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  • Names – 12/1/2019

    I was named for my grandmothers, my first name is Frances. Born when I was, I started school just as one of the early “talking” animal comedy movie series was released and I was relentlessly teased. I had been tagged with a corruption of my name as a nickname that was cute for a small child, but I didn’t want to follow me as I grew up. We had a family friend who was Fran and I didn’t care for her, so I didn’t want to be hung with that. As I left for college and into the work force, I used my birth name of Frances, but that too presented it’s own difficulties as Francis is a man’s version and I have spent years using the phrase “I as in his, E as in hers” to educate/correct people. To add to the difficulty, my maiden name was and should have been simple, Sale, just like it sounds, but I got Sales, Sally, Soles, Salle.

    After I married, I added Stafford and we get Stratford, Stoffer, Staffer. And I changed jobs and introduced myself as Frances, but one of my new co-workers tagged me as Fran and thus it has been except with my family.

    When our children were born, I didn’t want to give them names that could be corrupted with a y or ie on the end. We didn’t want their initials to spell something that would cause them issues and both son’s as they grew up went by their middle names, even being enrolled in school with a first initial, middle name, last name. One son as a professional knows when he receives a call, email, or letter if the person really knows him by whether it is addressed to his first name or his middle name. Younger son chooses to go by his birth first name in formal form now, except by immediate family and we haven’t been able to make the change, so he is still called by his middle name. Daughter grew up with her first name, sometimes first and middle.

    Her children’s first names are palindromes.

    As an educator, I was exposed to many different names of children and wondered where some of them originated, were they made up, family names, names from countries of origin. Sometimes I worried that they were being teased or bullied because of the name with which they were tagged.

  • And So It Begins – 11/22/2019

    Another front is barreling through our area. After a miserably dry summer, we are at least getting some rain. It rained hard over night, the wind was quite gusty when we went out late morning. Today is colder than yesterday with the high reached around noon and a downward fall to around freezing with more rain tomorrow and even colder temperatures.

    Between rain, the car has been packed with totes of soap, salve, yarn, knits, laundry stain bars, beard oil, Men’s grooming boxes, Guest Bath boxes, display racks and two mannequins. Tomorrow the rain isn’t supposed to begin until after I am unloaded and hopefully with help toted upstairs to the room I have been assigned at the Catawba Farmers Holiday Market. I hope the rain doesn’t prevent folks from coming out to shop. I am inside, a few vendors are under the picnic shelter. It might be cold and damp for them. I don’t know if the Catawba Community Center is heated, so I will layer in wool and be prepared to peel layers if necessary. This event provides each vendor an 8 foot table and a chair, so I don’t need to load my tables and since it is indoors, I don’t need my tent. I have one more pair of mittens on the needles that I hope to have ready for tomorrow, but if not, I will have them for other Holiday markets. I was making them for me, but decided they are too pink for my tastes, so I will spin something else for mine or dig through my yarn to find a skein I like.

    Next weekend there is no event, but then I have 3 weekends in a row (if stock holds) at the Blacksburg Farmer’s Market Holiday event and 2 of those weekends in costume spinning and vending in the late afternoon/evening hours at Wilderness Road Regional Museum Noel Nights and Christmas Bazaar. They will require tables, chair, and the Farmer’s Market one, my tent and weights. The car is quite full then.

    This morning, I awoke to the memory that 56 years ago, as I sat in class in High School awaiting the arrival of a friend who had moved away and was coming to visit for my 16th birthday party, an announcement was made that our President had been shot and later died. That is probably the most significant first historical memory of my life. The friend did arrive, the party did not happen, and the country watched the news in shock and mourned. Yesterday, I celebrated my 72nd birthday and am thankful to my family and friends who remembered me with well wishes and to my hubby, who treated me to a new wool hoodie, some chocolates, and a dinner out at a local restaurant that we had not tried before.

    The Thanksgiving shopping got done in the rain today. A few gifts were purchased last night. One warm cozy gift was finished yesterday. I look forward to having some of our children and their families join us next week and wish the entire family could be together for a holiday again.

  • That time of year – 11/21/2019

    It is that time of year where I start stressing over Christmas. My siblings and stepmom and I don’t exchange gifts at holidays anymore, our children and grandchildren are our focus, but we have gotten in a habit of going too far overboard. Some years I have an idea for the grandchildren, other years I have to ask for ideas. Some years they all get basically the same thing (a few years ago it was Grandmom made fleece blankets and books each), other years not.

    Because their ages range from 14 to toddler, it is difficult to decide on a gift for each. This year, we are trying to be more reasonable in our purchases, they have their own families now and we should just be the grandparents. My Dad gave each grandchild a Classic novel until they were grown and out of our home. He gave each great grandchild a subscription to an age appropriate magazine. I know that two of my children have their books still in their library, not sure about the other one.

    It used to be my goal to be done with the gift shopping or making prior to Thanksgiving, so that the month of December could be spent cooking, making cookies with the kids, wrapping and mailing. It hasn’t happened this year and as I age, I dislike shopping more and more. Last year Amazon rescued me. I am busy knitting some warm cozies for some to accompany probably the Classic novel idea (I really liked that and it encourages more reading).

    I guess I should get on it or the stress level will increase. I also need to get the rest of the Thanksgiving dinner groceries since the weekend is totally scheduled. Daughter is pitching in and bringing some stuff, eldest son will assist with the giant turkey spatchcock and cook, daughter in law will pitch in any way I ask. It will be done, delicious, and a wonderful gathering of at least part of our family.

  • Weekend Things – Nov. 16, 2019

    November is birthday month in our family (we sneak into early December too). In a month’s time, we celebrate 2 grandchildren, 1 nephew, 1 daughter, 1 daughter-in-law, my stepmom’s and my birthdays. It is mostly card exchange as except for the two grandchildren, all are adults. Grandkids get gifts of some sort depending on age and interest.

    If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that I am a spinner, knitter, sometimes crocheter, weaver. Because of this, I am a definite yarn snob. But, sometimes it is necessary to use yarn that I don’t spin for a project. Granddaughter local is one of the birthdays. She is turning 8 and has grown many inches and many pounds since last winter, she needed a new winter coat. Her Mom found a real bargain, a very neutral gray coat that granddaughter loved. To go with her new coat, and because she seems to love her handmade gifts (last year a string backpack for her music lesson items with a colorful binder to hold the music), I decided to make her a knit hat, scarf, and mittens to go with her new coat. Because they will get hard use and need to be washed, I bought a giant Caron Cake of acrylic yarn in shades of purple to make them.

    I had finished the mittens, hat, and most of the scarf a week or so ago, but didn’t want to add fringe to the scarf and it didn’t look finished as is, so this afternoon, I crocheted a triangle on each end and added a small tassel, maybe less appealing to their 3 cats if it is left out. A year or so ago, I found the little wooden buttons that say Handmade with love by _____, so I added her pet name for me and sewed one on one end. Her birthday is next Sunday, so after we go to the farm where our turkey has been raised to pick it up, we will have a family celebration for her birthday.

    Last night, I finished knitting a pair of fingerless mitts from some Romeldale CVM wool that I spun for the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em challenge. They were given a soak and blocking last night and are currently drying. Here they are before their bath.

    They will go in my shop and be taken to the various Holiday markets until they sell. I am toying with sewing a row of small deer antler buttons to the backs of the hands.

    Saturday mornings, when I am not at an event, are breakfast out followed by the weekly Farmers Market. Today I was seeking yams for Thanksgiving as I didn’t grow any this year. Also seeking some ground beef to make dinner for daughter and her family tomorrow night, and other than that, I just browse and make decisions on what is available. I was able to get nice turnips, fresh spinach, Daikon radishes, potatoes, breakfast sausage, and Mozarella in addition to the yams and ground beef. As I finished the last of my fermented dilly beans last night, the Daikon radishes were purchased to make kimchi. Once home, they were peeled and diced, sprinkled with salt, sugar, and crushed red pepper and set to weep while I put everything else away and finished the scarf for granddaughter. It is now packed in a jar with a fermenting lid to sit for a few days.

    Next weekend begins the holiday markets. There is still one scarf that is about half done that I would like to get finished and blocked, then I will begin a pair of fingerless mitts or glittens for me as I lost one two weekends ago when I did the Harvest Festival at Booker T. Washington National Monument. There is no real hurry on them and I can knit on them while I am vending.

  • Brrrrr – Nov. 13, 2019

    It is November, still Autumn according to the calendar, but the thermometer and the weather prognisticators say otherwise. When 70% of the country is expecting freezing or below weather in November, something is wrong. Two days ago, I was in a long sleeve tee working in the garden, yesterday we awoke to snow falling and lightly coating the world with it hovering at freezing and expected to fall all day and through the night. I awoke at dawn, the heatpump not keeping up with the cold and no fires stokes and not wanting to get out from under the two quilts on the bed. Wishing I had worn wool socks to bed last night.

    With two pups nudging me to get up, let them out, and feed them, I finally conceded, layering on wool layers from the skin out (wish I had some wool trousers) and going down to let them out, cook their egg, and get my coffee going. This is what the front porch thermometer read.

    The early dawn hours it reached 14f. We have experienced colder weather skiing out west, in Vermont, even in West Virginia. It has dropped below that on the farm, but not in November. At 8:30 when I finally added boots, hat, gloves, and barn parka to go out to the chickens it was 17f, sunny, the wind from yesterday finally calmed, but bitingly cold.

    In this world of social media, we have friends we know, we hang out with, can hug or shake hands with even if it is only once or twice a year. Then we have friends we have met through social media that have similar or like interests with whom we share photos and online conversations. One of the later is a retired physician that lives in Iowa (bet it is colder there today than here), who is a fabulous fiber artist. She makes beautiful one of a kind jackets and coats hand spun yarn, felts among other things. Her Etsy shop is FiberCurio. Late last winter, I mentioned having regrettably not purchased a felt hat at SAFF quite a number of years ago and Ellen came to the rescue and made me a gray felted hat to which I added one of my woven tapes. I like the hat and wear it when it is cold. Though I spin yarn and knit many hats, my head doesn’t seem to be the right shape to make a knitted hat fit well and look good. Last week, Ellen posted pictures of some felted women’s hats she was taking to a craft event and one of them shouted at me. Now, I can’t attend an event in Iowa, but I reached out to her about that hat and by the next day it was in the mail to me. Yesterday in the midst of falling temperatures, snow flurries, and brutal wind, a package arrived, my new hat.

    I love the cloche, it pulls down over my ears and is warm felted Merino. It should help keep my head warm when it is truly winter here, and now during our early Arctic Blast that looks to be lingering for another day or two with very cold nights and early mornings even after that. Social media can be wonderful at times.

  • Changes in Plans – Nov. 11, 2019

    Sometimes plans change. My audiology appointment was at 8 a.m. and the new hearing aid is definitely a learning curve. My voice is an echo in my head. When I arrived at the office, the reflection of my car in the windows showed I had a headlight out, again. After my appointment in a very quiet office, standing by my car in front of AutoZone was a major assault on my hearing, almost causing me to remove the new aid until I was in a quieter place. I have made it all day without removing it, but have avoided noisy environments.

    After lunch, we took advantage of the nice day to take an exercise walk. I could hear people behind me on the trail talking, hear the squirrels rustling in the leaves off the trail, and only bothered where the trail crosses a roadway via a footbridge with the cars below was I assaulted by too much background to continue conversation with hubby.

    When we got home and I was going to go work in the garden to finish what I started yesterday, the farmer that hays our fields showed up with his big tractor and 10.5 foot brush hog to finish mowing our fields. I didn’t want to have to deal with the noise or the dust that would be the environment, so I postponed the garden until after the approaching Arctic Blast. We should awaken to light snow in the morning and temperatures falling into the low teens by tomorrow night. It may be next week before I can get out there with a hoe, a stack of old newspaper, more cardboard, and the bale of hay, but it isn’t going to grow now, so it can wait.

    Sometimes the best of plans must change. Instead of garden, it has been a knitting, cooking, and reading day after a nice walk.

    Another pair of fingerless mitts and a few more inches on the scarf, both for the Holiday Markets.

  • And You Thought Garden Posts Were Done for the Year – Nov. 10, 2019

    The last few nights have been very cold for this time of year. A couple hovering around 20 f but today the day time temperature is above 60 f, the sky clear and very little wind. With one more day similar to this due tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to prep the garden for winter and to get the perennial onions and garlic planted.

    The bed that was designated for it is a 4′ x 4′ raised bed that had sunflowers and cucumbers in it this past summer. It was cleared of stalks and a few weeds. Each time I put straw or woodchips in the chicken run, they scratch them into wonderful compost mixed with their droppings and some of it gets kicked out the low end of the pen. I was able to gather a full wheelbarrow full of this rich compost to add to the bed.

    The alliums were planted, a thick layer of hay spread over the top and mesh fencing laid over the top to hold the hay in place in the wind and to keep the chickens from digging that bed up when I let them scratch in the garden during the winter.

    While I was in the garden, I pulled the Creeping Charlie from the Blueberry bed, removed the deteriorated tarp from over the mint bed, grabbed armloads of mint, dead pepper plants, and weeds to throw to the chickens. Cardboard was placed over the mint bed. I am going to add another layer to it when I can get some, place heavy rocks to hold it down and put hay over it too. Maybe I can regain control of that bed.

    Each morning, I go to the coop to let the hens out. They get free range time for several hours until the dogs need to go out again. Once I release them from the coop, I look in to see the cleanliness of the coop, to check to see if their water is frozen, and make sure their 5 gallon feeder still has feed. They have been only providing 1 or 2 eggs each day now for a couple of weeks, or so I thought. When I looked in the coop this morning, I saw an egg in the back corner opposite the nesting boxes so I climbed up in the coop to get it. Tucked in a neat nest there were 11 eggs. Sneaky birds. And I actually bought eggs yesterday at the Farmers Market.

    Having an extra dozen around with Thanksgiving coming is a good thing. Eldest son and family will be here for a couple of days so breakfast will be needed for 4, hubby doesn’t usually get up for it. Pumpkins pies will need to be made, so more eggs will be used than the usual amount. I cook an egg for the dogs each morning and sometimes one for me for breakfast or dinner. Now that I know they are being sneaky, I checked the coop while out in the garden and sure enough, there were two more in that corner, plus one in the nesting boxes. I guess I am going to have to check daily.

    If tomorrow proves to be another good day as forcast, after I go for my hearing aid fitting tomorrow morning, I will weed a couple more beds, cut back the asparagus tops and get hay on that bed as well. It is fenced off so the hens can’t get in it. Then the hens will be given time in the garden to scratch for bugs and seeds to help keep the weeds down in the spring. I still want to get help to redo the fencing and posts, but the garden is getting bedded down for winter.

  • History – 11/9/2019

    Today I was scheduled to demonstrate spinning at a museum in a near city. The museum was one I had never visited before, but was familiar with the road on which it was located, or so I thought. In order to facilitate getting there as promptly as possible, it is nearly an hour from home, I loaded the address into Google Maps. As I approached the exit from the Interstate, I activated the Google voice to guide me. There ended up being a bit of a problem. The road that Google insisted I turn on was 3 blocks beyond and on the opposite side of the rail tracks from where our group was set up, and that road was blocked off for the Veteran’s Parade. I knew where the Transportation Museum was located on the side of the tracks where I was, so I stopped there to ask directions. A bridge over the tracks and another right turn brought me back where I thought I was supposed to be, but alas, due to the parade, parking was scarce. I finally parked in the museum employee parking, hoping not to get a ticket. My wheel, spinning basket, and tote of costume were loaded indoors, changed, and set up to spin only to discover that I had failed to bring either wool combs or wool cards with me which meant spinning from clean Jacob locks all day.

    We had one friend with two tables of Colonial games and toys, another friend with her tape loom weaving tapes. A fiddler, various soldiers with kits and uniforms, and me spinning. The admission today was free, the Museum of Western Virginia has displays, talks, and snacks for the visitors and they were excited that quite a number of families with children came. Normally they have very few children visitors.

    Many photos were taken, none by me. It was a good day and interesting just spinning from locks and getting a pretty even yarn, though it should be fun when it is plyed as I didn’t bother to separate colors and since it wasn’t blended in any way, it isn’t gray. About half a bobbin was filled. Since it is not spun from roving or even rolags, I will finish the bobbin from locks and ply it to display with the skein of combed Jacob that I usual put out with my spindles, lucet, Nosepinne, bone knitting needles, and niddy noddy. Usually I am sitting on a Jacob pelt, but since they were providing tables and chairs, I did not take it.

    Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, indoor
    Photo credit Kyle Griffin

    Many photos were taken of me today as is always the case when dressed in Colonial garb and demonstrating.

  • Voyeurism II – Nov. 8, 2019

    In March 2013 when I was just beginning to blog, I did a post that I have revisited to read many times. As the trees have lost their leaves for the most part, the week of several hard freezes at night beating down the underbrush, our hay field having been brush hogged, being able to see the deer, turkey, and occasional coyote reminded me of the post. Though much of my archives are trapped in the ether, never to be seen again, I had some of the early ones saved. I am going to revisit parts of it here.

         The overcast weather brings the wildlife out into view.  The week has brought a large flock of wild turkey repeatedly out to forage the hay field for bugs and seed.  Each late afternoon and often early mornings, a herd of deer seemingly materialize from the edge of the trees, one at a time to graze in the same field, and a doe with her twins from spring frequent the area around the barn each evening. They seem to know that we are safe and do not flee when we are out around the house and going over to deal with the chickens. They raise their heads, look in our direction, and return to grazing on the still green grass.

     With the pups indoors and the lights inside kept low, we can sit and watch them.  When there is snow cover in the woods you can see them as they move among the trees before entering the field.  So far we haven’t had more than a sublimation snow shower, but may get a little early next week. At this time of year, the deer coats are dark and when they are still, they are perfectly camouflaged in the trees.

    It is currently deer hunting season in this county. Bow season ended and black powder season is active. This time of year, I don’t like to walk our property or the country road off which we live even wearing a blaze orange vest and hat. Too many hunters are afoot and though we have our property posted, that is not always a deterrent. Our familiar neighbors are respectful of this and if a wounded deer from a non kill shot crosses over to our farm, will ask permission to look for it.

    We always worry a bit about our dogs during hunting season. Ranger, the mastiff is apricot color. He is a 200 pound dog and though he isn’t built like or moves like a deer, we don’t want him to be mistaken for one. Shadow is a German Shepherd and moves farther afield, though usually staying on our farm, but with the abundant number of coyotes/coywolves/coydogs in the woods, we don’t want her mistaken either. The alpha we see most is as large as a German Shepherd and is black. As a result, the dogs get much more supervised outdoor time during hunting season.

    Each season here on the farm brings different aspects to enjoy. The spring budding of trees, the young bunnies and fawns. Summer is haying, gardening, and enjoying the beauty. Autumn brings bright leaf color and and cooler weather. Winter, the voyeurism, warm fires, and hot cocoa or tea while wrapped in a hand knit shawl or a warm quilt.

  • Olio – 11/7/2019

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    We hired a contractor to do the log erection and rough carpentry on our retirement home. Our eldest and his family moved to the area to oversee that work and be our representative on site, eventually taking over the closed shell and doing all of the interior carpentry and interior and exterior stone work, including a very tall chimney from stone from our property. His wife worked with him, various student’s from the university, a cousin, even I assisted on parts I could do. All of his work is steller, open upper cabinetry, hand made doors, beautiful stone work. The contractor though wasn’t totally honest with him when he interviewed him and represented that he had built a log home before. Having never built a house before, we didn’t know whether to go with his flat estimate or go with cost plus. It turns out that with cost plus, if he worked, he paid himself so effectively getting paid twice. It also turned out that maybe he wasn’t quite as good as some aspects as he let on. One issue that we have had is leaks around roof vents, and one roof vent that failed due to sliding snow (not really his fault). We had snow strips added to the edges of the metal roof to slow down the slide, had that vent repaired, and the other vents resealed. Twice they have been resealed in the dozen years we have lived here and about 5 Christmas holiday’s ago, son tore down the dry wall soffit in the basement that we had only recently had finished by another contractor because of the leak. Son rebuilt the soffit with siding in a manner that I can quickly remove a panel to put a catch pan up there when the leaks begin. We recently after a long dry summer started having rain and a new leak. The panel was removed, the drip pan put in the ceiling, and roofing estimates gathered. That was frustrating as several roofers said they would come out and then called and said they couldn’t. One did come, he had been recommended by our daughter after she had to have her roof replaced after a wind storm, and he noted two issues. The vent stack boots were the type for asphalt shingle roofs, not metal ones and they were set in seams instead of between them. Two men climbed a very long ladder this morning, up on the three story part of the roof, loosened the metal panel where the two suspect vents were, and replaced the boots with the proper kind, sealed them with the proper kind of sealant (not silicone on a metal roof), and safely climbed back down before the afternoon rain. Hopefully the leak is stopped. I will monitor it through the next few rains before I screw the panel back in place.

    Facebook denied my page name change for the third time with the same form letter. The page is gone. It will be difficult for me to leave Facebook entirely as I get notification from my re-enactment group and the museum where I volunteer through it, but I am going to become very inactive on it otherwise.

    Last weekend, when my friend and I were demonstrating spinning in costume at Booker T. Washington National Monument, we were also allowed to vend. A gentleman approached and saw my hand spun, hand knitted fingerless mitts, realized I had a pair in men’s size, tried them on and liked them. He picked up a skein of hand spun yarn I had for sale and asked if it was possible for me to make him mitts from it. It is hard to turn down a request like that, but I really don’t like to knit the mitts from fingering weight yarn and the skein was fingering weight Coopworth with lots of color variation and texture. I have spent the week knitting the mitts two at a time so they will match.

    I need about 1/2-3/4″ more of ribbing at the top and the thumbs and they should be on their way by the end of the weekend.

    Saturday, I will don the Revolutionary War costume and demonstrate spinning at the Museum of Western Virginia for part of the day. It will be cold, again, but at least it will be indoors.