bean&noodle

peachy goodness

My neighbor offered these up this morning as a trade for some of our plums. Deal! So now I will be making both plummy and peachy things during my staycation. Speaking of which, I have now compiled a list of things I'd like to do next week, but may just opt for numbers 8 & 12.

Donkey Hoti

This is Donkey Hoti, Roscoe's current longtime companion.

Donkey Hoti is not just another well-loved, matted soul in a long line of Roscoe's sad babies loves. He looooves her. He's always been somewhat of a serial monogamist.

First there was Polly Polka Pants. His first love.

She turned her back on him.

He soon hopped into a whirlwind romance with this little bunny.
For the record...I am not claiming to know the sexual preference of my dog, or the stuffies... it's just a story.

She knew she was just a rebound romance, but just couldn't walk away.

This next gal was just plain mean.

and who could forget sweet sleepy Ellie?

Apparently Roscoe, once he met this little chicken.

 

Ink on paper (and cow poop on the street)

The other day at lunch with one of our print sales people, we were all talking about how while we all may embrace digital content online, on a tablet or our phones, we are still drawn to holding a piece of actual printed material. That we're still attracted to the tactile experience of flipping through pages. I think most of us are. One of us mentioned being on a flight and watching a teenage boy wrapped up in his ipad tuck it away eventually and pull out a magazine to flip through.

Most of you know that I work in publishing, so of course am keenly aware of the impact digital content has on the printed word. I know that those of us who work in production and are involved on a day to day basis with printers have had some worries over this, but when it comes down to it... someone has to produce the content, whether it's for print, web, tablet or phone. 

The reason I even bother to bring this up is that while we were having this conversation over lunch, I was thinking about how I was still waiting to savor this book I'd received earlier in the week. I'm seriously one of those people that will not crack open a book or magazine until I have a proper moment to do so. This usually means a weekend morning with a strong cup of coffee and, if not outside, in my favorite red chair in the living room, in the corner with the perfect light. You see, it's still all about the whole tactile experience for me.

Oh, and by the way, if you have not ever seen Tif Fussell's blog Dottie Angel, you need to PDQ, or your day will be pants. 

Today is Elgin's Hogeye Festival, and I will be hawking tickets for Cow Patty Bingo. Don't know what that is? Google it. I know you're jealous.

Sing a Song of Six

Today marks 6 years that I have been prattling on in this space. Seriously, who'd have thunk I had this much to say about knitting, cooking, and digging in the dirt? I guess this year I'll be needing to add weaving & printing to that list. No rest for the wicked. One of the coolest things about this experience has been discovering other women who inspire me daily. Curl up with a cup of coffee tomorrow morning and takea few moments to visit the blogs you see to the right under "Blogs I Heart" before you start your day. You'll see what I mean.

I always knew one was looming in my future...

Last week, I finally got this 20" loom and had my first lesson at Yarnorama.

Behold... my first warp. My left hand selvage took a bit of work to get right, but it will get better. Lord knows my first knitted items were not my finest. Just ask my husband about the first pair of socks I knit for him. They had that perfect 80's slouchiness that I used to wear with my pink Reeboks to aerobics class. He did not fancy them.

This yarn has such an amazing sheen to it. It's amazing to me that the same yarn I used for these socks creates such a remarkably different fabric when woven. For the time being it's leaning against a bench in the studio, think I'll pick up the stand this week.

Burying the lead....

Sunday we drove with friends a few miles down the highway to Carmine for a little treasure hunting. Treasures were indeed found, some tin types, counter cards and a green McCoy planter. DH really wanted to go in a shop that was closed, so he called the owner to come open up. Sure, it was a great shop but I was happy enough with my finds, and quite frankly ready to head home. I was headed for the front porch and about tripped over this...

A Kelsey Excelsior Mercury model 3 x 5 Table Top Letterpress. I am sure I stammered a bit as I walked with the shop owner as he hauled it up to the counter so I could take a better look. It was pretty hard to contain myself... and yep, I know how incredibly geeky that sounds. After a bit of WD-40, she was fully operational. Her rollers need to be redone, but the chase, quoins and ink plate are still intact and seem in good condition. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have wanted one of these forlikeever. Ever since I first walked through the doors of Hatch Show Print about 13 years ago, on a cross country road trip with my sister Jessica, I knew I wanted to print.

and then there's the Baby Elton...

My friend Susanne and I took this workshop this past Saturday, with Stephanie Rubiano. So many ideas have been rolling through my mind since. I will show you the finished house when it's all stitched up.

Seriously, I had vacation time to use up and I manged to spend my time doing just what I wanted. I took a weaving lesson, finally painted the front posts and under the fur-downs in the kitchen, took an amazing workshop with my BFF, planted strawberries, blackberries, and more. I also managed to squeeze in some freelance work. I've been busy indeed, but busy is great when it's doing what you love.

I effing love my husband

Seriously... I have been knocked on my arse by cedar fever and an almost impossible publishing schedule at work. This leaves little or no time to ready my home for the 40 people I've invited to drop by on Christmas. So my sweet husband hired a friend who needs a bit of extra dough to clean our home today. It's such a great feeling to know I'll go home to a clean house....wow I could get used tho this. So now my Christmas Eve day is wide open... what to do, what to do....

Living Hand to Mouth in Paradise

Yesterday a friend asked me if I had a vacation highlight...

Time with K and P was so great, and I really loved sharing that part of the country with my husband. He'd never been there and was blown away at how spectacular and rugged the redwood coast still is. You'd think that would be the highlight, right?

But as always it's the everyday mundane fly on the wall moments that always amaze me and are imprinted on my mind. I really fell in love with Trinidad, population 311. We were at the Beachcomber Cafe as parents were dropping of their kids at the elementary school across the street. They were all coming in with their reusable togo cups (mason jars that the coffee shop sold for a buck) and filling out their index card, the locals were running tabs at the coffee shop. We took our mugs down to the end of the street by the lighthouse to soak it all in. The best cappuccino of the trip. After returning our mugs and picking up some bagels for our hike, we head to our car parked at the school. All of a sudden, about 40 crows swarmed the parking lot, a woman in a blue minivan rolled down her window and yelled, "I'll feed you in a minute!". She circled the lot with the murder of crows (god I love that) flying behind her down the road as she drove along, tossing out food. It was a sweet slice of life we caught that morning. I know I visited Patrick's Point often when I went to school there, but forgot what living hand to mouth in paradise looked like. It's pretty damn sweet, really.

pic by my husband

Seems Like Forever Ago

Yesterday at work I noticed that when I started to type in an email address the auto fill popped up with my mother's name first in queue. I mean it's been there since I keyed it in, right, but it feels like I only noticed it yesterday. A while later I realized it was the 3rd anniversary of her passing away, and I still have her number on my home phone too. I guess I'll erase them when I'm ready. I thought of my sister, Kelly and how much I admire her strength and how she is so giving. She was amazing when mom died, amazing.

A Sure Bet

 

There are few things that I love more than the beginning of golden afternoons, cool, crisp mornings, the crackle and pop of a firelogs and a carpet of leaves crunching under my feet. {insert sound of screeching brakes here}

A girl can dream can't she? Every year I am giddy with he approach of fall. Even though fall in Central Texas is not the showstopper it is in the Northeast, it still has it's moments. I cannot tell you how excited I am to see how the maples we planted in spring ignite... a blazing red tree is a rarity in these parts.

I am once again practicing my annual mantra of "It's fall damnit...somewhere". So, yes that's me digging out my cordurouys and perusing sweater patterns to knit. Yup, I'm the crazy woman in denial that while it may technically be fall, it's still kinda hot.

Steve and I are headed to Shreveport tomorrow to attend the wedding of a good friend. I think it's a sure bet that a wedding in crazy ass Louisiana may prove to be fun.

I'll let you know.

S

WEDDING UPDATE:

Few things are more quintessentially southern than eating raw oysters, fried chicken and cheese grits in a coktail dress. Yes, the wedding was fun.

Take My Hand...

Thanks to the new Target ads I can't get this theme song out of my head. I knew when I heard those first banjo plinks that it was Free to be You and Me, and I remembered all the words. What I didn't know is what an emotional connection I had with this song. Yesterday morning before work I had to look up the song and hear it in it's entirety. I immediately started to sob, really sob. Not sad painful tears, but I think happy ones. If you were in elementary school in the mid seventies you more than likely remember the series from PBS and probably got to watch it at school too. I can remember how much I looked forward to each segment. I was especially in Love with When We Grow Up with Michael jackson & Roberta Flack. Okay, it just struck me how damn sad and tragic the irony really is, but I digress. In 1974 my sister and I had been with our adopted family about a year, I was 9. I guess this series was just what I needed at a time when I felt like an outsider at school and home. Also wondering if the banjo was familiar to me at that age, since my mother had played one. Hmmm.

Thinking it's time to fix up my mom's banjo and learn to play.