Saturday, September 28, 2013

Return to Lopez Island and other stories

Well, here it is a stormy, rainy Saturday afternoon, and it's raining like I have not seen in a long time.  So, I've done some knitting, some sewing, cleaned the kitchen up from the mess we made last night with our Thursday night dinner party that was on Friday.
And now, I will blog while DH watches football.  I haven't even gotten dressed today.  Yesterday I vowed to spend the day doing nothing, and I'm succeeding to a slight extent.
 
Last week, Terry and I went to Lopez Island again, because the tides were good for clam digging.
When I dig for clams, I get down on my hands and knees, right in the hole, and really enjoy myself, as you can see.
Each day we filled a large bucket 3/4 full.
 
 
 
 
I'm trying to show off how dirty I am here.  I hosed it all down when we got back to the cottage, with me still wearing it, and left all the clothes in the sun to dry for the next day.  In fact, where we stay is so secluded, we stripped all the way down to our birthday suits and hosed off before we went inside for showers.
 

 Below, I am filling the bucket with clean water so the clams can spit out all the sand.
After clam digging, we rowed the boat out and set 4 crab pots.  The next day, we pulled up 14 crabs!!!  Then we dug clams again.  We have lots of crabfeeds and clam chowders in our future.
We didn't do any hiking this trip.  All the work we did really wore us out.  We went into the Village for lunch the first day, and I felt surreal.  It was like being on a movie set.  Folks were walking along the streets, riding bikes, and one lady went buzzing by on her brand new Candy Apple Red Moped.
No body lives like this.  It's like a dream

Meanwhile, I have been spinning up a storm, and have finally started to enter items on my Etsy Store.  It is Alpacalady.  I'd like to change it to Fiberfabrications, but I can't.  Oh, well, I will be known as the alpacalady by many people for a long time.
Here is the link to my shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/alpacalady

I will be a vendor in a Fiber Show coming up in October, which I'm excited about.
Here is the link if you are interested in attending Fiber Fusion Northwest.
 
On another note, I raised a Stevia plant this year.  I pulled it up by the roots and hung it in the Man Cave to dry.  I later learned that it is a perennial, so I  bought two more plants.  I took about one Tablespoon full of the dry leaves and placed them in a coffee filter.  I tied it shut and boiled it in a cup and a half of water.  Like making a simple sugar.  I'm keeping it in the refrigerator and it will provide sweetener for my coffee for a week.


Finally, I don't think my niece reads my blogs.  This is the finished quilt top for her that I just completed this week.  Now the hard part begins.  And, I have three more quilts to get made.  If it's a long rainy winter, that won't be a problem.

3 comments:

Gene Black said...

What fun. I have never dug clams or set crab pots. But I love eating both of those treats.
The yarn looks great.
I would like to try growing stevia also.

Jean(ie) said...

I want to go clamming and crabbing! So glad you're having fun!

That yarn is beautiful!

Hope y'all survived the wind and rain this weekend. It sure was a doozie. Our electricity went off twice. Just for a few minutes, but enough to make us change the clocks.

Unknown said...

I dont know if you remember, but I used to live on Whidbey. Man I miss clams.....so much! if it took me getting on my knees I would willingly do so. Oh yeah, I want a chef on thursdays too!