Finally, blogger let me publish.

Last week was a busy week, getting ready for the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.
Set up was Friday, we were there all weekend, and Monday was spent putting the shop back together.

It was a nice weekend, the weather was gorgeous, and there were a lot of people out and about.

My friend and fellow weaver, Sue, demonstrated the band loom on Saturday.

 On Sunday, I did the demo, except when my grandgirl Ava took over for me.

She is my one hope that someone in my family will actually be a weaver.  She really is a natural.

Speaking of band looms.   I have TWO Glimakra Swedish band looms in the shop, in case anyone needs a new hobby.
They are wicked fun, and addictive.   I love mine.  I have made a guitar strap, a belt, some key fobs, and I'm not done yet!

My daughter, who was helping also, was very happy to see her niece, baby Dale.

Life is hard sometimes....really hard.

But I am grateful beyond belief.....for my incredible family, my friends, my life.
Every day is a gift.

A Harem in Kingsbury

You know that you're crazy, right????

This is the question posed to me by L today.


And it's all Bart's fault.  He was out of the garden today, quite frantic, because he couldn't get back in to his flock.
DH was painting, and saw him, opened the gate, and let him back in.

I have seen 'several' of the girls flapping their wings and trying to fly around in there.......and they easily got to the height of the top of the fence.
So what to do.
I have every intention of putting a 7 ft fence around the garden at some point, so I can let them in there every year.  But doing it now is problematic.
First off, I have a lot of things on my plate.
Secondly, my head is not making my life easy.
Thirdly, I called everywhere I could think of, and no one has the fence I want.

So, I brainstormed.  There had to be a way to fix this, with stuff I have.
And what, pray tell, do I have the MOST of.
Yup, fabric.

L helped me, it didn't take long.  This prompted the question about whether or not I knew that I was crazy.

 The wind was blowing, and the chickens ran out, and back in.......both curious and anxious at the same time.
It will probably take a few days for it to feel normal.  Today it's windy, so they are really spooked.

But guess what?

It works.  It's colorful.  It cost nothing.
And who else has a harem in their back yard,  complete with tent...........BART???

Satisfaction

Finally done with the first batch of baby blankets.  Fourteen of them, 34x48, 100% cotton, one already gone to my youngest daughter's friend, who is having her first baby.  One sold today just from my Facebook post.

The rest are going to the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival next weekend, at the Washington County Fairgrounds, in Greenwich, N.Y.

I think I will put another warp on the AVL this week,  for more of them.  They are so colorful, and so soft, I can't imagine they will stay around for long.

These have been a lot of fun to weave.   I washed them, and dried them in the dryer, and they came out looking just lovely.  That's a very satisfied feeling.

On the garden front, the girls are hard at work.
They are waiting every morning for me to let them out of their run, and into the garden.

I think, however, that Bart just supervises, and struts around looking handsome.

 

The birthday party was a big success.

 

 But doesn't she look like she's saying............."uh, the cupcake was great, but this hat............"

A milestone.

Aw, Nexxie...........still missing that boy.  Can't believe he's gone some days.

 We will be celebrating Dale's first birthday this weekend.  It's hard to believe that she is one already.

She is getting ready to impress us all with her walking skills.
But first, she has to stop bouncing.

Standoff

I've started taking Roy to the studio during the day, especially now that he has a fenced in yard.

The cats mostly disappear, except for Sydney, who isn't intimidated by anything  much.

They sat on opposite chairs, you can tell how concerned Syd is.

Roy doesn't have a mean bone in his body.  When we got him, the rescue group we adopted him from said that he couldn't be around cats.
That's a laugh.

He was so good, I rewarded him with a walk by the river.

Now to get a little time on my band loom.   This is too much fun.

A day at the studio.

I love the studio in the autumn.  The light is lovely.  I always feel at peace there.

Here's what I've been weaving on the AVL.

Baby blankets, the softest imaginable.

 When I get this warp done, I will take the blankets off, hem them, and wash them.
They come out of the dryer soft and fluffy.

Kizzy and Jinx love this sunny spot on the bed.
 They don't care about working.

 
Lois and I do lunch promptly at noon. 
Sydney is responsible for letting us know when that time arrives.
She is very good at it.

Lois is weaving off the Cranbrook warp, in more rosepath rugs.
Next up:  mohair throws.

My new attitude of downsizing, and keeping things simple, is feeling good.

Que sera

Mostly I haven't been blogging, because I have been overwhelmed with my life.

I don't know why that's so hard to admit, but it's the ugly truth.

The headaches, three years later, still rule.  How is that possible???

The most recent MRI shows no bone growth, and my Skype last Thursday with my neurosurgeon  did not give me any answers.  The good news is, I guess, that my doctor says my MRI looks good.
He doesn't think my headache is being caused by my Chiari, my surgeries, or regrowth of bone.

He is stumped. 
Oh, good.

He suspects that my sinuses are somehow involved, so he asked me to use an Afrin spray for 4 days.....to see if I got relief. 
I didn't.
In fact, I had the worst headache EVER.

But I am willing to pursue the sinus issue, and have an ENT appt in two weeks.  I am not giving up, even though some days it feels like I want to.


Today was a sunny fall day, and I had one project that I have wanted to do for a while.

I wanted to get my chickens to clean up my garden.

 Lois helped me, and we made a "tunnel" out of some pallets, and some leftover fencing.

Within 5 minutes, one of the buff girls squeezed out through the slats, so we had to cover the pallets with the fencing.

 

The garden got out of hand, as they sometimes do at the end of summer.

Here is where the tunnel opens into the garden.

 

 

The flock stayed in the tunnel for most of the day.

They weren't quite sure what to do with that big open space at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

A few of them did get about three feet into the garden, but they didn't stay long.

I read about a man in England, who had "chunnels" made from wire, all over his property, moving his chickens around, to "work the land".

I told the girls they weren't living for free, that they had to make better use  of their time.

I explained that I would really like the garden to be cleaned up, sometime before  Thanksgiving.

Which means that you need to work yourself out of the tunnel, at some point.

Are you listening???

Bart says, " I'll tell them, but first we have to make sure we eat every bug in this tunnel."

Great.

A pick me up.

What, you say???  Another post????
What's going on???


Just wanted to share a little bit of sunshine with you.
If this doesn't make you smile, then you might be in a coma.

I've watched it SEVERAL times. :)

Amen Sister

I don't know what's up with my blogging.  Sometimes I think I just have no more to say, then other times I think it is the drain of dealing with my head every day.
It sure has changed my life.

And it seems like I am busy, too busy, all the time.
Does that happen to you??   There is so much to do, there is never enough time in the day.


One little lady is on the move, and there is no sitting when I'm with her.
It didn't seem this hard when I was raising my children, all those years ago.
But how I love her.

I am weaving baby blankets on the AVL, hoping to have a pile of them.
Of course, everything that could go wrong, did.
I think it took me about a yard, to get through all the kinks.

I did manage to take Roy for a long walk today.  He is feeling much better.

I love the fall, it has always been my favorite time of year.

Tonight I went over to the studio, when I remembered  that I hadn't closed the shed.  And that was as good an excuse as any.   I stayed for a bit, talked to the chickie girls, and Bart.  Did a little weaving.
When I left to come home, I locked the door and shut it, at the exact same moment that I realized that my keys were on the kitchen counter.
Too late.
Locked out.
I could have called DH, 10 miles away, but I knew he was busy closing the pool.
I could have called L, 5 miles away, but I hated to bother her.
I called my neighbor, who has an emergency key, but she wasn't home.

Hmm.

So tonight I proved a couple of things.

1. These windows should always be locked, they are pretty accessible, even though they are high.

2.  And 67 year old women can still break into their own house through the window.

Amen.