This is going to be harder than I thought...

still, I got a pic to post today! These are the plarn purse I am working on. I really am fond of the flower detail.

alright this is harder than it looks...

who knew that with a busy schedule one just runs in circles forgetting that they joined a challenge!

LOL

Today I am just really working on cleaning out the overwhelming crud out of my office closet.

What doesn't get donated to charity will be recycled. Old printer and some computer parts that I don't even remember what I got them for will be donated to the local school. Other stuff will recycle. Either way it will not be taking up personal space in my office.

I suppose that I am going to declutter the house eventually. Part of down sizing and simplifying things. Taking care of the psychic pollution as well as making it easier to open that closet without ducking things falling on my head.

The picture is of a cold hardy rose in my front yard. Making a valiant attempt to bloom even after a couple weeks of cold nights and snow happening on and off. Last year it bloomed until almost the end of November. If it has nice days perhaps it will again.

365...

Okay, my friend Rebecca (Crazy Rebecca on Ravelry and Etsy) has challenged herself to post a picture daily for 365 days... or maybe it is 365 pictures. I don't know really. But ... doesn't it sound like fun!

What can I possibly do but take up that gauntlet and see if I can keep up.

So here goes for day one!

Using an older picture because I did not charge up my camera batteries.

This one is a picture of the flowering quince at the street end of my driveway... why... well, it has been cold and yucky for most of the week. Not today though, today is beautiful and it promises to be lovely for a few more days too!

Off to get that lecture taken and get my lab done. School can be a pain I think, but I like it.

something of intrest

http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/antikythera/index.html
I think this is facinating... it has nothing to do with what I am usually blogging about but I found it remarkable.

I am just not really with the...

rat race right now. I am unable to really make myself want to do anything. Someone told me that I am suffering from ecoanxiety and it seems to make sense.

I am unable to work on my cable luxe sweater right now as the pattern has me stumped.

The garden looks awful because we had early snow and lots of hail this summer.

I am still in school and struggling to make myself finish up, but I will get it done.

Trying to not let my house fall in on me. LOL

Going to be making an attempt to sell the quilts and other stuff to generate the cashish that I need to get the wolf to back off my door.

Peace

Rain is here!

The nights are cool enough now that we have trees that are putting on the colors of fall. That the maple trees have begun their color change before the last week in July was a bit strange. I am unable to post pictures right now as there is an issue of getting them off my camera. I am looking into getting a new camera because of it.

The garden is still plugging away. The chest band on the green Cable Luxe Tunic has been finished and the bottom of the sweater is under way. (but just barely as summer has me paying more attention to the yard than my knitting.) The neighbor kids are itching to go shopping for new clothes for school.

My daughter has relocated her family to accommodate work, which is not so happy for me, but great for my Mom and other family members. She has moved to the midwest and is closer to kin.

All in all though life is grand.

I think I need to have a long talk with myself..

about procrastination. Some of the lack of photos is simply that we haven't had a good sunny picture taking kind of day in awhile. I don't have interior lights that work. Maybe I will get them in the next couple of days.

There was one heck of a thunder storm this afternoon and some areas are in flash flood warnings.

Still the zuchini are happily setting fruit and flowers. The cukes are also flowering but I have seen no sign of fruiting yet.

Started two crochet rugs. One from a old dyed cotton sheet and another from t-shirts cut to yarn.

Chest band for the cable luxe tunic ...

is finished. Pictures on Saturday!

BUG!

I have no idea what this handsome beattle is but would like to know. The picture is from my phone so it is not the best. He is an metallic antique gold and white. The best part is he hisses. Why he? Why not.

metamorphosis

Seems to be my big word of the day. Rather like a caterpillar that has been inactive for so long, I can feel something happening. I do not know what form it is going to take, but I am feeling more interested in life again.

This may take many forms and this blog may travel along with my interests in many different directions now.

I have so many things that I am making right now that it seems funny to list it here.

Current favorites are my garden and playing with plastic grocery bags.

Plarn seems to be a wonderful way to recreate the grocery bags into other items that I find useful. Often new grocery bags. A bit like my caterpillar... the humble plastic bag has served it's original purpose. Feeling rejected and lost it finds it's way to a quiet corner to sulk and wait. Upon being found it is transformed from plastic bag to plastic yarn (in a manner to graphic to tell the faint of heart) and is eventually knit into something that is once again serviceable. Metamorphed into a new purse, a bag to put garden tools in, a flower pot, a flower pot hanger, the possibilities are endless!

Happy Day of Explosive Celebrations!

NanoActivism

Someone I know introduced me to this word. It is all about doing that itty bitty part that you Can do to change something. That random act of kindness, or even just picking up a piece of litter and disposing of it properly. If everyone did a little bit, even one percent a difference would be world wide.

What could you do in your life to make a possitive change? Recycle, compost, garden, take an elderly neighbor to the store or out to lunch?

This is an old rose in my yard, fragrant and sweet. My wonderful neighbor Paul said he thinks the name was baby doll kisses. Even if it isn't the name is precious!

Here are a couple of fuzzy pics to help. I am going to need to find someone who has a steady hand to get better pictures.

I have a mock orange that has a real history. It came from the neighbor who has had the parent plant for about 50 years. The plant he has came as a start from his mother in laws garden, and was gathered around the time she got married. In the late 1800's. This single flowered form has the most lovely fragrance, but I don't know enough about mock orange to find a name for this plant.

It is planted in with roses and honey suckle and I think that must be what heaven smells like.

Roses

Opps one is the quince, but the other two are a small rose at the end of my sidewalk. It has no scent, and these orange-ish flowers. I would love to know what kind it is if anyone has a clue. The flowers look like little orange balls and do not really unfurl. They just open a bit.

Look the slacker with the MonSter is back!

Well at least I am trying to be back again. The garden is coming along well and I will post pictures when I find someone to take them so that they are not always so blurry. We are all on pins and needles here awaiting Angels birth. That makes for a jumpy household.
I am housebound today due to the chill and wet outside. Thankful for both today, as it is really needed moisture.
Trying to figure out what to do about those people who smoke cigarettes and leave the butts laying around the yard. It has become a real issue for me since I am spending a lot of time there now. Wouldn't be an issue if the niece and companion... and all of their friends didn't hang out here. I am finding that I am a horrible person when it comes to that conflict of interest. I love the kids, I want to see them and their children, I hate the poison smoke that they consume almost as much as the companies that they are pouring money into. I wish that they could see it my way. It is poison, it is litter, it is so bad for the economy and ecology of the planet. Addiction sucks.

Greetings Earth Dwellers...

It was always a joke between my brothers and sisters and myself. It was from some old space invasion movie. Still doesn't it make more sense now? I like to think of myself as dwelling on the Earth. To dwell... to remain for a time, to live as a resident, to keep the attention directed upon, to speak or write about insistently.... got to love Webster! I am not certain what form this awareness of dwelling is going to take in the long run, but for now it is enough that I am becoming aware enough to know that I dwell. I am not just here, or just living there, or gardening... I intend to dwell.

Spring snow has made all gone now...

and the yard is trying to leap into spring. I have a bit of damage on one bush that flowered hard last year. It woke up early with the warm weather, and has some serious cold damage. I was putting some compost on the grape vines and the air shifted. There was this wonderful smell. Following that I think I have a current in bloom. Picture sucks, but I will try again tomorrow to get one that is in focus.

Ahhhh.... those big spring snow storms...

well this one promises to stay until Saturday. The seedlings for this years garden are happily growing in the starter greenhouse in the living room. We can't set stuff out safely till the late part of May due to snows and frosts. Still it is going to give me a good jump on the growing season. Some of the things that are in containers already are some radish and carrots. Some salad greens are also growing. This weekend I have plans to also put some flowers into starters so that I have more happy bee goodies. Pollenators should be kept happy. I am still looking for someone that might want to share the yarden. So far no luck. I think that I am not hanging with the right old hippies. LOL
Green Cable Lux Tunic is on the needles, the chest band is finished, and I should get my stich markers made and the rest of the sweater started this weekend also.

Community is...

something I have been craving alot lately. Perhaps it is the gardener in me that no longer wants to weed alone. I am wanting to have a good hot cuppa with my knitting in my lap and discussing the ways of living a simple life with someone face to face. I think that as more and more people come to want a more sustainable lifestyle that having community is going to be of great value. It will be both a teaching tool and a place of fellowship. Somewhere you can exchange ideas on what grows best where, or how to harvest water without great expense. How to combine aquaculture and hydroponics ? So many ideas. Perhaps the idea isn't just to be someone that eats food grown locally, but someone that lives locally as well. I know that I can't be the only one out there that is thinking these thoughts. (right along with the one that says I need to replace my cord to download my camera) My mind races right along, and then hits the brick wall of to many possibilities and has to go take a nap.
Today I actually made great headway in putting my studio space together. With much help from the dogs I might add. I think I am going to be happy with the results if we stay where we are. Dear Husband was laid off Friday. Wish us luck.

Grow your own...

or how to have a Victory Garden at your house!
I reciently came across this:

"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels."*
- Oily Food, by Steven Hopp

somehow it hit me in the face like a dead carp. There really is something simple that can be done about the oil and gas thing. No real effort there, just good food!

So here I am wishing hard for spring time and planning my garden. The tea cozy is almost finished and at least one of my swaps is ready to go into the mail tomorrow. I feel all accomplished and stuff! My plans for the cardboard tea caddy are in place and I think I am going to have much fun with that challange.

Winter Blues

So here I am with my case of insomnia and my dreams of perfect gardens. I know that this is not what happens, but I am dreaming of summer. In the real world I will have cats, doxies, and bugs in it! Still, if you use what you have and grow what you can you are closer to being self sufficient I suppose. I have been looking into sustainable urban agriculture, some call it permaculture, techniques and I think that I can do this. Even in a smallish yard you can grow most of the veggies that a family would need in a year. Perhaps even chickens.

paranoia is my friend...

No real reason why. These past few weeks, perhaps months, I have become increasingly insecure about life in general. Being unable to really put my finger on why with out sounding like a moon bat, I have decided to do what I can where I am, with what I got. I plan to work toward an more self sufficient life style. I have decided to empower myself as much as possible by learning as much as I can. I am back in school. I have signed up to take citizen emergency preparedness courses. I have enough stash in my fabric to make a quilt that would cover my neighborhood. I have cheese making supplies and have some emergency food supplies put up. It is a start. This will be updated, perhaps in its own blog.

Sad news

That even though the pups had their shots. They got parvo. Only Peanut survived. Puck and Princess had not made sufficient antibodies yet. They past last week.

just some pics

These are some confusseled crocus and Harley on a rug. Peanut on the arm of the couch, and Puck and Peanut on the couch. It makes it hard to believe that they are from the same litter she is half his size.

This is a hanging basket that holds a jar candle. It throws the best spooky shadows at night. The bramble kind of stuff are roses. (alright so I am not so good at this) The mountain picture is Pikes Peak today I went outside bare footed to take this because it was almost 70 degrees out. It will snow in a couple of days, for a couple of days.

emergency preparation kits

or are you really crazy if you have one or do you make one because you hope to never need it for the reasons given? Just a thread in a group I belong to. We have several kinds of emergency kits made up. One medical, one grab and go bug out kind of pack for each of us, and a in home ride the storm out emergency box put together. There is one that is for throwing into the car in case of evacuation that has enough stuff to camp for two weeks in comfort. I have friends that think I am a paranoid and others that wish they had it put all together. With my health being iffy at some points in time, I am happy with the structure it gives me. I don't need to rush about to find that flashlight and candles. If a neighbor was hurt by the lawn mower I could do a compression bandage if I needed to... but who cuts grass in an emergency. I have my red cross certifications in first aid as does my husband, and I know that this is starting to read like a list of crazy as I am. I have survived hurricanes (it was a himacane that got me), and blizzards, and hope to never have to deal with tornado or mad max scenario's. I hope that I never need them, I rotate out what needs to be changed every six months. If I had a pick em up truck and fifth wheel I think I would just keep it located there. Still I know that if the government were not there to help me for a few days I would be alright. Paranoid... you bet ya. Really really a child of the 50's with family that went through a few wars and a depression that would rock ya. Do I have a drop spindle and some roving in it... yeppers... and some yarn and fabric and needles. Even a couple of small toys and some cards and domino's. Life goes on... going on with some kind of stress relief is a good thing. I don't plan to need any of it.. but should I it is there. Might want to make sure you have some too. Cause you won't need it but shouldn't have to worry. Not worrying is a very good thing.

www.change.gov

Please go and let the new president know what you are wanting to tell him. What is important to you... infrastructure, enviornment, food safety, small farm issues... they even have ufo disclosure. This way you will have a direct route to have your say, and know that you are not the biggest nut job going!

I am very concerned about the new laws going into..

effect on February 10th. These are going to put many many crafters in a bad place of having to either break the law or go out of business. I know some of the big box stores and large chains have a start on getting into compliance, but I also know of many small shop owners that are unaware of it all. It will effect resale and charity hard because items intended for use by children 12 and under will be halted. No toys, or even give aways will be allowed without the proper third party testing. My emotions are all over the place over this as I have been making chemo caps for kids and now I am having the charity I use beginning to hem and haw about the content. I don't import and use the naturalist materials I can find but I don't think that they are going to be exempt. I don't have the attorneys to fight it (cause I don't have the cashish) so I am going to be discontinuing my kids stuff.

The flu came to our house for the holidays...

Starting a new year with some recovery time. More later