Come on Baby Light My Fire

Our yard is a mess - all 5+ acres of it. It has been cold and windy and we have been involved in other pursuits. We do not have yard waste pickup available to us. We either cut the waste in small enough pieces to bag and put into our bin, compost it, chop it up or burn it. We do a little of all four options. We have been under a burn ban since November, so the pile has grown, or the large pieces of yard debris have lain where they fell. 

This is one pile behind the barn. It has yet to be touched.

Saturday dawned sunny, clear and most importantly, with no wind. I had a fire going by 9AM. I collected and raked debris from oak trees closest to the fire, so I could keep an eye on it. Then, the Mister began to bring in some larger branches that he had to cut to manageable sizes. I left him minding the fire so I could go further afield. 

Our Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix Roebelinii) took a strong hit this winter. 

I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by a palm tree specialist this week.

He was very informative, and I'm so glad I heard him speak.

He explained that pygmy date palms are hardy to 29 degrees. We had two nights that dipped to 14 degrees,

in a span of two weeks where nighttime temperatures were below freezing.  Apparently this was the coldest winter since 1980, and before that, in the 1800's! (So sayeth the palm tree expert.)

So, little wonder that our poor palms look like this:

It was time to trim the dead fronds off the trees.

Pygmy palms have their own brutal self defense system!

I can't tell you the number of times I've been stabbed by these nasty thorns.

The lower fronds of the palm always die back and need trimming. 

And, thanks to the Mister's obsession with DeWalt tools....

I have a tool for that!

It took no time to cut off all of the dead fronds. 

Their next stop? The fire pit!

The palms showed a touch of green...so maybe they will make it to annoy me another year!

 

Repressed Creativity?

My friend, Barbara, shared this image with me. Of course, it made me chuckle. Have you noticed that the things you are likely to laugh about are things that may describe you?

 

Sew...on Thursday I bought the fabric I put on a post yesterday. 

And also, yesterday, this arrived from eBay:

Yep, more fabric!

 I guess one might say I collect fabric. 

That's a nicer way of saying that I hoard it! 

(Amazing how one word can change the connotation of a statement!)

But, I have plans for the latest purchase, it will make the perfect backing for my hexie quilt! 

This morning while doing some long-needed yard work (more about that another day) I was listening to an audible book: "The Man on the Mountaintop" by Susan Trott. My ears perked up when the character referred to as Joes, the holy man,  shared this insight with another: "My theory about obsessive collecting is that it is repressed creativity."  

I'm not certain that I would be defined as an obsessive collector, but I can't tell you the number of fabrics I have in my 'collection' that I have chosen not to use in a project because I really like it, or I originally bought it for another project, or it was really expensive, or it has memories of where I was when I purchased it, or who I was with. I need to get over it. I really must use that fabric as then the finished product would have those attachments. Maybe, after all, my creativity is repressed by those thoughts that prohibit my moving forward with those fabrics. 

What about you? Do you collect anything? Do you collect items with the desire to do something with them...but you aren't quite sure how to go about it? Do you admire and collect items that you wish you could have made? In the book the character collected pottery from one ancient artist, because he loved it and admired its beauty. He was encouraged to learn to make pottery that would be equally beautiful, if not surpass the beauty of the artist. 

Ah, interesting thoughts. Time to get back to raking!

Life Resumes its Usual Path

 The Mister is recovering and getting back into some of his projects, as he feels the stamina to pursue. them. 

I'm back in my sewing room, juggling projects. I'm working on Lupine & Laughter, the mystery quilt I started in November. I'm using pieces I've made for the border as 'Leaders and Enders' as I sew the next step on my paper piecing project...and while I'm at it, the long arm is stitching away on a quilt for my BFF. Oh...and I'm listening to a "Meet the Candidates" meeting for folks on the ballot for joining our board of property owners in the community, and occasionally taking notes. 

Yesterday I went to lunch with my Piecemakers group.

 We also visited Sew Yours, a shop in Dunellon, FL that focuses on purse making, having all kinds of vinyl, canvas, fabric, straps, fasteners, etc. While I was there some fabric jumped into my cart! 

The shop is going to focus on purse making and the owner's own fabric designs. Almost all of their other fabrics are 40% off. These fabrics literally jumped in my cart. I know not how!  I did apologize to some of them and put them back on the shelf. But, then a few more hopped in to take their places! What's a lady to do in this case?

They came home with me. I have been cogitating on just what I might do with them in the future, and the kernel of an idea is beginning to form! 

Several years ago I visited the New England Quilt Museum  in Lowell, MA with my BFF. While perusing the quilts, and discussing what we liked about this one, or that one, a woman and her friend happened by. We chatted for a bit. The woman was Marianne Hatton, the author of "Simply Dynamic Sampler Quilts". Of course, I had to buy the book - it's no longer in print, as it was published in 2010, so that was a bit of a challenge. But I was instantly enamored with the content. Marianne's view of contemporary sampler quilts puts a new spin on a time honored practice of learning about quilting by piecing together block after block using traditional patterns. Marianne suggests a more unusual approach where the quilt not only demonstrates different historical blocks, but showcases different techniques, and different sizes, perhaps with an overarching theme, in a balanced quilt unified through color. Here's an image from her book that illustrates my description. 

Sew, now, it's time to stare at the fabric and think. And think some more. And see if the fabric evokes a theme, or if I come up with some other idea!

And, besides that, it is time to focus on dinner! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Yum!

This was the best corned beef I recall having ....ever! 

When the potatoes and cabbage went in the pot we added a can of porter 

(only because we had one leftover from our son being here, almost a year ago 😳)

It was delicious!

Hope you had a fun day. 

The Weekend that Wasn't

 Friday morning wasn't so grand for one member of the family. The Mister had had a terrible night. He awoke several times coughing, and was finding it hard to catch his breath. The pulse oximeter showed his blood gas levels to be in the 70's. Not good. He does have an oxygen generator, and pushing that to the max of the oxygen level it could deliver, his pulse ox came up to 91. Still not good. And....we were on our way to the ER. 

There was nary a person in the ER waiting room when we arrive around 8:30. I was so excited - evidently his problems were not going to take as long to be addressed as in past visits. The Mister barely sat down after registering before they called his hame. He was taken into the triage room, and after initial basic medical procedures, was hustled into the back. That's when I realized my excitement was for naught. Every bed, every gurney, every chair was occupied by people at various levels of distress. 

The Mister was assigned to chair #3. He was promptly hooked up to oxygen and monitors. I was impressed with the quick attention he received, despite the crowd of otherwise needy folks. 

The phlebotomist (I love saying that word, and I'm thrilled that I can spell it - without spell check!) attacked promptly. He efficiently jabbed an IV line into the crook of the Mister's arm...and although it worked to draw blood, it became very painful. At a later blood draw the line was removed, and then later still, it was replaced with an IV line in the back of his hand.

But wait....that's not all! In the first 3 hours of our visit different folks came and drew blood six different times! Some of the tests could not be drawn from the IV line. 

The Mister had been fighting a stubborn UTI, and it prevailed. He also had pneumonia. One wonders if the bacteria from the UTI attacked his lungs. They also tested for sepsis. Twice he's had sepsis following a UTI and pneumonia. Luckily, the sepsis tests (two bottles with blood, drawn as a 'clean draw' from both arms) were negative. 

The Mister received breathing treatments, antibiotics, steroids and who knows what! He did begin to feel better within an hour because of the cocktail of drugs. But....they admitted him. After about 8 hours in the chair he moved up the chain to a curtained cubicle around the corner. And finally, as it turned dark, they found a bed upstairs. Where he 'lived' until Sunday evening. 

He's home. He's feeling much better, but has been cautioned to take it easy. Life is going back to our usual patterns.

Live Oak International

Live Oak International is the largest international-level combined driving and show jumping tournament in the country. The event showcases leading drivers, riders, trainers, coaches and owners from Europe and North America. 

A combined driving event has three different events within it. The first is dressage. Like the dressage you may have heard of for mounted riders, horses and carriages perform specific moves at specified points in an arena. They are judged on their gaits, athleticism, transitions between gaits and their performance and adherence to the required pattern, called a test. The test might look something like this, and explains what is being assessed:

In a large event, such as the Live Oak International, the dressage is held one day. The next day is the cross country. Horses navigate from one obstacle to another. Within each obstacle there is a required pattern of 'gates' to negotiate in specific directions. The teams are timed for each obstacle. They have a specified minimum and maximum time to travel a route between the obstacles. The third event is the cones event. Cones, similar to orange traffic cones, are set in an arena and carriages must follow a prescribed course through the cones. A ball is placed on the top of each cone. There are time penalties if a ball is knocked off. The cones are set 8" wider than the axle of each carriage! The cones event takes place on the third day of a large event. 

Image from the Internet

I went to see the cross country portion of the event. Despite a rainy start to the day, it was fun to see the horses and carriages make their way through the obstacles. Each obstacle is a warren of possible pathways winding through a maze constructed of immovable objects. In this event they were predominantly defined by sturdy wood fencing. The course designers decide what path contestants must make. They throw in plenty of tight turns to the left and right, and sometimes totally around something within the obstacle. The path is defined by gates what are marked with red and white numbers showing in what direction the carriage must navigate the gate (red numbers must be kept to the right of the carriage, white to the left),  and in which order. This is a schematic of the various obstacles. 

Still pictures don't really tell the tale. It's difficult to see the horses when they are within the obstacles. 

This is a video of a four-in-hand pony team negotiating the water obstacle. It gives you a feeling for just how challenging an obstacle can be.

Here's another video that shows how athletic the team of horses, driver and navigator must be. Most of the audio in the background is describing the performance of a carriage at another obstacle. Toward the end it mentions the driver you are watching. You can see the navigator leaning to the outside of the carriage on turns, and working to jump the carriage away from the obstacle. 

As I was walking from one obstacle to another I heard the announcer comment that one of the four-in-hand teams was 'in trouble' in an obstacle. The announcer asked if the driver was OK, made a few more remarks about some sort of difficulty, then finally commented that the driver was on his way. I'm thinking that the navigator may not have been able to jump the carriage far enough away from a post, and the wheel of the carriage may have gone on the wrong side. As this was a team of four horses, working to extract the carriage may have been quite the challenge itself!

All in all, it was a fun day. Earlier in my life I had aspirations of driving in events such as this. Now...I can't imagine doing anything like this! 

TickTock Clock

On Thursday I taught the "Clock Class" for the CCCQ guild. I had 11 ladies come, eager to make a clock using pieced fabric. Here was one of the examples I had previously made. 

The clock is essentially made from two pieces. The base of the clock is a 12" x 12" painting canvas, covered with a pieced 'quilt'. The center square is a piece of foam core covered with another pieced fabric. They are glued together and a clock mechanism is inserted and assembled. 

The women could bring an orphan block of the right size (a quilt block made for another project that was never used) or they could follow one of two patterns I provided. Many of the women asked me to help them make their pieced sections last week in another sewing class. 

The ladies seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed helping them, and the teacher in me was tickled by their approaches toward the tasks required.

This is Deb. She laughs all of the time. Nothing phases her.

She's wrapping her canvas in her large pieced fabric.

Her finished top piece can just be seen in the lower front of the picture.

Here's Carole. With an E!

Carole is the Program Coordinator for the guild. 

She had to do the hard work for the class:

keeping track of who signed up, who paid for the class, who paid for the kit

and for getting some of that money to me.

I found it very interesting that although she is very particular in her role as the program queen,

and demands that I's are dotted, and T's are crossed,

when it came to covering the clock she folded and folded the fabric again, 

pulled it up and taped it...with a 'whatever' attitude.

(The instructions, my demonstration, and the model clock, showed how to fold over 1/2" of fabric and glue it to form a 'hem', then pull that up tautly and adhere it with glue to the frame of the canvas. 

Like this: 

Liz and Sue came together. They had prepared some of the work ahead of time, 

and chose to do the more challenging pattern. 

However, they hadn't complete all of the work and struggled with completing the quilt block for their clock base. I was sad that I couldn't help them sew faster, and get it all finished in class.

Grace brought two orphan blocks with her. 

She zoomed through the class,

as did the others, whose pictures I failed to take!

Carole did finish her clock using orphan blocks.

It looks great.

 (but is still just taped on the back...Carole felt that was just fine!)

Deb's finished clock.

She looks really proud of her work, as she should!

I am so lucky to have found this group of women, and to have this great facility available for guild meetings and other community events.