photography

Weaving between storms

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I was very excited to attend an overshot weaving workshop at Red Stone Glen fiber art studio in western Pennsylvania – 7+ hours from home. 

First my car was declared unsafe to drive by my mechanic and had to be left behind for repair. We high tailed it up to Plattsburgh INTERNATIONAL Airport where I picked up a rental car.

I sorely missed my deer whistles en route while I saw live and not so live deer along the highways. And I missed my EZ Pass. Did you know it costs $15 to drive across PA. No bridges or tunnels, just highway with deer. I don’t appreciate how muc tolls cost when I breeze through in the 65 mph lane. 

And I spent 4 hours cautiously driving through this storm.   

But I arrived at my cabin on a lake at Gifford Pinchot State Park unscathed. And I never met the prey in my bedroom. 

  
I brought projects from home to work on in the evenings. 

  
I enjoyed mornings on the lake with coffee.   

And wove for 2 full days to make this beautiful overshot shawl. 

   
 Now I’m visiting my precious new grandson (and his parents) but may need to skedaddle in my rental car without deer whistles or snow tires because 10″ of snow is forecast at home!

These are a few fall shots from home. 

  
The mighty Boquet (that’s BO- kwet to you southerners) at sunset. 

  
Our local morning rainbow. 

  
Our cute little cabin in the woods. 

  
And at night.  

 Bet you can’t spot the deer in our yard. Get out the whistles!

 

Blazing through fall

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The leaves changed color in breathtaking beauty and hung out for a while.  Now we’ve had our first snow and many, but not all, have fallen.

  
  
  
I haven’t said much about felines lately but they gave me a run for my money this month. My 14 year old cat, Loki, was  declared doomed by the vet. I almost left him there to be euthanized it was so grim. But I chose to bring him home instead. AND HE MADE A COMPLETE RECOVERY!  Lucky guy that one. 

  
While I was away playing with my new grand darling (thank you Shirley for that lovely phrase), Tim texted to say he couldn’t find little Elli and she was going to have to spend the night out. We don’t have lions and tigers but we do have coyotes, martens, fishers and bears, all of whom would find her little fat body a treat. Tim texted me, “Good luck Elli, good night Lynne”. She survived and came home to my call. Then stayed in for 36 hours. 

  
Friends and family chipped in and helped with the insulation layer of my earth oven. We “emptied” a few wine bottles for this layer and then I covered it with a clay-hay mixture. What fun playing in the mud. I need another layer to even it out. 

First I cemented a ring of river rocks on the base Tim helped me with. 

  
Then filled it with wine bottles and clay-hay. A good time was had by me but it was moderately back breaking. 

  
  

 

We celebrated by having the last of our single malt scotch from Tasmania in the cabin. Tim shanghaied me from my other projects to make insulated curtains to reduce the cold wind whistling through the windows and I got to see them hung on their cedar branch rods and brackets. 

  I’m knitting and felting a gaggle (15 pair!) of crab themed slippers for my darling daughter and an army of her friends. 

  

  But today I’m off to “work” to relax and fund my habits.  

Seasons come and go

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Life’s been busy since we returned from Seguin. We drove home during changing fall colors, which are now reaching their peak. And we had sunny, seasonal days to enjoy them. 

 A cloud settled over Cobble Hill.  Canoeing at Great Camp Santononi in Newcomb.   

  Wagon ride to Camp Santononi.  Sunrise over the mountains on the day my new grandson was born. 

A new life!  I love conjoined carrots. 

I love my new grandson even more.    

Never not weaving

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Or thinking about weaving. Some time at home has let me do some loom work. I finished a pair of cotton chenille bath sheets that seemed to take forever. I had to order more yarn for the warp so it languished on the loom. But it was well worth the wait. They’re soft, absorbant and huge. I think I’ll need more. 

  Now I’ve got placemats in process. I’ve made several sets for friends. I noticed  that I always admire them when I see them again, so now it’s time for my own set. 

   

They are warped back to front and I made this nifty raddle and set it up in an ingenious way I learned at Red Stone Glen. 

Our outdoor shower mat became loose so I wove the boards together in a plain weave. 

  
This works much better except I am on my guard these days because there is a new milk snake near the shower! And bear scat near the garden! I tell you, it’s a jungle out there. 

  
I moved the wildlife camera but have only picked up deer munching AROUND the garden, not in it. I spray liquid fence (cayenne, sulphur) around the perimeter and it works. 

My last strawberry rhubarb pie had a 2 x 2 twill crust and was delicious. 

  
I needed some supports for my garden and sort of wove a twig tuteur. I decided two would dominate the raised bed so one sits between the tomato plants. 

   
  Summer has arrived, and with it, we have frequent afternoon thunderstorms – and dramtic skies. 

   
   
We need the rain for the flowers. 

   
  
  

Then I can spend more time weaving instead of watering the flowers. 

 

Cloudy days

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Grey clouds with shafts of sunlight create beautiful colors. Storms don’t seem too bad from the comfort of my couch. 

Here’s a friend’s barn on Sunday. The colors were  

 very dramatic. 

Tonight, pink clouds formed over the mountains, followed by lightning and gravel sized hail. 

   
    
 
Who needs TV with all this drama outside. 

Boreas is a sailboat again, almost

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  We both fretted about stepping the mast. We thought we might have the option of hiring someone, but no such luck. So we searched the internet for suggestions. The marina had a crane, but we had to figure out how to hook the mast, lift it without harm to us or the boat and then detach the crane,  

 named giraffe.

 
I found this great knot and article. 

Then I researched a rolling hitch on Grog’s knots and came up with Ashley’s variation, knot 1734. 

  
This kept the mast knot from slipping up the mast as it was raised. 

All went well until we couldn’t undo the knot ( because we strayed from internet suggestions and tied it above our radar and spreaders and couldn’t slide it down).

We attracted spectators including one who provided helpful suggestions. We tried tilting the boat to the bulkhead but ultimately fixed a knife to the end of the boat hook and cut the loop.  Not elegant but only two feet of line was sacrificed.  Next time we’ll attach our improvised sling below the radar and spreaders. Then the crowd dispersed until we mistakenly hung our Canadian Maple Leaf, courtesy flag, upside down. We’ve been known to do this before. 

Tomorrow, when the wind lies (lays?) down, we’ll put the sails up and Tim will be on his way while I walk to the bus, take the bus to Longuiele, take the Metro to Montreal, a bus to Plattsburgh, walk two miles to the marina and drive an hour home.  I have to remember it took me 4 days to get here by boat. 

Here’s our evening sunset over the St. Lawrence Seaway before we had pizza delivered to the boat!

  

Slip (ups)?

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The rain abated and we headed out for another walk on a mountain that overlooks a manmade lake. Our first mistake was not bringing lunch and the town, Liausson, had no restaurant or market. Off we went to Octon to a creperie for a bowl of cider (lap it up) and crepes. Then back we came and headed into the hills. 

   
   
All was well for so much of the hike.  When we teached the top, we could see another lilliputian town on the other side of the mountain, the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. Why, we could even see Spain from our backyard. 

   
 
Look at that smile. So happy. 

  
Until…we reached a shaded, canted, steep, slippery section on our descent. Let’s just say I didn’t like it one bit. In fact I had a “little” panic attack and Tim had to talk me off the cliff, so to speak, with me gripping his arm as I slipslided away. 

But descend we did with only a little butt sliding on my part. 

I shouldn’t have complained about toilets lacking seats since we encountered this one. 

  
In full disclosure we also found one with a padded seat. Not too bad when there’s no central heat. 

Then we were invited to a friend of our proprietors’ to settle up our bill, after 7. So we ate a hearty soup I made with fresh veggies from the market and headed out. Only to find  appetizers, local wine and a seafood stew bubbling in the pressure cooker. Oops. Who knew?

The weather turned

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Lots of clouds, drizzle or rain. Yesterday we headed to Montpelier and swam in their beautiful, somewhat crowded, 50 m pool. 

They have these nifty little hanger baskets for shoes, which must come off before entering the locker room, and outerwear.

  
Then we walked around the city. As did lots of others with colorful umbrellas. Our drive home on freeways was a little unnerving because we (I the navigator) headed off in the wrong direction more than once.

  
The cathedral is gianormous. 

 

  
Today was still drizzly and we took another city excursion to Sommiers, with a bridge from Roman times still in use. And black swans just like Tasmania. 

   
   
We found a nice walk up into the hills which allowed us to work off our crepes. 

We heard of a poppy field just outside Aniane and Tim found it on our way home. 

   
 
It reminded me of the beautiful tulips we saw in Amsterdam during our six hour layover and visit with old friends. I was too jetlagged to remember my camera though. 

Oh yes!  Why don’t french public toilets have seats?! 

  

The Walls of Aniane

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Tim has been focusing on the flowers that seem to grow on air from the old walls, bromiliads?

   
   
I’m impressed with the variety of graffiti. 

   
    
 

Then I hit a communication wall. I needed a haircut. I went to the salon with Tim and his friend, Patrick, who is fluent in french. I had to wait until Friday so they made it clear it needed to be long enough for a ponytail. 

 I even had this phrase on my phone, “J’aimerais bien garder les longueurs afin de pouvoir les mettre dans le queue de cheval si vous plait.”  You can translate it but it politely asks to keep it long enough for a pony tail. Day of the haircut I felt like an animal at the vet. Until an english song came on the radio, “I’m too drunk to f••k”. Good thing she and her customers didn’t speak english! Here’s the song.

   
 

Where are we?

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We cannot read the hiking maps. An easy walk turned into a 5.5 hour moderately difficult hike. Thank goodness we met a couple from the Isle of Skye, equally confused, who shed some light on where we might be.I became extremely quiet and stated an absolute turnaround time but we confirmed our location before we needed to turn around. 

The trail numbers are variable, Tim thinks he’s got it now, I remain dubious. But the sights, which cannot be captured by camera, were spectaculor. 

We could see our little village of Aniane way off in the distance.  

 We were even higher than the other day. I was surprised when some mountain bikers rode up the trail. 

  Some parts of the road were built more than a thousand years ago and were better than any Adirondack trail.   

We enjoyed some fresh spring water and a cold beer at the end of the hike and all was well with the world.