Beautiful Spring

I hope everyone is enjoying as beautiful an April as we've had in Mississippi. It hasn't gotten hot yet, which is so nice. The grass is green, the sky is blue and the flowers are blooming everywhere. Going to lunch the other day I smelled gardenias. I am anxiously awaiting ours blooming--there are buds everywhere but no flowers yet. I've even seen a few magnolias in bloom--this is kind of early, which could mean that we'll have double blooms this year. That's always nice. And thanks to my new ears and allergy medication, I'm hoping to go through the remainder of spring without getting sick!

Eight Rainbow Placemats

I am actually not really happy with these placemats. They came as a kit and the instructions were abyssmal. I didn't have a clear sense of where I was going and how much yarn I had to do it with.

At any rate, they show up nicely in the picture. The girls want them really badly, so they may be the first thing in their linen basket! Starting early for college next year!

3 Weeks from Today

In three weeks from today I will be flying my way to Paris, France. I can hardly wait! I'll share my itinerary with hotel info. below. If you want a detailed itinerary of our daily activies once we join the tour, go to http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours08/product.cfm/rurl/code/GAS08/

May 17: Leave for Paris

May 18-19: Paris, France: http://www.beaugency-paris-hotel.com/index.html
We ride a train from Paris to Frankfurt and then a smaller train from Frankfurt to St. Goar where we join our tour group.

May 20-21: St. Goar, Germany:
http://www.hotel-am-markt-sankt-goar.de/html/english_home.html

May 22-23: Baden-Baden, Germany: http://www.hotel-colmar.de/

May 24-25: Murten, Switzerland: http://www.murtenhof.ch/

May 26-27: Murren, Switzerland: www.hoteljungfrau.ch

May 28-29: Munich, Germany: no web site

May 30-May 31: Salzburg, Austria: www.trumer-stube.at

June 1: Hallstatt, Austria: http://www.obertraun.net/accomodation/action/view/frmArticleID/144/

June 2-4: Vienna, Austria: http://www.hotelpension.at/neuermarkt/english/index.htm

June 5: Leave for the states

A Blue and Green Scarf

This one is also a "scrap scarf" made from the leftovers of the point twill color and weave scarf from early last week. All I have left is the dark green. I've already made plans to make a green and burgandy houndstooth which I think will be wonderful. At any rate, I think this scarf is wonderful. The blue with the dark green looks like ripples of water in a river. And it's very soft. This is a really nice wool that I'll be using again.

Book Review: The Sparks Fly Upward

I loved The Sparks Fly Upward by Diana Normand. It was well written, and very enjoyable to read. Hard to put down actually. That's saying something for me...the person who can stop in the middle of a sentence and come back two days later. I think this is the best of the three in the series so far (please tell me there will be a fourth!). In fact, I had to decide Tuesday night--read the book or have a bath?

In this installment and grown-up Phillipa is trying to determine her future. An old maid by any standard at 26, she is still the daughter of a very wealthy Makepeace and is therefore an interest--to everyone but the man she loves. She agrees to marry a good man because she wants children, but finds him stiffling her efforts at political reform. Phillipa meets with one shocking resistance after another and decides to do something drastic--go to France during the middle of the Terror to save the man she admires (a different person from the one she loves) from the guillotine.

Meanwhile Makepeace is grieving the death of her husband Andra and ends up falling in love with an actor who also has some mysterious political schemings of his own.

Norman's writing has improved with every book. This one moves along very quickly and sucks the reader in from the first page. I highly recommend starting with A Catch of Consequences and reading all three of these books.

Scrap Weaving

I don't know if there's a genre of weaving called "scrap weaving" but if there is I'm an avid fan! The scarf above is made from the left-overs of the color and weave scarf pictured from a couple of days ago. I used what I had left of the pink and lavendar wool and then added what was left of the pink silk from the log cabin scarves of a while back. It is woven with the dark green wool in a broken twill pattern. Again, these often complicated patterns are not complicated at all and are a joy to weave.

My favorite thing about this scarf is how the multi colors in the warp really do add lots of depth to the fabric and create almost an overdyed look.

There will be one more scrap scarf from this "collection"...hopefully by tomorrow as I have jury duty on Tuesday!

Living with an older cat...

Last night, I was sleeping peacefully when I heard this boom-boom-boom that woke me up. A couple of second later my orange cat jumped in the bed with a "mrmph!", a sneeze and then jumped down again to run around.

Worried that he may have knocked something important over, I got up to check things out. I went all over the house and couldn't find a thing--not even the cat, so I looked outside on the sleeping porch, nope. Then I hear his "mrmph!" again and look over to his basket where he normally sleeps.

There he was pretending to be asleep with his eyes wide open and fully dilated. He couldn't help wiggling his head around a little as I sternly told him I was sleeping and would prefer he do these antics at 4pm!

I went back to bed to no further ado.

Point Twill Color and Weave Scarf

This scarf is from a pattern in a magazine. I saw it and was really excited to do it and then was a little daunted by the complexity of the threading, treadling and weaving (color changes) so I simplified it. Then I kicked myself and said, "What's the point of picking patterns from a magazine if you aren't going to learn from it?" So, I bit the bullet and wove this absolutely lovely scarf. It was slow weaving, and required lots of concentration and uniterupted time, but doesn't it just sparkle? I did learn from it--and won't be doing something quite so complex for a time. But I gained confidence that I CAN do something like this and the results will be as lovely as the magazine photo.

Mid-Week

Well, it's mid-week, and I'm definitely getting things done. I've been busy getting a report ready to submit by early next week. David's out of town, so I've been holding the fort down, so to speak. I've been weaving on a new scarf project that is rather complicated but very nice--won't do another one like it in the near future, but it IS pretty. You'll see in a couple of days. Plus I'm reading a good book. I had to put Hinterlands aside as there was just something about it that bugged me. I'll finish up The Sparks fly Upward and then try to tackle it again and see if it was just my mood or the book. Unfortunately jury duty is next week, so I'll have to be gone for a few days, but we've been promised a short session, AND I don't go back until June because I'm leaving for Europe in a month + one day!

Didn't get it...

I didn't get the job. I'm not surprised as I knew after talking to them that I wasn't the person for it. So, it's back to focusing on the dissertation...work that has been going very well lately.

A set of 4 towels

I'm sure you thought I'd quit weaving since I haven't put anything up recently. I've just been really busy finishing up these towels.

My friend Kelli has her birthday this month. We are taking her to lunch on Wednesday and she will get these four towels! There are 7 left from the other towels made with these that I'll send to sell...another I gave away and 3 more are being used in my kitchen. They are made from 100% unmercerized cotton and woven with a twill pattern to give them a little more depth and absorbancy. I love them!

Job Interview today

Wish me luck...this seems to be the theme around here. Alyssa started working two weeks ago, Elizabeth on Saturday.

After pics of the landscaping

The landscaping is finished and looks great. I'm anxiously awaiting March of next year to see all the azaleas in bloom. But this summer will be nice with the gardenias and jasmine. And David's vegie and herb garden will be producing before we know it!

Comment Crap

Sorry for the less than modest word, but I've been getting crap comments, and don't like it, so I'm turning on the comment review. This should stop the bad ones from showing up...Still love hearing from the rest of you!

Pictures of the landscaping tomorrow.

Other Exciting News...

There's a new refrigerator on its way. Pics when it gets here!



And the yard looks like hell, but once all the bushes and trees are down and the beds prepped there will be new plants everywhere and it'll be gorgeous!

The Landscapers are here!

I'm so excited because the landscapers are finally here to do the work on the house! We're getting the back garden completely cleaned out so that David can plant his herb and vegetable garden back there. Then all the oleanders along the alley are coming down and azaleas are being planted from the back of the house all the way to the stop sign. There will be some jasmine planted at the iron gate on the front to twine around and flower and smell pretty. It'll mix in with the red honeysuckle we already have there. Finally, gardenias are going to line the side of the house, interspersed with something else for color and flowering variety. It's going to be SO pretty next year. I'll have pictures when they're done!