Congrats, Bonnie -

Sometimes you have friends that you spend a lot of time with and then for one reason or another, they fade away.  In this case, I guess it was divorce and the ex-husband got us in the separation.

But I'd like to give a nod to an old friend Bonnie & her partner Ellen who were married Sunday on the steps of the Whatcom County Courthouse, as Ref. 74, allowing same sex marriage went into law on Sunday night. 

To quote Bonnie :The law caught up with love". .  You go, girls. 

Monday Musings

Last month The Shepherd & I went to a special concert given by our friend Lydia McCauley and her current music partner Nancy Rumbel. It was an open air concert at a charming little Italian restaurant out on the Mt. Baker Highway. Truth be told, I didn't really enjoy the food all that much - but the music was fantastic, the evening was lovely and the bread was good -

It was kind of an anniversary celebration for us, as on our anniversary in April The Shepherd was sick in bed. All in all, it was a fun evening.


This little lady has fleece as white as snow - just like "Mary's little lamb" - her name is (Little) Eva - and she's going to be a contender for the BEST fleece next summer at Black Sheep. Her fleece is very much like her Uncle Galloway's fleece - a fine crimpy fleece - BSG, here we come!








I led the service yesterday at church. It was our end of the summer service (we only have two services during the summer) - and everyone who was there contributed - it was fun to hear how Laura, a 70 plus year old great grandma went on a zip line ride in Costa Rica - I mean really - you couldn't get ME to do that - You absolutely rock, Laura! - and another friend, whose daughter & granddaughter visited from England, fell in love with that little girl all over again. Oh, you grandparents - sheesh...



Well, speaking of children - aren't these two just so sweet - George has now decided if Gracie gets to sleep with Mummy at night, George gets to sleep with Mummy at night too - sometimes I wake up and cannot move my legs - It takes me a minute to figure out that I'm not paralyzed, I just have a 10# weight on each side holding me down.

They are pretty good about coming in at night - sometimes teasing me - one will come in and the other one disappears and no amount of calling will get him or her in until they are good and ready.

Here are some more of this year's lambs, with Vanessa from last year in the back.

Wendy, they black one in the front has changed colors again - according to The Shepherd, she has three colors in her fleece now - I'll have to go out with him one of these afternoons - I'm sure she wouldn't let me touch her by myself.

Her half brother Blanco went to the big BBQ in the sky last week. I just try to think about it that we gave him a very good life for the first 5 months of his life, and hope that the fellows that bought him will humanely end his life.

My friend Diane (who happens to work in the tech services department of our local Voc-Tech college) came over to visit on Saturday, and helped me put my new W I D E screen FLAT monitor together with my new/refurb computer. I had to get the new monitor because the new-to-me computer was not a tower style, and would not have worked with the old Gateway monitor that I had, which was AS BIG AS A HOUSE! It always seems like every time you upgrade one thing, another has to go...

I am grateful l that she was here, I'd never have been able to figure it out myself. Thank you Diane - I owe you a lunch! (at least...)

Well, that about catches you up on all the "noos" that Gracie hasn't imparted - I'm busily spinning and crocheting and now on top of the things that I'm making for the Artisan's Faire I have special orders for six pairs of fingerless gloves. Yikes!

Oh, and five more posts and I'll have 700 posts! Double Yikes!

Is there a Patron Saint for Lost Earrings?

This sweet little earring was my Valentine's present from The Shepherd - Actually the PAIR of earrings was my present -

We got them a couple of weeks ago when we went on a "Saturday Drive" - something that we haven't had a chance to do for a long time - both have been so busy on the weekends -

We stopped in LaConner at the Skagit (pronounce the "g" like you would in "George") county museum where they were having an exhibit of NW Native American Arts & Crafts - really some beautiful weaving and carvings - and I fell in love with this little pair of earrings. If you click on the picture to biggify it, you will see that the brown "thing" at the top of the earring is actually a rose made out of cedar bark ribbons. With the turquoise butterfly, I thought it was a nice combination of NW & SW Indian art - but they have kind of a funny bend on the wire and the times that I have worn them, I have caught the one almost coming out of my ear a couple of times - so I don't know why I didn't snag a couple of the "rubber grommets" that I have on some of my other earrings that do that, just didn't think about it I guess.

Well the other day when I got home, I realized that I only had one earring. Oh man, I was so mad and so disappointed - I had only worn them twice and already one was gone.

I imagined it somewhat like a lost animal - "Oh, here I am - don't you see me?" - We looked all along the driveway and I shook out my vest and coat - no luck. Darn. And I knew that if it was lost in the parking lot at work the guys would probably just walk right by it (that is if they didn't step on it first)...not real observant, those guys...

Well, the Patron Saint of Lost Earrings must have heard my prayers - when I got to work. I tried as much as I could to retrace my steps from the night before - no earring - but when I got to my office and looked around - THERE IT WAS, on the floor under my desk. How lucky was that???

Next time, I'll be more careful!

OLYMPIC UPDATE: One of my co-workers and his family spent the day in Vancouver yesterday at the Olympic village. They had a fabulous time - walked about 12 miles - visited all the "Hospitality Rooms", and just generally had a bang up time for "O" dollars. No time for watching Olympics tonight - it was choir practice then doing some computer work - but the Canadians got another GOLD - good for them!

What I took for Show & Tell

These are the four skeins of yarn that I took to our last Spinner Guild meeting for Show and Tell. (none of these have been washed yet) From left to right:

(white) Luna's prize winning fleece that was "over" processed into sliver or pin drafted roving - it's full of little noils but they seem to help add to the texture of the yarn. I'm going to make this into a scarf for someone who purchased it at last year's church auction.

(turquoise) This is some Blue Faced Leicester that was part of the first yarn project that I spun when I took my second spinning class a couple of years ago. It was very poorly plied and when I took the class from Judith M-M last month, she mentioned that yarn could be replied - well, by golly, it worked pretty well. I'm going to make a pair of slippers for myself from it.

(dark brown) That is Moni's fleece from last year. I'm going to just start spinning up all our Shetland fleeces so it is available to use for projects - like another vest for The Shepherd (if he'll ever let me get the measurements for the first one...) I also have a Shetland color sampler project in mind that I'd like to make -

(lite blue/pink) This is from some corriedale cross combed top that I got last summer at BSG. Wow, it was really fun to spin - and I know that is directly because of the November class - letting loose of the killer grip that I had previously used - (you spinners will know what I mean) I have about 1 1/2 pounds of yarn - and had originally purchased it with making something for our god-daughter in mind - probably a hat (for outside) and a little shawl (for inside).

That's all for now. This next week I have my church newsletter, my spinner guild newsletter, end of month billing and payroll at work, so you probably won't hear much from me til after the new years. Gosh I can't believe that it is about to be 2010 - Do you remember the hysteria about Y2K??? Now the hysteria is about 2012 - Well, I guess we'll find out in a couple of years, huh? Anyhow, Happy New Year's to everyone.

More Random Thoughts....

It's cold out - probably as cold as it was two years ago when I took this picture from our front door. It's 36 degrees out, but gusty winds out of the north east (we're talking Arctic winds here - brrrrrr)

It's 'sposed to stay cold (low 30's & 40's for a week - but sunny - yay for sunny)







Here is another good book to read - Louise Erdlich "The Painted Drum" - The simple plot: The story of an Ojibwe drum- it's tales and travels, and how it makes its way back into the right hands.

The complex plot: how Native Americans were/are treated - sometimes hard to read - hard to justify how people could act that way towards others.

I haven't read any of her other books, but I understand that this is her 11th novel. It was well worth my time.

A co-worker has loaned me the CD's of "Three Cups of Tea" written by by David Oliver Relin (my co-worker's nephew!) about Greg Mortenson's program to promote peace in the world by building schools - starting in Afghanistan. I will listen to it while I spin.

I think I need to spend more time out taking pictures of the critters - this is the only picture I could find of H.B. and it's almost a year old.

The girls must all be settled because "The Boys" are getting restless - banging on things and on The Shepherd (bad Cooper!) - Anyone want a handsome HST ram? He needs a home so The Shepherd can transition the yearling's into the ram pasture. Rams - can't live with 'em, can't leave them by the side of the road...



Meanwhile, Sinda is MAD at me - she needed a worming pill and today was the day to do it.

For such a small cat, she can put all 8-9 lbs. behind NOT taking a pill.

I had her wrapped in a towel to try to keep her front claws from tearing us apart - could NOT get her mouth open - She is so very stubborn about taking pills - and the last time I checked worm shots cost about $40 - We tried one of those Pill holders - but my vet tech assistant (The Shepherd) was only able to get it into the side of her mouth where she would tuck it in and then spit it out! Finally, bruised (Sinda) and bloodied (The Shepherd and myself) 10 minutes later, I finally scooped out some Gerber baby food, chicken flavor - her favorite - and enticed her to open her mouth. I don't know - maybe that $40 would be worth it...

Finally, I've had 24,917 visitors to my blog over the past couple of years - I'm thinking maybe I should have a contest for the 25,000th visitor. I get between 15 & 30 visitors a day - but you're going to have to leave a comment so I can figure out who it is - may be two prizes - one who guesses the day & time and the one who is actually the 25,000th visitor. I'm thinking some nice artisan chocolates from Chocolate Necessities - our local gourmet chocolate company might do the trick - if I can't get people to comment on content, I'll bribe you with chocolate.

I hope you are having a good weekend, where ever you are.