For now.

A few months ago, I made an attempt to do some kind of fabric collage.   It was an epic failure.  

I really thought it was going to be good, and it wasn't.

I was disappointed, but just chalked it up to a bad decision.

Then I decided to make the prayer flags, I thought maybe that would satisfy whatever creative itch

I was trying to scratch.

They were ok........more appreciated by other people, me not so much.

Then, a chance email from a friend, who made this suggestion.

I was off to YouTube, then to Joann's for some supplies, and before you knew it, I had found 

that illusive endeavor I was looking for.

Introducing Crazy as a Loom Collage

First I started with cards.......  and I was totally enjoying myself.  I hardly did any weaving for several days........I made 78 cards to start, sold 31 of them on FB, and then made probably 50 more.

My only problem making these collages, was doing the quilting.  My sewing machine is not level with my sewing table, so the piece I was working on would fall off the edge, and the pieces of fabric and ribbon and thread that I had on it, would slide off.

So, my answer to a $2000 sewing table, to get my machine level, was a $9 box from the UPS store.
And some painters tape.
It really does work perfectly, and will be easily stored when I'm not using it.

I did some framed pieces as well.

I'm ready to take some cards to our next show.

And some little note books........

Some with sayings, some without.

I have to say that I don't even really care if they sell or not, though I think they will.  I am having so much fun making them.  It's an outlet for something that I was missing, and I'm using all these scraps from weaving.......fabric, thrums, all of it.
So it really makes me smile, to be making something that I like, from stuff that I would have thrown away.

Of course, my sewing room is a complete disaster, but I will just have to deal with that for now.

 It's the price I have to pay.

And right now, this is just what I need.

Heat Wave

Or, more to the point, HUMIDITY wave.
Boy, when it gets humid in the northeast, it is truly miserable.

Of course, if you mention that you like cooler weather, someone will about take your head off, but I can't help it, I like spring and fall much better than this.

I've been trying to keep the labyrinth weeded, and honestly, if I go out there more often, and take advantage of the meditative little walk around it, it's easy enough to pull a weed here or there.

I've  been very protective of my serenity of late.  There are many things on the horizon that could throw it into upheaval, and I am pretty focused on not letting that happen.  
Walking the labyrinth does help.

This next photo is just for fun....saw it on the way home the other day......and it cracked me up.   This guy apparently needed to park his truck, so he squeezed it in on a very tiny lawn, on a very busy road.

I was stopped at the stop sign, and just had to take a picture.

The last time that my littlest grands visited,  Dale made friends with a snail.

This girl.

Sorry the pictures are a bit mixed up.......blogger is NOT cooperating tonight.



This is my daughter's new puppy.  His name is Percy.

And back to the kids, Lois was kind enough to lend us this amazing hand made "digger".....and Cooper figured out how to run it in about 5 minutes.  Mimi was very helpful in providing the sand.

Back to the puppy, well, this little guy is beyond adorable.
I could just hold him all day long.

I treated myself to a new ottoman.
I have long had this really bad habit of storing everything I own on my coffee table.  I vowed many times to stop, but it was just too easy to keep loading it up.

The wooden coffee table I had there was very uncomfortable to put your feet up, so all in all, it was not the greatest set up.

So I dragged the old coffee table out, found homes for all the minutia that I had loaded on it, and here is my NEW foot rest, which I tell you is very comfortable.

My couch was looking pretty ratty, but still very comfortable.  So until I can decide whether I want to have it recovered, or buy a new one, I went for the $40 quick fix, neutral cover.

It definitely works for now.

At the beginning of the summer, I had the back of our property "deforested"......trying to keep the bamboo/aka Japanese knotweed, and the sumac, from taking over.

I figured that we could mow it with the rider, and that would be easier than trying to beat it back every single summer.

But there are roots to be cut, and stones to be dug out.  The stones, unfortunately, are like icebergs.

They look small, until you start digging.

DH thinks he is stronger than he actually is, a failing that I think befalls every older man.

He picked up a huge rock, fell over backward, and broke a rib under his arm.

So in addition to all the doctor's appointments pending, now he is in awful pain.

But he still wants to go out and pick up rocks.  In fact, he's out there right now!!!!

Men.  There's no other explanation.

I also treated myself to a new electric teapot.   Mine gets used several times a day, and to be honest, I just wanted this one.

Retail therapy.

Tonight I went to Pinterest to find out what to do with the summer squash that seems to be multiplying.

I made these, and while they are called Oven Fried Summer Squash, but really, they should just be called CRACK.

You can find it on wenthere8this.com

I will never have too much summer squash ( or zucchini) again.

Addendum

Here is the poem that I referenced, a couple of posts ago.

Lonesome Boy Blues
by Kenneth Patchen

Oh nobody’s a long time
Nowhere’s a big pocket
To put little
Pieces of nice things that

Have never really happened

To anyone except
Those people who were lucky enough
Not to get born
Oh lonesome’s a bad place

To get crowded into

With only
Yourself riding back and forth
On
A blind white horse
Along an empty road meeting
All your
Pals face to face

Nobody’s a long time

Again

 Yes, I realize that I just posted two days ago.   I have no idea what I am doing.


For awhile now, the proliferation of weeds in my labyrinth has been driving me crazy.  I thought I had someone younger and more flexible than me that would weed it for me.
But I waited.  And waited.
Patience in something that needs to be done, is not my long suit.

So one day I went out there with a 5 gallon bucket and a pair of gloves, and I weeded about 10 feet of the path.     Then the next day, I did the same.  And again, and again.
I started seeing some progress, and I was inspired to keep going. 
Then yesterday, it was actually a beautiful summer day, with very little humidity, and I kept going back out and doing a little more, and a little more.
So today, I am a achy, but it's done.

Can I just tell you how good that feels???

Here's my spread on google earth.....actually only 1.2 acres, but it's mine.   Zoom in and you can see the labyrinth behind the barn.

While I got to weeding, I got to thinking as well.   It all reminded me of a lesson I learned in Al Anon, 25 years ago.
"Sometimes, you have to just do what is right in front of you."

It has saved me more than once.   Not overthinking what you can't change anyway, but just doing the mundane tasks that are right in front of you, that need doing.   There's something so simple and satisfying about it, and it puts your brain back where it belongs, in the present, this day, that we are gifted with.


This coming weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will be having an Open House here, for the Artisan Trails of Washington County.
So I have some organizing and  getting ready to do.

But today, finishing this piece is right in front of me.  It's good to have purpose. 

Every day morning over my one cup of  coffee, I go over the day in my head.   I leave free time, but I always have things that need doing, so I usually scratch them on a note pad, for happy crossing off later in the day.

First up this morning, is throwing some clothes on, and hitting the trail with Naya, while it's cool and lovely to walk.

She needs it, and so do I.

Later in the afternoon, I will sit, on the porch if it's not too humid, with a book, or my Ipad.   I'll read or dream, or maybe I'll even dose off.

And I'll have a cuppa tea, because when you grow up in a house with an English mother, everything means a cuppa tea.
You have one when you're tired, when you're happy, when you're angry, when you're relaxing, when you are in the middle of a chore. 
The truth of it is, everything is better with tea. 

It's not like coffee.   It's so much better, and deeper, and more meaningful.
You have to be a tea drinker to understand this.

And with that dear friends, I'm off on a walk.

Have a great day.

Heat wave

My best friend died last week, after a long illness.   While I am relieved for her, because she suffered, and had no quality of life, I will miss talking to her more than I can even explain.

She was that friend who could tell you the unvarnished truth about yourself, and you didn't get mad at her.  And the reverse was just as true.   We had been friends since about kindergarten.  I can't even remember my life without her in it.

While looking for pictures of her in my boxes of photos, I came across this one.

That's me, at the time dealing with my abusive, alcoholic husband.   My friend, whose name was Gayle, coaxed me through it and out to the other side.   I am not sure how I would have done it without her.

The truck was the "blue beast".  The cat was Morris.  The little boy, all grown up and married now, is my cousins son, Michael, who was visiting with his family.   They came from England for two weeks, and luckily drunken husband had moved out for a while, which I remember worked out well.

Ah, memories.   The loss of someone so much a part of your life, seems to make those memories appear nonstop and swirl around in your head at record speed.

Goldie is managing in his role as the only outdoor cat.   He sits on the other side of the screen, and he and Sydney discuss her disdain for him.

Sometimes, she stares while he does this.  I swear he is taunting her.

 

A couple of years ago, a bad storm flattened one of my high bush cranberrys.   Lois and Claire and I tied it up, propped it up, and  prayed for the best.

Here it is, a complete success story.  I planted it from a little 2 ft high twig, so 

saving it was important to me.  It is covered with red berries in the winter.

The heat here has been horrific, as it has been in many places throughout the country.

I  try not to complain about it, I know that summer has a lot of good things about it.

But I still don't like it.

One of my favorite breakfasts:   a peach, strawberry, kale, protein shake, with some turmeric

thrown in for good measure.

This was a couple of weeks ago, when it was still comfortable to sit on the porch.  It certainly isn't
this week.

Some nights we go down the road to grab a bite at the local brew pub.

They have the most awesome onion rings on the planet.

 

And the beer is good too.

I've been trying to take pictures of all my hand woven clothing, but I missed the 

window of cool evenings to do it. 

Now I have to wait until this heat wave is over.

So between worrying about DH"s health problems, and mourning  my friend's death, the last month has been pretty stressful.  Awful.

I have tried to keep myself busy, it's the only thing that has really helped.  I have cleaned the loft of the barn, the loft over the studio, I have downsized dishes, my clothes, all the fabric I had stashed over the years for rag rugs.  I've exhausted myself, and found myself still right here in the middle of it anyway.

It reminds me of a poem that I always liked, about meeting yourself galloping back and forth on a white horse down a lonely road.

That image, well, that about says it. 

So I decided to maybe slow things down, and just let it be.

I spent some time playing around with alcohol inks.

It's very relaxing, and a little hypnotic.

And then of course, there's always these two.   They manage to put things in perspective every 

single time, reminding me that life goes on, that every day is a gift, and that all any of us can do is the very best that we can, each and every time that we wake up and are given one more day.

The jewelry's not bad either.