Flying solo

It's been a strange Sunday. Brian left early for his first day of his new job driving combine, and may not get back until late. He's called and texted and sent a couple photos; he seems to be enjoying himself.

Rick left a bit later to help a church member move furniture and has been gone ever since. He took his latest wooden bowl with him so I suspect he's spent the rest of his day at his wood-turning mentor's shop.

That's left me home alone, which I don't mind at all except for the not knowing when to expect anyone. There are leftovers in the frig, so it's easy enough to serve supper to whoever, whenever. I've baked and watered, did laundry and weeded, spun some yarn and filled a feed sack full of noxious weeds from another patrol around the property. Nothing very exciting, but since I have the time, I figured I might as well post.

After spinning 44g of singles on my new Lilac Wren, I started my Juniper Egret's maiden flight. The Wren spins much faster; the Egret is better suited for plying but it's doing a fine job of spinning singles, too.

Oh – I sampled my fermented snow peas tonight and they are TASTY! Too bad their season is about over.

That's it for Solo Sunday at . . .

Life. It's . . .

sometimes silly:

sometimes sweet:

sometimes scary:

sometimes serene:

sometimes sad:

sometimes sweaty:

And this time of year, during the Tour de France/Fleece? There's lots of spinning!

We got some wonderful summer rain, so I've spent hours this week pulling weeds while the pulling was easy(er). But now it's warm and muggy, which makes me feel sticky-icky-stanky-cranky. Then it's particularly hard not to fret about the direction the teenager seems headed, my horse's handicaps, and the daily decline I'm noticing in Jackson. Our dogs truly are old friends now, and we're facing their one and only flaw – they never live long enough.

We're all hangin' in there for now at . . .

Quiet like I like it

Today was a day of solitude. It started off gray and pleasantly cool, and now it's drizzling gently on appreciative plant life. In between loads of laundry and dishes, cooking, caring for the critters, weeding, watering, and a bit of picking in the garden, there has been plenty of time to spin my Tour de Fleece fiber and listen to public radio. It was just what was needed after all the excitement of the last post, plus working the office job yesterday. Brain food and beauty!

I discovered that the bush beans and zucchini aren't just flowering; there are tiny little beans – and NOT-so-tiny zukes!

There were also two ripe cherry tomatoes that got popped into my mouth before I could whip out my iPhone. 😋

I took inventory of the fruit trees. My little Braeburn apple has a lot of apples, but the three older trees are spotty. There are hardly any prunes this year, probably just enough to enjoy them fresh.

Tomorrow my dear friend that's home from VA for the summer is coming over for awhile; we both love solitude so it will be pleasant companionship however much we talk.

We have yet to experience what summer will be like with Brian on the harvest crew; his start date keeps getting pushed back due to weather. He might start this Thursday or Friday, but that remains to be confirmed. In the meantime, he's working for Rick, and that's just fine.

That's it for today from . . .

Packing a lot in four days!

There were fireworks Thursday night:

There was a quick but eventful trip to Black Sheep Gathering on Friday afternoon. I drove down with one friend and drove back with two friends, left one fleece there with a processor and came back with FOUR new Jenkins spindles (two flew off to a blogpal in Canada today; pictured are the two that joined my flock, plus me in the booth with the Jenkins), two lotion bars and a bar of soap:

The Tour de France/Fleece started on Saturday and Sabbath afternoon Rick and I made like a couple and took off to the Oregon coast where there were WHALES!

On Sunday Rick and Brian put three loads of hay in the barn and I didn't have to touch a single bale! (ONE perk to having a strapping teenager still living at home....)

Chuckie likes this narrow passage to attack passing humans!

Inspected and approved

I worked in the garden a fair bit Sunday, watering, weeding, and picking. The zucchini are finally blooming and setting fruit, both kinds of cucumbers are producing, the snow peas are slowing down but the green beans are flowering.

And there's spinning – always spinning. Here is my new Lilac 'Wren' spindle posing on my last two available fleeces, Vienna on top and Bing on the bottom.

That's it for now from . . .