Tuesday, August 20, 2024

I sed wot I sed! And more interesting things, too.

I was amused, after I said I only have a tablet and a modest smartphone, that a commenter still figured I also must have maybe a laptop! No. I've been blogging for many years with a tablet or phone. One-finger rapid typing. 

Heck, I've known people who've run entire channels and campaigns using nothing more than a phone. It's what you can afford, you do what you can do. Likewise I had an active exhibiting art career without a studio for many years. I worked in my kitchen mostly. And I weave quite a bit, with no loom other than what I built. 

Life is much more fun when you do your stuff from affordable tools.  I think I'd do this even with a bigger budget.  It suits me. Creating something from humbler beginnings. Like growing flowers from seed. 

Stepping off the soapbox now.

About trees and storms. We were in the direct path of Sandy, hours of nightmare fear as the wind and rain, roaring, tore down  huge trees, blocking roads for days.  My townhouse was literally rocking and groaning like a ship at sea.

As I started seeing news pictures,  I noticed that the more affluent neighborhoods, where residents had arborists regularly attending and (expensively)  pruning their trees, lost very few trees. 

The less affluent, where tree care was not so affordable, had enormous trees, unpruned, overgrown and top-heavy, torn up by the roots and crashing through houses and across streets. In some of those streets, people were trapped for days.  

Friends of mine were stranded. No power, phones out, trees blocking all their doors, until they were eventually rescued. One of them, who lived alone, sold her house once it was cleared, and moved into a retirement community! Never again!

I don't fear damage from my little maple, but don't want her damaged by winter weather.

Tuesday knitting group had a lovely new member, currently designing and stitching,  and we had a nice session, those sample bits of fabric went home with the recipient, to decide which to use, and here's the general doings 




Chat ranged over ballet, modern dance, teacher subbing, opera, hearing aids, Portugal, embroidery, an upcoming display of our projects, spinning, spurtzlers, dyeing -- yarn and hair -- and much more.

Home to Textiles and Tea with Neal Howard, a session on the creative impulse and honoring it. She's a silk yarn dyer and weaver of yard goods for clothing.

As you see, she loves color and the flow of silk. She uses a number of floor looms, and a rigid heddle loom, no major preference
















She also studied theology, and this is an Advent cloth she made for her church. She's an interesting woman, who feels her creative life is a calling, like a religious vocation.

So that's where we are today! All over the place..

Happy day, everyone, and happy landings.


I know it's long past,  but it tickled me. Geezers for Kamala.




31 comments:

  1. I like both jackets created by the textile and tea artist.

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    1. The drape is lovely, isn't it? Silk does that.

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  2. When my sister and I began weaving back in the eighties, we knew very little, and devised all sorts of crazy jigs to facilitate a job. One involved two chairs with a couple of long walking canes run between, to hold up the threads of say thirty cones on the floor. These were run into the tension box and wound onto the loom. Then our brother would sit and watch us for a bit, go to his shop and return with a lovely jig that fitted together with pegs and had all the holes necessary for the threads. It would break down for storage. Lovely partnership.

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    1. Ingenuity runs through your family! Great idea, then great execution.

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  3. I wonder if I now qualify as an elder at 65? Have a sweet night and a good day tomorrow.

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  4. The general doings are gorgeous. Neal Howard creates a lot of beautiful things.

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    1. Tuesday is usually full of good things to see.

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  5. I always blog one finger on my cell phone - - and it doesn't bother me. The keyboard on my old laptop isn't working.

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    1. Exactly, Jon. It's not so hard. You do a great blog, too.

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  6. I always blog one finger on my cell phone - - and it doesn't bother me. The keyboard on my old laptop isn't working.

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  7. I'm so glad we don't have storms like that here. It must be scary. I understand Michelle Obama gave a brilliant speech.

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    1. Michelle was on fire! Sandy wasn't one storm. We were at the intersection of two major storms, right overhead. I'm hoping we don't get a repeat.

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  8. I'm sure I could blog from a phone if I got used to it -- I've done it a couple of times in a pinch -- but I really prefer a keyboard. That's just me. I don't even like reading blogs on my phone because I like to see the pictures in a larger format. A tablet isn't bad because at least then there's a larger screen.

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    1. My phone does better pictures, and my tablet is easier to read.

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  9. I, too, feel that art is a calling and as such, is an entirely holy endeavor.
    Silk is my most favorite fabric in all of its many weights and uses.

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    1. Silk is really magical. From its origin on. For some of us, art is inevitable!

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  10. having so many trees topple over from Beryl, I'm more anxious than ever to get the water oak next to the house attended too but have other more immediate financial concerns.

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    1. I get you. I still proceed with caution around big trees, of which we still have a lot.

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  11. I really like her work, just lovely. This sounds like a full and interesting day for you.

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    1. Her cloth is very wearable. Tuesday is usually a good day.

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  12. Many have trouble working on small devices, but you have mastered it. Due to software or platform realities, I have trouble commenting from my tablet. Many have to be anonymous; if I remember I add /AC at the end. Drives me crazy.

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    1. If your tablet is an iPad, you're getting the Google Apple war fallout. Mine's an Amazon Fire, it's like Switzerland.

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  13. I use an IPad for everything. I have never had a desk top computer or a laptop though my husband uses all of it. One hand typing it is for me!

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    1. I suspect desktop and laptop people assume it's impossible to function with a handheld device. I like the portability, too.

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  14. I only use my phone or tablet to blog. It’s so easy I wonder why anyone feels the need for a laptop
    Stay safe from wild weather

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  15. I find trying to type on the tablet is a lesson in frustration and as for a phone, there's no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks I can manage to create anything but gibberish accompanied by much swearing. I know it's because I was a secretary for many years and am a touch typist and I simply can't wrap my head around using one finger to type. I marvel at the people who can type at the speed of light simply using their thumbs but it's not for me.

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    1. I was a touch typist for decades, in work and as a writer, but I learned to adapt. I can't use my thumbs, too big! Middle finger is my rapid typing tool now.

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