Rachel Carson's One Hundredth Birthday

 Happy Birthday Sista, wherever you may be. Time has proven you right, and I'm just sorry that you didn't live long enough to laugh at the critics and all their stupidity. I raise my glass to you, in solemn testimony to your courage and veracity.

This paper tribute has been taped on my work station for about 16 years. Rachel Carson is one of the single most important catalysts for change in the 20th century.

The scientist/author, Sandra Steingraber, interviewed in the article below, wrote the book Living Down Stream

An article from DemocracyNow! about this day.

An Alien, I call it Yalk

 The three horns are really the cutest little cable needles that can be imagined. They are bamboo and hand carved. I've been watching to see when they go up on the LYS web page so that I could post the location. The yarn is three pounds of fingering weight used on sock making machines, 100% wool, that will be knit into shawls and space dyed. The needles I'm planning to use on the Drops Aran, asap.

Today I'm working on fabric post cards. This time they are being made with some printable sheets, onto which photos of one's own can be fixed, which are then ironed onto cloth. When the round is finished, I'll post all the cards I received and mine as well.

Thanks so much. You have no idea how much it's helped

I was going to put this in comments but it got so long, it needed to be here I think...

First, thank you all for your wise and understanding comments. I try to remember that this is the risk we all take in loving so completely. Probably the hardest thing we do in life is to love this much and have to let go, too.

Trish, thanks for the hugs, and I'll pass J's right along to him. And yes, it surely is the hardest thing.

fiberjoy, I'm going to remember this little fellow like no other and I've had some great relationships with animals who let me into their lives and their amazing world.

About those long 602 days ahead - The world will have to endure them. There's no other way out is there? I can't see it really getting better whomsoever is in or out of office, as this thing has been set in motion, and now has a life of it's own, sadly.

Rho, yes, thank goodness for the internet. I still have to call my vet and report this latest, so that she can give me her expert opinion as the long holiday is now over. I think that J knew we were there for him but I could see that he was fighting a battle all his own. If he had been by himself, well, it's unthinkable for me...


Rissa, I would change vets too! In fact J didn't see his own vet until he had started having six seizures a day. She had broken her foot and was unavailable. He did see two vets who were filling in for her. A couple of days later, our vet hobbled in, immediately did the blood work, STAT, and started him on meds that afternoon. She's fabulous! I hope your boys are doing well on their meds now. Truly scary and we have humans who can tell us just how bad it is. How an animal doesn't just die of the stress I'll never know.

AR, thanks, and we feel very lucky to have found this little guy, too.

I did get an eye opener when I talked to a mother who has a child with epilepsy. She described her son's grand mal seizures. I calmed way down about J after that.. this was early on... and so when he had this terrible one Saturday, I remembered her words. Of course much later, like 3am, so I got up and looked at the info on the web. Sure enough, there it was.

sarah-hope, Thanks for telling us about your experience with your Joanna. I'm so glad that you were able to hold her and comfort her in her passing. It was a blessing for her and for you.

I'm still kind of in shock. My body now is recovering it's balance. I did knit one little row on Gretchen Shawl.

I wish you all Peaceful Hearts. We can't expect much from the World at large very soon but Grace from Within can suffice when the world is lacking.

Accidental Art # 6, an Occasional Series

 

This little blue ball flew out of the sky and into my garden one day; since no one claimed it, I took it into my heart. It landed in the Ghost Cactus so is that a sign of anything?

PS. This isn't a tricky photo, the ball is bright blue but weatherbeaten. It sort glows. I think I should try to find a secret door on it, maybe? Something might be living inside. A gardening alien? A baby Gnome?

Living for one more day...

This morning when I first woke up, I remembered what had happened last night when we gave Jazzie, our tiny treasure of a fur baby, his medicine. I rejoiced to have another day with my very special little friend. Jazz is epileptic, diagnosed last year, around his tenth birthday in June.

We always give him his epilepsy medicine twice a day- once at night and again in the morning. Last night, right after he'd taken it, he had a seizure, the first since August of last year. But, we didn't know it was seizure. I hold him to give the phenobarbital to him from a dropper.

Since he had just had his medicine what happened next looked like he was dying in my arms. He laid down into my hands and his head fell back, and he stopped breathing, his eyes rolled way back and I calmly told my hubby, "He's dying, B. He's dying. He will die in the next few seconds." I remembered the film, "I Dreamed of Africa" where the boy calmly tells his mother, "Mother, I am dying". I was that calm. J was unconscious and not breathing for about 15 to 20 seconds and we rolled him around in mine and DH's arms trying to get him to breathe again. And suddenly his head wobbled up and though he couldn't stand, or see, he could hold up his head.

I stayed awake til 3 am watching my tiny miracle of love sleeping peacefully after that ordeal, and knew that I could face his passing away, whenever it came to be.

He will surely die sometime in the next few years and I must live without him. But I had not wanted to have any screaming or hysterical crying to be the last thing he heard from me. I had thought it all so thoroughly through how I would react, and we just had the "dress rehearsal", if you will, last night. Since the only thing that I could relate his movements to was a heart attack in a Holland lop rabbit that had died in my arms, ON my arms and chest the same way as Jasper was, eyes rolling back, head lolling, and of a heart attack. That's what we thought he had had. Since he has a heart murmur, and epilepsy just adds to the stress, we thought this was the end for him.

Because of his problems we both decided a long time ago that to get him to a natural peaceful passing would be a success, however short his little life would be. Late last night, after I was sure that he was alright, I rose from bed and came into the room where the computer is to look up any information I could.

On one vet's site there was a clear explanation of what had happened. Jazz had had a grand Mal seizure but because the medicine was already administered, he didn't have the same amount of preliminary teeth baring, or the mania afterward. He did have the collapse and the cessation of breathing. Later on last night, I remembered that the veterinarian had told us that their goal of medicating the dogs was to have NO more than one or two seizures a year and to have them be mild.

Today Jazz was a little confused and didn't eat well at all. I was so in so much shock from last night that I didn't have a single hunger pang all day. I have seen the end of his life, and can now face it even more calmly than I ever expected to.

New Addi Lace Needles on Gretchen

 

New Addi Lace Needles and Gretchen

The new needles arrived a week ago, and I had put my lace shawl, Gretchen, on to them. I had to rest my wrist for several days, but now it's full bore with the knitting.

The only thing I noticed right away was how long the needle part was compared to the short (24inch) addi torbo it replaced. I thought it might be a problem but it hasn't been.

The needles are wonderful! I can pick up and knit the p3 stitches (and there are a lot of them) 10Xs easier than with the turbos. The stickiness is just right, not over or under a requirement for the silk. It's almost like I am not knitting with the same yarn as before! And the tips are as perfect as I could ever ask for. They may not be the sharpest metal needles in the store, but they are going to be great. I'm looking forward to making use of them. One more size is on order - the next length up - but the 24s in the picture will do well for quite awhile.

Happy Knitting!

Two Great Causes That Help Women and Children

Whenever Pessimism starts grabbing at my skirts - which it's been doing for weeks now - I pull an old article out of my files about Micro Loans in developing countries. There are two organizations that I know of that do this micro loan support for the poor.

I wanted to share this topic with you because these two organizations are such positive things in a world that seems like it could burst into flames at any moment. The programs are doing such good things for people that it can't help but warm your heart, all you oxfam donating bean sprout munching softies out there knitting away for a better world. Bless you!

The first is the Organization I heard of in the article from my local paper, which actually sometimes has great things in it. I wish I could share the article with you. It's very old and fragile as it was cut from the paper in August of 1998. But the URL for this Organization is here

The second organization that does much the same thing, and has done for 22 years, is called FINCA and is here

Keep looking for beauty. I'm still trying to find more for the accidental art series. When it's found, I'll post it.

Give em a look? It will lift your heart.

Spidie gets the hang of it!

 

Though she still has some trouble with tension, this newest technique seems to have straighted out some problem areas. She is making a curtain for her door. She wanted to knit some lace so that she could see through it and screen out potential baddies, i.e., huge black wasps of the bill collector type. I thought she'd rather have a more earth colored curtain but she said no. She did want a measure of "curiousity factor" for attracting the tastier bugs. Only, as she put it "bugs with better taste".

Knitting Log for a day train of thought post beware!

Knit another finger on the glove, two to go. Am planning on getting the rest of the fingers on it tomorrow and will promptly wash it to see if the damn thing fits anything smaller than the hand of a silverback gorilla. Managed to knit the heel of the 1st red trekker sock. Planning on getting the gusset in tomorrow. Since I loathe casting on gussets there will be a big Sacrifice of Chocolate to the Goddess within first thing in the morning.

I didn't get the rest of the ribbing done on the Aran because once I find a knot it makes me so insane that I have to recover my desire to knit on that WIP again by reading several chapters of the current novel; Unfortunaltey, the current one has turned out to be pretty much unreadable but you know, it's hard to give up on a mystery because you sooo want to be RIGHT there to cheer when the detectives nail that sleazeball of a perpetrator. I'm torn between being there for the celebrations, or trying to cheer myself up by lobbing the book on the re-cycle bin to the library from forty feet away. The fact that it's well written means nothing at this point. The only thing that keeps me reading is I WANT THAT HORRIBLE MAN PUNISHED!

Ah.. returning to the knot in the yarn. I'll get to it tomorrow. Today I taught a tarantula how to knit. She now has a purpose in life beyond catching crickets and other small innocents. I'll post a pic tomorrow when the light is better if I can force her to stay awake long enough. They are night hunters. RANT! I hate Bush, and this is enough to be said. BUT, being me I will say more. I'm tired of this freaky, probably sucks his thumb at night, man and all his ilk. I hope that he has a very nice day. NOT! I hope Congress drafts him and he has to put on his favorite flight suit for real, not for photo ops. Alternately, I hope one of his money bags bursts open on the way to his ranch and all the money flies over the border to Mexico. Please, God, let it be a holding four billion dollars! I hate Knots in Yarn.

The Eight Random Things About Me MEME

Rho sort of issued an APB on her blog to anyone who would like to take up the Eight Random Things MEME and run with it. I told her I would. I will not be tagging anyone but, like Rho, I will say that if you haven't been tagged and you would like to do this fun MEME, just Go For It Wild Thang!

First here are the rules as are required to be posted:


The rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Random Things About me... and boy are they ever random....

1. I like long fingernails until they start getting in the way, then I cut them all off short. The longest my fingernails have been in the last year is 3/4th of an inch off the tip of the fingers, and that was because my arm was in a cast.

2. I love Ravens, not Crows, but Ravens. They have always fascinated me. One reason is that, like Parrots, they can learn how to talk. I like the way they clack their beaks.

3. I'm nearly four inches shorter than I was when I was 20 years old.

4. When the kids all moved out I wanted to have a pack of five very tiny dogs. It would have been cute to walk them all and I could have five different breeds of dog without too much space. Soon, however, we started to go rock hounding to the desert with our group, and decided on NO dogs because most of the ones we saw out in the desert weren't well behaved, no matter what size they were. Now we have one tiny poodle who costs enough in upkeep as 5 dogs his size anyway.

5. I play on line games and love them. They are really fun. I get to kill BIG monsters with awesome looking weapons and armor I make myself. I like dressing my paper dolls, and making things for other players, too.

6. I was a certified intramural Basketball referee in High School. I still have my card and the whistle that was sort of a trophy piece for passing the exams. I love Basketball but can no longer play any contact sport.

7. I'm a Glass Half full kinda person, but I think too much maintaining this attitude. Perhaps it's best to switch, now, so that I can stop thinking so much.

8. I went all the way through Brownies and Girl Scouts and was a Senior Scout. I'm still pretty proud of that. Scouting is a great thing, if you get a good leader. My Co-leaders were not very nice people, and my two girls suffered when they were in Brownies. It was really a shame they couldn't share my good experiences.

Summer cut for Jazzboy

 

But Ma!!! Now my head is bigger than my Butt!

*note from Ma*

He quit panting like a mad dog in the sun. I think I can live with the skinny long little legs. And why don't these photo programs come with something really useful, like a built in pixel mop that just gets the coffee drips and leaves the tile color?

Side bar goodies.

I stole a couple of buttony things from Rho, my knitting buddy from KR.

These would be the Fibromyalgia Awareness Ribbon, and the Golden Compass Quiz. You can take the quiz, or respond to questions about mine, by clicking various places on the button.

A bit of advice. If you down load that Golden Compass button the best size for blogger to change it to, if you don't want to have to fight it out with scroll bars, is 350x325 pixels. You can hack into the little bit of html they give you and change the height and width. Hackering things is funness, which we all need like crazy nowadays.

Is it a fat little worm?

 
No, it's a crassula "Ghost cactus" baby which is all of 1 inch long, the mother petal included.

If you want to give fun in the garden to kids, get a Crassula and take one of the petals off (or a donkey tail sedum, they make teeny tiny babies, too.) and lay it next to it's parent plant in the pot. In a few days little red roots come out and start to bury themselves in the soil, and baby plant is born. Cool, Yes?

LYS Run and a Photo Op for my Cats!

 

Yes, I do have a few cats.

While DH was having minor surgery, I went down to the yarn shop down the hill in Pacific Beach to pick up the two sets of the lace addis that had arrived. Yay! I also found Interweave Knits-inside of which is a new toe up sock pattern to try. When I got home there was the cone yarn, not pictured, that is gray lace weight and will be some scarves, and some lovely yarn from Pugknit's Etsy Store. big, BIG YAY!

And Today...Ping!

  This is such a darling little cactus and I wish I remembered the name of it. It's growing in a hollowed out piece of pumice.

Yesterday

  The tiniest cactus of all, has finally set a bloom.

And completing the trio of night bloomers......

  An Eppy. This is one of the original un- hybridized fragrant, night blooming Epiphylums. Gosh I love cactus flowers.

Pretty in Pink, too

  The sister of the other plant. I'll look these two little cactus plants up later to be sure about the species but it starts with an S, I believe. This flower looks lavendar in the early morning light, but is really pink in the sun.

spikey flower, spikey plant

 
This little night bloomer was pumping out the perfume to attract a pollenizing moth. Alas, I think the moths are all inside looking for the wool stash.. Just kidding!

Epiphylum Color family

 
A few remaining hardy souls from the epiphylums. There are six in all.

SkyWatcher

 

A beautiful sunset in Tasmania from Chris, who generously allowed me to share it with you. Of all the places in the world I would love to see, Mainland Australia and the Island of Tasmania are at the top of the list.

Daylight shot

 
This is what it looks like during the day. It is the biggest geranium grown from cuttings I've ever had. Whoo hooo!

Happy Mothering Day

 
Happy Mothering Day to everyone. I know some of us just mother our gardens, or the downhearted of the human race, but it ALL counts in my pantheon of gorgeous human beings, so you are in there too, M'Ladies.
I wanted to share this picture of a bit of beauty that I see every night when it's dark in the house. Unfortunately, after two dozen tries, this is the best picture I've been able to get of the enormous mound of pink geranium that grows up the wall of Jazzie's night run. It is beautiful when the house is all dark and the night security light is illuminating it. It captivating, but the "cameraman" can't quite hold steady. Operator error should appear on the little digital screen! heehee

Go peek at these darling Hats!

I just finally got the time to peek at some hats that Sarah-Hope has designed and I think they are really worth a long look in. I'm putting them into the line up. I seem to be able to finish small projects much better than in days of yore. I think it's because they are just a lot more fun.

I'll keep two big projects going, and though I did promise Gretchen it was to be "Ladies first", I'm knitting the man's Aran Isle sweater from Drops Design tonight. The needles from Skacel are not at the LYS yet. I'm stubbornly avoiding caving in and buying something else after placing an order there. This is a time for patience. I like the lady and her cute little shop.

Today DH and I took my Sis out to lunch at a place called The Prado, in Balboa Park. It is a lovely restaurant to take someone to for a special celebration. The weather was beautiful and showed off the beautiful park, and all the spring plantings, a park that's been called the Jewel in the Crown of the City. My sister and I walked a little bit through Spanish Village, which is city sponsored art park, and looked into a few artist's studios. Come see it someday! I will post some candid shots as soon as I get down there on another perfect day. Promise!

Ficus Survived

 

My ficus tree is putting out lots of new growth. It nearly broke my heart that this huge potted ficus got hit so badly by the January frosts. Full grown, in-the-ground, mature Ficus trees had died, so I didn't expect this to come back after several nights of 20 degree weather. But it did. I'm going to hang a dainty red heartshaped glass ornament in this tree for being such a Survivor.

Tiny cactus know it's Spring!

 

I can hardly wait for these tiny fellows to come into bloom every year.

Trekker progress

 

After not feeling like knitting for a good many days, I've trekked on up to the heel on this boot sock. DH has asked when they were going to be finished.

A few weeks ago he was very delighted to know that I would, indeed, mend his blue treks if they were ever in need of darning. His smile and comment of "Alright!" was so sweet as he walked away with them cradled in his hands that it melted my heart, and I forgave him for any tiny grievances I bore.

Progress: Hempathy Yarn fingerless gloves

 

This is turning out to be a soft, flexible feeling yarn. I'm really happy with it. There will be quite a bit left when the gloves are finished so now I know two balls are enough even for socks. L, I hope you like that color. It really is a pretty green. They aren't going to be as warm as wool but, as you said, it doesn't get really cold there.

Sarah-Hope, the yarn is a little splity, being that it's like two cords plied together, so you'll have to keep your eyes on the knitting. That's the only problem I've had with it. It might not have as much "memory" so that may be a problem but we will see after the first washing before I send them off to L.

As you will see, I used Moo yarn for waste yarn but thought better of it. This was at 1 AM last night, so this morning we went to JoAnn's, and I bought the thinest baby yarn they had. I can't find (translation: don't want to pull out the boxes and the stack of shelves from in front of the yarn closet door.) any thin waste yarn and couldn't tear into that storage room at 1 AM, so there you are. Is that a champion excuse for laziness or what?!

Free Cupcakes!!

 

Laura posted this at the KR, and By golly I just had to put it here, too. You will also note that I have added a countdown stolen from Vanessa's Blog. Thanks Vanessa.

Mother's Gardens

 

Part of the little river runs behind the house, you can just see the stones on the bed. You can't see the sandbar or the rest of the gardens because they are out of the frame.

The picture and Poem that hung in the hallway since 1972

 

I still love this little piece of water color art and the poem by Emily Dickinson. I looked at it a lot when needing a boost in spirits. I hope you will enjoy it, too. It came from a Family Circle magazine, if memory serves.

Saturday Sky

 

I got ahead of myself. The last picture is Friday's Sky. This is a true Saturday Sky. I hope that all you bloggers won't flog me. heehee