Weaving Boot Camp

A couple of years ago, I started hosting weaving weekends at the studio. Since then, I have had from 0ne t0 five guests at a time. What began tentatively, feels very natural now.
The house loves it.
The cats love it.
And so do I.
We start on Friday afternoon. First the guests settle into their rooms.
And I am making dinner for all.
Let's start with a little Ritz, shall we?
And I know no better way to pound up some Ritz, than with my handy dandy little rolling pin.
Smash them first to smithereens, being careful not to get too rowdy, and break the paper package.
Makes an awful mess.

From weaving weekends

Then you pour the smashed crackers into 1 stick of butter that you have brilliantly melted in the microwave.

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You spread this mixture over haddock in a baking pan, that you have already spritzed with lemon juice, real preferably.

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Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Voila, Baked Stuffed Haddock. Easy peasy, delish too.
You can mix a can of good crabmeat in with the cracker mixture. I like it, some don't.
So there. Throw in some baked potatoes, some sour cream, some butternut squash, and some broccoli, and you have dinner.
Oh, and a little apple crisp with walnuts.

Eat hardy. Cause after dinner, weaving boot camp commences.

My husband started calling it that, and I must admit, if reluctantly, that he is right, again.
There's a whole lotta warping going on.

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And weaving.

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Late into the night.

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At night they fall into bed, exhausted. All part of my devious plan.

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French toast for breakfast. I feed them well. I don't want weakness to become an excuse.

But why are they all smiling?????

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They were allowed a short break to walk the labyrinth.

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Well, they ARE working hard.

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And getting a lot of weaving done.
But I must not be working them hard enough, because they just look TOO DARN HAPPY.

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Guess I will have to work on that.
And another thing.
There are slackers. Nappers. Ne'er do wells.

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You know who you are.

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It was a GREAT weekend.
So good that they want to come back for a 'reunion'. This time with spagetti.
And less slacking.

Yes

Being happy is a choice I make today.
I try to make it every single day.

From mt defiance

I won't lie and tell you that my life has been perfect, or that I have always made the best decisions.
But even in the worst of times, and oh, God, there were some of those, I tried to make that decision.
Be happy.
I tried to 'create myself' by the choice to be happy.

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I think really, what other choice is there?
Just do it.

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Be happy.

Like I said.

I needed a break today.
Did a little fabric cutting, and headed north, over the South Bay bridge.

From mt defiance

I told my helper we would go to Mt Defiance, in my home town of Ticonderoga. I went on and on about the fantastic view, in fact, I said that it was hands down the best view in the area, with the LEAST amount of effort.
Yeah.
Then we got there, and the gate across the bottom of the road was CLOSED.
And LOCKED.
Yeah.
Well, we coulda got back in the car, but we didn't. We had just driven for an hour, and we were on a mission.
So we walked up.
We crested the first hill.

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OUCH.
It kept going straight up.......it was really steep.
Looking back.....

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Finally, a half hour later, we were almost there.

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Whew. What a walk.

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But the view at the top was worth every bit of pain.
Without further ado....views of Fort Ticonderoga, Lake Champlain, Vermont.

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And finally, the way down.

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Ah, my Hyundai.

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Hope you enjoyed my day off.......I did.

Roll with it.

The battery went dead in my camera today. My husband went to the camera store in town to get one for me. He had looked on Ebay, but didn't buy one for $20 because it was made in China.
So he bought one at the store, for $65, and when we opened it, it said, "Made in China" on the side of it.
What's up with that?
So I took my other camera with me, took some pictures with me, and now I can't upload them to my computer.
Sigh.
So. No pictures.

On the way to the studio this morning, Steve Winwood came on the radio.
I cranked it up.
Loud.



Now if this doesn't get your blood boiling, you are dead.
Lie down now.

Of interest: remember me telling you about how I used to chase the UPS man down. I would pack my packages in the car at the end of the day, and search him out on my way home. It seemed I always found the same little Jamaican guy, who was always friendly, and laughed when I told him I wasn't stalking him..........HONEST.
Well, I haven't seen him in a long time, since I got my own UPS account, and they pick the packages up at the door.
But tonight, after dinner, a big truck pulled up out front. I went to the door, and when I opened it, it was my little UPS guy, with a grin.
He handed me a box, and said, "How've you been?"
I guess I made an impression, chasing him around town.
Who knew?

Blah, blah.

I drive by this old truck every morning. It has been begging for a picture.

From october

A friend stopped by the studio today, with her granddaughter, who wanted to thank me for her fiesta skirt.

From october

Hmm, aren't we serious?

From october

I know, some days I feel that way, too.
Sometimes, the only thing you can do is have dessert. Like pumpkin cheesecake.

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That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Where's the maid?

Weaving an 18 ft rug yesterday and today............
and yeah, making a big, fat mess.

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I am quite pleased with it though. It turned out well.
More of the "wave".

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I think I love the texture of rag rugs about as much as I love the color.

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I am doing a mini show at the Marriott hotel in Albany tomorrow, at a Women's Health Conference. Not sure why I said I would do it, but I did. So now I am just going to make the best of it. I can't take a whole bunch of stuff, so I am mainly taking the Hip to Be Square Looper Loom, and some other small things.
It is only for about 4 hours, so it should be OK.
I have to get myself and the studio prepared for another weaving weekend coming up.

When we were in Maine, I bought this little item.

From october

Yes, it is a quesadilla maker.
And it is pretty neat, except that I found out the hard way that you cannot OVERFILL your quesadilla..
It still tasted pretty darn good.

From october

Now if I only had some guacamole.