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Category Archives: Personal

Winter treats

Meyer Lemon blossom

Meyer lemon

Not being from California, Florida, or even south Texas, I had no idea how wonderful fruit tree blossoms could smell. Since I am now the proud owner of a Meyer lemon tree, I now have some first-hand experience. The tree is now in the hallway, so every time I walk there, I get that marvelous scent! Makes me smile! Frankly, I know nothing about having fruit trees inside, except that I know it’s done. And I know even less about Meyer Lemons, but it WAS a special price. 🙂 🙂

Another treat for the winter doldrums: fresh flowers. My daughter gave me a gift card to Central Market, which I save just for flowers. These Gerbera Daisies were everywhere yesterday, in many beautiful colors.

You can see from these pictures that I’ve got a red thing going on. What about you? What color draws you in?

Experimenting, part 1

Experimenting with one thing after another seems to have taken over my life. They seem to be in these categories: food, weaving, and the to-do list.

Vegan????

I’m experimenting with food in an effort to eat more healthfully, not that it was too un health, but there’s room for improvement. Also, my doctor said that I might consider a vegan diet to help with inflammation—you know, the arthritis thing. I’m investigating veganism, but I’m not sure I could give up cheese and eggs. And that one cup of coffee in my espresso every morning.

New foods

This week I have tried polenta, quinoa, and meatless crumbles. I have to admit, each of those was quite tasty.

I made a pot of pintos with onion and Ro-Tel tomatoes and served it with polenta.
Meatless crumbles
I had the quinoa with stir-fry vegetables (I meant to add some leftover chicken, but forgot). Actually, the only vegetables used were green onions, mushrooms, and snap peas. I think that’s what they are—no peas inside, just the flat pod itself.

Verdict

I actually liked the quinoa. For something so tiny (before cooking, you have to rinse it in a fine sieve), there was a little crunch to it. I’ve heard that the popularity of quinoa here has made it difficult for poor people where it is grown, to afford it now. Of course, there seems to be a difference of opinion even about this.
The polenta was pretty good with the beans, but next time I think I’m going to used coarsely ground cornmeal instead of the instant polenta.
The crumbles were great with a little spaghetti sauce and whatever else you want to add.

I’m not sure I can keep up the pace on trying new things. Maybe just one new thing this week.

Have you tried a new food lately? I’m looking for ideas!

Just because

My Christmas cactus seems to prefer blooming in January. Here’s one of the blooms.

Adiós, farewell, goodbye

Yep, we’re here again. Time to say adiós to anther year. Farewell, 2013, to all the good and the not-so-good. And you know it’s a new year when you start getting huge catalogs, like the left. Of course, this one REALLY got my attention. It’s funny, I don’t even shop at Pottery Barn.

I don’t make resolutions or choose a word for the coming year. But I’ve made my to-do lists for 2014, and as usual, they are long, long, long. They are broken down into categories: House (outside and inside), weaving, dyeing, etc. Having these lists would seem overwhelming, except that I have a history of crossing through 75% or more of the items.

One of the things that I want to continue and improve, is my systems, something started in the class with Lisa Call. I always had systems, just not in such an organized way. Now I have my dyeing, ikat, and finishing procedures written down and in a binder. I can note any improvements or changes for next time–and find them!

I didn’t have anything better to do (ha ha), so I played around with telephone cases on CafePress. I thought these looked pretty good. However if you go to the link, you can’t see them, so here’s a picture of the other iPhone cases that I played around with.

At left is a beer label from Flying Dog brewery. From the name of the brewery, you can see that this label is not made to be offensive. Ha ha! I think it’s banned in a couple of states, though. Love the label. The beer? Not so much. They’ve also got Snake Dog and Underdog. May have to try those and others that they brew. I’m not much of a drinker, so those tastings will wait a while.

2013 was actually pretty good to me. What about you? Do you make resolutions?

Pottery adventures

Like everyone, the last couple of weeks have been busy ones. My daughter and grandsons were here. (Have you noticed how much space children take up? Not all physical space, but all around) One of the things we did is go to Front Porch Pottery Studio. We made pieces that will be fired in a couple of weeks, after drying a bit.

Beck made the face on the left. Those eyes! And I love the tongue! Zane’s sword is on the right. (They just recently saw the latest Hobbit movie.) Mine was a boring tray, but I like it anyway. At the suggestion of Teresa, my daughter made a cylindrical container that should turn out really well.

Working with clay is so soothing somehow. I think I’m going to have to do this again, maybe even try the wheel. That probably won’t be so soothing! I would also like to take a printing class. Oh, the possibilities!

Gratitude

After doing all of the ikat tying, you get to untie all those resists. Here’s 1/2 of one section only partially untied. It’s kind of a mindless activity, ideal for keeping one’s hands busy while watching a movie or mindless TV. The dyeing on this is actually a mistake, so Plan B is now in force. At one point I had it in my head exactly how I was going to dye each of the sections so that the background (in this case, the orange part) would be gradate from light orange to a more intense orange. Totally forgot when I went out and threw dye in the pot, do the plan has been revamped.

There are still spots of ice here and there, but it should all be gone soon, with temps reaching 60s and 70s this week, only to drop down again by the weekend. I am really glad I filled the dyepots yesterday, because today, the water was frozen in the hose.

And speaking of weather–I realized that my mindset had to change, or I was going to be miserable in winter and summer. The weather is here to stay, and I have to readjust to the conditions I live in. Probably because I am older, these extremes of temperatures bother me more, and I have always been sensitive to many days without sunshine. Not sensitive enough to warrant one of those special lamps, but … So, I went out and dyed when it was 35, and felt better for doing it! In addition, I am going to work on my thinking. I have a bitty journal that I am writing down five things that I am grateful for each day. Many days recently I have been grateful for the warm fire in the wood stove. Or that I am capable of taking a pickax and breaking up the ice and make a path to the woodpile. Knowing that I am going to have to make my grateful list makes me think about this during the day. And truly, we all have things to be grateful for. Why let the weather affect that?

It’s winter!

Icy trees

Let me say right off, I’m not a big fan of winter. I may have mentioned that before. For sure! Winter did arrive, even here in Texas, although it did not live up to the predictions of the weather folks. The streets were fine here and I could walk out to get my paper without falling. Of course, I had to duck the tree branches hanging down from their load of ice. Even though I prefer to not have winter, the ice on the trees is pretty, as is snow. But for us here in Texas, snow and ice bring huge problems because we just don’t deal with it as often as, say the northeast.

New tool

Measuring ikat

I usually look upon these winter storms as a time to hunker down and hibernate, making art. I get the wood burning stove going in my studio and either weave or work on the ikat tying. Which brings me to that subject–ikat tying. I had a small disaster while measuring the yarns. The whole shebang just disconnected itself from the very carefully placed boards, c-clamps, and whatever else was holding it in place. I have done a search for other forms of clamps, and in fact, went to town to get one kind. I’ve learned some of the vocabulary necessary to discuss clamps. What I needed was one that had a long reach throat. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t work and will be returned tomorrow. The only other thing I can think of to do is to drill holes and use bolts to hold things in place. But I’m going to think about that for a while.

Fall colors

This is what I’m working on right now. This is to be fall grasses, and yes I know that fall grasses (above) are not this bright, but it’s representational. You can see the top part of the cartoon sticking out above the yarns. I’ll move that down after finishing this section. Notice how on the right the loops have been taken off their pegs and tied with a string to outside pegs. That’s because the tying will go to the edge and there’s no other way to totally tie that area.

Happy Thanksgiving! May we all be grateful for what we have, our families and friends, and what we are. So, I will be grateful for winter. I hear that the cold is good for reducing the population of West Nile bearing mosquitos.

Fall, finally!

Fall colors at my mother’s.

It’s pretty boring around here–dye, weave, dye, weave, … and work on getting outdoor clean-up projects done. Boxes of shred material will go to the shredder soon, too. The weather is nice right now, so those things are the priority.

I know we don’t have fall color like the northeastern part of the country does, but our fleeting color is still pretty. A couple of hours after taking this picture I loaded it on my computer and realized that for me, the grasses are almost as pretty as the trees. I love trees, but I’m a prairie girl. When I take road trips to the east, claustrophobia sets in. It’s so frustrating to not be able to see areas off to the side of the road! Here we have wide open spaces, not like farther west, but still mostly open. In fact, I’ve heard visitors from the northeast say that they feel so exposed. By the way, to get the full effect of the picture, click on it. And speaking of grasses and prairie, that’s my next weaving project.

What about these colors!

So, here are the fruits of my labor so far. The WashFast dye colors from left to right are:Turkey Red, Magenta, Red, Tiger Lily, Chinese Red, Deep Purple. All were dyed at 1%. I dyed the red and magenta first, and they were disappointing to me. But I continued on and gradually came to like these colors. The really interesting part will be to start mixing colors. The blues and another purple will be next. Dyeing in this way means that I can use the same water over and over, which not only saves on water, but also on all the additives that go into the pot.

La Grange

After returning from Arizona, I got a phone call inviting me to HarvestFest which was being held in Fayetteville, Texas. This is a fund raiser for ART, Arts for Rural Texas. I’ve mentioned this group before. They are dedicated to bringing the arts to rural Texas, not only visual arts, but also opera, ballet, etc. I was in ArtWalk last May and plan to go again.

This time I stayed in La Grange (you may have heard of the “chicken ranch“), and since I arrived before check-in time at the hotel, I decided to find the town square and explore. As I drove by, I spotted a wall of painted quilts. They were amazing! I went around the block and found a parking spot. One whole wall of the building was painted with quilts so that they looked like they were hanging on a line. There were even dark areas so that it appeared to be a shadow behind the quilt. In front of the quilt wall was an enclosed garden, the cottage garden type that may have been in grandmother’s house. Turns out that the quilt wall is on the building that houses the Quilt Museum. Walking down the sidewalk I spotted the sign for Quilted Skein (clever name, right?). Inside was a treasure of yarns, fabrics, quilting and knitting paraphernalia.

The courthouse was a beautiful building and much like other small town courthouses. I was told later that that the inside is beautiful, right out of To Kill a Mockingbird. They took one of the chairs original to the courtroom and copied it until they had enough chairs to fill the room. Guess that will have to wait for my next trip.

This and that

I took way too many photos, but I think most of us do that in this digital age. They’re so easy to get rid of. The day that I drove to Tombstone and Bisbee, I stopped for gas and saw this sign. I definitely knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. I find it interesting that there’s no smoking in this establishment.

Pretty parasol, not sure if it would do much good. In a Tombstone window.

Just like this green swirl.

Accidental self-portrait with pottery in the Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.

Beer caps on door in Bisbee

Random sighting at the Burger King near Bisbee. I love the juxtaposition of this man, his backpack, and his laptop.

Botanical drawing of the saguaro cactus and the many ways it has been used.

We have lots of cactus in Texas, but I had never seen this purple variety. They were all over the Scottsdale area. Some even had cochineal growing on them.

Sonora Desert Museum

Copper ore

This is the bark of some sort of palm in the Sonora Desert Museum. I love the soft colors and the shapes of the bark.

Lessons

You know that old rock and roll song, There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On? Unlike Jerry Lee Lewis, I need more than one take to get it right. Around here, it’s been a whole lotta learning going on. By the way, the link above takes you to an NPR program, and a really clear recording of the song. Get your energy level up!

While weaving the last piece, my beating seemed to be a bit off, like maybe 1/4 inch from one side to the other. I looked at the notches where the beater hangs and all seemed fine and good, both sides in the seemed to be in the same notch. So, I got out some string and attached to pieces diagonally in the frame. I made sure to mark exactly in equal places on both strings. When I untaped them and compared, they were exactly alike. This was very puzzling, but then I looked at the notches for the beater bar from the side. This is what I found. You may be able to tell that the bar is not actually resting in a notch, but behind the notches. This is what it should look like.

In my ikat world, I am doing some cross shapes in varying shades of rust to be over-dyed. After making the cartoon, I remembered that I am measuring this in what will be 1/2 inches of weaving. Therefore, all the vertical elements of the design needed to be stretched. Added to the cartoon. Then I ran out of one of the rusts that I was going to use. I had some samples of rust that were exactly what I wanted. These are baby skeins that I had experimented with several years ago. This photo doesn’t do the colors justice. Anyway, I dyed some skeins in the same formula. Believe it or not, both photos are of the same yarns. You can see the tied part. Next to it is the skein that should match the left skein in the sample. So lots more dyeing had to be done. I think I’ve got it now, and have decided that I don’t care if I don’t. So there!

Vegan????

New foods

Verdict

Just because