Ah, Sunday

aToday was a quiet day in the studio, just me and four needy cats.  Five, if you count Next.
And of course, we have to count Next.

I spent most of it upstairs, in the big bedroom, weaving on the Macomber.
Finished this turquoise shawl.

I love those days when I take Roy for a walk BEFORE I do anything else.  It feels good.

I usually drink tea with a little milk, except that there wasn't any, so  I went with it straight up.

Then I decided to finish off the warp with a little fabric.
I haven't figured out what I am going to make out of it yet.

Now here is a little video I took with my Iphone, and I admit it is a blatant promo for double ended bobbin winders.   This is a Leclerc, which I can order for you.  It is fantastic.

Just watch.  I can't tell you how much time I have saved using this, and how much I LOVE it.

Sometimes the simplest of things make me happy.



                                                                                         Ignore this one.....it doesn't work, and I have
                                                                                                    been unable to remove it.

Hope your Sunday made you happy, in lots of little ways.

Warping to weave.

“From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog”, or, “that’s a lot of money for just a dog”. They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a dog”. Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog”. Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog”, but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it’s “just a dog”, then you will probably understand phrases like “just a friend”, “just a sunrise”, or “just a promise”. “Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. “Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog” but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a human.” So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog”, just smile, because they “just don’t understand”.” 

(by Janace Moss, sent to me by my daughter, on Facebook.)

Just wanted to share it with you, it seemed to say it all for me.  
Because Roy is not 'just a dog'.  Trust me.


Today I took a drive, (permission granted from said head) to put on another warp.
I feel like the itinerant warper.
But my good friend, Sheila, was jonesing.  Loom bare.  No warp.  No weaving.

We got a dusting of snow last night, and today it was chilly, and the wind was whipping.

I took my spool rack and tension box with me.
She has a sweet little studio in her side yard.

I wanted to get the warp on, but also I wanted to teach her how to do it herself.

We got the warp on in time to go to Steininger's in Salem, for lunch.
I had curried butternut squash soup, and an asparagus, bleu cheese salad.......it was so, so good.

After lunch, we went back to the studio, tied on the new warp to the old one, and pulled it through the heddles and the reed, tied on, and her loom is ready to go. Whew.  We put 50 yards on this time, so she should be OK for a while.

Time to go home.
I love driving through the country side.

Someone says:

Have a nice ride.

Still learning.

Some days I am reminded of my frailties.
Damn.
Woke up about 2 a.m. with a vise on my temples, by 7 a.m., it was no better.   I stayed home.  Roy and I rested on the couch all morning.

L held down the fort studio.

I knew I was in no shape to work.

My mother made tea, and came in and sat on the end of the couch.  She said, "Maybe if you cry you'll feel better."
Ha.
Been there and done that already.  And crying too hard just makes the vise get tighter, so that's not really an option I want to explore.
She made me lunch, suddenly I am her little girl again.

She brought her sandwich in to the living room, and talked constantly.

What have I said many times??  that there is always a lesson?  in everything?

Well, today I learned how lonely my mother is, how in our busy-ness, we don't spend enough time in a day, just talking to her.
While my head was  screaming, I filed that information under 'things to do'.

Eventually, I decided that I was not getting any better on the couch.  It took a supreme effort to get moving, but move I did, and Roy and I went for a walk down by the river.  It doesn't help the headache, but it clears my head, and gives me a different perspective.

"we are disturbed not by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens" (Epictetus)

So many of you have commented on how strong I am.  Is that another word for 'pig-headed'????
I am not a super woman.  Really.
But what are the choices???    Plod on.......or give in.  Not much of a choice.

When I am trying to keep it together,  I remember that as bad as this is, there are so many others who have it so much worse.
Like my dearest friend, in Georgia, whose husband is now on Hospice.  He is losing his battle, and she is facing life without him.  I bet she would trade me for this vice, in a New York minute.
I just have a headache.  I'll live.  I think.

Another friend said this to me in an email today:

 "Maybe if you promise the universe that you will stop and smell the roses once in a while , you do not need the headache to make you do that...... "

There's a lesson here, I know there is.  There always is.

I wanted to share a video with you.  The link is HERE.   It is 25 minutes long, and well worth it, a story about twin priests in a northern NY town, one of whom is diagnosed with Alzheimers at age 57.  The last few minutes made me cry again, and said it all.   I think that's when I got my butt off the couch, and took Roy's leash off the hook.
I cried.
Roy smiled.
Enjoy the video, and let me know what you think.

Chasing the loom.

Hey, c'mon in.  This is Teddy.   He met us at the door.
Can we just say that he is friendly, and very verbal???

He belongs to my friend, Michelle, and today was the day to get her loom put together, so L and I went to her house.
I say 'chasing the loom', because it was one of those days.  You know the kind.....when everything that can go wrong, does.
First, let me say that I LOVE her kitchen.  It is SO RETRO, and SO COOL.    The cabinets are metal, the appliances work, and I am mad for it.  

I know a lot of people would rip it out, but I am glad she isn't doing that.
Just because something is new, doesn't mean it is better.

I love keeping some of the originality of a house.  I think this has a lot of personality.
Like my friend, Michelle.

Of course, I am totally gaga about her huge living room, which she said I could show you.
I could put MY living room in here about 3 times.  No kidding.

We started putting her loom together.....it used to be mine, so I know it well.  And there were two parts missing.
Good grief.
So I called another friend, who had been using the loom for a year or so, and sure enough the parts were over an hour away.
But my friend's husband INSISTED on bringing them to us, so I met him at the studio just before lunch, and L and I went BACK to the loom.
We finally got it all together, and ready to put the warp on.
Except for ONE small item.
I had a special piece made to sit down over the round back beam, so I could clamp the tension box to it.
Michelle, however, thought that it was broken, since it appeared to be a box with only three sides.  So she sent it off to her son's, to be fixed.
ACK~~!!!!!

 Luckily her husband was kind enough to fetch it for us, and we plowed on.

What I thought would get done in a couple of hours, max, ended up taking all day long.

I got to do a lot of supervising, and they did the cranking.  Whew.

Is this where they say two heads are better than one.........???

Oh, and we mustn't forget that Norman was helping.  Thank you, Norman.

Finally.

The Reed Cambridge Loom all warped and ready to go.

A little black and white, 40 yards, this should keep her occupied for a while.

And you know what's worth spending a whole day on this?????


Well, this, of course.

And spending the day with two good friends, just one more thing on the list of things I am grateful for.

Pain in the neck.

I was nervous about today, I won't lie.

It was injection #3 in the back of my neck, and I was somewhat less than thrilled.

Imagine.

So I didn't do much at the studio, and came home at noon, had lunch, and took Roy for a walk before I had to leave.  

The temps were in the 40's, and it was beyond beautiful.
I didn't even care that everything was brown, it was so pleasant to just be outside.
And you know Roy loves it.

We walked down the the local beach, Haviland's Cove.     It is so quiet this time of year, and I was needing to find some serenity.

I had two injections in one week, last Monday and Wednesday.  It was too much for one week.

The first one was tough, very painful.  I was tense, and couldn't relax,  and it made it hurt that much worse.

The second injection was even more brutal, since my anticipation was so high.  My muscles tightened right up, and when the needle went in, I flinched and he had to do it again.

I wanted to be like calm waters.   But I knew that no matter how much I concentrated on it, I needed some help.
No, I didn't smoke any dope or anything.
Not that I didn't think about it.

But I did have some Flexeril that my GP gave me  a couple of months ago, so right before we left, I took TWO.  Ten mg total.
Let's just say that TEN was plenty for me, I am such a cheap drunk.

I could only hope and pray that it would take the edge off my nerves, so that it wouldn't hurt so much, or take so long.
In the waiting room, there was a young woman, only 33, who fell and suffered much the same injuries that I did, who has had constant headaches for months, just like me.  We talked.
It was amazing.  It is the first time in all of this, that I haven't felt like a freak of nature......I mean, c'mon........WHO has a headache this long????   Me.......and her!   And probably a whole lot of other people, that I haven't met.
But just talking to someone who totally understood, priceless.    Really.

She was there for her second injection, right after me.

When it was my turn, I laid face down on the table, they prepped my neck, the doctor came in.

It was NOTHING like the first two times.
It hurt, but not the kind of hurt that makes you moan, cry, drool spit out of your mouth, wish to murder the director of the needle.
No.  It hurt, I told them when it did, he moved the needle, again I responded, he did it once more.    I answered, then he said, "You're done".
Oh, sweet mercy.
Flexeril, I love you.   I won't go here again without you.

Now, let's get back to weaving, OK???

Just happy.

First off, let me say that I forgot ONE ingredient in the Vegetable Cheese Chowder, so if you copied it, go back quick, and fix it.

Now for the music:

Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday to me.
I can't believe that I'm this OLD.
Happy Birthday to me.

SIXTY FREAKING FIVE years ago, my mother gave birth to me in the old Moses Ludington Hospital
in Ticonderoga, NY.  She stayed in the hospital for EIGHT days, for a perfectly normal birth.
 My cousin, Billy, was born on the 20th, and the nurse came out and told my father that he had a son.  He didn't.  He had a nephew.  The next day he got me.  I wonder if that's why he called me Tom until I was about 12?
Anyhow, Billy was an RH baby.  His Mom had my two cousins, Justina and Jo Ann, but her third baby, Jacqueline, had died at birth.  That's how it is with the RH factor, your first births are fine, and it gets worse with every subsequent baby.  So it only stood to reason, that they told my Aunt and Uncle that Billy was a goner, with little chance to survive.
But just about that time, in 1947, they had started to figure out that if they could replace the baby's blood,  or most of it, with the proper blood type, they could save the baby.  These days, mothers get preventative injections of antibodies, and the problem never happens.
Back then, they were on a mission all over town to find someone with negative blood, that would match.
It just happened to be my father.
Billy's last name was Rooker.  But all through my childhood, I heard the story, that REALLY Billy was 2/3 Cooper, from his Mom, and from getting a whole bunch of blood from his Uncle Mort.
It was a good story.
He WAS a lot like my father, in many ways. 
Billy only made it to 57, so believe it when I say, that along with missing him, I am grateful to be here, to have the chance to love my children, my family, my friends, my Roy, my kitties, my looms, and my life.
Amen.

And happy to be here talking to you all.

Gratitude.

Yep.  I got it.
Gratitude.
Sounds strange, even feels a little strange to say that, with this pain in my head hanging on.
But it's true.  I am grateful.
Grateful today for so much.

For Crazy as a Loom, 'the studio', that sustains me.

The joy of working at what I love.
It is truly priceless.

I am grateful for the people in my life.  My family.  My friends.

Yesterday, two of my daughters came and cleaned my house.  Just because they knew I have been having a tough time of late, and they wanted to 'do something' to help.

They scrubbed, they vacuumed, they moved furniture, they mopped, they checked every single food item in my cupboard for expiration dates.  They organized.
We talked, and laughed, and they joked about my less than stellar housekeeping skills.

They 'altered' the little sign I had hanging on the cupboard, when I wasn't looking, and then whispered and giggled until I finally saw it.

Comical,  aren't they??

Still, I am incredibly blessed to have three beautiful girls, who have enriched my life beyond measure.

Sydney says:
I don't think that's funny.

I am grateful for a fantastic lunch of Vegetable Cheese Chowder, absolutely delicious, and almost a crime it's so easy.  Yes, the recipe is here, just click on the RECIPE tab.   And enjoy.  People will think you slaved, just don't tell.

Miss Puss is grateful for a brand new window seat.  
I hear ya, Miss Puss.  Sometimes it's just the simplest of things that make us happy.

All in all, a productive day.  L and I rocked, and finished two hot pink and lime rugs.   Our good friend, Michelle popped in, and we chatted and laughed and the afternoon sped right on by.

I am 'staying in the day', OK?   Not thinking any further ahead than right here, and right now.

Cause right here.........I'm A.O.K.

P.S.   Only book left is the Atwater one. $20 plus shipping.