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.

Hooking on the Lane

 

Yes, I'm here...whether I want to be or not.

Truth be told, most days I don't want to be.

That aside, and in an effort to distract myself from the endless picking up of pieces, a few weeks ago I imposed upon the resident hooker down the lane and attended one of the popular Red Barn Rugs workshops.

Unfortunately, I was neglectful in taking photos of the rugs most of the attendees were working on. In fact, I managed only to take photos of my table neighbor, Marilyn (a/k/a "Bad" Marilyn) Denning,'s rug:

While I didn't get a photo of what the other Marilyn (a/k/a "Good Marilyn") (Becker) was working on, I did get this photo of the masterpiece she recently completed of her great granddaughter:

So, the rest of the following photos are just random photos around Cathy's house and studio of a fraction of her rugs:

{This is one of Cathy's very newest designs called "Amelia."}

{I know I've shown "Ol' Jack" before, but since he was peeking through the doorway in the last photo, he deserves to be shown again...}

{Sorry for the blur!}

And my favorite:

Lastly, and only because I know Saundra (of Woodland Junction) would bug me if I didn't, here is the stag rug I was half-heartedly working on.  It is a design by Homespun Prims by Lori.

Yes, it is the same rug I started almost exactly a year ago in the last workshop I went to.  However, I decided I did not like the wool I chose for the stag and ripped it out and started over....only to rip that out and go back to the original wool...which I am still not sure I am happy with.

Such is my life these days.

Maybe I should stick with stitching.

The Lull Between Storms...

 The sun is dancing off the icicles making a fairy-tale light, but the light and the allure are deceiving.  

We are just digging out from a major storm that dropped ~15" of snow Wednesday afternoon and Thursday (ALL day Thursday)...and another 3-4" on Friday.

The ubiquitous turkeys who aren't graceful enough to fly to a tree for left-over fruit and seeds are left scavenging the gravel in the drive. (And they seem none to happy about it.  Then again, turkeys never seem to be happy.)

And there is another storm moving in tonight - this one promising to bring more snow...and ice. 

Yup, that's exactly what I'm thinking.

Storms, like pregnancy, bring out a nesting instinct in me...which, inevitably, leads to comfort food.

The consumate comfort food - mac n' cheese...on the decadent side.
 

 Then I made some bordelaise sauce and the smell of it simmering all day was like a blanket wrapped around me.

The wait was so worth it.

{Pommes Alligot, Asparagus, and Strip Steaks with Sauce Bordelaise}

And I baked some bread...

...and cheesecake.

{It may look a bit "naked"...I did add homemade caramel topping and fresh whipped cream eventually...but couldn't resist a taste test. Trust me, no one would have missed the caramel and whipped cream.}

If the storms keep coming, I will need a new wardrobe.

Nesting, at least for me, also involves some sort of handwork. Since my hooking mojo is still on its walkabout, I took solace in my needle and thread.

I think I am pleased with both the linen and floss choices on this piece.

Perhaps the fog is beginning to lift?

And since no proper hibernation is complete without a book, of course, I've been reading.

This author is new to me, but she captivated me with this tale with her beautiful and melodic prose.

The tale begins with a little girl who is brought into an ancient inn on the river Thames on a dark midsummer's night, most surely dead.

But, by magic or miracle, she lives.

Three families stand at the ready to claim her as their own but, she being mute and amnesic, cannot explain what happened or to whom she belongs.

The book is a mix of fiction and fairy-tale - of just the right kind in "my book."

I enjoyed it more than I initially thought I would, and its messages, like many rivers, run deeper than one first believes.

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

Lulls are a good thing....

Ready for Green

 

No, not those greens kitteh....

And even though your eyes are a pretty intense green, I don't mean that green either.

I'm desperately in need of outside, growing-things, green.

I know that Nod can have freak April blizzards that drop a foot of snow or more, but this spring has been like a slow, tedious, cold and windy, torture.

I see photos on some of your blogs of green leaves, green grass, and good grief...even blooming things!....and I am, well, "green."

Yesterday we made it almost to 70° but it was cloudy, and windy...and today we are back to freezing...and gale force winds.  (60 mph gusts...seriously???)

Yeah, yeah...I know "no winter lasts forever, no spring skips it turn," but the guy who wrote that (and yes, it was a "guy"), never lived in Nod.

Anyhow...

Like I said, it's been windy.... Incredibly windy. Like almost-every-day windy.

And wind makes me edgy edgier than usual.

Cabin fever and wind are a foul combination I tell ya.

There's a reason (probably more than one) that I'm called the Cranky Crow.

{Buttons stitched by my sweet SIL...}

Nothing is really blogworthy here...one day blends into the next unnoticed.  

I am slowly putting the bunnies of Easter back into their dark hiding spots until next season and filling the empty places they left with more "generic" signs of spring.

{"Set Free" pinkeep by Scattered Seed Samplers}

It's not helping...in case you were wondering.

I've made only negative progress on my hooking.  

In my defense, it isn't easy when a 20# cat decides your rug hooking frame is his new bff.

And, yes, that's Snowdog on the other side.

And, yes, that's a drop cloth on my floor.

On a happy news note, on one of my trips "down there," I opened a box I had not noticed before sitting on a shelf and peeked inside... And there was my collection of stone fruit.

I have been looking for these since WWR ended.

I'll take my victories where I can get them.

*******

My recent read was "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman.

Completely out of my typical genres and, had it not been given to me to read, I likely never would have chosen to read it, and that would have been my loss.

Yes, it was that good.

It's a poignant, comical, novel about a crime that never took place, a wanna-be bank robber who disappears, and eight extremely "anxious" strangers who are held hostage by said wanna-be bank robber.

I typically don't like comedy...not in television shows, not in movies, not in books... (Perhaps there is more than one reason I am cranky?), 

but this author's humor is wry and witty...a rare combination that I found completely charming.  

Whimsical, yes...but also a dive into the study of society and the workings of people's minds.

*******

Be well...stay sane.

On second thought, just be well.