Thursday May 7th, 2020

'Thursday is the day my daughter and I

set aside for "Happy Hour"

and a catch up of all the foregoing week's gossip

and news!!

A couple of glasses of Hochtaller for her

and a snifter of Apricot Brandy for me

(cut with ginger ale!)

It's a happy hour that I anticipate with pleasure.

It's only an hour and soon it is supper time

and she is off down the hallway and out the back door

across the lane to where she lives......

As she went down the hall the loom room caught her attention...

and the empty LeClerc!!!!

"I suppose you'll be re-dressing it soon,"

she remarked dryly..  and of course I will!!!|

but first I must do the fringing on the silk and wool scarf

I just took off, - before I can wash it

and treat it to that wonderful magic that water and a

 good soaping accomplish.

This is a collapsing  plain weave scarf

and though it comes off the loom looking like any other

piece of handwoven material

after a dunking in some warm water and 

a hearty squeezing and squishing in the soapy water

the magic works, and lo, the wool shrinks and causes the rest

to balloon out in wonderful clouds of delicate silk.

I have made these scarves before, and they are a delight....

but before I can indulge myself squishing and squeezing

I must finish the fringing or those bits of warp

that dangle at both ends of the scarf,

will be tangled, instead of 'dangled'.

I will capture some pictures to share the magic!!!

Probably tomorrow.........at one time I would stay up all night

to finish a project,

but alas those days are gone, and I can hear my mother,

admonishing me to leave the sewing,

go to bed, and finish in the morning.

And of course, Mothers know best|!!!

Here is the scarf as it came off the loom.....

plain weave, and nothing fancy.

The borders and the blue and pink stripes are wool,

 and will shrink.

but not the scarlet silk.

washed, soaped and bubbled

still as red, but the camera was shy

and stuck with the faded colour!!

Sorry.....

I am pleased with the actual scarf, even

if it didn't photograph well!!

Wednesday in the first week of May, 2020

Woke to rain falling on the neighbours work shed, which lies beside my open bedroom window, on the other side of the fence.....

A lovely sound, and when I rose to click the red button on the coffee pot, and call Bruce for his morning adventure through the little dog door, I caught that wonderful whiff of wet grass, and the rain was dripping happily down through the hole in the eaves, outside the kitchen window.

Our first really serious rain of the season, and one that was welcome by all, humans, plants, grasses and trees - all luxuriating in this wonderful dampness and cloudy skies.....

Even without the rain the garden has been leaping forward with great bounds, - peonies in bud, the quince in blossom,

the single white peony which blooms early

and the wild violets with just one thought in their little blossomless heads - to take over the garden, and make it their's, - all theirs!

However, they have been thwarted by an earnest attention to weeding, and hopefully even the rain won't lend them the vigour to push all the plants aside and fly their own flag!!!

I took advantage of the indoor weather and made for the loom room, where I am putting together a collapsible scarf - red silk, and various shades of wool,  that I trust will shrink and cause the silk to balloon.

Unfortunately my back is not as valiant as it once was, and weaving is an off and on again thing, - not a whole day's endeavour as it once was.

I have reached the part of the scarf that will go around the neck, making it wholly of wool so that it will shrink into a nice warm woolly section.  Time for lunch, and maybe a little nap!!!

The rain has stopped, - after getting all the garden cushion seats good and wet,  but the clouds still linger, and I can look forward to another hour or two on the loom before it's time to think of supper.
Fish and chips I venture, - it's not Friday, but my sweet and accommodating DIL shopped for me this morning, and brought home a lovely bit of cod.

It has been such a long time since I have been in our local grocery shop!  The result of growing old, no longer having a driver's license, the new rules at the store regarding Covid19, and the wonderful generosity of my children who between them seem to manage to do all my shopping and provide me with everything that's needed.

The sky begins to clear a little...

Perhaps tomorrow will be a garden day, - in the meantime, back to the loom!!!!

This and That

It's been that kind of a day....

I did some hemming on the towels just off the loom; 

struggled with the cutch grass that is growing up around the perennial sweet peas; 

made some scones; 

wrote a letter; 

paid  the monthly bills

and planted the lettuce and herb plants that I bought at the garden store on Saturday!!!

That was quite an adventure, - 

one shared with our youngest son 

who kindly and cheerfully accompanied me to Don and Anna's Greenhouses, 

as I mentioned in my last post, 

and where I tried very hard not to be overly indulgent,

 but came home with three boxes of tender plants, 

besides Callie's rosebush.....

  Lots of white and purple alyssum and a few pots of marigolds,

 some evening scented stock, 

a bit of blue flax 

and that other plant (whose name escapes me right now)

 that is small and borderlike and has the most brilliant tiny blue flowers.

  Oh, and some zinnias!  All different colours. 

 Some lemon balm, and a few daisylike  plants 

for the big green pot that sits out the back.

I didn't get any geraniums

and there were no nicotiana plants available

but I bought some seed

in hopes that I can plant a pot to put beside

the back patio swing

to scent the night air.

May continues to be the fairest of months...

still sunny, warm and breezy

and lots of birds around...

It's hard to stay

indoors....

what with the scent of the blossoms

and the tenderness of the new green leaves