Tuesday Tails... Next book...

We have a bumper crop of baby lizards this year.  We get a lot of species around here.

I think that if the cats don't catch them all before they get as big as one of their grandpappy's who used to adorn a social media page, I will be a very happy woman.  I haven't got many pictures of the babies because they are just really FAST!  Sort of like birds.  You get ready to shoot and take the snap, and it's a picture of an empty branch or birdbath.

I'm resting my crinkly old backbone, and e-reading a Donna Leon that was somehow missed in the big run up to becoming a truly bionic woman.  I refer to the knee replacement surgery after getting a metal wrist installed three years before.  Let's see, so far only two but enough to qualify.

Thanks to Goodreads Website

I think this is the best one I've read so far, though they are all spellbindingly beautiful to read.  The family time in these books is a delight, and there's a little teenager now in the Brunetti household.  hehe

That's about all.  Back to sorting, tossing and recycling.....  So far, a brilliant idea flashed through the old noggin when I was snapping off for a nap one day last week.  It involves a lot of heavy lifting so it's going to go very slowly, as we paint the walls an off white.  Goodbye forever to the faded Lavender walls of flown little birds.

It's Tuesday anyway.....sort of a major chin wag

This is mostly about quilting and knitting and re-organizing.  There are also Bit of Garden, bit of ceramics blah blah, too, and a little Wolfie chats as well.....I'm hoping you will be thrilled to read about all of it.  

The Garden!  

Our Dark variety of Aeonium is blooming for the first time ever!

These sweeties finally leaned over and made it into the ground
So, they have rewarded us with a flower spike!
It's not as pretty as a neighbor's is but I also don't fertilize this plant.
 I have to put the green variety in the ground now, too!  And get more varieties!
Yesssss! Love em!  I want them all over that hill back there!

The freeway verges are all sporting lots and LOTS of drought tolerant plantings, and succulents are leading the pack.  Oh, the alloes in the front yard are blooming too, and the teeny cacti, also.  You've seen all of them though.

The Wolfie report! 

Terribly under exposed photo but he is happy with no flash.
He did get a bit of the Green, but Monkeys? 

 He went to the groomer's today, and I was hoping for a bit of the green on his neckerchief for the triangles quilt- which we got.  Having saved all of Jazzie's ties, which are smaller, I started right away saving the ones from Wolfie.  You only get twelve a year.  Jazzie's ties are tiny but by adding a co-coordinating strip of quilting solids, I can make them the same size.

The DNA Report:

I've been so very tired these last few days.  And the knee hurts, the metal one.  It's also taken to clicking.  My brother told me this might happen.  It may or may not be the barefoot stuff, though I fear that the "back to nature foot movement" isn't going to work for me!  Having now read numerous pages, I now know that the knee can just click all it wants as long as it's intermittent.  Five year check coming up.

Having said this, as most of you know, most little old ladies don't do well unshod, and nothing less than hiking boots or at least running shoes works to keep the knee properly aligned.  So, I guess it's "Goodbye Toes and Hello running shoes"!  Sorry Elle!  but the rest of my DNA is rejoicing over getting moved a lot more than it has been since all the 2014 medical DRAMA!  Hmmm.. I wonder if that's why I'm tired?  lol

Knitting report on the Pink Sweater:  

Today, I wanted to get the right size Addi Turbo for the sweater. Well, scratch that because the store that carries them is Gone With the Wind!  The Now modified plan is to use Bates Velocity .....

to knit the two fronts separately; then I'll knit the sleeves, separately, and in the round on some 16 inch hat needles.  I hope this works out!  The sweater was started at least three years ago, in 2012.  My poor, patient DD1 has been waiting that long for her nice sweater.  I just hope she still likes the color and the pattern!

Organizing!

The cutting table is halfway clear!  Toss! Toss! Toss!

See the little Hexagonal Box?  Sis and I made these one year

My next victims of eviction are the extraneous shop equipment for heavy duty lost wax mold casting. (Out! Out! Out!)  and then, after that, all the blasted ceramic magazines!  I'm so over ceramics except, that is, for plant pot creation. I'll fire those twice a year, make a lot of them, and maybe sell some or maybe not, but at the very least make enough for me and the kids.  I can use up the engobes and glazes that way.  And, it's just brilliant fun!

So, I hope that you are set on enjoying your life and not letting anything that is short of a death or bombs falling overhead to change you.   Keep the Faith Baby!  Craft ON!

Monday Music, on a Tuesday.... "Wide Open Arms"... Marc Scibilia + Tuesday Tails...

Kudos to SuziQz  (with many smiles) for a beautiful love song for all you Valentine's lovers who share a work a day world....

Enjoy this beautiful song.....




Tuesday Tails...

The birds are nesting!  The doves are back, and the House Wren,

IMAGE Source

the beautiful Golden Headed one, is singing from the tip top of the Cape Honeysuckle.  I put out pieces of yarn for them yesterday.  The birds I've seen in my garden have all had full golden heads.

Be sure to read the explanation of why this color arises in House Finch.  Though, I have seen only three or four birds of this color, they have all been on the Pacific Flyway.  That's about as West as it gets.   They have come to feed on the ground in the rose bed when we had Jemima, our Peking Duck, and there is one here, off and on, this Spring.  I'll try to get a decent picture of it.

Adult Torts will be out as soon as the last frost date at the end of February.  Tiny torts are still eating and sleeping under their grow lights and their warming lamp.  All is well.

Wolfie is slowing down a little, not quite so manic.  He's still a love bug and wants to cuddle up, or maybe to sleep in Mr. Z's lap while the Mr. does crossword puzzles or shares a nap in the evening with his "son" in his lap.

Wolfie sneaks a peek at that dratted camera

Organizing report, with a wee homeless rant:

I have three bags that are ready to go out to the Goodwill, and now I'm into the recycled corduroys.

 I'm trying to remember (within my manic self)  that I'm making three, and only 3, ugly quilts. I'll make another semi ugly one for me to keep.  The one I'm keeping can have street value, because it won't get stolen.  Isn't it a shame that an ugly quilt could get stolen?  But, that is the  truth of life on the streets.
Begin rant:
If ever I had a wish granted, it would be that, in this rich country, enough people cared that people were going hungry and living on the streets in every corner of the lower 48 to END that disparity and disgrace.
end rant.

I'm going to go do a little more work.  Then hopefully I will have the time to come back and do some Blog overdue visits and also answer comments.  Thank you for your patience, dear readers.

LIttle Wren Drawing; Basket of Pens; organizing chit chat; Saturday Komeekz; Maeve's "last book", and the movie "Clue"

I know, two posts in a day... *sighs*  But I hope you will forgive me my little brain fart in not doing these two Saturdays together.

Sketch for today:

House Wren: Isn't she sweet?

I did the quick sketch from a photo by Brian L. Sullivan, who is just amazing!  His photo is on the Cornell Site from my phone.  You can see that after I drew the outline I wanted to fill in with these pens:

Next to try are the colored pencils

They are nice pens, the black is really a thick felt tip that gives amazing control for it's size, almost like the tip of a Sumi-e Brush.  But they're just not the same as a water wash.  Since I've just started this enterprise, I realize it's best to have your own photos so that you have a multi sense memory as well.  There is something about drawing from life that can't be duplicated as the eye sees so much more when watching something that is alive and hopping around doing it's "thing".  If you don't believe me, just try to draw a Passenger Pigeon from the last photograph.

Organizing:

I'm keeping the bins but the yarn is going to the Craft Co-op in Santa Cruz, along with all the cone yarns (except for the big gray one that is a blend for socks).  This activity will free up some space in my sewing/card making/catchall of a studio in the front of the house.  The one in the back remains semi organized but is for another time and story.......whatwasithinking?

Source

Saturday Komeekz:

Dear little kitty, you won't like camping.  The only cats I've seen "camping" were in motorhomes, which they did NOT have to drive, and in which they had their own pull out food trays and beds!

The movie "Clue"



This thing is a literal scream!  I laughed myself sick and will most likely watch it again on Halloween!

I am reading a book that is a compilation of Maeve Binchy's  writings, her hubbie's and her publisher's.  You can tell the difference, but the book is still interesting and well written.  Parts have already been published elsewhere, and those are hers, as well as things she was compiling for a book she wanted to write about Chestnut Street.  I'm enjoying it, though it's sad to think she is already gone so long.   Chestnut Street


I have a migraine and plantar fasciitis at the moment so I'm just going to go rest awhile.  LOL!  Woohoo!  Trouble from Top to Bottom, er, the Foot Bottom that is.  Have a great Sunday!

Something Beautiful on Monday, Tort, Knitting,and Organizing Reports.

Talk about gorgeous stuff!   The last time I saw this sort of carving was at Cabrillo College at the Saturday Farmer's Market.

From  HERE which I just found!
This carved melon is just one of the many Objet d'Art that are at this gorgeous site!

I found color pens yesterday, a whole box of them.  Some are actually still good- So Shocking to find that they are!  Usually they die within weeks of being purchased!

Elle, I will start making some sort of art with them. There is so little I can sketch quickly that's just laying around; perhaps I'll sketch clothes pins or something -Bottles of Bleach, Dish Detergent?  Maybe your Dad?  Anyway,  I've been so indoctrinated into realism that it's terribly hard for me to do the beautiful things that come out of your imagination, though I have in the past done semi-abstract oils.  In another life, that is.

*Sighs and looks into the distance.*  I regret nothing; I just see the income stream flowing away from me. hehehe

Organizing report:  Today I mean to get down some storage bins, each stuffed with snippets of sorted-by-color fabrics for quilt making.  I cannot fit more things into that room but still want to put away and organize the waxworks - a costco flat box of the stuff I make wax hearts and fire starters with. Getting that little eyesore stowed away - but plainly labeled - will give my self esteem a big boost! 

Knitting Report:  I got out the sweaters and shook out the moths.  Just kidding!  There are none.  Happily this is true - so far.  The Manly Sweater is through up to the shoulder shaping on two needles, which I fear.  I don't know what to do if the twists for the multitudinous blasted CABLES fall the the wrong side.  I'm suffering agonies over trying to insure that THAT can of worms does not pop open on me.  The little pink silk sweater for Elle should give me no problems.  I know, I'm asking for trouble just saying this!

Tort report:  Speaking of Watermelon:  The babies, Milagro and Dusty,  were introduced to watermelon, and do they love it.  Their parents, Poko Ono and Churchy, and their big brother, Lucky, all chase us down in hopes of having more, more, more! 

The big torts have had some rinds nearly every summer since we've had them around.   We got another melon the other day, and they will, indeed, get more before summer is through.  This time I'll get pictures of chowtime with the Torts.  Otherwise all of them subsist on grasses, dried grasses, and elm leaves from "The Tree That Will Not Die", a root of an Elm we once enjoyed the shade of.  We've kept said root around just for the torts, a healthy big sprout near the fence that bursts forth every spring with long, willowy stems filled with leaf buds. 

Elm leaves are better than lettuce to the torts.  We do, however, keep all tortoises out of range of the tomato plants which have a habit of languidly reaching down over the giant tub and tempting passing herbivores.  Well, our herbivores cannot eat them without going toe up.  So, tomato plants are a no no, tomatoes they CAN eat.  In fact, sometimes the adults mistake my painted nails for tomatoes.

All you readers out there who have read this far, thank you!  I hope that you have a calm, reflective, and restorative week of evenings, days,  and "walking with beauty all around you"  moments.  May your happiest memories flood into your mind and give you Peace.    Blessings!

Tuesday Tails - National Dog Day was today...

I found this out at Ellen's Blog, HERE.  So  to all the happy dog lovers out there, Happy National Dog Day!

The little Dog of Many Colors

Just home from the groomers and very proud!

Since I'm reconstructing this post, I'll just briefly tell you of a new Netflix we've been watching.  It's about a vet named Dr. Pol.  If you look for it, I think it's called The Amazing Dr. Pol.
Since I was raised on a small farm with only small animals, but had to kill some of them for dinner, I'm used to blood and some muck.  It doesn't bother me a lot.  Be aware that this is a large and small animal practice so you will see some big animals giving birth, and some other things unpleasant to the sensitive and to children.  Everyone in this show is just amazing.  Such kind and true hearts.

The film crew, or perhaps the edit master, did an excellent job of cutting or blurring images so as to assuage the feelings of viewers and lower the impact of those images at times.  Having given this warning, or proviso, if you will, I'll say that this is worth watching.  Also, you don't hear very many bad words, and the ones that you do hear are mild.  These vets are thoroughly wonderful.  They love animals and do everything they can to help them.

I haven't knit a stitch, but I did do some Organizing.  The trunk in the photos is a bit of a wreck but I love it.  It's older than I am, and that says something.  It's also had a hard life.  It's called a bride's trunk, but it looks like it took some across country trips in a buckboard or two.  I'm sure it must have fallen off the back of a Model T Ford, even, during the dust bowl.  Anyway, I do love it, DH is warming to it, and it is a great organizer for the flotsam and jetsam of Christmas decorations heretofore stuck in various nooks and crannies of the Z family habitat.

This holds a LOT.  Angels, ceramic snowmen families
and tinsel, Oh My!

Daily Sketch called, "Comfort Me".. and a little Organizing blah blah, and knitting blah blah

When this was started it was only a series of curving lines, and then became ribbon like and then, it looked like a mother comforting a little child, thus the name...

Comfort Me

This is on a scrap of paper about 3 inches by 5 that runs down the edge of the paper that my daily crossword puzzles are printed on.  We dug it out of the trash, a whole ream of it tossed because no one wanted it after another company shut down.  It's great quality paper and a shame to waste even a small margin, so I trim it off and save it.  I know.  Insanity!!!!  That's pretty much what I draw these on.  My DD makes large color drawings but I'm not there yet.

Today we measured for moving the sewing desk - it has a five foot return as it's an old Steele Case secretary's desk from a place Mr.Z was working at in the Union Busting Reagan years.  But, we got two tables, four chairs, two computer chairs, a huge conference table, and this amazing desk for less than 200 smackers.  If that comes up in a crossword soon, I will be able to remember that it means "dollars".  Lol
This is the only picture I have of the room which hasn't changed at all except to have a lot of stuff piled in on top of everything else since 1999.  That table is the cutting table.  The sewing machine is my trusty old Pfaff, which I totally am besotted with.  That little machine has sewn an impressive about of garments since 1972.  It's still the go to machine for sewing quilt blocks, when any sewing of that sort arises.

First Ell of Desk

and around the corner a bit...

The true horror of too much:

This has accumulated since my knee replacement.  Really, it's insane.  I'm taking a lot of it North for the Sewing C0-Op in Santa Cruz.


Back to moving... the desk will be swung around under the windows, a table will go on the short end of the L shaped desk, and the power machine will be set back up on it's table where the desk and cutting table is now.  God help me please to find the room for all my Stufffffff in there!  I think the cutting table is going to have to stay where it is in the other part of the room.  It's going to be TIGHT and almost like the living quarters on a 21 foot Ocean going sailboat.  But, at least there will be no cambers to worry about!  Hmmm.. wave powered sewing machines.. hmmmm?

What I now lack in energy will have to be made up for by gobs of "true grit" and will power.

My plan is to make small things, dolls and their clothing, taking inspiration from this book:

I waited for years to get this book.... and now it's mine!  This is the doll face - that is what attracted me...

I think she is gorgeous! 

For knitting I'm planning Mitts, hats and Socks, cowls, tiny purses, anything small.  This is so, with my now Slower-than-a-snail-on Ambien pace, things will still get done. 

I'm going to go take a nap..

Saturday 9, Ongoing progress in Getting Organized, Knitting report, and The Wolfie toenail thinga.

I will be reporting the Snail's Adventures in Organizing it's Home, and this will occur every single day, with pictures, it's a monumental undertaking for a snail.

Now for the wonderful Saturday 9! You can play along by clinking on the link Button in the sidebar.

Blues in the Night

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!
Saturday 9: Blues in the Night (1952)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This is actually one of my favorite songs, and I will sing along with it when it's on the radio mix.

1) Was last night a good night for you? Or were you singing the blues?  Last night we both were a little tired and blue.  We needed to cheer up so we got Greek take out, got into jammies, so to speak, and watched a period piece called "Mission Impossible", now made campy and a bit silly,  plus the first episode or two of Miami Vice on Netflix. 

2) In this song, Rosemary Clooney sings about hearing "big talk" she didn't quite believe. What's the last fib, tall tale or out and out lie you heard?  It was probably something out of a politician's mouth, or maybe the CEO of a bank?

3) Rosemary Clooney has a well-known nephew -- George, the Oscar winner and frequent People magazine cover story. Do you have any nieces or nephews?  I have a lot of nieces and nephews. 

4) Ms. Clooney married the same man twice. They married, had five children and divorced. Then three years later, they tried again ... and divorced again. Have you ever been tempted to give it another try with one of your former loves?  Luckily for me, I have no former loves.  I can see why people do try this though.  Once you've loved someone, and they grow up a little, it's tempting to try again for that sweet feeling of love and companionship.

5) Singers as diverse as Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler and Amy Winehouse have said they admired and were influenced by Rosemary Clooney. If you could meet any artist (singer, writer, actor, director, painter, musician ...), who would it be?  I would want to meet Vincent Van Gogh.


6) 1952, the year this record was a hit, is also the year the "Big Bang Theory" was introduced by physicists Ralph Alpher and George Gamow. That is too lofty a topic for this humble meme, so instead we'll just ask: Do you watch the TV show of the same name?  Yes, we watch it, but wait for it on Netflix.  My sister, who also watches it, has to be careful not to tell me anything about the current state of "affairs" going on between all the various dating characters.

7) Sam Winters just broke her right thumbnail. While she won't go so far as saying it has her singing the blues, she must admit it bugs her. What little annoyances are you dealing with today? Sorry you broke a thumbnail.  They are the best tools!  I'm still recovering from Surgery and what with what others are going through on a daily basis, it's really a minor annoyance.  I am still "Organizing Things", a biggy on the list of must-get-dones, but I rest a lot, too.

8) The house next door to Sam's has a FOR SALE on the lawn. Are you contemplating a move? I am always contemplating a move.  I will move away in a heartbeat if the chance ever arises.

9) What's your search engine of choice: Google, Bing, Yahoo or Ask?  Actually I have two.  For research, it's Yahoo.  For everything else, it's Google.  But Yahoo seems to be changing.  *Sigh*

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Getting Organized.

All of the white binders are now in the Storage side of the Sewing Studio now.  What is on the table is mostly for jewelry production, and some things that are for ceramics, and those are hidden under some stuff that has to go elsewhere.  The unfinished butterfly house is one of two that I want to get painted and put up this summer.  I work and then rest so progress is slow, but progress nonetheless.

Make it big, IF Google let's you

Now the binders are in their new place and await labels.  The poor dusty bears will get a good cleaning, and so will the pig, raccoon, fish, rabbit and off camera Hedge Hog.  He'd fallen and couldn't get back up. Some of these were gifts, and some I rescued from Thrift stores.  Since I can't have fifteen mixed and pure poodles for a traveling dog show, I rescued bears and other foundlings.  There just aren't enough hours in the day... you know?  See, it is as you suspected; I am just a kid at heart.

Wolfie Report:  Wolfie got his sharp toenail (dew claw) trimmed this AM by Moi, the Inept.  I was using the wrong tool, of course, because all the rabbit clippers have been stashed somewhere unknown.  So, we had a little bleeding, in fact it was more than a little.  I was beside myself with angst, and regret, holding up his injured arm, and watching the facial tissue fill with red dots.  ( I refuse to use the K word.)  We called the groomer and she advised to put white flour on it.

So, if you don't have a styptic stick made for dogs, you can use white flour.  HERE is a very complete page for the process of trimming back a dog's nail.  Wolfie, because of his ancestry, can grow nails that curl right back onto themselves in a perfect circle. They almost look like jump rings for jewelry, the Boogers! Sometimes there are sharp little daggers on one edge that dig into his pad.  I was attempting to cut off just that point, like you do with your own toenails from time to time.  Mon Dieu!  Quelle Horreur! Plus Jamais ça!  Brrrr!  (for the amusement of Kara *wink*)

Knitting report:  Got past the gussets.  Whew.  Now I'll just match the little M*rde to it's mate.  Then comes the pink stardust sweater, and the other two sweaters.  As to the pink, I'll never buy 90 yard skeins again unless it is all wool.

Have a great Saturday night and Sunday!

Thankful Thursday, with some knitting blah blah and some Clean it all UP snaps...

Thank you for all the  MUTTS! , Mr. Patrick McDonnell!

Mutt's makes my day!

Sock knitting report:

GAH!  Anyway, I got all the gusset stitches on, and knit a baseline round or two, then I thought, "I don't think this is going to work very well without a heel cup!"

National Geo Frog Pix Source- go see amazing animals!

So, I Frogged and I frogged and I FROGGED, FROGGED, FROGGED!  First because I didn't remember to even DO a heel cap and then forgot exactly HOW to do my favorite heel cap.  I've now highlighted the TURN HERE  that was hidden in the other tiny words of the pattern.
I'm so very thankful that my right brain still works when the left brain is out lollygagging in Outer Space with the Moon Fairies.

Another Thankfulness:  I am thankful for the men and women who still care about others enough to take on the job of Nursing Care!  We had some Mama Drama over the last week.  But, my dear, tiny MIL is back on the mend, and she and I are now tied for Family's Bionic Woman Gold Metal.  She has two metal joints and so do I.  I told her she had better not try for a third because I was not going through another replacement even if they promised me a Corvette as a prize!  Ponies, maybe... *thinks about it*

Now, I'm also thankful for my very own Woofie.  This little guy keeps us Sane and willing to go through whatever it takes to see that he gets a good life after all he's been through.  No more abandonment, please God!

I've moved a major stumbling block out of the way of the SteelCase bookshelves in the Sewing Studio.  This means I can now go weeding the books and other detritus that was not accessible for a few years.  I could get at it but had to move a tall shelving unit in and out to do it.  Now it's over in front of the yarn closet and it can stay there.

The closet behind is filled with boxes of yarn
All from my long career as a yarn collector.
SABLE I'm sure.

I am going to be donning a dust mask and sucking "The Dust of Ages" up from these shelves.  They need to be used properly- this for all the stuff I'm not getting rid of to be able to fit!  I had a sort of Daydream while starving in the hospital - this was done so my pancreas - which was on strike- would not turn up it's toes.  This was a sort of a daydream about what I needed to do when I finally got home, And the words "Clean UP!" flashed across my consciousness.  Oh, Almighty and Dearest God, I am not ignoring that message!

This will hold all my binders from the mad collecting
of patterns off the web.  The bag with Yellow material
holds a whole quilt that is in the making

I hope you are safe from the floods in Florida, and the wildfires in California.  "Oh Doctor!" as a favorite sport's caster used to say.

Tuesday Tails - a cattail - Laplander film, Resolutions, yes/no?

 Just in time for the holiday, Yule that is, from Pina: The Legend of the Yule Cat   Iceland!  And, there are other links to follow more Yule stories.  Thank you, Pina. I love legends, especially when reading them for the first time.

For the last two years we have been watching a Lapland (Finnish) Santa legend called,  "A Christmas Story", on netflix.  It's really for kids but we love it ,too.  The fact that it was filmed in Lapland, and they used real reindeer, adds to it's charm.   We watched the extra bits, too, and those were fascinating.  This film starts out a little differently, but ends up making you feel good about how everything turns out.

Read about it HERE

I've also found another movie that I like to see at Christmas time.  It's a feel good chick flick.  I watch it with DH. Watch is what I do; what he gets to do is sleep through most of it which is OK with me because it's a cozy time, DH me and Wolfie dozing with DH.  I'm happy; he's Happy.

It's called, "The 12 Dates of Christmas", and though it seems to be a ripoff of the classic live-forever-stuck-in-one-day movie, "Groundhog Day", it's really not.  "12 Dates of Christmas" is a sweet, warm and upbeat rendition of that theme- meaning no Caustic Bill Murray character who has to learn to  grow UP already and be HUMAN for Jiminy Crimeny's sake!

Resolution making:

A quote from Musings of a Bookmammal's blog .... “When was the last thing time you did something for the first time?”  


I thought this year I wouldn't make any New Year's Resolutions.  This decision was based on the knowledge that  I've had a hard time keeping any resolutions I've made in past 8 years or so.   But maybe I'll do a few, especially if they challenge me to grow a little, like that quoted question does.

So, I will be posting a few closer to Year's end, but putting more thought into them.  Anything I plan to do, I must respect my arms and hands.  They cannot be ignored anymore.   They are the most important tools with which I make things, and making things is my perfect path to happiness and joy.  I mean I can't do anything like get my children  the respect they deserved from certain elders of the tribe.  There are so many of these "I can nots" that it gets thick around me, sort of  like fast setting cement while I'm sinking into a quagmire of grief and regret, or wishes that I'd been some sort of killer who really could kill with a look, like the woman in the song.  Pant Pant!

So, I'm making resolutions.  But after Christmas.  Tra La! 

Merry Christmas, Godfrey, and to all a good night!

Thankful Thursday... Kurt Vonnegut Day! Knitting Blah Blah

I'm thankful to still be getting up, walking around, breathing in and out, and seeing the Beauty of Our Mother, the Earth.   I "Just think of all the mud that never got the chance to sit up and look around."

And I'm thankful for my medical team, the whole lot of them -my Internist, the specialists who have glued my eye back together, or my wrist and knee, all the orderlies, EMTs who got here in a flash ... I wish them all happiness and good health.  I am thankful for Godfrey, my friend and fellow Ninja, though he's much better at it!  U-rrah!

And for friends and family who make love and life a joy and who also give it form and meaning.

“We're here to get each other through this thing, whatever it is.”

Kilgore Trout may have said this: "God has given me both a life not worth living, and an indomitable will to live it!", but I'm sure he was just joking around, enjoying the irony of human existence.

~All quotes from Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s Novels ~    I'm thankful for Wolfie, and for Jazzie, and Milo and all the other earthlings.
I'm thankful that I have this memento from a sweet grandmother, who quilted well into her 80's:

She could hardly see anymore
but she kept right on stitching stuff together in bold patterns.

And I'm thankful for this living memento, an heirloom plant from my mother's garden.

Christmas Cactus, right on time this year.

I'm Thankful for Angels and Saints

 Knitting Blah Blah.

I found the hat pattern and yarns, while doing this:

Sorting out the scraps for Comfort Dolls.

I saw my sister yesterday, and she wants to make Comfort dolls now that she is a little better and can sit upright for more than a few seconds in a chair.   I'm so happy to be able to do something with my sister again!

Tomorrow and the next day are baking days.  I will be just a little torqued if the Mayan Calendar robs me of this joyful activity.  But then, perhaps the possible thrill of Eternal Bliss, and weightlessness, will be worth a lot more than calorie counting and the lamenting that occurs after the Holidays.


Happy Landings all you travelers!  No Bouncing!

The mitt to the thumb and other trash talk..

I've gotten to the thumb stitch set- aside.  Five little stitches onto one of those orange holders. Just ignore the one already dangling from the side.  It means nothing. 

The pattern shows up differently (or I've been knitting it wrong) with this Lorna's Laces yarn, but I still think it's pretty.

It will be three days before I can even  read the rest of my blogs.  But, I've found that trying to figure out something other than the Googles Friends Connect, which they officially DITCHED sometime in March, is almost a fruitless search.

I'm also still trying to solve the mystery of how to get myself off MY Followers list.  Since that list, which was easy and fun to use, is supposedly now defunct, Google, which owns Blogger, apparently wants everyone to pony up to their g+1 bar and drink the Kool-aid.  Well, I'm not going to.  I liked clicking on the icons my friends connected and being able to go to their spaces.  Oh well, things change.

Organizing:

Last night late, I was looking at the giant craft table.  It is an old conference table from when NCR called it quits the first time and sold off all their stuffff for a penny a pound; I'm hellishly proud of it since I got it for 20 bucks.

OK, back to the topic.  This big worktable is in the end of the big room.  I was wondering if I can actually get it cleared off without stuffing everything back under it.  I don't think so!   So, that's the next back breaking project. Everything must go back up on risers and back under the table.  BUT, I did throw away an old blender after contemplating selling it on eBay.  It's a collectible Hamilton Beach in Avocado Green.  Maybe I'll go ahead and put it on eBay.  Anyway, it's GONE off the work table!  It was going to be used for paper making.

While out there, I found that I've got three alcohol lamps . Two of them I inherited when the Rock Hound shop went belly up, and one I actually bought when I was a kid, starting out.  I've given another one away to my DD who makes jewelry.  I need to donate some more!

Sorry for being in a royal funk.  Tomorrow though, I get to go and look for glazes at a new shop.  Thursday is my day off !  I expect to like a kid in a candy shoppe, so I'm really going to be working overtime at reining in my insatiable greed  desire to own every colored clay product and Glaze that exists.

Re-organization, again:

I've been keeping busy on the two main parts of re-organization.  Mostly so that when I start buying anything new, or rather am tempted to, nothing I already have will be duplicated.  I bought these (and other) cutters over about say, 8 years using 40% off coupons.  Does this qualify me for a  "True Grit Award"? * (see at end of post.)

 It's time to go watch some Cops and Robbers, or maybe, "Whose Wedding is This?"  But this next is for you all to make big and just calm way back down.  You know, calm down and climb back out of your trees.  Enjoy.

Beautiful Shady part of the San Lorenzo River.

* True Grit Award.  Take it if you dare.....

Actually, take it if you like it.  Go ahead, give yourself an award for reading this far.

I love the way these little damsel flies stare right back at you, defiantly, even when you are about a billion times their body mass.  They seem to know that the you are too big and clumsy to be real.  And what's with that great, big, shiny eye and one little tiny eye next to it attached to your front legs.  What the hell is that thing, anyway?  Time for a nap.

Climate Change and Home Improvement

....and the illigiteratti's sly sideways attacks on the Truth about what's happening. Truly, this is worth watching.

These are the sort of money's interests that will be telling lies to all of us so that we will become enraged and stop thinking.  Our need is to focus on the small blue dot on the edge of a galaxy out on the rim of the known universe - the little blue dot that we all call home.  I'm going to think of what's best for it, not for them.

They do this because they have stepped out of reality into a nether world only they, and their money, inhabit.  We can't let them have the real world back.  They have treated it, and all of us, very ill.

Now for real life..broom pushing and dusting...........

Since semi- Hyper activity has taken back over my life, I'm knitting away again, slowly, and tossing flotsam and jetsam from the sewing table.  I've bought a new and awesome organizer for threads, and plan more of them.  I'm clearing the ceramics work table, too.  I still go to my sister's house two days a week to help out since I've been given the green light for all activities.  So, in order to keep a 24-7 going with fitness, I started to walk 30 minutes a day when not weight lifting or otherwise engaged in "iron pumping" my way through a day. 

 My recent "dust up" with Fate has made me want things expedited in the garden, though I may not get to have the small patio, the walkway to the side garden/garage in this year.  But, if not, I'll just walk out there anyway.

 I plan to mark out and starting digging the foundation for the new raised bed.  I did it before and I can do it again, if that's what it takes.  My mother didn't raise me to not be a gardener.  I just read, probably in a cartoon, that "the time to plant a fruit tree was twenty years ago". So, I plan to mark out a place I want to plant butterfly bushes .

I have wanted Buddleia over there along that side since the elm trees were taken out around ten years ago.  So, I'll go get the bushes when they are available for best planting, but have the bed ready in the meantime.  I can't work fast but, since slow and steady wins the race, even for tortoises, I'll have the Buddleia over there, being beautiful, hopefully this coming fall, and just before the winter rains, or even sometime next Spring.  I just can't wait for cement work anymore.  Digging is fun for dogs, and humans love it, too.  Wolfie has his Saluki genes to explain his digging passion.  I have my Mother's gardening genes.

 Happiness is a do it yourself project!!

Three months of Changes, Disorderly Conduct, and Disorganization.

First!  I must say, this (the link below) is what I want to do next year.  This and this alone!  But first, I have to BUY a Smart Car.  That's the tricky part.

Smart Car Cozy

Secondly, the New Year's Resolutions I enthusiastically rolled out and embraced in December of 2011,  have been limping along for the first three months of 2012.  This is both good and bad.  I had another three days chopped out of my week's worth of "spoon" management" - see the side bar for definitions- but with that came great rewards in the mental, physiological, and spiritual regimes.  I joined a gym, was talked into a personal trainer by DH- the knee dictated it- and this has become a God Send.  And,  I'm helping my sister to cope.


The change was that I started a weekly routine of exercises that has the potential to, and regularly does, take away far too many spoons.  People who use Spoon Theory to calculate how much they have to rest to compensate for their body's rebellions and all out wars when it's forced to do ANYTHING,  are familiar with all of this.  My body is throwing the proverbial book at my head!

But, the good news is that, with the help of a trainer a couple times a week, I'm regaining abilities that I thought were gone forever.  G. keeps me on track and thinking positively about lots of stuff besides strength training.  I think of him as my Zen Sensei, and wise beyond his years - an Old Soul.

The Thirteen Resolutions-Quarterly Report.  A "Reality Sucks Play" in thirteen Acts:

1. I’m not going to get those sweaters done by June. It’s just not going to happen.  But, I might get the Noro Silk Gardens sweater done, just barely.   Besides some little bitty rabbits, the Noro is the next project WIP to get my full attention after Hedgerow socks.  Then comes the Manly/ Beastly overlap.  All this is just a guess right now, as long as life doesn’t lead me down the primrose path or something.  You know, take me behind the bleachers and beat me up or any of the other things Life does on a whim.  To be honest, I'll be lucky to get a pair of socks done out those patterns packs I made up.
   
   
2. I have got all the materials together for the quilt but have not done a stitch. Since I want to make curtains for my sewing room that look like THESE, I have to at least get the sewing machine set back up and clear both the way to it and the desk it sits on.  Things got out of hand in that corner..again!  This is what happens when a limb gets a replacement joint and a normally comfortable tight spot feels like a very tiny closet.
   
   
3. I’ve not got anything done to organize more than a single set of metal shelves in the main part of the SR, and re-organize the stuff on top of the craft table in the small part of the room.
   
   
4. Haven’t started the needlepoint but I have the products and materials all IN SIGHT.  I've even located the tiny light table! Gor Blimey!!!
   
   
5. I've Moved the chair and spinning wheel to a better place for light, and then started going to the gym. *tosses hands into the air, filled with her own hair.  *Looking down. Wonders aloud, "Can I spin this?" *
   
   
6. I always look for "Beauty" but, more importantly, I've have stopped looking for “Ugly”.  "Ugly" is ubiquitous, and usually screaming for attention, but I don’t want to see it anymore. So, I intend to step over and around it to get to "Beauty".  If "Ugly" stubs it's toe and does a comedic pratfall, I'll Post about that after stepping over or around it.
   
   
7. I have not started any new knitting except for a pair of Jane’s Hedgerows. But I’m not knitting the WIPs either. Found new cat toys but haven’t knitted them yet. I've down loaded some Alan Darts. Does this count!??  Please say it does!  And adorably cute mochimochi bunnies?  Do They?
   
   
8. I’ve made the sock kits, ala Helen of Troy, and have nearly got a half sock knit of the first kit.  Never you mind that this was also heralded as a sock of the month Thinga!  *puffs out her feathers and clucks menacingly*


9. Cards? I said I would make cards? *hysterical laughter ensues, followed by hiccuping * The table, mentioned in the original Manifesto for 2012, is neatly organized but still piled about two and a half feet high with supplies for a multiplicity of crafts that have NOTHING whatsoever to do with crafting cards. I joined Jacquie Lawson’s site instead. *slaps self over the audacity of this move!*


10. I've ended discussions with The Man about the side yard and am pushing with all my pent-up dissatisfaction to get that project marked “Done” and X off by the end of this year. Yay me!


11.  I’ve picked colors for the hall way, and color for the dining area. My next step is to wash the walls and buy the paint, which I WILL do, and with or without permission to go Mild Orange somewhere Big like the Central room.  The Central room is the old part of the house before the Big Room got added. 


12. I am listening to my body more, and it tells me in this squeeky, whining voice that it needs lots and LOTS of rest now. "Now" meaning "right Now!" since I've dragged it to the gym twice a week, to my sister’s and to ceramics,  it now needs more rest - as in flat out inertia!  My body rebels by pitching Charley Horses and Sciatica fits, and I just keep push back when I have to, and go comatose the rest of the time. I feel like one of those shaggy haired old ladies who just wander from room to room inside their house, mumbling to themselves about the old days when "I had all this ENERGY!", or they sit and doze in the comfy chair as their tea gets cold and their book falls to the floor, bouncing past their fuzzy slippers and scaring the Bejesus out of the dog.


13. Weight, Oh My.  My weight goes up a couple and down a couple of pounds but I’m not losing anything. I’ve discovered that I like pretzels very much. (Too much, apparently!) I’m sure that the Spark People have kicked me out. Haven’t been there in something like five months.  I need to get back there to remind me that there IS life after the Election!  There is, right?  I hate politics, it infests everything in life now, even Health care is political.  Having a tooth ache is not, so be sure to visit your dentist.  Eat all the sugar you can find.  It might save you.  Good night.  

You will not believe the fight that blogger put up when I copy and pasted this in here from a word document.  That is why the paragraphs are so ungainly!  Every time I tried to make a new one, the darn processor put up another number, in series, and then went beserk by changing all the already numbered items below it, starting back at 1!  

Spelling is the property of the brain, and the brain is not working.  We must all cope with these big blobs of fat from time to time, and treat them as daintily as we would two year olds, which is what they really are.  It's the brain.  The fingers are innocent!

Good night!

Memory Lane, Farmer's Market Flowers, An Insect!, and Friday Fill - in

While putting away Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day decor, I ran across my mother's watercolor box and her paint brush box, something that was made for her by her father. Some of her brushes, well, probably all of them, and a few of mine were in it.

Mother loved to do watercolor when she was younger. It was a hobby she didn't get to indulge in after marriage but she just grew all kinds of flowering plants after that as soon as she had some place to do this. I still miss my mother a lot and probably always will. I feel close to her in my garden, though she had a thing about weeds. She loved flowers and the good insects, like the posing mantis in the picture.

Mother's Water color box and brush box-with some of my brushes, too.  Found while cleaning and de-decorating.

Cosmos, I think.  From the WestSide Farmer's Market - these are the background for the heart shape on Valentine's Day

I thought about photo shopping the props out but thought, a beauty like this little Diva would not mind the industrial setting. Human High Fashion models, after all, have posed in junk yards with much finery. Kudos to DH for the lovely photo.

Little garden visitor, posing, daintily, for her portrait.  I know, the props leave MUCH to be desired.  Lol

The Famous Friday fill -in!

1. "Finally", I cried.
2. "That bean casserole sure takes some getting used to"!
3. Dad says: "And, so, you don't like my cooking?"
4. " Beanie" is my favorite nick name for my little dog Wolfie.
5. It took a long time, but he comes to us when he's called.
6. I sometimes have regretted that but really, though, I wouldn't have it any other way.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching more Downton Abbey, tomorrow my plans include eating pretzels and watching more Downton Abbey, and Sunday, I want to make a pizza!

Sock patterns, Extreme Reading, Organizing

These are the nine patterns, tentatively, for the sock of the month bags.  The order will be adjusted for the style and colors of the yarns, and indeed some of the colors will change because I found some of the trekking yarn.  Yay! 

1. Broadripple
2. Java
3. Pyroclastic
4.  Breeze
5.  Cinderella
6. Yukon Leaves (because I love that pattern)
7. Queen of Cups
8. Plain Knit Boot Sock (developed from a Regia booklet sock)
9. Muscari

Most are from Knitty Archives.

Reading report:

I started reading the whole series of Tony Hillerman's Navajo Detective series again, after reading Jan de Hartog's very short and beautifully written View of the Ocean, his touching and traumatic biographic of his early life,as well as the story of caring for his dying mother.  I've also started reading Vultures Picnic  by Greg Palast.

Reading Tony Hillerman and Greg Palast at the same time is both amusing and an exercise in high definition contrast.  Palast has been compared to Sam Spade, but he's more prafane.  Hillerman is this graceful developer of characters and back story who lures you in and settles you gently into the scenery. Tony Hillerman writes these amazing books about another culture with fictional characters, and with all the beautiful, clever plot development and likeable characters you would expect.

Greg Palast's writing is like "Raw Story", uncompromisingly the Truth with a capital "T", or whatever you may call brutal exposé, with truly despicable real live players who have done all those dirty, rotten things to people (or whole other countries) that Grag Palast has revealed to his readers.  It's worth your time to know these truths because they are the sort that come back to Bite large chunks out of the American people, without fail.    At least, if you know more about the Vultures, you can protect yourself psychologically from the collateral damage and fall out.  He also has a wicked sense of humor, very ironic, self deprecating, and acidic, which makes his writing more fun than most fire breathing men on missions (read investigative reporters).

Organization report:

Organizing has been temporarily halted because of a cranky spine.  This too shall pass!  I've kept the inspiration levels high by remembering better times when I had the energy of a wolverine and the stick-to-the-task mindset of a badger.  Yesterday found the Christmas tree half undecorated, and three more pieces of the detritus of life in the trash barrel.  These three pieces never will be completely useless to any other creature, human or otherwise, as now anaerobic bacteria will likely find a home in them.

Also, while poking around the Thrifting groups at Ravelry, I've found a new purpose for a tattered old cotton ski sweater.  Yes, some one actually manufactured these for the market here, covering the mild SoCal Winters for people who shiver at temps of 50 degrees.  Anyway, it will be re-purposed into some nicely patterned Dish cloths.  Yay!

Sister was too ill to come to my house so we'll have to settle for the phone this AM.  She can recover better at home.  I'll go see her later, maybe bring something really good to eat.

Speaking of eating!  The Lime chips I fell hard for over the visit from the kids, and have eaten off and on since then have whey, sour cream and milk solids in them.  Be sure to READ your own labels, friends; what CAN I say?  Isn't Eating While Old a good title for a freaking adventure novel?

Speaking f writing books, someone is using Accidental Art, as in Accidental Artist, in a book title now.  Who knew?  Look!  Free lives for the taking, and on the internet, right out there to grab!  Don't use your own brain and talent, use ours!

Oh, yes.  Weather Report:  Houston, we have Clouds!  This will have to pass for the weather report.


That's about all that's fit to print of my life at the moment. 

Sock of the (Ten) Month Club and baby tort progress report.

Knitting report:

Finally, I've decided on 9 sock yarns to knit this year, not including the Sundara (Ice color) that I'm making into Hedgerows by Jane.  A very generous friend of yore had sent me the Sundara Yarn, and since Jane loves that yarn I decided to knit the pattern she created with it.  I know, they are a hold-over from 2011, (perhaps even 2010?) but what the heck..  These are keepers so they are staying with me!  Yay!   I weighed the balls of yarn and there should be plenty. Fingers crossed after that last thing. 

That last thinga, and some other stuff, is in the mail to my friend North of here.  Friend to the North, watch your mailbox.  :-)

Here are the nine other finalists.  There is no trekking because I can't find it!  It's in there in the stash, somewhere!

You can see all the labels except for the wine colored stuff on the right.  That is from Garn studios.  I've never used that yarn nor the Elann, so we'll see how it goes, too!  I've been waiting a long time to knit socks from the Opal, and that will be next on in line. 

The patterns I'm not sure about yet, but I'm not crazy about a lot of fancy patterns.  I've found a few that I'm willing to try, including a weird new knit the heel first one, but it will be the LAST one I try because my frustration level is already high.  Helen at Golden Apples just finished a pair of that pattern, and it looks impressive.


Tort Report:

Button eats, therefore he lives.  We almost lost him a couple of times.

Dusty faces down his Big Bro.  

Even though they are from the same clutch (nest) Milagro eats twice as much as Dusty.  I've put a quarter in the boxes so that you can see how small Button still is, though he is growing!  He's a good eater now that he's decided he wants to stick around!  I think he spent at least a year pining for his lost life out in the wilds of the backyard, under the warm, bright sun, and his tiny digging spot under the last unexcavated  root of the elm .

In the bottom picture, Milagro, ever the Hoggie, is a lot bigger than Dusty.  I take Milagro out of the box so that Dusty can eat more.  Other wise M hauls out on top of him and rams him away from the food.  That's just the way tortoises are!  They are little eating machines who don't want to share.  Milagro usually just climbs up on top of the food pile and eats it down.

PJ is in town!  I hope to meet up with her tomorrow or sometime this week.  Happy Dance!  The weather is post card Southern California Sunshine.  I have to water it has been so hot and dry and the heater only comes on in the early morning and after the sun goes down.  It is, after all, Winter in SoCal.

Organization Report: Well, off to the excavation site.  Now that there is a largish path out there, it looks a lot more normal.  Studios are always a little messy but that place just got ridiculous!  At one time, it actually looked really nice, in a working studio sort of way.  If I want beauty all around meat the back of the house, I have to step outside and go stand next to the lime trees and look at the sky!

I still haven't touched the spinning wheel.  I'm still getting over not having my kids here.  I know, they could be living in South America up a dirt track.  I try to be grateful that they are not that far away but it's hard.