This Just In

When Ian came home from town yesterday, he found this box waiting at the gate. My fleeces are back from Morro Fleeceworks! I'm pretty certain this is last time I'm going to have any of our fleeces processed - it's just way too expensive.
These bags are over 17 pounds of roving. I think that will keep me supplied for the rest of my life. I'm thinking that this year when we shear, I'll just offer to fleeces to anyone who wants to process it themselves.
It's disap-
pointing that all three of our wethers have become almost the same color. Left to right: Mickey Mouth, Robbie the Ram and Oliver Twist. The black is Sven, a gift last year from Kathy LeFevre in Flagstaff. They all are lovely, soft and silky. I LOVE to spin Shetland.

And of course they're not going to fit back in the box. Charlie gave up trying to figure out a way to get into the box, so he's settled for just being close to the box.
I wanted more than anything to spin up a few samples, but this is where I've spent the last couple of days. After I got home Wednesday, a cold virus moved in on me like a swat team and has completely disabled me. It's kinda scary that a "common cold" can do that.

This is the last week for my old sofa. You can see how problematic not having an arm is. The stuff that doesn't fall off the end, falls into the cracks between the cushions. So I've mostly read and slept. I did take Theresa's suggestion and knitted my vest button bands in seed stitch - that was the extent of knitting.

I picked up my hold for David Baldacci's latest book Hell's Corner on Wednesday and read half that night and the rest yesterday. It was the perfect mindless read. I've also finished You Had me at Woof by Julie Klam, nonfiction about living in Manhattan with dogs, getting involved in Boston Terrier rescue, and how becoming a responsible dog owner helped her become a responsible adult. Loved it!

I wanted to share this from the book: “A very wise dog woman once told me that dogs find their owners, not the other way around. They pick you and they choose to stay with you. In that way, they are also giving you the end of their life. The deeper the bond, the harder it is to say good bye. I know I’d rather have any amount of time with a dog I love and suffer the mourning than not have the time at all.”
It was a lovely day, sunny and 57 degrees. My doctor's advice for a virus is to get lots of rest, hydrate yourself well, get warm and stay warm, even if that means soaking in a hot bath. I swaddled myself and sat on the deck all afternoon. At times I was too warm, but I stuck it out.

I'm reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie on my Kindle for book group in another week. I'm surprised at how unintimidating a large and complicated book like this is, when I'm just pressing the turn page button. It's easy to get lost in the story. I'm not aware of how much is left and all of a sudden a quarter of the book is read. I can highlight selections I'll want to reference in the meeting as well as make notes - no more sticky yellow notes all over the book.

Meanwhile, the weather has just started to turn and the wind is picking up - phew. Indian Summer in January is nice but it's also very scary and wrong.