I admit it...I have been in a daze of spinning, knitting and yarnish plotting. It's Spring and I'm recovering nicely from the Winter's cozy dreams. We put the herb garden goodies up..or out..or whichever it is. It's sort of raised bed style and I'll have room to stuff quite a lot of kitchen love in it. I have no idea why my Dear One insists on containing the herbs, left to my own methods, the herbs would be wildly expanding and exuberantly elbowing each other for the choicest spaces.

Well, maybe that's why he keeps confining it.

That aside, I want to make something worthy of entering in the Fall fair. That means presenting something to show by July. The problem I have is that I can't decide just what I want to make, but I'm pretty sure I'll know...by August when it's too late to enter. There's probably some psychological deep meaning to this conundrum.

My solution is just to knit and if I happen to create something I want to enter in the Fair, I guess I'll do that. I'm stumped for my next project tho. I want to do a man's vest in the lovely grey yarn in my stash...but there's only 3 skeins of it and I can't match it. I have a little of everything and not nearly enough of anything. I would spin something nice, but I want to make the vest washable and not pure wool this time.

I must think about this.

I did it…I finally did it. A lovely Ashford Traditional spinning wheel will be at my door just four days from now. I’m so excited, and a little apprehensive since I’ve never spun on a real wheel. We shall see, and I’m looking forward to making it totally mine with individual touches. I ordered the plain unfinished double tension style, so that I can do my own finish. I wonder what my wheel’s name is…

For these family outings, dogs are allowed | accessAtlanta

For these family outings, dogs are allowed  | accessAtlanta

You just have to go look...Jack is in the Atlanta Journal Constitution! He's so handsome!

Jack and Charlie!

IMG_1988
Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

And these two fellas are our family additions. Our sweet Cookie passed away a couple months ago and it took a while before we could even think about a pet again. Finally we chose our two from the Atlanta Pet Rescue. They were rescued together and we decided to keep them together with us. We're very, very happy with them and thankful for the great people that save these little ones and help them find the right families!

Yummies!

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Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

Nice fat blackberries became a few jars of jam and one jar of juice concentrate for sauces and fruit drinks this winter.

So Far..

A sunny little shawlette for the shoulders, and a comfy cushion cover. That's about all I finished in the last couple of weeks. I've been wandering through the sunny days like a child in a daydream!

Almost Summer

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Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

I've been playing with the camera again...
We planted three peach trees and as spindly and young as they are, they are full of peaches trying to ripen. The deer managed to eat one of the young pear trees, but three of those are doing well.

My Love
Whispers on winds;
Sails softly the
Deep pools
of Serenity.

Untouched,
Lies a round
White stone.
In the depths
Of this dark pool
It waits
Patiently.

A violet
Smiles at the Sun,
The willows tree
sighs knowingly,
Its fingers
Trailing in the Stream.
A tiny leaf
Drops, and

My Love
Whispers on Winds;
Sails softly the
Deep pools
of Serenity.

2-30-1969
A.Maurmann

Leo's Treadmill?

Leo's Treadmill?
Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

The treadmill arrived yesterday and Leo immediately began his exercise program...
Embers on the other hand, went up the chimney and threatened to remain there. She's safely down now, after I panicked, said things I don't normally say and waved my hand helplessly up the flue. She dropped down on the insert stove as though wondering what the fuss was.
Leo never left his Zen state.

A contest!

I was catching up on my favorite blogs this morning, and saw that Thistle Cove Farms has a contest for a waffle iron! I definitely entered, and you should too! I grew up loving my mom's waffles, especially the pecan waffles on special days. We all went to church on Sunday mornings, full of maple syrup and waffles, and to this day, Sunday doesn't feel real without them.

At any rate, to quote from Thistle Cove Farms

"Would you like the opportunity to win the Chef's Choice International WafflePro Taste/Texture Select Classic Belgian Waffle maker?"

Snow Day!

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Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

It's lovely outdoors and I am delighting in the snow! Lots of sunshine..sometimes that leads to ice, which is the downside of snow down south.
Meantime, hot chocolate by the fireplace and my knitting!

Yummy!

Yummy!
Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

It's raining again! That's a perfect excuse to make butterfly cupcakes!
The kids love them and they are all homemade and less sugary than the usual and oooooh, so good!

Tomato

That enormous green heap is a Sweet 100 tomato plant. So far it's over 6 feet tall and loaded. I haven't fed it anything, but I did throw a few handfuls of oyster shells in the garden to add a bit of calcium since we've had so much rain lately. It's the same oyster shell stuff I put out for our hens, I couldn't remember what prevents bloom end rot from wet weather. (No, the hens are normal sized..

So on my daily ramble (it can hardly be called a walk, because I stop for ladybugs and grasshoppers) I met one of the "Ladies" that visit often.  "Visit" might not be the right word, I've been startled several times in my knitting corner by the window at night when I looked out to see faces up against the window watching tv avidly.  I would never have guessed deer might have a tv fixation, but they do, at least around here.  They are also the reason our garden is crammed into a fenced back yard instead of gloriously flourishing on the rest of the 20 acres.

I think what annoys me about them is that they don't even consider me enough of a threat to flag their tails in concern.  They merely gaze at me for a moment and return to munching the field.  That would be the field we're trying to build up a bit by planting red clover and fallowing it.  Red clover..that scrumptious stuff we had before the Ladies decided it was their personal buffet.  You may notice there is no sign of clover in the field now...

Grapevines are laden

I see grape jam in our future! The vegetables and fruits are filling up with sunshine and sweetness and one of the things I love is looking at the sun glowing through neat rows of jelly cooling in my kitchen window!

Gardening Progress

We put the little garden in an unused nook near the back deck in order to actually have a garden.  We have a definite conflict of interest with the deer population.  This year we bowed out of our battles with them and they must find another garden somewhere else to fatten on!

Blueberries!

Blueberries!
Originally uploaded by Svarrer.

Doesn't that look like blueberry muffins to you? Hot and buttery morning love!
Actually, the birds think so too, but we share. They don't share much, they want them all. We'll let them enjoy one bush, we get the other three. The birds will undoubtedly win the mulberries as well, but I have another mulberry in the yard and in a couple of years.....and I will have grapes.
I totally love Summer, everything is bountiful and growing. Squash, zucchini, tomatoes, rhubarb..a little of everything. Our first beans will be in the cookpot tonight.

WoW...

You've probably heard a lot about World of Warcraft and wondered why otherwise sane and normal people spend time playing a game.  I admit..I play too.  It's those moments of pure laughter that takes us outside of daily stuff.  Here's a small sample...

Spring again!

Okay, time to make it back to the blog that's been neglected forever!  Things have been going on, just not posted, so rather than play catch-up, we'll just pick up from here.

Just finished another small sweater for a small one, it was super simple fun to do kind of thing.  I do like mindless, since it's my normal state of being.

Bernat Baby Jaquards is always fun, less than 2 skeins, but since I was working out a somewhat color scheme, I pulled from 2 skeins.

I decided not to battle the deer this year, and surrendered to a postage stamp sized garden.  The deer are all wallowing merrily in the clover where our bigger garden would have been...the fat things!

We recently fenced in a backyard area in chain link..(how I've learned to love it!!) and it keeps tots in and away from bigger kids on swings and trampoline.  Keeps Sebastian and Cookie in too, more or less..with Cookie it's considerably less, but she doesn't wander.  She just squiggles under the gate and tags along anywhere we go.

Anyways..the garden..yes..well, there's always a corner of yard that's not used and that's where I parked the garden this year.  It's interesting..having to avoid hitting the electric and propane lines going into the house.  It'll do tho, and keeps me happy.  I even have an itty bitty gas powered cultivator, however I keep sinking it deep into the loamy soil and getting stuck.  That's a good thing.  Deep soft, rich soil.  Ten bags worth of garden soil tilled into it.  Sebastian likes it very much....Cookie swears her teddybear put him up to it...

and more mundanely..

On more mundane news, my dear husband made wooden pens for gifts and a spindle with a perfect spin and balance for me!
And to top things off, I found an antique piano in decent condition! Okay, it does need tuning and the wood needs a little polish, but..it's solid and nothing's broken, the pads are still quite good and best of all, I paid $49. for it. It's a Cable Midget, so it fits nicely and has full keyboard. As soon as we get it tuned, I'll love teaching the grandchildren a little on it!