a good thing

and a bad thing....

but good first!  our most wonderful house/dog sitter came out today and it looks like she'll be able to make it work for her to be here while we are gone this spring.  her life has been a mess of challenges so far this year, but it looks pretty good for her to be able to be here.  one of the best things about this is that she "gets it" about being here.  she loves the dogs, she really loves the life here at dome central... like being in the quiet and peace and watching the hummingbirds at the feeders in the early morning, sitting under a tree and watching the grass grow, getting the seeds for the garden started and watching over them.  so why do i want to be away from this?  sometimes i really don't know the answer to that, but there's always that tug at my heart and soul to go back to Greece.  there is a peace and simplicity and genuineness there, too, that feeds my soul and that's all i need to know.

and then there's Meika (here she's guarding her food dish just to prove she is the alpha, even tho there are 2 food dishes and lots of food, but Tasha just might get uppity and try to eat from the other food dish).  anyway, Meika has had a pee problem for the past few months and been treated for urinary infection, which did nothing to improve her random pee puddles, and urgency and frequency of her need to go out.  so back to the vet and discovery that she has a rectal growth/tumor that has a 60% chance of being malignant and in any case will continue to grow and press on her bladder and might eventually affect her poop elimination.  so, on wednesday a.m. she will have laser surgery to get rid of the thing and hopefully fix the problem.  our local vet has the laser set-up and has been doing this kind of surgery for several years.  i've known him for many years and have  so much admiration for and faith in him that i'm just sure he can walk on water.  even tho she is 12 1/2 years old (Husky's have a life span expectancy of 10 to 12 years), she is otherwise really healthy and fit.  her  3 mile daily walks keep her in good shape.   i want her to be ok.  it's hard to imagine our household without her... tho she does sometimes make me a little crazy.  she has that typical Husky trait of independence and stubbornness and attitude so when i give her a "sit" or "lie down" command, i get that look of "well... i'll think about that and get back to you".  unfortunately for her, i have "attitude" too!  so i'm anxious for surgery day to get here and be done with!  and i hope this isn't the beginning of health decline for Meika...

life is short!..

and in an effort to enjoy every moment... our plans are made for travel this spring!  in May we'll go to Denmark for a week to visit Soren and his family, our 4th visit to Denmark.  Soren lived with us during his student exchange time in 1988  (has it really been that long ago???)  and happily, we've stayed close thru these years.  he has made several trips back here and we went there for his high school graduation, wedding and again after he'd had 2 children.  part of the joy of the trip this time is that Chris, Kate and kids will be going with us.  we'll spend 2 days in Hamburg, Germany on the way.  after Denmark we fly to Athens then drive to the Peloponnese and spend a week there (time share exchange - yay), go to Olympia and see where the Olympics originated, plus other ancient sites, maybe some vineyards and wineries.  from there we'll drive north to Arachova and Delphi and i'll try again to find the Oracle... at least i'll be listening.  we were there on our first trip to Greece 9 years ago and thru an agro-tourism website got in touch with (and ended up staying with) a wonderful, warm, and welcoming woman named Frosso.  she and i connected in such a memorable way!  she is very involved with fiber arts and is active in the art workshop in Arachova.  tho she speaks only a few words of English and my Greek was zero at that time, we shared our love of spinning and fibers... she showed me her mother's hand spindle which she uses, and gave me an armfull of yarn she had spun on it.  i showed her my knitting and yarn, and of course, gave her some of my yarn.  we were bonded for life!  and exchange greeting cards several times a year... hers come written in Greek, which i take to my friend Denny at his Greek restaurant and he translates for me.  when i write to Frosso, i send it in English with a translation which i get from an online translation site... who knows how my words come out thru that to an accurate translation into Greek.  i keep on getting cards from her, so i guess the translation hasn't been something insulting or weird.  i am really looking forward to seeing my friend, Frosso, again!!  ok, so then we drive back to Athens and fly on the Hania, Crete on May 21 and back to my other home in Vamos for 3 weeks.  and looking back at what i've just written... i'm exhausted with that much travel!  dear Goddess...what have i signed on for?  but the thing is, i want to do every bit of it.  so when we get to Vamos i'll collapse for a day or 2.  well, i say that, but know that we'll walk down to the taverna for hugs and raki as soon as we've got our stuff loaded into our house.  and thanks to Klio, we'll be in the same house as the past 2 or 3 years... happy.  i really shouldn't be wishing time away... but i'll be so happy to be back there that i wish i were there now!!  ~sigh~

and i hope that by then i've conquered blogging on my iPad which has flummoxed me in the past!

love this guy!  he's got to be really secure in himself, don't you think?

passion for pink flamingo

i have the extreme good fortune of having been blessed with several good friends who are excellent enablers in helping me pursue my passion for the pink flamingo... the tackier, the better.  i opened a package from my dear friend, Anna, recently and what to my astoundedness, did i find but this drunken flamingo, whose purpose in life is to hold a bottle of wine.  (no shortage of wine bottles around here!)  this bottle was a gift yesterday from friends who came for dinner and brought this fine wine which they made and has their own label on it!

somehow... drunk flamingo reminds me of "drunk uncle" on the evening update of SNL.  if only he could talk.... or maybe better not.

and more on the pink flamingo theme... here's a portion of the collection serving as decor in the guest bathroom of dome central.  sad to say, some of the outdoor flamingo residents are either roosting in trees, buried for the time being in leaves and a bit of mud, or otherwise not available for photos.  their day will come... as will spring, blue skies, warm and no rain.  i'm ready already!

someday i may get them all together for a photo shoot.

tagine

it's a clay pot and can be used either on the stove top (medium low), in the oven or over a fire.  we first saw one on (i think it was...) an Anthony Bourdain show done in Morocco in a very rustic setting.  Jim said he wanted one, so i filed that wish away and brought it out again at xmas and got him one.  a rather selfish thing on my part really as i thought it would be a good addition to our kitchen.  he used it (finally) this week and cooked up a really fine meal of chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, and olives... and it took about an hour over medium low on the stove top.  it was a great meal!  and now i'm on the hunt for some recipes!  highly recommended after just one experience with it.  thanks, Tony!

i'd love to know about any recipes that anyone has for this!

here's a link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajine

new music

Last week Stephen Colbert's guest was a young musician named Benjimin Gibbard.  it was a typically awkward interview by Stephen... but the music was great!  Ben was promoting his new CD "Former Lives" and was joined by Aimee Mann (well, ok, i don't really know who she is except that i've heard her name before) when he did his music.  so... next day i ordered the CD and am really glad i did... really enjoying it.

part of the "awkward" was Stephen's reaction when as part of the interview he asked Ben what else he liked to do... and the answer was something like "well..... i don't do anything besides music".  kind of left Stephen with no where else to go.  and i saw on the interwebs today that Stephen's sister will run for the senate from south carolina as a democrat, probably against the (loser) former governor... yeh, the one who was in Argentina with his lover while he claimed to be hiking the Appalachian trail... while he was governor and left the state without telling anyone where he was going... yeh, that loser.  so there's your little bit of random trivia for today.

snow came to Duvall

i spent 5 days with my grandkids while their parents went to Las Vegas.  we did make a good effort to get to go along with them and got an unequivocal "no", but that's ok... we had a good time!  there was some snow and Z was so anxious to go out in it that she didn't bother getting out of her nighty first... just kind of dressed around and under it and seemed warm enough.  and made some fine snow balls!

they don't seem to mind posing.

part of the fun for me is unlimited use of Kate's electric carder and access to several bins of dyed fiber that she has deemed unworthy of selling.... some of my favorite fibers are in there!  blueface leicester, silk, silk, silk, alpaca, merino... and on and on.  so i made several lovely blended batts.  mmmmm - some happy spinning ahead.



















the weather stayed really cold, so the snow hadn't totally melted before i left on tuesday.  this is the view from the deck.  i kept watching for some wildlife like at least some deer, if not bobcats or bears... but none came by.

good morning, deer

 


definitely a treat to see deer from my bedroom window first thing in the morning!  a nice way to start the new year, i'd say.

scattered stuff...

adorable felted (Whimsical Ewe) little sheep.  a gift from Kate.  she got it at OFFF and i was SO envious because she got the last one.  so i was very happily surprised to find it under my xmas tree.  it is for hanging on my spinning wheel and holds one of those little oil bottles in the hole in its back.  so cute!!

and these are buds (or something) on a tree in my yard that are weird and charming.  they almost look other-worldly.  i can't remember the name of the little tree... which was labeled as a "bush" when i bought it and i expected it to stay small... it did not, so gets heavily pruned.. occasionally.

it's New Year's Eve, a very laid back, stay-at-home evening for us.  thank goddess i'm well past those wild and crazy new year's eves of heavy partying and being out on the roads with those crazy drunken folks.  for years now i've deliberately avoided going anywhere on this night.  so we had chinese take-out at 5pm and settled in for a wild night of MSNBC.  if i did make resolutions for the new year, the top one would be to watch way less politics on the tv machine.  i find myself so totally pissed off at these people that we hire to work for our benefit and well-being who are NOT doing the job they were hired for and are making a huge salary with benefits far and above what the "ordinary" person has.  i just want to find a "you are fired stick" and wave it at so many of them.  oh, but i digress ... i wish for all of us a 2013 that is filled with joy and love and success and happiness!  

spring???

spring dream time arrived in my mailbox today!!

my Landreth seed catalogue came!

yes, i do know that spring is months and months away... but with a beautiful seed catalog in my cold winter hands, i can start planning and before we leave in May for 5 weeks i can get some seeds started!  our wonderful and amazing housesitter/dog care person is also an avid gardener and i know she will take loving and tender care of any little plantlets that appear.  and just to increase her incentive, she can take a bunch of them home for her garden!!   my dye studio hasn't seen an active dye pot in months and is actually a perfect place for starting garden plants... both vegetable and flower.

i love this catalog!  their photos and drawings are a work of art in themselves and the seeds and bulbs they sell have never disappointed me.  doesn't get any better than that, in my opinion!  there is a small charge for the seed "book" and it is so worth it that i've even given it as a gift to gardening friends.  this is not a paid advert and i get no kick-back, but my advice is to get one!  you, too, can start dreaming of and planning for spring.... and warm... and sun... oh my!

dome central xmas

it all started on saturday when Chris, Alex and Zylie (75% of the northern branch of the clan) arrived to have an early celebration with us.  Kate needed to stay at home to get some
dyeing done and the grandkids really wanted to be at their own house for xmas, so they left on monday and made it back home in plenty of time to put cookies out for santa.  it really made my heart sing to have them hanging out here for a couple of days.  we did some present opening... and Z amazed and delighted me with the stunning feathery pink flamingo tree ornament.  love it totally.  it will, of course, not be packed away with the tree ornaments, but will join the others in my homage to the pink flamingo guest bathroom decor.

it was a quieter the usual xmas morning here at dome central.  for the past few years Chris, Kate and the gkids have been here, usually coming down xmas eve and santa finds them here because he is magical and clever.

another thing that made a BIG difference was that rather than being the roaster of the turkey, and since i'd just done it at thanksgiving, i asked my bro and sis if they'd bring a honey-baked ham from that famous store... and they did!!  so, i was able to use my oven to bake a peach crumble dessert (Jim's fave and about the only dessert that i make from scratch ), and to roast a big pan of vegetables Greek-style... which means with a lot of olive oil and Greek seasonings.  i really like this arrangement and wonder why it took me so long to figure it out.  so, many of the tribe, plus a few neighbors, arrived mid afternoon and we feasted and enjoyed for hours!  Jim even had a few brave souls who joined in on the after-dinner raki drinking... OPA!

i didn't take a lot of photos... but did get some of my beautiful nieces and their daughters, who are going up much too fast!

i think that part of the reason for Jen's happy smile is that she did not have to leave early (as she usually does) to go to work on her night shift at Providence.

Jordan!!

                                      Maggie and Maisy.  she was really rockin' that hat!!

Maisy, Maggie, Jen and Judy

did someone say "cookies"???  Jim gave the doggies new scarves and the best way to get them to sit still for 30 seconds for a photo is to say the magic word.

it's a sweet little tree.  but not quite as short and little as it looks from this angle.  and we managed to get it up and decorated before the kids arrived on saturday.

it was a good xmas and i'm grateful!

a prayer flag

my muse nudged me and i said "ok let's do it".

someone i love very much just got a breast cancer diagnosis, her second one.  i wanted to make something for her that she could look at and think of all the love and light and healing thoughts that are being sent up for her.  so.. i made her a prayer flag.

a blessing

hummingbird

 outside my kitchen window.  the photo is kind of fuzzy as it's shot thru the window.  his brilliant color really lights up the grey day.

and the salad greens in the greenhouse are enough to add to a salad a few times a week.  tasty, they are!!

a bag

 i do have some further comments on that last post, but procrastination and disinterest are getting in the way.

this is a little whatsit bag that i made a while back and am posting just to remind myself that my creative muse IS out there somewhere.  i think she's been trying to contact me lately and i just haven't been receiving the nudge.  i need to get my groove back, but for no good reason that i can discern it is elusive.  have been neglecting 3 projects that i should finish, just ripped out a weird and funky hat that somehow or other was big enough to fit a medium sized pumpkin... don't know how that happened... a total fail.

on the better side of things, i have gotten organized enough to buy or order about half of the holiday gifts i have on my list, and am as far as thinking about getting out the holiday decorations.  i don't hate the holidays this year and am even willing to calmly go along with the whole show.  and no, i don't need to increase my meds... they are already at max.

i lined the little bag with dupioni silk, which i love.  there is no pattern for the bag.  the entrelac part of it was from a pattern for a mitt but was way huge for any wrist that i know and turned out to be perfect for a bag.

i may think better of even posting this and come to delete later.  just need to get my groove back.....

really?? i mean really???

I need someone to knit 100% wool socks for me... (Vancouver, WA)

---

Date: 2012-11-27, 10:43PM PST
 xb8nq-3419516919@sale.craigslist.org^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

I have wool I bought to knit some socks for myself, but, I just don't have the time. If you would knit some socks for me I will pay you $10 per pair. If I love the socks you knit for me and my wool gets all used up in socks that you knit, then, I am open to you knitting socks for me in the future from your yarn for $20 per pair. The yarn has to be 100% yarn and must be handwashable.

Also, if you are a very experienced knitter, in the future I will be interested in hiring you to knit more items for me, such as sweaters for myself and my grandchildren.

Thanks so much!

i saw this on craigslist.  not sure whether to laugh hysterically... or to have a raging rant over the ignorance on display here!  and she says she is a knitter??  really?  i'm sure knitters are lining up hoping to be chosen to knit her socks for.... ~$10~...a pair??  just think of all the money you could make just sittin' around knittin' socks.  i need to stop thinking about this before i go on a wild raucous profane rant!  maybe it's a joke?

week of thanksgiving

and it wasn't totally stress-free, but the shopping got done, the house got cleaned, the dog did not get to the groomer (so the layer of dog hair will be abundant very soon), turkey and dressing and other foods got prepared, there were enough chairs and places at the table, enough plates and forks, enough wine and those who had "volunteered" to add to the feast came thru with flying colors (and great food!!) and the final count of family and friends came to 22.  everyone seemed to enjoy the day and there was no "drunk uncle" to cause conflict with arguments over politics and other social issues or tell really awful jokes!  i happily received and gave an abundance of hugs, had some lovely but short conversations, and enjoyed the day until at the end my back and sciatica finally had the last word and i kicked the kids off the sofa so i could stretch out.... ahhhh.

the WA branch of the clan arrived and bless their hearts for being willing to make that drive on a holiday.







Friday was our 34th wedding anniversary!!  WOW!  we beat the odds and are alive and happy.  it is not always easy, but is SO worth it.

proteus 2011

proteus 2012

last year Jim brought me these Proteus, which are beautiful in their own right.  and look what they became over the year.  truly a gift that kept on giving!!



and the kids took us out for dinner to celebrate!  we went to a Greek restaurant in Beaverton which we love... and had a wonderful dinner.  we celebrated our 30th anniversary in Vamos, Crete with our friends there and we threw a wild and crazy party to celebrate.  i look at those photos and they still make me smile... ahhh, those memories are sweet!

this is the time of year that raki (aka fire water) is made in Crete.  Jim made a batch today and believe me, it is lethal... whew!  it is made from the fermented must (what's left from the wine grape crushing) and is a traditional drink there.  it is the "welcome" when you visit anyone... any time of the day or night!


this is a really old photo... from our first year in Crete.
Jim was collecting a sample as new raki came out of the spout above that while bucket.

they build a big wood fire to heat the copper kettle on top which holds the must, which is then distilled.


and below, Manoli is standing on the shelf above the fire... the kettle is on his right.

this raki-making ritual usually involves a big party and lots of food and wine.  OPA!

thanksgiving!!

well, that's tempting... but no chemicals in our turkey.

the clan (somewhere between 20 and 23 of us) will gather here around 2pm tomorrow.  i'm hoping we'll sit down to eat the thanksgiving meal about 4pm.  the possible stick in that ointment is that the bird is not thawed completely yet.  at this point i'm dog tired from getting ready for tomorrow, my back and subsequent sciatica are consuming my attention and i'm gonna have a tall cold  drink and get myself to bed real soon now.  tomorrow i will deal with the issue of thawed or not thawed bird.

hoping you'll enjoy a day with those you love, a wonderful feast, and may we all remember those who's lives are not as blessed as ours and do whatever we can to make those lives better.

craig's list and Eat More Kale

Jim found a really good score on Craig's list!  6 dining room chairs for $100.  this was one of those impulse things... we have a dining room set that my parents bought in probably the 60's (that's almost antique, isn't it?)  i've always loved the table, even tho it does have some issues after all those years.  it must be covered by a table cloth at all times... my mom had at some point in time started to refinish the top of it... and didn't get very far, so it looks like... ummm.. crap.  and then the brace part between 2 table legs got broken somewhere along the way.  it doesn't seem to interfere with stability, but isn't real pretty looking.  about a year ago, my brother, Curbhead, gave us the dining chairs from the original set in trade for chairs we had from an old set.  tho it was nice to have the complete set... these chairs had been thru a lot of use and abuse and were really a risk to sit upon because of the threat of falling apart (and one had actually done that when i sat on it, causing huge embarrassment but injury only to my dignity).  so, on Sat. i reminded J that it was really time to fix them or get off the pot.  he'd been muttering for a year about fixing them.  so with gathering of the clan for dinner here at tgiving and xmas, plus a spinning group the next day it was down to the question of fix 'em or take them to a furniture repair place.  more muttering.  about an hour later he appeared with 6 print-outs of chair offerings from craig's list, i chose the one i liked best, and 3 hours later he returned from beaverton with 6 replacement chairs that i really really like!  and they are sturdy and show little wear and they look great with the rest of our kind of hodge-podge eclectic furnishings.  bravo!  his procrastinating had a happy ending!!

kale harvested today from the garden and simmering away  for dinner.  i post this here partly because it is so cool to eat vegetables from the garden even in mid-november, and partly because of my EatMoreKale shirt which i love.  it was made by a guy who has a small business in Vermont and is being bullied (sued by Chic Fil A corporation over trademark infringement) (REALLY??)  i really cannot see any confusion or conflict.  you can read the story by following the link above.  support small business!!  and kale is good for you!

twisted sisters spin....

and laugh and graze and just totally enjoy a day together!  Jane looked splendid in her new dreads (long pieces of felted wool in technicolor).  it's a great look and she wears it so well that she should wear it often.  she could even get into a holiday mode by adding glitter and tinsel to the locks!

i totally failed in picture-taking duties.  guess i was having too good a time to keep up as sisters kept arriving thru the day.
and the ones i managed to get weren't really set up well and in good focus.  and i totally forgot the grazing table which was abundant ... as it always is when we get together.

                                        Linda, the fearless leader at
                                           Northwest Wools    
















       

Lynn and Rachael (and i'm sorry it's such a crappy picture)

today i finally gave up on the low back and sciatica remedies i've been trying... heat, ice, TENS unit, various stretching and (not enough) exercises... and went to see my doctor.  am feeling like i shouldn't have bothered and wasted a perfectly good morning.  she did order a back xray, because i asked for one, and ibuprofen and hydrocodone and get back to her in 2 weeks if no improvement.  this has been going on for so long that i'm really ready for the next step... like back specialist and maybe cortisone injection.   i bought how-to Tai Chi dvd today and maybe that will help.  we'll see.