T Stands for Windy & Bird Feeders

    It's time for T Stands for Tuesday-find link in my sidebar, anyone is welcome just share a drink related photo in your post.

  Since early Saturday evening it has been non stop strong winds here-my guess is over 25 miles an hour, and up to at least 50. I am typing this post up around 4:30 pm Sunday and the wind has not stopped. Driving me crazy and on edge for sure-I do not like wind like this.

  Not much happening here, except I am still spinning most every day-getting a more even yarn each time I spin now . I am still spinning the Nash Island Maine rare wool that I shared last time. These sheep live on an island mostly to themselves-until they need sheered and taken care of. I am up to 4 niddy  noddy's full now.

  I love the feel and texture of this wool.

We still have had no rain now for several weeks-I will need to get the garden hoses up out of the basement and hooked up so I can water the perennials and bulbs this week. I did get one side weeded on Saturday, and I planted my German Chamomile and red yarrow that I grew from seed in the bottles.

  This is the first blooming Iris

    Larry has been making us more bird feeder poles along with the one I just purchased.

   I am finding more items available at Wal Mart online-with free delivery as well-right to my door. It is where I found this stand, and on sale I also found a better quality bird seed at their online store too-and they carry it down the hill and steps for me-smile 😀

This was a nice tall stand and has these four decorative hangers. It also came with a little basket for seed or fruits-thinking oranges for the orioles, a bird bath plastic dish, a suet holder, and a small tube seed feeder. Some of these other parts Larry is making us new feeder poles along with some vintage parts. This is one of them-looking through our wall of windows that faces the lake-these windows go all the way to the sides of the this wall both left and right. So of course I fell in love with this view. We do get hammered with boat traffic in the summer though-but I tell myself its only 4 months out of the year  We need to replace this deck-as it is in bad shape.

I thought I had another photo of the other stand he made for me-but it is above this squirrel in the corner The squirrels and chipmunks are huge pests here as they have no predators at the lake-so we have to chase them off in the mornings when I first fill the feeders.

  I am still adjusting my new camera for zooming in, but we saw a sailboat over the weekend

     Sunday was a nice day for us. Our friend called to say he wanted to bring us lunch and for us to meet his new fiance. His wife passed a couple years ago from an operation on her lungs. She was my friend that drove me to Yellowstone Park back in 2017 because I wanted to see the park so badly. I have always been so grateful for that trip.  His  fiance was not at all what we were expecting, but we liked her allot and they seem very happy together. The lunch they brought was from a bbq smokehouse near us that was really really good-totally forgot to take photos. I made brownies in the morning to serve

   After they left I poured myself a small glass of this wine. I really like this brand and it is not very expensive and good tasting. I have open now the Pinoit Grigio-my go to wine is usually a white that is a little sweet to dry.

 It has been so cloudy here this past week that I have no new sunrise photos to share. One evening though the sky just before dark was pretty amazing.

      Same evening another photo

  Happy T

T Stands for Tuesday

     Doesn't seem possible but we are headed towards the end of April already, and I think the last T for Tuesday for the month as well. Find link in my sidebar for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T-where we share a post with a drink related photo.

  I haven't been able to get back outdoors do to the cold weather here, although I did get all the grass cut. No needed rain though. We did get a light frost Saturday night, and another expected Sunday night. I have a big stack of older bath towels-that were my Mom's- all made in the USA-that I used to cover up all the bottle greenhouses.

  Tuesday morning I have a dentist visit-my 6 month-and I think I may head out to the Amish greenhouse after that, it may be a bit early for the petunias but if the weather is nice will drive on out there since I will already be half way there. Oops Monday morning  I realized my dentist appt was on Monday not on Tuesday, I did a few errands but didn't make it to the greenhouse-hopefully sometime this week I can do that.

 I have been enjoying scanning through photos and videos on Instagram this past week. I search for my craft interests, Yellowstone and a couple other topics and have found several to follow for inspiration. There are quite a few for slow mending and sashiko too.

  For my drink share this week I am sharing a photo I found online. Years ago I used to buy quality flavored coffees, hadn't done that in awhile so I bought a couple for Larry for something different, and I bought one decaf for me.  One of them was a chocolate flavor-smelled so good while brewing.

I captured a couple lake photos this past week.

  This one was taken early morning but after the sunrise-rough waters most of the day Allot of white caps most of the day-never would have thought there would be white caps on a lake

Sunrise

This one below-you can just make out the sun in the clouds.

  I have been spinning allot of the Nash Island wool-have 4 spools spun up already. I need to check out dyeing these white handspuns. I will have more than I realized of whites, as I am spinning several different breeds. I have enough of the black walnuts for one dye batch I think.  Most of my dyes are for cottons that I have on hand. I don't want to use natural dyes for these, something more permanent-need to check out Dharma's site soon. Now that I think about it for wool cloth In the past I have only dyed with my own natural dyes.

  It was quite chilly over the weekend so I make a big pot of chicken soup-I added veggies, garbanzo beans, a little gluten free pasta, sun dried tomatoes, and dried veggies and herbs. I used unsalted beef and chicken stocks. It ended up being a large pot so will freeze allot of this

  Those of you that feed the hummingbirds-has yours arrived?  Usually for this area these sweet little birds arrive around April 15th. We have only seen a couple of the scouts so far so they are late arriving for sure-perhaps these storms slowed them down or moved them to a different area. Most of us I am reading on the lake group on Facebook are anxiously waiting for their arrival.

   Update: Monday we have seen another orchard oriole, a Baltimore oriole and a couple hummingbirds-so they are arriving now

  Happy T

Earth Day

   Today is the official day to celebrate Earth Day

Here is a link the official site for Earth Day 

   I personally have mixed emotions-I believe in taking care of our planet, recycling, making good choices, there are many small things we can do to not waste-less paper-plastic plates, less paper towels, washable straws etc.

   I follow Free the Ocean-every morning They send me a quiz about the oceans-which helps them to raise money from sponsors to rid our oceans of plastics when we answer the questions. I learn allot of new things from the morning quiz too. They also sell sustainable products-I buy a few when they have their 25% off sales-otherwise they are a bit expensive for me. I do like their laundry soap that is in a sheet and then dissolves in the wash.

   I have always thought instead of plastics especially in the food and medical sectors companies need to invent something that works like these plastics but will decompose-I have always thought that is just common sense solutions to the explosive use of plastics.  I did read that Mcdonalds Happy Meals will be phasing out their all plastic toys to something more sustainable and will decompose-that is a huge save of plastics.

  I personally do Not believe in those wind generators though-they are an eye sore to the land and kill many birds. I also do not believe in the push to get rid of clean coal and clean gas, All electric everything is Not the answer (especially since most of the components come from China only or the rain forests-what sense does that make??)  It's a balance and common sense of policies-which our country and the world is lacking at the moment.

  I was brought up in the hippie generation-so getting rid of plastics has been around a very long time.

  These are my personal views You are most welcome to your own views too

                                   A few recycling ideas

  I found this board on Pinterest that is full of recycling and re use of things

25 recycled ideas for your home here  these were interesting  I remember doing this one as a kid reusing food cans-perfect for the art-craft room without buying something, or storage uses in the garage or tool shed-great for nuts and bolts etc..

Here is another DIY recycling site with fun ideas

one of the projects   

.57 creative recycling ideas and projects  (these were interesting, different and very creative for sure) here

Happy Earth Day

Good Morning Thursday

   This week seems to be really flying by for me, Perhaps because I have been out with my grass trimmer "mowing" the lawn. Finished up early this morning. Also spinning on Miss Ashley (Ashford Traveler) every day. Only if I spend a little time with the wheel, my goal is to spin every day-I am getting better with the coordination of pedaling and drawing out fibers.

   We are supposedly getting another big rain storm with wind etc coming in sometime today. We have been fortunate so far to miss the worst of these storms. During that big bass tournament the person who won stayed out in the storm, and he got hit with hail and almost lost his boat-but he did get that $100,000 prize Kinda crazy to me.

  Are any of you on Instagram?? I have been on there for awhile but one could only upload photos by smartphones. For the heck of it I thought I would try my desk top computer again-and it worked!  So I am happy about that.  Found lots of spinners and other topics I love so far.  I want to be less on Facebook-only for my favorite groups there, and slow down with blogging a bit too. Perhaps only posting for T for awhile.

  Here is my address on Instagram, I also have it in my sidebar too I am enjoying just scrolling down through photos-spinning-to weaving-to Yellowstone Park-wolves and more. Loving it so far.

  Oh and now that I know how to spin on my wheel I have been going through my bags of fibers to spin. I had totally forgotten about this one-a rather rare wool-Nash Island Maine wool. Are any of you familiar with it? I think I found this on ebay of all places.  Here is a link to a very interesting article about these sheep.

Update: I had to draft some of this fiber out and spin-I love the feel of less processed wool for spinning-pleased with this single-not as bulky as before

  Happy Thursday!!

Early morning sunrise today

T Stands for Tuesday-We Have Photos

  Hellos to the T gang and all my readers

     It's Saturday morning so writing this up early for Tuesday. For the T Party we gather over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's and link up with a drink related photo in our post, and visit others on the link up. 

  We have spring blooms here, and another round of severe weather coming through today. Here are a few photos from early today (Saturday)  Tornadoes etc are still in the forecast for the rest of the day. There are allot of boats on the lake today for the big Bass Tournament-winning fish prize is $100,000.

  The skies were very black for awhile, windy with white caps on the lake-and then it left. I would not want to be on the lake during this type of weather.

  We also have lovely blooms.

  This first photo are dwarf size iris's I brought home from the family farm years ago in Indiana. This is the first year they are blooming well here at the lake-they got settled back in.

Lots more full size iris-different colors and gladiolas  growing

There is a very old red bud tree here-to the left-and the lilacs began to bloom

This is last year's crop of creeping thyme ground cover that I grew in bottles last year-the root system seemed to really spread over winter-these will get dug up soon and transferred to other areas.

Last week I estimated that I had 50 bottles-I actually have around 70, with 9 more to plant.

 The pink blooms are the ground cover phlox I bought from the Amish greenhouse last year

And the amaryllis has bloomed-it was slow to open up which was nice for longer lasting views.

 There will be 3 blooms on this stalk

Saturday the bloom opened even larger

I really love this color

  I also gathered dandelion flowers for my soap making-I infuse it in the soap with my lavender flowers-strain it and add the melt and pour soap to the molds. The dandelions here at the lake are large and lovely

I have always loved dandelions with their pretty yellow flowers welcoming in warmer weather.

   I am still spinning, getting better at the wheel, but still not even yarn and I don't always keep the wheel moving constantly-still spinning every day to hopefully improve.

  I found a bag of alpaca I had bought at one of the Fiber U events that I shared in the past of the classes I took there. I also found a big bag of small sample bits of alpaca that were for needle felting-so they were quite short-I blended them on the blending board. 

Rolags made from the blending board-the browns were small samples of alpaca

Here is the green-drawn out to spin 

Above greens spun into a very arty yarn-below photo

 I am now spinning on the wheel- white alpaca, next up a grey alpaca. I also found our (late) wolf Nikita's hair that she grew over winter-and then needed brushed out-very very short fibers and soft-I am carding that with alpaca and spinning on the drop spindle for better control. That will be an art yarn as well, will see how this looks after washed and dried-could go into a scarf. I have been able to spin it finer since this photo.

  Since I took above photo-found out how to delete date and time on photos

  I have been drinking my decaf coffee with whipped cream this past week, and a splash of my homemade kahlua  This is a hand thrown pottery mug we bought way back before retirement I have always loved handmade pottery dishes.

   

   I  make pancakes for Larry once or twice a week now for his breakfast-I made a gluten free batch for me today. I am using up the dried blueberries I had picked up at the Amish grocery store last year, with maple syrup-of course-smiles.

   This pure maple syrup we buy online from Pennsylvania-we were gifted this syrup from a friend years ago, so now I buy this for us. The best flavor we have ever had and we have tried many different homemade maple syrups from different states.  My cup of decaf black lemon Bigelow tea is also in a hand thrown pottery cup.

Sunrise early last week The sky was a brilliant red for just a bit

After the reds faded out

Happy T and new week

T Stands for Tuesday-This and That

  Posting for T over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's, just share a drink related photo in your post, link in my side bar.

  This has been an interesting full moon-pre Easter week. Are you effected by full moons? 

    Sometimes we get allot of negative things happening during one of these weeks. I had written a couple paragraphs on all the stuff that popped up and just erased it all-we need happy stuff to read not negatives. smiles.

   I wasn't really into fixing an Easter dinner for us and it doesn't matter to Larry that much for Easter-Passover, so I made us fajitas from scratch which he always enjoys. 

   A surprise came early morning Sunday- I was outdoors looking for the hummingbird feeders in the little shed and I see the postal lady with a big amazon box. I said Wow I can't believe they have you working on Easter Sunday? She says well her boss called and said they got allot of Amazon packages in on Sunday can you deliver them? She gets double time pay for Sunday and mileage, so she said Yes.  Inside was items that were coming in on Tuesday including my new camera!  So that was fun. 

   I do like this camera better than the other one so far and it was half the price of the first one.  It does focus and work different than what I am used to but this one had a good instruction booklet so hoping I can get it all figured out.

  On another positive note I am finally getting more coordinated with the spinning wheel. When you watch someone spin-it looks so soothing and easy-Not! haha  I was having allot of troubles keeping the wheel spinning-it takes lots and lots of practice, patience and coordination to get your foot moving smoothly on the pedal while drafting out and making yarn. I finally had a turning point late this afternoon. Finally!

The photo colors are a bit off so I need to look at settings and figure out why the flash is not coming on.  This is what I spun up late Sunday afternoon-this fiber is a black alpaca- very soft, and finally a little more even of a yarn too-I think it is a bit over twisted though-but thinking it will be ok after setting the twist in warm water. Right now I am not going for those super fine yarns that spinners like to spin and then ply, I do like a nice single instead-I want to really see the yarn and it's textures.

  I finished up the rest of the white long wools too on Sunday-this was 2 pounds total that I had spun on the drop spindle as well. I had purchased quite allot of fibers to spin around 2015-2017 This is the last of this white. Looking forward to dyeing these skeins with the black walnuts- soon I hope.

  This is the Christmas amaryllis I bought two Christmas's ago. I had put it in the garden last year summer, and dug it up and put it back in the pot and in the house, before the freeze. About a month ago it started sprouting so I have been watering ever since. Was not expecting a bloom til I put it back outdoors in May-but I was excited to see this. 

For my drink reference this week, I am using a past photo-of my herbals for asthma & allergies-I needed to get back on that this week. 

  A slow mail surprise came in my mail box on Saturday-an Easter card handmade from Iris-thank you sooooo much-it made me very happy hugs

  This will be a busy week, I need a big grocery shopping trip, use the weed eater for cutting the grass again-this grass grows so fast and thick-clean house and get ready for our Wisconsin friends that will be arriving on Friday for a long weekend. Whew  sounds hectic and busy for sure-good news warmer weather coming in, hoping Larry feels good enough to get out and fish with his friend.

Happy T and new week

Holidays: Poem Quote & Recipes

 Happy Easter

After the Rain

"I think of the garden after the rain;
And hope to my heart comes singing,
At morn the cherry-blooms will be white,
And the Easter bells be ringing!"

—Edna Dean Proctor

(found online-Pioneer Woman)

Easter recipes here

We are also in Passover-found this quote and photo

Passover recipes here