New Camera

Here it is, the very first (out of focus) picture with my new camera:


It's Bev's next skein of yarn, 100% Blue-faced Leicester.

Broken Camera

My camera stopped working in the normal way right after Barbara died. I'm going to buy a new one to take regular pictures, but I'm going to keep this one and use it because it's so cool!

That's Bob Hughes, my Clark College advisor.

We were at Lapellah, in the bar. This is the view I had out the window.

I think this might be what was on the table . . . .

This is Anne & Jim's house out my window.

I don't know what this is! It might be a picture of the bar and bar stools.

The camera comes and goes. This is the most recent picture of the tree in the back yard.

What I'm Spinning

Here's what I'm working on (when the parts come):

80% Merino, 20% Tussah Silk (spun, plied, delivered)

100% Polwarth (waiting for parts)

100% Blue Faced Leicester (just waiting)


75% Blue Face Leicester, 25% Tussah Silk (next in line)


50% Merino, 50% Cultivated Silk (the next one)



100% Silk (the last one!)

I can't wait to get the parts!

A Real Spinner at Last!

I've had my spinning wheel at least nine years, and I finally feel like a real spinner: I have to replace parts!

I'm making some yarn for my aunts, and some of it is silk, which I have never spun. So I asked Lisa, who dyed the fiber, for advice. She said (among other things) that I should tighten the brake. Which meant I had to find out which part is the brake (I'm a really well-schooled spinner!). And I found out that mine is worn out, so I ordered a replacement, which arrived in a couple days, and I went on spinning some BFL. When I finished, I started some Polwarth; there was a horrible noise, and the treadle broke off the part that moves the wheel (really well-schooled, I'd say). So I had to order a footman to treadle connector; in fact, I ordered two (I hate ordering on the internet!), and, while I was at it, I ordered a spare drive belt. Are there any more breakable/replaceable parts on this thing?

Anyway, here it is a quiet, gloomy Sunday, and I can't spin until sometime next week when the parts arrive. I guess I'll have to read . . . .

Timing

It's not the number of times Barbara wakes me up at night; it's the intervals. Last night I was reading in bed. I turned the light out at 1:00 am. She called me at about 2:00 am. And 20 minutes to 4. And just after 6. And about 7. And at 8, when she wanted to get up.

I figure it takes a minimum of 10 minutes for me to fall asleep again. Each call takes about 15 minutes. So last night, I slept for 5 hours, 20 minutes, interrupted four times.

No wonder I'm cranky. And tired.

Oh, by the way: since she came upstairs at 8, she's been sleeping. I haven't.

Banks and Fees

I am probably pretty naive about how banks work, but here is my impression:

I give the bank my money.

The bank invests my money to make interest.

The bank gives me part of the interest.

The bank uses the part of the interest it keeps to cover expenses and make a profit.

If the bank can't make enough money to cover its expenses and pay some interest, they aren't very good bankers, are they? So what's the deal with charging fees? My money is moving to credit unions . . . .

The View from Here

Last night, Victoria McAllister bought my dinner. We had a terrific talk, covering lots of "who I am" information. She suggested I ought to write something every day, and, here I am.

I haven't written much in a long time. I am tempted to post my poems of thirty years ago, just to get back in the habit of poetry. I honestly don't think I have much to say at this point in my life; I will use the fallback position, a description.

I'm sitting on the couch with my laptop on my lap. Barbara is sitting at the window, getting her daily light (it helps her sleep). She's dozing in a Scandinavian armchair with an IKEA poang chair cushion over it. She's wearing a sweatshirt that tends toward olive and an orange down vest, with one of our fabulous "mink" throws over her lap. She just had a phone call from her sister Dorothy. The window looks out on the front yard (pretty dull right now) and across the street, the burgeoning blackberry vines that edge the green space. Just in front of the window, we have some pots with Iceland poppies, peas and tomatoes planted in them. We are waiting for the sun to come back to Vancouver so they will grow and blossom and give her something to look at every day. Koko is sleeping on the rug between us; she looks like she's sleeping, but I think she may be waiting for someone to brazenly walk past our house so she can bark at her or him or them.

As I look around the room, I see so many tasks started and so few completed. Now that my vitamin D levels are rising, it must be time to get busy. More on that later.