Everything was as it should be when I finally walked into my house.  As a matter of fact, it was almost as I had left it.  My neighbor, thank you very much, had come in and drained the pipes for me in November when I realized that I would not be able to return for a month or so.  I went to the thermostat, cranked up the heat, climbed the stairs,    removed the insulation from the stairway, and went immediately to my desk.  Yup, just where I left them…  Linda’s Christmas present and my wonderful Golding Tsunami spindle.  Remember last November I went to The Gathering to take a spindle spinning class and found that I had left my beautiful spindle behind?  I bought a substitute, but unfortunately, it was only that, a substitute.  I have more than a few spindles.  It took a while for me to find ‘the one’.  I actually found two that I truly love to use.  The ‘Tsunami’ 
that Golding makes is a bit heavier with the metal ring.

   

   

It just spins and spins.  As soon as I found it I started to spin some Shetland roving that I had on hand.  I spun while pumping water back into the tank, while waiting for the soup to heat up for dinner and later while sitting in front of the wood stove baking my sore back.  I couldn’t resist.  I was so happy to have my Tsunami.  Since November I bought the equally beautiful Forrester ‘Safari’.  It too is as wonderful to look at as it is to use.

       
                

my first spindle

    

a friend brought me these from Peru in the early 70’s… 

   

    and I finished these the other night..

   

  ‘Cute Loops’.

OH my God it’s morning already. I stayed up WAY past my bedtime trying to figure out how to make this Typepad thing work. I can’t get the colors I want, whatever happened to tints, shades…. PASTELS! I don’t want a background that ( here we go ) scorches my retinas. I want something soft, relaxing, easy on the spirit.

C wakes me this morning to tell me he made me coffee but wasn’t sure which container had the caffeine in it. WHAT!! For me… COFFEE = CAFFEINE. Got it?? Thanks for the effort, but you want me ready when?? We’re heading North this morning. I can’t wait. I’ve never been away quite this long. Maybe I can even find some of those ‘hidden in a safe place’ Xmas presents that I left behind.

Another thing, is there a spell check in this program? I won’t be posting pictures until I can get some of the obvious bugs worked out. Wish me luck, and a little help if you know the answers.

I’m lost without spell check.

Although I can’t remember all the details, like.. just why we were at the ferry dock so late that night. I mean did we miss the early bus, was it too stormy, or were we just on Mexican time? I do recall in great detail the night itself. I’m sure that we must have been on a fast trip over to Merida, in Yucatan, to buy hammocks or get a taste of the city after weeks of mind numbing island life. In those days, the island didn’t have reliable phone service, if it had any at all, and Cancun was still small. It was larger than a village certainly, but it hadn’t yet achieved it’s current Miami beach sprawl into the surrounding coastal jungle. I do know that the winds were up, the sea was choppy and the ‘people boats’ (no one in their right minds should have thought to call them people friendly) were definitely NOT running. So, the three of us heading further up the coast to Punta Sam to catch the evening car ferry over to Isla Mujeres, our vacation ‘home’. The boat was late, very very late. Rumors circulated amongst those waiting, that it hadn’t left the island, couldn’t leave the island to make the return trip. We’d be there all night. Fortunately, this dock had both a parking area, where we could and did entertain ourselves, and a building with retina scorching lighting (I love that term) and plastic seats inside out of the wind. Sand blew everywhere. If we could get to the island, we’d be set to ride out the storm. All our gear was over there, all our clothes, everything…. except… and here comes the wristers part of this story… ( did you think I’d forgotten the point to this long winded tale?) .. my good friend Sarchy had (God only knows why) three, THREE, I still can’t believe this…. PAIRS OF SOCKS!!!! We were freezing and he had THREE PAIRS OF SOCKS! And, we all had, in our pockets, our trusty Swiss army knives, scissors included. We travel right light. Cindy, you’ll love this part. OFF came the toes! On went the socks, up to our elbows and a bit beyond, AND WE HAD WRISTERS! That night, we called them sleeves, but why ruin a good story. The rest is history.

I don’t care a rat’s ass about driving in a little bit of snow, but when it says freezing rain, I usually stay put. Tuesday night is Knitting at Sue’s. I hate to miss it. And, I still can’t believe I stayed home. I IM’d back and forth with Cindy. Bea called to say she wanted to go but not to drive. I walked out onto the deck and checked it out, and it was only snowing… but the forecast loomed over me and I STAYED HOME! I have a bit of tendonitis in my right arm, so am taking it sort of easy knitting wise. After the snow, came sleet, then rain. We shoveled the drive and walks (the snow blower thought it was way too heavy and wet to manage so it crapped out) and now I am babying two sore forearms. Ah winter.