09.04.08

I aten’t dead

Posted in Shop Updates at 8:44 am by wendy

just spoiled for choice in stuff to do and blogging hasn’t been much of a priority lately.

I had a birthday, and I was utterly spoiled and received many wonderful presents and had a fun day kayaking & fishing on Kangaroo Lake with Nick and the SIL and nephews.

I caught a lovely couple of trout, and Nick got some good bites and hooked a niced-sized one that leapt right back out of the boat and away, licketysplit, and -huzzah!-while it didn’t come home with us, it counted as us both breaking our awful fishing slump.

It was a good day.

I still cried myself to sleep because I missed my mom, because, again, I am spoiled. She should have been here and it’s not fair that she’s not. So I cried, oh well. Glad I got that out of my system. I may be a big girl of thirty plus years, but dammit, I’ll always miss my Mommy.

Apparently certain catalog companies were notified that I have become a woman of a certain age. And apparently, they feel that as a woman of certain age I would like the financial security of being a pimp (or at least dressing like one) and running my own string:

We’ve been looking at houses. I’ve fallen in love with a few lovely properties, but as I am notoriously easy, Nick is the one to convince.

One promising prospect…but I don’t plan on jinxing this one anytime soon.

While it was really hot and the fires were at the worst, we went camping on the coast where we needed to bundle up in long pants and sweaters and the air was clear of smoke if not fog.

Clam Beach is great because it just goes on and on and on with lovely packed sand.

Crivvie was unsure about the whole “sleeping in a tent” thing but she did very well.

2 adults, 2 whippets and a greyhound CAN fit in an REI Halfdome.

We went to the county fair, on the last day.

The fair here is only 5 days and is of course a much smaller affair than the SD County fair.

I’m sure there must have been a spa salesman somewhere but I didn’t see a single. Just a lot of animals, auctions, farm equipment and local businesses and local organisations.

And funnel cake.

It was really nice.
A deer at the petting zoo kept trying to eat my skirt. I would love a pet deer, as disgustingly impractical as that is.
Seeing all the deer here never gets old for me. At one of the houses we looked at (an absolute money pit) in the middle of the day, practically in the middle of town, we were standing outside talking with the realtor and saw a doe and two fawns saunter along the sidewalk and down into a neighbor’s yard…acting like they were just making the rounds.

It’s just a lovely surprise, going along your day and there, suddenly, deer! They’re everywhere. And nowhere, if you’re looking for them. It’s bowhunting season, and soon, enough, the regular season so we haven’t been seeing the big guys at all.

I made scones last week with blackberries we gathered from a vacant lot on our way back from the video store. This morning I made scones with huckleberries from the Ashland farmer’s market, gathered locally by “our mushroom guy.”

We have an apple tree in the back yard that really needs topping off. I climbed up it in my new shoes the other day and clipped some little branches, sawed some others, but mostly just picked some apples, dropping them into my backpack, and shook some down. They’re delicious. I made loads of applesauce from the bruised ones and we’re eating the others in salads and with cheese.

Nick and I caught nearly identical fish on another jaunt to Kangaroo Lake. It’s so gorgeous there. So clear and quiet, a beautiful place to camp.

I just love that we can actually eat from the land here.

I got a little part time job at the local coffee house; it’s fun. It’s nice to be “working” again and I’m starting to recognise some regulars, and the owner of the Village Grind is great to work with (and for) and has hired some great workers. (If I do say so myself) As a 30 year old, I am about 13 years older than my colleagues, but I tell you, I would totally clone them, they are good at their job and a pleasure to work with–which is awesome, because customer service can be hard. But frankly, everybody’s pretty darn nice on both sides of the counter so the job isn’t really “work” at all.

I took a sewing class at a local quilt shop hoping I would learn more about finishing techniques but well, I learned how to do a french seam. I do wish I could hang out more with the woman I sat next to though. She was teh awesome wit da sewing, and we had a good time commiserating about the state of the world today.

In terms of learning the promised “professional finishing” techniques or getting more comfortable, this class wasn’t it. “Kimono in a Day,” my tushy. Cutting it out one day, sewing the next…two people actually finished theirs, the rest of us took ours home to finish them. But I did have fun, because of my table mate, and because I was making something for someone I love very much and thinking about her and the bright colors made me happy.

I added a reading glasses pocket, a tissue pocket, and belt loops and finally finished it all yesterday, so it will be winging its way to my Grammy soon.

I still haven’t finished the Anna mini dress.

I did recut the muslin lining, and the outer fabric, to take it in four inches at the waist. I should have taken more from the back, but I was afraid I might not be able to get it on if I took it in too much, as my shoulders and hips are pretty wide. (heh, all this good Siskiyou County living) I thought I was in the home stretch–I sewed on the tunic yoke, but didn’t like the way it looked (I accidentally sewed too narrow a seam allowance and exposed the stay stitching–only after unpicking the tunic yoke from the body did I realise I could have just unpicked the exposed stitching and it would have been fine) and then after painstakingly doing the gathers and re-matching up the pieces just exactly right with the exactly right amount of seam allowance and then unpicking and ironing and folding and prepping to go to the next step…did I realise that I had sewn the tunic yoke on wrong side out. D’oh. So it’s unpicked and waiting to be finished still. There aren’t many steps left, but I’m sure it will take me a few more mistakes before it’s done. But I am learning.

Life is good.

Permalink