Time Off

I am taking a couple of weeks off to refresh and rejuvenate myself and my etsy shop.  I will be dyeing lots of wool, designing and drawing out new patterns, filling special orders, learning how to take better photographs, and reading up on how to be a better teacher.  I will not be answering the phone, but I will check my email periodically.  Orders will have to wait until mid-August.  If I'm not back here by the end of the month, call in the Mounties.

Etsy-ing

I am working on getting my etsy shop back in order.  I've been posting a listing or two each day, and will try to continue to do so, so my patterns are available to anyone who wants them.  I'm trying to enjoy the summer and get some house projects done at the same time, so things are going slowly.  Pete's father, who turned 98 on the 4th of July, was hospitalized last week, so we have been keeping up with family and planning a our trip out to Wisconsin to visit.  He has rallied and is now in a nursing home.  He was playing cards yesterday, so that is a good sign.  

I bought a rug for my daughter at an estate sale yesterday.  I spotted a couple of copper pots in the kitchen and the fellow running the sale threw them in for free.  That was quite a score!  28 years ago I bought a small Mauviel oval stew pot in Paris which I love dearly.  I always wanted a big one, but when I priced them out at Williams-Sonoma five years ago or so, it was priced at over $1000 and even if I had millions of dollars, I wouldn't pay that much for a pot.  I think copper has come down in price a bit, but these pots are still quite costly, so I am pleased at punch to have these two.  We are going to have them re-tinned and then I will polish them up.

I Need a Vacation from My Vacation

Pete and I are back home again after a week in Seattle helping our daughter and her partner renovate their new condo.  We spent a week working all day, every day, often into the night -- painting, tiling, going to the dump, shopping at Home Depot, painting some more.  We weren't able to do it all -- they are working on the flooring this weekend -- but we made a big dent in it.  It was fun, but exhausting.  We aren't as young as we used to be.

The Sagres on the right, the Kalmer Nyckle center, taken from the deck of the Hermione

Seattle was hot and sunny -- we could see Mount Ranier every day.  We took one day trip down to Olympia to have lunch with Pete's oldest brother and went to a berry farm and a place that smokes salmon.  We walked Lucy, Clara and Josh's rescue dog, ate in a few really great restaurants, and did I mention that we painted . . .  a lot?

We got home at 1:30 last Thursday morning, slept a little bit, then prepared for house guests for the 4th of July weekend, which was also the weekend the Tall Ships came to our little village of Greenport.  There were six in all: the Kalmer Nyckle, the Sagres, the Lynx, the Picton Castle, the A.J. Meerwald, and the Hermione, a replica of Lafayette's ship.  It was a pretty spectacular site, these six ships in our harbor.  The village closed off the streets.  There was music and food and fireworks for four days straight.  Pete and I were still struggling with jet lag, but pushed our way through it.

Lafayette checking his cell phone

The guests and the boats left Monday and on Tuesday I led open hooking at the Farmhouse Quilt Company.  Are you surprised that I fell asleep in a chair when I arrived home?  Luckily, we had lots of left overs and I didn't have to cook.

The Hermione

We are getting back to our normal routine now.  I am hoping for a weekend full of sun and swimming.