Finally slowing down

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." --Eddie Cantor

The past couple of days I have finally been able to sit and boy am I enjoying it.   My car broke down and is in the shop which is why I am stuck home.   But Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care because the sun is shining the temperature is perfect with a slight breeze to keep insects at bay.  I am sitting in the shade of an apple tree with my kindle (wifi reaches to the apple tree) and a sweet tea.  The smell of the wild rose and peonies 

wafting through the air, the birds singing ….so relaxing it sounds like a lullabye!  So much has happen since I last updated and I truly needed some down days to regroup.

 I have a new daughter in law would probably be at the top of the list of happenings.  The wedding was awesome and she was beautiful.  It rained the day before, the morning of and the day after but cleared up so they were able to have the outside wedding they wanted.  

 I cried because #1 son was trying so hard not to.  They had a photo booth which took a series of four pictures printed on one sheet.  You got to keep a copy and one was put in a scrap book along with a personal message for the bride and groom.  There was usually a line of people waiting to enter but then after a couple of hours they brought out props and I can’t wait to see the pictures that ensued!  The newly wedded couple is leaving today for a Caribbean cruise.

#2 daughter had a fantastic week.  She passed her driver’s test on Thursday and graduated Friday.  Next year #2 son graduates and then I will be done packing lunches and getting sick calls from school nurses.

The garden is finally planted and tomatoes are blossoming.

 My niece and her kids came up for the wedding and spent a week.  I thought I could con them into some help but it rained almost every day they were here!  This year has been a trial, lots of rain, late frosts, chipmunks digging up seed and I have a deer with a fawn nearby.  She is hanging around my garden eating my apple trees, plum, forsythia, Jerusalem artichokes, raspberries and anything else that takes her fancy.  Someone left the garden gate open and she did a little damage walking around on my new transplants but thankfully I had extras to replace them.  The apple trees are loaded, the red and black raspberries and blackberries look like it is going to be a good year but the grapes bit the dust in the late frost.

Most of the garden has been papered and mulched with straw which is going to leave me with some extra time to sit under the apple tree!  We moved some black berry bushes outside the garden to increase air circulation and we put in stock panels for the tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.  Usually we mulch our tomatoes and let them lay on the ground.  Last year I lost a lot of tomatoes to animals (now know it was ground hog) so I am trying the staking method and hoping for increased harvest at the same time.  My mom and I tried staking once and even though it was a bad tomato year for everyone we weren’t willing to take the chance again.  Keep your fingers crossed it works since we need a lot of tomatoes…think a year’s worth of salsa, V8, spaghetti sauce, picante sauce, pizza sauce, tomato soup, stewed/whole tomatoes along with eating tomato sandwiches and bruschetta .  Garden diagram for my own reference and missing most of the herbs and peppers.

I have not been knitting much.  I made the bolero for my friend’s daughter and one for my niece.   I had a dye day which was fun but in my exuberance (rushing) I felted it a little.  I was able to still spin the roving but not into lace weight which was a bummer because it was a green gradient dyed roving.  I was able to spin it into a worsted weight and make a small shawl with it but would have liked it to be thinner.

I also dyed this rather loud roving

 and some white Finn yarn 

and I even threw in some silk hankies.  

 I have been spinning a lot more than knitting. 

 

 The white Finn pictured above I spun and plied on the electric spinner….very productive but noisier so I spin on the Traveler and then have a ply day on the electric since I can get bigger skeins on those bobbins.

I went to an alpaca shearing (my cousin) and I am going to get some white alpaca to spin and dye.  I had some of her black alpaca but I want to see how white takes the dye.

On the farm, the milkhouse got a paint job, planted two apple trees and a tulip.  Clean up of barberry continues as it quickly grows back if you turn your back for a second!  And we have a baby chick. 

Hopefully we get a couple of more.  We have to go pick up the turkey poults otherwise we won't have anything for dinner on Thanksgiving and we have much to be thankful for this year.

But now I must head back out to the apple tree and watch #2 son mow the grass!!!