Monday, January 28, 2008

Don't talk to me about spring.



This was the view outside my window yesterday morning. Today it looks slightly more snowy, but since the sun has come out, it's all melting. My back muscles are not happy with me due to all the time I've spent shoveling the driveway, walkway and front porch yesterday and today. It's my daughter's job, but never mind. Being the stubborn virgo that I am, I had to do it right.

I need another cuppa tea. Oh yeah, Astrogeek has come down with his annual case of pneumonia, so he's staying home with me today. We're quite the pair of achy whiners today. I think we'll be having ice cream for lunch and watching the Ninth Gate. Don't try to stop us.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

So pretty!

I love it when my customers let me see what they do with the fabrics I sell. Today I got a ping from the lovely lady blogger at Mart's Farm Blog and she shared an art quilt she made for her sister-in-law.



Domo arigatou gozaimasu! Thank you so much for sharing.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

There be fairies?

While checking out the Contrariwise blog yesterday I read about Urban Fairies and how you just never know when or where they might be about.



As I have been planning to post on my other blog The Ardent Thread about Warped and Wonderful, a weaver who sells her work on Etsy.com, I thought this might be just the thing for an urban fairy who likes to live in comfort: a handwoven bedspread, available through her shop right here.



When I was little (okay, stop laughing, I know I'm still short) my grandmother would take us grandkids on hikes through her neighborhood on the waterfront of Puget Sound outside of Olympia, Washington. We'd wander through dense forests of old growth trees and wild flowers, and she'd tell us to keep an eye out for the forest fairies.

One summer when my sister and I asked to go on a fairy hike, our grandmother told us we couldn't go anymore. Why not? Because a developer had bought the surrounding acreage and was building houses on it. The fairies were gone. Forever. Believe it or not, that one moment stuck in my mind as the point at which I became and environmentalist. I was probably only 7 years old at the time, maybe even younger, but it opened my eyes to the idea of urban sprawl and over-development. As an adult, I've collected flower seeds from my grandmother's garden to grow in my own garden and always make sure there is a safe place for the garden fairies to live.

My grandmother, a formidable woman, passed away at the age of 94 in 1997, the year my son was born. I was living in England, tending to Old World fairies in my tiny (1 foot by 3 foot) garden and taking my babies for strolls across the nearby heath, past mounding shrubs of wild roses, eating wild blackberries or sipping nectar from honeysuckle. I was on the brink of a messy divorce, but what I remember most fondly are those long and lovely days spent out in the scrubby wilds of southern England with little children (sometimes several, including the neighbors) in tow.

These days my high desert fairy friends are under snow, perhaps dreaming of the flowers we'll be planting in the spring.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

So in love


I rarely, rarely drink alcoholic beverages, so to say I'm hooked on one, smitten, in fact, really says something. And no, I'm not plugging it just because they practically poured it down my throat last summer when I was at the tasting room and did that kimono fashion show. I really dig this stuff. Coconut Lemongrass Saké from SakéOne in Forest Grove, Oregon. Yum.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Let's make a band! meme

From Zaius Nation:

Let’s Make a Band:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
(Bema is somewhere in Italy)

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
(mine was "When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all."
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
(this pic is "Arthur Punished". There were several pics on the page that would have worked really well, including a chain link fence with ice on it, and a scolded dog. I just got lucky.)

You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

whoo hoo! new blog!

Moving on a bit from the rampant silliness and unfocused nonsense of this blog, I've put up another one at WordPress, The Ardent Thread, where I'll be all business-like and discuss the stuff I actually do for a living. You're welcome to join me. I'll probably still post here, too, since I can't hold a straight face for too long, but we'll see.

Anywho, it was great to finally make it back to BlueGal's Monday night Skype session. I've missed you clever people. Cheers to BlueGal, Comrade Kevin, Dark Black, DCup, MathMan, Tengrain, Bad Astronomer, FranIAm (who was there in spirit) and all the rest.

Be well, and Happy New Year!