I know there hasn’t been much of weaving on this blog lately but there is sooo much going on that I really haven’t been doing much weaving. I am carding wool and rosy is spinning so there will be yarn to go with when I do get started!
Meantime… the strawberries are ripe! Not my own, we buy these from the oriental farmers in the Redding area. These are not the big, fat, hollow, green, moldy things you get in the super market with neither flavor or fragrance. These are the real thing! A reasonable size, solid, perfectly ripe, freshly picked, red, juicy, fragrant, wonderfully sweet all on their own. You need no sugar, just some nice thick cream! ummmmmm! I’ll freeze some whole, too, for shakes later this summer. The kids will love that! I do that with the biggest blackberries, too, and peaches also are good that way.
Just 3 more weeks and my daughter and 4 grandkids will be with us. I’m so excited! 😀

Here’s Rosy leading the way to the new pig house. They followed along nicely until she got to the gate! It took the better part of an hour of coaxing and bribing (apples and cheese!) but they are in now and settled down nicely. Being short guys the alpacas and donkeys liked to tease them a bit but now they have their own quarters. And nice ones they are, too. My sister is one clever gal, and did most of the carpentry herself. She has window boxes to go there under the windows, too, so it is going to be quite pretty. The trim & the gate will be painted dark green to match the other buildings. Her rabbits are housed in one end and Arthur and Maggie share the other and have a nice yard, too.
We had an fun weekend and a nice visit.

May_Day.bmp (820k file)
Back in the Olden Days, before the communists took it over, we kids used to enjoy May Day. There was May Pole dances, which were a lot of fun, skipping around the pole getting our ribbons tangled up something fine! lol And making May Baskets. You could make your basket out of almost anything. We kids usually wove them from paper. We fill them with grubby handsful of wild flowers. Then we’d take them to the house of some friend, or usually an elderly lady that we liked, hang the basket on the door knob, knock or ring and then run hide. The ladies always were properly surprised and loudly grateful to whatever good fairy had brought the gift. We loved it and they loved it. Too bad such a nice ‘holiday’ got forgotten while we still remember ones like Halloween, where the idea is to get rather than to give. But I thought I’d share my favorite May Day paper flower project. We made them in school every year for May Day and Mother’s Day. Put them in a little basket and surprise and elderly neighbor next Saturday.

If you look in the archives you’ll see another picture of this tree taken in January of this last winter. (01/02/2004: “Mother Nature’s Shawl”) It was white at that time, too! We are having a bit of spring rain and cold this week, but the signs of spring are all around. The lawn is dotted with Grandmother’s favorite wildflowers, the dandylion. They are so pretty and their bright faces perk up the grey light these rainclouds pour down on us.
Hope you are having some sunshine where you are and some dandylions, too!

I think I took a half dozen photos of these beads without being able to get a good one. I think it’s the shiney foil foiling me! 😀 But you get the idea. Just roll, the colored side out, into a ball between your palms and then thread them onto a thread. Very pretty. Your young’uns can make their own easily enough.
I love recycling! lol

I got it done… barely! Didn’t get it properly blocked but I wore it anyway! 😛 I also couldn’t get anyone to take my pic in it so ended up taking it this way. I re-knitted this thing three times to be sure it was big enough and, it is too big now. Natch. Well, if it doesn’t block to size I may just sew some side seams on the machine or I may just wear it like it is. It’s a bit sloppy, but hey! 😎
Anyway, this is last year’s Easter egg dye. Now that the stuff should be going on sale again, I’ll have to restock! It’s fun! And pretty, I think. If you have a baby in the family it seems to be colors just designed for a toddler.
Hope you all enjoyed your Chocolate bunnies. I saved the pretty colored foil from the little chocolate eggs and am rolling them into beads and stringing them on a thread. I’ll post a pic when they’re all gone, a necklace to wear with my vest. Cheap jewels! lol

He found this big, flat rock up the creek and decided it was perfect for our growing patio. he’s been collecting rocks for it for some years now. It helps keep the mud out of the house and looks nice, too. So he took the tilt trailer, the come-along and some chain and we went after it. I went along as technical advisor and photo journalist. 😀

Well, here it is all nicely set in place in our growing patio. It was a Herculean labor but a favorite hobby of Himself! And it does look nice.