Still.

I got sick of using paper on the warps I wound on the warping board.  I only have a few looms with a plain warp beam, most all my looms have sectionals.  But I get annoyed every time I use heavy brown paper, and it doesn't wind tight.
So I ordered me some CORRUGATED.
I guess I didn't realize how big 250 ft of it would actually be.

YIKES.
Guess I'm good for a while.  And I know a few of my fave weavers who will want some.

 

I have been home with my ailing mother all week, but today daughter #1 came and stayed with her grandmother.

I went to the studio for the day.  Alone.

Can I just say, "wow".

Peace.  Quiet.  No requests.

It was pretty special.  I needed the break.

I wove on an order for a while.

 

I weeded around the barn, and checked out stuff.
My trumpet vine has gone bananas.

Here's my high bush cranberry.........

 

I have been so busy with my head issues, and now my mother, that the garden has somewhat gotten out of hand.

 I did manage to weed my little vegetable garden.

 Then I worked on my point twill towels.

This one is going to use up a bunch of bobbins of different colors.

 

Tomorrow daughter #3 is spending time with her grandmother, so I get to play AGAIN.

Life is good.

Scrambling

I could be talking about my brain.  But I'm just referring to the state of things.


 I've known for a while, that my mother was failing.  So I set up a loom at home, so when it came to staying home with her, I would still be able to weave.

 

 This is the 8 harness Macomber that I decided would be my "home loom".
A girl has to have a loom in every venue, you knew that right?

 The bench that came with it was hand made, and sweet, but too short for me.  So I found this one at the studio, that not only is the right height (crucial), but also seems to match the Macomber.

 

My mother has decided that she needs 24 hours nursing care.

She's right.

Her health has been in a rapid decline these last few months.

Unfortunately, she does not have the funds to pay  the $9000 a month it costs to stay in a nursing home, which means that we need to apply for Medicaid.

After a morning getting all the appropriate paperwork together, I went to Social Services to get this done.

Because my mother was not born in this country, I had to find her naturalization papers.

 

While I was sitting waiting for copies to be made, I was looking through my mother's wallet.
In behind the Medicare cards, and insurance cards, were pictures that just made me want to sit down and cry.


My mother and father, I think this is her first winter in the United States, 1946.

They were so young, and so much in love.  I guess they will be together again,  it's inevitable.

My grandmother and my Aunt Joyce back in England, in 1949.   I think about how my mother left them behind to marry my father.  It was an impulsive decision, and in later years a painful one when she realized that she had missed so much of their lives, and they hers.
 

 

 She saw her mother once more. 


She had a dream that my grandmother died, and the next week my father came home with the money to get her to the United States.  He took out a loan, just for her.
He picked up my grandmother in NYC, and she stayed with us for a year.   I was six, and don't really remember her. I was her first grandchild.  She went back to England and died of leukemia within the year.
 My mother didn't see her sister for 18 years.  1964.  A lifetime.
Things were different back then.  You just didn't pick up and fly wherever you wanted.


I am trying to do what has to be done.  I am taking care of my mother, and trying to help her with end of life issues.
But at the same time,  her life has been full,  and vibrant, and contemplating the end of that life is more than I can bear right now.

Finding your passion

Well, we all know I've found mine (evidence crazy lady with 16 looms, or is that 17?)

But I love to watch a daughter find hers.

The weather held for the falconry lesson that was a birthday gift from her fam.

 

The British School of Falconry is in Manchester, Vermont, about an hour and 15 minute drive for us.

 

It was incredibly educational.  As the one guest allowed, I got to listen, and of course, I was the photographer (using that term loosely)

My daughter loves birds. We affectionately call her the "bird lady".

When that hawk first lighted on her glove, her face was radiant.

 And it stayed that way for the two hours we were there.

 This is Sprint.   They use Harris hawks, as they are more social, and will allow strangers to handle them.  They are found in the southwest, like Arizona.

 As opposed to the red tailed hawk that is common in this area.  They are much more a one person kind of bird.

I was amazed at all of it.
She took to it like she'd been doing it all her life.

 I lost count of how many times she had hawks landing on her hand.

 After the lesson, we went on the "hawk walk".
Dawn, the instructor, is amazing.  She knows falconry, and teaches it with such enthusiasm.

 

It was interesting, listening to one woman talking about her passion, and the student eagerly taking it all it,  two "bird ladies" chatting it up.

  All you have to do is look at their smiles.  Says it all.

 

The hawk walk was amazing.

The two hawks, one male and one female, followed us through the woods, from tree to tree, landing every couple of minutes.

What's totally incredible about these birds, is that no matter how it looks, they have no bond whatever with humans.  They "hunt and they fly".
It's all about the food.
It's all about the training, and them getting the food in the easiest way possible.

  They actually live much longer in captivity.
It's a tough world for a hawk out there.
Most of them don't make the first year.

 

I also didn't know that to have a hawk, one must go through some incredible steps.  There is a lot of study and two years of following a mentor, and being tested.

And then trapping your own hawk, a red tailed hawk.

 

And even then, the state will come to inspect his housing.

This is very well regulated to protect the birds.

 

Then after you've taught the bird to hunt, and had him for a few years, most people release them into the wild, where as an adult bird, he has a better chance.

 With all that's going on in our family right now, with my mother, we needed this day.

 

It was a such a special day, as any day is where you get to watch your child, grown or otherwise, shine their light.

 

And believe me, this girl's got some light to shine.

I could not love her more.

Keeping up.

I wish I could say that life had calmed down at my house.
But the very next night after my last post, my daughter and I spend half the night in the ER with my mother.
She is back in the hospital, and things seem under control once again.
But it seems to be indicative of more to come.

We are lucky to have a great hospital nearby.

My two other daughters spent the morning with her, so I got to go to the studio for a while.

L and I had a finished rug on the Toika, but we had enough warp for another one.  We had the fabric all wound and ready, so the rug went quickly.

Here is the rug we wove on Monday.

 It's pretty, right?

We had two fans blowing directly at us, but it was still hot.

 

I think I might like this one even better.

 They are both 4'x6' approximately.
Which one do you like better?

 

By noon time, we had wrapped it up.   It was really too hot, and I had responsibilities.