So...I've started to read again...

Howdy. 

How you be? 

I'm doing...ok. Some days better. Some days a bit wonky. 

I'm going to try not to discuss the world-at-large since it is largely...well, indescribable.

Ah, also I noted that my Blogiversary in July went by (for a few years) without a blog post or a comment from my part. Sigh. Sorry.

Wonky, is my version of being off-kilter, scared, befuddled or out-of-control and trying not to react embarrassingly in grumpiness or actual anger. 

Once upon a time, "wonky" would visit monthly and could usually be dealt with pretty well. At one point  "wonky" was an out-of-control and undiagnosed Thyroid issue that had me questioning my sanity and wondering why "old age" was setting in so early. 

Today "wonky" could be related to:

• real "old age" (which doesn't seem that old to me now that I'm here.),
• menopause (hormones, or lack thereof, are still a thing)
• sleep deprivation (mostly relating to procrastination and doing-one-more-thing)
• or, BONUS, long-term Covid (my sense of smell is now more often present than not so, still improving)!

So many choices...maybe it's a combo-pack!

Over the past few years I found I could combat "wonky" with reading. Getting back to a first love.

I've added reading for a little while before I go to sleep to reset/settle my brain.

(Um, yeah. This sometimes contributes to the sleep deprivation wonky.)

I started revisiting Comfort Reads in response to, well, everything. 

Yes, I turn to comfort foods at every opportunity, particularly when stressed. But there are some authors or books that allow me to visit familiar worlds, characters and charm that offer a respite from the "real" world. Maybe even some stability. 

Sometimes its the setting of the book but it is usually the writing - the way something is described that delighted me at the first read and then delights me all over again. The clever banter between characters or the plot twist I didn't see coming - or that I forgot because I read it a long time ago.

I started with a core favorite: Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Rider series:Dragon Flight, Dragon Rider, and the White Dragon. 

I then tucked into Carol Severance's "Reefsong" (clever, well written and I love the Polynesian aspect) and Robin McKinley's "Beauty". {Happy Sigh. Love the humor, phrasing and charm.}

And then I re-visited Steven Brust's series about Vlad Taltos, assassin. Brilliant, funny, with a wry humor I appreciate and some pretty good twists. I had actually only read the first 5 books so after the fun refresh on Vlad's life, I started reading the newer adventures. I found new stories with a "comfort" read tone AND have more to find so I can see what happens next. Wicked clever!

Inspired by some of the folks I follow on Twitter, I purchased three books: "Becoming Duchess Goldblatt" by Anonymous, "Bodacious: The Shepherd Cat" by Suzanna Crampton, and "The Wild Remedy" by Emma Mitchell.

I read of Duchess Goldblatt and became more fond of what she has to say (tweet) and why she says it. I gifted her book to a beloved friend who I don't think got to read it before she passed away. 

I read a chapter a night of Bodacious to sooth my brain. I feel like I've been exploring a wood listening to stories of someone I respect and admire. 

The 3rd book, "The Wild Remedy, How Nature Mends Us" awaits me. I think it will also settle my brain some - necessary when I have bungled things in my life or the news of the day/bizarre failings of human beings confounds me beyond reason. 

I have also revisited the Diana Tregarde series by Mercedes Lackey (another of my absolute favorite authors). I re-read the first two of the 3 books I have but I think the last is one I hadn't visited before. 

Then, I spent a couple of years reading alllllll my Valdemar books by the amazing Ms. Lackey and her stellar husband, Larry Dixon. I actually haven't finished that excursion. There are many books I don't have and a fair number pending in piles (along with a fair amount of dust, to be honest).

Did you make it down this far or did your eyes glaze over as I happily babbled on about books as I attempt to retain my sanity in our wonky world. Still reading? Well done, you! 

I'll stop now. (I heard a couple of you mumble "About time.") 

S'ok, I get it. There are more reading adventures to relate to catch us up to 2026 so maybe that will inspire another round of blogging. We shall see. 

All the best to you.

Still-Still Alive, Blogiversary and Motivation in the Time of Covid

 Greetings and Salutations!

Yep, still alive. 

It took me a month to clear my Covid temperature and get back to normal and then back to work.
All of February. It kind of bugs me that my vacation days (1st week of Feb.) were blown on being sick.
On the other hand...I am truly very glad to still be alive. I was still pretty tired when I returned to work - I did half days for a couple of weeks and I was walking pretty slowly and I couldn't lift much.

A Note - I wrote the vast majority of this in May. I revisited it in June and still couldn't get a cohesive post. The latter part of this blog post devolved into a bit of a rant. Read on if you care to visit the frustrated, unfinished, circular pathways of my brain from May and June. 
I have decided to leave some of it and add blue Blogiversary comments from my July brain - possibly the blue "voice of reason". 

I am even in the process of getting vaccinated. After having Covid, it is recommended that folks that have had Covid wait 90 days before embarking on the vaccination process. So...I got the first shot a couple of weeks ago - which most people say is a breeze. Unless you've had Covid. And then the first shot meets up with the Covid antibodies already established in your blood and you get to have the heavier reaction of the 2 shots. For me, it was like the month of being sick with Covid condensed into 2 days. Bleh but...kind of familiar and almost comforting in a bizarre way. Achey, tired, fever, sleep, a lot of sleep, eyeballs hurt, hair hurt briefly, several hours of feeling queasy, brain fog, more sleep, and then a slow realization that I didn't feel so bad anymore. We'll see what the 2nd shot brings. 

The second shot brought a low fever and fatigue. I went to bed, slept well and then was up and running errands on the 2nd day after the shot. Not bad. I have been noting some extra fatigue but I don't know if it relates to my revisiting Covid via the vaccine.

So...the motivation comment in the title. Over the past year, I have become motivationally challenged. I feel like I am barely able to accomplish the basics of laundry, cat-care and work. {Yes, my house is a profound disaster.}There has been little knitting or crafting. 
Some of the motivation drag is the extreme fallout/growing pains of the crap leadership of the past few years, the self-righteous, angry people who have crawled out of the woodwork to support the crap leadership and to deny a whole range of people the status and rights of, well, people. What the hell?!?!?!
{I can't help but note here that I am currently feeling self-righteous and angry. Ha. The irony.}

I have worked through the pandemic. I have seen lovely, kind people wearing masks, folks that stayed in their cars as we brought them their online purchases,  folks that forgot their mask that tried to complete their shopping whilst holding their shirt over their face, folks who can't wear a mask for emotional reasons, folks that almost wear a mask (under-nose, under-chin, on one ear), and folks that ignored the mask mandate altogether (pregnant ladies?!? with several kids in tow) and men that couldn't be bothered. 

And then there are the folks that come in spoiling for a fight. The mere suggestion that there are masks to be had by the entrance unleashes in-your-face name-calling, and bizarre, angry excuses that make you wish you could ask them kindly why no one taught them the basic courtesy of covering their mouths when they cough - or breathe during an airborne virus pandemic. The angry folks and the ones that couldn't be bothered hurt my heart. Some folks explained that they Never get sick and have never gotten vaccinations. Nowhere in their explanation is any consideration for the rest of the world. This disregard....

Yep, I was pissed. Still am if I dwell on it too long. Hmmm-kind of like how I get when I remember what-all went on in the training marriage. {Long time ago. My taste in men has greatly improved!}

I am angry. Angry that a chunk of our world has revealed itself to be ridiculously selfish and narrow-minded. Angry at the woman who explained that she can't wear a mask because she passes out - yet I met her as she was trying to convince other customers that they "really don't have to wear a mask". Angry at the man who yelled at me last year that all this was going away on November 4th. {My first thought in response was "We're not going to have a vaccine by 11/4...??"} Angry at the woman who discounted masks and protested the mandate because 75% of her office got Covid and it was "nothing".  
I know people who were hospitalized and one person in our circle died of Covid. People are STILL dying and she says it's "nothing"!?!

{Deep breath.} Pause to watch the rest of "Sesame Street 50: years of Sunny Days"
Ok...I needed that. 

And yet...many, many more people wore masks. And still do. And people are getting vaccinated. 
And there is outrage, dialog and even some change inspired by the fallout from the previous administration and the revealed day-to-day cruelties and dismissal of folks that are marginalized or misunderstood. I still think "Ignorance can be cured." I also think I am less blithe about the number of folks that can recognize their ignorance and adjust their perspective. 
It makes me Very sad that I now feel some folks are irredeemable. As does the continuing revelations of how prejudice shapes the lives and children of folks of color, people that don't fit into the "standard" boxes, fear of religion.... What the hell, indeed?? Gonna stop, else the ranting will start up again. 
And boy did I wander off the "lack of motivation" subject. It seems pretty obvious that the revelations of the crap side of humanity is depressing me. Grrrrr/duh. 

We can't go back to what was. Too much truth has been revealed. And "what was" had an ugly underside. As I've said before...as a kid that grew up watching Star Trek, I really thought we'd be further along by now. More human. No, better humans. 

Progress is being made. Slowly and at great cost.  But living through the growing pains sucks. I am hoping this time, the narrow-minded prejudices that hold us back will age out and will become part of the past we should never repeat.  I do hope good will come of all this but the cost is staggering

Over the decades of my life, I have realized embarrassing ignorance in my mind and have worked to learn, to cure that ignorance and settle into a new perspective - only to find I have more to learn. 

Guess that means I'm "Still Alive". 

Post-script...I started this in May but I stopped trying to write this and let it sit for a while. I was so angry and hurting. It was hard to see any good in the world and to accomplish much of anything. 
Small steps are helping. 

I am now vaccinated but I choose to continue to wear a mask when the majority of my co-workers and most of our city have shed theirs. From what I've read, we have a long way to go. The vaccine doesn't mean we can't catch the virus - it means we shouldn't die from it.
And we may not even realize we have it - as we breathe out the virus to the people around us.
AND THE CHILDREN ARE NOT YET VACCINATED. 
One of my coworkers commented that she had little concern for the health of people who refuse to get a vaccine or that went maskless/have risked our lives over the last year because "it's a hoax" or a political thing. Sadly, as you can tell from the paragraphs above, I understand where she is coming from and I have those feelings too. 

When I am being my best adult, I take a deep breath and I hope that those ignorant anti-folks will see sense - before they or someone they love becomes sick or dies. Or before they kill someone I love. 

But I will do my level best not to be an inadvertent carrier/spreader of COVID. The mask stays on.

Hugs to you all. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well.  
Signed, the Blue Voice of Reason.
Happy Blogiversary. 

"Still Alive" and Cat Smarts

Yep, "Still Alive"!
(I'm hearing Cloris Leachman in my head a la "The Croods" {a movie with which I became surprisingly smitten...and re-smitten with Ms. Leachman.}).

I'm not quite back at work yet. 

My temp had been pretty normal for five days, I was approaching my work-release date, the cough was essentially gone, and I thought I was on track to be free from strict home quarantine, go to work, and back to COVID-world normalcy. 

And then my normal temp went up .6 degrees yesterday morning, the cough came back yesterday afternoon, and today - headache. I am terrified about possibly spreading this thing so I told work I'd be holding off a few more days and went about trying to contact my GP - who I have seen exactly once - over a year ago. 

The GP was already overbooked so I am scheduled to have a video chat with someone else in his office. 

What is it about Wednesdays and COVID? First two fevers on Wednesday. Skip a Wednesday (lulling me into thinking I'm getting better...) and then my temp climbed again - on a Wednesday. {Wednesday used to be one of my favorite days...}

Per the conversations I had with a variety of folks today, COVID affects people in different ways but it is somewhat common that it doesn't leave when it should. So, yes, I'm wondering if it's going to be an annoying, mild lingering thing or if every odd passing pain I get means my spleen is failing. 

The good news....I stopped being queasy last week {VERY happy about that} and my eyeballs don't hurt anymore. My work is being super supportive.  {Thank you!!}

The husband is doing quite well and has been back at work for over a week. 

And Simon has a new trick. 

Simon is one of the kittens we adopted almost 2 years ago. He is a handsome fellow with crossed blue eyes and is a champion snuggler. I understand from his rescuer that he was a bottle-baby so he loves to be snuggled and adored but I have to acknowledge he is a bit self-oriented. 

See - extremely adorable.

So, Simon's newest trick relates to the fact that he has realized we keep certain string-y kitty toys up on a shelf on the husband's side of the master closet. He was complaining for a while and doing laps below after the last time I put the favored toys away. 

Have you ever wondered if your cat is a genius or Forest Gump? (There are smarts on both sides of that question.) 

Simon has discovered if he climbs up the clothes in the closet he can walk on top of the shoulders of the hanging clothes. Thus far he has climbed up the back of the clothes and he finds himself stuck behind the bar. 

When assisting him out of this predicament, I parted the hangers and he climbed onto my back - and then he tried to climb up to the kitty toys on the shelf (hence our realization as to why he was suddenly so interested in climbing the clothes). 

So he's climbed up the back of the clothes a few times, gets stuck, and he ends up on my back. 

For now, we're keeping the closet doors closed. Simon is not pleased. 

Ok, So It Wasn't a Test Run

 It has been a long week...and it's only been a couple of days. 

Today is the first day that my eyeballs don't hurt. Ok, they don't hurt much...

So when last I typed I thought I was on the road to recovery after contracting a Flu, having tested Negative for COVID 19. 

Later that day...
The husband attempted to get his COVID test results but the testing company's website was having glitches. He contacted them and they couldn't get it to work either so they sent him a work-around. He was pursuing the work-around when we got a text from his work indicating they had his COVID test results and they were Negative. 

Unfortunately, that text was immediately followed by a 2nd text: "Sorry, COVID test result was Positive".

Also unfortunately, that afternoon I realized I couldn't get warm. About the time I figured out another pair of socks wasn't going to help, the body aches started again and my fever was back. 

The next day we got email confirmation of the husband's Positive COVID 19 test. So I made another testing appointment with Pima County. The young lady who did the 2nd test was a bit more determined to get a really good sample - it still tickled but this one made my eyes water a bit. 

Yep, got the Positive test result the next day so I'm official. My best friend (the nurse) suspects I got the "Negative" test result because I hadn't had enough time to build up a "viral load" when I got tested the morning after my first fever (or that I caught COVID on top of a regular Flu). 

The husband has been doing pretty well on recovering. I appear to be lagging a week or so behind. I've been taking a lot of naps and watching the DVR stuff I've recorded but rarely get to watch. I still haven't lost the sense of taste or smell but I am regularly queasy and, as previously noted, my eyeballs hurt. Ok, even my hair hurt for a couple of days but it's improving. 

I feel cautiously....what? Optimistic? Lucky? Queasy?
{Yeah, I feel queasy.}
This thing can be profoundly nasty...and sneaky. I already thought I was getting over it once and I was Wrong. And COVID can have long term effects.
So...I'll just be cautious for now. 

Spring Cleaning...a little early

 You know how you feel when you clean out your closets or drawers? 

Nostalgic? {I remember when...}
Embarrassed? {Now, why did I buy that?}
Waffling on the keep or donate decision? Or the telling sound when you stretch a waistband to hear the elastic crinkle and expand never to shrink back again?
Satisfaction - as you view the closet with more space and the empty vehicle after you drop off the donations? 

I spent some time today cleaning up the blog links. {Yep, something I can do whilst sitting. My legs are less wobbly today but...}
A few things have been pulled off. Some are still under review (particularly blog and podcast links) but not a lot of radical changes. 
(Wow...and we're down to 2 yarn stores in Tucson. Am I missing any?)

I'm not planning on changing the background...I'm so in love with the rich, blue, fiber-y yumminess! But yeah, it was time do tidy up the blog and do a review. 

Some links are still on because they are still spiffy but not much has been posted to them recently...not unlike my blog. (OK, I think my blog is spiffy...at least occasionally)

Some are delightful "rabbit holes" that I tried very hard not to go down.
{Yes, Knitty.com, that would be YOU!!   Have you-all seen the current edition!?!?!}

Especially during our year of COVID, when checking on some the un-updated blogs I have to wonder if folks are OK. Have they just wandered away from blogging? Are they recovering? Were they taken from us like Cat Bordhi? {Lovely brilliant woman, there. She had so many gifts and shared so much with us.} Are they just distracted by life and not currently investing time in pulling thoughts together or getting pictures reviewed and posted. {guilty} Are they distracted by another social media platform (Twitter) and rarely taking the time to type up the long-version of their thoughts/adventures? {very guilty}

Yes, with our current stay-at-home world, you would think we would have more time for blogging.
{Insert quiet hysterical laughter here.}
Some of us have been working though all this craziness. Some folks have people to care for, entertain, or teach. Some folks are being creative and inspiring {Thank you!!} Some folks added to the foolishness on a grand, historic scale and they don't have a clue {Yes, 45, I mean you.} {Grrrrrrrrr}

Back to link-checking. Bear with me as I tweak the blog-look. I don't think it's time to "recycle" the blog just yet. But I'm looking forward to viewing my trimmed-down blog page with some satisfaction. 

Test Run

Howdy. Yep, I'm still here. Still able to type, wonder, comment, be ignorant, study, learn, revise my perspective, wonder some more...

Ok, half the challenge of writing a blog anymore is selecting a topic. 

There is soooooo much sh*... uh, stuff going on!?! 

So, before I type more on three different topics and then delete it...here's this week's current event in my life. 

I got to have my first COVID 19 test.       It tickled. 

It was preceded by the Husband coming home from work nearly a week ago - running a fever. I had him call out from work for the next day, gave him some food/meds, and made a run to the grocery store for quarantine food in case it was COVID.

Over the week, his work {slowly} made arrangements for him to get tested (next week) and I was not included in those arrangements.
OK. Fine. 

A couple of days after his fever appeared so did mine. I was inspired to get together with Pima County and get a COVID test. It was easily setup and accomplished (Thank you!!).
And it tickled. 

And the results were delivered the next day - Negative. 

So, I've been wearing masks and not going anywhere other than work/necessaries since, what, March 2020? I would have minor panic attacks at work because people were not taking the pandemic seriously. The fear has been there every day for the better part of a year. 
And the circle of the folks getting COVID is getting smaller and closer to us. It's no longer someone I know on line or the family of an acquaintance... now it's people I work with that are ill and the mother of one of my husband's best friends recently died from COVID. 

When I was at the grocery store after putting the fevered husband in bed, I tried not to hyperventilate into the extra layers of mask I was wearing. I kept thinking about the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people that have died from COVID and how many more have long-term effects. 

Who will take care of the cats? Nikoli/Mikale & Simon/Shadow-Cat need to go together. Who would Gato-Kitty trust? 

I need to jot down a will so the cats and yarn will find a good home. Ah, the looms too.

Can't work on any gift-items in case I transfer the virus...

The self-dialog was acknowledging the fear but trying not to panic as...oooh...I found an excellent deal on cans of soup (.99 cents each if you buy 8!!). 

Does it matter what type of soup I get if we won't be able to taste it anyway? 

Can a text of who should get my Sewing Machine count as a will? 

Would anyone want the yarn stash if I die of COVID?

I watched over the husband and tried to keep him comfortable. I researched COVID, took temperatures, dispensed pills, kept a log, cooked, cleaned, slept on the couch and yes, we were now wearing masks in our house and trying not to pet the cats just in case.
Neither of us lost our sense of smell or taste. 
By the time I was sick-er and he was recovering, he started making me meals (Thank you!). 

Our fevers are done. We're still coughing and tired. I'll feel even better once his COVID test is done and comes back negative.  As a flu, it was average. As a focus of the fear for most of the last year, it was riveting. But the fear is still there. Vaccines are happening. But not yet for us. We're older but not that old. We are "essential" but not on the level of the many amazing people who save lives, care-take, clean, heal or teach.
{Apologies...I'm sure I'm leaving out other truly essential folks.}

And I'll be going back to work in the next day or so - wondering if the next selfish person who feels it's ok to come and breathe on me without a mask might bring COVID. 

Having just done the Test Run, I think we'll need more soup. 

Well, Hellooooo! How are you? How have you been?

If I were to meet up with someone I hadn't seen for a long time, I might be a little embarrassed for not connecting with that someone for a while, but I'd be delighted to see them all the same.

So.... "Well, Helloooooo! How are you? How have you been?".

I'm doing well, thank you. A bit hot just now as Tucson is feeling more like Phoenix lately. Gah.
Monsoons have semi-started but they are absent this week and we're cooking. It's about 102 degrees in the shade (1:15 PM). The phone says it's 108 outside. Gah.

So.....I'm off school for the summer, back to working 6 days a week, doing a little knitting, working on the to-do piles around the house and considering what I want to do for my Weaving Independent Study in the Fall. The 3 options currently being considered are Ikat (primarily with Indigo), Summer and Winter Weave or Backstrap Weaving.

Backstrap weaving has been on the "list" for a while and I picked up a book on the topic at the last Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's Guild stash sale. We shall see. I think I'd need to "build" a loom but I haven't read enough to see if I want to go there just yet.

I dabbled in Summer and Winter Weave last semester - seeing it as a type of DoubleWeave (i.e. weaving with multiple warps). I started with heaver yarns and was thinking rude comments like "ugly bedspread" as I started my test. I worked my way down to thinner weft threads and began to see the pattern improve from "ugly bedspread" to "Huh - kinda cool".
{?!? Seriously - I didn't take any pictures of the test on the loom at school?!? Sigh/Head-desk.}

I also read up a little on Ikat last semester and even setup a test during our Indigo dye session. As I understand it, there are three types of Ikat dyeing - Warp based (just the warp threads {which allows more control}), Weft based (less control), and Double Ikat where both warp and weft are dyed. With limited time amidst other class projects,  I decided to setup a card weaving warp with some Ikat resist. (Card Weaving is essentially all warp - you can only see the weft on the edges of the woven strip.) The dye/resist worked well but I have yet to weave it up.

Well, this post went pretty much as though I'd run into you somewhere and I started babbling about the current thing on my mind. Except I couldn't see when your eyes glazed over as I waxed rhapsodic about one of my favorite things. {wry grin}

I hope your favorite things are enhancing your summer and keeping you out of the Arizona heat.

I hope I run into you again soon!

Do I still get to have a Blogiversary if I haven't been blogging?

Yep, I started up my computer today and the back of my brain whispered "Blogiversary?".
And the front of my brain paused and mumbled "Uh oh. Isn't that at the beginning of July?"

This led to my logging into Blogger to marvel that folks still visit my blog occasionally.
{What's with the 50-some-odd-visitors on the 23rd?}

Anyway... I quickly found I'd blown past my July 6th blogiversary. "Sigh".
And then I wondered...do I still get to have a Blogiversary if I haven't been blogging?

Yeah, sorta.   Kinda, maybe.    Yes. I've decided "yes".

I'm going to skip the lack-of-blog-post reasons. I already started a blog on that topic over a month ago and it didn't make it to posting 'cause I thought it was boring.

Today I'm embracing the random aspects of my thought patterns (you already noticed that, I'm sure) and I'm just going to post for the sake of posting. What did I see on Twitter the other day...? Something about write every day. Even if it's crap. Even if you don't show it to anyone, still write.
I liked the idea and it sounded a bit like, if you practice something every day, you'll get better at it. {Hmmmm. Pondering the "every day" part of that theory.}

Anyway x 2... what have you been doing on your summer vacation?

Me?    I'm not really on vacation, per se. I'm not taking time off from work and not traveling anywhere. But I am out of school for the summer and I've been indulging my long-neglected organizational desires.
{i.e. "OMG, I can't stand it anymore!!!!!! I must put something away!!!!"}

There's been a fair bit of recycling, de-piling, donating, sorting (yarn into bins), dusting (wherever the cats don't dust with their lounging furry persons), consolidating to-do lists, and finding homes for paper, fiber, school projects, and personal knitting/weaving projects that have accumulated whilst I was dashing from one school deadline to the next.

And I've been...
Well, there were a lot of and, and, ands...in the paragraph I just deleted. It reminded me of when my youngling nieces/nephews would tell me about their day.

Anyway x 3... I'm going to get back to the reason I turned on the computer in the first place. In excavating my craft room, I became pretty sure that I gifted away a skein of yarn that I had plotted/promised to use in knitting a shawlette for a friend. So I've "shopped" through my stash for replacement options and I was going to e-mail her a oops-I-gave-it-away confession along with a  how-bout-one-of-these-yummy-replacement-yarns offer.

So, I'm off to confess.
I hope life is treating you well.
"Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and CraftLit are helping me maintain my sanity during the home excavation and our country's embarrassing political upheaval. {gah/sigh}
Miss typing at you. I'll try to work on that.
Happy Belated Blogiversary {to me}! Thanks for visiting.

Would a hug help?

Last night, as I inserted the last of those silly, charming, fun, and interesting videos and links into yesterday's blog post, I could hear that the News was on in the next room. Not good news, either.

The continuation of the global brutality and confounding violence, intolerance, and hate has been the top story for weeks now. Yes, I know, the top stories are always nasty, but I think it has been a lot worse lately.

I avoid watching the news. It gives me nightmares. If I can sleep at all. {sigh} I suspect it relates to being a bit too empathetic, a "fixer" {or wannabe fixer}, having a vivid imagination, and tending towards a "Lawful Good" D&D alignment. {Yes, even when I'm being serious my "geek" and odd sense of humor shows.}

The nightmares are definitely bleeding into every part of every day life.
Add to that the potential of my country electing a megalomaniac "reality" TV personality as our president and.....  
       ......      {Must remember to breathe...}

?
...
?

There has been a long pause in the typing.
I'm trying not to write up a tirade of "What the hell is going on?!?!?".

What it comes down to is this...I can't understand what is going on.
I didn't understand what was going on in December 2012.

The only thing I can do is try to help as I can and do the best I can in my tiny place in the world.
{Yes, this is me trying to dial down my personal panic, sadness and fear.}
I keep wondering if some compassion would have stopped these people from doing what they've done.
Would a hug help?
Would a lot of hugs help?
{Sigh}

Two more offerings:

These two videos show we are capable of doing better. Of being better.
Heck, that we've been better.
The vast majority of our lives are made up of small moments. Small decisions. Small gifts.
Perhaps the small day to day efforts can inspire change or the culmination of many small actions can result in something big and wonderful and heartful.

E-hugs. Many, many e-hugs.

"Video that will change your life. I have no words left."

"Arigato from Japan Earthquake Victims" 2011

Ya know that "Easily entertained" thing about me? It's still true.

So I've been going through my, uh, substantial pile o'e-mails. It's one of my summer goals to reduce the pile in my inbox by over 400 e-mails. {Well, I can dream, can't I? Oh...well crimony! I've already reduced it by over 170! Guess I should keep dreaming. ;-}

So, during the e-mail perusal (excavation), I have come across a whole slew of "ya gotta see this" emails with charming, interesting, and fun links to a wide range of videos.

Yep, gonna share:

A very recent yarn-y video gift from a newish friend: "Film Muffler".

This is technically a public service announcement - but beautifully presented: "Embrace Life".

And the Louisville Leopard Percussionists kept me entertained for quite a while:
Steel Leopards: "Check Yes Juliet and Happy"

"Zeppelin!"

Simon's Cat always has something fun:
"Field Trip"

And has become something I like to check out daily:
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the day. Extremely spiffy!

Lastly, this is an old favorite: NASA/SDO's 2012 Transit of Venus
"NASA/SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit"

Enjoy!

My View of the Loft Yarn Storm

Greetings!
So, I paused in mid-post yesterday having realized I was about to commit spoilage. ;-)

So now I'll post the pictures I took during the Loft Yarn Storm installation. We "Yarn Stormers" started early in the day with some shade, but the Arizona sun warmed up and lit up the Loft courtyard pretty quickly.

(As always, please click on the pictures to enlarge.)

The fully "dressed" bicycle stands. 

I was a 2nd pair of hands to a variety of people and I stitched coverings measured/created by another talented soul onto two of the Bicycle rings. (I stitched a granny-square/lace crochet duo onto a stand somewhere in the center and the pet-able velour woven one in the picture below.)

  (Yep, the picture on the right was my view as I stitched on the velour strips.)

One of the core projects was to create "people" from the posts on the front of the Loft Building.

I thought the mirror-face was very clever and I love the "wooly" popcorn. Ah - and you see now why legs were knitted? Spiffy, yes?

For the post above, the hair is roving and {durn it!} I didn't get a side picture - there are tufts of colored roving in the hair to match the painted mask. The middle portion is woven neckties (very clever) and I'm smitten with the multiple technologies that go into the skirt. It was ?crocheted? from VHS tapes with CDs attached to the skirt with cassette tape.

This is the excellent felted face above was created by the ladies at Spirited Hands. The picture soooooo does not do it justice.

I should have taken a closer picture of the face on this one - the lips were hand made and the eyelashes were, well, eyelash yarn. Obviously some nifty weavings were included in this figure too.

The above figure has hair made of wool roving that was partially felted so the hair was a bit like dreadlocks (cool!). Obviously I was most intrigued by the top and bottom of this figure {wry grin}.

 The planters in the courtyard were also all yarn-ed up and looking spiffy. Several of these were "tagged" by Textile Tagger, Kristin Wolfe from Phoenix.
(She also covered the eastern-most bicycle loop in my first picture at the top of the blog.)

 I believe the above were covered by the Tucson Yarn Stormers.

 And I understand the three above were created/covered by Kristin Wolfe.

Remember the sheep with which I was so smitten at our Birdhouse Yarns meet up....yep, now you can see why I was so surprised at the size of his "fleece".

We had a couple of small scale visitors (pun intended) but I only got a picture of this one.

 For some reason, this above picture is one of my favorites - I LOVE that someone made a yarn-y string of lights. (There were tassels on the trees too but I missed getting a picture of them blowing in the wind.)

Folks stitched various bits together, wove strips through the fence (I helped some with that) and a particularly talented and zealous crafter Pre-Yarn-Stormed an entire bicycle:

As previously described, some shawls were donated along with some lovely felted bits and even the bench in front of the theater lobby was re-covered.

Lastly, the two sculptures in the area just east of the main theater took on a whole 'nother artistic vibe:

Remember the flowers from the Birdhouse Yarn meet up? 

 Beautiful, clever, web-weaving and ya gotta love a spider in gold high-heels!

The movie itself was fun, inspiring, artistic, whimsical, charming, and offered a perspective on small, subtle art and powerful grab-you-by-the-lapels installations.
My favorite would have to be the installation by Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. I want to go play!

My favorite Barbara Kingsolver "Where It Begins" quote from the movie would have to be:
"Drape is the child of loft and crimp; wool is a stalwart crone who remembers everything, while emptyhead white-haired cotton forgets. "

In typical Tucson Monsoon-ish fashion - it rained. {wry grin} Over an hour before the movie time, the rain poured down - right over the Loft Theater. The Yarn Storm held up very well in the Rain Storm. And people still came out to see the movie and the yarn graffiti that night!

All in all, the surprise, admiring looks, smiles, and general delight of the people who came to the Loft Cinema last night was charming, heart-warming, and such a gift. There were also quite a few non-guild members that joined the Yarn Stormers before the movie in knitting, spinning, etc. in the Loft courtyard. It is a truly lovely thing to be surrounded by people who share similar creative interests!

The Yarn Stormers met this morning to pull down all the fiber-y delights that adorned the Loft Cinema courtyard for just two days. It took about 20 minutes to remove whilst it took us nearly 3 hours to install.

More Yarn Storms are planned for later in the year and I think all the fiber folk that were involved in the Loft Cinema Yarn Storm are looking forward to our next Yarn Monsoon.

A Blogiversary Yarn Storm!

Ok, the Yarn Storm is not actually in honor of my Eighth Blogiversary (although that's kind of a neat idea...Hmmmm). It just happened to fall on my Blogiversary and I got to help!

The Loft Cinema inspired all this by having the good taste to plan to show a Fiber Artist documentary called "Yarn". They also had the excellent taste to invite the Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's Guild to be a community partner and to apply yarn graffiti (aka "Yarn Storming" or "Yarn Bombing") to their courtyard and theater lobby.
Excellent Yarn Storming definition courtesy of the very spiffy Deadly Knitshade :

"Yarnstorming: The art of enhancing a public place or 

object with graffiti knitting or crochet 

(and running away giggling)."

I won't be dropping names here since I don't have permission from everyone, but I have to say the folks that embraced this concept and ran (knit/wove/crocheted/knotted) with it are truly stellar! And the woman who organized the whole shebang is amazing and I'm pleased and proud to know her.

Artists and crafters from outside the guild joined us in planning the Yarn Storm decorations as well as how to utilize the strips and squares knit/woven/crocheted/etc. by sooooo many folks.

We had a few meetings to plot/craft together and many people came by to drop off knit swatches, woven samples, partially completed sweaters, placemats that had woven up just a little too small, experimental or beginner projects as well as nifty crafted items (like a snake) that were well-executed but awaiting the revelation of it's true purpose in the series of Yarn Storms planned for this year.

Our first Yarn Storm meet up.

 I know...ignore all the glasses and focus on the fiber and busy hands. By the way, our meeting was also an ode to World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) day - and we were very public (although a week early).

The above is a coiled (and very cleverly made) snake and a pi-shawl that was donated to the cause.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of the snake being passed from person to person down one side of the table looking like it was slithering it's way down the long edge of the table.
The pi shawl was someone's 1st design effort but she indicated it had too many errors and she didn't really like the color - so it was donated to the Yarn Storming effort!

Our 2nd Yarn Storm meet up. 

I mostly knit strips and squares and offered my 2-cents worth on various sub-projects during our meetings. I expected to be at work during the installation so I didn't pledge to graffiti anything specifically but I did my best to support the effort and enjoy the atmosphere.
Ooooh - the atmosphere for the 2nd meeting was at the Spirited Hands studio. (One of their workshops will definitely be on my Christmas list.) They felt such lovely things and they created an amazing felted face for the Yarn Storm!!  (Picture included further below**, although the picture doesn't do it justice!)

Our fearless and creative Yarn Storm leader started making wigs from the donated roving and sheep locks. Fun, clever...and warm to wear. ;-)

I continued to knit strips and honored WWKIP day the next week when I hung out with the DH and his best friend (a Cleveland Cavalier's fan) as we watched the final NBA playoff game. (I had concerns if the best friend would make it through the game or fall over from the stress.)

One of our last meetings was at our newest LYS, Birdhouse Yarns.

Folks had been creating more things for the Yarn Storm. LOVE the knitted legs, crocheted Converse sneakers and especially the Flat Rat underneath the right shoe. Why knit legs? You'll see.

The sheep you see above...well, aside from being very cute, he surprised me later with the size of his fleece!   The apple was cleverly created....yep, to go with the snake.

And people were knitting, crocheting and making loop flowers!! A full garden (or courtyard) worth.

So the day of the install, (turns out I didn't have to work!) we met at the Loft Cinema with knitted, crocheted, woven, and stranded fabric strips, water, hats, needles, yarn, scissors, stepstools, etc. in the early morning hours. {Our thanks again for the Loft Cinema staffers who answered questions, met with us in the early morning, sat and waited for our creativity to run it's course, and especially for bringing the Yarn documentary to Tucson!}

Kudos and appreciation are offered to all the folks, like me, who provided strips of fabric, supplies and much encouragement.
Admiration and thanks are also offered to the various folks who worked to create a particular look, theme, project, and all the general spiffiness you'll see in the following pictures. **
Talent and imagination lives in Tucson!

Hmmmmm. Sorry. **  No, really - sorry.
I'm going to pause here. I will finish this post tomorrow. I just realized it would be mean of me to post pictures of the full Loft Yarn Storm when folks would/should see it tonight at the theater without spoilers from me being posted earlier in the day.

So - more tomorrow - after we've dismantled the Yarn Storm at the Loft Cinema and enjoyed the Yarn Storm by twilight tonight along with the YARN fiber artist documentary.

Kind of appropriate for a Blogiversary, really.
With the promise of another blog post - tomorrow.