Back at it.

I think it is about time I got back to blogging. 
With all the problems I've had with my eyesight, it just wasn't comfortable, but things are improving tremendously, and I think it is time.

 I have been dying fiber again and having a grand time.  I attended a fiber show recently where I bought a fiber blending board, and I'm having a lot of fun blending colors.  I will be coming up with some new yarn designs as a result.

Which is a good segue into the Burien Farmer's Market.  This is a sweet little market, about a 10 minute drive from my place.  I will be vending there and am so happy to be part of a Market again.  Terry will help me to set up and break down.  That was always the part that exhausted me.  He has been working so hard to help me get ready.  He's made new weights for the tend, washed and waterproofed the tent top, and helped me to make a new sign.  

The market is on Thursdays, from 11am to 6pm.  Opening day is May 1st and it is forecast to be 79 degrees.  That should bring the people out.

 Last week we made a quick trip to Lopez Island and took our friend April with us.  Is this the sweetest little church?  I wanted to take pictures of all the churches, but I forgot my camera or it was raining too hard.  That didn't keep us from digging clams and doing some island exploration.

 The Tulip Festival is in full swing in Mt 

Vernon, and here are some fields we passed on our way to the ferry in Anacortes.  These are fields where they are harvesting the flowers.

Last but not least, here are some of the clams we got.  We  wash the shells really good, then steam them, saving the nectar.  I then squeeze the contents of the stomach out of the bug ones, cut them up, and then we freeze them in a quart container.  Enough clams and nectar to make enough clam chowder for at least 4 people.  Next trip to Lopez, we will be going after Dungeness Crabs.

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.

http://www.fiberfusion.net/

 

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.

More Magic from Lopez Island

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get to this next chapter on my trip to Lopez Island.  Terry and I have been cleaning up his place and re-arranging so that I can move in.  Yesterday was the big day. 

The storage unit is not large enough, and we now have a small house crammed full of furniture and boxes.  We will get this all arranged, it's just going to take time.

 

So, below is the last hike of the day.  This is the trail leading to Shark Reef.

 

 

 

Have you ever been somewhere that just grabs you?  It's like you have come home, you have found the place you came from.  Mystical and spiritual, Shark Reek affected me in this way.  I did not want to leave.

If you click on the picture below, you will see the sea lions.  They were mostly sleeping in the sun, but a few were being playful in the water.

I've never seen sedum growing in the wild before.  The rocks here were covered with it.

When we returned to the house, we had a beer and sat there, planning on digging some more clams, but our bodies just did not want to move another inch.  I finally commented that it was not a requirement that we get more clams.  We had plenty for now.  Terry breathed a big sigh of relief, and we went off to a local restaurant for dinner.  Below you can see sunset from that restaurant.

All good things must come to an end, and Sunday morning found us at the ferry dock, ready to travel back to the mainland.

That night, we enjoyed the fruits of our labor, steamed clams.

 

We froze enough to make clam chowder on another day.



THE MAGIC OF LOPEZ

A month ago, Terry took me on a very romantic and magical trip to Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands.  His friend has a house there, and he graciously let us use it for the weekend.  The first day was the ferry ride, a brief ride around part of the island, and digging clams.

On Saturday, it was exploration time.

I was amazed to see this farmer plowing his fields with horses!  And believe me, the fields he had finished looked as good as any plowed with a tractor.  Take it from the farmer here.

 

 

 

Then we took a walk down this beautiful trail.

It took us to Spencer Spit.  Oh, would I love to take that enormous piece of driftwood home with me!

I love the beach and walking on logs.

 Then, we took this nice trail down to Watmaugh

 

Watmaugh Bay is one of the most serene places I have been.  We sat on the beach a good while, just enjoying the peace of it all, and sun in our faces.

And the bottom picture shows how clean and clear the water is.

I will have more to show you tomorrow.  I don't want to overload the system with pictures, but the best is yet to come.