Enough with winter.

This has been the view out my bedroom window for months now.  But it rained last night, and I think maybe spring is around the corner.

Inside, I have tried to keep it bright and colorful in spite of what's going on outside.

I have a stack of yardage woven, on the shelf waiting for me to get inspired 

to sew.

I used to make a lot of möbius shawls, but I'm trying to push myself 

out of my comfort zone,  so in addition to some Naya cloaks, I want to make 

some version of these two patterns that I have collected.

What do you think????  All suggestions considered.

About a year and a half ago, I got this tiny slip of an aloe plant in a 

sandwich bag, and look what it has grown into.  It has become quite the showstopper.

I have amazing light in my house......the front of the house is all windows, and up and 

down on a sunny day, it's blinding.

The studio gets sun all day long with windows on two sides, east and south.

It's the warmest part of this old house.

This is the upstairs hall, and that is my Sea Onion......a plant I have had for probably 40 years.  I have split it more times than I can count, and gifted its babies.  It gets tiny white flowers when it's very happy.  It needs to go in a window where you don't mind it taking over, because it does.

This past winter I decided to get rid of this old sink in the studio.  It's been very handy, especially to rinse dye in, but the door is just to the left of this picture, and I can not tell you how many times I have run into the corner of that countertop.

So I moved my serger to the other side of the room.

Then I bought this lovely little laundry room sink at Lowe's.  It's perfect in the spot, 

and now the door is easy to open and close without injury.  It wasn't a very costly

project, but a satisfying one.

I put the old sink and countertop on FB marketplace for free, and some nice 

gentleman snagged it right off my back porch.

Win/win.

My next home improvement project occurred in early February, when we started 

the 3 week deep freeze in northeast NY.

My dining room and kitchen are perhaps the coldest rooms in my house, facing north and northwest.  So back to Lowe's, where I bought Levolor cellular blinds for all four windows.

Every night I have been faithfully pulling them down, along with the ones I already have

in the living room.  I really think it has helped.  I probably should have done it long ago.

If spring every really does arrive, my outside project for this year is getting the front of the house scraped and painted.  It really needs it and I will feel better having it done.

I will not die rich, but what sense does that make anyway?

Animal Kingdom

It's been a long, and very cold, and did I say LONG, winter.

I think most of us are very much over it.   

The fuel bills have been outrageous, I am way over my budget, and the heat is still on.

With the WAR in Iran, the prediction is that OIL will go even higher.  I am trying to 

figure out how that will be possible for me next winter.  I have gone over the options

available to me.

None of which are easy, or good.

Anyway.   Do you all remember Goldie?   He has been my resident outside cat since 

2017.

I have taken many photos of him.   He appeared out of nowhere, and has never left.

I have tried to keep him happy, with heated water bowls, full food dish every morning,

a solar house for sunny days, and a heated little house on the porch, when it's not.

Every day, I would sit on the porch and give him some TLC, which he ate up.

At times, in winter, when it was really frigid, I would bring him inside.  At first I had to trick

him to get him in, and later when he got more used to me, I would just pick him up and bring him in.  I kept him in the studio with food, water, and a litter box, and the doors shut

so he didn't have to deal with the dogs.  

And to be honest, I didn't know how that would go.

Every time, he was inconsolable, yowling all night and just miserable.   Then when I would let him out, he wouldn't come near me for days, once it was a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to this winter.  The forecast was for a bitter week of below zero nights.   He is getting older, he was getting thin.   I made the decision, he is coming in.  He is staying in until this tundra weather is over.

For the first week, he stayed in the studio, no dogs allowed.

After a few nights, he stopped with the screaming.

The second week, I let the dogs into the studio, for 20 minutes here and there.

No one died.

The third week, I just opened the damn doors, and told them to all figure it out.

That was in January.

Now he goes out, and stays out a while, and comes right back in.  If it's too cold, he turns 

around at the door, and stays in.

He sleeps in the dog bed.   On the sewing table.  In the cupboard in the LR.  In every chair in the house.   On the dining room table.

Goldie has become a spoiled, and FAT inside/outside cat who is so content now, that I struggle to not cry every time I see him curled up somewhere while the snow whips around outside.

And the group?????

Well, as you can see, they have figured it out.

Willie still has his moments.   He doesn't like Goldie in his dish, and at no time EVER, is Goldie allowed on the sofa.   

The sofa is where Willie has me to himself, as Naya never stays up there for long.

Naya has had a tough winter.   Her legs are failing her, and I have to lift her up most of the time to get her going.

I wasn't sure she was going to make it through the winter, but she's a tough little girl.

She's also pretty confused at times.

We're just doing the best we can do, and we are trying not to think about what's

coming down the road.  The vet says she is a lot older than we thought, but that rescues

often lie about a dog's age.

So there's that..

I'm going to try to do better here, assuming that someone is still listening.

Somehow, I just know you are.