Saturday, August 31, 2013

A study in sunflowers

I love sunflowers. I'm always amazed when I grow them. Their size amazes me, how beautiful they are, and the bees that I always find crawling around on their faces.
 
Here is a study in sunflowers:
 
Yellow Blue and Green
 
 
 
 
Outlines
 
 
 
 
Sunny Farmstead
 


 
View From Below




Click on any of the images to view them larger.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Mailing List??

I've just been reading that I should have a mailing list to keep fans abreast of new books when they come out. Lol! I'll have to write some more first : )

 I have so much darn fiber laying around that needs to be spun up, and orders to fill, that it will be awhile before I ever sit down to write another book. But I have been hankering to do just that lately... Hmm... Maybe I'll have to investigate this mailing list stuff.

Summer is a busy time - keeping weeds at bay in all of my garden plots; searching for, collecting, and using natural dyestuffs as they come and go throughout the season; trying to process all of the raw fleece I bought at the spring and early-summer fiber festivals into yarn. There's just not a lot of time for writing. Maybe this winter.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Wildflowers

My husband and I went on a drive up near the lake shore (of Lake Erie) last week. On one of our walks in the area, we found a beautiful forest carpet of wild geraniums. They went on and on, just beautiful (click on the pictures to see them larger):
 

 Hidden among the wild geraniums were mayapples. You have to bend low to glimpse the flowers under their broad leaves:
 

Spring can be a beautiful time of year.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Rambling...

Last weekend I found myself walking through a collection of vintage cars and trucks belonging to a collector in Akron. My favorite cars were from the 40's and 50's. The curves and style of those autos were truly works of art. My favorite in the whole collection, though, was this delivery truck. It's like something from a children's story:


On a walk in the snow one day, I came across the imprint that some sort of raptor - owl or hawk - left after swooping to grab a small meal. The wing prints are on the right and left , the tail print behind, and on the left is a place where the bird hopped with its conquered prey and left blood in the snow before flying away with its meal:



And here is my gray cat with her doppelganger:

 
 
I finally placed orders for seeds - a little late, a few things that I wanted were already sold out. I'm always a little over zealous when it comes to planning my gardens anyway. Sitting in your house with the snow blowing around outside somehow leads to visions of huge, lush gardens filled with unending varieties of vegetables and flowers. In the heat of summer, when the weeding is starting to fall behind, the reality is much different. I'm sure I can get along with a few less plants to worry about : )

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Book Signing!

If you're in the neighborhood on Saturday, February 9th, stop by the Old Trail School on Ira Road in Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the indoor farmer's market. The market runs from 9 AM to noon, with lots of terrific vendors, and I'll be there, too, signing books!

I'll most likely have my drop spindle with me, getting some spinning in when not signing all those books : )

Seriously, if you're in the neighborhood, drop by - the market is terrific!