Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that my children have a roof over all their heads and they get to eat every day.  In this world, that is a very big deal.

I'm both grateful and happy when Wolfie lies beside me and dreams and makes all his small sounds.  I know that I can wish him Sweet Dreams with all my heart, and that God will pass it on since He made all things and dwells in His creation.  I remember the story of the black dog in Tobit.  I know that a loving God sent Wolfie to us, and we are busily building much sweeter dreams for our little guy every day.

Wordless Wednesday

Music Monday - "I'm Finding You"

Eric Johnson on Guitar, solos by Rob Alexander




God Bless all the music makers as they make life bearable. 
 Listen to some of the Jerry Reed songs, too.  

Sunday Crafting

Three Days of rain (yay!) just doesn't leave good light for photos... but here are a couple Valentine Wreaths I've made and one that is still a work in progress.  Make the photo big unless Google has decided to be stingy with that little trick.... hehehe

Left to right...Barbed Wire and my Hand's Down favorite, then there is the Lace on a wire with dried roses from my old garden, and
A Straw form with questionable ornamentation.  I'll be thinking about that last one for awhile as I'm not sure what to do with it really.

I also go two new silicone molds and made some beeswax pours:

I'll be making some wax forms and some jewelry with these.  I'm also going to be finding out how to make the molds themselves, because I want bases.

I really need to knit some sweaters and mitts and a new pair of socks.  And clean up the two studio areas but what the hell.  Life is too freaking short for me to finish everything I've got going so I'm not saving the best for last.

Also, the stash is well beyond life expectancy -  SABLE.  You knitters know about that acronym.  We started that one, I do believe.  *snickers*  Mine is not as big as Mochi Mochi's Mom in law's, where the link above goes.  Mostly this is because I have neither an attic, nor a basement nor do I have a handy, and empty,  five car garage.  Otherwise.. hummmm?

I don't feel half bad anymore!  Thank you! Mochi Mochi!

Will Weatherford..Don Gaetz..et al Freedom Fighters!

This LINK is to the article on the Daily Kos.

The article explains how some Republicans are fighting back for our democracy, against some pretty hardcore, diehard party stealth enemies of our Fair Democracy.

This is WAY BETTER than any Saturday Komeek.

Go Baetz and Weatherford et al! Cheers for the Democracy!  It works when we all put our backs into keeping it free of stealth  maneuvers by people who don't care about the Will of The People.

Read it and pass it on if you feel that we don't need any more "Dirty Tricks" mucking up our elections.

Friday Fill - in and a sky watcher post

1. Wow, this is painful.
2. How is it that a life can be ruled by such trivial pursuits as online chess when there is some serious knitting to be done?.
3. Finally, I'm facing the fact that I've slowed way,WAY, down, and that in itself is probably not a bad thing; but it certainly means a lot less gets organized.  I'm tired!
4. Living life in the moment, and day by day is a good plan for me now.  It's perfectly all right with me.
5. Sweet or savory: I prefer sweet, since savory usually ends up meaning something has pepper flakes in it, and I can't eat it.
6. I can hardly wait for the time when my corneas are new.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching my shows on Netflix, and using florist pins that I bought at Michaels to finishing a couple of Valentine wreathes; tomorrow my plans include sorting my wearable clothing into piles for keeping or donating (and in order to free up space in the SR closet), and Sunday, I want to do just a little knitting, since I've really fallen out of the knitting tree!

Have I shown you this beautiful night sky time lapse, of the Geminid Meteor shower, by Mark Ezell?  It was posted at THIS site  We should all be skywatchers. Our Planet has beautiful night skies.

May you walk with beauty all around you.
Make it BIG

Thankful Thursday, Chess Titans, and Generic Blah blah

I'm learning to play chess, on line.  It's awfully hard because once the black bishops move, I can't tell them from the pawns.  (You aging knitter's out there would understand this.)  The queen doesn't scare me too much because I already know she is deadly. (Off with your head!)   But that tricky king, seemingly so weak, can move in any direction one space.  So, just when you think you've got him nailed, he slaps you down.  And, to my surprise, the pawns can capture diagonally.  Of course, the game is more savvy than any beginner, but we beginners do have the advantage of a "back button"; the Chess Titans are helpless against a "back button".

I'm thankful I can see at all!  There, that's what I'm thankful for today, plus the ability to "back button" a Chess Titan when I need to (on line that is).  You can play real people on line but I declined.  There's a lot less humiliation that way. 

I'm also thankful that it's raining a bit, and it's warm rain.  Warm rain in January must be some kind of first for San Diego!

I'm thankful for the Pacific  Ocean, and the Santa Cruz Big Waves



I didn't knit at my sisters because DH went, and when he goes, it's a lot of fun and a lot more chatting.  I didn't even take the knitting because I can't knit and talk unless it's something really simple.  Plus, I have to decide if I really do need another set of needles in 20" length.  I can't just keep buying stuff!  16 inch long circs should be long enough but I need all my attention on angora to decide because no one in their right mind wants to rip back angora yarn if something doesn't work out.  I gave Sis another beeswax heart so she could keep the first one on the wall in her kitchen.  She has tiny hearts here and there everywhere.

We picked up old lady Pfaff from her "spa" yesterday, and was told by the mechanic that she couldn't make button holes anymore - the Poor old Dear. So then there was a lot of grinding of teeth, DH's, as I was introduced to a Janome Magnolia, (It has a flower on it and I would be right back there in the 70's!) in an attempt to drag me into the 21st Century.  But when we got home, I pondered all the feet I've got for those two old ladies.  Mon Dieu!  I decided to just sew with wild abandon and let the chips fall where they may.  Next to the Spa is a real Dino, the serger, for a lube and oil change. Muscle bound Sergers are definitely not females, Even with prissy little names like "Bernette".

Wordless Wednesday shouldn't have all these words.

But, I won't get another chance to write if I don't do it now.

Long ago, weeks apart, in the park grass pictured here, I found a metal ring element from a pair of earrings that exactly matched a metal element found in the grass at Balboa Park.  They were part, the same part, of the same set of earrings.

Now, You tell me. What are the odds of that happening? 50 million to one?

This was in the time of Leonard Peltier and Pine Ridge.

I tell you, life is magic.  It's magical.  Let it be for you, too.

I think my Native American ancestors are trying to tell me something.  They are teaching me things about the real Life of Humans, and the living of it.  They are showing the help and guidance the Spirit World gives to lead us onto the right paths.


This Knowledge of the Elders is "Something Older Than America".

I listen to the wind, and to my heart, because they connect me to the Creator and to the Love he sang into being so many eons ago.  Listening carefully is the only way to hear it.  Listen to your breath, and your heart beating.  It has answers for you.  If Jesus says that the very Rocks will cry out, he is a Brother.  He knew.  We stopped listening.

Sewing News:
The Bernina came home two days ago.  Pfaffie comes home tomorrow.  I won't let them freeze up with dis-use again.  I want to make draperies, and dresses.  Quilts even.

 Knitting Report :I will take my small projects with me today to my sister's house, and cast on a hat and finish rows on Jane's Hedgerows and the green and yellow fingerless mitts. It's time to knit again.  Maybe my sister will like a nice warm little angora hat?


Travel Well, my Friends.  May you walk with Beauty all around you.

I have to stay away from political crap.. Tuesday Tails.. something cute.

This morning I almost fainted when my heart went crazy after I read Dana Siegelman's appeal for her Dad.  So I did what I could and just went and made these little heart things for seamstresses and beaders:

If I know you bead or sew, and I have your address, beware!

The ones in the cup are done, the ones around the edge just need to be trimmed and smoothed. I like this tiny craft and have ordered two other molds from THIS Etsy Shop. I also like  THIS one that I just found.

Tuesday Tails is a picture of a peekaboo owl.  That's a rock in front so I'm guessing the species is a Burrowing Owl.  Well, the rock, and that it looks like a Burrowing Owl.

Music Monday

Beautiful cover, by Arlene Zelina, of David Guetta's "She Wolf - Falling to Pieces"

Friday Fill-ins and chit chat

The Beauty Beneath my Feet.

And...here we go!

1. I love the feeling of having the leisure to not have to rush off now, in the morning.

2. Seeing my husband smile at me when he brings me tea always brightens my day.

3. Being able to go see my daughters again in that game changing year is what I will remember the most from 2012.

4. My favorite family recipe is hand made pizza from scratch, the dough and all;  we don't make it anymore but it's still better than anything you can buy anywhere.

5. When I want to spoil myself I have coffee and chocolate covered ginger from Trader Joe's, or maybe some Lacey's Cookies.  I love them both.

6. "Bones" (or maybe "Numb3rs") is my favorite TV show.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Netflix or reading Dr. Terry's Bear book; tomorrow my plans include doing more organizing or pouring more wax forms and Sunday, I want to go through one big tote in the sewing room.  Just yank that puppy out from under the table in there and go through it.  It's not a tailor's workroom, like I want to have in there, so it's just going to be my sewing room for the rest of my life!  This, even though it will always LOOK like a tailor's workroom.

The weather is finally warming up, three cheers!  The roses were pruned today, and the doves that usually hide along the stand for the water shell were sitting disconsolate in the cape honeysuckle that has really taken a cold weather hit.   I hope it survives.  But, it's a hero plant, as it saved the citrus trees in it's shadow.

Yesterday I went to see my sister, who surprised me with a little silver heart necklace that she made from half a pair of earrings; she made two necklaces, matching, for us.  I took her one of the bee's wax hearts which she has decided to hang in her kitchen.  We talked about Mother, and how she liked Oriental things.  Mom called them her "Chinesey looking things".  

It was a lifelong passion for Mother, this love of the Oriental Look.   Sis and I talked about having gotten the bug for thrift shops from Mother.  She really loved to go thrift shopping to search out her special little bits and pieces of "things to look at."   I thought it was a mid-western behavior  but it's not. 

All people love a bargain. And most women have a decorator's hand for their homes, even if they have very little money.  She would find clothes there, too.  So do we.  And my daughters, too.  It's fun.  You never know what you will find, and it's just a lot of fun to do.

In a few days I have to have a procedure on my eyes.  One is too dry and the other one always is dripping tears.  People think I'm sad because a tear periodically rolls down my cheek.  Well, sometimes I am sad but it's different, that errant drip.  It is an ersatz tear.   

When we are driving somewhere, and I have to wipe away a tear, I imagine that other drivers or passengers in cars think that some unhappy event has transpired, but it's only that I have ultra tiny tear ducts and they won't behave!  I hope that the new specialist can whip those little follicles into shape!

Still no knitting.  But I've picked out a half a dozen possibilities for the sock yarns for an Opal sock bunny and unearthed the pattern, yarn and needles for a nice angora hat.  Hopefully I am NOT allergic to Angora, an insult that occurs more and more as the years pile on. Oh!  Big FAT Yay!  I have a new allergy and it's to lichie nuts, Angora, hot buttered popcorn, banana splits *insert whatever*!   But this is America, and there is a heck of a lot of food here.  I'll always find something really good to eat.  That is until they have to feed me through a tube, yes?  Please God, no!

Three little sisters at Halloween a long time ago.
Right to left - Elle, Gee and Jimmie

Little Readers, start them Young!
Twins and me, Jimmie in front, Gee next to me.

Daddy and the Big Sisters Bee left, and Elle right

We are all still readers.  It's a Great Escape! 

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for waking up, by God's grace to allow me another day, and knowing that DH will be bringing me a cup of tea, as I had brought him a cup of coffee when he had to go out to work five or six days a week, never complaining.  Never did he ever complain.

We worked hard for our family, both in our different ways, because a family is all either of us ever wanted out of life - a real family that loved each other and worked things through.

Now we, my Hubby and I, are here at this point, ready to make the discovery of what happens in "the last of life, for which the first was made."

I am thankful for my family. 

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tails... Short little feathery ones...

Thank you to Judy, who sent me a whole flock of undercover owls though, I must admit, these are the most visible.

And then, there is the most heartwarming picture of a mama dog with her baby rabbits..

Now, that's a tail for another time.

Love the Creation, even if it isn't all wild, it's all connected.

May You Walk with Beauty all around you.

How to stop following your own blog....

I accidentally started following my own blog.  I couldn't find any coherent help anywhere,   Until I went HERE , and part of it is total nonsense, go figure.  Forget finding the two things mentioned and go for the two red overlapping squares.  They are in the corner of your friend's connect display..

Click on them and follow the leads until you see Add or Remove, and then follow the crumb trail to the end, where you can click on "Stop Following this blog!" 

Now, go eat that cookie you have earned.
 

Music Monday- Roberta Flack, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and Bee's Waxswax Heartscraft

This is such a beautiful song.  I love this recording where Roberta Flack plays the piano accompaniment to her voice.  She is an amazing performer.




And now, as promised, the update on the beeswax buttons for hand sewing and beading...

The set up for melting and pouring...and waiting, waiting, waiting for the wax to melt on the Low setting on the iron.

Big background photo shows the set up and tools used
Top right shows the wax melting in the chili can
Bottom right is the cooling forms.  You have to let them cool about twenty minutes before un-molding.

 The pictures are sort of self explanatory but being me, I've set about explaining it all.

Top left is a stabbing tool for testing cakes and baked potatoes but I used it to float wax on the bottom of the flat undecorated form.
Top right shows the un-molded Heart shaped silicon (blue thing)
The two on the bottom corners show the bottom and top of the connected pieces, trimmed.  

This was very fun to do, but I'll warn you to keep the iron setting as low as possible, Be patient and not walk away from the wax on the iron, and remember that everything is very hot.  The wax will stick to your skin like glue if you spill it on you, making for almost instant 3rd degree burns. The silicone mold is the one I bought some time ago from Miniature Sweet, a beautiful Etsy Shop.

I didn't sleep all night, took a long nap today and didn't start the angora hat.  But I will start it soon.  The weather is FREEZING!  I can't believe that the warnings of this that came out of Scripp's Institute of Oceanography in the early 1970s were ignored.  Now we are in it, and it's going to hurt.  My advice, learn to swim, but also, buy a full wet suit meant for the arctic. Oh yes, and watch for flying debris when the poles flip.  The last was a joke.

Sewing, when I get the Nina back, will commence in style.  DH snagged two lovely Simplicity patterns for 99¢ each for me this morning.  I couldn't be happier if I were twins.  1714, for the starfish and the nesting pincushions, and  the one I've been after forever, 2921.  There are a few others but I'm trying to stop buying anymore garment patterns.

Cheerio!  Head's up!  Go have some fun crafting. It's good for what ails you, though it doesn't solve the great question of why we are here, it does adds color and meaning to the journey.  It also keeps you off those mean streets and out of the bars.
 

Second Sunday Post

It's late, I'm tired but can't sleep.  So you are my victims audience!

Making  beeswax hearts for the C team members requires a heat source.  So, DH set up his old iron ( that he used for waxing his skis, and his surf board) and put it upside down (and inside) a re-purposed metal frame for a wire colander, which is now deployed to the re-cycled metals bin. I've braced the frame up with house rocks, set the temp for warm, and will plug it in tomorrow.

Setting things up ahead of time seems to motivate me to get out of bed and get at it!  For instance, if I don't set up a sewing project at night, I'll never get to it.  This could be latent depression, or just that it's more comfortable in bed playing free cell on the netbook than it is to be up, gathering junk together for a project

I got a list of average -or maybe industry standard temperatures for home irons vs various fabrics from  HERE

Linen: 230 °C (445 °F)

Triacetate: 200 °C (390 °F) (do they even make this stuff anymore?)

Cotton: 204 °C (400 °F)

Viscose: 190 °C (375 °F) ( best known in it's Challis incarnation)

Wool: 148 °C (300 °F) ( we all know and love this fiber- not that most of us would be into ironing it.)

Polyester: 148 °C (300 °F) (Those Gawd Awful Double knits! Gah!)

Silk: 148 °C (300 °F)

Acetate: 143 °C (290 °F)

Acrylic: 135 °C (275 °F)

Lycra/Spandex: 135 °C (275 °F)

Nylon: 135 °C (275 °F) 

Since beeswax melts at 145°F and discolors above 186°F , I have to try, usually, a rheostat for safety.  Happily, the iron has a "warm" setting.  This is much lower than the silk , Acrylic or the Nylon fabric settings.

I'll add pictures, of the whole project, in a separate post on Monday.

Excavation Report:  I still have not found the tools, but I have found this tiny quilt project kit, which I will now put on the "to make list".  I was going to make it for the SR.  It's small, adorable and in keeping with my wish to work on small projects this year, as well as utilize or get rid of things.  I've had it since the early 1990s.  It's well aged, wouldn't you say?

By the way, Does anyone have a good recipe for white fudge other than Divinity, and not having peanuts in it?  I want to make some and all I could find is Divinity.  Is it really that good?

Sunday Matinee: "Dive". And, "If Downton Abbey took place on Facebook"

Thank you Kara, Daaaling!

If any of the rest of you are fans of "Downton Abbey",  you will love this campy, outrageous, faux facebook

LINKIE THINGA for it.

Weather report, given twice..once too many times- sort of like listening to the endless loop on NOAA weather radio broadcasts.. Ahemm ... But, I digress... 

Weather report:  We had a wind off the cold water, and it froze half of the tomato plants.  So, I went out and picked the fruits off in case we got a frost after a short, random rainy spell last night.   I might make green tomato relish with them from my mother's recipe. I got enough for about a pint! lol  It's supposed to get down to 32 degrees F. tonight, so I expect to lose the rest of them tonight.  We'll see, because they are tough little heirlooms that don't know when to quit!

Recently we watched a documentary called "Dive!" again when the kids were here.  If it doesn't make you sick it will make you mad (or maybe sad).

It's a documentary about how much food goes into landfills from supermarket dumpsters.  It made me sad, but happy in an odd way, too.   There are people who are now getting more food for their local programs.  Alas, one of them, the Food Bank, isn't, or wasn't at the time of the making of the documentary.  So, that was really sad.

Something needs to be done about this!  I feel that the more people who are informed, the less hungry American families there will be out there.  We waste an ENORMOUS amount of food, and kill a great many animals and just throw their bodies into the landfills in America.  Why?  That's a lot of suffering and abuse that could be ended also.


Anyway,  if you are interested, or in anyway in a position to help stop this, the movie is called "Dive!"
Prepare to be shocked.

Saturday Komeekz

Hahahahaha! 

And here is something sweet.   A kokopele statue at a Mexican Restaurant in San Jose.  My Daughters, whose birthdays were being celebrated, told us that this place made the BEST Mojitos! 

 I covet this statue! 

And they served orchids with their fare.  Lovely place!

They have Live Mariachi Music on certain nights.  Very Fun!

This is a contemplation photo to tape to the ceiling when it gets too hot to breathe.  

An overhead look at the oaks of Santa Cruz Mountains.

Today was fitness day so it involved a little run out to Michaels to snap up bargains.  I got a lot of nice red stuff to make a Valentine's Day Riot on the walls and table tops en la Casa.  Plus Bargains on Baskets for next Christmas.  I'm happy.

I can craft a few days, walk a little, and go back for more stuff if needs be.  Since taking an embellishment class in the late 70's where the teacher's philosophy  was, "Too much is never Enough", I favor this overkill myself for decorating for the Hols.  More on that later.

Friday fill-ins

 Ok, let's make this fun this time.  Music is the best thing that humans make, well, besides tacos, ice cream and cookies.

1. Wake up little Susie, wake up!
2. Growing up with Rock music was so great and think of all the fun we had.
3. Every picture of screaming little girls trying to touch the shoe of a Beatle makes me smile.
4. Grunge got just a little too quiet.
5. Stay with lyrics like, "Joy to the world. Joy to the world, Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea,  Joy to you and me!
6. Music built my brain in a thousand ways.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching "Bones", "Big Bang Theory", and  Numb3rs, tomorrow my plans include making earrings and decorated bee's wax cakes for my two eldest DDs because they have been SOOOO patient about it all, and Sunday, I want to reacquaint myself to my knitting needles and cast on an angora hat!

I also want to make some of these if I can find the pattern in Ravelry again.:

Aren't they sweet

And a shout out to all the service personnel who just might read here:  Thank you, and stay safe.

Catching up and a Sky watcher post.

Storm breaking up on New Year's Day, new one here already

I am so tired!  I am worn to a nubbin, I tell you!  I'm resting a lot but did manage one set of weight lifting a laundry basket which is surprisingly heavy when there are jeans in it. 

But, we all had a good time, and we started getting some stuff sorted out for a get together before the hot summer weather stops all activity that involves anymore than raising a finger into the wind!

The kids and their daddy hiked all over the half acre, and so did Wolfie.  For an Urban/suburban area, San Diego has a ton of first class hiking and climbing opportunities.  One place we didn't get to go see (that's fun but no 'hike') is City Farmers. 

La 'Nina' had to go to the shop, and when she gets home then old 'Pfaffie' gets sent.  This is because they were so arthritic from dis-use that neither of them could sew a  simple button hole.  The Nina's problems were so serious.  It looked like the screen went Pffft!.  That is scary because she is so old that if the motherboard was bad, it would have been all over for  my old gal.  There are no new ones available.  Shame on me for not sewing  for so long!  I've promised both my old ladies they will be utilized for MUCH more sewing in the new year.  I'm making draperies and curtains and other smaller things like stuffed animals.

Monday the four of us went to see two shows at the space theater, played around with all the kids stuff at the Science museum, and then went to our favorite place to eat Mexican food,  ( Bahia #1), for an early dinner.  DH bought me an Einstein T-shirt to wear, with my Einstein hair, to fitness.  All I have is Professor Einstein's hairdo, not, alas, his brain power.  Darn!  Evolution can be cruel at times.

Not just little kids were having fun that day.  DH and I built this:

The big chair in the background was very popular with adults.

Warning: If you want a headache, just go there when there are LOTS of kids who are screaming.  I don't know how modern mothers make it.


Citizen Science: We did see evidence of some climate change on our walk to the Space Theater in Balboa Park.  The Carolina Cherry trees which are usually putting out blossoms this time of year, are not.  Because of several freezing nights in the last couple of months, the trees turned to autumn colored leaf dropping instead.

Go ahead, make it bigger...

The twins left for home on Tuesday morning.  Later in the afternoon we got a call, about DH's momma,  that she needed assistance.  DH went to attend, and, so, I got Wolfie's dinner that night and  my own; Wolfie got kibble.  Mine consisted of a hard cooked egg, a wheat tortilla with butter and honey, and some nice hot green tea.  Now that's a nicely balanced meal, right?  It was a very good supper with the least fuss.  One of the best kinds, eh?  Only, a lava cake could have made it better, maybe?  But I've gained two pounds and have to get rid of that and go back to trimming down.  So, no desserts for awhile!

I don't have a lot of pictures as the one taking pictures took them all home.  But I've got a few...

The little Owls project:

Two Down

Even sweeter in person.  Biggest is maybe 2 inches tall.
The patterns are in the top right corner.

I did find a better picture of the Medusa-like flower heads that came to visit over the back fence.

I'm so glad I got pictures of these Amaranth
before they were cut back.  Lovely things!

Always look for the lovely things as they are usually little enough to make you happy without making you giddy.  Giddy fades pretty darn fast but lovely little things in the storehouse of memory can carry you through a week.

Thankful Thursday...

I am thankful for St. Michael, visits from Daughters, and that my dear old friend, J., has joined the angels after a long and terrible illness.  I'm thankful that he died in his sleep, and that he is now at rest.

May You Walk with Beauty all Around You.

 

Wordless Wednesday

So long Good Man.  Rest in Peace

Friday Fill-ins

1. Let me keep sorting out my life here.
2. I've been going through all my junk and trying to figure out what to do with much of it because disorder makes me insane.
3. Listen here: You may not know this, and I hope you never have to learn it, but Coronary events are Life Changers.
4. Now that's worth talking about!
5. When I was younger, I thought there was all the time in the world.   Now I know it's not true.
6. When I think of time wasted, well, it is to laugh!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with the kids and DH, and watching something fun on Netflix, tomorrow my plans include walking somewhere with everyone, and Sunday, I want to make beeswax hearts for the twins, as well as some other things for them to take back to their sisters, sort through all the fleece bits, and share it out with Jimmie.  I've given up trying to make button holes on either of my trusty. old machines.  I simply cannot remember how to do it.  Jim says that she will just make some by hand,  the low tech way.  I don't want her to, because I don't trust those to be strong enough for a blouse front.

I'll leave you with a picture of some interlopers from the other side of a fence.  They are pretty, and they really wanted their picture taken.   They are HUGE and healthy, and the lovely gardener next door wanted to share some beauty with me.  I really can't do these flowers justice in a photo.  They are breathtakingly beautiful.

What are these?  I'm pretty sure it's Amaranth
Just after I posted this picture, I noticed they were gone.

Amaranth Linkie

Thankful Thursday... bit of knitting and sewing. Catching up.

I'm thankful to share life with DH and our four marvelous daughters.

The girls and I - and even DH at times - craft together, cook together, laugh together and garden together.  I just wish, with all my heart, that we all lived a lot closer.  The older I get the more I wish it.

The little sisters are visiting.  We are doing some crafting, and are planning on spinning some of the fleece from the rancher in South Dakota.  We'll then be dividing the raw stuff for needle felting - some for Jimmie, some for me.   I also want to make a cam mo colored wallet for a big sister, and some beeswax "buttons" for them to take home to our daughter, Ele, who beads and Bee, the one who sews.

Garden update:  Tomato watch...(the pink flower is a hopeful geranium)

This little Heirloom is still fruiting and setting flowers.
I don't know how it's doing it with so little light.
It sits in the shadow of the house
and only gets about four hours of light a day.

I'm teaching Jim how to use the Nina to make button holes for her blouse, or conversely, we will set up the old machine with it's gadget for button holes, as they are usually neater looking.  She is teaching me about Mushrooms.
 
Pumpkin mushroom:  Ophthalotus olearius... I call them, Beautiful Danger!

Because they can be confused with:  THIS Mushroom, the edible Cantharellus spp. 

You do not want to be eating any of those first ones.  DD tells me that mushroom poisonings are on the upswing, and it's being blamed on the economy as hungry people, who are not familiar with mushrooms, are collecting them and eating them, or worse yet, feeding them to others, in soups or other dishes. 

Knitting News: Gee has seen her Noro sweater- I tried the pieces on Jimmie because she was standing still for five minutes - and Gee loves it.  Now to sew it together and put the collar and edgings on. 

At the moment they are climbing a mountain.  Yesterday DH, Gee and J all spent three hours in fitness, and then we all went to their Auntie's house for tea and a chat with their aunt and uncle.

Jimmie is digging up some bunny ears cactus babies for herself and for me.  I hadn't even noticed that they had produced babies but now I'll have little pots of bunny ears in the window sills.  Next ceramics project will be to slap some glaze on some small terracotta pots to make colored pots for sunny winter window sills.

Last night's short walk along the Lake at sunset:

Make it big!

Remember to keep a watch on the sky, as it's almost always doing something interesting. 
One of the things that struck me about a book I read a long time ago, was this question:  "When was the last time that you just sat and watched the sky get dark?"  I think we have to do more connecting to the natural world and it's rhythms, for our Heart's Ease.

Wordless Wednesday + Flickriver creatures

As shared by soorawn, on Ravelry + Creatures

Tuesday Tails and Happy New Year (resolutions)

This year DH gave me the best Birthday and Christmas present in my life.  I became a Hero for Animals.  The Humane Society of the United States has this program, and it gives me great joy to be a perPETual donor.



Speaking of little rescues, Wolfie had a great time at the Christmas Eve party playing "I'm Ignoring you, T" with his putative "Buddy", Mr. T. The Wolfman did manage to teach the "tear paper napkins to shreds under a table" trick to T while ignoring him 90% of the time. Mr. T. is also a rescue and as cute and adorable as a, well, a hedge hog. You can see a hedge hog - Gratuitous Hedgehog cuteness - at Jim McCormac's Blog.

This is their summer "Close (as it gets to a) Buddy" photo on the Matriarch (of the clan)'s back porch.

Darling Mr. T always wants to play but poor, socially inept, little wild dog Wolfie plays neither with toys, humans (except for the game of catch-me-if-you-can), or other dogs.  Maybe W thinks of himself as a cat, though he really does ignore them completely.

Wolfie did get to show off his little red sweater, and Mr.T's mom tried it on T, who only seemed embarrassed by it all.  I told her about the marvelous Drops Design site, figuring that because she is an expert knitter of baby sweaters and blankets, it's only right that she should branch out into smallish dog sweaters, and that she knows of  Drops.

Happy Knitting!  Happy New Year Knitting!

The Resolutions?  Only four.
1. Finish the Sweaters, glove,sock UFO's

2. Finish the Baby Quilt for my DGN.  An award winning quilter made her sister's; therefore, I have felt intimidated, and thus the long delay. DGN is almost a teenager!

3. Finish making Order out of the Chaos in the Sewing Room.

4. Straighten out the Arts and Cra(p)ft studio and move the bench that's in there for better light.

That's it!  It's somewhat nebulous but, in some odd way, it seems focused, too.


At the moment I am on the prowl in the wilds for an herb called Plantain, which is just about as good as it gets for skin problems, as long as you don't collect it from a roadside in the South where it's probably sprayed with herbicides.  No, no, no.  Do not collect it there.  Don't collect any wild plant you might eat or use for decor from a roadside unless it's the verges of your own herbicide free driveway.  

This is an old remedy that was developed by the Native Americans when the herb first made it's way to the Americas along with other pesky sorts of things, that is, other than the European colonists themselves, mind you.

My daughter, Jimmie, who is an herbalist, has used Plantain in a poltice to successfully treat boil re-infection and other troubles.  I say, whatever helps!  Unfortunately we have eradicated it from our own yard with the patience and diligence of the Ignorant.  We must now find it far afield, so to speak.

Yes, this post is all over the place, but it's more Tuesday Tails than not.  Wishing you all a very Happy New Year's Day with all that football and such.