getting ready to board

Please go over to Nadine's blog for the 3rd Tour of France.      http://jocondine.blogspot.com   It's a fun game to play along.   Travels through France are delightful.  And Nadine's drawings and work setting it up, well amazing!

Bonne chance!

blowing in the wind

For this first Monday of June sunshine and blue skies ...so nice....except it's stayed windy all day (and cold unless you're in the sun)  so how to take advantage of the situation.... make it a fleece wash day.  I carefully opened  my box of Blaise fleece and removed enough to put in two basins.  A cold soap soak followed by a hot soap soak and then a rinse soak.  The excess water has been removed from both lots and they're currently air drying in a mesh bag/hangers.

Lovely to work with.  I can't wait to see what it's like to spin with.  Thank you to Michelle of Boulderneigh  for your Shetland sheep    https://boulderneigh.blogspot.com  and of course to Blaise.

The week is off to a great start!

till next time......

welcome June!

It's a new day,  it's a new month ....

no sunscreen required

Mother Nature has decided that we need a sprinkle of rain (lol) as it's been closer to monsoons and darn well cool (11 C).  Enough so that even on the tv weather report it was suggested to bundle up before heading outdoors.   This is the end of May right??   Brighter days ahead, well at least that's what is in the forecast.

So far today I've worked on my wool roving stash.  Both listing what I have and making it fit into a three drawer storage unit (of course it will fit, really just another push)   It is a work in progress .........perhaps I should learn to spin in my sleep. 


The other day my spouse came home with a dozen roses. Definitely a surprise.  The fragrance is lovely.  Currently they're sitting on a table just outside the slider door, sort of a natural cooler allowing the blooms to slowly open. 

Of course there has been spinning.  Two Swan spindles in use for plying.  On the left Mouse Ears plyed weighing in at a net of 72 grams and Blake weighing in at a net of 100 grams.

I've a few small singles of Blake that I'm plying and then done.  Upcoming will be a spa day for all the plyed wool.   It's the best kind of laundry day.


In the garden there is progress. Sweet peas are up. Likewise beans and pickling cucumber.  While at the local home improvement store I spent time in the seed section.    Believe it or not I did keep to the list.   Three packages of seeds selected for our grandson's garden boxes. Sunflower Munchkin, Carrot Little Finger and Bean Rattlesnake.  Also I've started two potatoes in the dark of the cupboard to that the boys can plant these as well. 

Looking outside it appears the rain has stopped and it's almost bright(er).  And the day is yet young.

till next time .......

something new

While our weather continues sunny and cooler it seemed the perfect time to try new recipes....two in two days.   Yesterday strawberry muffins, a recipe I found on once upon a chef by Jenn Segal.  Good recipe/results.  I doubled the recipe for 12 muffins and one 8 x 8 cake.  The cake needed an hour at 375 F.  Parchment muffin pan liners worked really well.   The best part is that they freeze well.

This morning New England Hot Dog buns (without the specialty pan).  I used the Buttery Hot Dog Buns recipe from King Arthur Flour.  And here's the result........

I doubled the recipe and will freeze one tray.   They more or less look right.  Each bun is then toasted on the sides and cut top down (through three quarters) and add your filling.   yum!  Tonight it will be either Basil  shrimp or Shrimp Salad. 

Both recipes are keepers.

that's about it for now......have a good week!

behind the hedge

It is the simple things that bring pleasure.   

Sunshine, blue skies (maybe some warmth on the temperature gauge)  and on the patio...Spurt is up and running again this year.  I've always enjoyed fountains and this little solar one is a great compromise.   The water dish is just an old plant saucer and the base is part of an old indoor/outdoor vac (thanks Dad).

Behind the hedge, seeds planted are now sprouting (even if the packet says best before, give it a try and plant them anyways),  the fragrance of the lilac still lingers, the hummers visit often and overhead views of eagles gliding the currents.   Simple pleasures.

till next time.....

To Moms everywhere

May daze

And here we are, it's May, sunny skies and warmer weather.....


Much time has been spent doing the patio shuffle to create spaces.  Definitely a work in progress. 

The area outside the family room feels right like this is where we're meant to be.

The view further down the patio.

And beyond the gate, blooms to come

The blooms on this lilac are lovely and the fragrance  is divine.

Once the gaps are filled with annuals, seeds planted  and maybe a string of solar lights hung then this year's patio will be good to go.



My hand spinning continues.  With DH's help cutting and drilling I now have a simple plyboard for plying turtle singles.  Not a fancy piece of work but it does the job nicely.    Spacing is such it will take standard bobbins as well.

And now I know where my times goes..........

till next time.....

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

Colored eggs to enjoy.   This year I tried the cool whip and food coloring method.  It works quite well.  The suggested presoak in vinegar does make the colors brighter.

Easter turtles.   My hand spinning continues.

And today's spinning project Mouse Ears.

Out on the patio......

Today has been sunny and warmer (well a bit, 16 C feels pretty good).  You can almost smell the lilac fragrance. 

Blossoms up close.  Another view from the end of the patio.

 

The fig tree is showing promise.

A Sully kind of day......sunshine, a blanket and a buddy to sit with.

till next time....

April showers

Spring is here and so is the rain.  We can't complain as March was the second driest on record and now we're catching up a bit.  But would it be too much to have just a touch of warmth outside?  9 C feels darn well cold...enough so that the heat in the house has been turned up.

The gazebo has been moved back to a corner position and seems to be holding in place.  Fingers crossed that this will be ok.  We've considered buying sandbags to anchor the posts.

The rest of the patio areas are a work in progress.    The outer garden, left and right....

 
That whole 'less is more' doesn't seem to be working too well.

A resident ladybug adopted a new hellebore.

Another hideout .....





...and on the move. 

I'm not sure how impressed it is with my coming round so often with the camera

And when the skies do clear and we get a view like this, it makes it all worthwhile.

Hand spinning has not been forgotten.  All things Blake, beautiful roving to work with  from singles to two and three plys  and now the box is done.

There are still singles to be plyed along with a spa day for completed skeins.  And then "What to make?"

Haunui Half Breed   Sabine  

That rainy day feeling.

till next time.....