OFFF - first day

today was one of those perfect days! we had a booth on the lawn at the fiber festival, a warm and sunny day, lots of happy people, saw lots of friends, we were very close to the live music which was great, good booth location... and i was able to spend lots of time spinning... and we sold lots of fiber!

more photos tomorrow.

sock

here's one of (how many??) works in progress... a sock to display at OFFF with other of this BFL yarn which i dyed. maybe i'll get it finished... and if not, it will be displayed anyway.

Autumn Equinox at the Oregon Coast

We were at Cape Meares on the oregon coast yesterday and overnight with some friends. it was glorious weather... esp. for the first day of fall... sunny, slight warm breeze and temp. in the 80s. their house is in the woods about 5 minute walk from the beach. i didn't take any beach photos, but the link will take you to some nice beach scenes. had a lovely time, Deborah fixed a great salmon dinner, then we sat around drinking wine and solving all the problems of the world. we spent some time looking at the structures all around their property, including the Poetry House, a couple of world class tree houses, his workshop, her workshop, some works in progress such as decks and porches which Deborah is roofing and closing in to have a dry place for re-finishing and painting things. all of this is very photo-worthy, but lame-brained me didn't think to get the camera out til we were leaving Roseanna's in Oceanside where we had lunch before starting home. a funky looking place, overlooks the beach, serves fabulous food~

simple gifts

Jim has 400 (yes, that many)wine grape plants growing in various locations around the queendom. looks like it won't be long now til harvest of these gevurtztraminer (my fave wine), with the pinot noir not far behind!!

autumn is not my favorite season only because it means the dark days of winter will follow close behind. i do love the crisp mornings, clear blue skies, and the bounty in the garden... and the ripening of the grapes in the vineyard. i cannot get enough of the sunflowers!! as evidenced by my iphoto album.

Dancer

this is Carol our neighbor and her miniature horse, Dancer. Carol works in Mental Health and plans to use Dancer as a "therapy horse". this is the first time i've met a miniature horse and i was impressed with how sweet (and how small!) she is. she would have loved to follow me right into the garden when i went to pick some of our abundance of green beans for Carol. it was a hoot watching Dancer push the newly spread gravel aside so she could get at the weeds under neath. poor thing must have callouses on her upper lip.

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
-- Unknown Author

new yarn

this is called Baby WooBoo and it's baby alpaca/merino/bamboo boucle with nylon binding. it's luscious and lustrous and soft and delicious... just might end up in the booth at OFFF!!

lunch at Maggie's Buns

belatedly, i took my brother, Bud, for his birthday lunch today at one of our favorite places.... a small funky eatery in lovely downtown Forest Grove, OR! It started out as mainly a place to have really heavenly cinnamon buns and other yummy items baked right there on the premises by... of course... Maggie. it has evolved to include a large menu of excellent (really!) and unusual food not usually found in small town America. you can select from the dishes shown in the case... from sandwich wraps to lasagna to pasta dishes, greek salad and several varieties of salads, and too much to even begin trying to name. i've never had a bad meal there. and in the winter they make Hungarian Mushroom soup that is the best EVER! the decor of the place really appeals to me (but then i adore anything with pink flamingoes theme...if that gives any clues to my "taste"). it's funky and kitsch and must be seen to believe.

and in honor of the birthday occasion, i got a photo of Bud, known affectionately by me as "Curbhead", and yes, there is a story behind that.

fiber dyeing marathon

Kate came down for a few days this week to do some intensive dyeing in my studio. The necessary amount of water involved in dyeing massive amounts of fiber wasn't available at their house because the well they share with 7 other households was dry for a couple of days, then they were limited to 200 gallons/day, which doesn't even begin to cover showers, laundry, dish washer etc. But first! we had to go to the wholesaler's warehouse to stock up on lots of yummy fibers and yarns. i thoroughly enjoyed helping Kate spend her $$ and did a bit of damage myself, even tho i kept reminding myself that i'm "sort of retired" from all this now. mostly, i bought yarn to dye... including one very promising new one called "Baby WooBoo" which is baby alpaca, silk and bamboo and is kind of a chubby boucle. i have some in pre-dye soaking now and hope to get it dyed tomorrow. we are expecting cool and rain for the next few days, which is perfect dyeing weather in my studio (it gets blistering hot in there on typical summer days). anyway, Kate got an awesome amount of fiber dyed, and together with what she has already done at home, will have a booth at OFFF totally filled with luscious spinning fibers!!

ribbit ribbit

this little tree frog has been spending his days looking in my kitchen window from his perch on the rolled up bottom part of the bamboo shade.  he's there for most of the day.  i wonder if he's waiting for me to kiss him... hmmmmm

re-purpose

very old typewriter keys in their new life as bracelets.  Kate found the letters one in an antique/junk store in duvall and last time i went up there i bought the other one.  i love wearing them.

fibers

Kate gave me some BFL roving which she'd just dyed... maybe because i was clutching it to my chest and calling it mine??  it is lovely and a joy to spin.  i do love that BFL... and her dyeing of it.

and you, too, can see, fondle and buy her fabulous fibers at OFFF in Canby, OR 9/26 and 9/27.  she will be sharing a booth there with Linda (NW Wools) on the lawn.

summer tradition

well, when finally the long wait is over for garden ripened juicy sweet tomatoes, my big indulgence is a BLT.   it's worth the wait and oh so enjoyed.   mmmm..

happy 20th anniversay, Northwest Wools!!

Last night we celebrated with Linda Berning, her 20th anniversary as owner of NW Wools in Multnomah Village, Portland.  It was a surprise party which was pulled off beautifully by her husband, Greg (whatta guy!) at Lucky Lab Pub in Multnomah!  i'm not positive, but i do think that it is the longest open yarn shop in portland.. and there is a good reason for that... Linda!  and it was wonderful to see all the people who were there to celebrate with her!  and in a scrapbook that her mom had made of photos, newspaper articles, shop related stuff, there's a class schedule from 1990 listing my beginning spinning class.  and i think i started consigning my dyed fibers and yarns there in fall of '89.  i feel so lucky to have had Linda's support and friendship all these years.. bravo!!  sad to say i forgot to grab my camera which i'd put out on the counter to take, so no photos from me.  hope i can snag someone's pics.

if you look really closely, you can see all the pollen he has collected on his little pollen-collector things.  he was a really greedy little booger and had a little trouble with lift-off.

from Huffington Post

"At a Barney Frank town hall meeting in Dartmouth, MA, a constituent asks, "Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?"

Frank responds: "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" He then calls her approach "vile, contemptible nonsense." He closes by saying: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table."

I love it when i can start my day with a snarkie smile... thanks, Barney!!

garden flamingo

his job today is holding a basket of coleus 

word of the day

Gasconade (noun)

Pronunciation: [gas′kə nād′]

Definition: Boastful or blustering talk.

hmmm - suppose i still have politics on my mind??

and don't get me started on the issues and how distorted and filled with scare tactics and lies that they become!

to the garden for attitude adjustment

i was feeling very very much the cynical old crone this morning... but i should have known better than try to watch "Meet the Press" at 9a.m. before my brain was fully engaged and caffeinated.  but Rachel Maddow was on the panel, which made me think i wanted to watch the show.  i left 1/2 hour and 1 cup of coffee into it to take a shower and try to wash the insanity away.  i could not wash away the pervading sense that society will never make any progress toward peace and civility as long as we are dealing with the belief that volume and twisted facts trump respect, facts and the ability to have a rational discussion!  damn!  but i was able to put away that despair feeling when i took myself to the garden  and focused on the quietude and peace of my queendom.... ahhhh.  so, my political tv will now be limited to Jon Stewart (for the REAL news) and Stephen Colbert (my favorite "conservative") and Rachel Maddow who actually listens to differing opinions, then comments and discusses without trying to "win" with shouting and off-topic bullshit.

other than the ongoing gopher drama, the garden is looking good and the 2 white eggplants will be harvested this week and possibly combined with sweet, ripe tomatoes from the garden in some kind of tasty Greek dish.  and that blossomed out artichoke has become a gathering place for bumble bees the past few days.  a few yellow jackets have found it, too.

home from up north

back home now after a lovely visit with the northern bunch of the family.  rode back up there last sunday with Chris and kids after Chris had been here for his 20th HS class reunion.  we stopped in Centralia at the The Old Olympic Hotel, which is one of the McMenamin's renovated historic places, where we had supper.  it is worth getting off I-5 to see it if you are ever in that area.  i've never seen the hotel portion of the building, but it is likely much as it was 100 years ago, but with enough upgrades (like bathrooms and hot water) to make it comfortable.  got to home destination later than we'd expected (10pm) due to the usual awful traffic the further north we got.  time there really flew by.... spent some time fiber dyeing with Kate, picking ripe tomatoes (yummmm), being really amused watching the chickens, (they were thought to be all hens, til Sunshine started crowing and grew an amazing bunch of tail feathers).   these chickens have full run of the property during the daytime, and i guess i'm easily entertained... but i totally enjoyed watching their "dirt bath" ritual, where 6 of them scratched up a patch of dirt and kind of fluffed themselves up and wallowed in it.  too hard to describe and too late tonight to try.  had fun with the kids, played a board game, learned more about pokemon.  spent a lot of the day on Wed. in town at the fabric shop, antique/junk shop, and Greek lunch at the Egyptian restaurant with Kate and Pam.

ate way too much, with the height of decadence pictured below.  Chris grilled up a gourmet treat of pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon weave.... mmmmm, dear goddess, a taste treat for sure!

#1 - before grilling...

#2 - off the grill and disassembled...

#3 - the chef -

#4 - Alex loved it!!

finished!! bag, plus "from the garden"

the bright colors in this bag really washed out.  will replace later.  but it's FINISHED.... first finished item in awhile.

current creations in progress

this will be a bag when finished (soon, i hope).  bought the yarn from Teresa (Skeins in John Day)

it's Kudo by Plymouth and is cotton, rayon, silk in fabulous colors which i love!!  the first photo is the front, the other is the back in progress.  it will have a knitted strap... and will make lots more sense when it's finished!  aren't the colors gorgeous?

and this will be a little quilt for Zylie to wrap her plush critter/friends in.  everwhere she goes, one of the animals gets to go with her.... at least one!  when she comes to visit, she usually fills her backpack with them!

the last couple of days of 100 degree plus weather, i've been inside sewing, knitting and watching MSNBC, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.... between short excursions to the garden to gas the gophers and water plants and pray that the FSM will keep the plants alive.  it is hotter than the hinges at high noon in hell, as my dear mom would say.

it's official!!

made my flight reservations to go back to Crete end of september and stay til first week of november!  it's just a tiny bit more than 2 months til i leave... maybe i should start packing?  and now i can give myself permission to be getting excited for the trip.  well, maybe not excited about the ~20 hour flight, but SO happy to be going back.  SIL, Judy will go with me and stay 2 weeks, and Kate and my grandkids will go, too, for some portion of the time i'll be there.  and Jim?  he's not going this time because he wants to stay here to keep the deer from eating his ripening grapes and then harvest, crush and start the wine fermentation.  who knows... maybe he'll have the raki made, too, before i get back.  i'm not quite sure how i pulled it off, but i got tickets on Lufthansa for about $200 less than our last trip... and that's my fave airlines, too.  bravo and wheeeee

it's been too hot here... 90+ for the past few days and expected to continue.  the beastly rodents in the garden have been my focus lately as they have found one of the veggie beds which isn't lined with chicken wire, so they have full access and have been taking advantage by first eating the roots (beans and tomatoes), then pulling the plant down into their tunnel and devouring the rest of it.  i've been fighting back with sulfur flares, but imagine them backfilling their tunnel just in time, then sittin' back and laughing at me!  paranoid??  maybe.  but i'll be beyond pissed off if i don't get tomatoes! 

 there are not many i would stand in line to see... for an hour... in the sun... in 90+ degree weather.  Neil DeGrasse Tyson is one of the few (plus there was that vision of a tall cold McMenamin's beer at the end of the wait!!)).  OMSI  with PBS held a Science Pub at the Bagdad Theater and Dr Tyson was the feature.  The Bagdad is a very old movie theater in SE Portland, renovated by the McMenamin brothers in a pretty ingenious manner... the inside is just as it was, except that every other row of seats has been removed and replaced with tables, so you can have beer and pizza (or whatever) while you watch the feature presentation or movie!  i like it!  and i'm goofy for this astrophysicist and his PBS Nova science NOW show.  he's interesting, intelligent, humorous, personable... and i really really enjoyed the evening.  to add to the perfection, we walked down the street afterward to Ben and Jerry's and indulged in the perfect ice cream cone!

beer, pizza and ice cream... pretty damn perfect!

road trip wrap-up

that was a whole bunch of traveling and doing for a 5-day road trip.  Linda, Denise (her SIL) and i left friday a.m. for the cabin on the Metolius River at Camp Sherman.  before we even got to the cabin we almost passed up a small local quilt show, but not wanting to miss anything, Linda pulled into the parking lot in time!  there may have been 50 quilts there... some really inspiring. then on to the cabin, which was absolutely perfect!  the Metolius River is at the edge of the front yard.  huge old trees around the house.  did you know that if you put your nose up to the bark of a ponderosa tree, in a groove in the bark, and take a deep sniff, you can smell vanilla??  yep.. really!  just a bit of trivia... 

The really big and fabulous quilt show experience began Sat. a.m. when we drove to Sisters, finally found a parking place and started the walking.  the main street, plus 2 others and the cross streets were closed to traffic and there was a huge muddle of people walking and looking at the 1300 or so quilts displayed outside and on the walls in the businesses and eateries.  it was quite overwhelming.  and some truly lovely art quilts and examples of all types of quilts.  we were so lucky that it was a clear, sunny day and did not get uncomfortably hot til mid-afternoon, by which time we'd been there for 5 or 6 hours just walkin' and gawkin', along with thousands of other people, and decided we could go back to the cabin.  i'm not sure i could see all the quilts even if the show went for 2 days.  so, back at the cabin we recovered from the day with a nice dinner and wine... also, spinning, knitting and Denise quilting.  and more wine...

On Sunday, we left Denise at the cabin, picked up Jane in Sisters and headed for Teresa and Jack Southworth's cattle ranch near Seneca, which is near John Day and Burns.  besides the cattle, Teresa has a flock of sheep and a bunch of llamas.... and if that wasn't enough... she also has a yarn shop in John Day... Skeins.(on Canyon Blvd).  it really was a wonderful evening we spent there... tour of the place, photo ops, Teresa's workshop where she processes her wool and makes felted saddle blankets, dinner, "black eyed susans"  ... could be deadly or at least make for a short night if not handled with care.  contains vodka, rum, triple-sec, orange juice, pineapple juice, a bit of lime and ice... sure does taste healthy with all that juice, but we were warned.  we stayed up late telling stories and laughing like lunatics.  especially loved Teresa's stories about ground squirrels!! on monday we got a tour of the headquarters of the ranch and really fascinating info about what happens there.  and we even saw a real cowboy... wearing a cowboy hat and boots and riding a horse.  i just wish i had the time and energy to go into all the details of what we saw and learned there.  after that, we got a tour of Teresa's yarn shop which has an amazing selection of yarn and books and fibers for spinners.  and then we got on the road again and went back to the cabin, had dinner, mojitas, more talking and laughing, some sleep and on tuesday made the 3 hour drive back to portland!  it was a fabulous road trip... and Linda did ALL the driving.  yeah, we all offered to do some of it... but ...

this is Teresa's trophy wall/gun rack.  

for Soren

for my semi-son, Soren, in Denmark.  this quilt was on display at the huge and wonderful quilt show in Sisters, OR.

I thought of you!

some highlights from the road trip!!

the day after the huge outdoor quilt show in Sisters, (rumored to have 1300 quilts on display), Jane, Linda and I drove over to Seneca to visit Teresa and Jack Southworth.

                                                                                              

a view of the cattle ranch from the house.  wish i'd gotten some photos around the house of all the flowers and the veg. garden.

here's some of their sheep.

a quilted car cozy... not exactly the hit of the show for me... but certainly interesting!  i can't even imagine anything that would get me interested in doing a project like this!

humming quietly to myself

"on the road again... can't wait to be on the road again..." (quiet humming due to inability to carry a tune!)  Leaving friday a.m. with Linda and her SIL, Denise, to go to their cabin on the Metolius River close to Sisters, OR.  There is a yearly huge and fabulous quilt show in Sisters, which was our original destination... then since we'd be so "close" (a relative term) to Burns, we decided to go over there on sunday to visit Teresa,  see her yarn shop (Skeins in John Day), and then spend the night with them on their cattle/sheep/alpaca ranch.  Back to the cabin on monday and drive home on tuesday!  whew!!  i'll be taking camera, Garmin, spinning wheel, knitting project(s), lots of grazing items and adult beverages!  doesn't get any better than this..... will come back with lots of photos, we won't get lost, i'll have some fiber zen, hope to get some quilting inspiration, and will definitely have a marvelous time!  hummmmmm ... more quiet humming.  it's become an ear worm... ack

morning in the garden...

when i went to the garden this morning to water the veggies, i took my camera along .. hoping i'd see yesterday's dragonfly and could get a photo of it.  that was without doubt the most awesome dragonfly i've seen!... its body was a luminescent mid-blue, with a head that was Mediterranean turquoise and transparent wings with a black dot on each, like WOW!   today i saw this beauty.  i wonder why they so often perch on sticks...

and then there is the Taboo rose, which is usually so dark it is almost black.  maybe all this sun is bleaching it?  anyway, it's one of my faves.
and since a temp of 93 or so is expected today, i'm just hanging out indoors sippin' tea and getting ready to do some knitting on an entrelac piece which could become the front of a vest... or maybe a wrap/shawl... at this point it is an unknown.