Over the Rainbow, with IZ

Just a little more happiness to spread around.  I subscribe to feeds at YouTube for Mountain Apple Company which is the company that recorded IZ's (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole) songs.
 
His beautiful recording was used in this Norwegian commercial.  It's great!

If it fails to load, hit the reload button.  Firefox seems to be the only browser with a problem displaying YouTubes, at the moment.  

Accidental Art-18th in the Series

Sometimes beauty is extremely prosaic (pedestrian even) and right at one's feet

This is a snapshot of a walkway that drains rain water at the SF Arboretum.

Also, a little blurb about blog maintenance.  I've pared down the side bar so that the blog loads faster, I hope.  Lots of pictures still can make a blog a little slow.

I'm also very worried about friends living back east.  It's nail biting time.  Going to check blogs-again.  Check in if you can! Please??

About this Accidental Art number.  I've spent 2 hours ( and it's 1;15 am) just  trying to get the proper number on all the Accidental art  posts.  I'll try again tomorrow.  I know where #1 is and I will count up from there.

Gotta dash!

The Gifts of Mother Nature

Rocks, minerals, shells and an acorn.  Collected over many years

I'm in love with the Earth and it's abundance of Beauty.  Everywhere one looks there is something beautiful to see.   This makes it all the more imperative that we care for Earth better than we have been.  Once a species is gone, it's gone forever.  

DH and I have been watching a show called "Firefly", a sort of "Space Western" that is part soap opera, too.  But it's fun.  Then, I realized just how much damage human beings would cause in the greater realm of Space.  I really hope we don't get off this planet anytime soon.

The Gift.

Cathedral Windows quilt pieces

Years ago, when I was still making quilts, a friend gave me this huge partially finished quilt top. It's called Cathedral Windows, and some of the fabric in it is very old calico. Lots of it is from the 60's and on down the years until about 1995, when it was gifted to me.

I was cleaning things out in the SR, and came across the box it was in, and fell in love with it all over again. The problem is the same as before though. It's not all sewn with the proper threads. Huge areas of it where sewn with invisible thread - that nylon fish line sort of stuff that's just a nightmare.

So, I'm not in any mood to take it all apart to do it right. What I will do with it is make smaller things out of it. Table runners, some pot holders, covers for appliances (sometimes I hate spell checkers) in the kitchen.  Are there really Alliances in the kitchen?  Would those be between the refrigerator and the kitchen sink faucet?  Or maybe one exists between the mop and the broom?

Anyway, back to what to do with this buried treasure rediscovered.  Perhaps some throw pillows for our green loveseat will come from this, and surely some prezzies, too.  I'm thinking I'll use some of these quilt squares for making valances for the sewing room windows and use the very smallest squares to edge matching café curtains. "Sew" many possibilities have presented themselves.  Tote Bags!  How could I forget about Tote Bags???  Life is good.

Tort Report:

The tiny boy, Button, is eating again and doing very well.  His shell is starting to darken.   I call them all "he" sometimes and "she" sometimes, and this is because there is NO way to tell whether they are male or female until they are around 14 years old.  Lucky, their great big sibling, displayed his maleness (curved under shell in the back and big "tipping" horn in front) when he was that age.

Button - 43 grams

Button and his much bigger brother, Milagro, were both hatched in September of 2009.  Milagro is at least 3 times as big as Button.  He is also a champion eater!  The other brother, Dusty, is the same size as Milagro but was shunning the light the day these snaps were taken.

Milagro - 218 grams

In about two more years, after letting them stay outside more, we can let Dusty and Milagro go into semi-hibernation.  Desert Tortoises don't go into full hibernation anyway.  They just go into a sort of torpor, like hummingbirds do overnight.    One bad thing is that we didn't find Poko Ono's nest this year.  I can't imagine what we will do with a half dozen or more new babies.

Wolfie really missed his daddy when DH went to Yosemite back country with three of our daughters earlier in the month.   He is still rather clingy, and sits by the door a lot if DH goes outside.  He's willing to sit by me for hours if I'm sitting still, however.

He sleeps on our bed.  He's little, but that's where he wants to be, and if you have ever had a small, short-legged dog launch him/herself nearly three feet in the air to scramble up the last few inches to the top of a tall pillow top bed, you wouldn't deny that (s)he'd earned the right to sleep with his or her  "pack".   But last night, just as I was going to sleep at 2:20 am, Wolfie planted all four of his feet into my sore back, and pushed to get me to move over.  I was about to drop off to sleep and BAM! I was awake!

I tried to push him away with one hand behind my back, but he pushed back, so I rolled over on top of him and stayed there until he started squirming.  Then I sat up, and grabbed all his feet and dragged him down to the bottom of the bed.  Climbing back into bed, I noticed that he was inching his way back up between DH and myself, but definitely staying on DH's side of the bed. 
I fell asleep about 5 am.


To all my readers who just went through the horror of Hurricane Irene angst and actuality, I hope that you are all as well as possible,  and not too much damage was done to your property.  It wasn't as bad as expected but it certainly was bad enough!

Holy Cow...

May the Universe, and the Good Lord, Bless the humans and all other earthlings on the Eastern Seaboard as well as all inland points that are in the path of Irene. 

Horoscope for today

"There is much spinning in your head.  Empty it onto a list.  This will help you focus on the pleasure in each activity instead of on remembering what else you must accomplish in order to call this day a success."

Well, I should have read THAT one earlier.  I see about three a week, and evidently saw THIS one way too late to take advantage of it.

Roll on, Saturday!  There's always tomorrow! 

My hair is now presentable.  Even I am happy with it.  The sock has two more rows and we watched a beautiful Film (cartoon) called,  "The Book of Kells".   Magical, and visually stunning.  Loved it!  It's for kids, to be honest.  And then we started watching,"In the Name of the Rose", with Shawn Connery.   Now, that one is definitely NOT for kids!

Good night, and good luck East Coast people.  What a terrible storm.  HUGS, M'Friends!  

A week goes by so quickly now. A bad hair day ensues, and a bit of ceramics.

I'm feeling more and more useless, and this will only get worse as time goes by.  I'm not looking forward to it, I just know it's going to happen.

So, I decided to read the spoon theory again, and put a button to "You Don't Look Sick" site in the side bar.   We need to remind ourselves that things are going to go wrong with daily plans. Bugs do bite, and Migraines happen.

Today, while i was watering the shade patio, a tiny insect bit me.  Without my glasses, I couldn't see it, other than to note that it was black and soft, and not like an ant when I squished it between fingers.  It was most likely a spider.  I reckon it either learned absolutely nothing from the consequences.  Or... what happened (swift justice) will teach it, should it come back again as a spider, not to try biting me again.

Well, when you have allergies, and your head and ears start to itch, you go inside and wolf down some benadryl, and Baby, there goes the day.   I can SO relate to my poor, itchy, little  doggie.  Then came the migraine.  I'm still trying to type through the glare of it. 

I cut off the rest of my extra hair.  Short though it was, I knew it needed to be kept a lot shorter.  It's really faded from being the original black/brown.  Is that Sable?  Anyway, the hair pile was pathetic, the haircut was a little pathetic, and I still have to even out the back.   DH said it was "cute" but only after I asked him about it.  He is always wary about commenting on my haircuts. 

Yesterday was Sister's Day, for my sister and I.  So, I picked her up from her house, where she is still floating high about painting her kitchen cabinets and making them beautiful.  We took off for the Fearless Ceramic Club Leader's house - that leader  who is still pissed off at me for standing up to her political flak -yes, me, the quiet one - the other day. 

We went to get some "good" clay slip out of her garage before she "threw it away".  I should have known.  It is junk,  and I DO mean junk.  She apparently thinks nothing ever spoils but clay slip does.  This stuff is positively green with mold.  If a local company can't advise me on it, it's for the trash bin.

La Prez also complimented my sister's haircut, and made her feel extra good.  FCCL's stock soared with my sister.  Anyway, she pointedly ignored mine.  She knows I cut my own, and for the first time in her life, my sister has been doing her own as well!  I knew I should have stayed at home.


Now, for something more cheerful, Mother and Baby have bloomed.  Ignore the pink one.  It's just a distant relative.

Mother is in front, Baby, or old crown, is in the back

I really need to go rest my head.  Thank God for Benadryl but it does make me sleepy.

ETA:  I had a snooze, and some more benadryl, and came through to correct some truly baaa-aaad a$$ mistakes in syntax, punctuation (though I've probably missed some things) wrong-word syndrome, and other disorderly story telling.

Ceramics, Flowers, knitting, Earthquake theory, and a lot of complaining.

First, my theory of the Peru, Washington DC connection- Earthquake connections. I think Peru, if you draw a straight line from it to Washington DC, is coming to get DC. Peru is doing this because of all the dastardly things DC has done to it.

Think about it.Peru has only to connect up to the Atlantic plate, but it's determined to do that, and come right up the Atlantic coast to DC. I'm thinking that the scientists there are already preparing the placards saying, "In your face, United States!"

Lacy Poppy

Unknown Flower

Another unknown

Ditto-maybe a poppy?

A Sign of the Times

Sago Palm with "Friend"

San Francisco Botanical Garden is a place of wonder for all who go there. The Garden has free days, and a family can take a picnic in with them to feast upon anywhere on the huge,sunny lawns. These pictures were taken in June two years ago, and the weather was mild and so wonderful. It is a favorite spot for our family to wander through.

Yesterday I went to ceramics club, and had a great time. We joked and laughed and had a good time. We also got the small puff deer ready for the glaze fire.

Ceramic Deer, just out of the Green ware fire

But, having said that it's only a matter of time for me to stay there.  I'm not as happy there anymore, but that's where the kilns are.  If this gathering were anywhere else, I could be happy.  But sometimes it makes me physically ill to be there because I really do hate conflict.   I think we just lost a new, good member because of the aggressive way they were treated by someone who should know better.  We also have a sneaky, underhanded weasel.  We'll see.  

I have my own kilns.  My sister says to use them once a year or so.  But since Enron calculated to screw California and Gray Davis, (please read all about it in, The Smartest Guys in The Room,  ( a review) or watch the documentary talked about HERE, ) we have had high rates.

They are too high to run a kiln through two firings very often.  In San Diego, some pretty big ceramic businesses when under water during that time because the rates went so high that  they couldn't fire for customers, and that was their death knell.  This actually happened all over California.  And we got an impeachment of our governor who was blamed.  The evil party machine of an unmentionable place (but the seventh level of you know what) was responsible for this indignity and they all laughed all the way to their respective organized crime organizations.

Our seniors ceramics club has survived by the grace of the city, though our hours and days had to be cut because the recreation centers have had the same thing happen to them.

Rho suggested that I find a big old project to knit on while recovering from my bionic knee insertion, so I picked the Large Travel Tote from Pursenalities

I've gathered the yarns for it for about two years, ones that have a proven FELTING history, and hopefully I also have needles big enough for this thing.  It's rather large.

Thanks everyone for reading, and thanks especially to those who comment from time to time.    I'm trying to divest myself from politics, except we have to get everyone to vote again, we just HAVE to do this.  Otherwise we can get another taste of voting fraud while half the nation looks the other way.

I'm going to go knit a second sock.  It's hurt, and I think it's even whining-and who better than I to recognize that?- about the fact  that I've ignored it so long.  But, at least it's in the bag with it's mate, snuggled up and safely with it's yarn ball.

And, in support of Bernie Sanders, I give you this.

We all knew that this was happening.

Bernie Sanders Exposes Price Gouging

And in Texas, that's illegal!

Texas Attorney General Page on just such a practice

So, just where does that leave us, in all the legal mumbo jumbo?

We pay while they argue.  The Oil Barons and their Mosquitoes will live on and prosper.

I'm going to knit the Yukon Leaves sock mate.  A sweet friend is waiting for them. 

Dr. Michael E. Mann is owed an Apology but probably not holding his breath.

This is a partial article from a place that has pop ups, which are just ads but who wants to be pestered that way.  But the main good of the article is this part.

If you want to see the whole article, it is here at Little Green Footballs

That is, If you dare!  Be warned that it's probably an anarchist site- just joking

"Let me end with some key findings of the Penn State investigation:

“An Investigatory Committee of faculty members with impeccable credentials” has unanimously “determined that Dr. Michael E. Mann did not engage in, nor did he participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research, or other scholarly activities.”
His work “clearly places Dr. Mann among the most respected scientists in his field…. Dr. Mann’s work, from the beginning of his career, has been recognized as outstanding.”

So Mann isn’t merely a competent researcher.  He is one of the leading climate scientists in this country, which of course is precisely why the anti-science crowd has gone after him, much as they have with other leading climate scientists, including Hansen and Santer.
And that’s one more reason why the major media outlets who smeared and defamed him owe him an apology and a retraction — loud ones!"

Here is the PDF of Penn State's investigation and exoneration of the good Dr. Mann. 

Making Lemon Marmalade in the Microwave

Sorry for Three posts in one day!

This was so much fun, and the product is lovely; it's sweet with a tiny bit of tartness and just a hint of bitter. It is fully as delicious as the really expensive stuff in the white jars (that I love to eat) which comes from the English Store in my town.

What I love about this is that I can make it with lemons from my own tree.  AND....  I can now make Orange Marmalade this way without using a food processor, which doesn't give the same result.

This is a LINKIE to the Blood Orange Marmalade I made in April 2009. I fell off the cooking wagon for awhile after that.

But, with this new recipe, there is a caution in the cooking. Be careful taking the container out of the microwave because this mixture gets up to boiling in the second stage. In fact, as the timer ticked "off" for the 18 minute cook time, there arose a huge froth bubble on the top of my fairly wide bowl. Luckily it deflated as soon as the time dinged. I would not have wanted to clean any sticky stuff off the whole inside of the microwave.

All juiced, seeded and ready to slice thinly. Juice went into the big red bowl after being seeded.

I cut these strands in half to shorten the length of peel in the finished marmalade

Juice and rind, ready for the first cooking

In it goes for the second 18 minute cooking after adding 3.5 cups of sugar.

Finished and perfectly Jelled.

I got the recipe from HERE

Though not called for, I sliced the rind instead of putting it in the food processor.  Also, I measured my lemon rind and juice, saw that it was just under three cups, total.

After the first cooking, I changed the recipe to have 1/2 cup more sugar because I didn't like the way it looked.  I've made a lot of jams with my mother and on my own, and it didn't look right.

The first cooking time turned out to be enough even though I used the biggest of the Pyrex bowls but it wasn't just right for Myers lemons, which tend to be more juicy. Also, I've found that the Pyrex bowls absorb more of the heat than most other utensils for the microwave.

"The next thing", I told DH, "is to make Coconut Bacon".
He said, "You can't make that!"
I said, "Why can't I make coconut bacon? It's for BTLs?"
He said, "You can't make it because I get to make it! And, it's not 'for BTLs', it's for BLTs."

What could I do but shut up? Mouth agape, I stumbled from the kitchen! Not really. That is, just so I get to eat a LOT of the coconut bacon; I'm good with that.

Jon Stewart On Recap for the week

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Pathetic production, and some Questions.

The yarn ball I got from a half filled bobbin (almost an archeological dig to get to the poor thing) was disappointing. I have to wait a long time to make more of this, but I am going to ply it! I don't care how small it is when plied and knit, it is my first wheel spun after all. It must be enshrined and documented for the coming generations.

I'm so lucky to have a wheel. I've wanted one practically since I saw my first merino sheep, which was a lamb that my 4H friend was raising and then showed at the county fair when we were teenagers. I wanted my own flock but in Scotland. But, dogs and horses were my first love. Why are they so expensive to keep? Why didn't we move to Central Coast when the land was cheap?

When you think about it, "Why" is just a great, big and dangerous word, and one that should never be dwelt upon unless it's something to do with politics. Political things should always be questioned. Why has big business gotten the country by the throat, and Why does organized crime and organized religion want in on the deal? Why?

Gad! See what happens when things are allowed to rattle around in one's head?

I should just go make that Lemon Marmalade.  OK, off to the kitchen!

Speaking of Kitchens, and if you don't mind sub titles, here's a foreign film to try.  It's a sweet comedy from Sweden, which purportedly involves mostly Norwegians. 

Allen's Hummingbirds or, Birdie Wars!

It's very late. I am tired so not inclined to embroider my tales this late.  But there were some fun things that happened today.

Three little Allen's Hummingbirds have laid claim to the Cape Honeysuckle, and they battle all day long over airspace and resources. They are so fast that they can literally fly away off a branch before the camera can capture their image. But I got some pictures today. Other birds glean the gigantic bush, too.  A female Oriole, Scrub Jays, and others were caught up in the Aerial battles and just sat gripping the stems and watching  the fun.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

My camera lacks the speed to freeze frame the wing beats of this amazing little bird.

He was resting on the branch when I started to take this but he took  off before the camera snapped.

Sparrows mostly watched the three Hummingbirds'  tough aerial battles

This female Oriole comes for nectar but stayed to keep an eye me.

The Scrub Jay and one of his parents came back to the nest tree to see what all the activity was all about.

Tomorrow I plan to make some Lemon Marmalade out of lemons off of our tree. I've been clearing a table in both the kitchen, for cooking, and food prep, and in the craft room for a place to make greeting cards. That used to be the room I jokingly called the Shipping Department when I operated my craft business. It had become a catch all place, not a good use for such a nice space. It now has great natural lighting because of the SolaTube that was installed in May. It's wonderful that that small room isn't like a root cellar anymore.


The sock is coming along well, the weather is cool, amazingly cool I tell you. I'm getting rid of things that I won't have the time to complete or no longer care about doing. It feels good.


Happy knitting!

Along the California Coast in June

Make this one big and follow along that bulge to see amazing things.
The cobbles that I've shown in my garden come from this layer of mud stone.

And in the High Sierran Bug category we have....

Raphidiid in the genus Agulla
DH took this picture

If you like what you see and want to see more bugs go HERE
You know you want to do this.  Bugs are fun!

Flowers and fire starting coming later. 

The Cloud in Ansel Adams Wilderness

Since he knows how much I love clouds, DH took this picture for me of the first and almost only cloud in the sky the whole back country trip. This little baby cloud did spawn a couple more small ones, but this is the "Mother".

Camping report:
The girls and their daddy had a wonderful time, hiking all over the place and even started fire with a fire flick. I'll show you that process a little later  and I'll explain why.  I must go knit a sock now!

Yesterday my sister and I went to JoAnne's Fabric to poke around, and I bought some of those Corinthian columns for wedding cakes. I bought them to use as spools for my spinning wheel. They fit on a lazy Kate, my Louet wheel has a built in one, and I'm planning on getting the yarn off the spindle and plying it. This idea came from the DIY forum at Ravelry. I'll see how well that yarn -which has been on the spindle for, literally, years - responds to even being touched, let alone man-handled... er... plied. I can't take any pictures of this process until I dust the wheel and hug it a little to chase away any bad juju. This wheel was once christened with the name, Lilly, if I remember rightly. But it's been so LONG since that initial blush of the early years!

For the Ravelry enabled spinners/Pliers amongst you, THIS is the link to the information. You will be asked to sign in, or even to join up.

Tort Report:
Button is now doing better, and even responded to eating, with gusto, his tiny piece of banana.

Chin Wagging was Yesterday ; sister, who is a world class talker, unlike me, who is known for silence(yes hard to believe but I am) started talking to me when I got out the sock, and right out of the gate I made a mistake and had to frog back. I put it away. We talked for a couple of hours. Isn't it amazing how small talk normally goes into your ears and right out of the top of your head but if you put one thing in there to block it, it manages to mangle and squeeze that one thing to DEATH?

Doonesbury on the Mark

Cantor, the clueless.  If he is not clueless as to the reasons for the country's money troubles, then he's just an Obfuscator Deluxe.

"Cantor said the public is filled with a sense that the country is “this close to going over the cliff” into economic catastrophe. But he blamed the fear on the media and the Obama administration.

“We must put an end to the policy uncertainty constantly being driven by this administration,” Cantor wrote Wednesday. “That means stopping the constant threat of new regulations that add unnecessary costs to employers. That means stopping the discussions of new stimulus spending with money that we simply do not have.”"

From the Washington Post article HERE

Why doesn't the country have the money?  See above cartoon.  Cantor should shut up.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

"The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little."

Rick Perry's Pursuit of forbidden (now) fruit. Public Money

You can read about it HERE


Like Michelle Bachmann, Perry hasn't minded getting our "surplus" tax dollars, just as long as it suited him to do it.

What a tea party we have been to!  Pass the flak, please?

Yarn Porn here...

I want to make something simple out of these.  They are two different colorways of 100 grams.  Sock It To Me.  Since I'm not quite up to dyeing my own yarn yet, and it will be probably next summer before that happens, I fell for these beautiful yarns from Elann when they put them on sale.  $9 for a pair of hand knits?  Not bad!

Tort tot report:  Button is off his feed.  So we are hoping that he didn't get a shred of carrot down the wrong way, and will be just fine after a good soaking in warm water.  He's still so tiny that he's a worry.  He was born in September of 2009 and is still itty bitty, but is usually a very good eater.  I'll go pick him some dandelions for his lunch.  He likes those a lot.

Slate Bird Nests, etc

I first saw this on Ravelry. Slate Bird Nests

Enjoy them. Birds are wonderful creatures. I think they remind me of Heaven, of all things, since some of them live on Ice and they swim in the ocean without ever flying with those little wings of theirs.

For an old friend who helped me to trade mark my logo, and knew more lawyer jokes than any other single person alive. He was a patent attorney.  He was Irish.  He was a true and good man. 

Travel well, sweet friend.  Be at Peace, and Forever.

May the road rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

The sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

A day in the life of...

 
Guess who got his Tail run over

Yesterday was a day of nasty surprises. One of them was for Wolfie, who has taken to lying right by my feet and those wheels are merciless for either long tailed cats or little dogs with long feathery tails.

We also learned that a friend had passed away. It wasn't before his time, but still, it was a shock; for though he had lived beyond the four score and ten, it was sadness that killed him.

I hope to write more this evening. Due to operator error, this posted. I'll write more tomorrow evening.

Spark People

A while ago I mentioned that I'd joined Spark People, at the suggestion ( well many suggestions over time) of my daughters. 

I've now lost 13 pounds since tracking my food, and getting some foods that were bad for me - dairy - out of my diet.  I love spark people for their site mods that have a nutritional counter, which is only a little tricky to use.  You have to get the hang of it or maybe it was just me.

It's energized me.  Well, except for my knitting which has come to a dead stop again.   That food tracker is tremendously motivating.  But, if you are interested, the link is there, and the community is there, and they are wonderfully supportive.  And, there are some fabulous recipes there, too, from Meg, I think.  Go have a little peek?

"Blind Side", Country Voice, Music, Birds and Flowers

Having just watched "Blind Side" - one of our favorite films - for the third time since March, we dug a little deeper into the music tree at the credits.


This came up.  I am Lov'n it!



Don't ya just love Southern accents?  They are all fascinating - New Zealand, Australian, Georgian, Mississippian, South African, all of them.  I'd include Texan but the list is getting so long.  *Winks at Kara*

Bird report:

I have been trying to get a decent picture of that little hummingbird rapscallion sipping deeply in the Honeysuckle but he's too fast for me.  But I did catch a honey bee inside the Pink Lady lily to the left.  Make it big.  I'd say that she has herself a studio apartment in there, yes?

I just heard a killdeer call and that is a sound of late summer.  They fly around at night and call each other.  Well, there is NO way to get a picture of a Killdeer at night.  But I've got my eye on that Alan's Hummingbird!  See him just up at the top right making a get away?

Good night.  Have a wonderful Sunday, and I'll be knitting that sock tonight before I fall asleep.

Soon, Margie pooh, soon!

Boots, and their mystique!

I found this site while doing some things on the WAY back machine.  

I'm soooo going to go knit more on the socks now. 

ETA.  I just don't know where my brain is sometimes.  Mystic?  *hangs Head*

Little wonders

Yesterday, my sister and I took Wolfie out for a walk. You see amazing tiny beauties when you are forced to walk along looking down at your feet- to keep from tripping over the dog for one. You could think of them as a program, run by Nature, to make you happier. It would be a program to de-stress life and make it easier to breathe.

Tiny two inch flowering grass

Inch and a Quarter sized wild Morning glory vine next to curb in rubble

I always come back from walking the short blocks in a better mood. I think that's what little kids do for people, too. They make us slow down and look down at their little flower faces when they ask questions, or find something interesting in the grass.

My mother taught my daughters to look down and really SEE what is there at their feet, because she was always looking for bugs, first to keep them off of her food plants, and then just as an interesting tiny life that went about it's business with a perfect program established for it by a Hand much wiser and all seeing than a gardener's hand.

In fact, gardeners-farmers- have tried for centuries to interrupt or to interfere in this perfect balance, in order to bring in a crop of perfect fruits and vegetables. But, the bigger their farms got, they began to forget the balance that had sustained their lives. If you kill the insects that want to harm the perfection of the fruits, you kill off the beneficial ones who silently make possible the plethora of edibles that surrounds us. The total fertility of the Earth is vast, but it is not Infinite.

Knitting report:

I'm back to knitting the Yukon Leaves socks and just bought some of that Turkish sock yarn from Elann. They might have some of it left, but I'm not going to look. hehe I've learned not to buy a huge amount of any new yarn.

The Political report: Meh!

The Weather Report: Meh! No, really, it's been very cool here, with highs of 68 degrees so far inland that it boggles the mind and makes me think of Climate Change, and to wonder whether or not this all means that California will be getting seasons again.

The Animal Report:  This is a fascinating article on how the world's Veterinary Heroes overcame an ancient scourge of cloven hooved mammals.   Thank you DH.

Rinderpest is no more. The Article is from the New York Times.  I was reading Dear Abby this morning, about Heroes.  I think that the people who do these sorts of things are my heroes.  This was a monumental task and they got it done!

Ravelry Makes it to Slate!

Read it here

How 'bout those Ravelers??!!

But that's enough about that.  I still love the KR.  In case you don't know what that is, it's a really tight knit group that has a Queen Bee and a lovely BB style.  Not a lot of bells and Whistles but a whole lot of great stuff contributed to by years and years of knitting talk and plenty of advice for knitting problems. 

The Knitter's Review   

I found another couple of amazing little flower things but can't upload the pictures as my main computer is giving me the finger Black Screen of Death, and that's the only computer I know how to upload pictures to.  So, that will have to wait until I figure out how I could have so grossly insulted that machine!

The weather report is that August here is behaving like October, except for clear blue skies and nights in the 50's.  This is truly weird weather.  I am enjoying it NO END.  I know how quickly this can get nasty and dry and hotter than that frying pan you forgot on the stove one night when you almost burnt the house down.  Remember that night?

Well, there is no knitting to report because I've been out weed whacking the Devil's own grass that has been slowly taking over the raised bed and sucking life out of the roses.  The small hand held, rechargeable thingamabob that DH bought to slash and saw that tough and relentless monster grass back to a nub has turned out to be too wimpy for the job.  So, I've been going at it with my wonky old Fiskars hair cutting scissors.   God, do I love Fiskars! 

Pictures are promised as soon as the big computer is on line.

Yarn Bins R Fun, and Cleaning out..

This morning, after a marathon of toast eating, tea quaffing, and self-preening, I dashed off to see a Man about a Knee. DH was driving so he got us there in time.

After the big chinwag with my surgeon, because I was still feeling like a whole person, DH asked if I wanted to go get some of the short teeny needles I'd been covetting, as my fav LYS is just down the hill in Pacific Beach. I lept at the chance to mosey on down and have a rustle through the yarn bin as well. I warned him of this when we pulled up in front of the store.

What I found was some yummy Mini Mochi, Yesssss! I got an odd ball and the last of another dye lot but same color. I'm planning on making some fingerless gloves for a DD who is going to the Frozen North (San Francisco, or, to be more extact, Berkeley) and will be needing them! and if she doesn't want them, I will wear them!

 

When we got home, DH dashed off on his own little errands, and to go push weights around and run up the artificial hills at the gym, and I tackled a mystery box I'd unearthed the day before in the SR. What I found was a treasure trove of old sewing patterns from a friend's stash who had moved away, to be with the kids, a few years ago.

Super little net hats from the 60s.  I want to make some.

Puff stars and fabric flowers, Yay!  And some other neat kitchen gear

Fabulous gloves and funky slippers, and some very interesting smocked pillows

This is the last post for the weekend, unless all hell breaks loose (where is my brain?) somewhere, and I just can't keep my mouth shut about it.