roasting the Easter lamb

we had 2 invitations for the easter feast/celebration... the first was with Xanthippi and Artemi and was all Greek, all Cretan Greek.

Artemi was in charge of the roasting of the lamb on the spit... and it was delicious! i actually did not partake of the lamb head which he took off the spit with great panache, split it with a cleaver and offered it for noshing... no thanks! the rest of the lamb .... yummm. there was also oven roasted potatoes, a pilaf cooked with the broth of goat meat (wonderful!), salad and etc.s. of course, the desserts were enough to overwhelm the sweet tooth of any sweet fiend, including me. Elena came to fetch us just as we were finishing the feast and took us to the next celebration... photos and words in the next blog entry.

Easter eve in Vamos

these are photos from Easter eve. there is a church service at 11:30p.m., after which everyone carries a lit candle and there is a huge bonfire where an effigy of Judas is burned. it is HUGE and the men and boys of the village collect slash and tree trimmings and spend the week before Easter building the huge pile of wood. After the service and lighting of the bonfire, there is a long table with offerings of sweets, wine and raki for everyone who is there... and there was a very big crowd. we met up with friends there and afterward went with them to the taverna for food and wine. the traditional soup called magritsa is made with the entrails and organs from the lamb which will be roasted on the spit on Sunday

left home at 8a.m. tues march 30 and arrived at our house in vamos called giasemi (jasmine)

at 10:30p.m. march 31.. about 28 or 29 hours, but at that point an hour one way or the other

doesn’t really matter. those hours cover a lot of time sitting in airports waiting for the next

connection. portland to denver to frankfurt to

athens to hania.

it’s a grueling trip and before we left, i wondered if it was worth it... and

now i know it is! the taxi driver, Manolis, called Elena when we were about half an hour away

so she’d have someone at the house to greet us and let us in. it was dear George. i fell in bed utterly

exhausted and slept til 2:30 thursday p.m. We then headed out for the ATM and then super-

market. and set out for bloumosifi and to the office to see Elena. Elena’s “crazy crazy news”

referred to in an email recently is that she’s pregnant!! bravo! this is wonderful news.Toine

arrives on friday from Holland. on the way down the hill we saw activity at “the other taverna”

which has been closed for a year or 2. it’s now open again with Nikos and Maria who had been

running Liakoto operating it. saw several people we know, including “computer George”, and

got lots of hugs and greetings. it felt so warm and fuzzy!! Nikos offered us raki... we said no

thanks... he came back in a few minutes offering yoghurt w/sweet preserves over and raki...

and this time we said yes. enjoyed it, and headed on to the office then taverna. we were going

to go on by and return later, but i spotted Mr. Yannis, that old old man who is a fixture there every

day from late afternoon til about 8p.m., sitting in his usual place, so what to do but go and say

hello! every time we come back here, i have a fear that Mr. Yannis will be gone, so am always

delighted that he’s still here. after several hellos and how are yous and very goods and shaking of

hands, the young waiter from Syria, Yanni, brought out the raki and did some arm twisting.

after that we found our way home, had a little lie down, then went back to bloumosifi for dinner.

Artemi and Xanthippi came in and had some after-dinner raki with us. she wants us to come to

easter dinner at their home again. and herein lies a problem... Elena had asked us to have dinner

with them and several other friends, including Toine who will only be here for 10 days before going

back to holland to continue treatments for his lymphoma. we really want to spend time with him!

we told Xanthippi that it was kind of a dilemma and next thing she was on the phone calling Elena to see how they could arrange it so we could do both. i guess it’s in their hands now! all i know for sure is that we’ll have a proper greek easter feast with friends!

it’s friday about 6:30p.m. and i’m sitting on the patio which is next to the street. the man with his

pick-up full of fresh vegetables is parked and several women are picking over and choosing what

they’ll need for the big easter meal on sunday to go with the lamb which will be roasted on the spit.

or maybe buying necessaries for the traditional entrail and organ soup they serve after the midnight church and burning of Judas on the bonfire on easter eve..

Dharma quote

Dharma Quote of the Week Lochen Gyurme Dechen, nephew of the great accomplished master Tangtong Gyalpo, sang this song, a prayer of the Six Doctrines, calledThe Rain of Great Bliss: Nama Shri Jnana Daki Nigupta-ye! Lady of the celestial realms, compassionate one, Chief of wisdom dakinis, Niguma, When I, your child, pray fervently to you, In your expanse free from formulations, please think of me. Lady who reveals the sacred circle of great secrets, Bestow now the empowerment of the four joys! Lady who opens the door to the unborn state, Clear away now my negative acts and obscurations with the purification practice! Lady who emits fire from the short Ah, Burn now my soiled aggregates and sense elements! Lady who draws great bliss from the syllable Ham, Bestow now coemergent wisdom! Lady who reveals the natural experience of illusion, Destroy now my attachment to the reality of anger and desire! Lady who emanates and transforms during lucid dreams, Lady who makes spontaneous luminosity arise, Dispel now the darkness of my stupidity! Lady who leads above at the time of departure, Guide me now to the celestial realms! Lady who overcomes the appearances of delusion in the intermediate state, Grant me now the invincible body of enlightenment's perfect rapture. This prayer was sung by the religious teacher Gyurme Dechen. --from Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul, trans. & ed. by Ngawang Zangpo, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications

garden art??

or true tinny-ville? it's in the eye of the beholder.

all about poppies

I've got enough knitted on the poppy sweater that i can put up a photo. first is a photo of the poppy vest from a Kaffe Fasset (or is that 2 t at the end?) So i'm using the poppies on a knit-in-the-round sweater pattern, in which i'll have to make 3 steek cuts.... but i ain't a'skeered as Pam Harris would say... and she's totally fearless! and i decided to do duplicate stitch for the center of the poppy rather than deal with carrying that much more yarn across the back. the dup. st. should be a little less a pain in the ass than weaving in all those extra ends. anyway, i think i'll like this sweater a lot!

2 and 1/2 weeks til we leave and if we are very very lucky, we will fly into Athens on a day when there are no strikes going on. it seems there have been riots and protests which include strikes that shut down the airports, ferries and taxis. the horrid state of the economy in Greece has prompted the government to want to institute some "fixes" which are highly unpopular with the public, leading to the protests. Usually the strikes don't last more than a day, and often only a few hours. their economic problems can evidently be blamed on graft and corruption and greed in the government and large institutions.... sound familiar? but i won't go into that rant now!

just another monday

though it is significant in that today i finished my part of the tax return... which was no strain since i'm so close to completely retired that the amount of fiber/yarn i've sold is quite small because i just haven't been dyeing very much... because i'm so almost retired, so most of the time i've spent in my dye studio is because i just want to put some color on white fiber. and only when i want to. and i do love that feeling of freedom. and now that it is tuesday... it is just 3 weeks til i leave for Crete. we'll be there for easter again, which is very interesting because of all the ritual that goes on and also because of the wonderful feasting and gatherings of families and friends which i do hope we'll be part of again!!

here's some of the fiber i've dyed recently which will go to Northwest Wools this week. the yarn is merino/bamboo and is fabulous sock yarn. the other is blue faced leicester wool and tussah silk which has become my most favorite fiber to spin! it almost spins itself... so soft and shiny... ummmm! i just can't quit! and besides, a little walkin' around money is a good thing.

sweet

violets! love 'em. and i read today that the flower is edible and tho it doesn't have much of a taste, it does look pretty in a salad. hate to sacrifice them to the table when there are so few flowers in bloom now.

spin in

a whole lot of spinnin' going on... also, talking, laughing, grazing, show'n'telling and a general fine time! 3 sisters not here because of flu and one enjoying sunny spring weather at the beach.

sorry the photos aren't better. don't know what's going on with my camera. it usually does a better job than this! i suppose we could blame it on the operator, but she's not willing to take all the responsibility.

the journey

life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty, well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming... WOW!! what a ride!

i love this attitude and put it here so that it's written down for when i can't remember it. it is listed on a quotes page on the interwebs without any attribution.

i just can't quit..

not doing a lot of dyeing lately, but couldn't resist when Linda said she'd sold all the BFL yarn bundles i'd brought in to the shop and would like to have more! she has a really cute baby sweater hanging in the shop window for which this yarn works beautifully. so.. there's another batch ready for the shop.

and i keep thinking i need more yarn for the "Poppy" sweater, so keep on dyeing more of the alpaca/merino/silk yarn and the new BFL/silk top. i know there's more than enough for this project, but one can't really have too much yarn. right??? (and the correct answer to that is "absolutely right!) so, here's part of that accumulation of yarn.

Madrona Yarn Market

Saturday was our yearly trek to Tacoma to the Madrona Yarn Market. the lazy kate (by Will Taylor) is one i've been wanting for a long time and wonderful Morgaine from Carolina Homespun in SF,CA brought it up for me. it will hold any of my bobbins and is tensioned, which i've also wanted! i tried very diligently to not want/buy any of the yarn and fiber which i fondled, but these 2 skeins doomed my resolve as they will be perfect in the "Poppy" creation. and i also bought a few ounces of some raw coopworth wool. i won't say i needed any of this, but i'm weak. so there!

we spend several hours wandering, looking, meeting up with friends, having a nice lunch and just enjoying the day with fiber and fiber lovers!

Kate and Rene found something wonderful in these bins at Crown Mountain Fibers!

more

some of the homeschooler friends have formed a brownie troop and Z wanted to join... so here she is in her uniform with badges (or maybe they're called patches?) pretty cute, huh?

last week in Duvall

the kids taught me to play their lego rock band video game. they have drums, bass and guitar to go with this game. they gave me some kind of sketchy instructions, handed me the bass, helped me pick out and construct my band member self, and i became one bad ass rockin' gramma in no time at all! Alex went crazy on the drums and Zylie had the mic, though i couldn't hear her at all over Alex's "performance"! it was wild and crazy fun!

Lego Rock Band

more or less

it's always kind of daunting to get back to the blog after 2 weeks... esp. when i actually DID something away from home (i don't get out much, ya know). so, i'll just jump in even though it may all turn out in jumbled fashion.

took amtrak to Seattle last Wed and Kate picked me up at the station. one stop on the way to duvall to get patches for Z's brownie uniform. for dinner that night Chris and Alex fixed up a luscious salad... tho you can't see it, there is romaine lettuce under there. also grilled some chicken. Z wanted to know just who it was and was reassured to know it was not from their little flock of chickens. that didn't make it "right" to be eating something that had once been living, but it was not one she knew.

one of the first things i did was admire all the fabulous dyed fibers and Kate's newest "toy"... an electric skein winder! even got to use it while i was there!

a new fiber that Kate has been dyeing is BFL blended with tussah silk... and what a lovely blend that is. shiny and soft and spins like buttah and i love it! lucky me! she shared some with me. and i think it will probably work well with my next project (the Kaffe Fasset "Poppy" vest or sweater).

and good news while i was there... Chris accepted a job offer with Clearwire and starts march 1. i think this is a little bit bitter-sweet, as he seems to have enjoyed being at home the past 9 months and has gotten really involved in the running of the fiber business, besides having all kinds of time to do stuff with the kids.

sunny day!

not a very common happening in february, but on tuesday it was a warm and sunny day. on my way out to the greenhouse, i spotted these tiny flower sproutlets that had started from a seed head of one of my fave flowers of last summer. (don't remember its name)

in december Jim had planted salad greens in the greenhouse.... which is not temp controlled and is covered in clear plastic and not really weather proofed. then came snow and several days of temps in the teens. we hadn't gone back to check on the progress as we just assumed that no baby plant would survive that. wrong!!! although many had not made it thru freeze and no watering, some were alive and thriving! what a surprise!

i'm glad now that we neglected the end-of-season cleaning up of the garden. there is a beauty in those old seed heads on the dead flowers.

a self-seeded poppy and more of those tiny plantlets.

another seed head with sprouts growing in it. that one is going to the greenhouse and we'll see what it produces.

this one, too..... altho it might be queen anne's lace, which is an abundant weed.

you can see what a bright and clear day it was.... sigh...

and then the reality of winter. i think it's name is hellebore, also called december rose. but i did feel the promise of spring that day... and it made me happy.

must remember...

what Oliver Wendell Holmes said - "old age is 15 years older than i am". isn't that the truth??

ponder this..

"Today's topics put me in mind of the dyslexic agnostic who spent way too much time pondering whether there really is a dog." (source unknown to me)

the beginning of a new knitting project - gathering of the yarn needed to make a vest. this will be "Persian Poppy" from an old Kaffe Fassett book, Glorious Knits. i tried my best to scan a photo from the book, but for some unknown reason the computer and scanner are all of a sudden not working together. i uninstalled the driver and re-installed it to no avail. guess i'll need to take my computer to the cafe in Banks which has wireless and download some updates or something. the celery colored yarn will be the background main color and i need to dye some more in soft greens and golds. the poppies will be all those other colors. there's a lot of handspun here with some handdyed commercial yarns. when i can get a photo of the vest, i'll post it. i have high hopes for this project and am committed to following the pattern all the way thru, without going off on some harebrained variation of my own. i know i can't possibly get bored with knitting this!

MSNBC had a special tonight with video of the Pres taking on the House and all their hostility. he's amazing and it's good to see him taking them on and challenging their "facts".

a very fibery day

the sun was shining! the temp was in the 50's! that spells perfect for some dyeing time in my studio. i had a pound of BFL in white with loosely blended brown in it and this stuff dyes up beautifully with so much depth to the darker reds, turquoises, purples... etc. - really fabulous! and i have some superwash BFL soaking now to dye tomorrow.

also, got inspired to make a run at the mass of snarl and mess which is my yarn stash. not sure what exactly inspired me except i'm wanting to find enough yarn of the same weight and in compatible colors to try out one of the many ideas in the new Kristin Nicholas book i just got, the title of which i can't remember, but is chock full of good stuff. it was unbelievable the number of baggies on the shelf with 2 or 3 balls of yarn, all of which now have a place in a basket with sort of similar type yarns.

the little bag in the photo here came about because of the new Homespun Handknit book. there is a pattern for a bag which is knit from the bottom up, starting with a square, and is something i'd not tried... and i like doing it that way. after the bottom part was done i just did the rest on my own as i wasn't crazy about how theirs looked. the bag is pictured on some roving i found in fiber stash diving recently. i'd forgotten how much i liked spinning the roving that came off the (since sold) Pat Green cottage industry carder. Lynne and i used to spend hours standing at the carder making gorgeous blends from a variety of colors and fibers.... mmmm - wool, alpaca, mohair curls, angora, silk... sigh! wishing i still had that carder! but the dumbest damn thing i did was selling my motorized Duncan carder. i must have had a huge fit of "i don't use this enough to justify keeping it", and there have been so many times since then that i've wished i'd kept it. must admit to looking at various sales lists in hopes of finding another one..... ah well, c'est la vie, Archie.

how do i get thru these grey, rainy, gloomy, rainy, windy, sometimes cold, grey days of winter in the pacific northwest? i go to Trader Joe's and get a beautiful bunch of flowers for 4 bucks, and maybe a bottle of 2-buck-Chuck. and i pull out bright, happy fabrics and spend hours lookin' at them and planning the next

project. then there's the wall o' yarn which yields many sunny choices! hmmm - there seems to be a theme here for helping me keep my sometimes tenuous grip on sanity and socially acceptable attitude.

it is fascinating the effect color has on my attitude and coping-with-winter ability. i can feel a palpable lift on a grey day when i pull out bright colored yarn, fiber or fabric.... or better yet, go to my studio and pour bright colors on white fiber... and all this is SO much cheaper and more fun than mental health therapy. perfect day = something colorful to work on, good music or a good book to listen to and chocolate! possibly this is all a bit simplistic and pollyannaish, but there are days when all i want is a way to feel happy and not think about the grim realities and meanness of the world. it's like looking for that feeling of peace that comes with cuddling a baby or snuggling a puppy. for today, you can call me pollyanna if you wish... i'll enjoy the simple gifts and try to hold on for spring and sunny days!

Keshy Jacket

just finished this jacket and am very pleased with how it turned out! i pieced the top with asian type fabric from my insanely abundant fabric stash, also using dupioni silk (from the stash, of course). the green to brown varigated fabric looked good with it, so that's the back, sleeves and bottom of the fronts. the pattern is called "Keshy Jacket" and was so simple and fun to make that i just might make another one! sometimes i do wonder if this stash enhancing i do is a serious character flaw. the tendency seems to manifest in all the creative areas of my life... beads, fiber, yarn, stamps, buttons, fabric, books. i'll stop with that before it think of something else. with the quilting/sewing it sure does come in handy tho, because instead of rushing out to the fabric store when i want to quilt i can just "go shopping" in my stash. i love it! so if it's a character flaw... so be it. it makes me happy and brings no harm to anyone else.. so, i'm keepin' it!

pretty good day so far... no rain, no wind, so i did a shopping run. also, went by local credit union to open new accounts there and will soon close out the accounts with my too-big-to-fail bank. i don't like that they use my tax money to award million dollar bonuses to people who already make million dollar salaries. that's just not right!

quote

this is from Mary Anne Radmacher called "living eulogy"

"she danced. she sang. she took. she gave, served and loved. she risked and created. she saw, sweated, changed and learned. she laughed. she shed her skin. she bled on the pages of her days. she lived with intention."

sunrise!

wow! i just might try getting up before sunrise again sometime... it was really pretty awesome! looks like a mighty fire in the vineyard and of course a mere photo image does not do it justice.

Bucket list #7 - i want to meet the Dalai Lama. i attended one of his teachings in India and heard him speak in portland, and i want to actually meet him!

bucket list

rather than make new year's resolutions, which i don't do anymore because i never did keep them, so why bother in the first place, i will instead start my bucket list

... my bucket list will be filled with things i want to do before i kick the bucket, which is of course inevitable but i'm hoping is not about to happen any time soon.

(these are in no particular order)

1 - sky diving. yes, me jumping out of an airplane which is way high up in the air, with a parachute.

2 - travel some more ... to places i haven't seen yet. to Spain, Japan, Falkland Islands (will add more as the fever strikes)

3 - learn to speak Greek well enough to put a sentence together with all its parts and in the proper tense.

4 - knit something that actually fits (me or someone else) because i planned it out before starting and didn't change those plans mid-stream.

5 - ice skate in Rockefeller Center.

6 - live in Crete for a year.

there's more ideas floating around in my brain. just need to grab 'em and formulate them. so, the bucket list is a work in progress... more to come.

i just checked the weather in Hania, Crete. it's 64F and sunny and will be in the 70s this week.

i would really really enjoy that!