Preparing

I have been mostly packed for our Kaua'i trip for days, not hard since what I've been reminded that I will wear for the tropics is not what I am wearing for autumn at home. My friend has posted and sent me photos so I am prepared for things to not look postcard-perfect; they are still cleaning up the damage left behind by Hurricane Lowell. We're not sure yet if the botanical gardens we'd like to visit will be open because of that, but we have scheduled a chocolate farm tour, and plan to take a boat and snorkel tour up the Napali Coast if the seas are calm (I'll still have to take anti-nausea meds). Rick and I want to hike and drive to as many scenic spots as we can, and my friend and I plan to ride together as many afternoons (on the beach!) as we can squeeze in. Of course there will be beach/ocean/pool time (my friend has a pool), too, but laying around is not what I'm looking forward to. I want to experience as much of the island as I can on this, the only Hawaiian trip I anticipate I'll ever take.

I picked up some waterproof bandages to wear in the water, because I got a dandy steam burn while canning applesauce Sunday. I need to do at least one more batch of applesauce; I will try to be more careful!

Out of curiosity I contacted my oldest cousin (eldest son of my eldest aunt, who was 18 years older than my mom) to get more information on family history. I knew my aunt, uncle and cousins were missionaries in Hawaii, but that's about it other than these photos of old photos:

My cousin (on far right in first two photos) obliged me with the following:

"Good to hear from you!

1946-1949: Kapa'a, Kaua'i

1949-1952: Hilo, Big Island

1952-1957: Honolulu Central, O'ahu

1957-1959: Traveling evangelist on every island except for Ni'ihau (the Forbidden Isle); home base was Kailua, O'ahu.

"When you are on Kaua'i you can see the church my father pastored. He started a successful poi manufacturing business that helped finance the church school. You will also see a mountain range called Sleeping Giant. High up in it is where we lived when we returned from my family's evangelistic meetings. This is where we had our first horse, Blackfoot."

We were already planning to hike Sleeping Giant, so that will be another fun connection to family history.

I have lots of 'local news' (photos) to share but will pick just some for this post and try to do one more called "Where the wild things are" before we leave. I am not going to take my laptop with me for once, so no posting from Kaua'i! But there will be spinning and hopefully knitting to pass the time on the long flights to and back. Here's a summary of my spinning since the last time I shared my progress:

I used up my blue silk plying (I thought; I found another turtle of it later!)

so plied the rest of this colored merino on itself.

Then I started flick-carding and spinning this darker colored merino.

I might use that found blue silk single to ply some of this!

After some welcomed late summer rain I have been watering the garden again. Harvested some lovely beets to make my favorite raw beet/apple/carrot salad for potluck last Sabbath,

and put the handful of green beans I picked into a delicious yellow curry. Brian won't do anything with/for the garden while we're gone, but more rain is in the forecast, thankfully.

Wool is growing; the sheep are going to need bigger coats soon.

The ground squirrels are moving back in and Poppy is in full hunting mode; she caught and killed two in one week. It's been harder to keep her attention in agility class because of that; we'll see how this Sunday's trial goes!

I don't think Chuckie hunts for anything but attention anymore. He was positively fawning over the farrier this morning!

That's it for now from . . .

Fiber and fishing

I've been pretty good about posting 4-5 times a month, about once a week, but as I said in my last post, summertime is hectic. Still, last Sunday we took family time to smell the roses river. I took my tiniest spindle to spin up the last of the blue silk while my guys tried and failed to catch but one fish; still, we all enjoyed the peaceful setting and perfect weather. A scolding kingfisher followed us along the way, and I managed to capture one decent photo of it (along with all the other shots).

In other fiber news, I have skeined, washed and measured more handspun – the two blue-silk-plied yarns I spun up earlier this year. I think I'll use them in a two-color Buggiflooer Beanie, after considering the FFSSA Sheep and Spindle Fair Isle Hat.

Yesterday was apparently Tiny Snake Tuesday. The first of the two I saw, up by the garage, was shockingly aggressive for being the size of an earthworm – it coiled up and repeatedly struck at the toe of my boot!

I have been considering the qualities of my ewes as I ponder the possibility of breeding a few this fall. In recent years I have selected for typier tails; only Bridget, whose only offspring has an excellent tail, and Bitsy, who I don't intend to ever breed, aren't quite up to snuff. Bernadette has the best earset; the rest are closer to horizontal. The fleece quality in my flock is good-to-excellent but I will always strive for better if/when I breed. As for the "if," that depends on the results of the mid-term elections....

Bernie and her "uppy ears"

I'll close with recent sky shows, always good for perspective.

First August fog?

Sara says August fogs predict summer snows!

this morning's cloudscape

That's it for now from . . .

Lions and tigers and bears; oh my!

And now I feel a compelling urge to watch The Wizard of Oz! Somehow, I think it might even make me feel better, especially the music. Maybe that's because I'm listening to I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel Levitin, a neurologist. I recently finished his audiobook Successful Aging; I'm learning a lot and enjoying the education.

All the scary predators seem to be coming for Rick. He found out this week, now that he has a PCP again and had a fasting blood draw, that he has type 2 diabetes – on top of cardiovascular disease. He blames genetics for one, and the statins he takes for the other, even though he's on a low dose of statin and the Mayo Clinic says the risk is small. He does not want to acknowledge lifestyle at all, even though both diseases are known as lifestyle diseases, and he is not happy about making further changes – or with my efforts to cook in a way that would help him. Sigh.

At least Brian has healed up from his self-inflicted injury and got his cast and pins removed this week. He asked if I would take him, and afterwards offered to treat me at a place of my choice. So I finally got to try Local Flow, which advertises smoothies, crepes, and bowls. Kind of hippy-dippy and our crepes were great; it was a nice mother/son outing!

While much of the continent bakes, floods, or suffocates with wildfire smoke, we have been enjoying 'normal' weather and clean air in our little corner of the country. I remember smoke like that here; it was awful and oppressive and I feel so bad for all the humans and animals currently suffering through it. I feel bad for/about a lot of things right now; I have to fight to stay positive and focus on beauty.

Most of the sky shots in this post were taken from horseback.

The mama who poses a threat to Poppy

We picked berries at Neck Road Produce last Sunday.

The barn swallows appear to be starting another clutch.

My Tour de Fleece project is coming along.

That's all the photos I could transfer for now for . . .