Who knows…?  I
actually thought about blogging while I was still in bed, waking this morning,
wondering what I would have to write. I
realized that I hadn’t left the farm at all this week. The last time was last Sunday, to go to the
hardware store for spikes, nails, and tin roofing. We stopped for a sandwich, bought a creamie
sundae and walked down to the lake to eat it. Since, my world has been defined by a series of finite points; the
garden, the kitchen, the freezer and the field… time divided into intervals of
4 minutes, ten minutes and sometimes 30 minutes.. (the time it takes to blanch
or water can) over and over and over. It’s no wonder that I run to the computer every chance I get to check
for email, comments, a new blog entry, touch stones to the outside, to the
world. It’s been a pretty slim week
comment wise (thanks to those of you who have written, I mean it counted doubly
good for me this week). I haven’t even
gotten snail mail. It’s been that kind
of week. Laurie wrote me that she and
Cassie have talked about this, what kind of entry draws the most comments. She tells me that posts asking for help, for
advice, those mentioning sickness, depression, and adversities do the
best. Whew!! I think she’s right. So what else?

Well, let’s see… I just ripped back two inches on an all garter stitch
project, what does that say about my attention span? Maybe Sam slipped that yarn around my needle
while I was trying to disengage him from my fun red ball of yarn. Yesterday, in between, I spun and plied
another bobbin of some grey Masham. Little
things. No matter, I am off today to
town. Home Depot, here I come! Zowie!! Maybe it’ll be enough fun to hold me for another week.

 
PS. I think I remember getting the tomato blues last year
around this time. I bet if I just
checked those posts, they’d sound a lot like this one. Mmmm… I could recycle.

You know the old adage; ‘a picture’s worth a thousand words’?  Words, smords, it can equal a big fat lie.  It can take something that looks pretty good, something that you like, take for instance this llama yarn I’ve sampled.

It looks pretty good, in REAL life.  I navajo plied some and thought I might make enough for the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls. The pictures make it look like a hairy mess.  It IS hairy, but in a nice sort of way.  It’s another of those projects that the more I see them made up, the more I like it.  It’s simple, warm, and has jst enough of a decorative edge to make it something.  And, best of all, it’s one of those projects that can be worked on while actually watching a movie, not just listening to it as you follow the chart.  However, I needed that project last night, not next week.  So, here it is, in one of my merino silk two ply yarns. 

  Besides, I’ve made another mistake on ‘Bess’.  I keep getting distracted.  Turns out that Sam likes knitting, and spinning.  He likes anything to do with yarn.  Distracting.
I leave you with this.. from my walk back from the mailbox.

I’m exhausted.  For dinner, we ate apple pie, more than half of it.   But this is summer’s end and that is the way it is, frantic and furious and absolutely beautiful.  This email from my Dad this afternoon got me to thinking.

Elderberry jelly and syrup are elixirs from the gods and we should be
truly grateful to enjoy them. The best, however, is elderberry pie. A
dish above all else. A dish treasured by your ancestors as a gift of
love and far too good for city folks.

Love, Dad

Of course, he’s right.  It is an incredible luxury to be able to put up ones own organic food.  It most certainly is NOT cost effective.  If I take stock of my day, I see that I picked and put up:
4 qts. yellow tomato juice
4 qts. elderberry juice
4 qts. of tomatoes / frozen
1 apple pie (that will not last through breakfast)
* and worked for a bit of time with C on the shed.  The wood that we are using to build it is also from our property.  When we cut for the power / phone line (that line that is still on the ground) we milled what we cleared.. thus 2×4’s and more. 

My Secret Pal has been revealed.  I’d been wondering and was hoping to ‘meet’ my SP.  After all, my SP makes (and shared) strawberry jam, salsa, and peach jam, sent handmade beaded stitch markers, knits sanghuar gloves, incredibly beautiful Norwegian socks, and is thinking of knitting

this for HIS sister. That’s a pretty terrific guy!