Oh, my Aching feet!

 I have been working the past couple days at the Pike Place Market it downtown Seattle, selling bouquets of tulips.  I have worked two half days, and today I work a full 8 hours.  I hope I can still walk when I leave there tonight.  It's tough on the old feet, but so much fun.

 There is a constant swarm of folks buying the tulips, and on Valentines day, we will have 9 people working the stall and 5 tents full of flowers.  WOW.

The owner of this endeavor, Alm Hill Gardens, has run this stall for 40 years at the Market.  They are the same people who own Growing Washington, the organic growers who leased my land at the farm.

Ironic that I move to Seattle and go to work for friends from Nooksack!

The tulips will be sold until April, and then the produce comes on and I will work for them at various neighborhood markets.

 We've been lucky, with two days of beautiful sunshine.

 Last week, I taught my niece, Erin, how to quilt.  First, we went shopping.  That was such fun.  She had to get herself a sewing machine, too.  Then we went to lunch.

I was so proud of Erin.  She completed a nine patch made with charms, quilted it and made it into a pillow in just two hours.

 

A bit here, and a little bit there.

I know, it's been so long since I have posted.  I've been busy, but had a setback with my eyes, and I'm a bit discouraged.  I will be seeing the surgeon on the 12th, so I will just take one day at a time until then.  He's the best in the State, so worth waiting for.

I just returned from a visit with high school friends at Hood Canal in Allyn, Washington.  Oh, it is so beautiful there.

This is the view from the deck.  They are rebuilding the bridge over to Treasure Island.  The weather was so completely nasty, we didn't get any time on the beach this trip.  But, the girls will be back in June, and watch out world.  They will be spending some time here at the farm with me, too.

One of our favorite hangout's there is Myra's Fancy Image Yarns in Shelton.  She hand dyes all of these yarns, and makes kits and patterns, and we have a wonderful time there.  The store was closed the two days we were there, but she let us come, and we took lunch in to share with her.

Here is Myra winding some yarn I bought to make a sweater for my Grandson, Cadel.

Here are Kris and Lynne preparing a very healthy dinner for us.

I had taken a short nap to get over the whirlies caused by my eyes.  When I got up, I went to pour myself a glass of wine and this is what I found:

A corkscrew was not to be found, so they used a potatoe peeler.  Very resourceful, I think.

After Lynne and Chris headed home to Laramie and Denver, I spent the night at my friend Kris' house in Olympia.  Kris lived 4 houses from me growing up on Mercer Island, and we also shared an apartment in college.  She is a great friend and so much fun to be with.

From her place I took the train to Seattle, where Terry picked me up.  Then he drove me home.  I'm so lucky to have so many friends who help me out during these times when I can't drive.

Now that I am home, I am enjoying having the organic farmers here.  I spend a couple of hours a day talking and sharing with them.  Hopefully, I provide them with a good deal of animal husbandry experience, which they are just learning.  They do a lot of research, but nothing beats hands on.

One Sunday they brought over two nanny goats they had rescued, and I taught them how to milk.  Poor little girls had not been milked in days and were in pretty bad shape.  They are enjoying life now, getting milked daily and having nice green fields to eat and play in.

AND THEN

A friend of one of the farmers had been looking for a plot to lease to raise his heritage vegetables.  He found out I needed someone to prune my ancient, huge apple and pear trees, and offered to do the job in exchange for some land.  I honestly cannot afford to pay someone to do this work, and he grew up working in orchards, so this is a great arrangement.  Plus, he is giving me vegetable starts for my own garden.

Now, I don't want to sound old, because you know I am not, but God has really blessed me by bringing these young people to me.  I enjoy having them here so much, and we are all benefiting from the relationship.

I've been busy spinning, so stay tuned.  I will have my new creations on my next blog.

Snow *&^%(* Snow

I love a couple of days of snow.  The peace and beauty of it all is so wonderful.  But then, I don't HAVE to leave home for any reason since I am "retired".  However, my surgery was scheduled for this coming Thursday, and it required an appointment for some additional measurements on Monday.  I've had to cancel and will have the eye surgery rescheduled as soon as the weather returns to normal.  What a disappointment.  I have a friend who is a Bellingham cop, and he always reports on road conditions to us, and with my eyes making even a trip to Bellinghan stressfull, I was not about to add ice and snow to the equation. 

Monday, however, was a very fortuitous day for me.  Growing Washington, the organic farmer that leases 7 acres from me for growing vegetables, asked me if they could lease the barn for raising small livestock.  I was thrilled.  There is nothing sadder than an empty barn, and for some reason, the building tends to deteriorate without use.

GW plans to raise Range fed chickens for meat, laying chickens, turkeys, a high quality meat rabbit, possibly some goats, and a couple of cows.

I negotiated a fee based on their share of the water and electricity, along with some labor for maintining the farm.  At this point in my life, help on the farm is WAAAAAY more important to me than a few dollars that I will just spend on something I don't really need.

It will be so nice to see animals back there again, and the best part?  I won't be responsible for them!!!  There will be workers there every day of the week caring for the animals.  In addition, I get free turkeys, chickens and eggs.  Added to the broccoli, carrots and beets they raise here, I'm gonna be sitting pretty!

So, since I haven't been able to get out, I've been able to get some sewing done for my soon to be Grandson.  I saw the pattern for this a little over a week ago, and then purchased whatever fabric I needed.  I just have the border and backing left to do.  The pattern is called "Baby Babushka".  This has been so much fun, and if feels good to sew again.  I have many more items to make for the little bambino.  This has worked to put me in the mood.  I've only included one row in this picture.  When it is finished, I will post a complete picture.

It's only 14 degrees this morning, and I am thankful I don't have to go out and feed alpacas.  I am wishing I had a nice little wood burning stove, so once I am out and about again, I think that will become a priority for me to pursue.