It's A Beautiful Day

Those of you who are my age will remember a group who had one album, and one great song:  White Bird by "It's A Beautiful Day".  I love that song.  Hmmm, maybe I can find it and put it on my blog.
Anyhow, it was a beautiful day yesterday.  It was also beautiful today, but I'm going to write about yesterday, since today is another story.

My friend has been house sitting at a very large estate.  She invited me up to spend the night.  We spent the afternoon working on our Mind Maps, then took a walk on the grounds.

This is the view from the deck.  Well, the entire west side of the house.  Gorgeous.

Here is the garden shed and green house.

There are real trout in this pond.  We were feeding them, and you can see where they have been jumping.  We contimplated catching one for dinner, but I knew I would have to kill it.  I quit fishing years ago when my husband informed me I had to kill what I caught.

Pat, these are Trillium.  It's actually a wildflower that grows in the mountains here.

This is a Goodle.  He's a cross between a Golden Retriever and a standard Poodle.  I had fun playing with him, but when I started wrestling him like I used to do with my Tibetan Terrier, he almost took me down.  Well, it cemented our friendship, at least.  In the evening, after a dinner of Nettle Quiche, we watched Black Swan.  I got so worked up watching it, the Goodle came and put his head in my lap to comfort me.

Have you seen this movie?  I loved it.  It's all symbolism, but when she finally found the passion to dance as if she WAS the Black Swan, I was cheering.  Weird but wonderful.

Then, we finished the day with a long soak in the hot tub, under the stars.  I slept well. 

Feeling Better

It's getting better all the time.  I have moments that come up and hit me like a sledgehammer, and I'll be crying like crazy, but that's to be expected I guess.  This grief thing is very, very hard.  I am an impatient person and want it to be over with now!  But I guess I have alot more pain ahead of me, so if I start crying at the gas station or the grocery store, at least everyone knows me and they will talk to me or hug me.  I don't have to be shy around here.

So on to the good life.  Yesterday was beautiful, and I picked a nice bouquet to put on my front door.  I find it to be very welcoming, don't you?

This is a coral bead plant that my cousin gave me for Easter.  It's also called the Pincushion Plant, the Greek word being Nerteria.  From South America, I'd best keep this little gem in the house if I want it to survive.  Isn't it sweet?

Here is my latest skein of yarn.  I really like it.  But, I like every skein I make.  I'm soooooooooooo modest.  I have made such wonderful contacts at the Bellingham Farmer's Market, three local stores want to carry my yarns now.  Good thing I have that little mini spinner.  It goes everywhere with me now.

I've missed blogging, and I feel like I have turned the corner.  I hope to be back, at least twice a week.  Every day would be asking too much at this time, but who knows, we shall see.
Hugs everyone.  It's good to be back.

A Brief Respite

Looks like we are going to have Spring for a couple of days, which means I have to get some work done, FAST.  First of all, I decided to walk out past the sloughs to see if it was dry enough to move my truck, which I got stuck in the mud three weeks ago.  There it is, still mired.  A few friends have offered to pull me out, but they will just get stuck, too.  I knew better than to drive out there, but I just HAD to get this one chore done on THAT day.  Like I said, I knew better.

On the way back, I shot this picture.  If you look really hard, you can see the 11 alpacas I still have here.  They should be gone in a couple of weeks.  I am going to arrange to be gone when they get transported to Muddy Waters Farm.  I know I can visit them any time I want, and I will, but to actually see them leaving is going to be way too much.

Did I ever show you the potting table I bought at the Craft and Antique show?  It's been getting alot of use.  I'm so happy to have it.

Now I need to go outside and finish my planting.  I've already planted 4 salal, 2 Oregon Grape, 4 Knickknicks and a Witch Hazel.  I'm not sure what is left out there, but they are all getting rootbound from sitting in the rain.

Hasta la Vist, Baby.

The End of an Era

  

This was a hard one.  I believe this sign has been hanging out front by the road for at lzeast 10 years.                       

Soooo, I finally took it down.  Without the alpacas or Alan here, I won't be giving tours anymore, so I will also not have a store here. 

I'm thinking of redoing it as "Lost River Farms.  I still have all the paint, and I think I could make it work.

And here is the arbor without the sign.  Just many of the changes I've been forced to make since Alan died.

Since I have three different farmers leasing the land, I think I should change the sign to "Lost River Farms".  Make sure people know this is farmland.

So, I've had some great times with the family the past two weeks.  And for Mother's Day weekend, my DIL is celebrating her 30th birthday with a Kentucky Derby Day.  Everyone has to wear a hat.  It will be fun.  Have you seen Secretariat yet?  It's wonderful.  I remember watching all these races, but I still watched the movie with my breath held, wondering if he would make it.  Fun.

Back to Palm Springs?

It's April 14th, and this is what I woke up to this morning!!

I admit, last week while I was in Palm Springs, I laughed when I heard there had been snow in areas near home.  I was warm and enjoying the sun and pool and ambiance, so hahahahah.  Guess I got mine, huh?

This was what it looked like yesterday.  My friend is planting one of my pastures in flowers to sell at the Farmer's Market this summer.  She is using a method called No till, Low fill.  I think that is right.  It's a layering method, that some people call lasagna gardening.

We put the tent and table in the middle so we will have a nice little retreat this summer.  It is going to be so beautiful.

So, last week in Palm Springs, I only got these next two pictures because my battery died and I had forgotten to pack my charger.  Do I have the worst luck with cameras or what?  So anyhow, these two black swans visited us every morning with their 5 fluffy babies, as shown below.

I had a wonderful time there, staying with my brother and some wonderful ladies that really knew how to have fun.  I treated myself to two massages, an Essential Oil Wrap and time in the Eucalyptus Steam Room.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  I should have stayed another week!!

I'm spinning about 3-5 skeins a week now, with my new electric spinning wheel.  I could be doing more, but I'm just relaxing.

I've also been making yard art.  This sets on a pole in the garden.  We need the brightness until the sun finds it's way here.

The snow has stopped, but I think this will be a good day to stay inside and knit and spin.  Yeah.

Re-Branding

I have re-branded.  I know, you all know me as FiberFabrications, but I have always done business as Lost River Alpacas.  Now, with the sale of the alpacas, I had to change my status at the Market from Farmer to Crafter.  This is my new logo and business card.  The Market opens tomorrow, and I am psyched.  The car is packed and ready, now I just need to decide what to wear.  In this crazy Pacific Northwest, you never know if it will rain, sleet, blow, shine, or heat up.  Sooooo, boots?  Okay, I got it.  Layers for sure.  Gotta be able to strip when it gets warm.

So the other day, Josie and I took a ride to the vet's in a VeeDub.  She was not impressed.  I've never held one this size in a car before.  We had alot of laughs.  Poor baby has ricketts, the first ever for one of my alpacas.  She will be getting Vitamin D injections and should recover well.

Here she is getting her hocks x-rayed.  Deb, our vet tech, is getting a kick out of this.  Look at Josie's face.

At this point Josie says "Okay, I'm done now."

Jumping back to Monday, this is the dumpster that we almost filled with miscellaneous metal stuff.  It should bring some decent money.

Looks like it has stopped raining.  Think I will go outside and plant.

The Organizers

Yesterday, I had the Penny Pinchers over to help me get my place cleaned up and organized.  They specialize in garage and estate sales.  They buy storage units and clean them out.  They have a store in Bellingham where they sell everything.  The greatest thing is that when they help you sort through your things, they are cleaning and organizing.

This first picture is of my studio.  Doesn't it look ready for a knitting group or spinning lessons?  It used to be my store, but I won't be running that anymore.  I will just be selling at the Bellingham Farmer's Market.

Here is a shot from the other side of the studio.  I wish I had before pictures, because this room had become horrendous.

Here is my storage area.  We converted a two car garage when we built the store/studio, and this is the other half.  You could barely walk in here, there was so much junk.  What a change, and my dear little bike will have a nice dry home when I'm not riding her.

Meanwhile, I'm having so much fun with my electric Hansen Mini Spinner.  Below are two skeins of boucle I have made.  I'm pretty excited with them.

I didn't think this skein would be very nice since I was practising on the mini, using all colors, but it came out rather nice.

I wish I could say these are my yarns.  They are dyed by Fancy Image Yarns in Shelton, Wa.  Myra is very creative with her colors and with her kits.  There will be much more to come, since I bought enough from her to become part owner, hahahah.

Here are a couple of hats I finished while I was "at retreat" with the girls.

Today I am going to rest up.  I am literally exhausted.  But first, a visit from the vet.  Josie has not been feeling well.  In vet terms its called ADR.  (ain't doing right).

I have buyers for all of my alpacas, and they will all be gone by May.  I've been very weepy the last couple of days because it finally set in.  I've been so businesslike and practical about it all, and reality has hit me like a sledgehammer.

The alpaca business is something Alan and I built together, and is a symbol of what a wonderful parnership we had.  I guess this is a huge part of saying goodbye, not only to the pacas, but to him.