Painting on canvas

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Oh, hollyhocks. One of my all time favorites. I have planted them all over the place, hoping that they will go crazy.
I am standing under the arbor, looking out at the meadow bushwhacked and mowed. It seems like a blank canvas, just waiting for me to do something wonderful out there.
It has to be done on a budget, you know.......I can't go out and pay someone thousands to landscape it. I can keep it mowed down though, until I figure it out.
As I was coming up to the house, after mowing all morning, I noticed this "vine" growing out of the edge of the window. What's up with that???
I guess someone will have to get up there and pull it off. Some vines, like bittersweet, will tear the siding right off a house.
I tied fringe on another big rug this morning. It is 7x10, but it is in wool. The Solmate sock rugs are usually in cotton, but I had a few boxes of the wool socks that have since been discontinued, so I wove them into this rug.
The colors are a bit muted, compared to the original Solmate sock rug.
The cats think I should just leave it here in the living room.
C'mon, can't ya' just leave it..........
"I am telling ya', this is one comfy rug. Just you try to get me off this rug!"

Suiting my fancy

I have been lusting for an arbor for the "not so secret garden". I have been thinking about one for some time. I looked at new ones, I priced lumber to build one. But today, while I was on my way down Interstate 87 to deliver a kitten........yes, another one, to a coworker of my daughter's, I remembered this antique store, where I had seen some interesting things outside one evening. It was closed on that particular occasion, but today, I decided to stop on my way home, after said kitten was safely delivered to her new owner.
And this arbor was sittting right out front.
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It came apart, in 3 pieces, so it fit in the back of my Santa Fe.
It is a light green, and has some areas of rust on it. I am torn about whether to leave it alone, or paint it. DH and I checked Lowe's tonight, and they have the most boring Rustoleum colors you could imagine.
I want verdigris, or something like it.
I think it fits perfectly, and I am very pleased with my find.
My husband and I put it together, and he is going to put some ground anchors on it, so it doesn't fall over in a storm.
That is a climbing rose next to it, so "get climbing", I say.
We took a metal detector over to the studio, but after awhile we decided that the entire property is covered in some kind of ore or something that sets it off. And the ground is not easy digging.
So we went and got ice cream instead.
This is one of my favorite times of day, I love early morning, but this time in the evening is wonderful, too. I love the long shadows, and the soft sunlight.
I am mowing tomorrow, and mulching, and weed whacking, and generally sweating......just not to the oldies.
Hopefully, I will get a lot done before it gets too hot. Have a great weekend, everyone.

And a light bulb went off.

Here it is.......a 7'x10' Solmate sock rug. It was an incredible amount of work, and I am beat. Tammy and I both grumble while we are doing it.........I love to weave, but this size rug, in this venue, is plain hard work.
But when it comes off the loom, and we lay it out on the floor, to measure it and inspect it, it is always impressive. It is such an explosion of color, and walking on it with bare feet is like getting a foot massage.
This rug is going to Hilton Head, SC. I have never been there. Tammy seemed to think that there was room in the box.............
All in all, I feel pretty satisfied when we finish something this big.
Now we are going to make more of the same. When I set out to make a custom rug, I always put more warp on than I need. It is just simply good business. If it takes me two days to put the warp on this loom, and I only make one rug, then I have to apply those two days of work to that rug, in a financial way. On the other hand, if I put 20 yards on, which I did, then I can get 4 more rugs that size out of it, so now I can divide those hours spent on warping the loom by five.
Makes sense to me anyway.
So we are going to work on four more, and put them on my web site. A couple of them are going to be wool, still colorful, still socks, just wool, while the rug we just made is primarily cotton.
I have been "off" knitting for several months now. Not sure why. I knit like a crazy woman all fall and winter, but sometime in the spring, I just put the knitting needles down, and didn't pick them up again.
But today, for some unknown reason, this box of yarn that I was getting ready to list on Ebay, spoke to me, so I didn't list it, I brought it home instead.
Yes, dear, I know that I am nuts.
Tammy was cleaning today, after we finished the rug. She said she couldn't stand the studio anymore, too much dust......so she swept and vacuumed to her heart's content. When she finished, she was sitting at the counter, taking a break, eating some yogurt.......
I think I asked her if she was on a diet, or something..............
Sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now, I am off to an Alanon meeting, which I have been a grateful member of for many years. I just started going again, after years of thinking that I was fine, and happy, and didn't need it. But then a family member ran into some difficulties, and needed my help, and suddenly I found myself doing the codependent dance all over again.
I got very out of control, in my head. I made myself sick with worry, and unhappy with my inability to control my reaction.
So I got myself together, and went to a meeting. The minute I walked through the door, I knew I was in the right place. I felt like I had come home.
So every Thursday night, I plan my evening around it. Because I found my way back to serenity there, and remembered why I went in the first place.
More later.

Back to work.

Well, that thing I said about not having an order........well, that is no longer true.
I am torn.......love to have the income, of course, have to pay the bills. But I was kind of enjoying the idea of having some time to myself.
It was a bit prophetic.....I started putting a multicolored warp on the big Toika, and the phone rang, and I suddenly had an order for a 7' x 10' Solmate Sock rug. Whew!
So yesterday I spent all day winding the warp on the sectional beam.
Today, I spent most of the day tying the new warp onto the old warp.
It really makes a lot more sense than it appears to.
It works well. Honest.
Of course, it helps to have an assistant.
Even if she is laying down on the job most of the time.
The loom is ready. Tomorrow, Tammy and I will start weaving BIG Solmate Sock rugs.
The 7'x10' for the order, and some 4'x6' rugs for the shop.
This is the strangest thing. It is just down the road from my house. This tree is DEAD. But apparently, a seed found its way into the rotting wood. And 30 feet in the air, this little sunflower is thriving.
Pretty unbelievable.

For dinner tonight, I felt creative, which is tough in my house.......neither my husband or my mother would touch this dish with a ten foot pole.
I started with some zucchini and yellow squash, with some chopped red onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and I sauteed them in some olive oil. Some salt, some pepper, some basil. After a few minutes, I added a can of Roma tomatoes, with the liquid. I had chopped the tomatoes in a plastic bowl first. I cooked this over quite high heat til most of the liquid was gone. Then I added a can of black beans (drained first).
It was not only colorful, it was delish! I made some yellow rice, and put this concoction over the rice. Sprinkled a little feta cheese on top.
Husband made a face.
Mother raised her eyebrows.
That's OK, more for me.

Kate, over at Chronicles of a Country Girl, has touched me with her heartfelt blog. She has inspired me to be honest and authentic in what I write. Like her, I am human. I have some great qualities, I have some not so great ones. My life is not perfect. I struggle sometimes. I believe I have a calling to live the life I am living. I enjoy telling you all about my experience in this world, I love sharing with you my passion for family, for weaving, for gardening, for life. I have "met" some special people out there in the blogosphere. Posting on my blog, reading other blogs, is like connecting with new and old friends.

Kate was lusting after a Solmate Sock rug, and her friend,George,approves.
Can you blame him?
I think he and the rug are both stunning.
But that's me.

Open on Sunday

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Yesterday, when everyone was at the pool, celebrating the 4th of July, it was cool, and windy, and cloudy.
Today, though, it was beautiful.
And even though it is Sunday, I went to the studio. But not weaving today. I spent the entire day outside, weed whacking, trimming trees, cleaning up. I needed to be in the open air.
So I put the OPEN sign out there. You never know.
This old house.........it just makes me feel good. I have taken on the challenge of conquering the acre and a half that it sits on, a tiny percent of the land that originally belonged to this farm.

And I have found that throwing myself into this project of clearing, and planting, and creating the not so secret garden, has helped me to process worries that would have otherwise dominated my thinking.


I couldn't have a really big sign.....since this area is zoned agricultural. But I am pleased with the sign that I have.


My husband made this one for me as a surprise.

My project most recently, has been to clear the meadow at the back of the property, and turn it into lawn and perennial gardens.
I had it brush hogged two days ago, for $75, which made me very happy.
But I knew that to get to the place where I dare use the riding lawn mower, I had to do more than that.
So this morning, I called Miles. Miles has been mowing and doing yard work for me for years.
He started early, while it was kind of cool, but it didn't last for long. The sun started heating things up.
He had only mowed about 10 min, and he pulled the start cord right out of the machine. So he went to the barn, and got the older mower out, but that machine shook so hard, it made your hands numb, and threatened to shake every tooth right out of your head.
So I called DH. I asked him if he would be so kind as to go to Lowe's and buy me the cheapest lawn mower that they had, and bring it over. He said he would, if that is what I wanted, but he thought maybe I should get one from a garage sale. His observation was that a new mower today would be an old mower in a month.
I said that would be fine............but I wanted it done today, while I had Miles there. So I got thinking, and said, maybe I should try Craig's list.
We agreed that I would call him back, and let him know if he had to make a quick trip to Lowe's, or not.
I called the number, the ad said they had 2 old mowers, $50 each. But the man who answered said that they were both gone. Bummer. He said he would buy my two old mowers, but I said I really needed them fixed, and especially need at least one mower today. He said he would come over and look at them, and 20 minutes later he was there. He fixed one on the spot, charged me $10, and he took the other mower, and my favorite lawn tool of all time, the Troy Bilt push weed whacker. He said he'd have them back in a day or two.
I love it when I find a solution that fast. And I love to find someone who does a job well, and is reasonable.
So Miles mowed.....all day.....and he got it done.
Now for some trees.

Thanks to DH, who tempers my impulsive nature at times. I don't always take his advice, but sometimes he is just so right, and I do take it, and I am grateful that we complement each other so well.
My potting table has a $2 tablecloth.
And this is a leftover from my Mom's garden........I have yet to figure out where it is going, and how I am going to use it. It needs running water in it......so it doesn't breed mosquitoes and such.
But I love it, and I really like this photo of it.
And Miles and I loaded up the Baby Wolf loom in my car, and I brought it home.......so I can weave towels in the evening, or by the pool, or whenever I want.
All in all, it has been a good day. I am tired, but satisfied.
There was spagetti and meatballs when I got home, my favorite comfort food, yes, I am spoiled.

Trying to escape

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Early morning.....not even 8am, and I am at the studio. Picking up, cleaning the kitchen, 2 cats and a kitten around my feet. The grass looks wet outside the window, but the sun is actually shining through the trees. There isn't much traffic this time of day, and honestly, I hardly notice it anymore. Me, who used to think she couldn't live on any road that there were more than a dozen cars by in a day.
Just goes to show, that life changes, and we adjust. And sometimes, it turns out better than we could have imagined.
I love the quiet here on a morning like this. Over the top of my computer screen, I look out the window, and see the cemetery across the way. There are people there who lived in this house 2oo years ago. Their name was Bellamy. I did a little research on the family when I first bought this house. One reference I found was to Edward Bellamy, who wrote the book Looking Backward.
Set in Boston on December 26, 2000, but written before the turn of the nineteenth century, this classic Utopian novel is more significant and relevant than ever with its reappearance this millennium. Addressing moral and material concerns of late nineteenth century industrial America through romantic narrative, Bellamy suggests a fictionalized society in which war, poverty, and malice do not exist.
I actually could not find any proof of this, and wonder if down through the years, this was just a figment of someone's imagination. Edward Bellamy wrote the book, but I doubt that he was related at all to the Jonathan Bellamy that built my house around 1790.

I had a good day today......in spite of a disturbing phone call.
I am "orderless".....first time this year. Perhaps the poor economy is catching up to me.
But it is an opportunity for me to play at the loom, and this is what I have been doing.
I have been wanting to make these pinwheel dish towels for a long time. I used cottolin, half cotton, half linen. I can't wait to get one off the loom.
Do you like them?

Later in the afternoon, I dragged myself away.......I was having a lot of fun with this. But I needed to take a chair to my friend in Ticonderoga, an hour away. She broke her hip, and needed a recliner. So my husband and I took the trip. It rained most of the way up, and back.
This is a view of Lake George, from her front steps, looking south down the lake.
I grew up here, climbing these mountains, swimming in this water. Ticonderoga, originally Tjeonderoge, or Te'c'cungha ro ge, means the place between two waters, or two waters flowing into each other.


And here is the other lake, Lake Champlain. This is South Bay, at the most southern point.

Our mission accomplished, the rain stopped. I walked the labyrinth, and stopped to look at some flowers. I love my "not so secret garden". I am thinking of getting a sign that says just that. How can it be secret, I tell everyone.


Finally, I headed home.......the sky over neighboring Vermont made me stop by the side of the road, to get this shot......in the distance, I could hear motorcycles coming at me.........

So I just kept shooting.......I am not much of a fan of motorcycles, but this one appealed to me.......some days you just want to ride away.
But not today.

Finished. In more ways than one.

Here are the finished rugs......three of them. I love this fabric. Did I say that already?
They are packed and on their way to Mesa, Arizona. Whew. I'll bet it is HOT out there.
I am going to make a few more like this.....the warp is on the loom, and there is plenty of fabric. And they are pretty. So why not?
Had the grandkids today, two of them. We spent the morning at the studio. They ran around the labyrinth for awhile, but then it started raining. It has been raining on and off here all week.
So they played inside til lunch time.

I did manage to get the Baby Wolf threaded for 8 harness towels, in a pinwheel pattern. I am not sure how, but I did. I think I zoned out.
We went home, to see if they could swim between the rain drops, but that didn't work out either.

They are hungry every second. And I know why they eat badly at meals....because they want to "graze" all day.
But Mimi doesn't go for that..........
I am into LUNCH, scheduled SNACKS, DINNER.
They go along with it, but not without a little resistance.
It helps to WARN them of what is going to happen. That seems to lessen the pain.

They don't look unhappy, do they?

So after getting rained out at the pool, they decided to watch cartoons for a while, to see if maybe the rain would stop.
I love having them. They are sweet children, for the most part.
But my ears are about to fall off. I swear they are on KID CRACK. They didn't shut up all day.
They were good, and they played great together, minus a couple of moments of discontent. But they have no VOLUME CONTROL.
Aren't they supposed to???
Or is it my increasing age?
The studio is pretty kid friendly......there are so many rooms, and so much "stuff " to make into imaginary play things. They come up with some pretty innovative scenarios to entertain themselves.
But some days, they are just exhausting. They are proof positive that YOUNG people should have children. Period.
I liked this shot.......I imagine Miss Puss saying....."hmm, should I lay on the sunglasses, or should I wear them?"
Ah, to heck with it, I guess I will just take a nap.

I am SO jealous.
I want to take a nap. I do.