family and fiber

first Alex was sick... then Zylie, so i spent more time with Kate and with fibers than with kids. Kate let me use her Duncan electric carder and showed me her bins of "rejects" (dyed fiber that she deemed not up to her standards for selling) and told me to have at it! i'd also brought some fibers from home... dyed silk, angora, mohair for blending and gotta say... i felt like a pig in mud. plus, i always enjoy time spent with Kate. i see in my future lots of happy, relaxing spinning time. and movies! i am so totally exhausted from the political retoric (sp?) (it's wrong and too hard to look up on iPad) and will be happy when it's finished and Obama is re-elected! gotta say, tho, that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert always have an amusing take on all things political! and i never tire of them.

amtrak home tomorrow.

Fiber Fusion in Monroe WA

so.... i amtraked to seattle on friday, got met and transported to Duvall by Kate and kids (one kid sickish, one well). Chris fixed a fabulous steak dinner that night... ummmm! then i stayed here with the kids on saturday while C&K went to Monroe (Evergreen Fairgrounds) and sold lots of fiber. and today i took a nuno felting class, something i've been wanting to learn for a long time! loved the class, made an "ok" scarf and left with plans for future scarves. had these visions going thru my brain the whole time i was doing the felting of all sorts of silk and/or mohair embellished pieces that i can hardly wait to get to! it took a whole lot of muscle action to get that fiber to felt! and what i'm wondering is.... could this possibly count as the exercise that i'm always asked if i'm doing when i have an MD appt. (DAMN they are persistent) Yes! i do believe that would qualify. at least that's my story and i'm stickin' to it! so, after the class i spent the rest of the day hanging out with Kate in her booth and randomly wandering around, fondling fibers, chatting with vendors, kind of shopping... tho all i bought was 2 fabulous buttons from "One of a KInd"
ceramic button booth. spent some time with Dana and Lester at Whimsical Ewe... just because i'm enchanted with the felting that Dana does. sweet!
met up with Celeste and really loved catching up with what's going on in her life. she is one very creative and interesting person who is on her path to of wonderment and discovery.. Bravo!!

i'm writing this on my iPad and have uploaded photos, but cannot figure out how to manipulate them on the post and put a description... so there they are!

Vamos, Crete

as i was listening to Greek music tonight (Giannis Nikalaou) i said to J that i really want to be there!!  when??  he said 3 weeks.  i'll start packing tomorrow.  dear goddess,  how i wish!  we could be there in time for raki making!

ahhhh... roses! how i love 'em!

well, i'm not quite down to the "last rose of summer", but it is getting close.  i've been loving them and admiring them and smelling them... just trying to store them up in my memory for those wet grey days that are coming.  we actually have not had rain for 100 days... but it's expected for the next few days.  so, here's to roses!!

notice that tiny little worm that hitchhiked in on a rose petal??

we went to portland today to see Sweeney Todd, the Mad Barber of Fleet Street at portland center stage.  this is a play i've never been particularly interested in seeing, but both my sisters highly recommended it.  so, we went.  you know that politician's comment when a really ugly baby is held up for him to kiss?  "Wow, that's quite a baby!!!"  that was my reaction to this play... "wow, that was some
production!"  it kind of reminded me of some of Shakespeare's plots where there's a lot of offing of people and it ends up that one kills the person he loves most and then someone offs him.  and it's always really "high drama".  i'm not fond of most of Shakespeare's work (yeah, blasphemy, i know) and i have read and seen of lot of it.  past tense... no more!  and as much as i LOVE Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman, there's just no way in hell i'll watch their screen rendition of Sweeney Todd.  i've been told that it's beyond gruesome.

so, that was our afternoon.  then tonight neighbors came over to watch the VP candidate debate with us.  good job, Joe!

grape harvest 2012

it will soon be obvious that there are no pics of the actual harvesting of the grapes.  good reason for that.... the camera and i were in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove making harvest soup (everything in the soup was harvested here in my queendom), baking bread, making Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions topped with feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, preparing dessert of peach crumble (from peaches we picked and froze several weeks ago).  just totally being harriet-housewife-pioneer-woman and being happy that once again i wasn't out there doing back breaking labor, fighting off the yellow-jackets and stumbling over dirt clods in order to harvest the fruit of the vine.

but, however... here is Carla pressing the grapes to extract the juice to be fermented in 5 gallon carboys over the next year+.

and Ethan getting a moment of well-deserved rest while Carla slaves over the pressing.

pick-up bed with 3 happy wine makers loving the carboys full of juice.

ahhhh - muscat!!  one of my most favorites.

this is the must... what's left after pressing the juice from the grapes (see top photo).  the must will be left to ferment for 6 weeks or so and then will be distilled to make tzikoudia/raki, or Greek fire water, also called "nectar of the gods" or "the end of the evening", depending on the amount consumed.  seriously, in Crete it is an important element of hospitality and is offered just about any time of the day (sometimes accompanied by bread or cookies) when you visit someone in their home, or go into a taverna and know the owner or a waiter or see someone you know.  it's kind of part of a Cretan greeting!

a compact "cake" of must after pressing.

it's hard to believe this muddy looking liquid from the grape pressing will end up as a drinkable and enjoyable beverage.  you'll just have to believe me on this, and don't spend a lot of time thinking about how your wine started out.











and so... the beginning of one more harvest.  the reds still need to be harvested.  hmmm - and what will i cook up for the next harvest dinner?

from my desktop

this is a wonderful carving from a whale rib.  it was in a shop in Ketchikan.  would have loved to bring it home with me, but knew it was so cost prohibitive that i didn't even ask what was the price.  it is fabulous!

imagination is such a key and basic component of creativity.  important words from Albert.

this is a mosaic.  i saved it because it is such an inspiration for a quilting project.

so true.  makes me smile just looking at it!

garden and attitude adjustment

dragonfly!  damn how i do love when i see one in my garden.  kinda makes my day.  that and taking time to meditate and appreciate all the magnificence surrounding me.  breathtaking.  goes a long way toward attitude adjustment.  and the amazing fact is that it is right there all the time, just waiting to be tapped into.

from my garden... one of the ugliest lookin' tomatoes i have ever seen... and HUGE.  and oh so sweet!

and enough ripe tomatoes to put some in the food dehydrator, including that humongous one.

WOW fiber from Woolgatherings

this is BFL/Silk/glitz fiber that spun up into the most awesome freakin' gorgeous yarn i've made in a long time.  the sheen and sparkle is amazing.  was thinking socks would be a good project, then decided the beauty of the fiber wouldn't be as visible as it would in mitts or hat or scarf.  and this deserves to be seen!

thank you Kate and Chris!  hope there will be more of these colors.  big wow factor.  and i really do love this fiber blend.  it is so lovely to spin!