Good morning.

Yesterday was a comedy of errors.  First one mistake, then another.

Lois and I couldn't seem to get it right.
I said we should just go for a ride, and say to heck with it.
But we persevered.

I realized that the tension issue I was having with the AVL baby wrap warp was one that needed to be remedied.
Lois was apparently daydreaming while turning the crank, that's her job, and put 10 extra turns on the outermost section.  Just as much my fault as hers, I should have been listening.

You weavers can just imagine, right?  

I came downstairs to the sun bathing the progress I had made so far.  I started to weave, I couldn't resist.   I tried for 'too long' to nurse it along, and came to the conclusion that it was going to be a nightmare.  There was one problem spot on the far left, that was giving me fits.

So out came the scissors.

This is where Lois usually "gasps", and says "oh, no!".

But I am not afraid to use them, as she knows too well.


This is the "waste" piece I cut off.   Of course, I will figure out something to do with it.  I am waiting for an inspiration.

While I have been in a bit of a funk lately, with this hip, and dealing once again with PAIN,  I plod on.   Because after you've moaned and groaned about it, what else can you do anyway.   One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, I do what's in front of me, and try to focus on all that's good.   Doing that takes away the power than pain has over me.  I know that, I've learned it well.

And there is much that is good, always, in this crazy world.   It is so easy to get sidelined by pain, or misfortune, or by the insanity that is our political system, or by climate change, or violence and racism and hatred.  All you have to do is watch the news, read a paper, have it flash before your eyes on your computer, and you can be up to your neck in awful, depressing, drag you down bullcrap.    True?????  

That's when I have to pull myself back to center, and keep my eye on all that is amazing, and good, and simple and true.

There's plenty, I find, when I just stop, breathe, and look around.

Hello

I don't think that there is any preparation for this getting older stuff.  Mostly, I was too busy in my life to think about it when I was younger, and what could I have done about it anyway??

Now here I am, OLDER, and it's not hard to see that if one thing doesn't hurt, another one does.

I have had a bunch of dental appointments.  Teeth get troublesome as years go by.

I am sure that I am looking at a hip replacement in the not too distant future.  And while on one hand, the thought of surgery, any surgery, with my history, makes me shiver, I would have it tomorrow if I could get rid of this hip pain.
I can barely put a sock on, stairs are incredibly painful, sitting, standing, walking, anything actually, causes pain.  There's this deep continual ache.  With particular movements, there is a stabbing in the groin that goes right through me.
It started a year ago, and I have had one injection under fluoroscopy, which gave me about 3 months of relief.  But of course, that is not a fix.  It just puts off the inevitable.

I guess you could say that I have a bad attitude.   I fell and hit my head FIVE years ago.  Since then, as most of you know, there have been surgeries, and headaches that took over my life for much of the time.  NOW, finally, my headaches are pretty manageable.  And now this hip.
I have no patience for this, let me tell you.
The thought runs through my head that I have wasted TOO MUCH TIME on pain, and I do not want to waste more.

My appointment for my hip is a month away.  I am ready.  They can fix it in the office, I don't care.  Hit me over the head, and just do it.

On the flip side, here it is: spring.  There are so many things to do, and so many things I want to do.  I know.  I ask myself HOW?
What I've pretty much decided is that I am going to push through and do whatever, and as much, as I can.  Hip be damned.  I tell myself, over and over, that if I got through the whole brain/neck thing, that I can get through this.  Of course I can.
But truth be told,  there are moments when it just feels overwhelming.
Just moments.


"Circles" baby wraps on the loom.  Weaving sustains me.
It's a deep down feeling of contentment and serenity that has no equal.

Like the song says..........

I will survive.

Perfectly boring.

Don't get me wrong.
I love my humdrum life.
Normal.
Not a smasher in sight.  (not counting the headache I woke up with this morning, it was gone in a snap, and did not slow me down for long)


This is what I found when I came downstairs this morning.

Looks comfy, right???  My Roy boy.


With my latest addition to the chicken coop, my fridge usually looks like this.
Eggs, eggs, and more eggs.
I love my chickie girls.

Every day I take Roy for a walk, once I wake him up!!!
It was a beautiful spring day.

I try to stay off the highway as much as possible.

In between walking and making mystery soup, I have been playing with a little rose path on a cotton warp I found in a bag.  I have no idea when I wound the warp.  I could tell that it was 5/2 perle cotton, and I actually found the partial cone left over, so I am using that for weft.  It's going to be a scarf.

Oh, and I made some bread, which made the house smell fantastic.

But as exciting as my days are, the big hoopla is when the UPS truck comes and brings me THIS.

Heart be still.
This is the kind of thing that gets a weaver's heart beating fast.  

What a wonderful day this has been. :)

How NOT to catch a chicken.

Finally got the gray/navy striped warp off the AVL today......40 yards.  

I hemmed and washed and pressed, and there are 42 new towels done.

 During the day I had to keep going out to round up wandering chickens.

At one point, my husband called me from his cell phone, while he was walking the dog, to tell me that another chicken was loose in the yard.
He said he tried to catch it, but he couldn't.

I said, "hmmm, do you think maybe having Roy on a leash, while chasing the chicken, MAY have encouraged the chicken to NOT get caught?????


 Finally, I'd had enough.

So after Lois and I watched a You Tube video, we went out and did what I've been trying to avoid.

She held the chicken, and I clipped wings.  We did the two who kept getting out.

After she left, I looked out the window, and there was a chicken out.........AGAIN.

So I went out, thinking it was another of the 6 new chickens, who are light enough to flap their way over the fence.  But it wasn't.  It was one of the chickens that I'd already clipped.
So I put her back in, and before I could get around the back of the run, she was out again.
What???????

So I put her back in, and ran around the back of the coop.  I waited and watched, and finally I caught her, coming through a small hole in the fence that I had missed on inspection of the fence.

Now the AVL is ready for a new warp, and maybe the chickens will stay in.

This retirement life is so exciting.

Hello there.

I love early morning.
Usually I am up by 5:30 or 6:00.
The cats are waiting to be fed.  Roy wants his tablespoon of cat food that gets his cardiac pills down, and he wants to go out.
By then, my coffee is ready.

I got rid of my Keurig.  I think they are expensive, and I don't like contributing to waste that will never disappear.
I also am not fond of drinking something that is run hot through plastic.  And I think we have become a nation of always wanting the easy way, even if it makes no sense.

I bought this little Melitta, and it makes better coffee than the Keurig, for much less money.

My retail area is the huge front hallway of this house.   It is perfect, I mean really, what else would you do with this space?
This is the only time of day that my woven wearables get any direct sun, and that's just the way I like it.

Do you think it's weird that I wander around my house and take pictures  at the crack of dawn???

I actually started weaving in my nightgown this morning....the light was so enticing.

Walking Roy today, it was so warm, I took my jacket off, and it was perfect, even with short sleeves.
Unbelievable.

I try to walk Roy in the fields, and the woods, away from the road.  You can see my house in the distance.

There are SIX new hens in the hen house.   They are 19 weeks old, and laying already.   But they are a little shell shocked, I guess, because they won't leave the coop.  I am giving them a couple of days to get adjusted, before I throw them outside.  Other than L and my kids, I am going to start charging for eggs........to pay for feed.  They are awesomely fresh and good.

Back at the loom...........

Ugh. FB.

Today I got very annoyed with Facebook.

I responded impulsively to a political post, and went back and forth a couple of times, with an old friend who happens to have a total opposite opinion from mine.

Honestly, I don't ever want to lose REAL friends, that I have had all my life, over FB OR politics.  Good grief.

I got thinking about it on the way to my granddaughter's birthday party today.   I was just about to deactivate my FB account.

I resent the time I spend on it.  It just sucks a part of my day right up.
I am totally annoyed by the dumb, ridiculous political posts that abound.
I hate  the graphic posts about animal abuse.
I am tired of all the shared posts with flowery nonsense.

I tried to figure out what the attraction actually is, and why I bother with it.

And of course, if it sucks up my time, that's my own fault.  But it is so addictive, isn't it?

Then I went through my friend list, and realized that of 190 of them, there are only about 22 of them that I actually see in PERSON, EVER.  And of those 22,  6 of them are family.

Hmm.......so what does that say??

Then I started looking at the plus side.

This morning, I had a great conversation with  an old friend, on FB messages, which would probably not have happened, otherwise.

I also keep in touch with my English relatives on FB, and see pictures of their children.

And I see pictures, daily, of  my own grandchildren, and keep tabs on at least 2 out of three of my daughters.

And yesterday, there was this post, shared by one of my FB friends, about a malnourished dog right in Glens Falls, with the address, and a photo.  FB blew up with comments, and calls to the police, and calls to the local SPCA.  At first they didn't do much, but with the crowd on FB growing, and getting louder and louder, and with ONE brave soul actually driving 20 miles TO THE HOUSE, and KNOCKING ON THE DOOR, and confronting the low life owners, eventually the police did come, and SPCA did come, and the dog was saved.
And now there is a LIST of potential adopters, all waiting to hear, if they can take this dog home.

Sniff.


So FB, as much as you occasionally make me crazy, I guess I'll stick around.  With a little more restraint, and good sense, and my finger on the HIDE button, I'll post pictures of Syd, and Roy, and Miss Puss, and maybe even Jinksie.
I won't rabble rouse, I promise.

Home Sweet Home.

Thank goodness for FaceTime, or I would never have gotten to see my peach.

I'm telling you, there is nothing like being HOME.
NOTHING.

We were gone for a month, and it seemed much longer.
I was ready to come back, cold weather or not.


While Roy is a fantastic traveling companion, he was also very happy to be home.

Back at the loom............sweet relief.

Back to my sewing room......

I split and transplanted several sea onions before I left, and they are all doing fine.
Except that I now have about 8 of them, and I can't seem to give them away.

And I still have two big plants that need to be split.
What in the world am I going to do with them all????

I think I'll just have my favorite snack, plain yogurt, bananas and wheat germ, and ponder the sea onion dilemma.

Did I mention that I am beyond thrilled to be HOME?????