Opening Day

Gloria the transgendered Brahma Rooster and a Wyandotte Hen

Banner day today. I cleaned the henhouse (got 3 eggs) and moved 3 loads of straw and waste into the garden where my blueberries are. Everything in the garden looks like it is about to decompose except for the Helleborus, they are putting up juicy buds, egged on by the cold. I clipped a bunch of the blackberry vines inside the chicken pen. I am not sure how the hens felt about the vines but they were seriously encroaching in a few areas making the paths impassable. While I was doing all of this, I let the hens and Gloria out. They were all terribly cheerful, breaking into small groups combing the yard for whatever hens comb the yard for. Some of them rushed after me everytime I went near the henhouse. They are funny to be around, you have to move in a particular way so as not to startle them. All in all I ended up spending about an hour outside which I think I will declare as my first official day of working in the garden.

2009 So far

So it's a new year and I am putting it out there re the projects I hope to complete this year. This is some nice pink wool I picked up at NW Handspun Yarns in Bellingham. I plan to make a hooded jacket for Pearl's newest cousin in her birthfamily. I had never knit anything for a small person and I am looking forward to it going quickly. I am doubling the wool up to make it extra thick. It seems like I rarely knit anything with the wool that was intended for the pattern. I also want to knit a blanket for Pearl's new sister who will arrive in May via her birthmom. I'd also like to make a few more of the little hats I am currently wearing (I know you can't see but trust me, it's orange and the wool came from SpinCycle).

Next on the list are a series of small quilts. I make no promises about this one as it is a true journey of exploration. I plan to create a small piece (8-12" sq) every two weeks containing the capital letter R (Clarendon to start with but that could change and there may be words worked in, we'll just see what strikes me). I came across this book, The Uncommon Quilter and it just thrilled me. So off I go on that tangent.

I have decided to stop vending at the market in Bellingham which I am hoping will give me some more free time to write. I have my moms story I need to finish as well as a few others.

Stay tuned.

Reflection

Pearl swims at Alouette Lake, Summer 2008

The best Christmas gift I got this year was wholly unexpected. I received as I often have, a card from one of my mothers friends or relatives from the UK. Brown envelopes with handwritten addresses, modern die-cut cards with minimal snowflake designs. This year one such envelope appeared from my mothers college roommate Eiona Connacher. She enclosed with her cheerful note two letters she had recieved from my mother many years earlier. One was from 1966 and one from 1975. Eiona, a retired doctor, noted that she had come across the letters on her desk which begs the question "How often does one clear off ones desk?".

I am offering here, a passage from the letter dated May of 1975, the year my parents separated. We had taken a trip to the UK a few years earlier and my mother describes part of our experience;

" We put up our three little red nylon tents by the river at Coupal Bridge in Glencoe {Scotland} one fine evening in June and then bathed in the river which was warm as milk after running over the sunwarmed rocks. The kids all suddenly decided to get rid of their bathing suits and swam naked in that wonderful dark amber water. Do you remember doing the same once? I sat and watched their pink and white bodies as they splashed and dived, and it came to me that the cycle was complete here in Glencoe. Later I tried to make a poem about it, but I've never got it to my complete satisfaction."

Of course the letters are deeply moving and I am so pleased to have them in my possession, to get a glimpse into her inner world and to see how similar it is to my own.

Happy Birthday Mom!

And then it was over.

Today marks 3 weeks since our first heavy snowfall. My thoughts were consumed by snow. I loved it then I hated it. Yesterday I was planning to blog 6 things the snow afforded me because even I was tiring of my own whining. I only came up with 4 and the need to blog passed.

And then it was over.

I awoke this morning to 50° and green lawn where before there had been a field of white cotton with paths dug like veins around the property. The unrelenting rain had washed it all away and we are suddenly back to normal. No over bundling, no worries of sliding off the road.

It is however, extremely wet. The ground is spongy and soft. The road is under water in several places between me and my regular destinations. The Nooksack is thick-wide-fast. I wondered about the strength of the bridge as I sped over and noticed all the dead trees floating down in bunches. Despite these things the change to rain feels good. I will take a much needed walk this afternoon with my neighbor and the dogs. I can't remember the last serious walk I took. Brutal. You can well imagine what my mental state has been. Picture thread.

There is one thing I will miss about the snow and that is how changed the quality of light is from our normal all green world.

2009 Day 5

It snowed again last night. I am so sick of the snow. In theory it's great but it seriously affects me in two basic ways. I can't go for my daily walks which makes me crazy—seriously—and it makes going anywhere in the car difficult to say the least. My yard still has at least 8 inches of snow in it and while the main road is clear mostly my driveway is a slippery slush fest and it's really pissing me off.

I'm whining, don't try to stop me.

2009 Day 4

Day 4 and it's bittersweet. After almost 2 weeks spent together I am leaving the comfort of Mark's company. Heading south to the Ham to collect my Pearl, I miss her something fierce after 8 days away. Looking forward to getting back to my non-holiday schedule of rigorous work and earned naps. I am also looking forward to eating some non-holiday type food, man am I getting old.

2009 Day 3

Don't worry I can't keep this up for long.

Day 3 and cabin fever is a reality. I wanted to go into Vancouver today to deliver gifts but alas my desires have once again been thwarted by this quaint snowy weather which has really lost most of it's appeal. Instead I will walk up to the Staples and get a new 2009 planner and maybe some large pastry I can drown my frustration in.

Suffice to say I am good at being lazy to a point. I am better off if I have a mission.

It was the Shoes

Well Happy New Year to all. Day 1 of 2009 was a bit of a washout but Day 2 is at least 50% better.

I am happy to report I am emerging from my cold/flu thing. I realized this morning that for the past couple of weeks I have been either scuffling around in slippers or snow boots with little foot padding and no arch support. It all has me feeling a bit schlumpy. From spending the last week on the couch and in bed, my body feels weak and stiff. Fortunately today I was able to identify this problem and I also had the presence of mind to do something about it.

In mid December I bought myself some new running shoes (thanks dad!). Because the weather has been so incompatible with my normal fair-weather walks I had not removed them from their box. It's the shoes I thought. I was planning on kicking off the year with a little letterpress printing to celebrate the realization that I was going to live through my head cold. I have the shoes on and I am trying to stand taller and work out some of the kinks, stretching my arms and legs as I pull prints off the press.

Even though it snowed again today and I am feeling really sick of the white stuff, it was also sunny for a few minutes. The sun streaming in my office windows combined with these neon runners leaves me feeling pretty peppy and okay with the world.