Fire season in full swing.....

Been MIA again - just too much going on and in my down time I haven't felt like blogging.....such is life at times........

 So, first up here's what I'm spinning now. I had some handpainted roving I bought years ago that I had pulled apart at the color joins which leaves most of one color with bits of other colors on the end. So, I've spun 2 partial bobbins of the one that's mostly purple with bits of teal and pink.......

......and now I'm working on spinning the bag of mostly pink with bits of purple and teal. In theory what I should end up with once I finish all the spinning is several skeins that will coordinate with each other. What will I use them for, who knows.....

Much of the house is unpacked now except for my studio space. After some additional shelving goes up in the bedroom closet and laundry room I'll be ready to tackle the loom and sewing rooms. I can't believe how long it's taking to unpack after this move. I'm so ready for everything to be in it's place so I can get back to weaving and sewing. I was lucky to be able to find the roving to spin so I can work on something fun in the evenings.

On July 5th I, and several others left for Reno - some were going just to Convergence (weaving conference), and some of us were going to Convergence and also the Complex Weavers conference. I won't say a lot about the trip because I wasn't thrilled with it. I didn't like a casino venue........at all. I haven't been to Convergence in years as it hasn't been within driving distance - let's just say it was missing the WOW factor that I remember from years past. I did have some good seminars at both conferences and went on a nice artist studio tour one day. I apologize to those who love Reno, I did not and that's all I'll say. I did take photos of some of the exhibits and will eventually post some of my favorite pieces once I get them edited.

Fire season is in full swing. Last Sunday a thunderstorm moved through SW Oregon and started over 160 fires. Luckily many of them were put out relatively quickly but there are many that are growing. I've been watching the fire that's near our old house, less than 15 miles from where we're now living. It's very close, there are many on different levels of evacuation notice, not at our place so far. It really blew up yesterday. No, we are not living there now, thank goodness, and everything is out of the house except for some Christmas trees in the garage.........but we do still own the house and it is for sale, the property won't be worth much if the house burns down and all that's left is scorched earth. I've been listening to the ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) scanner channel online, it's fascinating to listen to firefighters on the ground, pilots in choppers and tankers, but it's also scary to hear when they're pulling out and accounting for all personnel. All the work firefighters and the supporting staff do is so appreciated - it's hard and dangerous work. I hope all stay safe and that they're also able to save homes as there are hundreds in dangers way right now between the fire near our other place (Taylor Creek Fire) and other fires in the area. Please send positive energy in Oregon's direction - the state needs it right now...........

MIA

Yes, I've been MIA for a bit - moving this time (buying, packing, moving, unpacking, selling) is horrible. I don't ever remember it being like this past moves. Anyhow 2 weeks ago it took the movers 2 days to get us moved. I'm still not unpacked, nowhere near unpacked but I just can't worry about it at the moment - I'm not running a race. In past moves within a week, 2 at the most, I was totally unpacked, house set up......not happening this time. 


We finally listed our other house, not much activity in a hot market, so I'm thinking it's listed too high.......like I said all along when our realtor gave us a price range to consider. We decided to give it some time - thinking time is up this week.........


Last Wednesday the AC went out in the new house and for some reason this house holds the heat. It's been unbearable inside the house, even with fans - it's been lovely outside in the shade.......so not as much unpacking getting done around here. Luckily our realtor got us a home warranty so it will be fixed but the soonest an HVAC company could come out is this Wednesday afternoon. I'm sure that will be to diagnose the issue, then we'll wait for the fix. At least we don't have humidity here on top of the heat..........


Since there's no unpacking happening in the loom or sewing/craft rooms right now I'll leave you with a few pix of the yard. For a small city lot we've got lots of fruit. I didn't take pictures of the 2 plum trees - not many plums on them and they're grossly in need of a manicure - so overgrown and thick. That will happen at the proper time and I will be getting guidance on how to trim fruit trees at that time.

One of the two apple trees.......

....a close up of the apples, we have no clue what type of apples on each tree......

.....blackberries coming over the fence from the cow pasture - they're along the entire back of the yard - I can see blackberry jam production here in August.........

.......one of two grape varieties.......we understand there are white grapes and red grapes - right now they're all green..........

.....and finally, my favorite color of rose, yellow - there are many rose bushes along the fence although not many roses at the moment since they were loaded with spent flowers when we moved in, I've trimmed them back and there are new buds coming out now.