Be thankful.

I don't know why I hate to admit it, but I do.

My headaches are still running my life.  I try very hard not to let them, but it's a losing venture, I'm afraid.
I wake up way too many mornings with a smashing pain across my forehead.  The only fix is sitting very still with heat on my neck, hot coffee, sometimes Advil, sometimes Excedrin, and patience.
Usually, in 2-3 hours, it will let up enough so I can start my day.

Then, at any time, it can come roaring back.  If I do too much. If I don't keep balance in my day.  If I rush around too much.   If I am not paying attention to what my NECK wants.  Unfortunately, my neck usually wants to do NOTHING.  And NOTHING is not, and has never been, in my vocabulary.
Resting my neck, with heat, throughout the day, helps.

Honestly, I never saw this in my life.  Never saw it coming, couldn't have imagined it if I had tried.
Me, the most energetic, hard working person you've ever known.
Resting.  Reading and knitting MID DAY.  Oh, the horrors.

The rewarding side of that is that I finished this hoodie for baby Dale, and I'm going to give it to her today when we go for Thanksgiving dinner.
I like the way it turned out.

    Some good news.........I was pleasantly surprised and rewarded by the recent guild show.   I took 48 dish towels, and sold 42.   I took 17 möbius shawls, and sold 7.   And I also sold rugs, placemats, and  sweet bottoms.   My studio looks bare with all that product gone.

Of course, the reality is that I am not all that sure I can, or want to, replace it.
I guess I will just take it a day at a time, knowing that I can only weave for an hour at a time, and then maybe twice a day.  Maybe.


This has been my coffee table since the mid 80's.
I bought it at a garage sale for $2.  It was painted yellow.
It is wobbly, always has been.
My kids have teased me about it for years, urging me to buy a new, shiny one.  A "no wobble" one.

And I resisted.  Of course I did.

But then I decided that I wanted to repurpose all the old doors that I have in the barn.  I wanted a coffee table that had storage underneath for my knitting.
So I designed this, and Cory, my fave carpenter, put it together.  Then DH stained the bottom to match.

I first thought I wanted a piece of glass for the top, but after using it for a few days, I don't think so.  I like it just fine the way it is.
But not to worry, I'm going to repurpose "old wobbly".  I just can't part with it.  I think of my oldest grandson learning to walk holding on to it.  I remember my first two pit bulls, Eddie and Chicki wrestling underneath it, almost tipping it over.   It's personal.

The pies are made, Lois is in NYC watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and I am taking it easy until the family gets together later today.


Dale modeling the dress I made her before she was born.

We all have reasons to stick around as long as we can manage.

She's one of mine.

Thankful on this day.

November rocks.

The days may be shorter, but the weather has been pretty darn nice for November.  
The late afternoon light is amazing.    I had to slow down tonight on the way home from town, to catch a picture or two.
Luckily, there were no other cars on the road.

I love driving home through the countryside.
I hated living in town with so much congestion.   I will never do it again.

I'm a country girl at heart.
I don't want to be anything else.

Walking Roy in the late afternoon, looks like a storm is coming.  But still, the light is lovely.

I have been getting ready for the Hudson Mohawk Weaver's Guild show and sale.  It is coming up soon, this Thursday to be exact.

37th Annual Show & Sale
Date: Thursday, Nov 19 through Sunday, Nov 22, 2015Hours: Thu 2-9, Fri 10-9, Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4Location: Pruyn House, 207 Old Niskayuna Road, Newtonville (Colonie), NY 12128

I have SEVEN mohair shawls done.  But I decided that the 'natural' cream might not be such a great seller.  So I dyed all day yesterday.

My kitchen was a disaster area, and I have vowed to never dye inside again.
Part of the reason for that is that on the LAST one, I was distracted, and it boiled over.

Can anyone say TURQUOISE floor????

Anway, I am ready.   Everything is DONE, and tagged, and packed.  Inventoried.

I am very proud of myself.   I could have, would have, almost did, work right up until the show making even MORE stuff.

But for once, reason prevailed.  The new, more balance me, decided that was a really stupid idea.

I made bread instead.

I went to a Fine Arts show at the Saratoga Museum of Dance.

Fellow guild member, Ann Diller, at her booth of fine hand wovens.

Then afterwards, I took myself to lunch.

And it was delish.

Then I took myself home, and spent the rest of the afternoon  weaving and  enjoying the sun coming through the windows.

It's amazing what you can give yourself permission to do.

Couple of thoughts.

I seem to be in a "once a week" blogging mode.  It's by no design, just the way it happens.

And I seem to be busy every day, but not in the way I use to be.

There was a time, when my mind was bent on production, and my 9-4 days at the studio were scripted with what I had to get done.  It was nothing for me to come here and weave 6 or 7 rugs in a day.  Then there were loopers to sort, pack, ship, jeans to cut, sew, and a myriad of other jobs that kept L and me jumping.
Those days are gone, and while it was a shocker at first, I can't say that I miss them.

I love living here.   I know I've said that.   But I can't help but say it now and again.

I get up and there is no rush to get out the door and get to work.  Funny, how just being here has changed that.  My early morning, after feeding the cats and letting Roy out, is a cup of coffee, and daily word search online, checking my mail, and starting the NY Times crossword, which I will finish later in the day.  The sun comes up and fills the living room with light.  Right now, the pellet stove is keeping it toasty, and Roy has curled up in his chair again.   Usually there is a cat or two here, one on the couch with me, the other by the stove.
Life is just easier now, the pace is slower, the feeling of being retired is tangible.  I suspect it has been there for awhile, but of course I would not allow myself to indulge.
How lovely that somehow I've gotten there.

The cats have adjusted to the loss of Kizzy.  It was interesting how his absence changed the dynamics.  I still sometimes see Syd out of the corner of my eye, and think it's him.  Jinksie still cries in the night on occasion.  But overall, they are o.k.   Sydney spends more time in the loft with Jinksie, and kind of mothers her, which makes me happy.

I spend my days differently now.  I have learned that weaving a little here, and a little there, is good for my neck, and thus my head.   Balance is the key.   No more weaving marathons.   I weave some, then I sew.   I take Roy for a long walk.  I do some outside work.  (Oh the horrors)  I read!!!!   Or I work on the crossword.  I bake.  Do laundry.  All those normal things.
When we didn't live here, I tried to do all those daily chores after dinner, after weaving and working all day.  No wonder I felt like I was on a treadmill.   I was, one of my own making.

It kind of amazes me how much it took to get me to readjust my thinking.  A head injury, three surgeries, a headache that has battered me for about 4 years now (who's counting?) a hip that didn't work for awhile, and is probably just simmering and waiting for a hip replacement.    Good grief.

Rigid.  I used to dislike it in my mother, being rigid.  But apparently the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

I will say that I am learning, if slowly, certainly SURELY.
My headache keeps me honest, faithful to the cause of 'doing' less, 'being' more.
If I stay on track, it gives me respite, if I don't, it makes me pay.

I am pondering the idea that it's exactly the way it was meant to be.

That's a kicker, right?

Busy busy busy

Morning in Kingsbury.

Hot air balloon going right over the house.

I recently made a ladies tunic from some handwoven that I had in the cupboard.
I threw it in the wash, loved it when it came out, so decided to make something.

I used a top of my own as a pattern.

My friend Michelle came by, and good naturedly agreed to be my model.

She's so thin and cute.   It looked great on her.

Here's some of my "bobbins of many colors".........all going into a möbius shawl.

This is what my life looks like without a headache. :)

The last few days, my head has calmed right down.  I have given up trying to figure it out.  There is no sense to it really.
I just take it and I'm grateful, for as long as it lasts.

So I took advantage, and moved my computer area to the studio, out of the dining room, moved an old kitchen cupboard out of the hall and into the dining room, all with the help of my patient DH.
He also put up this great rack in the hall where the  cupboard had been, to hang my woven wearables.

And the end of a good weekend, the sunset in Kingsbury.  It's a beautiful thing.