O frabjous day! ...

Callooh! Callay!* It is indeed a frabjous day Why??? because the sun is shining, it's warm outside, the flowers of my queendom are picking up their heads from the mud where the rain had slung them, rhodies are blooming in wild glory, clematis covers the arbor, there are even roses in bloom! and the poppies... bless 'em for seeding themselves in unexpected places. when the sun first started peeking out today, i went for a walk about to check on things. truth be told, i was out to assault the slug population with my shaker of salt, and was quickly diverted into deep appreciation for all this glory of great goddesses and mother of us all ... abounding everywhere i looked. and then i went to my studio and made an attempt to pay homage to the poppies and the multitude of reds, oranges, cream, pale pale peach, many pinks. in my eye it will remind me of the poppies, whether anyone else sees this corriedale roving and thinks of poppies doesnt really matter to me! photos maybe ... when it's dry.

and here's a photo of the Poppies corriedale top. havent spun any of it yet.


*thanks to Lewis Carroll and his jabberwocky

update

it's been so long since i made an entry here that i hardly know where to begin. have not been doing much dyeing or spinning, but have been working on a baby sweater from the Mason Dixon Knitting book... it's a super easy kimono type and i'm using some washable wool yarn that's been lingering in my stash for many years. i probably shouldn't mention any knitting projects on this blog as it seems to be the kiss of death of projects never to be completed. I've really been enjoying this book and there are a few patterns I might use, but besides that it's good reading... entertaining and funny.

And... yesterday was Jim's birthday. His family had been wanting to get together to go over some geneology stuff, so we just combined that with a birthday party. And i guess i was possessed by my inner domestic goddess... while roomba vacced the kitchen i actually baked a cake from scratch. it's been many many moons since i've given in to that impulse and the carrot cake actually turned out quite edible. I used a recipe from a low-fat cookbook, whose name escapes me at the moment, but it's by 2 docs from OHSU and we got it right after his bypass surgery. so, it was low enough in fat that he could eat some! I got a big bunch of salmon at Costco and we were going to barbeque it, but the rain has still not quit, so the fishy went into the oven and came out quite delicious. there's a LOT left over, so now i need to find a recipe for what to do with it before it rots in the frig.

have i said lately just how much i adore my roomba robot??? damn, i totally love having my very own robot to clean the floors and she does a damn good job, too. top on my wish list now is a wet mop robot. between muddy dog paws and the general tracked in mud resulting from farm livin', the floor is always in need of mopping and i'm almost never possessed by that inner domestic goddess who inspires me to clean... thus the kitchen floor usually looks like a pig pen.

What else? have sporadically been dyeing fibers to take to the Shakerag reunion in
Alabama... so far there's silk top and merino/kid mohair top, and i want to get some BFL and/or corriedale dyed up. have been lacking in motivation and energy to do much of anything lately... so, haven't done much of anything until there's an urgency of some kind or guilt sets in.

I've written to Elena in Vamos to start looking for a place for us to rent when we go back to Crete next November. Plans are to go to Italy for 10 days or so before going to Crete, and we can't go til Jim gets his grapes harvested. (hoping for an early harvest)

when i get the baby sweater closer to finished (have back, one arm and left front done so far) i will post a photo.

yarn

here's some yarn i spun while at the beach. it's the merino/tencel superwash that's been aging for many moons. took some pictures of other yarns from the weekend, but the color was so far from true that i trashed them. guess i need to dig out the instruction manual for this camera. i'm sure it will do lots more things than i've managed to figure out.


and here's Buster... one HUGE cat. the dogs are afraid of her (as they should be!!)She follows me around like a puppy when i'm outside.


it's raining again and the weed population and size is exploding... yikes...

Stephen Colbert

this is a link to the transcript of Stephen Colbert's address at the White House correspondent's dinner. i've watched his show on comedy channel and been amazed at some of his comments..... now i am in awe of the man for saying things about this administration that the media has tiptoed around and avoided! read it for yourself and be amazed!

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/1441/59811

sorry i can't make it easy to click on, you'll need to copy and paste the url. maybe i'll get it figured out later.

PSA

in the public interest, i pass along this information which i received this morning:

Subject: New STD Warning!!


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him." Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years. Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior.

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

is it spring yet??

sure looks like it today! though the temp did get down to 32 last night. the yard and flower beds are really showing the effects of all the rain.. the weeds are high and lush green and trying to take over again. the vegetable garden is lookin' pretty good tho... well, the weeds are out and some of the raised beds are fertilized and tilled and Jim has cleared a space where the new solar panels will go on the north edge of the garden. the flower beds are an entirely other story and are high on the do-it list. i'm pretty much a month behind in everything since April was taken over by my dad... both his hospital stay and his birthday party.

had a relaxing and happy time at the beach with 3 twisted sisters. we rented a condo this time which was on the 4th floor so had a wonderful view of the ocean. it was pretty cool, too, to see the seagulls soaring from such an up-close vantage point. I spun some silk and plyed it with an aged bobbin of mohair locks. it is SO soft and shiny!! also spun a bobbin full of the merino/tencel and totally love how it looks. the disappointment was the mohair locks i took ... it was chockfull of debris. that's the last batch of mohair i will buy online from an unknown source.
silly me to believe that her defininition of well-skirted and VM free would be the same as mine. in all these years i've had a pretty crappy track record on buying mohair fleece, whether in person or on the internet. should i keep trying? oh, i probably will. didn't get any beach pics, but may get around to taking some of the yarn i spun and posting them.

made my reservation this a.m. to go to TN in late June, after BSG! so, there's something i can check off the do-it list! bravo.....