The full Rainbow as taken by David, our son - a supplement to Skywatch Friday posting.

Do click to enlarge and enjoy.

Making over the Garden or What C.A. and Cam accomplished in one Short Day

Well, it was a sweet, pale sunrise, - nothing spectacular or flashy - just an endearing and demure beginning to what the weatherman promised would be a pleasant day.

We lingered over breakfast, waiting for Cam and Cindy Anne to arrive with their garden gloves and shovels, - a lovely gesture from our oldest granddaughter and her husband.

And when they came what miracles they performed. One forgets how energetic the forties are, - how easy it is to dig and and how speedy it is divide the plants and conquer the coutch grass and the underground Chinese Lantern Subway when the roots of its line show up....

Cindy Anne digs up the Barn Flower

Divides it, and puts it into plastic bags - some to take home,

some to entice other people to plant it in their gardens....

and some Cam and Charles transplanted to other parts of the garden.

After lunch we divided and bagged up some more perennials

to give the garden plants room to expand.

And then we went and gathered up

the two table looms

for C.A. and one of her students,

both of them eager to weave

and me,

so happy to send them where they will be used

and cherished and bring two more weavers

into the fold!!

And the dear girl relieved me of some of the wool stash too!!!

Altogether a most satisfactory day.

I took some pictures of the daffodils and violets and the emerging blooms

on the forsythia

The rest of the eager and vibrant plants

I will put here

In the Garden Diary.

Skywatch Friday

March 19th, 2010

A progressive rainbow in the Similkameen.....

It is a dark day, promising nothing but clouds and rain and wind.

I look up from the sink full of soapy water, off to the north where the sky is lighter than it is in the south, - and there it is.

A lovely bright rainbow hugging the tops of the mountains. By the time I get the camera it has lost some of its brilliance.

This is a catch as catch can show and progressively it gets fainter as the moments pass.

A few hundred yards down the hill our son was able to capture the complete rainbow, stretching close to the horizon across the northern end of the valley.

Lovely way to start the day!

For more interesting skies visit here, at Skywatch Friday.

ABC Wednesday

I is for Inch Worm

Visit ABC Wednesday here to see what else 'I' represents, with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her kind helpers.

Closing the Circle

I spent a few hours this afternoon out with the looms and the wool stash and all the bits and pieces that weavers need in their business. Shuttles and heddles and ball winders and threaders, beaters and spindles and swifts and books. A goodly shelf of books, and a whole cupboard of Handwoven and Spin-Off magazines.

And the stash, - great huge see through containers and baskets and bags, all stuffed full of thin wool, thick wool, silks and cottons. Cones and thrums and pre-wound warps - and all of them speaking of a half a lifetime of weaving.

I was just past the first flush of family when I became passionate about weaving. The sheep we had were inspiring, and I tied fleeces willingly at shearing time in order to save the longest and finest and prettiest for my new spinning wheel and the dyepot that accompanied it.

I gathered dye materials from the hills and the garden and the grocery store. I experimented with mordents and was fascinated by the gorgeous and varied shades they produced.

I bought an Inkle loom and we made frame looms of different sizes, - I read everything I could get my hands on to learn the intricacies of more advanced weaving, and as I did so I shared the knowledge with others who were full of enthusiasm too. There were no local Weaving Guilds but for a few years there were others who were excited about weaving on primitive looms, and we shared what we knew.

Probably the flower children who worked in our orchard and the turnip field passed along more ways of doing things and more delightful ideas for what to weave and how to do it.

Finally I bought my first table loom, - a LeClerc Dorothy, and then a jack loom that opened the window wide on blankets and scarves and tablecloths and light rugs and I was in my glory....

After we moved from the farm to the village Charles and I bought an eight harness countermarche loom, and he became a very important part of the weaving studio with such wonderful inventiveness and practical wood working. He made sectional beams for both the floor looms and creels and the most ingenious tensioner and a counter for winding bobbins. We had as great room on the lower floor that accommodated both the floor looms and equipment, and a spare bedroom for the ever growing stash of wool.

Ah, now we come to the crux of the matter, - that enormous stash of wool that filled my dreams with plans for projects, - all sorts of intricate patterns and threadings and treadlings and all these yarns would eventually be woven into beautiful weavings.

Alas, time and energy seem to sometimes be at cross purposes with our dreams, and sometimes dreams turn into stress that lies unconscious under all our plans.

And so I have come to this time when I must face reality and share all the yarns (except for some lovely silk that I may take to the grave with me!) with younger, more energetic people who are knitters or weavers or crocheters, but who all cherish the passion for fabric or creating.

I have found an eager home for two table looms and all their accoutrement's. My knees outgrew the countermarche a few years ago when lying on the floor tying up heddles was no longer exciting, but almost impossible. Someone is coming to take away the rug wools and warps, and I know that shoppers at the Bargain Centre will be happy with my other yarn offerings.

I will keep my first Jack Loom - it is warped and anxious to have a lovely weft flying back and forth. And besides, Charles has not yet made that fly shuttle that he planned, just for the satisfaction of creating it....

The circle holds so many memories, and I will close it to where I first started, holding the memories safe and sure and secure within its lovely bounds.