Daffodils, creeping Jenny and bees

The season is moving forward in the daffodil community. Early daffodils have faded, mid season are just past their prime and the lovely late delicate daffodils are budding ready to open.

Here you'll see late daffodils in bud and the red tulips Gary planted starting to open. This has been a great year for bulbs.

And the next visitor, after the hairy bittercress has been around for a few days, is a favorite of mine, which showed up a couple of years ago. I think maybe this creeping Jenny hitched a ride on another plant. 

In some places it's an invasive nuisance but here it's a plant I like to see, which will form a carpet around the pachysandra, sometimes climbing right over it, and there will be small yellow flowers.

On the occasional warm day, bees are already out and about, and thanks to Chris, I'm reading a great book about all kinds of bees 

It's a serious study, but written in a way that total beginners on the bee scene can follow and learn. I know we have a few local species, and this year I plan to learn and identify more, as soon as they show up.

So that's where I am today, later I'll catch Textiles and Tea, and show you human made structures.

The crocheted piece so far is a monument to determination rather than art, but I'm learning with each stitch, so it counts. My story and I'm stickin to it.

Note to self 

Sez Ted 

The day after, daffodils midseason, Tuesday knitters, Textiles and Tea

In case you're wondering, since the next eclipse is a long way off, what to do with the glasses?

Mine are in the mail, before I forget.

And in case anyone says internet friends are only imaginary

Some of the best friendships I've had are either totally online or started that way. I've met quite a few online friends and been happy to find they're just as nice as expected, since, over years, people do reveal who they are. 

They may not look as you expect unless they've been putting up pictures, though that wasn't a thing in the mid-nineties when I first became active online. Then you had to describe yourself, and your outfit, before a meeting. Nowadays I bet I could spot quite a few blogistas in person.  And then the convention was to report on the event! 

This is the best year in many for daffodils, look, mid season form in my front yard

And I often think this would be a good way to live!

I could make a start on that rug with these

I think the reason you keep going with the pinloom is that when you take a weaving off, there's no finishing to be done. Just the empty loom needing to be filled again. So, as you see, you do :). Ye olde worlde 90s emoticonne.

Today's knitting group was small and very good chat. Here's D's current top down sweater 

The red is warmer and darker, very saturated color. We chatted about eclipses, Mt St Helen's, earthquakes, lightning strikes, meteorites, hearing, teaching adults art, Youth Art Month, voice training and squillo.

Home again, and Textiles and Tea featured, joy, a spinner! Patsy Zawistoski  lifelong sewer, designer, from a family of skilled people in many trades, brilliant spinner.

She's an expert in spinning many fibers, some of which I didn't know, such as optim from Australia, and the ins and outs of bamboo, rayon from bamboo, tencel and more. She's aware of  ecological impact of fibers, uses natural dyes and makes wonderful yarns.

This tapestry, using up fiber she'd spun for an HGA credential, is about 3' h by 2' w.

Here she is as a teen modeling her creation

Here are the range of fibers she had to weave to get Hand weavers Guild of America Level One Excellence in Spinning

And Level Two required the fibers be woven into garments as seen here

She made instructional  video cassettes long before Zoom

And has written about newly developed fibers

This is her Fiber Decoder Kit! You take the yarn apart bit by bit, to get all the way back to the original fiber, to become knowledgeable about it. Great idea.

She answered my question about spindle spinning very respectfully. A lot of wheel spinners dismiss it as only the entry to wheel spinning, but she has done, and respects, both. 

She made the point that the wheel is faster by the hour, the spindle faster by the week. Meaning it's so portable you can get a lot done in small amounts of available time and place. 

Her website is worth a visit.

Happy day, everyone, spin your own way!

Here's the current knitting, gloves for the Ministry

To a background of this, very well read, out of my usual repertoire, and interesting, thanks for the recommendation, Mary Anne. It's not the title you suggested, but just a try with the same writer.

I finally got a walk again today, after rain had kept me home for a couple of days. It's surprising how soon your walking stamina decreases if you don't get out every day. No pictures, too busy keeping going and dealing with an icy wind when I wasn't in a sheltered section of the area. 

The storm beat down a couple of daffodils, so they're indoors now, scenting the air.

And I saw an idea that I hadn't thought of: cooking and freezing breakfasts ahead.  I do other meals all the time, but cook and freeze breakfast is new to me. The breakfast I went for is French toast, which I don't have the energy for cooking in the morning, and it's best set up the day before anyway.

Cinnamon, agave syrup, multi grain bread 

And I tested one with an afternoon pot of tea. This is a humble version of the gracious home YouTube channel, with rolling lawns and vistas and a dining room set up with log fire, fresh flowers on the table, and a gracious host.  

But it was fine, and now I have several breakfasts to microwave while the kettle boils. 

I've also been experimenting with a personal hearing amplifier, low budget hearing aids which just amplify sound without differentiating background from speech.

It's a kind of prequel to getting my hearing test soon, and I can, and probably will, return them.  Meanwhile I've learned a couple of things 

One is that if I get hearing aids at some point, the over the ear type won't work for me. Small ears, glasses and mask already hard to manage, and adding the ear hook is more than I have room for. This is something I hadn't thought of. 

So now I know that part. I've also found that fitting the plug bit to my small ear canal will take skill, judging from the lack of success with any of the three sizes provided in this set. 

And I now have experience of amplifying all sounds, a bit confusing, especially hearing my own voice while wearing them, very echoing. But I notice I do pick up more speech with amplifying, so there are advantages, too. 

The controls are tiny, not easy to operate, and definitely not while wearing them, because I can't tell whether I'm pushing the right part without seeing. The instructions say to adjust volume etc while wearing them, but that's not an option for this numb fingered user.

All in all, a useful intro to the notion of wearing something in my ears, that's new in itself, and worth a try.

Happy day everyone, and don't mumble!

First daffodil, storms ahoy

 Friday morning brought these sights

First daffodil on the patio

New foliage on the butterfly bush. And I saw the first white butterfly flutter by.  Also the mourning doves trysting on top of the fence, their traditional hangout in spring.

And there will be weather

We're in a red bit for high winds and a green bit for high water. An indoor weekend.

No new pictures from the knitting group, however plenty of chat, over public transit, Dune, Star Wars,  library apps: hoopla soon to go away, Libby to get bigger, cross stitch, storms in forecast, SXSW speakers, six degrees encounters, cast iron Franklin stoves, and more!

Then two participatory pods, one a follow up on the SOTU, one about the British Royals,  the second of which is hilarious since all we have are uninformed opinions, and plenty of them.

Happy day, everyone, and may your chat be as lively and varied as mine.

Fans, poems, geese and daffodils

Good medical report, for those inquiring: BP is startlingly improved, better than in years, thanks to rx change, so yay! My lovely doctor did a little happy dance! 

Then later yesterday I was more or less ambushed by a neighbor, and find myself free cycling her ceiling fan. Without success so far. If no nibbles, I'll text her to come collect it. 

Then today's poem happened and made much more sense

Since the weather and I were up for it, I took a walk,  late winter scenes

Many Canada geese tearing up the golf course and pooping everywhere, we have huge flocks of these protected avian vandals. At a distance, it doesn't do to get close to these aggressive characters particularly now near mating time.

And the daffodils are pushing through, against storm damaged trees, which will probably be left to lie, feeding future lichen and fungi growth and sheltering small  animals and birds.

Yesterday all the migrating robins suddenly showed up, trees full of them, as if the commuter train had pulled in. We have year round robins, too, and this is a different community of them.

The scarf continues, a bit hard on the fingers, using a large hook with a fine thread, but the results are pleasing.

And Emma Mitchell gives us another bouquet from her garden to soothe and calm the brain

It's that time when suddenly I'm having to find or get various documents for the condo, chimney inspection, get items printed out to fill in and sign, this year water heater replacement due, it's a lot. Handsome Son is doing what he can, but I always dread the process. Also the costs.

The management tells me I'm more in compliance than most owners. I think this is because I'm not combative with them about it, though some requirements are a bit out there. Largely the township's rules, and the insurer, not blaming the HOA this time.

Happy day everyone, I learned some new online platform methods yesterday, always something new and fun to learn.