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Five States in 5 hours

Seriously, we did. Such is the state of air travel in the US these days. US Airways called to let me know there was a two hour delay on the flight home from Newark to Las Vegas. We would have missed our connecting flight back into Portland that was scheduled to arrive at 2:00 am. Yes I meant to type am.

Ellie's flight was to arrive at 7:00 am that same morning.

What came next was a mix of taut TV style suspense, car chases and a little Keystone Kops thrown in for good measure. I can tell you now, with great authority, that Marc has cojones the size of planetoids and that they are steel reinforced.

The original flight was supposed to leave at 8:44 pm from Newark. We were already on Manhattan when the call came about noon. This was not a case of poor planning on our part. I contacted the airline to find out what my options were. When I explained my problem to the operator she told me twice, or was it three times that my flight would get into Las Vegas at 1:30 am. I already knew that part. I asked her for a last time how that affected my connecting flight to Portland. She transferred me to a specialist, but could not give me a phone number to try if I was disconnected.

You can probably see where I am going with this. I was disconnected.

I called again and was given the chance to fly out of Newark at 2:33 pm. We should have had plenty of time to make it. Plenty of time except for the Free Tibet protest. Marc was so expert, so nimble at weaving between taxis and buses and clueless non native drivers, that he and Blackbird (his Prius has a name) seemed joined at the steering wheel. He cajoled, waved, cursed and railed for a few extra inches. It was a sight to behold. And then there was the Free Tibet protest. An immovable object came up against my darling unstoppable force. We conceded. It wasn't likely to happen.

I called US Airways again. So sorry to report that we can't get out of Manhattan this way right now. Any other flights you can find? La Guardia at 3:00. Hmm probably not given it's a Friday and we would have to drive the length of the island again. Who knows who else might be protesting.

Marc mentions Philadelphia. Bingo, there is a flight from Philly to Portland at 6:00 pm. Never mind that it's almost a hundred miles away. We'll take it.

That my friends, was my first introduction to the New Jersey turnpike. Marc expertly weaves his way out of Manhattan through a wide open Lincoln tunnel and we say good bye to the island of Danielle's dreams. We find ourselves amidst the hellish reality of toll roads. What sadist thought these up I'll never know, but soon enough we are rolling down the road at lot's o' miles per hour along a stretch of Turnpike that has a minimum of 9 lanes on each side. OK, I'm exaggerating a little, but it was huge. Periodically it squeezes into the toll booth and all traffic comes to a standstill. We press on.

Near the end of the trip along the NJ turnpike I begin to see airplanes - several of them. It reminds me of seeing hawks lazily, but attentively, wheeling above looking for a meal. It's a good sign, we are not far now. I start to relax but feel a little wary of what other traffic nonsense might be out there. Before too long though, we can see the city of Philadelphia across the river and I know we will make our flight.

Better still, it's a direct flight that gets us into Portland at 8:30 pm without a single stop. Not 2:00 am the next morning after a Dawn of the Dead zombie shuffle through the Las Vegas airport. We shuttle to the hotel in Portland and drop where we lay. Ellie's flight is delayed two hours till 9:00 am, but it's ok, because we will pick her up and take good care with her after we rest.

It's been a great trip. A chance for Danielle and I to reconnect in a positive fashion that allows for the adult she is becoming. But more on that later. It's good to be home.

New Yawk Here We Come

Getting ready to leave for New York, it's scary and wonderful all at the same time. I'm looking at what I'm going to take for knitting and reading. I think it will be the Wing o' the Moth shawl and the book Atonement. A good knit and a good read.

My daughter was home today from Hawai'i and it was so fun to listen to her talk about everything in her life. She is ready to fly. I just need to work on giving her the space to stretch and exercise her wings.

I might be taking a spindle and some fiber to spin too. Haven't decided if that's a good idea or a waste of precious space in the suitcase.

I have too many thoughts and feelings to put them in the blog in less than the space of a week. I'm hoping that I can relax during this trip and let Danielle take the lead. I'll also be seeing a little of Boston and that's a new place for me.

I'll be off the air for a bit, unless I can snag the computer for a bit. Be well, be safe, be happy!

Tour de Fleece

TourdeFleece
Originally uploaded by corneliusfirst

At under an ounce total it's not a huge amount of yarn, but it was a blast.
The red is my nearly ten year old Romney dyed with cherry Kool-Aid in the microwave. The white is bamboo and is underplied :( The Cafe con leche is tussah silk and cotton. All spun and plied on hand spindles.

I have to say that this was a successful challenge for me. It re-introduced me to spinning and also got me going on my hand spindles and plying on them for the first time.

I have selected the tussah and cotton yarn for a sweater project. I'm going to knit it up and see what it says to me about what it wants to be. The Romney may have to wait for another little bit, the bamboo I'm still not sure what it wants to be.

I did bake a pie - basically reduced a flat of berries to a pie, marionberry biscuits and anyberry jam. It's been a great weekend.

Doing what comes naturally

That's going to be me. I successfully created wool and bamboo yarn and I hope to bake a pie and dye the yarn this weekend. It's supposed to be cooler that usual so I won't heat up the house.

Not sure what I will use to dye the yarn, but we'll see. I'm also hoping for some out and about time. May all your dreams come true

The Bearable Lighntess of Being

I don't know if you saw that movie, the Unbearable Lightness of Being. They made a rough approximation of the book starring Daniel day Lewis. It's only now in my 50's that I have an understanding of all of the themes of the book. The book was wonderful, rich and nourishing to the soul.

My days are lighter than usual, and the weather is soft and welcoming. Berries are in season, and I haven't even picked any yet. I think I need to make a pie and freeze it for my kids to enjoy.

I haven't been baking - or cooking - much. But now with the kids gone, and my Sweetie back in Baltimore I am finally relaxing into a non-schedule of floating where I will.

It's good stuff. I'm going to try and do much more of it this weekend.

My world resumes spinning on it's axis

It's been a rough week or two. I think I've finally come out of my funk about Andi and so I've resumed being a human instead of someone hiding from the rest of the world and surreptitiously weeping.

And.....drum roll......Andi the bird has an interested party. Someone has noticed Andi and taken a shine to them down at the Avian Medical center. I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from me. Of course we'll have to see how it goes. This process is different from human adoptions in someways (less cost and paperwork) but similar in others (falling in love with your oh-so-hoped-for-to-be-new-addition-to-your-family). I pray that all things go well and that Andi will soon be in a home with another budgie so they can hang out and be pals together. It's not too much to ask.

Spinning is going well, I've committed to spindling enough yarn for a sweater - Buahahahahah! Yeah I know. I'm going to enjoy these next two weeks of relative peace and quiet. Then the world really does resume spinning madly. Soon - New York and Boston. My daughter will search for colleges, I will search for yarn.

Can't remember the last time this happened

I worked on my handspun bamboo today. I tried a center pull ball for plying and used a hand spindle to perform the plying. It was a bit of a knotted up mess, but the finished product was terrific for my first try at the fiber. I've put it into a warm bath and it's now hanging in the shower to dry.

I looked up to see what time it was and it was only 3:00. I've spent the morning cleaning the house and working in the yard and expected it to be like one of my normal way too busy, way to much stuff to do day. I accomplished the things I wanted to and still had time to lose myself in the act of creating yarn.

Yummy! I consider my Tour de Fleece to have been a total success and it's not even over yet.

Glad for a break in the action

Last night was better, although Andi isn't better yet. Yes I keep calling to check on her. I did manage to scratch the car though. It totally bummed me out. The bikes fell forward onto the hood and put a little scratch and the smallest little dent.

I also have a big planter/urn that has decided to plug and won't drain the water out. This is the herb pot and I don't think it will be replanted this year. We have a giant rosemary plant named Audrey (FEED ME!), another sage plant but no parsley. But at the rate I've been cooking it doesn't really matter. I haven't wanted to make food and experiment like last year.

All of my free time is taken up with knitting.

I had a peanut butter and jam sandwich for dinner last night. It's pathetic. Maybe I need to get a cookbook with 1001 delicious vegetarian meals for one person.

Knitting and spinning is going great. Although I seem to be undoing as much as I'm getting done in the knitting department. I'm taking it as an experimentation in design, try this, frog it, try that, frog it, find the thing I can live with. Tour de Fleece has been a good kick in the pants to get spinning on a regular basis again and I don't need to spend much time doing it to make progress. I've been in love with the bamboo, now that I've figured out a way to reliably spin it. It comes out thin and fairly even.

More pics soon

Shot from a cannon

So when it goes bad around here it goes from bad to worse. Last night I left work expecting to work from home. This morning, thankfully I took a shower early instead of waiting and went to plug in my computer and I turned it on.

No power cord.

Now as much as I love to think computers can do anything, I am not delusional enough to think they can run without juice.

I had waited to do everything else and suddenly it needed to be done in 20 minutes. Water the plants, let the dog out one more time, pack lunch and gym clothes, gulp tea.

I got here to work with my zippers zipped and my most everything I needed but I felt like I had a case of metaphysical whiplash. I am still feeling the disconnection - like I'm not quite all there. It also makes me want to stay home instead of going out to Sip and Stitch. I need a good talking to from myself.

Last night was no easier for me. I miss little bird so much, and I don't have any decent pictures of her to post. The house seems so big and empty.

Working through the feelings

I didn't outright bawl when I went into the house, but I did avoid the upstairs for a good long while. The vet's office called and kind of scolded me for dumping Andi bird on them because she would be hard to place, but I had few choices and all of them were worse than this one.

I sat on the couch and quietly knit most of the night with the dog as my ottoman. It was good. I'm going to try and do more of the same tonight. It's therapeutic, just as the Harlot has spoken about. Meditative.

I did have to maneuver around the giant hole I felt had opened up in the earth - it feels very real, although, of course, it isn't.

I'll wait for things to feel better.

One of the saddest days ever

This morning I drove my much beloved parakeet Andi off to the Avian Medical Center for the last time. I bawled through the whole conversation with the nice woman behind the desk - it embarrases me no end that I can't keep it under control.

Andi has had medical problems costing over 1,000 dollars since April of 2007. I have taken her to the vet at least 10 times since the problems started. The last time the bird specialist/vet let me take the medication home and I was able to begin treating her as soon as her troubles started. She rallied for a few days but this morning she was on day three of not eating and I just had to make the decision.

I still have to call her my daughter and tell her.

Andi was with us for almost 8 years. When she was well she was one of the cheeriest sights known to man. She was bright, spring green with banana yellow and her playfulness will stay with me always. My favorite recent memory was of her coming home from the vet and riding on the steering wheel so she could "drive" the car.

She will be adopted out. I think she is more suited to a home that has other birds and where people are home more during the day. I think that she suffered from depression when she was alone for too long and that made her get sick more easily.

So I packed everything up for her and put the table her cage sat on into a corner where I wouldn't see it as readily. I'm going to miss her so much it make me cry just thinking about it, but my life is taking a different turn. I want to travel more and bringing in another bird would have meant double the responsibility and double the cost. My children are on their way out on their own wings and their schedules don't include bird fussing.

I will have a hard time tonight walking in to an empty place in front of my bedroom window. I can stop temperature controlling that room now. I'll miss our time together each morning when she sat on her high perch at the edge of the shower and chirped for me as I started my day.

I'm hoping someday I'll have another bird for a pet when I travel less and I'm not so busy. A little green and yellow budgie

Tour de Fleece entries

Tour de Fleece entries
Originally uploaded by corneliusfirst

So here it is, my paltry spinning from this week. Plus it's undyed so it doesn't look like much. But someday it's going to grow up to be a hand dyed skein. The plain vanilla spindle holds my 10 year old Romney (hey the challenge was to spin from stash right?) And some bamboo acquired at Black Sheep Gathering in June.

Got Yarn?

My yarn filled box o' fun arrived from Blue Moon last night. In the box was also a binder and other fun things, like a NSK (notorious sock knitter) sticker or two.

My niece Georgia, who is now in her 20's is the muse for the way I feel opening the box. When she was 5 she had a freckled face and curly hair. When she was happy she would nearly shake with excitement, her shoulders lifted up to her ears. Her face sported an ear to ear grin that said it all. This is the coolest, most fun thing EVER!

If you could see me right now, that's the look I've got, shoulders lifted, goofy grin and shaking with excitement. I brought the binder with me to work. I think any non-knitter would take a look at the binder and cry OCD, me I just smile and dig in. This woman has work she loves and she is fully immersed. I'd love to know that feeling.

In Tour de Fleece news - children cover your eyes - I managed to spin, knit and "christen" our new bed last night. Sigh! It was fabulous, and I'm not just talking about the yarn.

Sip and Stitch Wednesday's

Our Wednesday evening group has moved to the food court area at Hagen's from Starbuck's. We were really starting to take up too much space in the back.

I was able to spin on the hand spindle for a bit sitting with everyone. The spindle is getting quite full. now I'm wondering if my idea to Andean ply will work since it will leave me with a folded end that will be difficult to graft together.

That will be something to ponder over the next week or so. Do I just tie it in the middle?

I'm also trying to think about what I might want to use to dye the resulting skein, if it's workable. Hmmmm very fun to contemplate.

Making Progress - except for pictures

I was able to get quite a bit of spinning in with the hand spindle. I did a little research on Andean plying and I think that is the route I will take when this is all done. My bobbins are filled with 'practice spinning of different fibers. I think it's going to take me getting my wheel upgraded to get that mess taken care of. Then I'll be forced to take the singles off and do something with them or delve deeper into combing fibers together to begin spinning cotton and silk, or silk and bamboo or...or...or...

Spinning from stash is cool when you have stash.

Sucker

I signed up for the Tour de Fleece. I need to make room for several consecutive days of spinning while the tour is on. It may be a way to get me into the habit for longer than a day or two. Here's to hopin'

Yard is definitely looking good. The bark dust is in, the drip irrigation is in. A littl emore planting to do and we'll be done!

I knit for awhile on the wing o the moth last night. It was a little bit less that relaxing at first because I dropped a bunch of stitches right up front. I had to unkit back a row or two to get them back onto the needle. In the end I got to the next level 6 repeats down, only 9 more to go for this pattern. I think I'll need to buy longer circulars.

Yard word is Hard work

We've been humping bark dust and planting plants. I'm filthy from head to toe and loving every minute of it. Now I am sore and not moving as well as I would like.

Wing o' the moth shawl is progressing nicely, Sauvie Island socks are sleeping. Not much time to knit when I'm filthy, but here and there I am getting some in.

I was able to log into the Blue Moon Rockin Sock Club blog today!!! Yarn is being dyed for the previous patterns so it'll be awhile before I see them, but they will arrive and I'll have more projects on the needles than I ever dared.

Four Day weekend

I know that Summer Afternoon are supposed to be the loveliest words in the English language, but honestly I think 4 day weekend has them beat by a mile. Combine 4 day weekend and Summer Afternoon and you will truly have me on my knees in appreciation.

I am now officially a Notorious Sock Knitter - a member of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin Sock club. I didn't know much about it earlier and now I do I want to go to sock camp. To say it sounds like a lot of fun is an understatement. Hanging out with other knitters in a housework free, childless environment.

Almost too much fun to bear.

So more yard work, and then I promise pictures of the yard. I hope to have some fun and sleep this weekend.

I can't wait for the sock yarn to arrive. For me because I joined late it will come all at once and I will struggle (in a fun way) to catch up. Drowning in a sea of yarn. Too great.

The attention span of a gnat

I'm supposed to be sipping a mint julep in my lounge chair right now. Instead I spent the better part of the evening shoveling bark dust (mulch) around my yard. It's OK I knew the job was dangerous when I took it (obscure Super Chicken reference alert). Super Chicken Wikipedia In order to have a nice backyard, you have to work like a dog for an eternity or two or three.

This is my eternity.

However, I was rewarded by a view of the yard as I passed by last night. Damn it's looking good. There are some rough spots, yet, which I hope to dispatch this weekend. And then we will have to find some patio furniture to support the afore mentioned drinking of cold beverages.

No pictures yet, we've got a few more spots to make it really photogenic.