears with their best foot forward so to speak...but sometimes life just does not cooperate. Some people seemingly have an easier time than others but I realize that is only on the surface in most cases. So I post this morning in the midst of choppy waters, approaching storms, and maybe some calm after the storm...

There is always the clean, calm that appears after a storm. I just need to climb on, embracing what is, and see where I end up.

I am tired,mostly emotionally but physically as well. I finished the Spring semester well but exhausted, then turned around and registered for Summer sessions, both of them to take the two out of four art history classes I need to take. Not exactly drawing and painting or generally making art... No, quite the opposite...massive reading, quizzes, midterms, finals, papers, all times two. It is pretty intense because these are classes meant to run 16 weeks of a regular term and it is being squeezed into 6 weeks which leaves me no time for anything. Yet, I am enjoying what I am learning in spite of myself. It is answering some questions as well as confirming some thoughts I have had. I am still amazed that prehistoric people had the drive to make art...of course it was not art at the time but rather a recording of life and artifacts that were made as functional objects, yet I am awed by it. I wonder what they were thinking as they were drawing on the cave walls. Actually they put charcoal in their mouths along with water and saliva, chewed to mix and sprayed...can you imagine us in a class, spraying...sorry, I digress. Just amazing, the creative drive has always been a part of our DNA it appears. Some of the drawings of the animals are quite accurate. One can tell the power of observation was at play as well as memory.

Sometimes I get pretty discouraged, not a hard thing for me anyway. This is different though...I get differing responses from people and some of them sting. I have a degree so the question arises, why do this again? I explain and the blank look is still there. I really am not 'doing this again' because I am 'only' ( I jest ) have to do the art requirements, 51 credits plus some, but I am not at that place yet...I would like to work for a BFA which is a professional degree and used for going on...but I do not want to get ahead of myself. Suffice it to say I can't get there from here unless I do what I am doing. A BA in psychology won't do it for me. But then there are the friends and family who do hold me up and push me forward. Who understand I can't be in two places at once. Who don't care what my plan is but rather they just know it is very important to me. I can say to them what the hell am I doing? And I have those days where I ask that question. But then you have a friend that answers that question with a few words that can make all the difference.

"The studying really sounds grueling, but I would definitely stick with it. In the end, I'm certain it will open up new opportunities that you don't have now. Who cares what other people say or think. They are not you! Those off-handed comments can be defeating, I know, but we just need to ignore them"

...and ignore I try. Thank you my friend...

So onward to reading a few more hundred pages this week...on tap for this week are Jewish, Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Islamic Art, and Art of South and Southeast Asia before 1200. Three chapters a week on average...studying for tests weekly and the paper that needs to be written...This session is finished August 13. Need a break.

Then 2 weeks of some errands and orientation as I have been accepted into the college officially as a Second Degree Student...I need to get near the water and put my feet in, after all this is the Ocean State. You can not live here and not do that...it's a rule.

All of this seems all the more poignant to me today. Life is fragile and goes by with the blink of an eye...My brother in law was removed from life support this past week end. His sons wanted him surrounded by family as he slipped away so we stood there with him...I still have not processed this yet...He had back surgery, developed pneumonia and mercer and just never came back. Two of my children were with us as my husband said what he need to say to his older brother who was a father figure of sorts. They had been estranged... as families some times tend to do, fractured and split. Unfortunately we are both from such families...Hard.

This photo of my youngest daughter on here third birthday with her cousin, Steven, three weeks older than her twirling joyfully and just having fun on a day when we were all together. Steven lost his dad Sunday...

So all this to say Live and find Joy...live your life on your terms and work on those relationships...family and friends. Some of those friends are your family I know in my case they are.

Rest in Peace, Bobby...

Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day.

Lay Me Down

2010-05-23T13:46:00.000-04:00

New Paths

2010-02-11T13:58:00.007-05:00

I decided a few weeks ago to take a couple of classes. At the start of every semester I agonize over registering but get over whelmed by the enormity ( in my head ) of the task. So I usually let the beginning of classes pass by and I tuck it back into the far edge of my brain, in the area of things I really would like to do, but usually just ignore. Take them out occasionally, look them over, dust them off and return them to the someday shelf...I have a degree, I am very thankful that I have it, but the major I chose never excited me, fed my imagination or was part of a larger passion. I earned it while raising five teenagers and all of their collective angst and as well as my own...

Fast forward to this past fall where sometimes the sadness was so overwhelming that I could not move. Those teenagers are adults moving into their own directions. I came across a program on PBS that I wrote about before, Unstuck, with Dr. James S. Gordon. I proceeded to get his book. The first sentence in the Preface read as follows,"...the end point of a pathological process. It is a sign that our lives are out of balance, that we're stuck. It's a wake up call and the start of a journey that can help us become whole and happy, a journey that can change and transform our lives." Well, I thought, that sounds hopeful. But something in the first chapter spoke to me, very loudly in fact..."calls us to question aspects of our personality, of our ways of looking at ourselves and the world that may themselves be the problem...is there something that needs to change?. adjustments in how we think...it tells us we are on the wrong path.Over time, this second note becomes more and more insistent..." These few thoughts kept rolling around, in the backdrop of all that I was doing in a day or I should say, not doing... is there something that needs to change...that question alone was paramount.

So a few weeks ago I mustered the courage and in the pouring rain ( love rain ) I ventured to a local college and began a new journey, asking questions, directions, and the learning curve began. Last time I did this, one registered for classes in person, pretty straight forward. Now one has to register for a password and ID name and go home and register on line. Then one learns to play computer tag and keep checking the classes in question that are full and wait for people to begin to drop and one then immediately sign in and registers...so both of the classes I needed were full but I learned this little gem and registered 2 hours before my first class and then the next one I needed opened... 1 spot and I was in! And I am off on a new journey. I am beginning to answer for myself the question, what needs to change. I get tired and discouraged. sometimes. My brain is fighting the new information and in some cases I am starting over with drawing being in Drawing 1...quite the phenomena actually. I took these beginning drawing classes years ago but they have to be less then ten years in order for them to count for what I may do...So for now I am starting to work through what is known as Art Foundation classes, a series of drawing, design, and art history classes. I have some thoughts about where I would like to go... but for now a day at a time, a class at a time. But as tired and frustrated as I get, as soon as I get to class and settle down and begin to work I think how happy I am to be there, so very stinken happy, you have no idea, then maybe you do...I have 12 hours of actually class time and in theory we are told 12 hours of homework time. So it is beginning to impact my life in some ways but it is new and I am still trying to work it out and find my way through this so that I can do some more regular weaving and maybe actually paint...ha ha. Again, day at a time...I noticed in the picture of the girls below, their bed needs some serious repair...they are so sweet. One thing to add to
my long list of things to do.

The picture with the papers on the floor just about put me over the edge...the beginning of perspective drawing. Drawing those flat pieces of paper so the do not look like they are floating but actually on a floor. We all had to redo it...thank God I was not the only one that did not do it successfully. There is comfort in numbers...

I just finished the assignment for tonights class. I draw intuitively along with checking for angles and accuracy but perspective drawing has taxed me...so my left and right brain have been in a struggle and taking me along for the fight...I know this is normal, still none the less, disconcerting. I know I am learning because that is really what the fight and the frustration is...so I take comfort in that...so we will see where this all leads me. I read a quote somewhere and it visits me occasionally...it is not the things accomplished we think about at the end of our lives, it is the things we wanted to do and didn't that tend to haunt us...hmmm. So I hope you will follow me along on this new path.

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
1 Thessalonians 4:11

I also have been taking a 4 week tapestry class with Jan Austin, a local tapestry artist of 25 years. She is also a member of the Weavers Guild of RI which is how we met. She knew of my interest in tapestry and invited me to take her class in her wonderful studio. We have one more week left. I would love to continue with her but my budget at this point is not impressed with my art pursuits. But I can continue on my own and just keep working at it. It is all good...

Have a great day and thanks for reading. Peace.

The Real Soggy Bottom Boys, Man Of Constant Sorrow

2010-01-05T23:38:00.001-05:00

No Rest For the Weary...

2010-01-05T21:32:00.006-05:00

Yeah, now there's an attractive picture. Last night came home from a meeting and just needed to throw myself on my bed and watch a movie, eat some popcorn and escape for an hour or so with Under The Tuscan Sun...I have been working hard physically and emotionally on many things and was just spent...but alas, it was not to be. Something caught my attention in the corner of my bedroom, so I pulled my bed away from the wall to get a closer look, which meant my bookshelf needed to be moved, which of course meant my books had to be moved.

Mold, mildew all along the baseboard. The floor was wet, beads of water were on the baseboard. I could have just cried right there. This house has been nothing but stress and unhappiness on so many levels...Constant mold issues.

Clean up one area ( basement in September) then something else crops up in another area. We have absolutely no idea why this is happening. So obviously at 9:30 PM, I was moving things out of the room so I could work and spray the mold with bleach and wash it down.

It is no wonder why I feel like I get nothing done and I am always behind because I am always doing things like this, not to mention I have been sleeping with that stuff right under my head for I don't know how long. Discouraging...very disheartening. The background music for this post should be Man of Constant Sorrows.

Then when I can finally sit two hours later... I finally put the movie in and decided to knit a little and try to relax. So I began to knit, with the bed in the middle of the floor, my books everywhere, oh what the heck... everything was everywhere...but knit I did. The movie ended with me wishing I was in Provence with Francis and the sunflowers...Then I looked down at my nearly finished sleeve with satisfaction thinking I might actually get to wear this soon, just a few more rows to go...wait a minute, what is this? That does not look right...where is that chart. My brain for the second time last night went into overdrive...Then I saw it, I had knit the whole sleeve incorrectly right from the beginning. I thought what to do, what to do...I was not going to start over but I knew me well enough that I would not be OK leaving the mistake...so there was nothing left to do but rip back the offending stitches, that would be twelve times 19 inches. I am going to re-knit that area, annoying but better than starting over. Ah, so disappointing...This is what it was suppose to look like...

Instead this is what I am dealing with.

This evening we checked my Grand-daughters bedroom and the same mold and mildew problems are all along the molding and the floor as well as it all wet. We have no idea what we are dealing with. So more bleach...

I made myself a big pot of Minestrone to drown my sorrows...

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Trying to do the right things...

2010-01-04T10:59:00.006-05:00

The three days of snow, bitter cold, and wind seem to be over. It is sunny out there and looks to be pretty calm. I did not let the weather stop me though this weekend hearty soul that I am...proud New Englander...ha ha. Went to meetings on Friday and Sunday night and a great Fortieth Party for Sarah on Saturday night, for women only. It was fun. Lot's of food, wine, conversation, music and ambiance with the background music and lighting. While there was a snowstorm mixed with ice going on around us outside we were warm and cozy inside enjoying each other and the evening, a respite from the seriousness of life. We all need that...I know I certainly did and I traveled very slowly through ice and snow to get there and celebrate with my friends Sarah's life and evidently the the others did as well. Happy Birthday, Sarah and thank you for a wonderful party.

Yesterday I awoke to more snow and cold with a beautiful Payne's Grey sky...I ate breakfast, wrote my morning pages ( which I had let lapse) and decided on a walk rather than church this morning... reevaluating many things these days...so for this morning I attended the service of the snow, in the cathedral of the trees and I came home after an hour more refreshed than any, and I mean any service has ever left me. I communed with my Maker in His creation of which I am a part of. I walked through the empty streets nearly whited out basked in the quiet and I loved it...reminded me that I used to do the very same thing as a child. I thought and prayed for peace for me, for my family and for the world...We all carry so much brokenness...I know I do and that is all I can speak to. But that brokenness spreads from me like a pebble in a pond...

Then back home...to more of this. Spoke to my 80 year old Uncle yesterday...he was on his way out to shovel. Thank you, Uncle, for blazing a path for us that are behind you...learning that one does not stop until they stop, if you know what I mean. I've had some good role models on both sides of my family who I have learned this from.

I am happy to write that I am winding a warp for a shawl made of wool and llama that I had spun years ago. The tapestry loom is ready. My sweater is quickly nearing completion. It is all good...

As I write this I am listening to Yann Tiersen on Pandora who is an amazing French composer of many wonderful movie scores and music in his own right. Find him and enjoy...

I leave you with a quote that kind of speaks to where I am right now...Her writings usually leave me kind of awed that someone can actually put to words some of the things I think and feel.

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. -Anne Lamott

Have a great day...and thanks for reading. And I do enjoy comments...Peace

Thoughtful... On This First Day of the New Year

2010-01-01T22:50:00.005-05:00

The first day of a new year I find I like to be alone and quietly working things out...in today's case I showered, knit, watched movies , made vegetable soup, some cabbage and beans, walked my dog and made it to a meeting I need to attend more frequently than I have been, note to self. My husband slept the day away and my granddaughter was away for the weekend. What was really happening, while doing all of those quiet things, was thinking...I thought about things I am concerned about, all that is on my many plates, and thinking about the awarenesses that have come up this week and have been journaling and praying. I have realized many things are just not working for me any more...maybe they really never did. So I look at today as how I feel each morning, it's all new, wide open to possibilities, full of potential. Of course by noon on a daily basis...I am ready to hit the skids...but we will see. Came across a program on PBS called Unstuck and after watching I was able to get a hold of the book by the same title. Half read but the kind of book one would want to work through. Lot's of good information, healthy, helpful and encouraging for some one with a well, let's see, like me who seems to be under a big black cloud most of the time...Funny thing is, I really love stormy skies, the bigger and blacker the clouds the better.
.
I have cleaned and organized my studio so it is more workable. I hope to get a warp on the floor loom and also get back to teaching myself on my tapestry loom. I am no longer in this room, but love this photo of Milo and I weaving. I miss weaving and Milo...it has been a difficult year...I need to return to the things that gave me solace. More painting and drawing on a regular basis...get the ideas out of my head and onto the paper.

I am almost finished with my Aran sweater, doing the final decreases of the last sleeve! No more pictures until it is off the needles and finished. The plan is to empty the bags with half finished projects and to get serious about some other things. Things came and went this past year, and I was not ready for a variety of reasons...but maybe this year.

I will end with these few lines from one of my favorite poets...I seem to fall upon it a lot lately. So maybe I need to answer the question that the poet poses to us...the question to be asked on this first day of the new year is...

...how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your wild and precious life?

from The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Thirty Thousand...

2009-12-01T23:48:00.006-05:00

A very off day...I can barely talk, feel like I should go hibernate...just sleep until Spring. I can not get out of my own way. A combination of things...

The President's call for 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan this evening didn't boost my mood any...I have a 23 year old Grandson who will be among that 30,000...I almost felt like I was listening to George Bush. Oh well, too late for any of that. All I can do is love and support him and my daughter. He made it known he really liked Magic Cookie Bars on Thanksgiving Day...so guess what I will be shipping. Pray for them all...

Thanks for reading. Peace.

I Did It!

2009-11-30T22:47:00.008-05:00

This makes my thirtieth post during the month of November. I can't quite believe that I did it. I have only posted twice this year. There were times this month where I thought, I just have nothing to say, but I had challenged myself to do this so quitting, for me was not an option, though I thought about it... But each night that I completed a post I felt strangely satisfied...so who knows. I hope to continue...

I was looking through my copy of Stillmeadow Calendar by Gladys Taber. I have quite a few of her books, and I usually like to pick one from the bookshelf at this time of year and reread her descriptions of her life in the country with her friend and her dogs. It occurred to me as I was looking at the writings for the month of November that they are like little 'blog' postings. This book was published in 1967 so how one felt or how one saw their life in relation to everything else had to be written out in long hand in a diary or pad of paper or of course use a typewriter...sometimes others read it but usually not unless it was meant to be published. Now we blog and the world can read what we are writing...almost instantaneously. What would Gladys think?

The photo is what is left of the flower garden...for just a time, it will be back.

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Thanksgiving, Take 2

2009-11-29T23:27:00.003-05:00

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, a time of darkness and a time of preparation while we wait for the Light, Christmas...

Today was the Annual After Thanksgiving Thanksgiving held at Karole and Al's home, a lovely old home built in 1860, in what I believe they call Federal style. The reason for this gathering arose because Karole has 7 married children all with families with varying plans for the holiday. So it was decided we would all get together the Sunday after...and a wonderful time it is. Tables and chairs are set up in every possible room because the dining room will not accommodate everyone. Today's weather helped by being pretty mild which allowed some of the older children to eat on the deck at the picnic table. A great day of good friends, good food and good conversation...a satisfying day, one in which one sees tangible reasons to be grateful. The photo above is her beautiful dining room that is cozy and lit with many hand dipped candles...it just envelopes us with love.

"My friends are my estate."
~ Emily Dickinson

Thanks for reading...Have a blessed evening...Peace

Think Like A Tree

2009-11-28T23:32:00.004-05:00

Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling.

I thought I'd share a favorite poem...I love trees in all of their states. Right now they are at their most beautiful, most interesting... especially against a Fall sky. And as the poet, Karen I. Shragg, states in her poem, we have a lot to learn from trees. I tend to agree with her.

Thanks for reading and , yes..."be still long enough to hear your own leaves rustling." Peace

Quiet Days...

2009-11-27T23:47:00.004-05:00

I spent a very quiet day, with no agenda...nothing. I am not a shopper, so I did not nor have I ever participated in the Black Friday ritual. I think it is stupid myself. I prefer making my gifts or at least put a little more thought into them. I can't stand the mall during regular hours so I can not envision me getting up at some unnatural hour to go there. I also don't buy the pumping up the economy spin either.

Instead I painted for a good amount of the day and really enjoyed myself. I ate, had tea, talked with my friend on the phone, had pie, found my Christmas books( purely because I was searching for something else) and finally had popcorn and watched a Christmas movie, The Family Stone. I worked on my sleeve knitting and finally on the 3rd of 5 repeats and finished increasing, so humbly, I am on my way. Read previous posts to understand the humility...

When I opened my Christmas book box the top book was a gift from my friend Karole last Christmas. Last year she was excited about a book of readings for advent, Watch For The Light, and easy to see why. The authors of the writings were some of the best spiritual thinkers and writers, such as C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Annie Dillard, and Dorothy Day to name a few. My copy is special because she gave it to me for Christmas last year, during Advent. A few of us received it because she so wanted us to share in the gems she was reading...Anyway I pulled it out tonight and I had to thank her again. A book is like that...I felt like I had just opened the gift again.

Have a good night and thank you for reading. Peace...

Thankgiving Night

2009-11-26T23:54:00.004-05:00

It is almost midnight and I am thinking about the day we had and my heart is full. The food was plentiful. We were together with love and cooperation. No one felt overworked. There was even a little backlog for the oven in order to heat things up, but no problem, no one became impatient. Julie even had a grease fire in her oven which meant some things had to come back here to finish heating. Good thing my home is only 5 houses away from hers...but it all came together and we were are seated and eating, talking and as usual, laughing together.

My grandson graced us with a little music today. He is a senior this year and thinking about college. The plan is study music and teach. So tonight his dad, my son called after we had all gone home to let me know that they had started the application process online with three colleges here in state. It is exciting to hear their plans and watch as they carry them out.

One of my grandson's started college this fall and he is studying art. It was so cool when he asked last night if I wanted to see his work so far, as he had brought home his portfolio to finish a project for his design class. Are you kidding me...of course I want to see it all! So yes, it is great to be able to share their lives. Six grandsons and one grand daughter and I am very proud of them all. Rachel announced tonight that she is going to audition at a local theater for an up and coming production. Theater has always been her passion. So maybe that is what I am so pleased about, thankful for... that they have passions and they are going after them. Another in college exploring and has mentioned some interest in engineering another just beginning high school who loves sports and has already asked me about college and sports. Then there is the one leaving in January for the Army. We will be listening closely Tuesday evening when the President speaks from West Point...He tried Magic Cookie Bars and loved them so you know one of the things I'll be shipping regularly. My oldest grandson is still trying to find his own way. So there are seven people I am thankful for...but then I have a very long list.

I am a grateful woman tonight, as I said, my heart is full. We were missing a few people at the table but prayed for them and our gratefulness for what we did have this year...That is all one can do.

I get to do this again on Sunday. My friend holds Thanksgiving II her children, friends, children of friends, for all of us to be together as everyone does so many different things on Thanksgiving Day. So let the season begin...
Thanks for reading. Peace...

Thanksgiving (complete)

2009-11-26T14:33:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving...

Grateful ...

2009-11-25T23:42:00.007-05:00

This morning as I was beginning to wake up my best friend came up beside me quietly and leaned against me. What a moment... a peaceful sweet moment. My mug of hot coffee and my dog...it was all I needed. It perfect way to start this busy day. Simplicity...

Well, it is almost upon us and I have put the farm table to use as is. I have been pretty busy all day cooking and my assistant never left my side. She has finally given up and gone to bed. I still have two pumpkin pies in the oven and still thinking about what I want to eat. Tonight when my daughters left I went out and bought my protein part of my plate and vegan gravy mix. I have had the Quorn turk'y roast before at someone's home and it was very good. I only have the roasted vegetables to do in the morning. I am the only vegetarian in my family so it falls on me to take care of what I need for a holiday or cook-outs in the summer. My family and friends know and are usually pretty accommodating when I am invited to their homes for a meal or I simply bring
something, it's not a big deal.

Maggie tried singing for anything that resembles food and Amy tagging along just in case there is some action. My daughters are singing with her.

That's it for today. Have a great day tomorrow. Thanks for reading...Peace

Tuesday Thoughts

2009-11-24T23:42:00.003-05:00

Man, this sleeve. Who ever heard of a sleeve warranting all of this attention, blog time, my time, and knitting time. The sweater has been hanging around for a few years now, I am ashamed to say, so I am anxious to get it done. Yesterday I made great progress...today, however was another matter. I picked it up and didn't bother to check my chart and off I went, found a mistake, fixed it and I just continued to knit...then I thought I'd better get my chart caught up with my markers and there it was, I neglected a bobble...oh for crying out loud, and believe me I felt like crying. So I ripped it back two rows and put it aside. Tomorrow is another day. So no photo of more progress tonight.

I picked up a book at the library I had reserved. It is Half The Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. There is also an interesting website. The byline states 'turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide'.

Not much to add other than I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I have decided where it is held is not half as important as that we are all together. Julie went shopping and delivered the food tonight that I will be preparing tomorrow while she is at work. So far it looks like I will be making some pumpkin pies, stuffing, roasted vegetables, tomato sauce, lasagna, and the famous(in my family) Magic Cookie Bars. Julie will do the turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes and squash soup. So we have a plan. That feels better. Twenty four hours ago it was still too vague for me... Who knew, I need a plan...Julie and maybe Cheryl will come over tomorrow night and we will have fried breaded cauliflower together and finish any last minute things, but just relax together, hopefully. The Magic Cookie Bars will be tasted, they always are. But that is the fun of the holiday. My Grandson leaves for basic training in the Army after the holidays so we want these holidays to be special, good memories for him and for us, as we are not sure where he will be stationed( well yes, I do possibly, but I don't like to think about it just yet) and yes, so this needs to be just right we have determined.

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Another Grey Monday...

2009-11-23T23:57:00.006-05:00

Here it is the Monday before Thanksgiving and it feels very strange that I am not having dinner here. I am a little disoriented with the change...not sure how I feel about it. It happened because of all of the changes that took place in my house over the past few months. It began with my husband and son playing at remodeling my kitchen last November, yes a year ago. It never got really finished, it should have never been started...and that's all I am going to say about that. Then I moved my studio into the living room during the summer. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but as soon as I did it I knew it was a mistake...too late, I gave up my original room. The room I am in now just is not conducive for quiet thinking or planning and carrying out whatever, I am less productive than ever...My family still thinks living room... they walk in, open the blinds or the door, stop and talk, the wood stove needs to be fed , it is off the kitchen, just a wrong move...so I am still working this out...a cause of much frustration to be sure. The ideal would be an addition on my home, but of course, that won't be happening...Too bad, because it looks great in my head.

So dinner will be at my daughter's house and that will be OK. Has to be as not much I can do about it now. It did not go unnoticed by my kids that the house shrank considerably this year. I will still be doing some cooking here and schlep it all over there.

Picked up my knitting this evening and made some significant progress for which I am pleased. So if I can keep up the pace...

I'd like to end my post today by sharing a nice story I read online today that will make you smile...

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading, although I don't think anybody is...In any case, peace to any one who happens by...

Sunday Blues

2009-11-22T20:32:00.003-05:00

Not sure what more to write about. So this may be short. Went to church this morning. After I took a ride and visited a few antique shops. I love doing that. I don't buy anything unless it is so inexpensive and I absolutely love it. I just like to browse kind of absently. I then came home and have just again done nothing. I suppose I really celebrated the Sabbath by not doing anything. Why do I always think I should be doing something. I am still tired and looking forward to bed. So I am either fighting a cold or flu( hope not ) or I am depressed, maybe both. If it gets darker any earlier I might as well not even get out of bed. I am affected by the winter darkness but I have a propensity for depression anyway. Nothing to be ashamed of, it is what it is...So I am feeling like I lead a pretty boring life these days, I can't seem to find anything to write about. That's it. Running out of steam. Have a good evening. Thanks for reading.

Silent Saturday

2009-11-21T23:45:00.004-05:00

Didn't get much accomplished today and have been pretty quiet all day... And seriously have nothing to write about. I did an errand and came home and have been dozing most of the night...and as soon as I can, I am going to bed. Serious fatigue...So I have posted.
Thanks for checking in. Have a good evening. Peace

Painting Days...

2009-11-20T23:27:00.009-05:00

I met my friends at the Botanical Center this afternoon. It is located within Roger Williams Park and Zoo in the city of Providence. A gem in the middle of the city that has been around as long as I can remember and then some. I had to stop for geese crossing on the way in and the way out. Pretty funny if you are a patient soul but then there were the people who were speeding by and really didn't care if they hit a goose or not, they were pretty scary people to begin with in my book as he was behind me for a whileand was raging at a light because the cars in front of me were not moving fast enough for him, so he began gesturing...then there was the ignoramus that revved his motor and leaned on his horn at this point when O took the photo. He was coming from the other direction...I on the other hand seized the opportunity to turn it into a photo op and take photos of the parade...they were great. Unless you are giving birth or in a rescue vehicle, nothing is that important. Everyone is in a hurry, in a rush. Sad really as well as frustrating when one doesn't mind being slowed down...

The Botanical Center was sporting Poinsettias today. We walked around and noticed the changes in the plants from when we were there 2 weeks ago. We took lots of pictures. For example the amazing bloom on this banana plant opened. The air in there feels good to breath, pure oxygen, clean because of all the plants.

We painted while activity was going on around us. I am beginning to feel more comfortable with that, not so self conscious. I am finding that I am so involved with what I am doing that I barely know someone is walking by. So that is an improvement. I was working on this scene.
. The colors of the leaves and the dried places where the palms had broken off I found interesting. So my painting was more of an exploration forcing me to really look at it and to pick out each of the leaves and those things on the bottom of the palm tree, which I wish I knew what they are called. But now this will prompt me to do research and find out the answers to my questions. There was also a commercial being filmed advertising a Poinsettia Sale coming up at URI's East Farm Horticultural Facility. There was also a tour with a group of middle school kids. So today was a busy day there and a little hard to settle down. Took me a while... It was a good time, asking each other what do you think, conversation, painting tips shared, and eating a bagged lunch there is a treat. It is like being on a picnic. Here is Cindy painting.

I have posted the girls in a few days but this was funny yesterday. They looked like they were following a tennis match...but in reality they where watching my husband eating peanut butter and crackers. They missed nothing. I am not sure if they even blinked.

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Amy's Long Night...

2009-11-19T21:48:00.005-05:00

I am tired this evening because I have gone to bed late for days now. First I was stalking the meteor showers then last night my old girl, Amy was up for hours trying to cough something up. I didn't know what to do for her other than pet her head and tell her it was going to be OK...not likely, she is 13 and a half. She is getting tinier and gaunt looking I noticed today and she didn't hear me tell her something until I raised my voice...she seems better today. Her nails were quite long so she visited the groomer for a manicure. I had let them go too long because I am afraid to cut her nails. Maggie won't let me , partly because I am just plain fearful of hurting them. So it presents a problem. So she is comfortable and is curled up on her bed and soundly sleeping. I hope she continues through the night like this. And with that I am finished for today, she is looking too comfortable to ignore the fact I need to also go and get comfortable. I love my dogs.

I finished the banana leaf painting exercise. Pleased with it and the things I learned. Back to the Botanical Center tomorrow to meet my friend and paint for the afternoon. It feels so good to be painting again...

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Fun in the Afternoon

2009-11-18T23:21:00.008-05:00

My daughter had a day off from work today which is all too rare. She is a hard worker, a single Mom to three young men, two in college and one on his way in to the Army after the holidays. Oh yes, and a Bulldog. Up to recently she didn't really have anything that she could just sit and relax and do that was just for her. She gardens and loves it but this is New England and the growing season isn't that long.

I have been knitting things and giving them to her as gifts over the years and she wears them all proudly...ahem, all except one. She chose a sweater, a beautiful Aran pullover with equally beautiful yarn. She purchased all of this and it was agreed that I would make it for her along with a 6 foot scarf( a least it seemed that long, also cabled). I finished it in record time and she was able to wear it that winter...that is until she decided to shrink it a wee bit...she forgot it and it went through a full wash cycle and into the dryer it went...it came out looking like a pot holder. It took a few days for her to tell me. I have no idea what she was thinking but she was sad enough without me going there. Now we are able to laugh, somewhat...She asked would I make it again. Answer from me, not on your life, kiddo. But I will teach you how to do it.

And teach I did. To date she had finished scarves, a felted bag, and a wonderful little sweater out of a Noro book she liked. She has found her way around the knitting world on the internet to purchased yarn and she has joined Ravelry. Her current project is on the cover of Fall '09 Interweave Knits. A very ambitious project at that, but she wants to knit what she likes and will wear. So I encouraged her to go for it. She cast on a week or so ago and her goal is to wear it this winter. So today after our respective errands we decided to hang out at my table and knit. She has learned well. She brought pastry, I made tea and we ate pastry, all of it.
My other daughter came in and we were telling stories,laughing, discussing disturbing news stories, and playing with dogs. Dogs, the great levelers when things get hard. Meanwhile she is trying to reach inch 19 on the back which means she can begin the raglan shaping. She made it. I on the other hand was trying to keep track of a Aran sleeve while we were having fun and I was missing a stitch.... I had to fix something this morning, and now I had to fix something else. So I ripped back and found the little stitch that somehow got included with a bobble...So I am back on my way and hopefully without anymore stops along the way.

So teach someone to knit. We are trying to entice Cheryl to come over to the knitting side. She is starting to feel left out. I was willing today but she wasn't. She knows that I am ready when she is.

Also made a trip to Joann's with my Granddaughter who likes to make jewelry. She was in need of supplies. I browsed through the 14.99 magazines. When did magazines get so expensive?

Passages this evening. A full day full of inspiration. Have a great evening and thanks for reading.Peace

Tired Tuesday

2009-11-17T23:02:00.005-05:00

Well I am past the half way point...day 17. Some days it is pure stretch as to what to write about. Today was made up with doing some of what had to be done, some straitening out, some bill paying, library, purchase dog food, a few groceries and a bottle of aspirin...you know, stuff one just has to do. The library isn't really something I would put in the category of 'have to do', but I did have to pick up something I had requested...the music from the film 'Once'. So of course once there I couldn't leave with just one thing...I ended up leaving with 2 Nora Jones CD's, Eva Cassidy, Hillary James and Quincy Jones. Found the book Sunflowers on the shelf so that came home with me, as it is on my to read list. Then I brought home 2 movies Canvas and Howard's End. A trip to the library wouldn't be complete unless I stopped at the sale table...and of course I brought home Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love and Linda Novick's The Painting Path, both 1 dollar each. If that was not enough a friend called today and she told me she had listened to Larry Crabb's The Papa Prayer. I had a credit on i tunes, so I downloaded that and got it loaded on my i pod to listen while knitting or weaving. I brought home a lot of entertainment and all I spent was 2 dollars. The gift of a library...The i tunes was part of a gift card I got for Mothers Day. So a balance of enjoyable errands and the ones not quite so enjoyable...make it all palatable on these cold and dark days.

On the knitting note, picked the sleeve up and settled in to knit. Worked a few rows and looked at it and there it was, a mistake a few rows back...I have tried to isolate the 8 stitches and fix it that way but I keep making a mistake. That's it for today. Tomorrow I will deal with it. And with that I am finished with this post.

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Monday, Monday...

2009-11-16T23:45:00.006-05:00

Remember The Mamas andThe Papas? Probably not...Oh well, it works for the title of this post. I am always stymied with titles. My play frame of mind has stayed with me from yesterday and I have continued some more exploration...kind of picking up where I had left off before all the moving of the original studio and emptying the basement occurred. It feels good to drawing and painting and exploring. I am not happy about the lack of real studio because I am now in the living room which is not private but now full of my looms and my paints along with my sewing machine. The art supplies not in use at the moment are all in my bedroom. I can barely keep it all straight where anything is anymore. I try to keep my knitting in a large knitting bag along with my tools with work in process also with the looms and paints. Today I decided to continue going through the book Painting Flowers by Sharon Hinckley and work on some of the projects regarding the mixing my own greens rather than out of the tube, so far successful but if nothing else I am enjoying the book and the wetting of my brush brush...it is not finished and again an exercise from a book. A learning tool. This is a leaf painting exercise focusing on backgrounds and the mixing of greens on the paper rather than the palette. I took allot of photos at the botanical center last week and I have plans for them. So I am interested in this subject right now. Just research, part of the process.

Last Friday I was reading some blogs I have set up on Bloglines, one of which is Wendy Knits.
She had been given two copies of Nicky Epstein's new book,Knitting A Kiss In Every Stitch, one for herself and one to give away. All one needed to do was leave a comment. I was comment number 389 on Friday. The drawing was at set for 4 PM today by a random generator. By today the number was in the 600's. I found the e-mail around 4:30 from Wendy congratulating me, I was the winner! I never win anything...until today, that is. I was so excited and pleased. It was a really nice surprise. A little surprise now and again is a refreshing thing to happen to us. So thanks again to Wendy.

My knitting is stalled again...that last sleeve is going to take me forever. I am working up the first of I believe 5 repeats. Hopefully I will pick up some speed.

I just went into my room to get my knitting and with my camera in hand in order to take a picture of my progress...thinking if I post my progress or lack of it, it might motivate me to get moving on it. As I walked in ...who's been sleeping in my bed...she even pulled the covers down and made herself quite comfortable...smile...then I escorted her off. I love sleeping with her, I do, but I wake up with swollen eyes and that just can not be good. Yes, I am allergic to my pups and my cat...but I love my animals, love all animals..so I wash my hands and face allot.

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Slow Sunday

2009-11-15T23:17:00.003-05:00

A quiet Sunday, and that I found was the problem...I came home from church at odds with myself. I had plenty I could do and even wanted to do yet I was finding it so hard to settle down and do something, any thing. Instead I paced and just could not settle down, kept thinking I should be doing something, going somewhere...finally took a small nap...not even sure if I slept at all but got up and felt better minus the feeling I should be somewhere or doing something. I found it so hard to just be still, just be...

On the way home from church this morning I stopped at Savers. I love to browse their book section and sometimes I find exactly what I am looking for.

Today I found this. I had a copy of my own years ago but it, like a few of my books, has gone missing. My Thomas Merton books, all missing, for example. Every once in a while I think 'I use to have that book'. Some I don't care to replace but there are some, this was one of the important ones to me. So it was a nice gift, really, I was only charged a dollar for it. Even better!

One daughter popped in to visit and it was a good visit then my other daughter came in and the three of us continued to have a good visit with tea and talk...I love those moments, treasure them actually. My son called while they were here so that was nice as well as he out of state and we don't get to see him too often.

After they had left I then sat and played, just mixing colors on the paper.

This day showed me very clearly I am too serious at times...I don't let myself just play. When we were children play was how we learned...when did that change for us?

Thanks for reading. Peace

Stormy Saturday

2009-11-14T23:35:00.004-05:00

Here is my painting in progress, very preliminary. More a study to learn more about painting leaves. For me though, the fact I began is big...It has been a difficult year or so for many reasons and my creative well has been so dry for so long and yet the urge to paint is sometimes all I can think about...

Today I went to my spinning guild meeting which is held most of the year at Slater Mill. Slater is a historic spinning and weaving mill where the birth of industrialization began, so it is pretty cool that we meet here. There are also knitting, weaving, quilting and basket making guilds now meeting here on a regular basis as well as a variety of classes making it a valuable fiber arts center. Todays meeting was focusing on plying techniques and needle felting, with these being demonstrated by members. We was given a felting needle and some dyed fiber to make a pumpkin. There is a good tutorial on You Tube. There was also a demonstration on making center pull balls of yarn and this is show it being done using a nostepine. That's Cindy demoing...Judy was beside her. I took their pictures but I didn't bet permission to post them but I'll link their blogs.
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Then we have Stan with his needle felted cigar and in his lap he is working on an ash tray. Jen is hard at work on an angel.

And the result of my needle felting...still needs finishing but I need more light. As I was adding the wool I was thinking it is a watercolor pumpkin because the wool I was given is multicolor , so it was not just one shade of orange.

So for a very stormy Saturday it was a great day. Some research dealing with my painting, a trip to Utrecht's for a couple of tubes of needed paint and another sheet of 300 lb paper with a 40% coupon, and then to the guild meeting where it is always good to hang out with my creative, fun friends, some of whom I have known now a good many years. Yes, today was a filling of the well.

Have a good evening and thanks for reading. Peace.

Who Does She Think She Is? THEATRICAL TRAILER

2009-11-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

Day 12...

2009-11-12T23:40:00.005-05:00

Day 12 and I am even short a post or two because I started late and I am at a loss for words. Kind of a quiet day. Dragged my farm table back in because the weather is changing. It grew too cold to work on it any further and a storm is coming up the coast, I think they are calling it a Northeaster. I don't mind, a good excuse to hunker down and be cozy and just be.

I began a painting today. I was excited to get painting. There just never is time or I am looking for a place in my house to physically put my self to do so. I no sooner began and a family member decided her emergency, in her way of thinking, was more important...Have you seen the movie "Who Does She Think She Is?" Take a peak at the trailer.

I belong to a small group that meets at my church for the purpose of looking at creativity, art and faith. We have worked through some books over the past year or more, beginning with The Artist Way. Now we are working through the book Creativity and Divine Surprise. But the most important thing we do is encourage on another. Tonight we decided to begin a program that was found on a web site called Prayerwindows. We will work it independently then share what we discover and anything we do in the way of art making weekly. I'll let you know...

This is Amy. She is a 13" Beagle. I usually show Maggie on here just because that is how it happens. Amy is getting on in years I guess is the polite way to say it. She is 13 plus years and pretty feisty compared to the meek little thing she used to be...and begging was something she left up to Maggie to do but now her begging skills are up there with the best of them. These days she misses breakfast and sleeps in and most of the day really. I just thought I'd introduce her.

Thanks for reading. Peace.

Veteran's Day Thoughts

2009-11-11T22:24:00.005-05:00

Today my thoughts went to my family members who served and are no longer with us. I guess with the war going on and and the talk of sending more to Afghanistan and my Grandson being one of the 'more' He enlisted a few months ago, got sworn in and he leaves for basic in January...So this post is to honor them. My grandfather, Elmer who was a Canadian, served during World War I. My Dad served during the Korean conflict and my brother, Sam served during Desert Storm. So now it is Joe ...

To lighten this up in a way that my grandfather, father and brother would have appreciated as well as Joey. Dog loving is in our DNA. So here they are, just a while ago. The working of the wood stove is very serious business...they make sure that each step is observed in the lighting of the stove.

Then they relax...

Thanks for reading Have a great evening. Peace.

Frustration Days...

2009-11-10T23:14:00.006-05:00

Don't have anything I want to write about. Just another day of continuing to gain order in here, find homes for things, places to do other things, with a little procrastination thrown in. It is all very frustrating.

Did a little sketching from a photo I took Friday at the botanical center. It is of a Canna. I've done a few sketches of it now and played with adding some color but not on watercolor paper. My photo's don't pick up my line drawings well, so I didn't photograph it. I need to make the commitment and get it it on some watercolor paper, regardless of how it comes out. Somewhere I picked up don't waste the 'good' paper or don't use the 'good' canvas...so I need to start using the paper. Maybe tomorrow.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Simple Pleasures

2009-11-09T23:39:00.006-05:00

This was how I started my day. Anne Lamott is a favorite author of mine. I have read her three latest books, Traveling Mercies, Plan B, and Grace Eventually. I found Bird by Bird on the library sale table for a dollar! I had been wanting to read it for a while. I love when that happens.

My friend gave me a farm table to use as an island , work table of sorts because I have very little counter space. It needs work but I am not sure yet what I want to do with it...so for now I have had it in the kitchen much to the dismay of two of my daughters. I love old furniture and I told them it was shabby chic, jokingly... But today I decided to take advantage of the warm weather we are having and I brought the table out side to remove paint and to begin the process of cleaning it up. Here it is before I brought it out doors.

Have a great day and thanks for reading. Peace.

Soup and Bread...

2009-11-08T22:49:00.005-05:00

My friend, Karole makes the best soup and bread. My favorite being her potato leek. So during the colder months, usually once a month she invites us for soup and bread and community, to be served after church. She will serve more than one soup and she makes her own fresh bread and we feast on soup, bread, desert and each other. Each month the dynamics are different. She has 7 children each with families of their own and then there are friends and our families...Today was quiet as most had other plans. After dinner we all piled outside to watch the raking of the leaves into giant piles so the little ones could dive into them, over and over...I remember doing that when my children were small and for a few minutes I was missing my babies. Heck I was even remembering myself jumping into piles of leaves. It was the best fun.

I hope your Sunday was a good one. Thanks for visiting. Peace.

Foster Open Studios

2009-11-07T22:31:00.005-05:00

This post will be short. Not much to say except went to an Artist Open Studios event in the northwest part of RI. Saw some nice art being made and some wonderful studios... in barns and new small buildings, wonderful spaces. Then before heading home it was to Utrechts for some 300 lb watercolor paper and masking tape. Pretty exciting stuff ...

No knitting or weaving has been going on yesterday or today. So my sweater still needs a sleeve and finishing. My looms are empty. Just spinning my wheels...Went through my art supplies...didn't do anything...just rearranged, probably in the same way I had them in the first place. I am so stuck. The whole cellar thing has tipped me up side down.

Well I am beginning to see that it wouldn't be complete without a Maggie shot. I thought about taking her with me today but she is such a home body I decided against it. But as soon as I was on my way I was sorry I didn't try her. I would have like the company.

Thanks for reading. Peace...

Peaceful Friday

2009-11-06T23:23:00.007-05:00

Our first cord of wood for the season was delivered this morning...so it is official. Winter is bearing down on us.

My friend, Cindy invited me to paint with her and two other friends of hers at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Garden. What a gem, and in my own back yard ... I never visited it before this. I was so overwhelmed with all of plants and in some cases very large plants. There were some tropical flowers, orchids, banana trees, carnivorous plants and a koi pond. It was a peaceful way to spend a Friday afternoon. I walked around and took a lot of pictures, then finally sat down to draw. It was hard to settle down. I haven't painted in a while. I started to but I still felt wound up. So I found something that interested me and a bench, poured some tea and began to just draw the plant in front of me and the tension and cares just poured out of me...time disappeared. Oh yes, this is why... So, not much accomplished but meeting some nice people, two simple line drawings and many pictures, delicate washes, all in my sketchbook...

just those simple things are enough to get me going again, to prime the pump... I let everything take priority, some things certainly were unavoidable but others could have been re-thought. So I came away with some further clarity on what is important to me. Oh, and I was given the date when we will meet again to do whatever we want, paint, draw, take photos...the point is they they invited me back. For that I am grateful, for I had been hoping for such a group.

Here we have the wood stove beauties. I have disturbed them by moving. The looks on there faces shows it too.

Thanks for reading...Peace

Wood Stove Chronicles

2009-11-05T22:36:00.004-05:00

This is harder than I thought...not much to say. Still working out house and space issues and getting frustrated and little accomplished. Wish I was the type to ignore the mess and the space issues and get to work...but it is hard. It is not work friendly at the moment. I tend to get distracted by a breeze and sidetracked. So, no it is not easy. Not to mention the wood stove is just too much...I prefer cool and husband prefers the opposite...so I am dying here. Look at them, they love it. Then they begin to pant, drink water and crash in front of the stove again...fools. And if I move the mat, they will just collapse on the floor.

I made myself a box bag thanks to a great tutorial.
It is the perfect size to hold my sock knitting as well as a good way to use up fat quarters.

That's it for today. Have a great evening. Thanks for reading...Peace

Peaceful Wednesday

2009-11-05T00:23:00.006-05:00

Maggie waking from a nap. My dogs are either laying in front of this door or in front of the woodstove. They cook...

Not much to say today. It has been a busy day with errands this afternoon and attending a small group I belong to this evening. I just remembered my blog. Oh well new habits take a while to sink in. Today I noticed a one azalea flower had bloomed on my plant in the front yard. Was kind of taken with it seeing as it's November. As you can see the leaves are turning yellow and brown but there is a flower.

Then I looked up and saw this.

She never fails to cause me to smile.

I did manage to cast on and start sleeve number two. There comes a point when a project is no longer enjoyable, but that one just wants it finished. And of course it is on me for that to happen. So it will probably stay where it is with all it's charts and yarn and pattern pages...on the table, where it will taunt me to finish it quickly. One can only hope.

This was the scene as I walked to my car tonight after Passages.
I don't think it came out as I saw it, but the moon had a pink haze on on side and there was a tree and the lit steeple...guess you had to be there, but it was striking.

Have a good night and thanks for reading.
Peace...

Getting my ducks in a row...

2009-11-03T19:05:00.004-05:00

On September 8 my 2 year old water heater began leaking...I say the 8th, but that is when I found the puddle in the basement, in the room where all my fabric was stored. At first I thought it was yet more water from a tropical storm that had passed through the previous weekend. We have been having water, mildew and mold issues for years. We finally decided to do what should have been done a few years ago...strip the basement, gut it, no more finished space. The only way to clean and remove the mold was get everything porous out of the space. I had wool, yarn, fabric and various fiber tools stored down there...the upshot of all this is I emptied it, trip after trip, up and down the cellar stairs only to put it all on the deck...a horrible mess. Only to have to protect everything from rain, sometimes unsuccessfully. The realization that I needed to make some decisions about my stuff, where my focus lies,what to keep, what to sell or pass on to someone else, etc. was overwhelming...Some was ruined by mildew and continued dampness, some was washable. A lot was pitched. But what came through all of this loud and clear was the amount of unfinished or planned projects that never made it. The plans for fabrics and yarns all came back to me as if I had just purchased them...I thought, shoot, I wouldn't have a storage problem if I had just made what I had planned when I bought it. So almost 2 months later, the basement is a basement, nothing more. It no longer smells. I have nothing down there that is porous. I was ruthless with reducing the 'stuff' and only kept what I could store up here and what I absolutely had to keep because I either loved it or it was needed to do what I love...but with the self imposed rule of no more...must use what I have and to actually finish the projects started and rip out the ones I just didn't like. The deck is finally cleared, things sold are gone, fabric( I was a quilter and still make them for special babies) was all washed and hung by hand so as not to have to iron it all...all means 12 large plastic bins, separated by color. Yarn and fiber also was washed and repacked. I still have a few things in my studio really tying up space but ran out of bins and I absolutely refuse to purchase any more...enough. So I have to come up with uses for the left out of bin fiber...not a bad thing, a challenge really,a good thing. So here is one of those projects that got stalled. So I am happy to say the first sleeve was finished last night and I will cast on the second sleeve tonight. I have also been washing sweaters but in so doing I see the things that make me crazy like a too tight bind off, or in one case I changed a sweater from hemmed to picking up and ribbing...well I picked those stitches up and twisted everyone one of them, has annoyed me for years...so I have begun the annoyance removal project. It is satisfying to finally fix something and then wash it without thinking, gee, I really need to fix that. So here it is, ribbing ripped out and re-picked up, correctly this time. It has been washed and ready to wear. This Meg Swansen's Spiral-Yoke sweater available from Scho olhouse Press. It was in a Wool Gathering #46.
Then the Traveler's Sweater from a old Knitter's. The issue focused on cardigans. I had bound off the sleeves too tightly. Drove me crazy for years...Fixed, now to be washed. Great sweater now really comfortable.

Then there is this little number. A Green Mountain Spinnery pattern. I thought I was going to run out of yarn while knitting it so...made it too short. But I did not run out of yarn, no I did not. I ended up with a whole skien left over. So wondering...

All of this amuses me seeing how I have not been knitting for a long while. So it is good. I have been helping my daughter as she is a new knitter and it was enough to jump start me.

Na Blo Po Mo...what?

2009-11-03T00:02:00.004-05:00

I enjoy writing but I have had an awful lot going on...and then there is Facebook. While reading some blogs today,I came across NaBloPoMo(National Blog Posting Month). The deal being 30 posts in 30 days...So I thought this might be a way for me to begin again...So this is post #1, with not much to say other than I am trying it...it's a start and it is late. We will see what I can do. Thanks for reading and have a peaceful evening.

Full Days...

2009-07-26T18:07:00.010-04:00

I hardly know where to begin. I have been busy with all sorts of things but didn't feel the push to write about any of it...just lost the muse for blog writing as well as everything else to be honest. Trying to gain it back or find it...not easy.

It has been an extremely busy summer with graduations and their parties to attend as well as weddings,showers, birthdays parties, holiday BBQ', etc. I made it to the beach with my daughter's once so far this summer. I have worked in my flower gardens a couple of times but usually get chased in by rain. Just have not been able to do much weaving or paint...kind of discouraging, like a huge cement block on my path...

I did manage to finish this small tapestry, well I had to if I wanted to move the loom into another room... This was based on a pattern from Nancy Harvey's book, Weaving Tapestry. I am teaching myself with the help of her book. I was also able to ask some questions of tapestry artist, Tommye McClure Scanlin. I realized from reading her blog that one of her looms was also a Leclerc Tissart. Her help with some logistical questions about my loom was invaluable. She also teaches via her website and I was able to ask questions in response to her slide show.

My last post I spoke of my loom acquisitions and after turning my house literally upside down to accommodate all the looms, I passed the Hollandia on, in the same spirit of how it was passed on to me. I gave it to a friend who has a burning desire to weave. Her 20 something daughter has some interest in it as well. Passing that on has freed up some space. I spent some time weaving on it before I decided to send it on and it is a great loom but I have a 40" Macomber,

which was beginning to pout for lack of attention. It is now warped and ready to weave. It will have to be a speedy weave though... as the item( gift)is needed for next week. I have done some maintenance on it as Sarah advised. It is running smoothly even though the humidity is high, kind of like weaving under water. Anyway, I need to memorize the treadling and then I can just get into the zone and weave, I call it memorizing the dance.

So here I am, still fighting for time and inspiration and space...some things just do not change...but have a great day.
Peace

Opportunities

2009-02-23T14:33:00.006-05:00

Why is this photo on my blog? Read on...

The story has a few beginnings really but I'll pick one for today. A few weeks ago while attending my spinning guild meeting at historic Slater Mill, I was milling around( pun unintended) and checking out a display of fiber equipment. There was a wonderful old Leclerc Tissart Tapestry loom and in passing said to another weaver friend, "Boy, do I want one of those". Then we went on our way, her to teach a dye workshop and I to my meeting.

Fast forward a few weeks and I settled down one night after a busy day and was reading a newsletter from the weavers guild I belong to. At the top of page 5 was the classifieds...and the first entry read: Tissart Tapestry Loom: 60 inches with new aprons, rods, and new reeds to anyone interested for free... Well, two weeks later and it now sits beside me. I followed the assembly instructions but the diagrams aren't the best. I think I have it right but I have a question or two. I have tried tapestry on my floor looms and want to do more but knew immediately I needed a vertical loom, so as not to be hunched over and I didn't want to have to hold on to a frame loom. Did I ever think I would have this opportunity? No, not at all. Loom buying, of any kind, is not in my budget...So I consider this quite the gift on so many levels. I love to draw and paint but always kind of wondered where am I going with all of that? So it appears I am on a journey of sorts. I am excited and energized. There has been a reason why I own and have read books about tapestry weaving on a regular basis for years. I subscribe to a tapestry list and just soak up the information and some of my favorite blogs are tapestry blogs. It is funny how things just kind of present themselves and it is up to us to respond or not. I am happy to say I responded. But that is not the end of the story.

The day before I was to pick up the loom was my birthday. During the party my son, who owns a pick up offered as part of my birthday gift to take me for the loom. Great! I do forget sometimes that he really is fun to do these things with. He understands my spontaneity and goes with my flow. The woman who kindly gave me my loom asked if I would like to look at a loom she had bought for her church a while back for the kids to learn on...the church desperately wanted it moved as they had other plans for the space. So we followed her to the church. There was a 45" Hollandia...I just stood with my mouth hanging open... My son said, Mom, I am here with a truck, you are a weaver, we are taking the loom today. At this point I was numb. The owner of the loom and the church sexton were happy, I was overwhelmed with an embarrassment of riches...So everything was packed by the weaver's son and off we went. But before going home the weaver's son said, I am taking you for a birthday lunch. So off to a restaurant with seats near the windows, where the truck is parked to have a much needed lunch.

This past few days have been spent with moving furniture and looms around and assembling and researching and I can be caught with a big ol' grin and even tears in my eyes, thinking what's up with all of this...on the other hand, it has been pretty comedic trying to fit these wonderful additions to my home and life. It is also a feeling of affirmation. Still sorting through it all.

So as this plays out I hope to write about it.

And just for good measure, a sleeping hounds photo...what a life to just crash a few times a day, warm, cozy, full and loved. What's better than that?

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Winter Solstice

2008-12-21T21:10:00.005-05:00

Just for the sake of posting I found a poem that kind of speaks to the matter at hand, winter...cold, dark winter. Today is the Winter Solstice, the first day of Winte r. I have done some very interesting reading today on the subject as it happens to be my favorite season so I thought I would herald it in with a little research.

Winter: A Dirge

Robert Burns said that Winter was his favourite season - "partly owing to my misfortunes giving my mind a melancholy cast." Indeed, it was after such a period of misfortune that he composed this melancholy song. It was written to the tune "MacPherson's Rant".

Winter: A Dirge
The wintry west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw;
Or the stormy north sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snaw:
Wild-tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars frae bank to brae:
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.

The sweeping blast, the sky o'ercast,
The joyless winter day
Let others fear, to me more dear
Than all the pride of May:
The tempest's howl, it soothes my soul,
My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
Their fate resembles mine!

Thou Pow'r Supreme, whose mighty scheme
These woes of mine fulfil.
Here, firm I rest, they must be best,
Because they are Thy will!
Then all I want (O do Thou grant
This one request of mine!):
Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,
Assist me to resign.

Meaning of unusual words:
brae=slope

And for those of you who would rather listen to it, just hit the link.

I am knitting feverishly and have much to get done.I finished the Fuzzy Feet Slippers yesterday, working on some gloves now. There is some weaving to finish...Never really got to the decorating because over a month ago, my husband decided to do some work in the kitchen and it just has made a mess of everything, so if I have to try to figure out where one more thing goes...well, you know. Oh yes, bless him, he chose the holidays to do this stuff...

Anyway, Happy Solstice...be warm and cozy and watch for the light to return with each passing day. Be encouraged. Thanks for reading.
Peace.

Snow Days

2008-12-20T01:46:00.004-05:00

We had our first snow storm of the season today and I am enjoying the aftermath...reminds me why I love New England. I love the changing of the seasons as well as the weather in any given day. I like weather, interesting, stormy weather...I think it is cleansing as well as invigorating. There is something so beautiful about night, after the snow has stopped. For as long as I can remember I always ran outside as soon as the storm ended. Usually it was evening. I would look around with the same wonder that I feel tonight. Check on everything, throw myself down and just lay in the soft wetness and sometimes make "angels". Good memories...far too few of them. Tonight,the yard is awash with reflected light from the snow, which makes everything beautiful. A different world. The trees first caught my eye as I looked out my window into the darkness and realized that it was not dark at all...I was by now out the door with a beagle and a camera. Just walking around the yard and enjoying the moment, the cold, and the silence. Then the night sky and its many shades were next to wonder at, where was all the color coming from... I could see color variations in the night sky...breath taking. I tried to capture it with my little point and shoot camera but was unsuccessful.
The quiet, the silence of snow...it is like everything has stopped, and for a short time it has.
Thanks for reading
Peace

Few Words...

2008-12-12T01:19:00.006-05:00

I have not felt like writing, or maybe I just didn't feel I had anything to say. Maybe a little of both. My house is quiet, a blessing...All I can hear is the rain, pouring, hard hitting rain. I really like the sound.

As I sit and think about it a little I do have something to write about. The charcoal below was done by my grandson. He is applying to colleges at present as he graduates high school this spring. Now that, in and of itself, is hard to believe. The other day he applied to art school ... We have some great schools here in New England. He has a portfolio to finish by February 1. I am very excited and happy for him. I love that he and I can talk art and that he believes I may know something...A year ago he did not know what charcoal was. I showed him some of mine, gave him charcoal and paper for his birthday last summer. His teacher (he is in honors art in school) got him started with them and now it is his favorite medium.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

We Are The Ones Song by will.i.am - Obama

2008-11-03T19:30:00.001-05:00

Please vote tomorrow. And yes , please consider voting for Barack Obama.

Weary Days

2008-10-16T23:31:00.004-04:00

Maggie is getting around better now that she is finished the Lyme medication. Begging, running to the door hoping who ever is there will have a cookie or anything...but all is not well. She had another seizure, that is two since February. But in both cases she was very anxious or upset? In February she was afraid of my daughters baby (60 lbs) English Bulldog, took a seizure. Then, other night I ran out to bring her in before a rather large skunk decided to lift it's tail. I scared her I guess but telling her loudly to stop and come. So I guess I have to give my commands in my gentle voice. Who knew...

I have been weaving but my heart is not in it. This has been a hard summer. I can't even believe it is over and it is the middle of October. My daughter's illness was a blow to the system I'll tell you. Then my dog became ill. That hurt emotionally and financially. Then one of my sons moved back home for a while. I can barely find the time or muster the energy to write in this blog. But I am going to try to pick it back up again, even if I post a photo. So I am trying to challenge myself.

The only thing that I seem to turn to are my paints and camera. I have been picking up here and there water soluble oils. They are a little different. Still figuring out how they work. The mixing with water or other mediums kind of confuse me, but I am working on it. This was kind of fun, a use up whats on the palette painting. I did it on 6"x6"gessoed board. Thanks to some great tutorials I bought Masonite and had it cut and gessoed away. I call it Harvest Moon.

Plus still doing watercolor studies. I am thinking if I post things, I will be motivated to continue to paint or draw, both of which I have always loved to do but for various reasons always got put on the back of the proverbial burner. I never let myself take it seriously. Someone told me that at the end of ones life, one doesn't really think about all one has accomplished, but rather what has not been accomplished. I joined a small group of friends, who are artists, to do The Artist Way together over the next 12 weeks or so. I read the book on my own a couple of years ago, now it's time to be accountable and do it with others. It has been encouraging and affirming time together. We are painters, stain glass artist, photographer...I hope it morphs into a support group. We will see.

This past week end had been a busy one, WaterFires, Art Festivals, Enjoying the beautiful fall leaves, apple picking and pie making. But I'll leave that for another day. But here is a shot of our wonderful WaterFires in the middle of downtown Providence.

Thank you for still reading and have a great day.

Sunflowers and A Sick Pup...

2008-09-13T23:20:00.009-04:00

My Grand-daughter found and joined a Photography Meet-Up. She does not drive so I guess she joined hoping I would be interested as I have the wheels...The first meet-up was a trip to Sawmill Farm to visit their field of sunflowers at 5:00, as well as other things. It was great fun and I got some great photos of sunflowers. They are so graceful. They gave us full run of the farm in regards to our photo taking. Our next Meet-Up will be to take photos of the barns of Glocester, a rural area in our state. The organizer of the group does the advance work so that we have permission to visit the various places. It is planned that we will meet at a specified spot at which point we will either car pool or caravan to the various barns. It is a great time of year for this excursion.

This is Maggie's chair. I gave up a long time ago. She lets us sit with her, she actually likes when someone visits her in "her" chair. Anyway I was walking by her and there was this poor pathetic pup just watching every move I made. She had to return to the vet the other day as she still was having trouble getting around. She was unable to get on her chair or off the deck to check out the yard and what ever else she does out there. She usually was in and out annoyingly all day, but she no longer had the energy or the legs for it. She was still limping and her back legs were weak. She was wobbling. Pretty upsetting. So of course I had been doing research and I was very concerned. I should not research...The vet was also concerned and somewhat mystified. In any case, Maggie is now being treated for Lyme disease on the off shot that her original Lyme test was a false negative. She is on the three week regimen of antibiotics and anti- inflammatory medicine. While on the anti-inflammatory she can move with ease, but she stays pretty quiet which is what the vet wants, no walks, no playing, just "chair rest".

Two days later my next door neighbor came to tell me her Beagle had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and he too is pretty sick. His appears to have settled in his neck and he can barely move. So they are both down. The vets have told us it, the deer tic, is also carried by squirrels and mice...That's nice, I have a full community of squirrels outside and probably mice as well.

In Maggie's case, I hope it is Lyme, in fact, what she has, otherwise I don't know what to think. But for now I am going to be positive and just love on her and give her her little peanut butter cocktails twice a day with meds hidden inside. Poor 12 year old Amy gets all excited when the peanut butter gets broken out. She comes running and now we give her a little peanut butter as well, hers straight up. Oh well, if a little peanut butter is going to make her happy.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Maggie Takes To Her Bed...

2008-08-24T22:23:00.007-04:00

Maggie hasn't felt well for a few days or longer. My daughter had her Gamma Knife surgery this week. So I was noticing things, but not really seeing them as I was focused on Cheryl and the procedure coming up. What I did see was my dog was limping and having a hard time moving in general. Not all the time, it seemed to come and go. But when she wasn't racing me down the hall wall in the morning as I got out of bed I grew concerned. It is of Maggie's opinion that she should be fed before anything else occurs in the morning. I of course disagree. It is coffee for me and then food for her and Amy. But she didn't seem to care. She just stayed put. Anyway fast forward.

Gamma knife procedure is now 5 days old and she is doing well other than swelling that was expected. But yesterday my dog was having a hard time getting around and appeared to be in pain if I pet her face or touched her in anyway. She was lethargic, limping, and off her food. In the back of my mind was lyme disease. So off to the vet we went. Emergency visit, blood tests, thorough exam later, no to lyme(vet thought it was also)so more blood work, Oh God, do they have dishes here I can wash...The pain was a pretty bad ear infection. So now I wrestle with her to use an ear wash daily for two weeks followed with an antibiotic squeezed into both ears...she is not amused. As for the lameness, well all her blood work came back pretty good. But she is on medication for the pain and muscle relaxers. Who knew. So she is feeling good and looks happier but still favoring her leg but we will watch and see now and continue on the meds if need be.

I am getting nothing accomplished this summer. My looms remain untouched and I barely wet my brushes or draw. My gardens always look raggy from weeds. So much to do and just not getting anything done...Frustrating to be sure. Also not having an easy time uploading photos tonight. Trying to figure out how to get them directly from Picasa to blog rather than Picasa to My Pictures to blog.

The other day butterfly after butterfly arrived at my butterfly bush. This was just one of them.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Sails

2008-08-08T13:11:00.006-04:00

My entry for Illustration Friday, my first actually. This is from a photo I took while visiting Galilee, RI. Then using watercolor I painted this. It is one of my favorite places here in RI where I can sit and have some clam cakes and chowder and watch the various types of boats, like kayaks, sailboats, pleasure boats , fishing boats and Block Island Ferry, all come and go.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Grateful Days

2008-07-02T23:56:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

Today is my daughter's birthday. I remember the first moment I held her. She would not be happy if I said how long ago, but as I did earlier this year, she too has had a major decade change...I still feel that same deep love today as then, when I hug her. But these days I hold her, and do not want to let go... June 13 she passed out while driving, her car flipped over and crashed in to a parked car( no one was in the other vehicle)...I was called to the hospital and was told she had had a brain bleed, which caused her pass out. I feared for her life. After further tests she was diagnosed with AVM.
We are still in the thick of it, and will be for a while. There is no such thing as a quick fix in this situation. But what is important is my daughter celebrated her life today! She is here with us. Her life and my grandsons life is upside down, she can not be alone, her car is gone, life is changed, her routine is upset, which she finds confusing. Her memory has gaps in it, sometimes words are hard to grab...But she is here...She has some treatments that are less than appealing for her to think about that will be coming up and still recouping, but she blew out her candles tonight.
I tell anyone who will listen to me, life is short. It can change in an instant. We are quite cognizant that this could have turned out very differently. But today, her birthday, we spent the afternoon together, on my deck, alone, just quietly talking or me listening, thankfully listening to this wonderful young woman. Thankful for her very life, thankful I could hold her in my heart and listen to her fears, her hopes and her thoughts about this new fork in her road.

I took her to one of her favorite spots to walk and just be, Meshanticut Lake, the other day. We took our time and we sat. She told me she thought this was the best view. So I took it, enlarged it and framed it. Now she has it to look at whenever.

There is allot more to say but for now this will do. I can write about her, the range of our emotions, fear, and the incredible kindness of everyone we know and some we don't know. Yes, I should like to say more about all of that. The funny thing is, and there is always a funny thing with me, it keeps me going. But when I began this blog she would ask me, when are you going to put me in your blog...Well, here she is, meet Cheryl.

Thanks for reading and have a great day. Prayer and good thoughts are welcome

All About Me...

2008-05-30T21:16:00.010-04:00

Cindy tagged me for a meme. New one on me but I am game , I think...The rules: Posted here at the beginning. The player answers all questions. The player then chooses six people you want to know more about and tags those people by listing their names at the end of the post and going to their blog and leaving a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Also, you let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Not sure about the last part, the six people...it appears many have been tagged all ready. In any case let me begin:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

We had just bought our home and moved into it the end of April of 1998. So ten years ago I was putting my house together and putting in a garden. At the same time my husband had gotten injured at work which ended up requiring surgery...Also it was life with a twelve year old girl...twelve going on 42. And I was knitting, spinning, and sewing( quilts and clothing) for my sanity.

2. What were 5 things on my to do list today?

For this whole week the focus has been on getting my vegetable garden going and cleaning and organizing my basement as well as finish the front walk way project. I also have a week long watercolor workshop coming up so I am readying my supplies. Not bad, I only needed three tubes of paint. I have everything else. I am also trying to work out a profile /name draft using the name of the weaving guild I belong to. A learning curve for me. Not something I know allot about but something I do want to learn. My to do list kind of runs along in my head. All of my projects are pretty big deals requiring allot of heavy work right now. So little weaving or drawing is going on, too tired at the end of the day.

3. What snacks do I enjoy?

Pop corn, watermelon, peanuts, peanut butter, toast and grape jam, and more fruit...

4. Where are some places I have lived?

Rhode Island

5. What things would I do if I were a billionaire?

I would pay off my home and give it to one of my daughters. I would pay off my other daughters home. Then buy the other three homes as well. In other words make sure each of my children had home security. Then I would decide where I would like to live...just as long as it was big enough to have a studio for art and weaving. A place for vegetable , flower and herb gardens. Sheep, goats, oh hell a few cows too... A place I could bring home what I want, dogs, chickens, or whatever. Then I would secure my children's and my grand children's education goals. It is all about security. Then I would really think about how I could help and make a difference. It would be nice to know that if I found a pressing need that I could do something. Not something I have given great thought to, however. Too practical I guess.

Ok, now here is the hard part for me, tagging someone, too shy I suppose for this sort of thing. The few I thought of have been tagged already. The others, well feel like I am intruding or something. Does one just e-mail someone and say you have been tagged? Well, consider yourself tagged. I am serious, take the burden from me...please!

Here is my Maggie doing one of her favorite activities, stretching on her back on the grass in the sun. She remained in this position long enough for me to run in the house , grab my camera and run back outside. She stayed like that as I shot a few photos of her, she was oblivious. Usually she follows me in the house. You know, I might be getting something to eat, wouldn't want to miss that...Anyway, pretty funny girl that Maggie. Don't you just wish you could do that? Anyway, have a great day and thanks for reading.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-24T09:23:00.007-04:00

Memorial Day weekend is here. The gateway to summer, gardens, and cookouts. I have started in on my yard this week in between the rain, wind, and cool temps. I have been wanting to make a bed in my front yard along my imaginary walkway. I saw some indentations along the walkway and with shovel in hand , I began to uncover a real walkway of sorts. I found flagstone, bluestone I am told by my mason neighbor. So bluestone it is. But as you can see I have to make some decisions as to how to proceed with the probable mud. After much research I decided on raising the stone with sand, cover with yard fabric and the mulch in between the stone. The whole point of this was the flower bed but got a walkway out of it.
Then on to the vegetable garden. I began it a couple of years ago as a Lasagna Garden. It was amazing. Great yield, less watering was needed, and virtually no weeds. Last year my husband felt like doing the garden. He did it his way, turn over everything, planted and hope for the best. He had to water all the time, weeds took over and the yield was poor. Guess which way we are going this year? So I am ready with my mulching supplies, great homemade compost, and my seedlings and seeds. I began the other day the layering process. Today, after I return from a bridal shower, I will begin planting. The weather is perfect and forecast to stay this way for the weekend. Oh yes it should be noted that my husband put up a small fence around my vegetable garden. My dogs thought it was their job to hunt the earth worm population and anything else that caught their interest in there. So they have been blocked.

So this weekend is a busy one full of garden plans, planting, filling window boxes and cookout with my family. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

Full Days

2008-05-16T10:32:00.011-04:00

For the record, I posted Monday but I lost it. I was not finished, was uploading photos, and it was gone. Oh well, guess what I wrote was not meant to be posted.

So I am back with something entirely different. It is hard to get into the grove of writing, at least for me. It is a very busy time with graduation parties, wedding showers, weddings,yard work,art and fiber pursuits, friends and family. So busy in fact, I forgot the San Marzano seedlings outside last week...So I am ordering more seeds on principle, I don't know who's ( is that a word?)I guess so, spell check says so, so it is official. I hunted for the seeds as my neighbor gave me the first batch of seeds. But Cook's Garden catalog has them. Yea! The lettuce had to also be replanted as the squirrels up ended the first batch.

I joined the Summer of Socks 2008. I don't know how many socks I'll get done but it sounded like fun. I love to wear my hand knit socks and I could use the motivation for making more.
So I have picked up my knitting. I have missed it, the desire just was not there for a while. I don't get to my favorite shop to knit in, RI Handspun, enough anymore. Great knitters, friends , yarns. Oh yes, and without one of my pet peeves, Sue doesn't charge you a fee for coming weekly to sit in her shop to knit and gather. We help one another and usually there is shopping going on as well. Makes me crazy when I see a yarn shop advertise for a weekly knitting thing, 10 dollars, 12 dollars, whatever, I don't even entertain going. Well there's my rant for the day, been wanting to moan about that for a while.

Tomorrow is The Second Annual Rhode Island Sheep and Wool Festival.
I am weaving in the sheep to shawl demonstration with the rest of the RI Spinners Guild. Is my loom warped? Am I packed up? Do I know what I want to take or even wear? No on all counts. So I am off to answer these questions as today is just as full. I have a fun dinner get together to attend tonight with dear friends and I need to have my car packed and ready to leave early tomorrow. I thrive on pressure...

I have warped my Macomber loom for another shawl using Brown Sheep sport weight yarn. I have it threaded and tied up for a straight twill but that might change, at least the treadling. We will see...

I was browsing around and found this clip. I am always hunting for a laugh or two and Jon Stewart usually does it for me. Be warned it, is political but it is my blog...

Have a great day and thanks for reading.
Peace

Ah, Spring...

2008-04-24T13:23:00.006-04:00

Here is my red poppy plant. First up.

Gosh, I have gone and done it again. I've let 2 months go by with out a post. Nothing to say? Hardly...maybe just a change in focus and not sure I wanted to write about it. This has been a very long, dark, dreary winter and I, for one am glad to be done with it. So on to spring and I am grateful. I need light. The woodstove has a new purpose holding the San Marzano seedlings.

I started a drawing class in a private studio in January and the second semester began March 31 and goes through to May12. It has been a great experience, one I look forward to weekly. I have been drawing and sketching all my life and even took a number of classes in college but this class is being taught in the classical way. There is always more to be learned and understood. I have been introduced to some interesting music as well, which has been a bonus and will write about at another time. We are a small group of 5 women being taught by artist, Sally Caswell, in her studio. It has been wonderful experience for me. I feel like a sponge every week, just soaking it all up.

My daughter is planning landscape changes. A need for some privacy is pressing. So we visited a nursery and she was told some of her options. I have been pressed into using my drafting degree from years ago to plot her yard rather than having the nursery staff do it which will save some cash and she took her own photos which helps as well. It will be fun to see what the designer comes up with because it is a challenging yard. She feels like she is in a fish bowl...

Well this was a start. I hope to be more faithful to posting. Have a great day and thanks for reading...

Good boy, Cosmo, good boy...

2008-02-22T10:39:00.008-05:00

Cosmo
1998-2008

This morning we said good bye to a dear, gentle soul...

And The Cow Jumped Over The Moon...

2008-02-18T23:21:00.008-05:00

One of my favorite animals after the dog of course, are cows. Love the cows. Love all animals actually, but love those cows. But unfortunately someone designated them as dinner...So watching the news and seeing the cows in feed lots, stumbling, unable to walk to their demise just undoes me. I cry, say horrible things to the man on TV news who was prodding the cows to move. There is a little blurb on the front page our my local paper today that directs the reader to the story on page 2, that states "The U.S. Department of Agriculture recalls 143 million pounds of frozen beef-the largest on record-produced at a California slaughterhouse..."-The Providence Journal, February 18, 2008. Now there's a nice thought, getting your dinner from a slaughter house, nice gourmet touch...I can't go to a farm, pet the animals, then eat them. Can't do it. Don't want to do it. I get my protein from other sources. Some don't like to think about where their food comes from, others just don't care one way or the other. I personally don't care what others eat, none of my business. I have my feelings about it, but they are my feelings. But I do speak up when animals or humans are being mistreated, not that it does any good. But why would I expect animals to be treated in a humane manner when we are unable to even treat each other as such...Middle East, Africa, United States, here in our own neighborhoods...

Bon Appitite

Have a good day. And hey, just consider some alternatives...a non violent way of eating.

Thanks for reading.

Birthday Thoughts

2008-02-13T13:02:00.007-05:00

Well, today is my birthday...One I was not happy about, a big one, a decade changing one...one I have been watching creep up on me ever so quietly. Stomping my feet, no this can't be. Where ever has the time gone. Just last week a program aired on TV about the Blizzard of '78, thirty years ago. That bit of information caught me up short! Thirty years...

But as this week began and it was now imminent, just hours away, I slipped into grateful acceptance. I was reading a blog I enjoy, Pomegranates and Paper yesterday, another birthday girl. Loretta said she was grateful for having arrived at her birthday intact. That statement caused me to think. Yes, I too have "arrived intact" and very grateful, also grateful for my family, husband, children, grandchildren, cousin,dear friends who are like family and all the animals in my life...and very grateful for my health and general wellbeing. My life is full...

I started my day at 4 AM because my daughter needed to be at the hospital for an out patient
surgery and she just needed her Mom. I could not find any coffee ( Dunkin Donuts) open at that awful hour not to mention the stinken snow and ice on the roads...So I was my usual grumpy self before coffee. But my very grown up daughter with three children of her own just smiled and humored me and told everyone in ear shot that it was her Mom's birthday. How can you stay grumpy...impossible with everyone wishing you happy birthday. I started to think about the little ones who were entering the world while I was waiting for her to come out of surgery and recovery as we were in a ob/gyn hospital. Yes, I was getting quite philosophic. Ended that train real quick. Did some drawing, some more thinking, news watching and settled gently into this new number while I waited. I am still me, don't feel any different but maybe a little wiser, realizing time is not to be wasted on what ifs or squandered on meaningless things. I still look forward to each morning with anticipation and I have a twisted sense of humor that serves me well, gets me through allot. So I look forward to the rest of my day wherever it takes me. I am content with wherever or whatever, I am OK.

Now if we could just fast forward to spring...no, that is kind of a what if...so I will enjoy this time to be in and dry and warm and settle down to doing something I enjoy or maybe just a nap with the girls...they have started without me.

Found this beautiful quote which I thought I would share with my animal loving readers. Which by the way guess who won at The Westminster Kennel Club dog show the other night. It would be a very proud Beagle by the name of Uno. My "girls" were quite excited, not...Only food has that power.

Dogs are our link to paradise.
They don't know evil or
jealousy or discontent. To sit
with a dog on a hillside on a
glorious afternoon is to be
back in Eden, where doing
nothing was not boring ---
it was peace.

Milan Kundera (1929- )
Franco-Czech writer; author
of 'The Unbearable Lightness
of Being."

Finished some chenille scarves.

Sorry if this was alittle disjointed, just where I am today. Have a great day and thanks for reading.
Peace...

What Is Art?...

2008-01-31T23:31:00.001-05:00

I stumbled upon this video made by a group called Creature Comforts. It made me laugh so much that I had to watch it a few more times in order to hear the comments. So I have decided it should be shared... what with all the blues and funk we all seem to be suffering from. My favorite is the dog. Gee, no surprise there.

Another thought is to get your hands on a book by one of my favorite authors, Ann Lamott, called Traveling Mercies. Read the book of course but fast forward to the chapter called "The Aunties". Funny stuff, guys, funny, funny stuff...

Have a great day and I really hope this has made you smile and thanks for reading or viewing.

Inspiring Days

2008-01-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

I was out looking for some enamel ware in the local antique and used shops. The enamel was just the excuse I needed to go on a hunt. I like hunts. A chance to go out alone and clear my head, no rushing, no agenda, just be...I thought some enamel bowls would make good water containers on my drafting table. I tire of looking at the cool whip containers...I was successful in that not only did I find two the same but they had covers. The covers are a good thing as my cat enjoys watercolor water and walking across the palette and leaving her paw prints on anything that might be on the table. This, of course, is without my encouragement, as with most of what Abby does. She is a cat after all. My beagles wouldn't dream of such behavior.

But sometimes one comes across something that they are not even looking for and at first glance, not even remotely interested in. But ah, your brain knows different. I purchased my containers and left the store but thought about the item I was not interested in. Strange...browsed through the next shop, right next door, and the whole time browsing I thought about the item in the shop I had just left. I thought how I had never seen one like it before. I have a small collection of them, very small. Not something I actively pursue. Thought I would love to draw it, maybe use it in a painting. The reason I was not interested in it in the first place was, I saw it had no use in it's present condition, I had put it and my thoughts in a box. I realized I loved the object and practically ran out of the shop, back to the first shop and walked, speed walked, straight to the shelf and picked that old enamel tea pot up and cradled it as I walked to the desk to pay for it. I brought it home and gently washed it and found it made me smile. It's shape is wonderful, the "short and stout" of the children's song I sang all the time as a little one ( I had it on a 33 and a third...Oh boy, there are people who don't even know what that is). The spout has a wonderful curve and the body of the pot is so smooth. I have sketched it twice already and I think of things to put with it in a composition. I am inspired by of all things, an old enamel teapot...One never knows when and where that spark will come from. I have learned to be open and ready to act on it. I have been given a gift today, in a few forms.
I leave with a sunset I stopped for on my way home.

Thanks for reading and have a great day being inspired and acting on it.

Hopeful Days

2008-01-08T23:08:00.000-05:00

Just who are you? Maggie would be interested in knowing...

Then Amy comes up along side to investigate this new thing...do you have cookies?

Oh, whatever...I have things to do. Welcome.

The story about the penguin is kind of funny, I guess. Maybe you had to be there. I was having a conversation with a couple of my friends a few weeks back where I was recommending some movies, Eight Below
and the March of the Penguins
In the course of our talk we were talking about the penguins and the size of them. I thought they were my size. When you look at them, they are always against snow...I just always thought of them as people size. Well, our talk was being listened in on with some chuckles and we just looked at them like what is wrong with you all? Well we were educated although I still had my doubts that they knew what they were talking about. Little penguins, really. Sunday I was given a gift bag after church by my friend, Sue's husband. It was with great expectancy that he told me I had to open it there , on the spot, in the parking lot. So I reached in and what did I pull out, a "normal "size penguin I am told. Sue saw it in a store and decided I needed it for size reference. Paul and family enjoyed this so.

Thanks, Sue. He lives in my studio. I still think they are larger. It just doesn't seem right.I will leave you with this image I took tonight. As I was beginning to cook dinner this evening, I passed the window on my way to get something, when I saw this, dropped everything and ran outside with my camera. I just stayed outside and admired this beautiful sky. The weather has been unseasonably mild for the past few days. It was so nice to just stand outside and take in the sunset. Seed catalogs have started to arrive. Trying to not get ahead of myself but it is hard. I am in a funk, and can't get out of my own way. I need warmer weather, windows opened, and longer days. Tired of the dark short days, but I do see the difference as small as it is. They are getting slowly longer, minutely so, but longer none the less. Cause for hope. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Caucus Days

2008-01-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight has been an interesting evening politically. The results are encouraging on allot of levels. Especially the numbers of people who decided show up and make a difference. People are showing the obvious, enough is enough. That's it. All I have to say. Have a great night and thanks for reading.

New Days 0f 2008

2008-01-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I feel like I am coming up for air. Things are going back to normal.
The tree is down and none to soon either, decorations neatly packed away. In putting boxes away I wondered how did the basement get like this...So as I was sweeping and beginning to rearrange I was thinking about the year ahead as well as the year that had just ended. I have spent this first day of 2008 in pajamas and making soup and trying to make some order in my house and in thoughts. At midnight I had a brush in my hand, so on all counts, a good beginning.

It has been a good year with its share of joy, good times, trying new things, going back to things I have always wanted to do...because of these things I was able to go through the not so joyful things, the sadnesses, the losses. I am grateful, grateful for the balance I suppose.
I am also looking at the things that were not working for me and how to change them or change me. So for 2008 I am going to continue my quest to paint, for me... , to paint like I just don't care(but you really do), and to let go of the outcome. I also enjoyed taking pictures this year. Going somewhere on purpose to take photos. I did that a few times and just got lost , in a zone as they say. I want to continue to expand my weaving as well, learn new things. Use up the fiber I have accumulated. But in order to do these things and do them well, I need to be peaceful and focused. I have not worked this all out yet, but small steps. Sometimes peace comes in the seeking. So seek on.
Speaking of weaving. I entered "my" room and who do I find relaxing? Miss Abigale looking quite pleased with herself
The weaving group was just discussing this problem a few weeks ago. What is she reading e-mail lately? Figuring the other cats are doing it, why not me. Well she, Abby, woke up pretty quick, quite abruptly actually. But she has been back and also visiting another loom in the kitchen. Yes, looms just sprout in here.

Well so much for getting this posted on January 1, it is now January 2. Have a great year, filled with joy, health and peace. And thanks for reading.

Days of Anticipation

2007-11-29T10:42:00.000-05:00

I see I have not posted in 2 months. Where are those two months? What have I been doing I ask myself. Quite a bit actually, it has been an extremely busy time which appears to be winding down. It is not good to be that busy but sometimes it just happens I suppose with not much one can do about it.
But I switch gears now and I am trying to quiet down. The time of year we find ourselves in helps me do that. It is darker, grayer. Sunday, December 2 is the beginning of Advent and that is what I plan to celebrate. The days are getting shorter with less and less light available so we light candles set in a circular candle holder that is wrapped with greens in anticipation of the birth of Christ and it happens to coincide with the shortening days leading to that place on the calender where it all switches and the days slowly grow in length again, Light. We are waiting for Light...
So that is what this season will be for me. Not big shopping deals, no craziness, not even 6 dozen cookies for exchanges. I feel the need to keep it all centered and simple.
Cosmo is still with us although showing signs of slowing down.
I am weaving and keeping my brushes wet, but again, even there, trying to keep it simple. First I have a white and cranberry wool yarns scarf on one loom, actually it will produce three scarves. The pattern is found in Hands On Weaving and Handwoven's Design Collection 3. It is Dornick Twill(4 harness reverse broken twill) - 1234,2143. This is number two. One more to go.Then on the next loom I have a shawl, using plain weave, that is close to finished . The yarn is my handspun. So far I have no trouble weaving with my handspun, and I use it for warp and weft. I have a warp for another shawl ready to go on when ever one of the looms frees up and more warps to wind...

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Changing

2007-09-29T23:41:00.001-04:00

This piece of cloth began with a question from the head of the Design Team at the church I attend, would I weave for the Celebration of Arts Day in April...maybe a demonstration. I thought yes I could do that. Then I remembered an article I had read about a "story" cloth and thought maybe I could incorporate the idea within the demonstration. We asked for pieces of peoples lives, for me to weave into the cloth, bits and pieces of fabric from loved ones, special days, special memories, prayers, beads, stones, etc. We asked that those who participated would prayerfully consider what to give for the cloth. I began it at the Celebration of Arts, then the loom was brought home and I let it sit a while as I waited for people to respond to the call for their items. Finally it was time to begin the weaving and I wove on it exclusively for 4 days, 4 days of thinking about the church, the fact that I could weave for the Lord(overwhelming) especially after reading Exodus 35:35- He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver-those who do very work and those who design artistic works. I became very touched by the pieces of fabric, stone, beads and the stories attached to them and I couldn't stop until it was finished.
I thought of Meme's wedding dress, a widow giving me a piece of his shirt"closest to his heart", left over fabrics for twin grand-daughters,yarns from hats made for the Seafarers Mission, wedding dresses, shirts,stones with meaning. I had been entrusted with these items and I was humbled. I feel differently about weaving now, I am grateful for it and I now look to God for direction in it and all that I do. As the verse stated, He filled them...pretty powerful. I have been changed.

This was read at church this evening as the story cloth was presented to the congregation at the start of the annual meeting. I wrote it to be read, I am a weaver not a public speaker. Anyway, that aside, the piece is now where it belongs, on the communion table. It now has it's purpose to fulfill, for which I am satisfied. I may do another, another layer if you while...as now people have an understanding of what I was doing. So I hope there is interest, I would love to continue where I left off. We are a community of many stories, all important, all valid, all needing to be told and heard.

I have been painting, warming up, practicing, trying things out. Putting paint on the paper, learning things about myself as I move along. I like to rush, who knew? I like being busy and getting allot done. Watercolor likes slow people, not fast ones. Watercolor, like weaving, wants me to slow my thoughts and responses. To think about what it is I am trying to accomplish.
So I am still on one eggplant, one pear etc. Playing with washes and wet in wet and trying some things. A teacher I had a number of years ago told me to paint, paint, paint and I didn't. So here I am still needing to paint and draw, what is that anyway. It is like a insect bite. So back on the bike I climb this time armed with a little more confidence and realizing that it is ok, I am doing this for me. "We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way." - John Holt I have that quote hanging up in "my room"for lack of a better name for it at present. The other quote I like is "Let go of the outcome"- Abraham Maslow
Anyway, back to the pear, it is unfinished but I was posting and thought I'd add it. I had to let it dry to work on it a little more. That is the problem for me, patiently let it dry. So how did I get around that miner glitch in my personality, started another painting...

Maggie says hello. I just love this hound. She just makes me smile.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Summer's Swan Song

2007-09-22T09:30:00.000-04:00

I think my sunflowers are still beautiful. This morning, as I was having my coffee, I thought they are bowing and receiving applause for their beautiful performance this summer. I don't have the heart to remove them from the garden so I won't.

This is Cosmo. You met him with his new brother...
Well it appears that big, smiling, happy boy's days are numbered, exactly how long, we don't know. He went to the vet for an exam and to check one thing and another thing was found instead...the tests were done and the phone call received...he has cancer, untreatable. My daughter and my grandsons are pretty upset, obviously. He has been a part of their lives, our lives for 10 years, through the good and bad, he was always there sometimes when other weren't. So without getting overly emotional we have a plan. I have personally been to the pet supply store twice this week for special cookies for him(all natural). I run to her house, load them with peanut butter(his favorite food) and feed him. So we are going to love on him, spoil him...They are fighting over who's bed he is going to sleep in each night. Only dog lover's will understand our sadness, and our need to make him comfortable and happy, that is OK. It is not "just a dog" but someone we love and care for...I have promised my daughter that she will not have to go alone to the vet if he is suffering but I am really praying it does not come to that, rather I would like him to go from natural causes, just find him "gone" one morning, quietly and peacefully, that's my prayer. Feel free to join me in that one.
We had a scare on Wednesday. My daughter called me, panicked. Cos can't walk , he is shaking and won't eat. We only found out on Monday so I couldn't see as he would fail that quickly. But then in talking to my other daughter it seems she came on Tuesday to take the boy for a walk or we thought. Instead she took him jogging, 4 times around the lake and up and down some hills. He was leaning against her when they were done...? Our question, what were you thinking, he is 70 in dog years, he is not use to that much exercise. Anyway he is better, he survived his Aunt's exercise therapy.
I managed to finish a pair of socks, but really have not done much. In a creative slump of sorts and have been extremely busy with various things.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Sunflower Days

2007-08-08T10:37:00.000-04:00

My sunflower bloomed today with more to follow!

When I looked at my photos yesterday I could not believe how far from shore I had gotten. How did I get this image one might ask?

Well, I am asking that as well. But no I was in this green kayak that belongs to my friend, Anne, who let me borrow it.

Although I live in the Ocean State I am not a great lover of the water, I fear it because of a few mishaps as a child. So this was a big thing for me. My daughter and her small group decided to do more together so they went kayaking, dinner in the town, back into their kayaks and back to one of their homes for s'mores. Then I was invited last week and I held my breath and said sure. I felt safe enough as there were 9 of us and I had a very good life jacket on, but I still held my breath. I learned on the job about paddling, depth, beaching, boating rights of way while kayaking in Wickford Harbor.
We had the best time and ended up back to the starting point for s'mores and drinks.
So fast forward to Sunday after church and my daughter who has gone out and outfitted herself last week to continue this new adventure, decides we should go kayaking.
Boy, I don't know about this, it is just us...But we went, took her 16 and 19 year old sons and borrowed kayaks were there along with oars and jackets. We just stayed close to shore as opposed to traveling into town as we did last week. We stayed out all afternoon and it was great. Shoving off...

Yes to new things...being brave..taking safe risks(what is a safe risk)I know what I mean...breaking out of my safe box. It has to be the haircut...
I also played volleyball last week and made it through the whole game, in a dress, barefoot(birthday party)in a horse field. Have not played since high school. Got the picture? But play I did. We even had a whiffle ball game and I played that as well. Has got to be the hair...Had a ball, no pun intended. We just had the best time. We laughed more than anything. What was really nice was there were all ages on the two teams. Fun

I have been harvesting and always say to myself I am going to paint this...Well I did and I am even going to post it, another risk...
Have I been weaving or knitting? Knitting my socks, too hot for anything else plus I haven't been sitting still long enough to knit, although the thought occurs to me I could knit in the kayak...I did finish the blanket yesterday.
Here is a shot of it being cut off the loom and the ends bing tied in an overhand knot in groups of 4 ends each. Today I will finish off the ends and wash it and set it out to dry. Great breezy dry day for it.
Have a great day and thanks for reading...

Dog Days of Summer

2007-08-03T12:05:00.000-04:00

Anticipation...

How pathetic is this? This is what I have to put up with. I cook, she begs. She has it down to a science now. She drags her dish around and lies beside it and looks tired, sad, and hungry...And if that is not bad enough, the other one, Amy, is waiting in the wings to swoop in for the drop. She has age on her side so she lets Maggie do the work. They have become a tag team. It doesn't work anymore, I am on to them...

Weaving has finally started on this blanket. Gosh, I felt like what was up... I counted wrong on the warp winding. Then if that wasn't bad enough, while I was warping back to front(which is my preference) I removed the raddle after spreading out the warp in groups of 8 EPI(ends per inch). I actually removed it and started to wind on and of course I ended up with a big mess of 406 ends...Then realized my error, what was I thinking? I have no idea. I know better. So I made more work for myself and unwound and reinserted the raddle and all that entailed. The thought occurs to me that weavers must be a stubborn, tenacious group of people, otherwise how would we go from warp to warp with these types of occurrences occasionally happening? I am stubborn and it works for me in this instance. I have started weaving, with 13 inches done and I discovered a threading error which will be taken care of with needle weaving when it comes off the loom, and if that is not enough, two threads popped while advancing forward, fixed them, then a little further discover a weaving error, two passes in the same shed----------and it being double weave guess what, I treadled out of step. Anyway, all is fixed and ready to go again. I don't know what the deal is but it happens. But what I do know is that when I sit at my loom I relax and all is right with my world and all it took to get here is all over, not important other than learning from...kind of a metaphor of life wouldn't you say?

I'll end this post with a image of a sunset the other night while at Point Judith eating clam cakes and chowder. We buy them at Aunt Carrie's (the best ) then drive down the road to the lighthouse , park the car and listen to the waves crashing, watch people fish, and the sunset. It is the best on 90 degree days and evenings.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Days To Feed On

2007-07-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

On a recent Sunday afternoon one of my daughter's called me to ask if I still had the puppy crate. Some families ask about cribs, with us, it is puppy crates. Then a question about purchasing a puppy, an English Bulldog to be exact. We had our conversation, we hung up and I thought that was the end of it. I should have known that with my kids a conversation is really the beginning of something...Half hour later I was in her car along with her friend and we were off to Massachusetts to buy a English Bulldog puppy, a surprise for my 16 year old grandson. He had been talking about the need for a pup, and he and I had been looking at them on the internet on July 4. They have an older guy, Cosmo(Cramer). Cos has had some serious health issues in the past and we are lucky we( I say we, I live five houses away ) still have him. He is a great dog, kind of goofy but a lovable boy. Fast forward a few hours and we arrive with the pup and everyone is in love...especially Cosmo.

Meet Mr. Beefy T. Wellington...who is looking quite embarrassed by Cosmo's extreme show of emotion. It's just like grandchildren, I can walk over there, play with the puppy, and come home to my lazy dogs who do nothing but eat and sleep and the occasional yodel to tell me something is happening somewhere but they don't quite know where...

Haven't got much of anything done on the weaving or knitting front but have been having a great time in any case. We were invited(a group of us ) to the Newport Music Festival.
It was a wonderful time of good friends, hors d'oeuvre and wine out on a tented patio at Rosecliff, one of the summer "cottages" to which I had never been before. This was a new and wonderful experience. I considered it an artist date that Julia Cameron writes of in The Artist's Way.

Then on to Friday and a trip to NEWS to visit vendors and to see the various exhibits was on tap. New England Weavers Seminar was held at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is always fun to visit vendors. I was able to pick up missing Handwoven Magazines, Handwoven Treasury 19, 8/2 cottons, and seine twine. Then off to the exhibits. Each of the New England state guilds had a challenge for example rep weave, table linens, pot holders. Those filled a large room in the campus library and were all inspirational to look at' There were notebooks accompanying each state exhibit with pictures and drafts that were allowed to be copied for our own use. Also set up was a traveling library of drafts which we also were able to use. My friend was looking for a log cabin weave for a new expected grandchild's blanket. She found what she was looking for. It is a great resource. Then we made our way upstairs to see the mentor and judged exhibits. Then a walk through the wonderful gardens at Smith College. They were obviously set up to be enjoyed as well as a learning tool. There were paths and plants were labled and there were spots to just sit and enjoy.
It was a great day with again good friends, Sharon and Jean. We could not leave Northampton without a stop to Webs, and stop we did. I found some merino/tencel to spin, then started for home. Stopped for dinner and sundaes of course. A perfect day for a fiber person plenty of exhibits for inspiration, plenty of vendors to feed that inspiration, and food...

I am making progress on both looms...

Have a great day and thanks for reading. And please feel free to comment if the spirit moves you...

Surprise!

2007-07-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

Now I can post the photo of the finished knitted item. It was a gift for our very pregnant Nuala, the secretary of our knitting guild. She has three little boys and this little one is a girl. She offered to have the July meeting at her home and one of our members suggested a baby shower, a surprise. We all loved the idea and it was just the best. I really looked forward to this and enjoyed the knitting of the sweater for the baby and possibly because Nuala is just a great person. The baby received woven wash cloths,hand knit and machine knit sweaters, hats, socks(real socks)shawls for nursing, felted booties. We just threw ourselves into this and had the best time. The baby is due September 1. Nuala states she will be at the next meeting, August 8. Funny aside, the next meeting is at the home of our resident midwife...how cool is that. Hmm...

Belonging to guilds have enriched me. I have been apart of my spinning and knitting guilds for close to 15 years, and weaving guild alittle less on and off. The comradery in learning and trying new things is invaluable, not to mention we become apart of each others lives. We are as diverse as we can be in age, beliefs, married, single, widowed, ect. and yet we pretty much just blend and it is something I am really grateful for. Some of our groups have smaller spin off groups, probably pun intended...and those groups have kept me personally afloat in some very real ways in the past couple of years and I guess today I just want to say a public thank you to them, they know who they are. We share, encourage, laugh, untangle balls of sock yarn that beagle #2 tried her hand at, we are just there... So it was with great pleasure to share Thursday night with my guild and Nuala's family.

Here is my next wound warp. 392 ends of cotton novelty of which I dyed some. It will go one the loom as double width and it will be a baby blanket. I am stuck on blankets and shawls and my lttle tapestry deal is still on the other loom.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Full Days

2007-07-12T11:50:00.000-04:00

It has been a productive week and satisfyingly busy although the refrigerator is still sporting it's duct tape and still I procrastinate. I think because I know it will be a domino thing. I can not even write about it because then I must think about it, and then I'll be off looking at boring refrigerators...
Saturday our spinning guild was invited to a farmers market at Casey Farm. It was wonderful, the weather, the farm, the people and my fellow spinners. Many people came over to stop and talk and ask questions. One person was a alpaca farmer wanting information on what to do with his fiber. He actually went home and brought back some of his wonderful fiber and gave all of us some to spin and knit or weave. It was incredibly soft with much crimp. Looks more like a super fine wool doesn't it? It feels as it looks. I weighed it on my trusty food scale, 8 oz. He is hoping we like it and will come back for more. He is a very nice guy. The farm is Shadow Pines Farm, Alpacas. and can be reached at: shadowpinesalpacafarm@cox.net. He will be happy to answer any questions. Tell him I sent you.
Then another person came up to us and offered lama to us, free. Someone gave to her, she does not spin. So I brought home two lama bumps.

It turned out to be a fun day with going to lunch with two of my spinning buds but when we parked the cars what was facing us but Knit One Purl Too Yarn Shop in Wakefield, RI. So of course we detoured before lunch. After lunch we walked a little and came upon glass blowers. We were mesmerized.
Sometimes it pays to park the car and walk around. We watched this process for a while. They were making a set of hand blown drinking glasses that were beautiful. Watching them was like attending a ballet. Each had a part to play in this dance.
I finished the shawl. It's fiber is hand spun, hand dyed wool and a commercial mohair blend whose colors just went so well with the hand spun. It was a quick weave as I needed the loom for the next item. My other loom is busy with a tapestry sampler on it. I am trying to learn a new technique. I weave, and unweave, and weave again and sometimes unweave that as well as I go through each new section. Slow going but I want to learn it so I am motivated. I have not been able to spend allot of time on it this week because it has been so hot and humid and I needed to finish a knitted item that had a dead line. It is finished. Just needs buttons. Those will be on today and then I can take a photo.
Have agreat day and thanks for reading.

Watermelon Days

2007-07-01T09:08:00.000-04:00

H ow hot was it? The following photos of the dogs and watermelon are for a friend who states dogs don't eat watermelon when I tell him Maggie and Amy do, although that isn't really a big deal, they eat everything, they are Beagles after all, it's in their DNA.

It has been a varied week, weather and activity wise. It started by the temperatures rising to the point that I went and got my hair cut. Simple and quick as that. It was 95 degrees...one looses all rationality at those numbers. I was having my usual issues with blogger. Figured some things out only to loose pictures and links...so of course in the midst of total frustration and sweating and feeling like I have been sent through a blast furnace my hair was the first to go. I could no longer stand the heaviness of it. Only suppose to be a few inches, chin length. Well unless my ear lobes have moved...Anyway getting use to the "new" me, I don't like change. This took two trips to hair salon, one for the mistake and second to fix mistake.
In the knitting part of my life I remember just last week writing about lists and things to do and prior to that priding myself for working from stash. Well, we all know what pride comes before. My first mistake was thinking I could go to a yarn shop and come out without a bag. Last Saturday I went to a knitting blogger meet-up at Sakonnet Purls. I did have a post about it with the appropriate links but Blogger was having hiccups so it was lost. I met some new to me bloggers who live locally and some bloggers who are already friends; Kristen, Cindy, Debbie, Kimberly, Erika, and Sarah. I found Noro for 4.00 a ball. Sorry, I was not able to just say no. It came home with me, all 5 skeins. More plans. Then blame the heat, the meet-up, the bad haircut and I needed to pick up yarn for a weaving project. So two more yarn shops were visited on Thursday or was it Friday, whatever, the same damage was done. Then yesterday, Saturday off to our monthly spin in at Rhode Island Handspun and I came home with 2 magazines, Wild Fibers and the new Interweave Felt, a drive band for my Louet, 3 packets of Cushing's Dye and more yarn. That's it, I am taking my keys away from me and hiding my debit card.
On the knitting front I am finishing a large shawl for one of my DD to wrap up in for TV or reading for her birthday tomorrow. I started it a while ago with no real plan for it but occasional my DD would comment on it's color or how nice it was. With that in mind it became Cheryl's. Then there is a gift for someone else to get finished .

I am warping both looms, one for a shawl out of some hand dyed homespun and the other for a tapestry sampler I would like to try.
To finish this week I have duct tape keeping my freezer tightly closed. That you really do not want to see. Yes, I am suppose to be refrigerator shopping and consumer report reading, oh God, spare me. That is assuming I have a subscription to consumer reports, which I don't. So I procrastinate and wish I didn't have to deal with this.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

My Life Is Full

2007-06-23T11:12:00.001-04:00

I make lists in my head, on paper, and really my stash of fiber or fabric or weaving yarns are all a list of things planned, therefore, to do. So with that thought in mind I get overwhelmed just looking at my stuff. I'll pick up a piece of fabric and think ,oh yes, that is going to be a bag, the yarn in that bin is going to be a blanket or a sweater...and so it goes. I visit my basement "store" and come upstairs arms full of the projects that were intended, and once again they are revisited. Some of them actually make it to the sewing machine, knitting needles, or the loom. Some sadly go back down to the basement when the pile grows out of control again. Is anyone with me on this? So today I post those that made it from plan to reality with a catcher thrown in for fun, no pun intended.
The first item is a messenger bag out of decorator fabric from Butterick B4247.
Next I found this paw print denim and thought dog mat, so 4 years later we have a dog mat for what else but the lazy girls , Amy and Maggie. My design, no pattern. I used layers of thick quilt batting I had( a store I tell you) and just made an envelope and stitched. It is washable as they have been known as the mud sisters as well. But the important thing is it is off the list as well as the bag. Gone, space clear in my head...Feels good.

Then I attended my grandson, Anthony's championship ballgame last week. Very important. He is the catcher and very serious about baseball. But alas, he is a Yankee fan, poor thing and I am a Red Sox fan. We have had some interesting conversations about this, but I love him anyway, he is the best. Oh and the game? They won it, so on to citywide championships later in the summer. He will be unbearable.
Funny story about Anthony's arrival almost 13 years ago...wow. I had two looms in my living room, a 22" Harrisville and a 54" Glimakra it was a long room and I could pull it off, at least in my mind, I pulled it off. My daughter, Anthony's mom didn't agree. So when I wanted to have the baby shower in my home she absolutely refused, no looms at her shower, thank you very much...Life is funny, shower came and went somewhere else. But the night she went in to labor the only way she could get comfortable was sit on the Harrisvlle loom bench and hang onto the Glimakra back beam. And hang on she did until we left for the hospital. I did not let the irony escape either...
The last photo is the finished story cloth. I presented it last night at a Muse and Mingle at my church. A time of talking about inspiration and questions about what we think art is , etc. Good inspiring night...This project was very moving. As I wove and handled each piece of someone's life and thought about what the fabric was...a piece of a husband's shirt who has passed away, wedding dresses, ribbons with meaning, quilt pieces, yarns from specific things made from them, fabric pieces from clothes worn for special things the person loves to do, stones, jewelry, and memories. I was blessed and humbled by this piece of weaving like nothing else I have ever done...
Thanks for reading and have a great day and I hope you get to enjoy the beautiful summer weather. I am off to a meeting for local knitting bloggers at Sakonnet Purls.

More to learn today...

2007-06-02T09:19:00.000-04:00

My daughter bought herself a wonderful new camera a couple of weeks ago, a Nikon D -80 and along with it she received 18 free digital camera lessons of which she can take a guest. She chose Mom. Aw. Her friend is joining us, so it should prove if nothing else today to be fun. Of course they both have the big guys for cameras, and I will be sporting my little Olympus FE-170. I am new to the digital world, so this is great. I carry my camera everywhere.
On the fiber front I finished the shawl of wool and silk. It needs to be steamed a little to neaten it up other than that it is soft and airy. The garden and new adventures of learning keep me really busy but am getting things done.
OK need to run. I am notoriously late for everything and my daughter is painfully punctual so I have been warned...I leave you with a shot I took on the way home from Shearing Day a few weeks ago. I was coming over the Jamestown Bridge and the sun was beginning to set. I t is really great to witness these moments.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

Shopping in the basement...

2007-05-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

I have warped the loom with a wool/silk yarn for a shawl. Just plain weave, moving quickly. Was not the intent, just is. That is OK, have to finish the story cloth, some pot holders, and a baby blanket are in the planning stages and a few other things as well. It is pretty neat though. I love looking at a loom threaded and you see warp threads and fabric. It can slow me down sometimes because I stop and look and touch, lightly dragging my fingers across the width of it in amazement. I am doing something people have been doing for thousands of years and it humbles me.
Last week I was searching in my basement "store" for something to bring to the farm to spin on shearing day. In so doing I came across this fleece that I made a mental note to come back to. Come back I did. It is a romney fleece from Watson Farm, from shearing day 2006. It is washed and ready to process. I also found my Indigo Hound wool combs, hackle, diz, and accessories. So for simplicities sake I may just use the wool combs out on the deck during the early evening hours and make little "birds nests" ready to spin.
I love when I am on a hunt for something in my stash and I get sidetracked by other finds that I have totally forgotten about. It is like a little shopping trip, "new stuff". I am trying to work from stash this year and so far not to bad. Well, there was a trip to Web's for 8/2 weaving cotton, Brown Sheep bulky for a felted bag,some Araucania Nature Wool just because and Austermann sock yarn with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil in it. Should be interesting. But that has been it this year, so far. I think I am allowed one fall...Seven months to go.
The temperature is rising quickly. It is 11:30 AM and the thermometer reads 91.9. OK, that is hot. Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Spinning At Watson Farm

2007-05-14T11:17:00.000-04:00

Saturday was spent at Watson Farm on the island of Jamestown, Rhode Island with some of the members of RI Spinning Guild, of which I belong to. One of our members helps run this farm with her husband and we are invited yearly to his event. We spin, talk, laugh, watch the shearer and keep track of the fleeces as we demonstrate and interact with the public.

A Celebration of the Arts

2007-05-01T08:59:00.000-04:00

Saturday I spent the day at my church with my 40" Harrisville loom demonstrating weaving. In the next photo you can see my loom on the back of a pickup going on holiday for the weekend. It was a great day with many people stopping and asking questions. Some people had no idea what I was doing or what I was doing it on! I had decided on making a "story cloth" of 8/2 cotton in plain weave, a story of the my church community. This cloth will be made of pieces of cloth, natural fibers, jewelry, beads, ribbons, trims, etc. I asked that people please prayerfully consider what they would like to include in the cloth. What might they include that would represent them or someone they love. They could bring something meaningful, like a piece of fabric from a special garment or strips of a favorite fabric. I warped the loom at the church the night before until 1:30 AM. That was an experience. I was humming, whistling, close to talking to myself. I was alone downstairs while others were upstairs hanging paintings and photos and art in general made by the members of the church. I finally got it warped and decided to send a few picks in for a header but I had no tension. Needless to say I was sick. The loom appeared or the friction brake appeared to be not working. At home over toast at 2 AM looking through the Harrisville booklet, the photo showing the brake peddle and it's cord looking somewhat in a different position than mine...I still researched friction brake issues and purchased sandpaper on my way back to the church the next day. Also on Hi,It"s Terri I read about live-weight tention. Looks interesting. Something one uses instead of the brake on the loom. But not enough information for me that day to use...But back to church I go armed with some things to try. The first being to re-route the brake cord...it was the problem. The loom had been in the basement apart. I tried to find a smaller loom to use but there were none close by so the next best thing was my second loom. I have two looms, both 40". One a Macomber and the Harrisville. So I quickly put it together, quickly being the operative word. It was arranged that someone with a truck would come for it as I said. So now it is back home and I am awaiting more additions from people who now have more of an understanding of what I am doing so I can finish it. It will then go to the church with a journal of who and what people gave and it will live on the Communion table and belong to the church.

A book was mentioned in the program Art and the Bible by Francis A. Schaeffer. Looks interesting and will read it but one of the thoughts was encouraging. "Being in the image of the creator, we are called upon to have creativity. In fact it is part of the image of God to be creator or to have creativity."
"He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers." Exodus 35:35 I think that is so cool , written so long ago.
Here is my Amy. She agreed to a photo shoot and her eyes are just fine. Look at that white face. She is a sweet girl.
Ah, my flowers are beginning to return. I found these white bleeding hearts as I was roaming around my winter weary yard. Maybe now I will be able to get out and do some work . It is actually May 1. It is so nice to look out and see green, grass, leaves, and flowers. Yes, green is good right now isn't it.
Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Finishing

2007-04-22T23:26:00.000-04:00

This has been a hard week, for obvious reasons and some not so obvious. Things that do not make any sense at all to me and yet totally understanding, to some degree. Then there was the storm, the northeaster, the giver of water to one's basement. The loss of cable, phone and electricity all in one day was just too much. So one night while out doing my 3 mile walk, I thought I couldn't wait to get home and pick up my knitting, I just needed to sit and knit and not think about anything too terribly important. I needed the comfort of the familiar, the needles, the wool. Knitting is one thing I can control...So with that said I finished the left side of my sweater and started right in on the right. Of course I ripped it back once and restarted as forgot to reverse it all...Walking does not cure everything.

Then there was Saturday Spin In so I cleaned and polished my spinning wheels and finished a project I had been spinning for a while. I hesitate to say how long. It is Merino roving multi color that is primarily black, plum and with specks of color. It is plied and waiting to be set. I had planned to weave it. Still thinking about what. I initially wanted to make a triangle shawl on the floor loom with it, but I have already done it with some stash yarn. I used an online pattern from Handwoven. It was easy enough until the point when I had to do the technique that makes it a triangle, a little hard to explain. I unwove it a couple of times and finally finished it but I had to cut and sew to fix the tension problem. So I do not want to try that again. So it will be a shawl I think. Also at the last meeting of our spinning guild we were given some white and black wool from one of our member's sheep. We are to spin it and make something. If I could add the picture without upsetting everything I would. So instead imagine a puff of white and a puff of black

Also the blanket is off the loom. It is finished, washed, ends twisted and stray yarns trimmed, not in that order. I am tired, end of a long day and I fight with blogger to place words and photos. So much to learn, very frustrating. So I have been avoiding posting it all week.

I can't let this post end with out a Maggie shot. There is another dog in the house, Amy. I do not get good shots of her yet. Her eyes do weird things in the photos. She also just normally sleeps, on her bed, on the floor, no theatrics...she's eleven(77) and she just can't be bothered with me and my camera. Well, neither can Maggie. And yes, there is a bit of a weight problem...One DD said that Mag looked like an engorged tick. I thought that was a little mean. A bratwurst,maybe, but not a tick...We are working on the problem. I have been measuring her food and keeping the cats food up high. She is a tough one. This is her favorite activity. But she is the but(no pun intended) of allot of jokes around here.

Lady Eleanor

2007-04-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

There she lies, the wrap, not the dog, after a wash in Eucalon and a spin and blocking. And yes, I occasionally make a quilt when the need arises. I finished yesterday. It is now dry and I did wrap up in it and it feels very nice. I have not decided if I want a crocheted trim as the pattern displays it.

But then, yes, here she lies...also on a quilt. No matter where Maggie finds herself she always looks so comfortable and she gets down right cozy. It is her assumption that if something of comfort is left lying around then ofcourse it must be for her...quilts, furniture, anything soft. She is also very tactile. As I said a few days ago she teaches me about relaxing. Look at her...doesn't she cause you to just want to grab a blanket and a book and possibly a dog and go hide somewhere. That chair is near the woodstove...need I say more.

I thought I'd show my weaving progress so far. I have maybe another yard or so to weave. Then the twisting of the fringe and finishing with a wash. I'll show a before and after photo. I am planning a wrap from some handspun yarn for the next project. I am trying to keep something on the loom at all times and have a warp ready to go and have something in the planning stages, atleast that is the plan. Have a good day and thanks for reading.

2007-04-02T22:44:00.000-04:00

I finish one sock and started the second. Always feels good to finally be working on sock number two. It is Wendy's pattern, from the toe up. Trekking sock yarn on size 1 double points. Great pattern.

Then there is the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Wrap from Scarf Style by Pam Allen. This is nearly finished. I am using Patons SWS and I am amazed how the colors seemingly changed as I went from block to block. I couldn't have even planned it better. I love the feel of this yarn-70% wool and 30% soy. It was been comfortable to use if that makes any sense to you, it does to me. I am very tactile as I think most fiber people are, so it has to feel good, very soft. It will be very soothing to wrap up in.

Then last is an Aran sweater from an old Candide pattern being knit with Bartlett yarn, one of my favorite yarns. The back is finished and I am working on the left front, now at the armhole shaping. I found the trick to Aran knitting is to try to pick it up every night or when ever you knit, but the point is as you work on it daily you tend to memorize the stitches and that allows you to sail on up the fronts, back and sleeves without constantly checking the directions. So there you have it.

I was told about a book by a friend Saturday and was able to find it at the library. I love the library, one of my favorite places. I have been loosing myself there since I was a child. I think of it as my personal bookshelves that just happen to be a few miles away. The book is : Three Cups of Tea

by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Have a great day, thanks for reading.

Weaving Is Happening

2007-03-31T10:32:00.000-04:00

After finding a warping error I played with thoughts of can I work around this or do I rewind? As my mind went through all that had to be done in order to compensate for the error I grew weary and thought it is better to just rewind...The last of three warp chains got a little messy...isn't this attractive? I thought what am I doing, I have to be crazy...but it all worked out, I persevered into the night as I listened to CNN and the news about Elizabeth Edwards and found a peace to what I was doing.

Then before I knew it I was back at my loom with corrected warps and feeling a sense of satisfaction for doing what I knew I had to do and finishing it. It is like finding a mistake in your knitting, I need to rip it back, fix the problem, and knit right back to where I was before I can rest. Now it is ready for the next steps. I am going to warp back to front. I actually enjoy the process of planning awarp and warping the loom. I find it calming if everything is in order...

All lined up and ready to go. I enjoy just looking at it. This will be a blanket using the double weave structure. My blanket is actually folded in half lengthwise .

Empty loom...

2007-03-21T14:27:00.000-04:00

Bear with me...first day trial and errors. But learned obviously how to share photos. Thank you Judy at Smatterings...OK Cindy and Judy, I wonder how one hyper links? But as you can see I have it.

Back to the empty loom, it is now 2:23 and well I haven't gotten too far...But I have started a blog and learned how to upload photos. So now to warp this loom in earnest . Have a great day!

Testing My Photo Uploading it works!

2007-03-21T14:00:00.000-04:00

This is Maggie. My muse...she teaches me how to relax and keep it simple.

Beginnings...

2007-03-21T12:51:00.000-04:00

After much prodding from friends here I am with an empty space to put words in...blank piece of paper...empty canvas...new journal...empty loom. Don't want to mess it , don't know what to say, or paint, or draw, or weave...what is that about anyway? Fear of starting.

I tried to upload a photo of my empty loom...Use your imagination. So the obvious has been stated, I weave when there is a warp on the loom as well as knit and spin. When I can figure out the photo uploading deal I will share those things.

I don't know where this blog will go. There is allot in my life...But I guess today is the first day of Spring, new life, hope...so I hope I can get my loom warped today, that atleast is the goal . So welcome ...