Purling Oaks

Some vacation pics

I don't have much in the way of new knitting or fibery things to share this morning.  I do have a few images to share, though.  One of my favorite weeds is Verbascum thapsus or Great Mullein.  We have a few growing in the moat (I'll explain the moat another time.) and I'm delighted.  I may be the only one that's delighted....DH is neutral.  *g*  I love the furriness of the silvery-green leaves, the rosette of the young plant, and the yellow flowers of the stalk of a more mature one. 

We had a visitor on the dining room window the other evening.

There was a surprise in the flower garden.  My hen and chicks plant is.....flowering. 

Wild, isn't it?  I hope it isn't an act of desperation.

I'm going on a little yarn shop trip today with my DSIL while my nephew Jack goes fishing with DH and my DBIL.  It will be a nice balance to the evening's event.

Have a Happy Fourth of July everyone, stay safe, and remember to enter the contest!

Saturday surprise

For all my list-making, Saturday had a surprise waiting for me.  Early in the morning, DH walked out to the shed to find something and spied a red cherry on the drive, quite a ways from our "orchard."  He came back in with the news that the cherries were ripe.  If I were Martha Stewart, "watch for ripe cherries" would have been on my list and one of my minions would have picked them.  However, I'm not Martha.  So, I grabbed a bowl, found some shoes, and heading out the door to our cherry trees.  We have one mature tree and two just-planted-this-Spring trees.  All three had cherries!  I came back into the house with a bit over two quarts of harvested cherries.  It is nice to get some before the birds get the majority of the fruit. 

I pitted the cherries and contemplated what to make with them.  I love a pie but I think that will have to wait a week or two until my nephews arrive to help eat it.  Then I ran across this recipe and decided it would be perfect for Sunday's breakfast.

The Cherry Clafoutis was very good.  I had not made it before, and, frankly, I've never made a custard before either, but this was very simple.  I used two cups of pitted cherries in place of the plums referenced in the recipe I linked to.  Otherwise, I followed the instructions exactly.  (I skipped the rum.)  I used pitted cherries.  I don't care if the pits do add flavor, I like my teeth!

Remember to enter the contest!

Hot date Friday

DH and I had a hot date this afternoon. 

We burned a brush pile!  I just couldn't resist the funny.  We have a burn permit but you can only burn between 6 PM and midnight.  Probably because it is more likely that the volunteer fire department members are home and not working away from the area.  DH has been battling buckthorn in our woods.  It is an invasive tree species that will take decades, if not forever, to eliminate but he's making great progress in the woods behind the house.  Buckthorn saplings pulled up last fall made up a big part of this brush pile.  What did I do?  Well, I enjoyed the fire. 

The cats enjoyed running around today in the lovely weather.  (Yes, I'm still knitting the brown bag project so no knitting photos.)  (You get cats, instead, like any good knit blogger would give you.) 

Fuzzle and Blue in the violets and a Fuzzle Glamour shot, just so Fuzzle's girlfriend knows she is still around.  And the pear tree is blooming.......

Sitting at my own table

Here's the photo of my Forest Canopy that I promised Nora yesterday.  This is the same amount of stitches as Monday when I promised so there is no, err, cheating involved.  Forest Canopy is on the sidelines due to, among other things, my pressing need to finish my Brown Bag project for the MKG meeting this coming Monday. 

I'm actually working near home for the month of May.  Pretty cool.  My only challenge is to remember that I am not as full of energy at the end of the work day as I thought I would be when I made out my list of things I wanted to do this month.   I do this every time I work and commute, which isn't all that often.  I am just kind of startled to be sitting at my own dining room table tonight.  I'll get over it in a few days and get a little routine going.  One nice routine I'm starting is making a fruit yogurt smoothie for breakfast.  Yum.

Another especially nice benefit this week is watching our fruit trees starting to flower.  The cherry tree ....

I met "The Girls!!!"

It's been a busy weekend, friends.  Nora, who claims to have little knitting or fiber background until recently, has become a fleece broker.  She made it known that friends of hers had Icelandic fleeces available for sale.  Hmmmm, Icelandic fleeces?  Sounds interesting.  I guess I could use an expansion of my fiber knowledge. 

So Saturday, I ventured west to visit Terry and Kate Moen near Richland Center.  I went to pick-up two Icelandic sheep fleeces.  I followed Terry's directions most of the way but when I was almost there I decided to take the advice of the woman with the English accent in the box on my dashboard (Garmin Nuvi GPS).  Probably not the best Idea I've had lately.  Oh, I got to Terry and Kate's all right.  It is a DARN good thing I was driving a four-wheel drive vehicle since I took the shortcut they call the "goat path."  *sigh*  It is a single-lane, gravel and mud track.  (At first I was thinking that they *really* live out in the country!  Then I was just hoping I would not get stuck.)  Turns out the lady in the box told me the worst way and there is a perfectly fine road that I could have taken if I had followed ALL of Terry's directions.)  Well, at least I know I can drive in 4WD when it means something.  *g*  I was going to wash the Jeep anyway.........

Here's what I came to see:

They are a little shy........

But if Terry adds some grain to the feeder and you give them a little room, they will come closer even with a stranger in the barn.  Aren't they sweet?

Reflecting perhaps, the new owners in that they are very different but also very similar, are the two fleeces.  I like the lighter fleece and Stacey chose a chocolate fleece.  What you cannot see, is the deep dark chocolate on the reverse side of her fleece.  I think she'll see a nice variation of yarn shades in the finished yarn.

This will be my very first adventure in producing yarn from the source, a fleece.  I will certainly document my future efforts in producing yarn.  I'm not sure yet if I'll separate the short and long (and I mean LONG) parts of the fleece or spin them together.  My first impression is that the fleece is, um, sheepy.  *g*  It is a natural smell, not quite like wet socks, not offensive, but not quite what my husband considers sexy.  A spinner or knitter may have a differing opinion......

The shearer is coming to shear "the girls" at the end of this week.  So, there will be five more fleeces available according to Terry and Kate.  Let me or Nora know if you are interested and we can put you in touch with the folks with the good stuff.

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Today is my DB's birthday.  I have only one brother and I'm very fortunate that I got this one.  You all have seen him pictured here lately.  He was celebrating his birthday today with both of his sons and he sounded very happy and relaxed when I spoke with him.  Happy Birthday, Eric.  May you have many pleasant adventures in the coming year.  I love you!

Daffodil Sunday

Today was the day the daffodils decided to bloom.  I'm glad I was home.

Fuzzle Face

This evening I took my own advice and walked in the woods.  Earlier today we had sun, but the rain clouds were moving in so it was overcast and a little cool but with temperatures in the 50s it was still comfortable.  The trail through the woods is actually mostly a loop that will take the traveler up, along, and then down the ridge that the woods reside on.  It is probably a mile of trail but it is "real" trail with obstacles like rocks, sticks, soft earth from rodents digging, and a fallen tree or two.  I surprised at least one turkey and about six deer.  I'm also discovering the muscles that support my knees.  It was a good walk and I'm going to try to do it *carefully* every day I'm home until the mosquitoes get too thick for sanity.

I was informed that Fuzzle doesn't get much face time on this blog, so here is a paw-washing photo or two from this afternoon.

Fuzzle wondering why I'm not petting her.  (Look at the pretty Fuzzle, not the messy sun porch)

I've done a little change-around here at Purling Oaks to try to lighten things up.  Spring is here, you know.  Really. 

Something new and relaxing

Well, on Sunday, the laundry monster and I were reacquainted but I won the arm wrestling match.  That win gave me time to wander around outside and take pictures.

More crocus blooming in the herb garden......

Blue in a tree, acting like a grown up cat.

The cats were enjoying the yard as much as I was and they followed me all over.  DH gets a kick out of how all four will follow me around.  I'm the pied piper of Purling Oaks. *g*

I also took a little video of the stream at the back of the yard.  Most of the year, we just call it a ditch because it is dry.  However, this year, there has been water flowing for a good two weeks and there are even little minnows swimming in it.  Here's the video that I uploaded.  I'm not sure why the quality is so poor.  I'll take any and all suggestions about how to improve it.  (Maybe I could use a *real* video camera, eh?)

But, if you close your eyes, you can pretend you are in the woods with the stream burbling along and the birds singing their Spring serenade.

Breaking Hibernation

I had not intended to wait so long to post this weekend but I got busy. The lengthening days with the extra minutes of daylight are having the desired effect of waking me from my hibernation*. After running errands, getting a massage, and general galavanting in Madison on Friday, Saturday found me in my studio---cleaning and straightening. I should say starting to clean because the winter (it wasn't me, it was WINTER) left that room a Mess. I cataloged more of my stash and entered it into Ravelry. I have several (ahem) sweaters' worth of stash....which are now neatly tucked away in little plastic bin/drawers that were on sale at Shopko on Friday. I still have a ways to go on that room today but I can see most of the floor now.

I took time out from finding the studio's floor to walk around outside. We have some crocus blooming on the south side of the house.

DH told me that one of our new crabapple trees is budding, which is excellent news. My garden boxes are beginning to thaw.

The soil is still rather wet and cold, so I won't be planting any seeds for a few weeks. Even with the wait, I find it heartening that the raised beds shed their cover of snow and will be warming up as they were designed to do.

I also started my Forest Canopy Shawl. I'm Knitting with Nora in a very relaxed, no rules KAL. If you are inclined, please join us! I'm using Fleece Artist Sea Wool in the most appropriate Woodlands colorway. I've knit up through row 12 of the set-up. I am enjoying the yarn and the pattern. Good pattern campaign suggestion, Stacey!

*Now if I only had come out of hibernation a few pounds lighter, like a real bear. *grin*

A shadow and her cat

Stacey is having a contest!  Go visit and tell her what job you would like to have if education and money were of no significance.  I'm still thinking what job I would love.  There are a number of areas where I would like more experience  Crafting.  I suppose my ideal life would be to delve into all the crafts that I've only tested the waters, which is essentially all of them.  I would love to attend conferences and classes.  Maybe, once I gain some skill, I could teach and foster crafting.   Gardening.  I would love to spend a lot of time in my garden and develop a dyer's garden and expand my kitchen garden.  Writing.  I would love to work on my writing skills and expand on the little stories that roll around in my brain.  Music!  I would love to learn how to play my acoustic guitar.  Hmm.  I suppose I know what I'll be doing with my free time.  Not much of an answer for Stacey, though. 

The sun was shining for a few moments over Chez Purling Oaks late this afternoon.   We have signs of life in the gardens!  Well, the gardens that aren't still covered with snow, that is. 

On the left is the start of a tulip and on the right are crocii coming through the leaf debris under the lilacs. 

White Dot joined me on my stroll around the green parts of the yard and we did a little goofing around.

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I also finished the wash cloth on Sunday.  Here it is, posing.

Sunday's Backyard View

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This photo was taken a little after 9 AM this morning.  I love how the finch feeder is full of birds and, if you look closely, you can see a squirrel tail on the far feeder.  It started raining early this morning but, as you can see, the snow has started. 

Mom's flight from California made it into Detroit just fine this morning but her flight to Appleton was canceled.  Now, she is on a flight to Minneapolis with hopes of arriving home on a third flight this afternoon.  Good travel thoughts for Mom are much appreciated.

Yesterday, I rented the wallpaper steamer machine from our local hardware store at noon.  DH brought it back at 4:30 PM after we removed the wallpaper from our basement bathroom.  I was afraid this would be a beast of a job but only a normal amount of effort was expended.  One hint for those of you applying wallpaper....remember to prime the surface first, even if it is only a patch.  If you don't prime, the wallpaper will stick, stick, stick when you want it to release should you or someone else ever want to remove the paper.  DH has all ready removed the vanity and replaced the toilet from the old blue (yes, 1970's blue) ceramic.  Now, to research what flooring to install.  Vinyl or Ceramic (on concrete) or some other option?