Some don't like it hot.

It was hot again today in the northeast.

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up.
Not really.
She can get up, even though she does resemble a beached whale.

And for those of you who are thinking I should put her on a diet.......my four indoor cats get one cottage cheese container of food a day.  It is empty in the morning.  And the rest of them aren't starving, so I don't know why she is so fat.

For one thing, she has SHORT legs, which make her look fatter when she's standing up.

But of course, you can't blame her short legs when she is flat on her back.

Sydney says: "Excuse me,  I am just fluffy."

It was so humid today, that all the cats were doing some serious LOUNGING.

Kizzy says:  "Turn on the AC, will ya?"

Miss Puss, always the drama queen:  "I don't think I can take it."

Jinksie says with a huge sigh: "O.M.G., no AC? Seriously?

And just in case you think that I am taking lots of breaks to catch all these poses, let me enlighten you.

L took them, like the paparazzi, stalking these poor prostrate kitties all over the house.

When I wasn't off gallivanting and having lunch with an old friend, I was in the upstairs hallway, weaving away with two fans.

Cause I don't like it hot.

C'mon September, and October, too.

After the weekend.

After a weaving bootcamp weekend, and students today, I am beat.

 
I couldn't do this every weekend, I know that.  It is too intense, even though my style of teaching is pretty relaxed.
But still, it is good stuff.

Every time I have new weavers, I tell them that this is not "rocket science", and that no matter how how little they know, they will be weaving before they leave.
They are a little skeptical.

They are always pleasantly surprised.
Me?   I'm just glad I'm right.

I think one of the reasons that they are so successful, is that there are always small groups, usually 2-4.
And "hands on" is the order of the day.  They can read the book when they get home.

In addition to the satisfaction I get from creating new weavers, some of whom will weave the rest of their lives, I also get to meet some incredibly nice people.

Weaving, and teaching weaving, has changed my life in so many ways.

All of them good.

It's so simple, and yet so satisfying.

Some of the students who live locally, will be back to rent loom space, to weave more rugs.

L and I kind of like having company at the studio now and then.   It changes things up, and besides, we get tired of just looking at each other.

So what's next???
How about a little double binding???
In wacky, vibrant colors??

We have two huge totes full of wild and funky fabric to make these rugs with.  They are not "quick" rugs, though.  They make me slow down and pay attention.
Guess that's not a bad thing.

 I am taking TWO days off this week.  One to weave whatever I want, and the other to take to the road.
I think I've earned both of them.

Out on the porch.

Loom update:

The Union Custom that I just acquired is operational.

We got it together, gave it a good cleaning, which it desperately needed after being stored in the loft of a garage for 15 years.  It really is in great shape.

I made a new apron and lashed new rods to the front.  Then I had a custom crank made, so we could put a warp on sectionally.

Someone asked me if I 'planned out' this colored warp.
Someone who doesn't know me well, obviously.
Imagine.

Going to do some sock placemats.  Don't laugh.  They are colorful, and WASHABLE.

Then I had to thread the heddles.  And I had company.
They OWN the porch.....in case you didn't know.
And if you're out there, they own you, too.

They just like to be close.  They are HOME here, there is no question about it.

The biggest clue is how comfortable and relaxed they are around people now, as compared to what they were like a few months ago.

Enough says:
Don't ever send me away AGAIN.

Next says:

Yeah, Mom. What he said.

Almost Friday

L thinks that we need shirts with a logo...........either so people can identify us by where we spend most of our time, or so we can find our way back if we get lost in Kingsbury, NY.

They are very nice, however, I do NOT wear Tee shirts.....hate the necks on them, always have.
Any I've ever owned ended up with the neck cut out.


L just finished a small order.   I think she did an amazing job, especially since she doesn't have much confidence about working with color.

Today was cleaning day.........the studio is pretty messy.
Sydney was NO help.

I just want to do some weaving.......that's it.  I'm jonesing.  I need some quiet, weaving time.
It's that simple.

What does it all mean?

When a granddaughter comes to visit, anyone would think that one child would be easy.
What isn't obvious to an outsider though, is that with my 87, almost 88, year old mother living here, that gives me TWO children. and she is the most difficult.
She swears.
She talks constantly.
She talks over anyone else who is trying to talk.
She is demanding.
If you ask her NOT to do something, she gives you that LOOK, and then in so many words she tells you that she will do what she wants.
She is a bad influence on OTHER kids.
She eats sugar, and carbs, and crap, every chance she gets, and she offers it up to other 8 year olds. In fact, she insists!
She is VERY much 8.

It is extremely hard to be a responsible grandparent to one, without being a shrew to the other.
The title of that movie occurs to me.
"It's Complicated."

Fast forward, did I mention, she is also depressed.  Gets upset with imagined slights.   Crying on the telephone, she pulls my heart nearly out of my chest, yet again, as she will up to and including her last day on this  earth.
I come home, grand in tow.  We make her lunch.  We help her tidy up.  We try to fill up her day, imagining that we can.
She loves to watch me work..........so I clean the refrigerator, she talks.  I start baking muffins, she talks.
The recipe calls for sour cream, I put in ricotta.  She talks.
God grant me the serenity...................


And I wonder why weaving soothes my soul.........
The answer is because it is so predictable.
Warp.  Weft.

Getting ready for a weaving weekend bootcamp on Friday.  That requires some general cleaning up, and some shopping for groceries. My father used to tell me that there was no rest for the wicked.  What he neglected to say was that the gene pool that he gave me would ensure that I would be most generally on a dead run throughout my life.
Thanks, Dad.
But I am secretly grateful.  REALLY grateful, since my mother spends at least 12 hours a day in front of the television, a fate I want to avoid at all cost.  Just the theme songs from "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Waltons" make me shiver with dread.


Sock monkeys make more sense to me.

I never imagined being as old as I've become, but I know I would not have expected it to be quite like this.
I have a gift for my children.
They don't know it yet.
When I am REALLY old, they will get my gift, even if they don't exactly get why it is one.
Maybe when they are driving home after visiting me and my looms, and they sigh and relax into their ride, they will look forward to returning to their lives, and they will have realized their separateness. 
And even if they don't recognize it for what it is, I will know.
And isn't that the point of a gift, anyway.

Monday, Monday

I am trying to add word verification to the comment section of my blog.  I apologize for the inconvenience, but I am getting multiple spam comments every single day, and it is a pain.

Had a little company.  All of a sudden, as far as Roy was concerned,  I was chopped meat.

One of my jobs as "Mimi" is to french braid her hair.
My daughters always required my services.
I have done it so long now, I do it without thinking.
I learned how to do it a long time ago, when I worked at the hospital at seventeen as a nurses' aide right out of high school.  One of my patients was an old lady with beautiful hair to her waist.  It was dark, with very little gray.  She asked me one morning, if I would french braid her hair.
I said that I didn't know how.
She said, "I'll teach you."  I braided her hair every morning for weeks.
The rest is history.

I got the highest compliment possible......"it doesn't hurt my head, and YOU  didn't hurt me once."
Wow.

She helped me out at the studio, and one of her jobs was to put tags on the sock monkeys.
She found two that had some problems. One was missing an ear, and one was missing an arm.

Next thing I know she is making room in the pantry, so she would have a place to fix them.
I have not met one kid yet who did not LOVE the studio.
The house, the stuff, all of it.

Drinking her root beer (a treat not the usual), she likes to talk at someone MOST of the time, here she's talking at me sitting on a step ladder that she dragged out.
Busy.  This girl is BUSY.
She is DEFINITELY my granddaughter.

 She made tags for everyone, and since she knows now how to use the price tag gun, she had a way to attach her tags to everyone.
Here is mine, I was required to sign it.

On another note, I managed to finish one of the baby blankets I started so long ago.
Monkey boy likes it.
He told me.

I am liking it myself.  I can't wait to get back to blanket # 2, which is under way with a different color weft.
For some reason, I am finding this particular project very soothing.

 What do you think?

Too much work

Yay......for grandsons who mow lawns.  That's what I'm sayin.

I am so not into mowing lawns anymore.....think I've mowed my quota for life.

I am still trying to come up with an idea for this area, something that involves not mowing it.

I  am so tired right now, I can barely keep my eyes open.
And I still have one granddaughter to put in the tub.

Summer is wonderful, but sometimes it is pretty exhausting.

My trumpet vine has its first blossoms.  I thought they were going to be red, but instead they are a pale peach.  I think the hummingbirds will love them, no matter what color they are.

I am looking forward to a week with less work.  I can always hope can't I??