Tag Archives: Spring

Spring!

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There has been a lot going on since last I wrote long ago. Spring is definitely here. Weeks ago our pear tree bloomed.

pear tree blossom

Before that we started being puppy sitters one weekend a month for the NEADS organization which trains service dogs. NEADS.org  They want them to spend weekends in a home so that they get experiences outside of the Early Learning Center where the youngest stay before being given to inmates to train during the week. This time we have a bigger guy and he and the chickens entertain each other. They show no fear of him and he is calm but I imagine if they were out running around and he was not on a leash that interaction might change out of excitement. They are dogs after all! We won’t be testing that idea out.dog with chickensI feel a little sad when we drop them off and wonder about them afterwards but our mindset is that we are doing this because we like being around dogs but don’t want one full time. We know that their higher purpose is to be a loving companion and helper for someone with a disability. As an OT and a person who would very much want a dog if I were disabled I feel purpose in having one each month. After all the training is complete including training with their soon to be owner they have graduations for the people and their dogs.  At orientation they told us that the prisoners are allowed to go and most end up crying. I feel tearful right now thinking about seeing these puppies we watch all grown up and leaving with their person with whom they will share such a special bond.

My high school and college friends and I are experiencing our big 60th birthdays which seems kind of bizarre. It is getting me to look back on life a bit. College friends and I will be renting a house on a lake in Maine in July and my high school friends and I will be gathering in NC in 2018. How does this happen?

We feel the same inside as we did then, and now.

Heather just gave me a treasure- her family’s heirloom spinning wheel! In high school for the seven of us each other’s families were our extended family and having this means so much. It is clear I am not much into hair style changes and so glad I don’t choose pants like those anymore. 🙂mag 7 young

In April we had a wonderful Easter with my niece who came from Atlanta to see a childhood friend of hers – we Burnhams are big into our long time friends- run the Boston Marathon. She wore Steve’s BMX racing jersey so her friend could easily see her.  marathon

She and Kyle got to hang out in Boston after he picked her up at the airport on Saturday. Then she got to meet the chickens. She thinks they live in a chicken resort and she isn’t that far off.cousins with chickens

I learned that we share a fear of snakes. We came upon a little one- they are all small and none are poisonous around here but that doesn’t matter, my view is that they could still slither back and forth over your feet if they wanted and they just might if you stick around   🙂  from which I ran and she screamed. She said it got our neighbor’s attention in the next yard but I didn’t look out of embarrassment. No time was taken to snap a picture of that creature before I left the scene. He has several friends around here who love our old stone walls as much as we do.

I have been doing a lot of spinning and fiber preparation teaching and the fall is crammed with more. fib prep zzFirst in September are three classes I am teaching at the Fiber College of Maine. fibercollege.org  Again the 5 class Sheep to Shawl workshop at Assabet Valley Vocational High School’s adult ed program called Assabet After Dark, an overview of the Sheep to Shawl process at Weir River Farm in Hingham MA, then we are bus trip leaders to Rhinebeck for the Sheep and Wool festival. In November I will share a booth with my friend Dorothy at the New England Fiber Festival Nov. 5-6.  2 more workshops are pending. More on all of those as the time gets closer. Lots of excuses to dye. As if I need any. dyeing may 2017

Fiber, friends, family and animals (except those conniving snakes)- clearly I don’t need much more than that to be happy. Something that hasn’t changed over all these decades.

me with angel

A neighbor’s Shetland pony, Angel, one of her 3 ponies who I was lucky enough to be able to be around whenever I wanted.

Onward to Spring

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Here are some random thoughts and updates as I move towards spring.

I gasped quietly when I saw in my  yard on April 1st:

crocus April 1 (1)

First Crocuses!

The snow is receding like a glacier and this gives perspective on my excitement at the sight:

crocus April 1 (2)

Crocuses by snow

On Saturday spinning friends gathered at my house and as promised some big scary dangerous equipment came also.  The picker is used to open fiber up for spinning and is the first step to getting rid of any short fibers and vegetation. Short fibers can be the result of what are called second cuts when shearing. The path of the shearing blades is not always exact and they may have to go over an area again- like when a lawn is mowed and a small length remains on the side of the path-that results in some short fibers in the fleece. A few second cuts and some vegetation are not a problem and come out with processing.  If I am choosing fleeces and there are a lot of short cuts and a lot of vegetation I pass it by since a lot of time would be needed to get them out and wouldn’t be worth it.

I love the sign that comes with the picker.  I feel so important because of it.  Like I operate heavy construction machinery.

picker front

Wool picker warning

Here is why it works so well, why we wear protective gloves and why I would never have it anywhere no matter how well guarded in a house with children. What a great feature it would make in a murder mystery.

picker with fiber

Picker with fiber

I have some beautiful Cotswold fiber I dyed green in it here. Truth be told I seemed to have felted it a bit so opened it up with the mighty picker jaws that I swing back and forth. Now I will hand comb it to get out any end felted fibers that came off and will be able to use it good as new. Cotswold is a rare breed with long lustrous curly locks. Its shine, or sheen, remains when spun. Some day I will talk more about that breed since it is so beautiful.

My last Gulf Coast fiber from my sheep of the month March  is Fernando. Here is the picture I posted of him as unprocessed washed locks.

Fernando

Fernando

Here he is after going twice through the picker:

Fernando picked

Fernando picked

He weighs 22 ounces. Not sure what I will do with him but he’ll be ready when I am.

So, you know you are an out of control spinner when you were on an escalator yesterday at Logan airport and you see on the floor below tiles that create different Massachusetts scenes such as a runner in the Boston Marathon and you are delighted to see a spinner at an old walking spinning wheel pictured so you stop when you get to it and realize it is a fisherman at the wheel of an old sailing ship. Which you love too but not the same. Darn it.

Funny Spinning Fact

It is a scientific fact that every spinner who has a significant other be he or she called husband, boy friend, girl friend, partner has gone through an initial time when this person has tried to get the spinner to limit their fiber stashes, and failed. Supposedly reasonable comments such as “don’t you have enough” “what will you do with it” “where will you put it” are silently  ignored and after a time they give up. It is bigger than they are. But here is a funny story about old time spinners in Iceland that I read in Bette Hochburg’s book Spin Span Spun. It says that after the men finished their work they would card wool for the women and someone would tell stories and lead the group in singing.  I am sitting here enjoying the image of our partners engaging in that together. Especially singing. But I know they won’t go that far!

Last but not least:

Update on discarding fiber paper clutter:

I have been working my way through paper files that I have on fiber and fiber related information. I am happy to announce that I am done and since I like to weigh things I can say I have discarded and recycled 19 pounds of paper and files. Nineteen. Now my home files and my fiber files fit in one file cabinet drawer. Hurray! Can you get rid of some too??  It isn’t mandatory to weigh it, just dig in, do 5 a day like I did!

Happy April and the start of sheep and wool festival season in New England. Saturday April 26th is the Connecticul Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival  in Vernon Connecticut.  http://www.ctsheep.org/sheep_and_wool_festival

Let the games begin!

 

 

The Smallest of Encouragements

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I am a firm believer in appreciating and enjoying even the smallest positive things in life for many reasons, not the least of which is that they are always present if we look for them. Life has ups and it has downs and enjoying the small things is a big help in the challenging times. And fun in the up times!

I found enjoyment and encouragement in two small Spring signs in the past two days when I least expected them. On Monday I noticed that some ground against the back of our house was bare and that spring bulbs are taking advantage and coming up! Here they are and if they are difficult to see since they are short now, my next picture of the snow pile next to them will explain why I didn’t get closer to take the picture. I guess I could lie on top of the snow pile to get one but I am not that avid a photographer! I have made the first one large so the bulbs can be spotted. The next two won’t be because they might scare you if too large.

spring bulbs March 2015

Spring Bulbs in March

snowbank March 2015

Snowbank March 2015

The snow isn’t as deep everywhere as this because it has been piled here. It is all working on melting now.

The ability of living things to survive in weather extremes in nature has always fascinated me. I remember seeing 3 deer a few years ago and thinking they looked young- then realized they were probably just thin because it was near the end of winter. On the deer front, in October I was in the yard when a buck walked into it. I stood watching him from maybe 150′ away and he watched me. When he started to paw the ground like a bull I decided it might be time to quietly go inside! The other day my husband heard the chickens making a ruckus and looked out to see what was wrong. He saw a deer in the yard. Apparently they were angry at the intrusion. The deer didn’t seem to care.

The chickens keep on going despite the cold too. Of course we have tried to create the best winter environment for them by only leaving a few spots for ventilation so they won’t be in a draft, and have taken several other measures. My criteria when choosing the breed was cold hardiness and being docile. They live up to it. They keep on cranking out 3 brown eggs a day without us adding heat or extra light to fool them as some do. They are very social with humans but not deer apparently. This is an old picture and they are bigger now. Buff Orpington hens can get to 7 pounds but I don’t know how much they weigh. They are very social with humans and one always scurries to the top of this ladder when anyone approaches the run and they make happy noises. They know treats are likely involved!

Lilac

Lilac

Just as animal behavior interests me I also find human behavior interesting. When we have visitors I enjoy seeing their reactions to the chickens. Some give a cursory glance and continue the discussion in progress, some watch them with interest, and others- the majority because I would be drawn to friendships with animal lovers- talk right back to them, sometimes in chicken language, and then ask to go in the hen house and feed and hold them, all of which is easily accommodated.

Today I am off to spin at the yarn shop, Auntie Zaza’s Fiber Works, where I teach spinning and fiber preparation, and now soap making in a joint workshop she and I have where I teach soap making and she has them make  facecloths. Later I am looking forward to a talk at the Sharon Historical Society about life in the 1600’s. Of course if the speaker doesn’t bring up spinning I will. He must be doing that. I am reminded of the fact that many of the words and expressions in our language today come from our history with sheep and wool. I think I will start mentioning one in every blog post. Spinster is a fun one. At least it is for people like me for whom spinning is a fun hobby, not a survival skill. Spinsters were unmarried woman usually beyond what was then considered marriageable age, who lived with family and spun a lot of wool for the family and to bring income. Of course we link it with the other out of date term,  an “old maid,” which sounds negative but it gets me to thinking- food and shelter would be provided for me if I just… spun all day?? Hmmmm.

Okay, my other sign of spring happened yesterday when I was leaving work. I heard a redwing blackbird in a nearby marsh. Very exciting for me every year but especially this one. They traditionally come back from wherever they go in the month of March and I hope that shows that they think spring is on its way. I think I saw an Osprey last week on the Cape and they too come back now but I can’t say for sure if that is what I saw.

I am also looking forward to having my spinning group here on Saturday. I am pondering what to serve for lunch but know it will be something that uses eggs. A lot of eggs.