Sherri Woodard Coffey

I hate to complain, since so many parts of the country have had much more serious problems, but it’s hot! Really hot! Although the Texas fires may not compare with other fires in AZ and NM, and we haven’t had any floods in ages, I am still complaining about the heat. And drought. By the way, our fires in the North Texas area have started up again, and in some parts of Texas, they have never stopped.

Last night I realized that it really wasn’t cooling down much and that the AC seemed to be running constantly, so I checked the thermometer on the thermostat. 84 inside! And that motor was running all the time. Of course, it was too late to call the repair folks, so sleep was a long time coming. And it’s hard to make yourself work with balling up wool yarns when your dripping with, ahem, sweat. I called this morning, and they can’t come until tomorrow—no surprise there. They also said I should turn off the unit and let the Freon leak thaw out. They can’t work on it while it is frozen with ice. And I thought it was hot before!

Photo credit: Bradsmitchell

The Hotter ‘n Hell bicycle race is held in Wichita Falls, just a hop, skip, and a jump west of here. Since our summer heat started a month early this year, I think they should push up the date for the race.

Guess I’m having an unscheduled vacation.

I hate to complain, since so many parts of the country has had much more serious problems, but it’s hot! Really hot! The Hotter ‘n Hell bicycle race is held in Wichita Falls, just a hop, skip, and a jump west of here.

Occasionally I find a newsletter from Folkwear in my inbox. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don’t. In today’s newsletter were a bunch of what appears to be interesting exhibits of textiles. This is where I wish I could just hop on a plane and go—wherever and whenever I wanted!

The Fabric of Society: 1,500 Years of African Textiles at Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Beyond Fashion: Fiber and Fashion Art by Vincent Quevedo at Kent State University Museum.

Second Lives: The Age-Old Art of Recycling Textiles at the Textile Museum.

Beyond Peacocks & Paisleys: Handcrafted Textiles of India and its Neighbors at the Goldstein Museum of Design.An upcoming exhibit at the Textile Museum is Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa.

If you’ve never looked at what the Textile Museum has to offer, there are several online exhibitions, such as this one called Common Threads. Others are listed here.

Instead of traveling, I’ll be tending the dyepots again today. It’s really hot, windy, and dry, dry, dry here in Texas and most of the Southwest. Dyeing must be done early, my preferred time anyway. I like to get them cooked, turn off the burners, and let them sit overnight. More pics soon.

Photo credit

I love this picture posted on Facebook. Wish I had taken it, but I can’t take the credit. The credit link is below the picture. When it’s rodeo time in Weatherford, Texas, horses take precedence, as seen here “parked” at the Sonic Drive-in. Below is a picture of the Posse at the Fort Worth Stock Show in 2008.

My father was a member for many, many years, and it was somehow comforting when many of the members came to his funeral dressed in their “uniform” of white shirt and string tie.

The boys and I baked a chocolate cake for their Great-grandmother (my mother), Dannie Woodard. They wanted to put Lego characters on the cake, but I vetoed that idea. Since there were no birthday candles in the house, we used one big candle and sang “happy birthday” before finishing off the cake. I have a large family, thank goodness, so there was no cake to bring home. Both the boys loved having a pool party with their cousins-whatever-removed before the birthday celebration.

My grandsons flew in from Charlotte on Tuesday, flying for the first time by themselves. I envisioned them wandering around the huge airport as we tried to find each other, but, or course, that never happened. The “receiver” of the children gets a boarding pass to go through security and then is able to collect unaccompanied children at the gate, after showing ID (again) and signing papers. They really do take care of that precious cargo!

Spending time with children makes for busy-ness. After going to the Parker County Sherriff’s Posse rodeo on Wednesday night, we trekked on Thursday to Grapevine for Legoland. In case you’re out of the loop with what young boys like, Legos are IT! Above are two pictures of the city made from Legos, actually pretty amazing. The one on top was taken at “night.” We saw a 4-D movie. I learned that 4-D means that the 3-D effects are enhanced by things that the audience can feel, like wind swooshing as a skier goes by, and by actual snowflakes falling. Pretty neat! Believe me when I say that Legoland is full of lots of children.

Not much weaving or dyeing happening right now. Today we will be baking a cake for the upcoming birthday of the children’s soon-to-be 85 great-grandmother. Am hoping for more dyeing next week. They want to watch, but it will only be for the first part. I do not want little boys around big, hot pots of simmering water.

My choice of reading material is not exactly literary. I prefer mysteries (or, as they sometimes call them, thrillers). It used to embarrass me that this was my favorite genre, but I heard an interview once with a man who is considered by most of the world to be very intellectual (can’t remember who). He stated that his favorite reading is mysteries. With that I decided that I know longer have to hide my book choices!

I often choose books based on the setting, usually a place I’ve visited or want to visit. I am astounded sometimes by the extraneous and eclectic information one can get from books, probably gathered by a professional researcher. I never even knew there was such a profession until listening to an NPR radio program. I immediately knew that’s the career I should of chosen (had I known it existed). I was one of those people who loved the research papers in college. I know—sick! Recently I picked up a copy of The Silenced by Brett Battles. I was hooked immediately, even though the career choice of the main character is not exactly one we would wish for our children. Quinn is a “cleaner.” That means that he disposes of bodies that would be, if found, inconvenient for governments and various agencies. I have now started reading the first in the series, something else I do—read all the books by a certain author in order.

There is another series with a likeable character and lots of extra information to boot. Those are the John Dunning books about old, valuable books, featuring the main character of Cliff Janeway. Sometimes the only problem is that new books are slow in coming. Can’t these folks write any faster!

Mentioned before here is a blog about books: On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever. There might be some suggestions for future reading material there.