miscellaneous yaddayaddayadda

made it thru another xmas season and it all went quite well and i did not have a need to set foot in one mall or big store full of shoppers! bravo!!  shopping done online from as many small businesses as possible, tho did have to resort to some biggies to get those geeky/nerdy/digitally items for those who like them.  Jim wanted a thing called something like "track back" that will help him get back to where he started so he won't get lost on those long walks he takes in and around Vamos... now he just has to remember to take it with him.

i'm now bilaterally seeing my world bright and clear and am amazed at the difference!  have had 2 lens implants in the last 3 weeks, with vacuuming out of the cloudy old cataracty lenses.  i really wish i could have seen what was going on from the doctor's view of it... from my view it was just bright moving lights, which wasn't bad... the colors were awesome!  his description of the procedure sounded fascinating!

xmas day Dinah and Jonica came down from seattle, we brought Pop out here and had dinner together. on sunday was the big family feast here at dome central, with most of the family plus several friends and neighbors - last time i counted it was 23 people, i think....  it was fun and chaos for a few hours.  i'm still exhausted!  ready to hunker in now and ignore the snow or ice or everwhat happens outside.  hhmmm, wondering what "hunker" really means and where that word came from......

a very good day

and it was a good day... in fact a very good day!  we went to Portland to see a play at Portland Center Stage, The Santaland Diaries, written by David Sedaris... which i'd listened to on my iPod and laughed out loud thru it!!  was a really good one-man production.  the story of an out-of-work man who took a job as an elf at Macy's xmas Santaland and all the insanity that evolved from that.  very very funny!  then we had an hour and a half to fill before Eleni's Restaurant opened, so went to "Life of Riley" for a hot toddy... it was a cold day and we needed warming.....  we made that toddy stretch out for an hour, then found a fine gift shop to browse.  finally!! dinner!!  the owner  Eleni Touhouliotis has 2 restaurants in portland, highly regarded and well-reviewed, with a menu of Greek/Cretan dishes.  She is from Hania, Crete which is the nearest city to the village we go to in Crete... so our high expectations were well met.  we both really enjoyed our meals.  and i had retsina before and ouzo after... so greek!!  and Jim indulged with baklava, which had abundance of honey!


after we'd gotten home and soothed the disgruntled dogs (we'd been gone ALL DAY) with cookies of their favorite dog variety, i decided to spin awhile and indulged myself with the ever so special solstice gift i'd received from Lynne.... cashmere!  the ultimate in luxury and soft soft soft!  oh, my... mmmmmm..

and now... happy festivus.....

baking

 the nieces and niece-lets came out today for cookie baking and here's Team Cookie doing their magic.  decided to make Rugelach after seeing a photo of the finished product and i gotta say.... these came out looking very much like the photo!  i think they had fun, i know i did.  and the cookies were very very good.  we also made some Italian Toast (biscotti) which i love!

i'd forgotten that it could be fun to bake, having pretty much left it behind with my pioneer woman days.

 

Winter Solstice!

ah!... winter solstice.  the longest night of the year, and tomorrow the days start getting longer by tiny little increments, but it's the getting longer that matters.  today i brought in the solstice greens which take the place of a xmas tree these days.  and the greens are surrounded by the stockings hung with care and some gifts.  when i talked with my grandgirl on the phone last night, she told me she was really looking forward to coming to our house the day after xmas and i smiled to myself and felt all warm and glowy, and she then said that she thot there might be some presents here for her.  had to laugh!  that girl always says exactly what is on her mind!  yes, sweetie, there will be some gifts here for you... and lots of hugs, and love.

Winter Solstice... the return of the light, the beginning of a new year, the start of winter and preparation for spring.  long nights for awhile and short days, slowing gaining more light... and it gives me lots of time to stay in out of the rain, read, think, work on projects which have been sitting around aging for too long, think some more and plan.  in the meantime, i'm wishing for everyone everywhere warmth, someone to love, less worries and more of what they need...and light.

Woolgatherings Fibers

check out Ennea Collective

it's an online fiber arts magazine... the sweater on the front page was knit with yarn spun from Kate's 

beautiful fibers.  and check out their link to indie reviews... there's an interview with Kate there!  how sweet it is!!  i love what she's doing with Woolgatherings!

salad?...

i've been advised by Judy to remember the lessons from "The Little Shop of Horrors".   if i hear even any whispers from this cute little green growing potential plant.... i'll quickly dispatch it to the compost!

(the beginnings of this are in the last post)

amusement?

some days i'm so easily amused that it borders on pathetic ... or i see art in simple forms?  i was washing lettuce for salad, and when i cut the stem end off one little head i just couldn't throw it in the compost because it was so pretty.  maybe the pathetic part was when i "posed" it on top of the washed leaves and took its little picture.  still couldn't discard it, so put it in a shallow dish of water and now 3 days later it's starting to grow little leaves from its center.  and i still think it's cute.  i think i'm trying to make up for the miserable failure to thrive flowers from the garden that i potted up and brought inside in the hope they'd keep growing and i'd have summer bloomin' all winter on the balcony under the skylight.  it's just not happening...... only one of eight shows any sign of life... the gerbera daisy... and i'd be delighted if it lives!

it's cosmic!

it seems an infrequent occurrence to me, and makes me happy that a full moon and the Winter Solstice occur on the same date this year!  hoping for a clear night for moon viewing!  how about a bonfire??!! dancing??

also, this month ... "spectacular meteor showers and a total lunar eclipse" . click  for details 
the eclipse will be december 20 and will be the best one til april 2014.  i guess it's impertinent to ask for clear night skies in december in northwest oregon 2 nights in a row.  but i'm hoping.....

i took some of my dyed yarn to Northwest Wools this week...  my latest most favorite yarn because it glitters!!  it has 2% real silver thread in it!  oooooh... sparkles!

the big event in my life this week was to have a new and clear lens implanted in my right eye to replace the one which had become very cloudy.  i'm told that if one lives long enough it's bound to be necessary.  the pre-op portion of my day was considerably longer that the actual procedure,  but i'd worked up a huge case of anxiety and it took 3 IV shots of versed to get me to the "who gives a rat's ass" attitude.  the rest of the day was quite fine.  and already, 2 days later, i can see a really big difference in vision.  everything looks brighter thru that eye.  the left eye procedure will be december 28.  i'll be glad when it's all done and now i'm wondering what difference this will make in how i see the colors of the dyes that i pour onto fiber!

Crete in the spring!! oh, yes!

the sweet reward for surviving the winter... springtime in Crete and all the Easter celebrating!

really nice taverna in Almirida, a small seaside resort town, opened by our friend
Yorgo.  Called Aeraki which means small breeze.  the other part of the taverna is
across the street and next to the water.

we made reservations last night and had enough airline reward points to get 2 round trip tickets.


 

the beach in Almirida... nicest in the off-season, so no crowds
of tourists.

w 

a

Taverna Sterna Tou Bloumosifi - the local taverna which becomes our second home when we're in Vamos.  

friends, good food, local wine and raki (Greek fire water, and if you survive the first shot then your mouth is numb and you can keep  going til you can't keep going!)  the best part is friends and you meet new friends every day wherever you go... it's the Cretan way.

bougainvilla - everywhere all the time!

Easter dinner party last spring.

ah, but first the holidays, and rain and maybe snow and grey days.  and then april will come.

more dyein'

bright BFL

 BFL/tussah silk - can't wait to spin this one!!

 not so bright ... more kind of vintage looking.  also BFL/tussah silk.