Saturday Sharing

My voice is still not back but at least the dog can hear me now ... I don't know if that is much progress as he seems to hear a pin drop from miles away. Most of the day has been very cloudy with intermittent breaks for startling beautiful blue skies and strong sunshine. I meant to get some more grass cut but frankly I am too weary to even attempt it. Yesterday I got an area of about 20' by 10' done with my new reel mower and had a lot of fun watching Alex chase all the bugs that got stirred up. I gave up a motorized mower as I was fed up with messing with oil and sharpening and spark plugs and all the other things you should keep on top of to keep a mower in good running order. My front lawn is maintained by my next door neighbor as he wants both lawns to look the same height (men!) so all I need to do is keep the backyard short enough that the dogs don't get lost in it. Easy enough for me and my reel mower. Sunday should see the rest of it done... by either me or my son Paul, if he drops by with his dogs for babysitting.

I am an avid reader of Selvedge, a British quarterly on textiles around the globe. I have been known to spend days just looking at the ads they are so beautiful. As a subsciber, who just renewd for 3 years, I received from them an apron from Habke Construction. It is a typical french cotton canvas apron, about four feet wide and eighteen inches long (very approximate measurements) with two large grommets for attaching twill tapes. The whole thing wraps completely around me to tie in the front. There is one large linen/cotton packet in the front (or where ever it ends up on you) printed with a lovely blue stripe. I love it already but, as I rarely cook, I am looking for alternative uses... maybe mounted on homosote (sic?) board as a bulletin board cover for the sewing room?

Someone who saw the cargo carry-all I made for the travel swap asked me to make one for them. I just sent it off and am feeling very accomplished. It is made of Indian home spuns and some wild cotton based sparkly sheers. I won't post a photo of it until it gets delivered but I'm extremey happy with it. The only down side is that I ran out of buckram at the end so the interior is not as stiff as I would like. I hope she likes it.

Alex has finally settled down on the couch next to me. He seems jealous of the laptop and when I bring it out he loves to distract me by dancing on the key board and licking the mouse. This attention getting activity usually ends up with me getting mad at him and him trying to bite my fingers. Not pleasant but I think we have reached a compromise... he stops getting in the way and I'll let him curl up on me or next to me while I watch movies and scratch his tummy. If he is especially good in the evening he gets to sleep with me but I much prefer he sleep in the bathroom ... his body temperature is about 600 degree Celcius.

Let me know if the links don't work. UPDATE: they don't so I'm back to square one... rats!