Sweet things.

Well, first off, the last three days, my headache has seemed to let up, after a few weeks of misery.

Is it the weather???  High pressure, sunny, blue skies???

Or could it be the acupressure I've been practicing on my face???

I'm not sure why , but I am very positive that I am grateful.


Youngest daughter and little ones came today for a visit.  That makes it one of my happiest days.

And while they were here, I got  my daughter to model some of the clothes that I have just finished.

I am on a mission to fill the clothes rack with Möbius shawls and other stuff.

It photographs better with a model, rather than just being on a hanger.

She had a helper.

That same little helper wanted to make cupcakes.

The REAL truth was that she wanted to get into the SPRINKLES.

Headache, headache stay away.........I have two little ones that I dearly want to watch grow up.

We had to have a little fake birthday party.

I may be exhausted, but it's for a good cause, and I will do it every chance I get.

Tomorrow?   There's a warp calling my name.

And a quiet weekend ahead.

Days like this make slogging through headacheville worth doing.

Just this.

The guild show is over, and it was a very successful venture.   My stock of towels and möbius shawls is much depleted.

There are only 11 towels on my shelves, only because I didn't finish them in time to take them.

These turned out extra large.

DW aka Dirty White Boy, has warmed up to us quickly.
He now follows me around the yard, lets me pet him, and in the morning, he is at the door at 6am with the other two, waiting for breakfast.

He's very bony, and very obviously has not been neutered, but it's in his future, trust me.

Today I came in from outside, turned around, and he was in the dining room with me.  He must have scooted through the door before it closed.
Thankfully, I got him outside before the three girls INSIDE saw him.
I think there would be war.


This is my new wall hanging, I have it over the couch.   I bought it from a fellow weaver, at the guild show.
Those are twisted paper leaves hanging from the top.   I love it.

I put together a warping trapeze, with L's help.  We tried putting a warp on with it, but I did a lousy job of spreading the warp in the raddle, and we finally gave it up.

We'll try it again one of these days, and hopefully we will have better luck.

New warp on the AVL, this is going to be shawls.

My time weaving baby wraps has come to an end.  It was nice while it lasted, but new regulations are making it impossible for small businesses like mine to make any money.  The testing requirements are expensive and, in my opinion, cumbersome.
Too much trouble.
2018 is going to be a year of weaving just what I want.

I got sucked into the baby wrap world, it was fun for a while, but exhausting, too.
It's not what I want in my life right now, so the regulations have really made it easy to bow out.

Quiet days, weaving in my studio, that's perfect.

I don't really need much, I don't really want much.

I have a great family, and good friends.

I love my home.

I have lots of toys in my studio to keep me occupied and focused.

My "wish" of course, is a headache that I can live with.

That's all.

It seems so simple.

But I know that it's not.

Minutiae

DWB, short for Dirty White Boy, has found the kitty solar house.   He has been it in for the most part for a couple of days and nights.
He appears to be quite proud of himself.

Momma....that's me, apparently.....ordered him a cat heating pad to put in it.  I'll have to remove the straw, and hope that doesn't upset the apple cart.
Of course, I will have to wait until he wanders off to put it in there, but at least I know he won't freeze this winter.

DH was in his shop this afternoon, pounding away, and DW never budged.   He's not giving up his spot.

Goldie is the only smart one, he already has taken over the heated cat house in the loft of the barn, and every morning, he comes down from there, when breakfast is served.

Bubbalee, is a little diva, and likes to make her own decisions......so anything I have thought would keep her warm at night, and make her life better, has been rejected by her.
SHE has decided that the tote on the front porch that was left sitting there, is a good BED.
So I took the  other heated cat house that I bought for her, and opened it up, and put it in the tote......and plugged it in.
And Lord have mercy, she has spent the last two nights in it.

Now to figure out how to keep the wind and snow out of it.  I was thinking of putting a metal table that I have right over it, and then attaching some kind of insulation board on three and a half sides.  Of course, it will have to be done a little bit at a time....or she will get spooked.

I woke up this morning, thinking about old friends.  Where they are, what they're doing.  How, and why, we lose track of each other.
Sometimes, there's no real good explanation.


One last thing about cats.
My daughter moved this weekend, and she gave me this.
Only one small problem.  Sydney is too FAT to get to that top one.   I guess I could put a plant on it. :)

We've been weaving up a storm, getting ready for the Hudson Mohawk Weavers' Guild Show, which is this weekend in Latham, N.Y.

As you can see, I'm doing more clothing.  As of January, there are new baby wrap regulations, and I don't want to play.
Clothes are more fun, anyway.  I make what I like, what I want, and I am not working at anyone else's whim.
It's perfect, actually.


Since I've been sewing a lot this year, I looked for, and found, this great little cart.   From Target.

I took all the stuff off my sewing and serging tables, and now I can work without knocking things on the floor.

This is an 8 harness draft that Lois has been working on.   It really rocks.

I came full CIRCLE, back to CIRCLES, I must admit, I love them.

And I am still loving my new Compudobby....it's amazing.

So a couple posts back, I told you about my "neck" massage, and the headache that followed......every single day.........then this last weekend, it really ramped up.  I felt like I had bricks on my forehead, across my eyes, over my nose.   I was pretty laid up on Sunday, it raged on all night, and I woke up Monday morning with it still.   After I let Roy out, I lay on the couch, since it was still dark.  I put the heating pad over my face.  I have no idea why.  I usually put it on my neck.
At any rate, I woke up an hour later, and my sinuses were draining like crazy!!
So as soon as I could, I went to the pharmacy and bought some Claritin, with pseudophed, came home, and took one.
Within an hour, the bricks lifted.
Still a headache.
But it's MY old headache, and I can live with it.
I can't, however, live long with the brick headache.

So, strange as it may sound, I am grateful.  Beyond belief.

My happy place

I usually don't weave in the evening, because usually by the time the evening news comes on, I'm beat.

But occasionally, I do retreat to the studio.  I play guitar and violin acoustics on Pandora, and I weave.

This is my happy place.

My little corner of the world.

The rhythm of throwing the shuttle soothes me.

Every now and then I think about traveling.   The pull of other places stirs my soul.

There are a few places in the world that really interest me, places that I would like to see.

Truth is though, I haven't been in an airplane since my Chiari surgery 5 years ago.  I have no idea what my head will feel like 30,000 ft up.
Although the headache of the last two weeks has been so ferocious, I can't imagine that flying could be any worse.
But then do you want to be thousands of miles from your comfort zone, with a slamming head.
Probably not.

Maybe I'll just dream of faraway places, and do a lot of Google earth.

My comfort zone gets dearer and dearer to me.

Day in the life..........

OK, I confess.   I don't have a plan.
I just start writing.....and my pictures are willy nilly.  Sometimes.


Shadows fall differently in October.......

And my lovely bed of zinnias, planted from saved seeds last year, were finally hit by the frost.

Encouraged by their loveliness all summer long, I once again, cut the tops off to dry, and plan on planting the seeds again, next year.

 
I have two full screens upstairs, one in the front bedroom, one in the blue room which is my guest room.  But this is going to grow exponentially.  Maybe next year I will have to recruit helpers to harvest all these seeds.

But I love the process, and love that I can have more and more beautiful zinnias, from one package of seeds purchased two years ago.

This is the blue room.   If you come to visit, this is where you'll stay. :)

We had a little family dinner last week, and we were entertained by a dinosaur.   At first, my littlest was frightened, but you can see here that she got over it.

I love watching my grands grow up.  It's one of the gifts of getting older.
I struggle sometimes with the headaches, but this always encourages me to persist.

Is it 8 years? or 9? that I haven't eaten meat.
And the longer I have chickens, the less likely it is that I would ever eat one.

So the cat saga continues here at Crazy as a Loom.

This guy is deaf, for the most part, sleeps in the mulch pile, or under my car, has been in residence for about a month now.   He eats several times a day, and looks like he is gaining weight.  Might be the diatomaceous earth I put in their food, to treat worms, but whatever it is, he is looking better.
I call him DW, which is short for "dirty white boy".
Bubbalee tolerates him, Goldie vocalizes and tries to intimidate, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Miss Puss, my indoor diabetic, has had a rough week.   Her glucose was raging, and she was doing very poorly over the weekend, when my vet was not available.  So, we ended up at the emergency vet clinic.
First, let me say that they are amazing.  Then let me add that they are expensive beyond my wildest imagination.
She spend the night there, came home Sunday, then went to her own vet on Monday, stayed overnight there, and finally, she is home, and presently at my feet snoring loudly.
She is now the $1200 queen of cats, but she has always been the queen.
Just ask her.

DH was comical, and endearing, when he handed me a generous check, to put towards my credit card, which was still vibrating from all this.
Though he seems oblivious sometimes, he is often spot on.

And L, well, you are what a true friend is all about.

I swear, if I looked up "the best friend ever" in the book of books, your picture would be there, with a grumble underneath it, saying "don't take my picture!"

What we learn about life, when we least expect it, eh?????


It's been a tough couple of weeks.  
I had a massage, that included work on my neck.
Big, big mistake.  Instant slamming headache behind my eyes that has persisted day after day.

Finally got in for an osteopathic manipulative treatment yesterday, and I think it is somewhat better.

One day at a time, as I am reminded so often.
One day at a time.