Where Winter Lives

There is a place where the pines are crusted with snow and the spruce are coated with the dusty glitter of frost.

A place where the wind howls in misery as the winter passes,

and Spring shivers meekly in the unwelcoming cold, hesitant to come.

But every once and again, the fortunate soul catches a glimpse of the place transformed.

The gateway to a crystal forest opens and a tantalizing fairyland unfolds.

Dressings of ice sparkle like shards of glass, iridescent in the lucent sun,

and one is surrounded by heaven's great tears of icy glass, richly furring branches that once were bare.

While the maples groan and the pin oaks splinter, the tinkling branches laugh in the wind.

For a few short days, the world is terrible and beautiful at once and there is a nothingness in between.

This is where winter lives.

 

Blizzards, Bindings, and Birthdays

 

Another week three days, another blizzard in Nod.

The 8" of snow we received last week (Wednesday) had just begun to properly melt...and then yesterday happened.

Another 8+" of s**w.

For some reason, snow is prettier in December.

That's all I have to say about that.

On to binding....

A few weeks ago, Saundra (of Woodland Junction fame) and I had virtual, long-distance, "dates" for an hour each day dedicated to binding our rugs.  

Saundra, of course, finished hers and I, well...didn't.

I attempted to work on mine again during yesterday's storm, but I've come to the conclusion that I have a definite handicap.

Oh well...I'm sure there'll be another blizzard and another chance to bind.

The bright spot in the whiteness (and the most-welcome distraction to binding) is little Miss Mia. 

She celebrated her second birthday this month with all things kitty.

She has grown so much in one short year but one thing that hasn't changed is her now-trademark "skunk eye."

{Mia at one on the right and at two on the left}

Some things are irrefutably genetic.

Hope your blizzards are few and far between....

Should I Tell Them?

Nah, I don't think so.

But get the snowballs ready...

The Disappearing Crow

Yes, I've been gone again.

And, like all other of my disappearances, this one was not for enjoyment.

The short version of the story is that I got sick...very sick. Hospital-stay sick.  After an ambulance ride and a day and night in the ER, I was diagnosed with a kidney infection and sent home with medications....

 But I didn't get better.

No doubt, as the hospital called me within 24 hours and wanted me re-admitted as my tests showed a "rare strain" of bacteria which was resistant to all oral antibiotics except one.

And, given my amazing luck, it was the one and only antibiotic to which I am allergic.

As a result, I needed special antibiotics administered by IV...in the hospital.

After a week of additional testing...and me being my cranky self...they decided to insert a picc (a "peripherally inserted central catheter") in my arm so I could administer the antibiotics myself and sent me home.

I am slowly recovering.  The antibiotics were finally stopped and the picc line was removed last week.

I am still compromised - incredibly tired and weak, but I'm getting there.

I have, however, missed the past several weeks.

My house is caught midway between Christmas take-down (serves me right for procrastinating in that department) and Valentine's Day and, at most times, I am still uncertain of what day it is.

There are a dozen and a half things to catch up on, missed deadlines, and unmet expectations, but they will have to wait.

Accepting that part of "this" has been difficult.

One thing that I've neglected is replying to some of the (later) comments on my last post.

For that, I apologize; however, I was literally unable to read or process things for a while. But please know that I have since read them and my lack of a reply does not diminish their meaningfulness in any way.

A Fish Out of Water (For the Hookers)

In the middle of my furnace woes (which continued and intensified following my last post), I did my annual "stepping-out-of-my-house-box" undertaking and ventured down the lane to Red Barn Rugs for one of Cathy's hooking workshops.

(No, we do NOT hook in the barn, but I love how it looks against the moody sky.)

I don't tend to post a lot about hooking (because, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a very "part-time" and distracted hooker), but thought I'd share photos of some of the rugs for those who might have an interest.

We neglected to do a "throw-down" (which, at Cathy's, I call a "throw-up" because we usually actually tack the rugs to show on the hanger on the wall) and, even though there are only 10 of us (excluding Cathy), it is a bit crowded with everyone's frames, rugs, supplies, etc.

So, I don't have a lot of photos of the works in progress - just of few of the rugs my immediate tablemates were doing - and several of Cathy's completed pieces.

I'll start with Cathy's and apologize if I've posted some of these previously.  She has so many dang rugs it's hard for me to keep track.  

If I happen to remember the name Cathy gave the rug, I'll include it under the photo.  Otherwise, if there is one you would like to know the name of, I certainly can find out for you.

{I think she calls this "Quilted Stars"}

The rug below is based on the painting The Angelus by the French master, Jean-Francois Millet:

{"The Angelus"}

This next rug was an adaptation Cathy did of a painting found on the front of an old folk-art reusable shopping list. (The photo following the rug is of the original piece from which Cathy worked.)

{"The Washer Woman"}

This rug is also based on a famous Millet painting I'm sure most of you are familiar with:  The Gleaners.

It is Cathy's pattern but this particular one was hooked by my tablemate, Marilyn Denning.  (It was also being worked on at the workshop by my other tablemate, Kim Zwiers.)

{"The Gleaners"}

As for works-in-progress, this was the rug Marilyn D. was currently working on:

I believe she was hooking this in a 3 and 4 cut.

The hookers may remember this piece of hers from Celebrations a few years back:

Another Marilyn, Marilyn Annin, was working on an original design she entitled "Good Trouble" based on the book of the same title by the civil rights activist, John Lewis.

Marilyn is an artist from Madison who does not only fiber arts but sculptures and paintings. (You can see some of her works by clicking here.)

She was celebrating her 87th birthday.

And Kim, who was working on "The Gleaners," had just finished this fun rug:

 For obvious reasons, I absolutely loved it.

As for the furnace....After nearly 2 weeks, 4 different service technicians, and 6 (give or take one or two??) service calls, I officially have working heat again. 

Oh...and that fish out of water?? 

That would be me amongst that group of hookers.

What was Beneath the Cat

Happy New Year??

EEEK...How can it be almost 3 weeks since my last post?

Once again, I have so little to show for those 3 weeks.

No projects have been finished, none of the things that should have been done have been done, and Christmas is still up. 😬

(And, no, I'm NOT off having fun.)

In my defense, there have been several drains on my time.  

I've been switched from the injections (which I was giving to myself) to infusions, (which have to be done by IV). The hospital clinic where I have them done is 45 minutes from me and the actual process ends up taking 4+ hours.

Eventually, they will be less frequent but, for now, the loading doses are a big commitment.

There are also the oral surgeon appointments, and they are almost an hour away and seem never-ending.  Another (painful) one is coming up on Monday.

And something is always requiring repair.  The latest is my furnace...AGAIN!

Despite the annual routine maintenance/inspection I have done, and despite whatever part was replaced last year at the coldest part of the winter, it stopped working a week ago Friday.

I had to have an emergency technician come out and he replaced the part with a temporary one, but it does not work like it is supposed to.

Like many of you, I turn my heat down at night...It was never a problem getting it to warm back up in the morning and it was, in fact, on an automatic schedule.

Now I have to remember to manually turn it up and down and it can take an entire day and not reach the temperature to which it is set. First world problem I know and I am, truly, grateful that I have heat at all.

They are coming back with the new part on Tuesday, and I am just hoping that it actually fixes the problem.

Of course, it always happens when it's the coldest. This is today's advisory:

Anyway.

Back to the purpose of this post:

I promised that the next time I posted I would post the Stag Rug I completed but couldn't show before because Liza decided it was her new digs.

It is not bound (ha! silly you for even thinking it might be) but the hooking is as done as I'm getting it. 

I think.

I had envisioned a warmer background and a less "busy" deer but neither of those things happened.

It was difficult to photograph, but you get the gist. 

It measures approximately 33" x 24" and was hooked in a 9.0 cut.

The design is by Lori Rippey ("Homespun Prims by Lori").

I'm undecided as to what's next. I started a little cross stitch piece until I decide - but it's not holding my attention. 

I think what I need to do is commit to binding at least one of my rugs before starting a new, larger, project.

Baking/cooking is also at a lull.

I played with tweaking my recipe for "Tuscan coffee cake."

The original recipe, though called a "coffee cake," is actually more bread-like than cake-like. (And I'm not talking bread-like as in banana bread, etc. I'm talking a full-blown yeasted bread.)

I really did like it (how can you go wrong with dates, cranberries and toasted walnuts??) but decided to change it up and make a more truly cake-like version.

I can't decide.  I like them both.

And since this post is a bit on the dour side, I'll leave you with these photos of my grandkitty, Emmy. (Yes, she looks a lot like my Liza Bean - they are half sisters.)

For some reason, this just cracked me up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Stay safe and warm.