Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Now I Know My A B C's...

My "Z" is for z-twist.  That is one of the options you have when you ply your handspun yarn.  I have a Lendrum double treadle wheel.  I feel lucky because I bought mine during the 25th anniversary of the company and got a walnut wheel.  That was the only year it's been offered in walnut. I've spun everything from alpaca to yak on it.  I learned to spin on a spindle, a much more modest investment for beginners.  I switched right over to the wheel and continue in the endeavor of becoming a better, more technical spinner.  I am still at the point where the fiber I am spinning is the boss of me.  It seems to decide how finely it wants to be spun. 

Yoga is My "Y"

I love yoga.  I've been doing it seriously for the past three years or so.  I  enjoy it because of the combination of balance and strength it promotes. It really helps with flexibility, too.  All the things I need to preserve as I enter my dotage.  Just recently, my health club canceled the group yoga class that I've attended for years.  I'm taking it as a sign that it's time to shift gears and practice by myself using taped  instructions or books.

"X" Marks the Spot

"X" is for X-stitch.  A slight cheat, I know, but I am having alphabet fatigue.  At one point in the past, I was really into cross-stitch.  I even designed a few samplers.  I think what appealed to me was the orderly nature of the technique, a sharp contrast to my life at the time.  Just last Spring I was lucky enough to take one of the Behind the Scenes tours at the Smithsonian Institution.  A lovely woman gave me, along with three other people, an up-close look at the Museum's sampler collection.  No photographs were allowed, but I took copioud notes and enjoyed the morning completely. Here are some of the samplers I stitched about 15 years ago.

"V" is Vintage Valentines and Vogue

AI love vintage cards of all kinds.  I'm pretty fond of any sort of ephemera, but the cards are really, for me, a record of what was consiered cute in days gone by.  These items were snagged at estate sales.

Other things have changed since these were issued.  You might not get away with either "fat lady" or "gay dog" these days.  "wild man" might not be very PC, either, come to think of it.

My other "V" is for Vogue Knitting.  This anniversary issue is pretty good.  There aren't any patterns that make my heart flutter this time around. (My needles seem to be reserved for itty-bitty garments just now)  The articles are well worth the price of the mag.  There's a four-way interview of knitting's old gaurd and a list of Meg Swanson's top knitting bits arranged in abc order. (Sounds like...)

Upstairs, Downstairs

August is slipping away, and if I don't set my mind to it, this Encyclopedia of Me could take forever to complete, so here goes.  "U", For me, it stands for Upstairs, Downstairs, a BBC production for Masterpiece Theater from the 70's.  when it was originally broadcast, I was 12 or 13, too young to appreciate it.  Later in the mid-80's it was re-reun on my local PBS station.  I was hooked.  It started running right after my father died unexpectedly at the age of 52.  I would somehow manage to get through a tearful, exhausting week (I had a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old and was in graduate school at the time) and at 11:00 Sunday night I would watch the adventures of this Edwardian Era household.  It served as a marker that I had managed to survive another whole week.  I would also consume an entire box of Peperidge Farm cookies.  Not one of the 5 ounce bags, an entire party selection box.  Grief makes you do funny things.  I eventually bought the entire series on VHS.  My son refers to that format as "The Smithsonian Tapes"

"T" is for Ten Tiny Toes

I promise that this will not become a baby blog, but really, what's cuter than this?

The negatives and the Positives of "S"

"S" is for Stoogefest.  I attended the 16th annual Stoogefest last night at a local theater.  It took place in the Riviera Theater, a picture palace built in 1928 and recently restored to its former beauty.  Me, my cousin Patrick and about 800 other fans of the Three Stooges enjoyed an evening of eight Stooge shorts dating from 1936 to 1959.  Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

"S" is also for seizure.  My 14-year-old pitbull mix has developed a seizure disorder in the past nine months.  She has averaged two per month with no evident pattern.  They just come on her and afterwards, she acts just like Dorothy in the wizard of Oz when she wakes up back in Kansas.  She's so happy to see us and is in a highly excited state for a few hours.  I have to dose her with an extra phenobarbatol and I give her a bowl of vanilla ice cream to restore her blood sugar level.  I have the heart-sinking feeling that some day she will have a seizure and not come out of it.

"R" if Rosary, River and Resolutions

I love reciting the rosary.  Doing so has relieved my anxiety in times of extreme stress.  One of the trips I really want to take is a pilgrimage to Fatima in 2017 for the 100th anniversary of the Blessed Mother's appearance there.

"R" is for river.  I live on the Niagara River.  I love the way it changes every day.  This is the shot of the day:

"R" is also for resolutions, which I make every New Year.  It has never worked for me to eliminate an item, i.e., I will not bite my nails. what does work for me is to add something positive to my life such as, I will read one good book a month, or, I will attend one cultural event like a concert or a gallery show per month.  I have a tendency to do a good job with resolutions like this, and they've rally improved the quality of my life.

"P" is for Peru and Pet Peeves

I love Peru.  Two years ago, my daughter and I were lucky enough to spend fourteen days there.  Peru has amazing culture, scenery and food, but the people are beyond kind.  The people on the street were so kind to us, giving us directions etc.  The cabbies were all family men and lectured us in rapid Spanish about safety in the city of Lima (an exceedingly safe city, by the way).  I would love to go back.

This is a handwoven hanging I bought in Pisac Market.

Pet Peeves.  I have the average amount but here are my top three as I consider the topic right now:

• People who talk during movies or concerts.  I'm the crabby person that asks them to please stop yapping in a schoolteacher-ish kind of way
• People who use their cellphones loudly as they shop or socialize.  If a person is talking on a cell phone in the movies (see above)  I go into stroke zone
• People who use too much perfume.  Gag, wheeze.  I'd rather smell B.O.

I almost forgot!  "P" is for pugs.  I love this breed.  Margot Kaufmann (a writer who died far too young) said "Pugs are living proof that God has a sense of humor"  I couldn't agree more.  This is Sofie, My daughter's three-year-old pug.  She is gracefully allowing Baby Nicholas to live in her home.  Being the shrewd creature she is, I imagine that she can see all the spilled cheerios that lie in her future.

"M" is for Money

I love my dog.  I love my dog. That is the phrase I used as a mantra as I stood in line at the bank to deal with Bailey's latest transgression:                                                                                       

She's not bad that often, but when she is, she's very creative.  She got ahold of my bank envelope and had a party for her 14-year-old self.  The bank teller was very nice about it.  She played jigsaw and taped up the bits and pieces and replaced the cash for me.  She was actually pretty happy though.  She said she's had customers come in with zip-lock bags containing money that has gone through a dog.