How I Spent my Summer Vacation (part deux)

This is my garden ... and so I am busy weeding and canning and freezing. You would think I was feeding an army and not just the DH and I.

I had some cute little chicks that showed up with their proud MaMA one morning :

(this is what blogger refuses to load ... so imagine a big gold chicken with 2 little gold chicks and one little white one ... very cute ... eating ... by the barn)

And I went to .... ALASKA!!! It was so incredibly beautiful. And I met some fab people and I was able to spend a week with my dear friend Brenda of Cast-on fame. The glaciers were amazing .. there were real icebergs and sea otters. I cannot begin to describe the fun that I had. And there was yarn buying ... and lots of it. We were like a plague of locusts everywhere we went.

I have apples to pick and yarn to dye and now summer is almost over. I have two new socks on several sets of needles and a sweater to work on. Plus a trip to Germany and to Wales to plan .... so it's off we go ..... till later!

Hearing the grass sigh

I think, perhaps, the moonlight

Is too beautiful.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation ...

So ... no I did not fall off the face of the earth but spring and summer are very busy times here. Just to catch up ... here are a few new faces around the farm. This is Bob and Billy Bob:








They are my new calves and when they first came here to live they truly looked like little deer. They are a Jersey cross and I will keep them for about 18 months or so.

Blogger refuses to upload any photos again today so I will wait till tomorrow to try to catch everyone up on the farm.

On my needles I have the River Forest Gansey from Handknit Holidays. I am knitting it using Knit Picks Andean Silk ... a blend of 55% superfine alpaca. 23% silk, 22% merino in a beautiful colour called Hyacinth. halfway up the first sleeve and it looks wonderful. Also I am trying to knit up enough socks to get through the winter ... which looks like it could start as early as next week. Geesh!

My good friend Dawn has opened an Etsy shop for me ... check the side bar for link ... and I am SO excited. I love to spin and knit and am hoping to enable as many people to do that with me as I can. Come and check us out.

Every blade of grass

Under it's burden of dew

In time - each springs free.

Hail! Hail! The gang's all here!

So, let's go back to October ... the friend of mine who had my sheep sells them back to me and offers to put them in with his ram as soon as they have been sheared. Ok ... sounds great! They are supposed to go in with the ram the 1st of November ... don't make it till the 7th ... OK, no problem ... no lambs then till after the 7th of April. I can do that. Fast forward to today ... the day my last ewe has her lambs and I can announce that my 2008 lambing is at an end. Yep! Divine intervention you say? Naw .... seems he had left a ram lamb in with all of the ewes on the assumption that he was too young to do anything of any consequence. And we all know what happens we "ass-u-me" something. So here they are ... my newest pack of wild woolies:

This is Jasper with his mother Gabrielle (Gabby).

She thinks he is pretty cool ... and he is very bored being the only baby and so drove everyone crazy wanting them to keep him amused until ...

Lilly and James arrived. They are a week old here and their mom, Mattie, already lets them run with their friends. Lilly was very small when she arrived but is doing great now. James thinks that he should be in charge of everyone. Then just when I thought it might be going to slow down ...

Buelah decided to have twins also. However one of them was lost to us.This little beauty is Rory. One of the things that makes Rory so special is that he is white. All of my sheep are coloured and have been for generations so he is a bit of a throwback.

Agnes, not to be outdone, had twins also. This is Sean and Seamus. They are very tiny but very active and driving their mother crazy by refusing to anything she wants them to do. Today was their first day out in the pasture and they started out a bit surprised by how big the world was outside their pen but they are busy exploring all of it now.

And this morning Isabelle decided she was tired of doing all of the waddling ... and so she had Curly. The name may not stick ... we shall have to see.

So, I am all finished. As are "the Girls". And I shall be even happier in a few days when I know that they are all going to be ok. Life is full of surprises ...

By the lilly pond

The flash of goldfish - lost

In the falling rain.

No Rest For the Wicked

The last month has been full of stress and tragedy ... and a little quirkiness ... and some creativity. I am glad, quite frankly, that it has passed. My birthday is this month and usually I milk it for all it's worth ... like every other 4 year old that you know. This year though ... there is no joy in my life to celebrate. It will be a day like any other. Compounded by the fact that my work has asked me to attend 2 days of corporate meetings that just happen to span my birthday ... so I will spend it in a hotel room knitting ... which I think will be fine ... a bit of peace and quiet and time to reflect on the next 50 years.

As for the quirkiness ... Rupert wandered off a few weeks ago only to be replaced by my newest erstwhile suitor ... Quintus ... the quail.

He sits outside the dining room window and calls and calls all day. He is very devoted although somewhat confused I dare say. The kestrel has been gone for several weeks but I hope he will be back soon. And I hear Rupert in the evenings but he has given up his vigil by the barn completely.

On the creativity front I finished a pair of socks using some yarn from Ceyeberfiber's MamaE in the Brenda's Fire colourway:

In a twisted rib ... I think they turned out nice and several other people have requested a pair so I suppose I had better get started for next Christmas.

Then there was the other side of the creativity front. I started dyeing again and am having huge fun with that.

I found a colourway that I really love and could not think of what to call it. I had meant for it to resemble the sweet cherries that they grow in Japan but every time I look at it I think of salsa and fresh tomatoes. My husband suggested I call it "Socko de Mayo" ... and so I will ... and here it is:

The second colourway I have been calling "Miami" as it is a very pretty shade of coral. We shall see, though, if that name sticks. I will be dyeing more next week ... and will post that as soon as I can. In the meantime ... I am off to work ....

Cold rain -

From the pond in my head the

Sound of Basho's frog.

The Uninvited Guest

The Holidays here were hellish and are best left unaccounted for. But I can assure you that they do serve eggnog in Hell ... albeit alchohol free. Next time I will be bringing my own brandy let me assure you.

We have had several new arrivals here in the last few weeks. The first was a kestral who turned up in the chicken coop and whom I was able to catch and then release ... and then catch and release two days later for the same reason. I assume he is chasing the little sparrows and not watching where they are leading him. I was able to have the Husband snap a few pictures and then I let him go. He, amazingly enough, did not try to kill me or peck or otherwise break free. And it was SO exciting to see him up close. So here is another picture.

I was very surprised at how truly small he was. Very fast though as I see him swooping and diving amongst the little birds every afternoon looking for his dinner.

We live on the edge of a raptor preservation area and so have quite a selection of hawks, eagles, and owls. The owls occasionally catch a chicken or rabbit but they are amazing creatures to watch.

The other guest is a pheasant who showed up last week and spent several days pacing up and down in front of the chicken coop. So, I decided to open it up and see what he would do. He promptly ran in and set up house. The chickens ignored him and he left them alone. Then after a few days he wanted out so I let him out.

Now he has taken to following me everywhere I go ... to the point where the neighbors are starting to talk. I almost fall over him if I turn around too fast. I think he must have been raised by someone but no one I know out here raises them so I am not sure. There is a guy north of town who has some, so I may go and buy him some wives and let them loose around him and see if maybe that will distract him from me.

Oh, and he has two legs but he is just warming one of them up ... no PETA letters please!

The little sparrows

Are my only guests today.

Hiding from the storm.

I'll Bet You've Been Wondering ...

"Now why don't she write?"
The flight back home from Japan at the peak of summer with two cats and the teenage Son was hellish. Flying is not what it used to be. I feel safer flying overseas than I do here in the U.S. in spite of all of the yelling, partial disrobing and general chaos. None of this goes on in Japan. But I am home! And so thrilled to be here.
There has been so much to do that I haven't had time to do much writing.
One of the first things that had to be done was I had to have my friend Danny come and "take care of" the 13 roosters that we had running about the place. My hens were hating life and as the "boys" started up at 0'dark thirty every morning I'm sure my neighbors were hating me.
Oddly enough I had this one poor little naked chicken ... and she had been naked for a while mind you. Suddenly she has feathers again! I suspect that one of the boys" was plucking her bald ... poor thing.
The sheep are off on their yearly "conjugal visit" with my friend Ray's rams. They should be home in a week or so. I am a fair weather shepherd for sure! None of this lambing in February stuff for me ... oh no ... I lamb at the end of March.
In knitting ... I am spinning up a black fleece from 2 years ago (oh yea ... I am that far behind) to knit the Cobblestone sweater from the Fall IK for the Son. I have no idea if he will actually wear it ... but I am hopeful. I am also working on a pair of socks for the Husband and a pair of House Socks for the Daughter. Pics soon.
Hmm tried to put a picture here ... blogger not so cooperative. Maybe next time.

Down from the mountain

The nightingales last visit

Brings with it the snow.

The Far and Boundless Sea

That is what I will be crossing in a week as I begin my completely unexpected move from Japan and back to Idaho. Well, not unexpected so much as a year early. Still, I am running around like mad trying to wrap up my affairs here. Last night I had dinner with my last classes of students. It was fun, but my head tells me this morning that the water glass of shoju combined with the two beers I drank was a bit over the top. I actually thought it was water ... until the third gulp ... my friends loved it.


I know that I have been remiss in posting about my trip to China with the Daughter. It was wonderful,sad, and scary. If you would like to see why real Communism (vs. the theoretical type) cannot work ... go there and see for yourself. I have truly never seen a people so beaten down and so hopeless. I also saw some of the most amazing architectural wonders on earth.


OK ... I was looking for my pictures from the Great Wall and cannot find them. This is the oldest tea house in Shanghai. It was wonderful and right by the Yu Gardens which were amazing.

I will try to find the rest of the pictures and post those in a week or so.

Peking was the most depressing for me. I truly feel that China may become a world economic power only because it is so willing to let anyone with two cents to rub together exploit their people for them. And the U.S. is right at the front of the line. Followed by Russia, France and everyone else seeking the way to cheap and unaccountable labor.
Enough on that front ... more on China soon.

In knitting I am still where I was last time on the sock. It's embarrassing, I know. I am checking daily to see if the new IK is in at the book store. I am hoping that they may have changed the format (again) back to where the pattern is all right there with the pictures. We shall see.
But the object of my desire is the pattern for the men's sweater by Jared Flood of the blog Brooklyntweed fame. It is called Cobblestone Pullover and I think this may be the sweater that my son gets for Christmas. I have some beautiful black-shot-with-silver roving from one of the lambs last year that I think I will spin up. I think it will work out nicely. Plus I have like fifty giant balls of roving that I have to get to spinning or I will be sleeping in the barn. I did send some to a friend (read poor unsuspecting cyber friend who has never met me and therefor cannot hunt me down to return them) and he seems quite pleased with his spinning results. I do love lambs wool which is so light and springy.

The moon peeking in

Having such dreams ... I cry out

The crickets answer.