family – Page 4

Project Hiatus…

September 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Life, again. You never know when life is going to take over and make all your plans seem positively ridiculous…..as impermanent as a shadow in fading light.

So Bob and I have been at a standstill for the past few weeks. He’s behind on getting Pandora ready for its next season of long distance sailing, and I’m behind in using my precious land time to fulfill my own projects.

In honor of Labor Day we are having a quiet day at home (it’s raining so there is no pressure to be out at a picnic or parade this year). I am returning to my silk warp from the NEWS conference. I have prepared my folding table and loom with drop cloths to protect everything from dye, and I have been looking at my MX dye charts from decades ago… Unfortunately, today is not serving up the best light for choosing colors. Hence, I’m taking a break here to document this project!

What is left of my warp is not long enough for a scarf. I would have bet money on this being the case, so all along I’ve imagined this last piece being a narrow wall hanging. My design choices are limited by the threading I’ve already established which is an advancing twill. I can weave it in sharp advancing points or in undulating advancing hills. I want to try separating out an inch of warp at each side for an ikat-effect black and white block design to frame the main design in the center.

Now I will begin mixing colors. I am considering several reds, from a cool cherry red to burgundy to a plum type of red/purple and a deep dull orange in the pumpkin range. I also want black, and I’ve got the ‘new’ black….hoping it is deep and true as advertised!

And here is a gift from my not so friendly weaving cohort that greeted me on my morning walk. She also waited out the onslaught of life (in the form of a violent thunderstorm and heavy rains last night) before creating her glorious web sometime early this morning. I hope I will be as successful!

There’s No Place Like Home…

May 15, 2013 | Leave a Comment

There really isn’t. And to top it off it’s May in New England.

My sister had offered to meet me at the airport. It would just be the two of us; we’d have dinner afterward so she could catch me up on her family and her long solo stint of taking care of our aging and difficult mother.

Instead, she and my sons planned a larger family gathering to greet me. Seven family members were waiting for me when I arrived, and because my flight was late all the other people waiting for loved ones had gotten in on the act. So, I arrived to a crowd of clapping bystanders, who were shouting, “Welcome home, Mom!” I was completely confused, which is a very good thing, because otherwise I would have cried…

Mother’s Day weekend was about as perfect as possible. The kids and I went to the annual Garden Club sale at the little park in the center of town, and we worked in the garden cleaning up the debris from winter and planting my purchases from the sale. It was a wonderful homecoming!

Today I plied the brilliant saffron mohair that I spun in the Bahamas. Here it is with the mohair skeins from Persimmon Tree that I plan to use with it. I’m envisioning a fall jacket….

Contrasts!

February 20, 2013 | 3 Comments

When the boys traveled down here to visit us they were battling the biggest snow storm of the winter at home. Our neighbor at home, who is watching our house, sent us this photo. He can’t even get into our house right now to check on things since the front door is blocked!

And our stone wall is completely buried!

Such a contrast that while our house remains blanketed in snow we are hanging out in places like this!

Thinking about all that snow at home as put me in the mood to work on next year’s Christmas projects. Here’s my progress several days ago on my Santa bell pull. I’ve now finished that first Santa and am working on the second of three. The design is by Prairie Schooler.

Today we say farewell to our good friends on Sea Schell and Kalunamoo who have been so supportive and nurturing to us on our first trip down to these waters. Sea Schell is off to farther shores in the Caribbean, and hopefully we’ll continue to cross paths with Kalunamoo as winter turns to spring and we both head back into northern waters.

Family Fun!

February 18, 2013 | Leave a Comment

The past week with our kids on board rates as the best family vacation ever! We celebrated all three kids’ birthdays, coming up in March and April, as well as Valentine’s Day while we were all together.

I can’t believe how much fun Rob and I had cooking together in a galley that is probably smaller than most people’s powder rooms! We managed some great meals in our small space, including filet of lion fish with herbed panko crust one evening! Here is one of the lion fish still on the spear!

We all have conch shells now….and Chris was the only one who could successfully herald the sunset.

On our way to the beach with rum punch and homemade mango salsa!

Chris went swimming with the dolphins while wearing the go-pro! We don’t have enough bandwidth to post of the footage.

The kids at the monument on Stocking Island

The ocean side of Stocking Island, where we collected some great shells! Rob is wearing his specially made harness with the go-pro attached.

Getting underwater videos with the go-pro!

Beautiful sunsets each evening….

So now the kids have returned home, and the howling winds have returned to us. We are hunkered down in Red Shank cove, awaiting calmer weather before heading out to Long Island (Bahamas that is! …not New York!)

Farewell Winter

December 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Our last day in winter white New England was quite a memorable one! While doing a few last minute errands in town we noticed that our little museum has an annual train show over the holidays and that it was still on display. We had the entire exhibit to ourselves on a Tuesday morning.

Bags packed, rental car on hand for the next morning’s early ride to the airport, we decided to spend our last evening in Connecticut in the pub of the Griswold Inn with a burger and a beer. I swear that pub has live music every single night of the year, and while it’s always great fun and great music, I really wanted an early evening. The music venues usually start around 7.30. When we arrived, well before music should start, a wonderful glee club from Ohio was about halfway through an impromptu performance that had been arranged to precede the regular Tuesday night banjo group.

The glee club were the KoKos from Kenyon College, who were passing through the area on their January tour of concerts on the East Coast. Since they were staying at the house of a glee club alumnus who happened to be the local Anglican priest, the priest had arranged for the last minute performance at the pub.

Bob and I love a capella men’s groups. The songs were wonderful… “Sentimental Journey,” “Stand by Me”…… a couple of fun, bawdy songs.

As the singers were gathering their things the priest came over to introduce himself. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why. Did he see how much we liked the group?? Did he think we might become new parishioners? Whatever his reasons, he introduced himself to us and even invited us back to his house for dinner. He promised the group would sing a few more songs…. what can I say? We couldn’t resist!

As we were settling up a friend of the priest walked over to say he’d be going back to the rectory for dinner as well. I kind of thought I recognized this younger man. The priest introduced us as “Bob and Brenda” and the young man’s face shifted with something like recognition. “Were you ever members of Fayerweather Yacht Club?” he asked. Well, yes we were….about a million eons ago in a distant time before children…. this young man is the son of a couple we used to sail with fairly often. Our friends, the parents of this young man, died over 15 years ago, within a couple of years of each other. We haven’t seen their son “Roddy” since he was about 12 years old, back in the early 1980s. That feels like ancient history…

What a world! Roddy remembers a particular long weekend in Great Salt Pond on Block Island, when he and his dad came aboard our little catboat Tao for an afternoon sail, while I went on board Lark to help Roddy’s mother to cook up a mess of mussels for dinner. What I remember is coming across our very first log book last summer as we were unpacking things in our new house, and reading about Roddy and his parents and some of our escapades together. When I read these passages, I realized what distant memories these are…..how long Bob and I have been making memories together and how rediscovering this brief period in our newly married lives helped me recognize Rod the adult when our paths crossed again. Amazing…..

….and now we’re off to make more memories on this sailing adventure to the Bahamas….. (I hope they will be mostly good ones)