A painterly day

First of all, Bonny appears to have made a complete recovery!

Yesterday sparkled in the sun like the freshly laundered day it was. With Bonny getting around fine again and a break in the downpours (we've received two inches since Thursday), the sheep got to go out – including the 'last fleece standing,' Bonny's Aunt Bramble.

In the middle of the day I drove to Wilsonville to meet up with Laura. She had picked up some inventory to dye from Ashland Bay and sold me some yarn for that sweater you were all drooling over (I plan to dye it blue), gave me some fleece samples and other goodies for my homeschool co-op Textiles 101 class, lent me a saddle to try on Lance, and then we ate lunch together. Yeah, we packed a lot into our time together; it was a treat. :-)

I took the scenic route home, a winding country road with some grand and grander estates and horse farms, including that of Olympian Rich Fellers. There is little opportunity to pull off the road to snap pictures, but I did find one spot to stop and capture a couple vistas that caught my eye.

Love the spring pastels in this one! Click to biggify.

When I got home I exercised Lance,

then skirted Bittersweet's sumptuous fleece. That's four down, eight to go....

I picked up my guys from the airport this morning. They were supposed to fly home via Denver, but the airline called with the suggestion they find another route back because of the severe weather forecast. They were able to change their itinerary to go through Phoenix and arrived at about the same time originally scheduled.

Now it's back to work for all of us at . . .

Cozying up

Mothers and sons:

They're always your babies, no matter how big they get

Preferred nestbox:

At least they are laying!

More wire wrapping:

I didn't want to my new 'skills' to get rusty, so I did these two last night. I can see now by the light of day and the magnification of the camera that I need a lot more practice and/or another class – plus better lighting and/or stronger reading glasses with which to work!

My friend in Saipan is going to bring me a whole bunch of goodies when she comes home for the summer; I'm so excited! The beaches there have an abundance of shells and coral skeletons on them, and when I told her about taking the wire-wrapping class, she immediately started collecting for me.

That's it for today from . . .

Creative juices?!?

Getting a little artsy-fartsy with a photo from Friday

The crown of my latest FO, Secretive Storms

Dozer wears a crown well.  :-)

Gotland singles finally plyed (there was a bit more white than grey)

I've often said that all my creative juices were used up in making a baby. BB (Before Brian) I drew (charcoal, pencil, pastels, colored pencils), painted (oils and watercolors), scratched (scratchboard), cut/foiled/soldered (stained glass), clicked/developed (photography), and even enjoyed dipping/slapping/shaping (paper maché sculpture and pottery) long ago. SB (Since Brian), my artistic endeavors have dwindled to photography and more recently, spinning and knitting, which I enjoy but don't consider artistic per se, since they are both utilitarian skills and I don't create 'art yarn' or knitting patterns. Sometimes I wonder if the artistic urge is just slumbering, and will return when my time and energy are no longer dedicated to raising and homeschooling my son. (I've kept all my tools and supplies, just in case!) Or has my muse up and left, departing for greener pastures where she is used and appreciated?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Knitting with beads has given me reason to occasionally visit the local bead shop. I even dabbled in making a few shawl pins, but wasn't satisfied with my work and dropped that.

One day I noticed some pieces with descriptions in a display case highlighting results of some classes offered at the shop. I was fascinated by the wire wrapping – not for jewelry, as I don't wear any, but as a way to utilize found treasures for decoration. So I wrote down the number of the teacher, but didn't know when/IF I would have the time and money to indulge in a class.

Whenever my guys take a trip without me, I make a list of all I need/want to get done while they are gone. Of course, I'm always ridiculously unrealistic about how much I think I can do. Still, a girl can dream. This time, I thought about that class I wanted to take – and promptly got excited about doing something artistic! So I called the bead shop and arranged to meet the owner Thursday evening for a one-on-one class on wire wrapping.

By the time I drove my guys to the airport, ran some errands, and headed back towards McMinnville, I was feeling bushed and almost bailed out. But then I reminded myself how exciting this opportunity was, and myself went, "Oh, yeah!" – and off we went to class.

The teacher had told me to bring some things to wrap, so I grabbed what I could put my hands on – small beach-combing treasures. She introduced the tools, taught me some basic concepts and put me to work. I came home with these,

tools, a half-pound of 24-gauge copper wire, and the URGE to do more! Whoopee!

The creative juices are flowing again at . . .

Who turned on the faucet?!?

Looking out the front door this AM; the driveway's a river!

After two very dry months, it would appear that our weather is finally playing catch-up. It started raining on Thursday, with more in the forecast. Good thing I was planning to keep the sheep in the fold today for Bonny's sake anyway. (She's still limping, but not as dramatically.) Cadbury only has trees and the outside of the Ram-ada Inn for shelter; he looked pitiful this morning:

He's fine, really, but Brian's wether Browning is acting punky now. Good thing I stayed home this weekend....

When life gives you downpours, take raindrop pictures!

That's it for today from . . .