Weaving, Warm Fuzzies, and Flowers

I started weaving on a second dish towel yesterday.  I thought it would be fun to change it up a bit.  So, I'm weaving this one in a twill pattern.

While I was weaving yesterday afternoon, my sweet little Penelope was sleeping soundly.  She was so sound asleep that she didn't even notice when I walked in the room and took pictures of her.

I took a different route on my morning walk today and saw some beautiful flowers.  Of course, I couldn't resist taking pictures.  I love the colors in this one...

The centers are interesting and the color combination is so unexpected.

The trees along this street change SO much!  At different times of the year they have green pods, bright pink pods, fall color, a little bareness, and now, they're exploding with tiny yellow blossoms.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!

Weaving in Progress

I started weaving some new dish towels yesterday.  They aren't turning out quite like I'd envisioned but they're growing on me.  I think they'll be even nicer once they're off the loom and washed.  Just for fun...and learning...I may try playing around with the treadling pattern on the next one.  I think I measured enough warp for at least three towels.

There's something so satisfying about creating something useful.  It also feels good to make it with materials I already have.  Yay for more de-stashing.  Although, these cones of thread seem to keep going and going and going!  I've already made so many things with these threads and there's LOTS left.  I'm sure getting my money's worth from these cones that I barely paid anything for!  Cool!

How was your weekend?

How was your weekend?  I hope it was a good one!

Mine was good.  It was filled with a little of this and a little of that.

It started off on Friday when I got back from the market.  I found a cute, little, spray bottle at Sprouts that I couldn't resist.  And, besides, I really wanted to try making some homemade air freshener/linen spray.  So, when I got home, that's just what I did.

I found a recipe online.  I cut it in half so it would fit in my bottle.  Here's what I used...3 tablespoons of distilled water, 1/2 tablespoon of vodka (all I had was pepper vodka but it has an earthy good smell and worked fine (vodka/alcohol is used to make the oil and water mix), and 20 drops of lavender oil.  It turned out great and smells sooooo good!

My husband got called into work early Saturday morning to take care of a problem.  I decided to go with him to keep him company on the drive and later do a little shopping and be-bopping around by the beach....he works in Carlsbad...just minutes from the ocean!  :-)

When he was finished, we headed to Encinitas for breakfast at the "Potato Shack".  Yum!  Then, we walked over to see the ocean.  It seemed extra blue and gorgeous that day and the water was so clear.  I wish I'd brought my camera.  Oh well, thank goodness for cell phone cameras.

After that, we hopped over to REI to do a little shopping.  I got a new backpack!  It's the green one on the right.  I had gotten one a couple of years ago (the blue one next to it) but it turned out to be too small for actual backpacking.  So, this time I got one that's probably the biggest I'd get for my small frame...a 60+10 litre.  It should work just fine.  I think I officially have a backpack collection now.  lol  The other two are a small pack for day hikes (the turquoise one), and the smaller one I use when I go biking.

Our garden seems to be noticeably growing each day.  We have a few more seeds that have sprouted over the weekend too.  And, we got our first two tomatoes of the season.  Woot!

I measured off a new warp a couple weeks ago....with the "help" of my sweet Penelope.  I've since been slowly putting it on my loom.  You know....a little time here, a little time there.

I finished warping my loom last night and it's ready to weave!

Hooray!  I'm so excited to see how this project will turn out.  I'm going to weave some kitchen towels with some thread/yarn I have in my stash.  Yay...more de-stashing!

Here's to a great week!

Floral Friday - Wildflowers

There's field in a neighboring town that surprises us from time to time with bursts of color.  It bursts with bright orange poppies almost every spring.  You can see pictures I posted of that a few years ago HERE.  Sometimes it blooms with a lot of yellow flowers.  This year, the poppies were very small and didn't last long.  Then, shortly after the poppies went away, it exploded in purple/pink flowers.  We were lucky to have noticed them one evening as we were driving by.

Gorgeous!

The field is along a busy road and I have a feeling a lot of people don't even notice the flowers.  The flowers usually grow further back, away from the road, and behind some little hills.  When I post pictures of it, locals ask where it is because they've never seen it.

Buildings and housing developments are slowly closing in on this beautiful space.  It may not be there much longer.  We're enjoying it as long as we can!

I'm not sure if I've ever seen these flowers before.  If I have, it was just a few here and there and nothing on this scale.  I tried to find them in my wildflower book.  The closest I can find in the book is "Dagger Pod" but the description says it grows in areas much further north and not in Southern California. I'll stop in at the visitor center at a nearby nature preserve sometime and see if they know what these pretty flowers are.  Although, the name doesn't really matter, I'm happy just seeing them!

These photos were taken with my cell phone.  I was hoping to go back with my camera to get better pictures but this must have been the height of their blooming because they weren't nearly as colorful when I went back.  Oh well.  Hopefully, they'll bloom again next year.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Spring Garden

Persistence seems to be paying off with our garden.  We have been surprised at how challenging it is to grow veggies.  We remembered elementary school projects where we planted a bean or potato and it grew in what seemed like no time at all.  And, we've had gardens in the past that did great.  But, our veggie growing efforts have yielded almost nothing over the past few years.  We didn't give up though and we've put lots more effort into it this past year.  We built raised garden beds (you can see a post about that HERE) and have worked hard and spent a lot of money on making the soil better, battling grubs, etc.  I'm happy to see that our efforts are starting to pay off.

The cabbage we planted over the winter is looking gorgeous and ready to harvest...

The colors are stunning!  And, I love how it looks in the morning with water droplets from dew or watering.

Our dog loves to pull tomatoes off the vines.  She even got to them in the raised beds last year.  So, we built another garden area with a fence in a back corner of a yard.  We even put some wire mesh to try to keep her away from them.  We have six different kinds of tomato plants and they seem to be quite happy right now.  Yay!

One of the plants even has little tomatoes on it!  Woot!

And, all of the plants have blossoms.  We have very few bees to pollinate them though.  So, I'm planning to head down to the nursery for some bee attracting flowers to help out.

This is part of that little corner garden area.  So far, we have tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, two kinds of pumpkins, and various varieties of sunflowers planted in this area.  The pyramid in the middle is for strawberries.  We still need to fill it with soil and plant it.

In our raised beds, we have Patty Pan (flying saucer) squash...

Bush beans...

Three different kinds of eggplant...

The first planting of radishes are sprouting...

We also have a bunch of pickling cucumber plants that have recently sprouted.

The onions and garlic we planted in the winter are growing nicely.  We enjoyed beets and beet greens over the winter and spring.  Our lettuce grew so well that we had LOTS of salad.  It's now big and about ready to harvest the seeds so we can replant.

We've added more barrels to our wine barrel herb garden.  I'll post more pics of that after I do some more work on it and get it growing more.  But, I have been enjoying basil again, along with parsley, thyme, oregano (that grows all year 'round), sage, and rosemary.

Our fingers are crossed that our current success will continue and result in a veggie filled future!

Together Time in the Craft Room

My daughter just finished her first year of grad school.  Woot!  And, she came home to visit as soon as it was over.  Double woot!  :-D  We spent a wonderful week together...talking, shopping, cooking, walking, rock climbing, and crafting.  It was awesome!

I thought I'd share one of our craft projects with you.  We decided to make dream catchers.  So, we went through my doily collection, did a little doily shopping at an antique store, gathered supplies, and got started.

We crocheted the doilies to the metal rings.  Then, we hung them from the chandelier over the craft table to decorate the bottoms.  We had so much fun and they turned out so pretty.

The sun was streaming through the window and onto our pretty creations the next morning when we went to get them for photos...

I found a doily at the antique store that made me think of a starfish.  So, I made mine with a beach theme.

I added shells to the bottom with torn and twisty fabric, ribbons, lace, yarn, and thread.

My daughter made a larger one with a crisp white doily.  I love the openness around the edges.  She used white fabric, lace, ribbons, yarn, and beads on the bottom.  Then, she made some fabric flowers to finish it off.  So pretty!

My daughter loves to sew and hasn't had time to do so in a long time.  She made sure to get some sewing time in last week while she was home.  She made a top, re-made a dress, and started whipping up another dress.  She amazes me with her confidence and courage to just dive in and try things.  And, the results are impressive!

We did a little yard sale shopping on day before she left.  She got a couple yards of red, floral fabric for just 50 cents.  She wanted to make a certain dress with it but was several yards short of what she needed.  That didn't stop her!  She adjusted the pattern and made it work.  She still has some work to do on it....sew the top to the bottom, sew in a zipper, and hemming.  It's looking fantastic!

Yeah, I'm a proud mama!  :-)

A Very Special Visit and a Day by the Sea

Last month, My daughter was in Southern California for a college event.  She had one day free and we were thrilled to spend it with her.  We picked her up and headed to San Diego.  It was a gorgeous day!  It was sunny, the temps were in the 70's, and we were all together.  Perfect!

We had a delicious lunch and went to Seaport Village to walk around the shops and along the water.  This is a view looking back toward downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter...

This restaurant looks so rustic and cute sitting out over the water.

This Seagull looked so peaceful and happy paddling around the marina.  The water was so clear that we could see his feet moving.

We sat by the water and watched the boats go by.  We even saw a seal or sea lion (I'm not sure which because he was far away) playing in the water. 

There are a lot of interesting boats to see down there.  There are military ships, small sailboats, tour boats, kayaks, and much more.  A couple of years ago, we saw a fancy boat/yacht that was so big it even had a helicopter on the top deck!

We later drove north to Encinitas for a walk along the beach.  It was wonderful...the parking lot had plenty of spaces and the beaches were wide open.  In fact, there were times that it seemed we were the only ones there.

Gorgeous!

There's always so much to see with the gorgeous scenery and the surprises along the sand.  This plant that washed ashore is pretty with it's delicate leaves and pretty pink color. 

 We had to be careful where we walked because there were thousands of tiny, blue, jelly fish that had washed ashore.  Some were about the size of a dime.  The larger ones were a couple of inches wide.

These jellyfish have a little sail on the top to propel them across the water.  I just looked them up and it turns out that's their only means of locomotion.  Because of that, they're subject to mass beach stranding.  We've seen them in years past where there were so many of them that the beach looked like it was covered in paper trash.  Their technical name is "Vellella".  If you look closely, the inside, center part has rings (click on the photo to see it larger).  So interesting.  The blue color is pretty too.

Sadly, there are lots of dead bees along the beach.  We've been seeing more and more of them over the years.  I'm not sure if it has to do with whatever is causing so many of them to die or if it's just a natural occurrence.  Either way, I watch where I step so I won't be stung!

We saw quite a few ladybugs that day.  Here's my daughter with one on her hand.

Looks like he posed for a photo!  

This outing was perfect for trying out my new camera.  I'm amazed how I was able to get a photo close up of a seagull flying high above me.  I'm anxious to see what else my big, zoom lens can do!

After our walk on the beach, we headed a little further north for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Las Olas.  And, then, another walk along the beach in Carlsbad to see the sunset.

I spotted a tree on our walk to the beach that had fuzzy, yellow, blossoms.  Aren't they cute?! 

These surfers were pretty far down the beach and I was surprised how well my camera lens did.  I'd like to go back down there with a tripod on a good surf day and see if I can get some good pictures of surfers riding the waves.

I always love seeing sandpipers.  They're so cute!

What a wonderful day we had together!  It couldn't have been more perfect!

Daddy and daughter!

We watched until the sun slipped away. 

We dropped her off that night with lots of hugs, a little sadness to say goodbye, and anticipation of seeing her again very soon.  It's been tough with her living in another state but we cherish every moment we have together even more than we did before.

Tears for My Mommy

Right now, I'm not feeling the hurt and anger I've felt for so many years...my whole life...over the way my mother treated me.  Instead, I weep.  No. I sob!  Over what is happening to her.  Over the loss of my mommy.  Dementia is evil!  It's horrible!  It's mean!  I hate what it is doing to her.  It's not fair for her to lose her mind like this.  It's so painful for those of us that love her!

I woke up this morning and just started sobbing about this.  I'm writing this through blurry, tear filled eyes, with momentary stops to sob and grab a tissue.  It's interesting how things are changing...

I've gone from hurt and anger over how our relationship has always been; how she never seemed happy with me; how negative she's always been...to, now, where all I see is this tiny woman who needs us.  She's sad.  She's afraid.  And, she truly needs us to help guide her, keep her from getting lost, help her make decisions, help her to make sense out of simple tasks like choosing something from a menu and ordering at a restaurant.

She's moving from her anger stage to realizing that her mind is changing.  That's very hard for her and she's been crying a lot.  I can only begin to imagine what it would be like in her shoes.

She's given up on getting her driver's license back.  I know that must have been so hard for her.  But, it's a good thing because it's safer and we won't worry about her losing her way.

My dad says she still has moments of anger and she rants.  The rants are mostly about me and things that she's dreamed up that aren't true.  But, I think...I hope, those moments are becoming less angry and less often.

She was getting so angry that my dad would tell me to just stay away as to avoid making it worse. However, staying away didn't seem to be helping.  So, I've started going over there more.  I've been taking her clothes shopping and then picking my dad up and going out to lunch with them.  The time together is allowing me to see how much more she's changed than I even realized.

I've been taking her clothes shopping because she's lost so much weight that her clothes are huge on her.  Not to mention, very outdated.  On our first shopping trip, she insisted that she was a size 8-10. I really felt she was more like a four or six but she insisted.  So, we pulled larger sizes and she tried them on.  They were huge!  I started bringing her things in smaller and smaller sizes until a pair of size six pants fit.  When she's in clothes that actually fit, it's amazing how tiny she is and those size six pants are a bit loose.  She could possibly wear things even smaller.  Below her waistline, she's probably about a size two.  And, she's barely five feet tall.  So, she's very tiny.

We found one pair of pants on the first outing and she seems to be enjoying having something that fits.  She's been wearing them a lot.  And, she seems to enjoy the compliments she's gotten from my dad about how nice they look on her.

We went shopping again yesterday.  She went straight to the larger sizes again.  I just started pulling smaller sizes and she eventually joined me in that search.  It was interesting that when we went into the fitting rooms that she started changing without closing the door.  I reached in and closed it for her.  After showing me the first thing she tried on, she left the door open again and it seemed better to just let it stay that way than to keep asking her to step aside so I could close it.  There was no one else in the area we were in.  So, I figured it was fine.  But, it was interesting that it seemed like privacy never crossed her mind.  We only found one pair of pants yesterday.  I guess we'll eventually have a new wardrobe for her.  It just may take a while.  But, it gives us a reason to get together and something to do.  And, I'm hoping that nice, new, well fitting, updated clothes will give her a lift.

Through our time together the past few weeks, I'm noticing how her mind has changed so much more than I even realized.  She repeats more than before.  And, she also seems to get a little confused or lost in more situations than before.  Those times seem to require a little gentle guidance to help her through.

What is happening to my mom is hardest on her, I'm sure.  But, it's so incredibly hard for my dad.  He's cried a lot of tears lately.  However, they've decided to move onto my brother's property and that seems to have given my dad a huge lift.  He's planning projects to work on there and making lists.  It's great to see him excited about it.  It'll be nice for them to be close to my brother in case they need help.  And, it will be nice for them to be closer to their doctors and medical facilities.  They're currently about forty miles from the hospital and doctors on their insurance plan.

I find it interesting how I've gone from feeling so hurt about how my relationship with my mom has always been and how badly she's always talked about me, to feeling so sad for her and just needing to care for and help her.  I have always appreciated the many things I learned from my mom growing up but I'm appreciating them more than ever before.   Even the tiniest of things...like how to thread a needle or set the table.

I've always loved her even though I often wondered if she loved me.  But, now, I'm starting to find ways to see beneath the things she says and does to see that she probably loves me too.  I'm grasping those little revelations and holding onto them with all my might! And, I'm trying to cherish every moment I have with her, even though those moments can be hard. I love my mommy!