Cabin Crafted

Category: crafting

  • Officially Autumn

    We have passed the autumnal equinox, the days are getting shorter and the weather must have been waiting for the magic date. We finally started getting some rain. Some of it extreme thunderstorms with wind and heavy downpours, some of it just light rain and sprinkles, but it started Monday night and continues intermittently still. It is much welcomed. The rain also brought more seasonal temperatures, yesterday about 70, today only 60, and Thursday-Sunday, the nighttime temperatures will drop into the 40’s.

    Temperatures in that range are when the houseplants that have summered on the front porch on tables and hanging are brought back into the house. The hanging plants have found places, the two large floor plants need better spots, and the holiday catci are on the shelf at the end of the counter. All have been given a fall feeding and a good watering. All were carefully checked for stinkbugs before coming in the house, we have enough trouble with them finding their way indoors without helping them in. The only other ones brought in were the two begonias that daughter gave me for mother’s day that I potted together and have tried to keep pruned. They may or may not produce more foliage in the kitchen window, we will see.

    We haven’t been out much since getting home from hubby’s most recent surgical procedure on Monday. A venture through a drive thru for fast food and back to the comfort of his recliner. When out today, we saw that gasoline prices have jumped another dime per gallon, now at $4.29/gallon, so we may skip lunch out for the next couple of days and dine on leftover stew and the chili I am currently making for tonight’s dinner. We had a chicken a few days ago and part of the leftovers from it were made into two individual pot pies Monday evening. The rest needs to find a use within another day or maybe just freezing it diced for a later meal.

    The most recent basket of jalapenos from the garden were pickled, making 1.75 gallons of them in the refrigerator for hubby’s pleasure. He eats one with almost every dinner. There is probably at least another half gallon on the plants. I may just leave them to ripen to red so that a sriracha style fermented sauce can be made. The serano peppers turned out to be Anaheims, so I’m not sure what to do with them. I know they are used for chile rellenos, so I may try making them one night or drying them and using them in homemade enchilada sauce.

    When we get past the much needed rainy period, all of the vines and weeds that have grown up through them are going to be pulled to dry so that they can be burned off with the dead pear branches. It is much more pleasant to work in the garden when it is a bit cooler.

    For now, I will sit and enjoy the sound of the rain and the cooler days and nights, cook, read, and craft.

  • Olio -9/18/2026

    I am the eldest of three, all now senior citizens. Today is the birthday of the “middle child,” my little sister. Happy birthday, Sis.

    This week has been one for the record. We have had 3 medical appointments between us, one a routine annual visit, one a follow up, and one for an upcoming procedure. Added to that, I taught a grown up version of the Herbal Medicine class that I did for summer camp to a bevy of ladies last night. As I was “teaching,” I have no photo, but we had a good time.

    The week began with soap making lessons for a couple that are friends of mine. I have been making their soap for a number of years and have asked repeatedly if they wanted to learn. This year it happened. Two batches were made with my instruction and supervision, but their hands on experience. They went home with one of the batches and the basic equipment to make more at home. The friend that taught me about a dozen years ago sent me home with a batch and some equipment and I have tried to continue paying it forward with the promise that once they are comfortable with the process and several successful batches, that they too will pay it forward. The second batch joined 3 other batches that I had previously made in the past couple of weeks for my SIL and our home use.

    It is curing in a back bedroom until it is ready for use.

    The week also started with me finishing the second Christmas stocking, one of which will go to the grandchild expected later this fall.

    Because they are stranded knitting in the round, the design is on both sides, requiring keeping the chart section of the pattern close at hand and well tracked. It also requires that the stocking be lined with fabric of some kind to prevent the carried strands of yarn on the inside from snagging. The linings are peeking out the top right now as the name needs to be duplicate stitched on the top before the lining can be hand sewn in place.

    The pumpkin vines and gourd vines are dying back now, so pumpkins have been cut. They are a smaller version for pies and baking, and after the ones in the photo were brought in, another was found. One grew through the chicken run fence and they ate it. Another grew close enough to the fence that they ate one side, and one I found had insect damage and was fed to them, so out of two vines, I got 8 pumpkins. It is possible that more will be found when the vines totally die off. The bottle gourds were the only gourd seed that germinated and they will be harvested soon.

    Here in Virginia, the drought has resulted in a state of emergency issued by the Governor as it has severly reduced the hay harvest both in the spring and now in the fall. Our fields produced only about half the usual amount and this week the fall hay was mowed, baled and taken to where it will be fed to cattle this winter. Neighbors that raise cattle are talking about possibly having to sell off some of their herds if they can’t locate hay to purchase. The lawn is brown and crispy, so no mowing is needed. We do have some rain in the forecast for the upcoming week, but if it is only isolated showers like we have had all summer, it won’t help.

    One section of the rails to trails paved area we walk for our daily walk has several Virginia marmots, aka groundhogs, woodchucks, whistlepig holes and tunnel some on the trail side of the fence, some on the airport side. This hefty fat guy was munching grass today and very unconcerned that I was taking his photo.

    Now to toot someone else’s horn. My husband just published his second book. It can be found on Amazon as a paperback or on Kindle as an e-book, the title is The Judas Priest, by James Stafford. He also has a blog with articles about the background and a sample on WordPress as JamesStaffordauthor. Go check him out.

  • Summer is drawing to a close

    It is meterologic autumn according to the weather prognosticators, but it went out with a bang. The daytime temperatures last week were in the 90’s every day. That is nearly unheard of here in the mountains, especially in September. It finally cooled down today to near 80 with similar weather expected all week, the highest day in the mid 80’s. Though I don’t like to take our daily walks when it is that hot, I did, picking the shadiest areas of the rails to trails walk we take each day.

    The garden was a major bust this year, between the drought, the extreme temperatures, and several intense storms that blew peas and beans to the ground before they produced much. Animals that can get through or over the fence ate down most of the peppers, except some that were already too tall to munch. There have been many jalapenos to pickle, some seranos are turning red and will become hot sauce. There have been a few tomatoes, mostly the black cherry ones that are wonderfully sweet, and the pumpkins and gourds are doing well. The raccoons got the few ears of popcorn that did form. Unless I improve my fencing, or build a tunnel (which won’t happen), that problem will continue.

    I did cover the grapevine with deer mesh this year, so I got a half gallon of Muscadine grapes which were crushed and fermented, strained through a sieve and fed some sugar, so now there is red wine vinegar. It will be strained through cheesecloth and bottled soon.

    While visiting with daughter and son in law, when they came over and repaired part of the chicken coop for me, he mentioned he was low on the soap I make for him. That was a reminder and initiator to begin this year’s soap making. I can thank a friend who more than a dozen years ago invited me to her home to learn how to make soap myself. We made several batches that day and she sent me home with my first batch and some supplies. Her generous teaching has instilled the each one teach one mantra to me and I have taught several others to make soap. Next Sunday, a local friend and her husband for whom I have been making soap for several years, will join me to learn, and like my friend did me, they will leave with the basic equipment to make more at home later. I would gladly continue to make it for them, but they can make it themselves in an hour for half what she pays me. SIL’s batch was made early in the week, then a batch of unscented Calendula/Turmeric soap made, and yesterday, Peppermint with French Red Clay.

    While we have the equipment out next weekend, I will make one more batch of the same scent they will be using as that is also the scent that my SIL prefers. This will be a year’s worth of soaps for our use, for the Barn Bazaar at the Museum, for a few gifts, and for SIL. For now, it is curing in a back bedroom until it can be deliverer, or labelled.

    I mentioned traditions in my last post, and have begun a second Christmas stocking, the first is appropriate for a little girl, this one is more boy themed, the appropriate one will be finished with the name, lining, and tag when I know the information. We are still about 2 months from that reveal. I have asked for a photo of all from that family lined up together when Christmas decorations come out.

    The leaves are beginning to turn yellows, reds, and oranges, only the early trees, but it is a sign of shorter days, cooler weather, and hopefully some rain.

    Haying has begun up here, we expect our fall hay to be cut and baled soon. It looks like it might be a better cut than the spring hay was.

    Try to stay safe and healthy, until next time!

  • Refreshed and renewed

    Last long weekend, Wednesday through Sunday, was spent at the Blue Ridge YMCA Assembly in Black Mountain, NC with friends I see only once or twice a year for an annual retreat. It started as a yarn spinner’s retreat and has over the years incorporated knitters, crocheters, quilters, weavers, various paper arts, and one spoon carver. There were 27 of us, 24 staying on site and 3 that commuted for the daytime for two of the days. I didn’t even take my spinning wheel this year, just spindles, crochet hooks, knitting needles, some fiber and yarn. One of my friends raises 80 sheep, alpacas, and a llama and she comes loaded with fiber to sell and boxes of jars of homemade jams also to sell. I did indulge in 8 ounces of her lovely fiber for spinning and began on some of it when I finished what I had brought from home. A pair of fingerless mitts were completed, a crocheted hat done, and another pair of mitts begun. There is always lots of chatter, rest, and good meals that I didn’t have to prepare.

    The building in which we stayed right after Helene hit 2 years ago.

    On Monday, I called the lawnmower repair guy who had both our riding mower and our gas push mower for three weeks about when they would be ready. The return call yesterday afternoon said they were and we went to pick them up. Once the riding mower was off the trailer and the trailer stowed back in the barn, I started the riding mower and the blades wouldn’t engage. The front yard was started with the push mower, but between it beginning to rain and the grass having not been mowed in a month, it was not doable. The edging with the line trimmer was started after dinner and the rain had stopped but the battery only lasts about 45 minutes so it wasn’t finished. This morning, a second go at it got me around the house and most of the way around the garden and chickens, but again the battery needed recharging. We loaded the trailer back on the car, loaded the riding mower and returned it to the shop in the rain. If it ever stops, I will finish the edging and our hay guy is going to bring a more substantial mower over and knock the grass back.

    After hardly any rain this spring, we are getting so much now. The fall hay should be much better than the spring hay. The grass is thick and growing tall quickly. Our riding mower couldn’t even handle the lawn at this point.

    Last night, many tomatoes and peppers were harvested and today, the now ripe grapes picked. The tomatoes along with a bag I had frozen are simmering on the stove. They will be canned this evening. The Jalapenos are pickled, and the grapes crushed and covered to ferment into red wine vinegar for the winter. Though the garden is a mess, we will take what we can get. The rain has encouraged the pumpkins and gourds to try to take over, so there will be fall decorations, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin soup.

  • Olio – May 31, 2026

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    The month is drawing to a close. It has been a good month, with a trip to see youngest son and family, a month long spinning challenge, a very heavy work day with local grandson making headway on cleaning up parts of the property, walks and wildlife, seeing more production from the pullets, some social time, some living history, and not enough gardening.

    We often see snakes, turtles, or today, a lizard on the paved trail. The morning was cool enough that it was warming on the dark pavement, and yet delightful for a brisk walk.

    We saw our first fawn of the season this week, crossing our gravel road into the woods. Tiny little one that quickly tucked itself between Mom’s back legs as we were approaching.

    Yesterday on my way to an annual spring spin in at a friend’s house, I saw another with it’s Mom in route, then yet another on our gravel road on my way home. The spin in is always enjoyable, the weather was a delight and the potluck ended up mostly salads, many Mediterrean in flavor. A good friend who I see only at this event and at an Arts and Fiber retreat once a year as she and her husband live a state away, gifted me a tiny spindle made by my favorite spindle maker, Ed Jenkins. Most of my spindles are on the smaller size, but this one is really tiny. Seen next to a US quarter for reference. Much to my surprise, it spins for an amazingly long time once a little fiber is added.

    For the spinning challenge, all done on Jenkin’s spindles, I spun 165 g of wool. Other spinning was done during the month on other types of spindles, some at living history groups at the museum, some on my own at home as I work toward enough to finish the other 3/4 of the blanket in progress. So in total, I probably spun about half a pound of wool this month. And I started lessons for one of my friends and fellow living history re-enactors. This month, I won’t participate in the challenge and there are no scheduled groups other than the weekly session with the local spinning group. I will likely meet up with my friend again for another lesson for her.

    The garden is growing, the raised beds are doing well and have been weeded a couple of times, but I never did get the rest of the garden set for corn and pumpkins, nor have I gotten the blueberry bed weeded. We did get almost a week of rain toward the end of the month.

    The pullets, I think are now all laying. The most I have gotten on any one day was today and there were 7 eggs (9 pullets). The Marans that I didn’t think had started, have given me 4 eggs in the past couple days and two of them today, so I know they are both laying. As I don’t know for sure what color the Mystic Onyx breed lays. The web says light brown and there are 3 Buff Orpingtons that also lay light brown. I did get 3 light brown eggs in the mix today, so at least 3 of the 5 light brown layers are providing.

    As they get the hang of production, we sometimes get an oddball one. This one on the left when cracked open, had 3+ yolks. The one on the right is a normal sized pullet egg.

    I have gotten doubles before, especially when they are young and soon after starting to lay again after molt, but three is a record for here.

    After our walk, a few quick stops, we managed to get the yard mowed, partly edged, and the fence around the young oak planted on our pup’s grave reinforced. It is now time to let the day fade, spin a little more, or maybe knit a few rows, and look forward to a new month beginning tomorrow with new adventures.

  • Home Routine

    Last weekend we travelled across the state to visit our younger son, his wife, and the grandkiddos. We got to see their little homestead and their business location that we hadn’t seen since they relocated to the larger spaces.

    We also had the opportunity to see their second oldest daughter perform with the Virginia Children’s Choir in a Saturday afternoon concert.

    The trip was fun, though the traffic in the region we lived in until 20 years ago is crazy.

    After sharing breakfast with them at their home, we headed back to the mountains in time to visit with and go out to dinner with daughter and her family for Mother’s Day for the two of us. I came home with flowers from those two families and a very generous donation in my honor to the New River Conservancy Organization from eldest son’s family.

    We got home tired, but happy.

    It rained yesterday morning, and we realized that the grass was going to become impossible to mow if we didn’t get it done, but it didn’t dry off enough yesterday to make that happen. After today’s walk and errands, working together, we got the lawn and orchard cut back to a managable level, but ran out of weed trimmer line, so that didn’t get finished. Tomorrow is cooler and rainy again, but we can at least stop and purchase the line so that part of the job can be completed once it dries out again.

    May’s Jenkins spindle challenge is a fun competition to see which style spindles (divided into two randon groups) can spin the most in a month. I finished up some fiber I had been working on with my newest spindle and some fiber I want to use to knit the second quadrant of a queen sized blanket with my smallest spindle, and now finishing that fiber with my lightest spindle.

    Today’s mail brought some black Shetland wool that will be the borders of the remaining three quadrants of the blanket. Black Shetland was used on the first quadrant.

    The pots seeded with mixed flowers are sprouted and growing nicely, the peas, spinach, and lettuce in the garden also. The tomatoes and peppers that were transplanted just before we left seem to be thriving as well. Spring is definitely here even with with 50’s daytime temps off and on and upper 40’s nighttime temps. Over the weekend, three of the pullets layed their first egg. I think one more may have layed a wind egg (an egg with no shell) as there was a yolky sticky spot in a nesting box. Soon we will have daily egg supply again, and enough to take to daughter’s house each week.

    There is only one more grade level group coming to the museum. This Friday, we will again host 2nd graders, then schools in this region will adjourn on May 29 for the summer. I will miss that opportunity during the summer.

    Have a safe week.

  • Marching On

    The Facebook memories show snow around this time of March, which confirms how crazy the springtime weather can be. Monday morning is was 60 degrees when I got up, but raining. As the day wore on, the temperature fell. By the time I was prepping dinner, the rain had sleet in it and quickly turned to snow.

    Hubby’s comment was that the ground was too warm for it to stick. By Tuesday morning, we had about 1.5″ on the ground and cold temperatures. Two nights in the upper teens and all the local forsythia look sad now. The plum blossoms are brown, with the hope that maybe some of them were fertilized before the freeze. The bonus side is that all of the invasive Callary pears along the roadside also browned. Unfortunately, that won’t result in their loss. As the week progressed, the temperature began to rise again with Sunday expected to be in the low 80’s before another front and drop to normal 50’s and 60’s.

    We walked a couple miles outdoors today and until it rains, will continue for at least the next 10 days.

    The living history groups at the Museum begin this week. The first set is a team of classes from a local middle school, sixth graders. Their lessons have included the information that the nation is celebrating 250 years of independence this year and as the loom house where I am stationed is circa 1760, it will be easy to incorporate the resistence, effects of the taxation, and history of fiber use during the period.

    I have added some lucets (a Viking braiding tool) that was used to make cordage, a few hand made spindles, and a pile of woven items to let the kids handle and try.

    There will be samples of flax, hemp, wool locks with and without lanolin for them to handle, and lessons on what it would have been like as an 11-12 year old as far as household responsibilities compared to the life they live now 250 years later.

    Of course, I will be asked more than once if the Colonial outfit is what I really wear everyday and whether I live in the 266 year old cabin. Though they may have been taught the facts, the reality of what life might have been like is very difficult for them to process.

    The springtime and sessions with the 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders are always a pleasure for this retired educator.

    A new spindle was added to my collection this week. This is one I can use spinning with the class groups as it is a plain wooden drop spindle

  • The Blog

    Blogs are developed for several reasons. Mine is basically a journal. I have tried paper journalling, however, writing is much slower than I think or type, so the blog evolved. If my thought are deeper than I wish to share, there is a private typed journal that occassionally I use.

    This week has been full of life. After our Anniversary dinner last weekend, we have had a busy but usual week. With the chick teenagers now in the coop, daily trips over to check on them and carrying a plastic cup with a handful of dried mealworms as a treat. The cup is shaken from the garage to the coop and as the door is opened and the treat poured into a small dish. The idea, to train them that the noise, the yellow cup, and me mean a treat so that when they begin to free range, they will come when called with the treat cup. It is about time to let them into the run, so most of a bale of hay has been spread in the run, areas of the fence that either had a broken wire or not tight to the ground were reinforced, and the battery operated pop door reset for times, but still wedged shut. We have two days of winter wet starting tonight with rain, turning to snow tomorrow into Monday night, so the door will remain closed for a couple more days. I don’t want to have to be out there in snow and cold to encourage any of them that don’t find their way back inside the coop as night falls. They are looking like small chickens now, less awkward.

    The two black ones are Mystic Onyx breed, one I had never seen before. They are a cross of Silkies and meat birds, medium sized, gentle nature, black legs, beaks, combs, and feathers. One of these has feathered feet and a head tuft more like a Silkie.

    We had several beautiful days this week where we could take our daily walk outdoors on the rails to trails trail. The mid section still hasn’t reopened from bridge repair, but is supposed to reopen in the next couple of weeks. Getting outdoors encourages a longer walk than when we walk indoors in the mall. We have managed a couple of 3 mile walks this week. When the weather warms a bit more and the spring flowers are showing more, we will extend the walk to the Hahn Garden on campus.

    With the nice day today, we made it back to our routine with breakfast followed by the local Saturday Farmer’s Market for the first time in several weeks. Being able to get some fresh greens, radishes, bread, and a small roast is wonderful.

    The new spindle has been the spindle of choice this week. It is Koa wood, hubby selected as a reminder of our trip last November to Kaua’i.

    I love the smaller spindles, this one is a bit larger than 3 of mine, but still small enough for travel and tucking in my daily bag, but large enough to hold more spun fiber.

    The hydroponic garden has 6 young herb plants sprouted. Soon they will be large enough to begin to enjoy some fresh herbs in cooking and salads. Our favorite garden center reopens next weekend and seeds needed for this year ‘s garden can be purchased. There are some left over seeds from last year, but not enough peas or beans, and after the raccoons got all of the sweet corn, I will go back to planting popcorn instead. The brightly colored popcorn can be used for fall decorating and popping and the raccoons don’t seem to like it as well. Last year I tried to cover the unplanted areas with pumpkins and failed. I don’t want to deal with the weed load this year, so a plan needs to be developed. Maybe gourds that can be used also for fall decorating and shared with daughter. If that fails, the line trimmer will have to be used more frequently as the garden fencing hasn’t been moved.

    Spring can’t come soon enough, we are tired of the cold and the ridiculously high energy bills.

  • Old Skills

    Last Wednesday evening, I trekked over to the museum to teach an old skill. No costume required for this event. We set up 4 stations for 4 ladies + 1 second grader accompanying her Mom and they learned to make basic lard and lye soap. We used a mix of old school and modern skills and equipment so we weren’t there all night stirring the mix. Of course they were given some history of soap and soap making and why we now use a lye calculator and a superfatted recipe to be sure we end up with a body friendly product. I put together kits of a small heat safe plastic bucket, two rigid plastic stadium cups, a spatula, and a silicone loaf pan for each participant that they keep at the end of the session, along with the a three page history, instructions, and two recipes; one for the lard and lye and one for a vegan soap with Shea butter, Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil, and of course, their mold of soap. We “cheat” by stirring with an immersion blender to speed the process up to keep our session within a 90 minute window. As I dug out some of my equipment and essential oils to scent their individual batches of soap, it seemed a good time to go ahead and make soap for 3 friends and our household.

    The batches at home were made Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. On Tuesday, a double batch of one scent was made and I won’t do that again as it took forever to get to the consistency to pour it in the molds and is still not as firm as I would like to slice it into bars. The
    Wednesday batches will be unmolded and cut tomorrow to cure for a month before going to the folks for whom it was made.

    Today as I sat waiting for hubby to have a consultation visit and then I waited for my annual mammogram, I spun. In public, I spin on either a top whorl drop spindle or a Turkish spindle. When doing it, there are surreptitious glances, to out and out staring and occasionally someone will ask what I am doing. Followed by the question of what I then do with the yarn I spin.

    The other old skill that really hasn’t been done so far this year is canning and preserving. There have been pickles fermented and stored, but the tomatoes haven’t produced in sufficient quantity to bother canning them. I have frozen a couple of gallon bags, made one big pot of sauce to use one night for pasta and the rest frozen in wide mouth pint jars. There is a basket of Asian pears from the orchard sitting on the dining table with a couple of oranges to make pear/orange marmalade, but I haven’t gotten around to dragging down the canning pot to do it. As there are still many jars of applesauce from last year unopened, I doubt that any will be canned this year. The only other produce that has come in quantity are greenbeans and I freeze some of them, but don’t like canned one at all and barely tolerate them from frozen. I like to buy local, but come midwinter when green vegetables are at a premium if at all available, I do buy from the grocer.

    All of these skills have been learned since retirement. You can teach an old dog new tricks. And I truly believe in the each one teach one. I am grateful to the friends who taught me to make soap, spin, and improve my knitting skills. The canning and fermentation, I have learned from books and the internet.

  • It’s Been a While

    Not to anything dire, just not wanting to keep posting the same routine.

    It has been a hot, wet summer and the garden has suffered. Raccoons got every ear of corn and started on the tomatoes as they ripened. Green beans have been very prolific as were the cucumbers. The cucumber vines have now died off and were pulled from their trellis yesterday afternoon and the first planting of green beans also pulled as I had been away for 5 days and most of the ones on the plants were too large and soft to be desirable as we don’t like the “southern” way of cooking them with fat back until they are practically mush. The second planting has just begun to provide.

    We set about on Monday to get the lawn mowed after lunch. I sent DH out to get gas for a fill up, thinking there was enough to start while he was gone, but I backed the riding mower out of the garage and it sputtered to a stop. Instead of sitting idly by, the bed of flowers by the east side of the garage was a weedy mess and the grass was hanging over into it, so much bending, stooping, and sitting on a step stool that sent me into an unplanned hard landing on the grass, and all the grass and lambs quarters were pulled, a new edge dug. He began to mow while I was doing that so the line trimmer was used to go around the house and over to the vegetable garden that had lambs quarters, wild amaranth, and horse nettles as tall as me that the line trimmer couldn’t handle. This is the result of hand weeding all of it and the orchard grass growing in the paths.

    That pile is about 2.5 feet tall, what you see behind it is the same mess that is in the closed off chicken run that I can’t access until the fence is removed. I don’t know if it will compost as I had no means of chopping it up, so it is a stack of 5 to 6 feet long stalks mixed with mats of Creeping Charlie, Bermuda grass, Smart weed, and other unwanted greenery that had taken over the end of the garden not in use this summer. I’m thinking about trying to move the inner fence to cross just above the part of the garden in use and letting the chicken have at the rest. It will leave them unprotected from the hawks but that is a chance I am willing to take.

    Yesterday a very early venture over to the garden to harvest beans and tomatoes and finish weeding a small section I never got to Monday, found all of the Tithonia and Sunflowers full of sleeping wild bees.

    Yesterday afternoon, after a trip to the nursery, flats of spinach and Romaine lettuce seedling, a row of Little Gems lettuce seed, and three rows of turnips were planted in one of the empty raised beds. The one the first green beans were in will be reserved to plant garlic when it cools more.

    The reason for my 5 day absence was to travel to Black Mountain, North Carolina for my favorite Art and Fiber Retreat. We meet at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. It was rejuvenating and a bit heartbreaking. The group is a wonderful mix of ladies that spin, knit, crochet, weave, and do other paper arts. The heartbreak was to see the damage caused by Helene and know that though they have worked hard to recover, only 40% occupancy is available still as they lost a couple of buildings and had damage to many others. The motel style lodge where we stay and where meals are prepared and served by the staff was the first to be repaired and reopened. Helene took out every power pole leading up to the buildings except for 3. It took them 4 weeks to get any power back. The creek that became a river down the west side, that damaged the old gym so badly it had to be torn down is now a gully 16 feet deep and washed through the woods taking out trees and rhododendron to now look like a dry river bed.

    This is an area above the retreat that is up the mountain. All of their hiking trails in that area are impassable still and a lower priority than restoring the rest of the buildings.

    Part of the repair is placing 14 foot arches where roads were to divert the flow, instead of smaller culverts that had always handled the creeks in the past. Also where two landslides sent mud into buildings, have new reinforced walls at the top and the slides seeded as they are now open meadows.

    In addition to visiting with friends I see seldom, I finished a skein of yarn I had been spindle spinning, took a needle felting class and made two little pumpkins, and started wheel spinning 8 ounces of Coopworth and Alpaca roving purchased from a friend that raises the animals and dyes the wool before the mill processes it into roving. Also some knitting on a pair of fingerless mitts was done with the wool I purchased in Alaska in May, spun on spindles and plyed on spindles.

    Now back home, my food consumption is focusing on smaller portions and healthier choices as we always have a snack table with too much sugar and fat on it, and though I did take a walk up as far as I could go up hill above the retreat one day, I consumed too much not so healthy snacks in addition to the three meals a day they provide. Now home, I have resumed my daily walks with DH of 2-2.5 miles. It has been so humid though, it feels like you are breathing fog.

    We have a cooler week of so ahead, it should help make the walks more enjoyable. We see early Autumn in the air as the early turning leaves are coloring and some are already falling. Until I have something new, stay safe.