The Zees Go West

What I've Learned About Powwows

2012-01-25T06:51:00.001-07:00

We went to our first powwow (see Many Peoples Dancing as One). Here is what I have learned:

Powwows are gatherings of different Native American tribes, a time to preserve old ways and celebrate traditions with dancing, singing, eating, socializing, and some friendly competitions.

The first thing we saw was a group of people in the middle of the big room, sitting in a circle with their backs to those who had gathered to watch and/or dance. I thought they might be called drummers, as they certainly drummed together, but they are actually called the singers. Their songs were unfamiliar (and very thrilling) to me; they were apparently religious songs, as well as war and social songs.

The front seats in the arena are for the dancers. Any seat with a blanket on it is reserved, and uncovered seats in rows away from the front are considered unreserved and you may sit there.

Powwow organizers and those who take part depend on donations for travel money and support. Anyone can drop money onto the blanket laid on the ground during blanket dances.

You should remove your hat and stand quietly during the Grand Entry procession and during any special honor songs. Listen to the announcer for direction.

Different groups have different rules about photos. At the Red Paint Powwow we attended, observers were asked not to take photos; at the upcoming Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, pictures of group dancing are encouraged. Individuals who are waiting to dance should not have their pictures taken; this is a time of preparation and quiet reflection.

*****

I have "a typical Easterner bias," as was pointed out to me by a native Westerner friend, who was taking issue with my amazement at the deep patriotism of a people who had been abused by their government in the past. She pointed out that we are different people from the ones who took part in "all that." It was a surprise to me, to find myself identified as a typical Easterner even though I am proud to identify myself as a New Englander. Well, that's who I am and I can only tell you what I see and how it makes me feel.

For some other accounts of the same Red Paint Powwow, you can read our friend Patrick's blog post, Cultural Crossroad (he is an Easterner, too; a sociologist) and Andi Murphy's Native View on Red Paint (she is a Native American journalist from Crownpoint, New Mexico, on the edge of the Navajo reservation). Andi's post includes photos taken at the powwow; I imagine she had permission to take them because she is a journalist. I am glad that there is a pictorial record outside of the pictures I will carry in my memory.

Many Peoples Dancing as One: My First Red Paint Powwow

2012-01-22T06:01:00.007-07:00

Click on the poster to go to the Red Paint Powwow website

Yesterday we went with our friends, Pat and Mary, to the Red Paint Powwow in Silver City, New Mexico. It was an amazing experience and I wish that each of you could go today to see it. Those watching the dancing were asked not to take photos, so we have these pictures and sensations stored up in our memories:

The electrifying sound of the drums and singing that went straight inside of our chests

The exquisite clothing of the dancers

The live golden eagle watching the Grand Entry from his perch on the stage

The golden eagle head and feathers on the staff carried by the leader of the Grand Entry procession

The young girl with partly shaved head, Goth makeup, and black fingernail polish who, nonetheless, proudly and respectfully took part in the women's shawl dance

The young woman dressed in white and orange and blue with many beads, so beautiful you could hardly take your eyes off her, who danced side by side with her grandmother

The amazing, humbling patriotism of a mistreated people

The way veterans and active military people were honored, honored, honored, and constantly shown that their service would never be forgotten

The young Army couple who were so honored. They first danced in army fatigues and boots, with a fringed shawl for her, and a feathered staff for him. They disappeared for a while and then came back in full tribal regalia, so beautiful. It took us a while to recognize them, and we thought about the swings from one culture to another that they must experience every day.

A small child in the arms of her drumming mother; another carried by his grandfather during a blanket dance.

These are just some of the pictures swirling through my mind this morning, in and out of the echoes of the chanting drummers. I'll tell you some of the things I learned about powwows in the next post.

Dweezil's Day Out

2012-01-19T15:31:00.004-07:00

Parents with a lot of kids plan activities to give each child some special individual time; folks like us who run multi-pet households do the same. Yesterday was Little Pete's turn for a walk along the Rio Grande, and today was a special outing for Dweezil. *

First we went to PetSmart to get a collar, tag, and a harness to replace the Dreaded Red Garment that we use with all our new pups to keep them from backing out of a collar when learning to walk nicely on a leash. Here is Dweezil meeting a talkative bird, and explaining to her that he doesn't always wear this ugly red thing.

And here is Dweezil, discussing wardrobe misfortunes with another new friend. Excuse the photos, I am just learning how to use my iPhone as a camera.

Once we had Dweezil properly outfitted, we discovered that we didn't have the right tool in the car to put the new identification tag onto the new collar. You know, the ID tag with his name on one side and our address and cell phone number on the other side. Oh, well, we'd put it on at home [cue the ominous organ music here], right after we took little Dweez out for a nice walk in the desert [continue with the foreboding music here] using the new handsome harness and the new unfamiliar retractable leash.

Little dog, big desert

I suppose with all this ominous music swirling around in the background (use your imagination), you are thinking that we are doing several really, really dumb things all at the same time. I know, I can hear your thoughts:

1) Omg, they are taking a little pup out on his inaugural walk with an unfamiliar retractable leash!
2) Omg, they are leaving the brand new ID tag in the car. In the car!!! What good will it do there?
3) What's wrong with these people?

You would also be cursing us even further if you knew that we were far from home (for a little pup) in totally unfamiliar territory, but not too far from a highway and a bunch of busy four lane roads.

Okay, okay, I know we were beyond dumb. And you know what happened:

The retractable leash slipped out of Beez's hand and the handle loudly clunked to the ground behind little Dweezil, who (up until that moment) was behaving perfectly well and sniffing some coyote scat by a mesquite bush.

Hearing something big smack the ground behind him just when he was thinking about coyotes, Dweezil panicked and ran, and the horrible handle thing chased him, making him run all the faster.

Beez chased Dweezil and they disappeared over the hill and toward all that traffic.

Where's the pup?

By the time I neared the big road, dreading the worst, I could see that Beez had taken the car to try to follow the panicky little pup who was dragging the thing that he thought was chasing him.

Just out of sight, a couple of parking lots over and still on our side of the big, traffic-filled road (lucky for everyone), an exhausted Dweezil sat down to think things over. A kind man grabbed the leash and left Dweezil tied to his car while dashing inside his workplace to grab his phone. Lucky for us, Dweezil was outside where Beez could see him when driving by.

All were reunited safely, and no one had to explain to the nice man when thanking him that his phone wouldn't have helped anyway because the tag with the phone number was in the bag in the car and not on the pup's collar where it should have been.

Dweezil is here with us at home now, taking a nap in the sun (wearing his new collar and ID tag), while Beez and I think really hard about how smart people (well, we used to think we were fairly smart) can do really, really dumb things and how everything can go badly wrong in the wink of an eye. And how things could have been much, much worse, except for the kindness and quick thinking of a stranger.

❤ ❤ ❤

*If you haven't met Dweezil before, he is introduced in Christmas Story and Now, About That Pup

Run, Mr. Coyote!

2012-01-15T16:37:00.001-07:00

Peaceful Sunday morning. Coffee. Newspaper.

Hey! Hot air balloons.

Grab the cameras, dash out front. Chihuahuas follow and make merry, cavorting around our heels.

Hey! A coyote, coming this way through the orchard!

Grab the chihuahuas. Aim the camera. Hey! The battery is dying. Stick in a new battery, get pix of coyote as he comes closer...

... and closer...

... and passes by, around the corner and out of sight. Hey! Run out back to check the chickens, to be sure that Bitey Albertina hasn't eaten the coyote!

Wave to the last of the coyote-herding hot air balloons. Wave to the passing drivers who are admiring my pink jammies.

Peaceful Sunday morning. Coffee. Newspaper.

*****

Disclaimer: As you know, exclamation marks are now an endangered species because of overuse on the internet. No exclamation marks were harmed in the writing of this post, and all will be set free in a safe environment as soon as I get changed out of these pink jammies.

Pinterest (Just in Case You Have Any Leftover Computer Time)

2012-01-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

I've just put a new Pinterest badge down below that will appear on this blog from now on. If you don't know about Pinterest, stop right here and complete all your chores for the day before you read any further. Trust me, you'll want to clear your schedule.

There. All done?

You know how you come across wonderful ideas on the web and just need a place to keep them? I've always set up little document lists to look at later--great chicken websites, links to knitting projects I'd like to do someday, wonderful photos I come across, just to name a few. I'm sure that you have the same kinds of lists somewhere. The trouble is that all my little lists are scattered throughout my document files and I have to do some wandering to find them all.

Shelfari has already made a wonderful site where I keep all my lists of books that I want to read; now the clever people at Pinterest have given us each an infinite number of virtual "pinboards" where we can keep and share all kinds of interesting stuff. I was a little afraid at first, rightly sensing another online time sink, but I'm starting to think this is really a good thing.

So far, I've created boards for Travel Thoughts, Chickens, Books Worth Reading, Fiber Projects, My Style, and For the Home. To see any of them, click here. The possibilities are endless, however. You can categorize your boards for easy sharing, and there are categories for everything from Architecture, Food and Drink, and Gardening; to Health and Beauty, Photography, and on and on. You can even add a little bookmarklet to your toolbar that will allow you to instantly pin something of interest when you find it.

Just as Facebook has given us a place to find old friends, Pinterest has now given us a place to share interests. If you are on Pinterest, please let us all know in the comments for this post. Have fun!

Free Pecans!

2012-01-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Pecans as they look when they fall into our yard

As you may know, we live in the middle of a pecan orchard. The orchard that surrounds us belongs to someone else, but at this time of year when the wind blows lots of pecans land in our yard. We would never touch a pecan on someone else's tree or on their land, but the ones in our own yard are ours for the picking. We try to grab them up before the dogs get them, but it takes a bit of work before they are ready for use.

I have been trying to get all the bags of pecans I have in the freezer shelled so that there will be more room for green chiles, of course. There are quite a few bags from last year and they are taking up lots of freezer space--this is not a bad problem to have, because retail prices for pecans have been steadily rising due to the drought and an increased demand from China. Prices are expected to be around $11/pound at the store this year--both good and bad news for pecan farmers. Good, because that means they are getting a great price for all their hard work, and bad because such a high price will certainly discourage some grocery shoppers.

Here is how we prepare them. First, I remove any remaining husks and rinse and drain the nuts.

The first year we lived here, for shelling the nuts we used the old-fashioned nutcracker I had in the kitchen drawer. It looks much like this one, shown with an almond.

The old way (Google Images)

The work was fairly miserable, and formerly eager helpers started avoiding my kitchen. I figured there must be a better way--there is, and my new pecan sheller is wonderful. I found it on Amazon, and it makes the job quicker, more pleasant, and far more successful.

The new, much improved way

The nuts are cracked lengthwise

After removing the shells and sorting through for stray bits, we are left with these gorgeous pecans. They go into one-quart baggies and back into the freezer, where they take up a fraction of the space used by whole nuts in the shell. Our favorite holiday recipe this year was Pecan Shortbread, which you can find on my recipe blog, right here. Very delicious!

Now, About That Pup

2012-01-08T18:18:00.003-07:00

When I told the miraculous Christmas story of how we rescued that little pup from the road, some of you asked about what happened next. Did we keep him or did we take him to the animal shelter? Did he get a name?

Even though we are full up with pups, of course we decided to just fold him into the dog pack and give him a forever home. The poor animal shelter here is overwhelmed with foundlings and surrendered dogs and dogs rescued from abusive situations. Most of them don't find a home, alas, and the hardworking shelter folks have terrible statistics to report about how many dogs and cats are put down every month.

We figured we could do better than that. After checking the lost and found ads in the paper and on Craigslist, we named him Dweezil, which goes well with our almost-fictional last name of Zee. We dug out a collar from our vast store of puppy stuff, and prepared to love him forever. He was such a little cuddler. We were getting ready to make an appointment with the vet for an exam, shots, and the Necessary Operation.

And then--he dug out of the yard and scampered down the road again, straight for the railroad tracks. Beez followed in the car and talked with people who had seen him and who had tried to catch him, with no luck. Those short little legs had hit the road again and that seemed to be that.

I struggled to make this fit into my Bluebirdian Philosophy, where everything always has a happy ending. I worried that he had a home somewhere and that we had just interrupted his journey. Yes, we worried and we paced and we called and we looked out the window and--there he was, hours later, attempting to dig his way back in.

He was exhausted and muddy and just wanted to cuddle and sleep. Later he woke to eat and to drink some water, then he was ready for more cuddling and sleeping.

Here's the thing: He did the same thing two more times--two more digging escapes and two more digging returns. We decided that he really did want to live with us, but just needed time to bond. Beez cemented around the most popular digging spots, and we kept a close eye on him, day after day. He snuggled, he made friends with Petey, and he bonded.

Here he is now. He loves us and we love him. He is finally allowed out in the fenced yard by himself and when he gets there, he does NOT head for the fence. He just waits for his best friend, Pete, and they chase each other around and around the yard, doing chest bumps. I tried to capture that for you, but the little guys were way too fast for me.

After the chest bumping subsides, they play tug of war with any old stick. I think our little Dweezil has chosen, and he has decided to stay with us.

By the way, he has been to our vet and the big news is that Dweezil is just a baby, only around 8 months old. Two other pups who seem to be the same age were found in our neighborhood on the same weekend; there is a little Dweezil twin up at the sad shelter. I think someone just dumped a litter, hoping that someone would find them and do the right thing.

I'm pretty sure we did the right thing for our little guy.

El Paso Saddle Blanket Company

2012-01-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect field trip to take with friends who had recently moved here from cold and frosty New England--on a sunny day we drove south to El Paso, Texas, to visit the El Paso Saddle Blanket Company, where you can wander through two acres of some pretty crazy stuff. You already saw the painted skulls and cowboy caskets in my last post, Enjoy Yourself; now, here is some more of what caught my eye.

A vintage car, cowhide sofas...

One of a kind chairs...

Motorcycles with longhorn handlebars...

And saddle seats...

Lots of boots and jewelry and saddles and blankets...

And terribly tempting, though kitschy pieces...
Come on, you know you'd love this in your living room--maybe next to a nice cowboy casket
just dripping with fringe and tooled leather!

We plan to go back, now that we have stopped reeling from all the amazing sights. I'm starting to think that I'd really like one of those painted skulls.

Enjoy Yourself!

2012-01-02T07:53:00.001-07:00

Photos taken at the El Paso Saddle Blanket Company

Live every day as if it were your last and then some day you'll be right. ~H.H. "Breaker" Morant

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. ~Elbert Hubbard and/or Bugs Bunny

Cowboy Casket.
Click to enjoy the tooled leather and fringe. Who wouldn't want this one?

Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you. ~Annie Dillard

Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. ~Charles Richards

Another really tacky cowboy casket (tacky in a good way, of course)

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite.

Or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil

or a better break

or a string of pearls

or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls

or another chance.

Everyone is just waiting. ~Dr. Seuss

Don't play this video unless you want the song stuck in your head, not a bad thing

Our Year in Review, Month by Month

2011-12-31T04:00:00.001-07:00

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Our year was made up of simple moments and simple pleasures. We welcomed friends from far away, we became travelers ourselves, we improved our surroundings, and, perhaps most important, we got chickens.

~Mrs. Zee

*****

I learned this trick from another blogger (Nan, was it you?)--To look back on the doings of the year, just take the first lines posted at the beginning of each month. It's as good a way as any to look at the things that happened.

January

Here is just one more thing that I would like to share with you about Christmas as we experienced it in New Mexico this year. We have a wonderful blend of cultures and traditions, and I think that this video expresses the diversity and experience quite beautifully.

Happy New Year! But First...

February

We love the idea of eating fresh, organically grown vegetables and fruits.

Why We Won't Eat Veggies

March

As I mentioned yesterday in the post titled Fixer, many of the more tender cacti around town have been killed off by our spell of bitter weather this winter.

Cross and Thorns

April

Having finished knitting a hundred sweaters for Knit for Kids (more about that later), I've decided that a person can accomplish a hundred of almost anything.

Come Walk With Me

May

There is probably a life lesson here: Wonderful, loving moments may happen too fast for us to focus on them properly.

Weetzie Love

June

Remember those cute little chicks we brought home a few weeks ago?

Chicken Coup (for spelling fans, this is about a chicken uprising, not poultry housing).

July

Happy Fourth of July!

Tombstone Flag

August

A few weeks ago, I showed you this yarn, the Bodega Bay colorway of Mini Mochi, which I got from Jimmy Beans Wool.

Socks: Bodega Bay

September

A week or so ago I took a little break from blogging, ostensibly to work on some fiber projects. While I was knitting, Beez and I took a train trip across the country.

By Rail Across the Country

October

On our last full day in Boston, we had a lovely sidewalk breakfast at a little bookstore on Newbury Street called Trident Booksellers & Cafe.

History, History, and More History

November

Way down in southern New Mexico

In a green valley

Along the Rio Grande

There is a pecan orchard

And in the middle of that orchard

You will see a little adobe house

And a little adobe garage

And next to the adobe garage sits a little chicken house...

Behind Door Number Three: The Egg Story

December

Yesterday, I showed you the "before" color in the mostly unused room at the front of our adobe house.

The "New" Dining Room

Happy New Year, everyone!

Winter Solstice

2011-12-22T05:46:00.002-07:00

Darkness.

Long nights.

Cold mornings.

We do what we can to make the winter days and nights warmer and more colorful

with bright quilts and blankets

and colorful, cozy woolen socks;

with family laughter and warm friends

while we are waiting for the light.

Here's to light and color and warmth and family and good friends.

Happy Winter Solstice to you all!

Christmas Story

2011-12-12T04:53:00.005-07:00

A weary stranger on the road, seeking shelter and warmth and safety. It sounds like a Christmas story to me.

He was cold. Cold and very hungry, and so thirsty. The days were long and dangerous enough with all the honking cars, but the nights seemed to last forever. He didn't know where to go, but he knew he had to get away from those mad singing coyotes and the big owls hunting in the orchard. He wasn't sure how to deal with the huge roaring monster of a train that came through every few hours, and he had crossed the track several times.

But, oh, he was so cold and lost and afraid.

***

We live on a road that runs between two heavily traveled streets. Although our place in the orchard is fairly quiet, there is a railroad track about half a mile away.We first saw the little dog when we were on our way out to breakfast and were worried that he was so near the road, but then he headed off toward a fenced yard and we figured that he had just been out for a little stroll.

Many hours later, I spotted the little guy once again. This time he was outside our fence, visiting with our dogs. I was worried about the traffic, and enlisted Beez's help. Grabbing a package of string cheese, I went out to see if I could get him to come in to safety.

It took over an hour of signalling cars and trucks to slow down and go around, and calling softly to Beez for more cheese. We learned early on that he was frightened of people, but terrified of men; so Beez stayed way back. Remembering the lost pup's lack of fear of other dogs, I got Little Pete to help. That did the trick: The little wanderer came into the yard to see Pete and to get another bite of cheese, and Beez materialized behind us and closed the gate.

Little Pete is always willing to help out

People began arriving for supper. My sister almost wept when she realized that this was the same dog she had tried to call to safety two days before. She had been haunted by the thought of him out there on his own, but he had been too frightened to come near. Now he seemed to remember her voice.

My husband, that good Beez, spent another hour out in the yard, getting the little guy to trust him enough to come into the house before nightfall's below-freezing temperatures. This is the man who earlier had put together his rightly-famous white lasagna and got it into the oven, while still managing to work patiently with the little wildling. Our dozen dinner guests quietly cheered him on from the living room until he arrived with the cold, tired pup cradled in his arms.

Once inside, with access to plenty of food, water, warmth, and comfy laps, the terrified and exhausted little pup underwent a pretty amazing change. He asked Helen to lift him up and hold him. He snuggled right down and fell asleep, safe at last. He was sleeping so hard, that first Jeff and then Jean took over the pup-holding duties, and he didn't even stir.

Around the big table, we smiled at each other and talked quietly of Christmas miracles.

Safe at last

Those Little Whatcha-Call 'Ems

2011-12-07T05:39:00.001-07:00

This is our house during our recent big snowstorm. We had hours of fine snowfall, a pretty brisk wind throughout, and temps down in the single digits. The snow started in the afternoon and continued most of the night. Sustained precipitation of any sort is rare, but very welcome, here in the desert. When we woke, we found that the highways in every single direction going out of town were shut down.

In this part of New Mexico we get a bit of snow every winter, but people like to say that it is gone by 10 AM the next day, and that is usually the case. This storm encased our plow-less roads in ice until at least 11:30 AM, but after that, all was well, the sun was out as usual, and the roads were clear and dry. In the meantime, we just put some fragrant piñon logs in the kiva fireplace and had a lovely day.

A fire in the kiva, a glass of wine, and some bread dough rising--what more do we need?

See those little outdoor lights in the first photo? They are the electric equivalent of the holiday lights traditionally made with candles set in sand inside paper bags. Around New Mexico there is a very geographically-based disagreement over what they are called. Up north around Santa Fe they are farolitos; down here in the south they are luminarias. [I'm telling you, I'm struggling with that automatic spellcheck thing, which tried to change the words in that previous sentence to frailties and luminaries!]. Folks in the northern part of the state use the word luminaria to describe the small vigil fires made along the road side during the nine nights of the celebration of Las Posadas, which culminates on Christmas Eve.

We have a very witty friend who believes he has solved the whole controversy by renaming them candle-baggios. We love it, and candle-baggios is what we plan to call them from now on, making a nice new New Mexico Christmas tradition for our friends and family.

Advent Calendars

2011-12-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

An advent calendar is a card or poster with twenty-four small doors, one to be opened each day from December 1 until Christmas Eve. Each door conceals a picture. This popular tradition arose in Germany in the late 1800s and soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Originally, the images in Advent calendars were derived from the Hebrew Bible.

Considered a fun way of counting down the days until Christmas, many Advent calendars today have no religious content.

* * * * *

My Advent calendar is a little cupboard full of drawers. I know you are probably getting tired of hearing this after all my recycled furniture stories that I have been telling you, but this little cupboard also came from the much-loved Swap Shop in our old New Hampshire town. It has brought delight to many, many children, as I used to take it to school with me every year so the kids could take out one ornament a day and place them on our little library tree. There were always plenty of helpers available to take the tree down, carefully wrap each tiny ornament in bubble wrap, and find the right drawer to place it in.

The cupboard with the doors closed

With the cupboard doors open, the 24 little drawers are revealed.
Here are the ornaments for the first three days of December, ready to hang on a little tree

Detail of the drawers

The Advent tradition continues each year at our adobe house here in southern New Mexico. I've always wished that I could thank the person who left this little cupboard at the Swap Shop (where the sign over the door says "Take It or Leave It") with all the ornaments wrapped so carefully. It has brought joy to many.

If you would like to see a very different sort of Advent calendar, you can bookmark the site for the 2011 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar, which features beautiful (beyond beautiful, actually) photo stories of Hubble images of the wonders of our universe; one for each day of December.

For a traditional religious Advent calendar, with daily "reading, meditation and prayers based around Mary's journey to Bethlehem, from her meeting with the Angel to the first Christmas in Bethlehem," see Advent 2011, with an introduction to the calendar here.

The "New" Dining Room

2011-12-01T04:00:00.008-07:00

Yesterday, I showed you the "before" color in the mostly unused room at the front of our adobe house.

Here is a little hint of the color to come. I wanted colorful curtains and found some fabric that would have done the trick; alas, it would have cost way more than any curtains should ever cost. Instead, I bought some screaming yellow broadcloth on sale and sewed yellow and green and orange ribbon along the edge. Just having those heavy, dusty old wooden slat blinds out of the room was a huge improvement, and the yellow curtains are very cheery!

The rocking chair in the corner was rescued from the dump in New Hampshire, as was the little green table next to it. Now that I think of it, the picture frame, brass lamp, and lampshade all came from the same place--the Swap Shop at our old recycling center. I love this kind of recycling.

The chair has been named The Beth Chair, in honor of Beth in North Carolina, a blogger I have only met via the Internet. She writes Blue Ridge Blue Collar Girl, and I hope you'll go right over and say hi. That Beth Chair will be painted the same green as the woodwork in the room, which you may or may not be able to make out in a later photo.

The sweet little stained glass fan lamp was made by my wonderfully creative sister, Auntie Bucksnort. The two framed pictures on the windowsill are closeup photos of a mural in Santa Fe, taken by another creative relative, my very own son Benjamin.

You've already seen both the chicken cabinet and Gracie the cat on this blog before. That tilt-top table/bench belonged to my parents. It gets refinished once a generation, and I just completed my turn a couple of years ago. You can see in this photo that the room is a nice, sunny yellow. It was meant to be a faint buttercream, but fate apparently had other intentions.

I put this not-so-good picture in so you can catch a glimpse of the green trim, there to the left. There isn't a lot of woodwork in an adobe room, so I figured that the green wouldn't be overwhelming.

This side of the room still needs some attention. Those bookcases, painted melon for our last house (and blue for the house before!), will get painted a nice light yellowy green. The pictures will get hung up, no easy task with our rock-hard adobe walls. That little cabinet is from Mr. Bean at the Las Cruces Farmers Market. We have so many of his pieces that we are running out of places to put them, but I love his wonderful color combinations and always want just one more.

This picture (actually a notecard by Diana Bryer in a frame) of a woman rolling out tortillas used to be in the kitchen, but the color is just perfect for the new room.

Here is a closeup of one of the pictures that has been hung. The print is from the Farmers Market, and that is the frame from the dump, now spray painted and hung back-side-out, because I like it that way.

Yet another picture to be hung; it's a print mounted on a flat basket tray that came from... you guessed it! The dump!

Here is a quick snap of the new dining room, ready for action on Thanksgiving. It was a potluck, with Bucksnort doing all the turkey/stuffing/gravy/potatoes, etc. in my kitchen, and friends bringing along the side dishes and dessert. All I had to do was paint! We hadn't quite finished setting the table when I took this picture. I really should have waited until moments later, when the table was surrounded by a dozen good friends; laughing, eating, toasting each other, and talking as though they would never run out of things to say.

I used to read this book to the kids in my New Hampshire library, explaining to them that I would someday live in a house hecha de lodo, made of mud--and, I do!

Painting and Painting

2011-11-30T04:00:00.001-07:00

I have been painting and painting, in between spinning and knitting and sewing curtains. Here is our dining room before, painted (by someone else) an uninteresting and rather dark shade of brown/beige/cafe au lait. Call it what you will, it really bothered me and this room was therefore underutilized except for my computing and flipping paper messes here and there. It also had those heavy wooden blinds that made everything seem dark and that always featured a good coat of impossible-to-remove dust that wafted in from the surrounding agricultural lands.

This is the room that you see when coming in the front door. No one knew what to call it; I thought it was too small for a living room, but just the right size for a dining room, since the kitchen is the next room you come to. After a bit of rearranging (something we love to do) a dining room is just what it became for Thanksgiving.

Give me a day and I will show you the cheery results of paint and new curtains. Stay tuned. I sure do hope you like it!

By the way, please note the chicken cabinet, which has been with us in several of the places we've lived. We never have been very grown-up about furniture.

The chicken cabinet in our red New Hampshire living room

Friends!

2011-11-28T04:00:00.002-07:00

When I first retired and started writing this blog, my profile included this statement :

Who knew that retirement would be so much fun? I enjoyed working with kids and books and technology as a school librarian, but now I love having time to myself for walking, riding my bike, taking photos, reading, researching, volunteering, knitting, writing, gardening, and blogging.

Well, who knew that retirement would hold such surprises? I just updated that rather solitary-sounding list of individual (or couple) activities to include, first on the list:

but now I love having time to get together with friends

We've only lived here for two years now, but I had to smile when I looked out at all the cars parked along the road on Thanksgiving Day. We had a dozen friends at the table, and most of them are people we didn't know when we first moved here.

Good old Las Cruces--it's a friendly place and we are so lucky to have so many wonderful new friends.

Spinning Kai: All Done!

2011-11-22T04:00:00.001-07:00

See the complete series of posts on spinning Kai Llama's fiber, from fleece to yarn.

After spinning, plying, and skeining the llama fiber, I washed the skeins gently in warm, soapy water. The thing to remember with wool, and presumably with llama, is to avoid agitation in the water and to keep the water temperature constant when moving the skeins from soapy water to rinse water. The skeins may be very gently squeezed to remove water, but must never be wrung out. As a matter of fact, if you want to make felt, you just alternate hot and cold water and agitate a lot: To keep yarn fluffy and intact, just do the opposite.

The damp skeins are then hung up to dry. Single strand yarn must be weighted at this point to help set the twist; with plied yarn weighting isn't necessary.

The Kai yarn looking very decorative while drying

A bunch of Kai

When dry, the skeins can be twisted with the ends tucked in. I have labeled each one with the yardage. I wanted to share some alpaca and soft wool with Danni, so I am also sending along the skeins below.

Plied alpaca on the left, very soft wool singles on the right

The llama, alpaca, and wool yarns are all boxed up, addressed, and ready to go down to the Post Office and off to Danni in Oregon. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this project completed! Besides that, I just discovered that this will be my 1000th post on The Zees Go West--what a great feeling of accomplishment!

Polishing Off the Projects: The Log Cabin Blanket

2011-11-21T04:00:00.004-07:00

Log Cabin Blanket
Knit with yarn left over from Knit for Kids sweaters

A couple of weeks ago I woke in the night to a feeling that I hadn't experienced since retiring: I was worried about getting through all the stuff that I needed to do. I had made promises to other people and to myself and was feeling pressured about getting things done.

In the morning, I glanced at my horoscope and this is what I saw:

"You have a lot to get done, but you will get it done.

Simply focus on one project after another."

Well! I never look at horoscopes, let alone let them guide my days, but this one was just perfect. Never mind that it could apply to anyone, especially during the holidays when we all feel a little pressure of one sort or another.

I got myself back in order after seeing those words. After all, I am retired, and my time is my own. I take on projects because I like to do them, and I have convinced my family that gifts that are received on dates other than Christmas or birthdays are not late gifts, but wonderful surprises. There is no need to get in a swither!

Since that lovely Horoscope Day, I have lined up the projects and finished them off, one by one. I have remembered to enjoy the journey and to stop fretting about the destination and, in doing so, have found that one project after another has been completed. The llama fiber is all spun and goes into the mail today; the log cabin blanket has been assembled and is keeping me warm; socks have been knitted; the dining room has been painted, curtains have been sewn, and so on. What doesn't get done today will eventually get done.

My horoscope promised me, and it must be so!

Spinning Kai: Plying and Skeining

2011-11-18T06:44:00.002-07:00

This is the process of spinning Kai llama's fiber, continued. You can see all the previous steps here.

Once the yarn is spun, it winds around a bobbin. When each bobbin is full, I replace it on the spinning wheel with an empty one. The full ones go on this holder so that the single strands can be plied, or twisted together. The strands are plied in the opposite direction that they were spun, so if the wheel was turning clockwise to spin the single strands, I turn it counterclockwise to ply the strands together.

In this instance, I am making two-ply yarn, but three or more strands can be plied together. Most commercial knitting yarn, of the sort that I used to make little kid sweaters, is four-ply.

In the photo below, I am controlling the amount of twist as the two strands are plied together.

In the next photo, you can see (although the focus is poor) how the strands go together.

Next, the plied yarn is wound off the bobbin on the wheel and onto the niddy noddy, a nice old-fashioned tool that holds the yarn taut while it is being wound into a skein. I measured the length of one wrap around and found that it was about one yard, so I counted as I wound to get a very approximate measurement for the whole skein. I wanted Kai's yarn to end up in 50-yard skeins, but there were a few odd ones from the end of each bobbin.

Once the skein is made, the beginning and the end are tied together, and the skein is secured in several places with some string. Then the skeins are all ready to be washed. Stay tuned--we are getting near the end of the process!

Spinning Kai: Spinning on the Wheel At Last

2011-11-14T04:00:00.003-07:00

For the previous posts on the Spinning Kai project, click here.

It seems that this project, spinning up a bunch of llama fiber for Danni in Oregon, has taken far longer than it should have. Of course, life has intervened, and it wasn't just a matter of spending a straight week working on this pile of fiber. There were trips to be taken, friends to help move, blankets to knit, people to entertain, dinner parties to give and to go to, and so on. In other words, this project has been done in classic New Mexican Time--slow and easy.

At last, all the fiber was picked and carded. I had split the fleece that Danni sent into two parts, half for Danni and half for me. When Danni's part was all carded into rolags (fluffy rolls of fiber), there were four or five baskets full of them. Here is part of one basketful in the photo below. This was before Keeker the cat decided to take a cozy nap in the basket. Ah, well, never mind. Kee enjoyed herself and the fiber was no worse for the experience.

The spinning wheel, which I had heedlessly stored out in the garage, needed weeks of coddling and oiling before it consented to work again. Never again will I treat it so carelessly: It will live right here inside the thick adobe walls of our little desert house--no more parching and baking out in the garage.

At first, when I couldn't get the old spinning wheel to work at all, I imagined that I might have to buy another wheel--very expensive now--in order to keep my promise to Danni. Then I thought I might have to use a Navajo spindle and do the whole thing the really, really slow way. However, the situation resolved itself as so many things do--I oiled and oiled and oiled every part of the spinning wheel, and when nothing worked, just left it for a while. Amazingly, when I returned to the wheel a few days ago, I found that with a few quick adjustments, it worked just as well as it ever did.

Although the wheel isn't spinning yet in the photo above, you can see that I have attached the end of the rolag to the leader yarn, and have begun to draft it--pulling the rolag back and back, and back some more, feeding out the fibers in a "V," then allowing the spinning of the wheel to apply twist, which evens out along the length of the fiber. When it is all fairly even, I let it feed in through the orifice and around the bobbin.

It's a soothing thing to do, once you have the hang of it. Your foot rhythmically treadles the wheel which spins around, and you alternately pull the fiber back and feed it in. In my younger days, I found it very relaxing. Now I find that after a few hours I get a little achy, but it's still a pleasurable thing to do.

Now that all the fiber has been spun, in the next few posts I will show you the final steps in this process--plying, skeining, washing, and setting the twist. My sister keeps observing that it is ridiculously labor-intensive to make yarn this way, and she is right. However, it's a wonderful thing to know how to do.

Here is a very quick video that shows a newer version of the Ashford Traditional Wheel, which arrives as a kit, is put together, then put to work. The spinner in the video uses the short draw technique of spinning, where the hands of the spinner are never very far apart.

I use the long draw method, demonstrated by the spinner in this video.

Behind Door Number Three: The Egg Story

2011-11-07T04:00:00.065-07:00

Way down in southern New Mexico

In a green valley

Along the Rio Grande

There is a pecan orchard

And in the middle of that orchard

You will see a little adobe house

And a little adobe garage

And next to the adobe garage sits a little chicken house...

(Click to enlarge any of these pictures)

That little chicken house has three little doors.

Each little door leads to a little nest, but the best door of all is Door Number Three.

That's because behind Door Number Three, you will find...

Oh, no. Look out! It's Bitey Albertina and she is giving us that look.

Even though she pecks my arms, Bitey Albertina and her two Peckatini Sisters,

Lizzie and Meg, give us three eggs every single day.

The brown egg on the right comes from Bitey Albertina,
the other brown egg is from Liz, and the green egg comes from Green-Legged Meg.
Now, how many of you know the name of the hen who laid your breakfast egg?

If you would like to see some other home-grown eggs, check out Georgia's post, The Size, Shape, and Color of My Eggs.

And while we're on the subject of hens, I forgot to tell you that November 5th was Hug Your Chicken Day! I'm sure it's not too late--you can still hug the first chicken you see today. You might consider wearing an apron, though.

Dancing with Death: Day of the Dead, 2011

2011-10-31T07:13:00.000-06:00

On the Day of the Dead--surely one of the stranger holidays here--we remember that although death walks among us...

we can always smile...

and honor our dead with memorials...

and little altars...

for beloved pets, too

We can make art...

and we can always dance!

Shakespeare Skies, for Skywatch

2011-10-27T04:00:00.002-06:00

We went to Shakespeare, New Mexico

It is a ghost town

Perfect for October

The skies were clear

The vistas were pure Old West

All around us we saw

Pieces of the past

The air was so clear

You could smell the history

We looked down at ourselves

and

were surprised

to find that we still looked like

people living in the 21st century

For skies over oceans and deserts, modern places and ancient places, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Scenes from a Ghost Town

2011-10-26T04:00:00.125-06:00

Shakespeare, New Mexico

We took a long drive with friends the other day across some of the state to Lordsburg, New Mexico, then up a dirt road to the old ghost town of Shakespeare. A mining town in the 1800s, it was once home to over 3,000 people; a lively place that saw plenty of hard work, lots of hard drinking, some hangings, shootings, gambling, and even a big diamond swindle. When the Hill family came out from Texas looking for a ranch in the 1930s, they came across Shakespeare and bought the town site and the acreage around it. The town, open occasionally to visitors, is in the middle of a working ranch. It's both a State and a National Historic Site.

The Hills, their relatives, and their friends have been working at restoring the place to its 1880s appearance ever since. Devoted volunteers give the tours dressed in historical costumes, and re-enact historical (and semi-historical) events. As the hours went on, we were amazed by their energy and knowledge, and began to feel a little guilty that we had been charged only $5.00 each for the tour.

Here are some scenes from our day in the 1800s. I want you to know that there were times when we looked down at ourselves and were amazed to find that we were dressed in modern clothes, so complete was the immersion of our trip into the past.

Our guide, Keith Wilden

An Army campsite of the 1870s

Soldier played by a member of the Military Committee, Friends of Fort Selden

Exterior of the stage coach station, where the horses were changed for fresh ones...

... and the passengers had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and a bit of liquid refreshment

The kitchen of the Stratford Hotel

Everywhere we looked there were pieces of antique glass and hand-forged hardware

Hopper Shannon, historical blacksmith, demonstrated nail and knife making

Saloon girls playing cards and getting ready to do some shootin.'
Gunfights were reenacted by the Paso del Norte Pistoleros

Little Buckaroo Bob, a great favorite with the folks on the tour

Bob and his dad

"I just love this little cowpoke!"

If you go:

Be sure to check out the Shakespeare Ghost Town website, and find the upcoming tour dates on the calendar. This town can be seen by tour only; it is not open for folks to just walk around.

Do what you always do in New Mexico: Take plenty of water, wear sunglasses and a hat, and bring sunblock--this applies any time of the year, not just during the summer months.

There are public restrooms (indoor plumbing, too--we saw the two-holers used until recently!), but no food or drinks for sale.

Watch your step, this is rattlesnake country.

The tour takes around two and a half hours, maybe longer if the stories get really elaborate. There aren't many places to sit down; we slept real well in our modern 21st century beds later that night.

Keep kids under control, as there are all kinds of hazards from sharp rocks and glass, to barbed wire and mine shafts. That Little Buckaroo Bob is a real survivor and was much clucked over by the grandmas on the tour--to the chagrin of his pistol-totin' Pa, who believes in letting kids learn by making their own mistakes!

Log Cabin, Big Sky (for Skywatch)

2011-10-20T04:00:00.019-06:00

Oh, my. This photo could have been so much better but, just as I snapped it, my camera battery gave out and the recharged one was many miles away at home.

I wanted to commemorate our early morning moment of knitting together high above Las Cruces--my sister, our friend Helen, and me. In a perfect post, there would also have been photos of Helen's and Bucksnort's knitting projects held up against views of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley far below us. However, this week has been all about making do with reality, so you only see a curled-up piece of my log cabin knitting blanket held up against the beautiful Organ Mountains.

I just want you to know that the air was fresh and cold, the views down over the Mesilla Valley were terrific, and the quiet companionship without equal. We saw a proud and unafraid coyote ahead of us on the road, and we heard unidentifiable birds warbling their way through the cactus, chamisa, and mesquite. And the camera battery was dead, dead, dead. It was like our own little reality show--the best of our world intertwined with the small failures of everyday life.

For other views of the world and its skies, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Some Really Nice News

2011-10-18T04:00:00.080-06:00

December morning over the pecan orchard

I just want to say that I really do believe that good things happen to good people. Eventually.

Our friends, Pat and Mary, live in Massachusetts. They would like to retire to Las Cruces and have been trying to make their Las Cruces dream a reality for well over a year and a half now. It was tough enough in a difficult real estate market to sell their home, but it seemed that everything that could possibly go wrong did. The well failed and had to be replaced. The septic system, ditto. When we all thought no other bad thing could happen, they had an old underground oil tank removed and--who could ever have predicted this one--a long-standing oil leak was discovered that turned their beloved homestead of many years into an environmental hazardous waste site.

Now these are good people, I want you to know. They deserved none of this stuff. Throughout the whole experience, they smiled and they prayed and they gritted their teeth and they still hoped to move to Las Cruces one day. The problem was that the dream was starting to fade and to turn into a distant wish...

Finally, miracle of miracles, all the stars aligned and everything fell into place, and they are planning to be on their way in mid-November. We are so excited. They will have Thanksgiving in New Mexico! They will experience the beauty of Christmas in Old Mesilla, with all the songs in Spanish and English, and the drumming rhythms of the old Pueblo dances, and the luminarias lighting the way. They will be able to smell the cold desert air and the fragrant piñon fires. They will finally stand out in the freezing high desert night and see more stars than they ever thought possible.

I am so thrilled for them that I have put a little counter down on the left side of this blog, counting down the days until their arrival and our reunion with our friends. Bienvenidos, Pat and Mary!

Old Mesilla Plaza on Christmas Eve

Our Community Supported Organic Farm (For Blog Action Day/World Food Day)

2011-10-16T04:00:00.043-06:00

On every Blog Action Day since the first one in 2007, bloggers around the world have come together to focus on one subject. This year we are talking about food. Please click on the B.A.D. badge to visit some of the bloggers from over 80 countries who are taking part in this year's project.

We always wondered about getting food from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, but didn't really do anything about it until we saw an article in our local paper. It was all about a new farm right here in the Mesilla Valley that was offering weekly, year-round harvest boxes of fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables.

We took a ride down to Mesilla and met Charlie and Emily, the farmers at Los Poblanos Organics--and the rest is history. Because our particular CSA allows but does not require a subscription, each week for almost a year now we have ordered our box online. A few days later we pick up a box full of some of the best food we've ever eaten. There are always optional choices to pick out at the farm--for instance, do we want extra tomatoes or eggplant? Do we prefer cantaloupe or watermelon? We can also order organic meats and other locally produced foods like honey, jam, bread, and eggs from nearby partner farms.

Some of the contents of a harvest box

Why support a local farm?

1. We get the freshest fruits and vegetables available. They are delicious, and grown without chemicals. Sometimes we learn about foods that are new to us, like pluots, kohlrabi, and kale. There are plenty of recipes available online, although we find that we like most of our fruits as is, and our vegetables fairly plain--steamed and with a minimum of added ingredients.

2. We get to meet the farmers and see the food that they are growing. Charlie and Emily are a big part of our week now. We get to check out their chickens, look at what's coming up in the fields, and ask questions about crops and recipes. We also get to see the progress of a flower garden at the farm that is being grown by some nearby home schooled kids.

3. We are feeling pretty darned healthy. With more fruits and vegetables on hand than we have ever had in our lives, we are meeting and exceeding all the daily standards for minimum daily requirements. We are bursting with vitamins and minerals, and have less room for unhealthy foods. We are losing weight, and we find that we crave carrots more than cake. I have no idea how that came about, but it's a good thing!

4. We are helping make a difference to the earth. By supporting both local and organic farming, we are helping prevent pollution through unnecessary transportation of goods from state to state. We reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because our food comes from the place just down the road. By purchasing food grown through non-chemical agricultural practices, we have a small part in improving the soils and protecting the groundwaters in our area.

I hope that you will check out Community Supported Agriculture in your area. You can get started by reading about the movement and locating a nearby farm on the Local Harvest web site.

Hand Spinning: The Spindle

2011-10-14T04:00:00.012-06:00

Georgia asked in a recent comment about "the spindle" and where that might be located on a spinning wheel. This is the very question that I wanted answered when I first took spinning lessons, because I had been brought up on those fairy tales where the heroine pricks her finger on a spindle. When I was a child I had no idea what that might be. I think now that I had wrongly pictured a distaff, which is the tool (often fastened to the spinning wheel) that holds the unspun fibers.

I'd like to answer Georgia by showing you all some visuals that demonstrate the evolution of the spindle. The first is a video showing a drop spindle and how it is used.

Here is a photo of my Navajo spindle, which is an elongated version of the drop spindle that is used while supported: The spinner sits in a chair or on the ground, the end of the long stick rests on the ground next to her while she rolls the other end across her thigh. Click here to see a photo of a Navajo woman spinning.

In this photo, we have turned the Navajo spindle sideways, so that you will see how such spindles eventually evolved into large walking wheels, where the fiber is spun off the end of the horizontal spindle, then walked back and wound on, as shown in the following very elegant video of a walking or great wheel in use.

Later spinning wheels were designed to enclose the spindle and surround it with a bobbin, which was fed through an orifice at the front of the wheel. I will show you more about that next week.

I hope this make things clearer. By the way, the carding of Kai's fleece is continuing and I am making great progress. Next week we spin!

Something is Coming, for Skywatch

2011-10-13T04:00:00.001-06:00

Are those eyes glowing out there?

We all know that there is something coming here in southern New Mexico. When October arrives, the air feels a little chilly to our spoiled desert bones and the chihuahuas burrow down under the sheets at night. As we shrug on sweaters and search out long-stored blankets and pajamas, we anticipate the smell of autumn fires.

We warm ourselves up with chiles for breakfast.

We ready our ofrendas (memorial altars to the departed) and look forward to the Dia de los Muertos celebrations later this month. Front yards take on a new look: Skeletons abound, chile ristras glow red, and ghosts dance on fences.

Something is coming. Something good.

For skies in other places, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Spinning Kai: Carding

2011-10-12T04:00:00.006-06:00

For all the posts on Spinning Kai, click on the "Hand Spinning" tab at the top of the blog under the header photo.

I've heard it in the comments, in emails, and on Facebook: Some of you have been asking about the next installment of Spinning Kai. Here it is, and I hope you will forgive me for taking so long to post it. Hey, what am I saying? This is a long and picky process.

Once the fiber was washed and then teased out, it needed to go onto the cards in a process called charging. That just means I spread a handful of the teased fiber across the card that I hold in my left hand. I was taught to mark the cards "left" and "right" and to always use them that way, so I do.

The left card is held in my left hand and rests on my left knee, and my right hand moves the right card across the left one to brush, detangle, and straighten the fiber. In the first photo, the fiber has been carded with both brushes a couple of times. That fiber sitting between the cards in the photo is there to remind you what the teased fibers looked like before carding. After four or five good brushings, the fiber is transferred to the right carder, then the brushing continues. I was taught to transfer the brushed fiber at least four times.

The point of all this carding is to get the fibers going in the same direction; pretty much the same results you would want when brushing out your own hair. Here it has been transferred back and forth, and back and forth again.

There is a delicate little move you make to get the fiber unstuck from the wire pins, then you roll up the combed fiber into a rolag. I am finding that wool rolags are easier to make into clearly formed, neat rolls; it seems to me that the llama fiber is formed differently from wool. An extreme close up of a bit of wool fiber would show overlapping scales that tend to stick together (thus the tendency of wool to felt). I'm just guessing here, but handling this llama fiber makes me guess that it is more smoothly formed and that it also has less crimp than wool fibers.

I just checked my theory about the fibers and it appears that I was right. You can look at a microscopic comparison of alpaca, llama, and sheep fibers here: http://www.britishllamasociety.org/Activities/Fibre/Fibre.html.

Anyway, that's my excuse for these wobbly-looking rolags. They will serve their purpose, however, which is to give the hand spinner (me!) a well organized handful of fiber with the hairs parallel to each other and at right angles to the orifice of the spinning wheel.

My goodness! It doesn't seem so technical when I actually go through the process. I needed to look at the Wikipedia article on carding to help me pull together the description of and explanation for what my hands do so automatically--it's a little bit like being asked to write down a recipe when you've been making it without thought or measurement all your life. When I think of it, I've been doing this process with fiber for almost 40 years!

Here is a basket of the rolags that have been made so far. It will be a while before the next installment on Spinning Kai, since there is still plenty of teased fiber in the inelegant garbage bag (below) yet to be carded. It may not look like that much, but it will make a lot of rolags.

But First...

2011-10-11T04:00:00.004-06:00

The beginnings of the blanket

As I mentioned yesterday, now that I am mailing off the last batch of little kid acrylic sweaters knit for charity, I am more than ready to go back to using natural fibers. However, because I am a Yankee born and bred, I was brought up with these words ringing in my ears:

Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

Or do without

That, of course, means that I have to put all the acrylic leftovers from those sweaters into something useful. Why not a log cabin blanket variation? It's fun to do and it's a small and portable project when made square by square. Best of all, it is a way of using up little balls of yarn and making some interesting color combinations along the way. The technique is explained here.

So, I am making square after square and plan to join them together with a dark teal-colored yarn. I'll let you know how the project progresses. I've done 12 square so far, and think that I should make 25 in all. We'll see.

Knit for Kids, The Final Batch

2011-10-10T04:00:00.024-06:00

I've knit enough of these blocky little sweaters for now. This is the last batch, which brings my total of children's sweaters knit for World Vision's Knit for Kids project over the past five years to 110. For now, I'm happy to move on from acrylic yarns to some wool, mohair, llama, and alpaca ones.

If you are interested in knitting sweaters for needy children in this country and abroad, just click on the link above to get a copy of the pattern and the shipping directions. It's a really fun and worthwhile project.

To see most of my Knit for Kid sweaters, go to this index page.

Meteorology Boy! For Skywatch

2011-10-06T04:00:00.012-06:00

Most of the time our skies are clear and blue because we live in the desert. But every once in a while we are blessed with an overcast sky and clouds that might--well, they just might--bring rain to our parched land.

At Cody's age, a ripe old 15, every sky is a wonderful one. He sits here on his favorite windowsill to check out the possibility of rainfall on a rare cloudy day.

As you will see from the photo below, taken several months earlier, Cody is devoted to his meteorological duties and seldom leaves his observation post. Click on the pre-dawn photo to enlarge it and look for Cody's glowing eyes in the window to the left of the porch.

For skies (and sky observers) everywhere, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

What Places Would You Go?

2011-10-05T04:00:00.008-06:00

Next week I plan to get back to posting about the fiber projects I'm working on, and there are (I'm afraid) several of them. But before I leave the topic of travel, Sallie's comment on the last post reminded me that there are lists to be made.

I'd like to start my list of places to see with the Galapagos, as I know a couple of people who have been there. Go to An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel to read what Kay has to say about the place (once on her blog, search Galapagos to find all her posts on the subject).

In talking with my knitting group, I learned about barge travel through canals in France from Marilyn, who was kind enough to bring photos of her trip there some 30 years ago. Without her stories, I would never have known a thing about barge travel, where there is time to walk along the tow-paths and to bike into the passing towns. And Susan, another knitter, said that the best way to see Paris, the City of Light, is to hire a taxi for a ride down the Champs Elysees at night.

So we've already put travel by barge or river boat (and taxi!) through France on our list; but we'd also like river barging in England, Italy, and Germany, and perhaps even some travels in China and Russia.

But you are experts in travel, I just know it. I'm sure you have suggestions of places where you've been or where you'd like to go that we should add to our list.

We are looking for any ideas about any kind of travel, although I might add that we are not very formal people and that we prefer not to be too organized and touristy. To us, slow travel is best, especially now that we have tried the train and loved it.

What do you say? I'd love to hear your experiences and suggestions.

What I Learned on our Train Trip to Boston and Back Again

2011-10-04T04:00:00.003-06:00

Our really marvelous bedroom compartment--the type that we had all the way back across the country.
It cost more than the smaller roomettes we had on the way to Boston,
but it was roomy and private, and we really loved it.

1. Always wear your glasses when visiting the little bathroom down at the end of the train car for the first time. If you don't, as I didn't, you will see several buttons to push, each with a little blurry sign next to it. I pushed the first and largest black one, expecting to hear the toilet flush. Nothing happened right away, so I poked at a few other buttons, one of which just happened to be red.

When I emerged victorious from the tiny cubicle, I almost ran over Rene, our kind and most solicitous car attendant, who politely inquired if he could be of service. I thought--oh, my, this traveling first class business is really something else--you get such wonderful service (while wondering how on earth he might assist me with the business at hand).

It was only on my second visit to the necessary room--this time wearing my glasses--that I could read the sign next to that little red button, which said, Press for emergency assistance.

Ah, well, I can only assume that Rene, used as he is to older, near-sighted passengers, has run into this situation many times before, which would explain his air of calmness and general lack of anxiety.

The first train: Cameras were at the ready!

2. This riding on the train is a special experience. We discovered through chats with our table mates in the dining car, people were on the train for a variety of reasons--because they could no longer stand the indignities of post 9/11 air travel, because they wanted to see where they were going, or because they just wanted to experience the nostalgia of old-fashioned rail travel.

We were trying hard to act like grown-ups, but were so excited when our train arrived in Albuquerque and we were to board for the first leg of our journey. But then I saw that others around us were a bit giddy, too, when I observed the cameras coming out to document both the train and the travelers. That somehow made the fact that we were so thrilled okay, and we all gaily took pictures of every part of this wonderful travel experience.

3. Now that we have traveled by train, we have somehow become true Travelers. Going places by plane never had this effect on either of us, but now we want to experience travel throughout the world, mile by mile. Maybe we'll try freighters or the Queen Mary to get ourselves across the ocean; once there, we might try trains and canal boats to travel through England, Italy, and France--and maybe we'll even go to China or to Russia. That's as far as we've gotten with our plans and fantasies, but henceforth we will consider ourselves Travelers, with a capital T.

History, History, and More History; Our Last Full Day in Boston

2011-10-03T04:00:00.121-06:00

I borrowed this photo and logo from the Union Oyster House website. For this part of our trip, my camera was still jammed and I was unable to take any photos.
Later, however, I used some Internet tips to get it somewhat un-stuck.

On our last full day in Boston, we had a lovely sidewalk breakfast at a little bookstore on Newbury Street called Trident Booksellers & Cafe. Newbury Street, I have just discovered, was underwater until the mid-1800s, when that part of the Boston Harbor was filled in. You can read about the street's history here.

We lunched with friends and family at the Prudential Center (mad, crazy, loud food court where there were too many people eating the wrong foods--but a nice visit); and we had an entirely spectacular supper with my son, Ben (up from New York City), and our friends, Pat and Mary (in from western Massachusetts), at "America's oldest restaurant," the Union Oyster House.

We either walked or took the "T" to all our destinations, and doing so gave us a sense of Boston's mixture of old and new streets, gardens, cemeteries, squares, sidewalks, and other public spaces; its buildings, shops, and churches; and its incredibly varied architecture. We walked on sidewalks made of cement, and on sidewalks made of brick, and on sidewalks made of cobblestones--stepping back in time, more or less.

On our way to supper, we stopped at the New England Holocaust Memorial, located right across the street from the restaurant. We knew nothing about it ahead of time; we simply saw six tall towers made of glass in a little park and wondered what they were all about. It was only when I was standing inside the first tower that the power of the memorial struck me, because each of those towers was inscribed with etched numbers--numbers, not names. The numbers went up and up and out of sight, and standing there, I understood why there were six towers, because each one represented a million people who had lost their lives. It was a very powerful way of illustrating the horror and inhumanity of the Holocaust.

You can see a photo essay about the memorial here on the official website. If you should visit Boston, I urge you to visit this memorial, because it is one of those experiences that will change you and stay with you forever.

Being inside the Union Oyster House was an amazing experience of a different sort. No one knows exactly when the building was constructed (although historians know that Union Street was laid out in 1636), but it is known that the restaurant has been in continuous service since 1826. Our booth had a sign telling us that at the Oyster Bar Daniel Webster, a constant customer, daily drank his tall tumbler of brandy and water with each half-dozen oysters, seldom having less than six plates. Our modern appetites were somewhat curbed by the later discovery of cholesterol, but we still managed to get ourselves around helpings of lobster, clams, and oysters. Our server--Maggie? Meggie?--had the thickest Boston accent I have ever heard, so it was easy to imagine ourselves back in the time of the Revolution, perhaps plotting tea parties over our oysters.

Along the Mississippi River by Train, for Skywatch

2011-09-29T04:00:00.030-06:00

The Sun shines not on us but in us.

The Rivers flow not past,
But through us.

~John Muir

A river sings a holy song conveying the mysterious truth that we are a river,

and if we are ignorant of this natural law, we are lost.

~Thomas Moore - From The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

~A. A. Milne, Pooh's Little Instruction Book

For skies everywhere, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

Batting Practice at Fenway

2011-09-28T04:00:00.033-06:00

Continuing the story of our trip by rail to Boston (all posts are indexed here, for those of you who just can't get enough of other people's endless vacation pictures):

We were so close!

L. to R.: Maybe Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, and ***Jacoby Ellsbury***

"The Captain," Jason Varitek, and Jacoby E.

Jacoby

Thank goodness Beez was a Red Sox fan, otherwise I couldn't have married him thirty years ago!

I just couldn't shoot enough pix of Jacoby Ellsbury, my favorite player

Youk!

Youk, again!

Right after I got this shot, my camera lens jammed. Can you believe it? Our seats were just above Jacoby in the outfield and I couldn't take a single photo.

This board above later carried a message: "She said YES!" even though I didn't get that shot.

On Our Way to Fenway

2011-09-27T04:00:00.003-06:00

Continuing the story of our trip by rail to Boston (all posts are indexed here, for those of you who just can't get enough of other people's endless vacation pictures):

Okay, now how many people travel across the country to go to a baseball game? Quite a few, as it turns out, and a lot of them were staying at the Lenox Hotel along with us.

To get one of these packages (hotel, limo, Fenway tour, a close-up look at batting practice, a pre-game party, pictures with the Red Sox' World Series trophies, free food and drinks brought to you non-stop by your own server, Red Sox uniform shirts, and first-row seats on the Green Monster) you have to sign up with RedSox.com and pay close attention to the emails they send you. You have to be quick and you have to fork over the money, and then you are in for a treat!

Beez was pretty excited to be leaving for the game at last!

The fans start to gather in the elegant lobby of the Lenox Hotel

Jimmy Fisher, 80-something bellhop, entertains the fans with stories of when Casey Stengel and the Yankees used to stay at the Lenox

Boarding the limo--they called it a limo, it looked like a bus to me until...

I saw the tricked-out interior

There were even drinks facilities, but

... the ride was a short one and we arrived at the world-famous Yawkey Way before we knew it.

There is nothing like your first view of Fenway Park, no matter how many times you've been there before

Look, it's the Green Monster. Our seats were to the right, by the light pole

"America's Most Beloved Ballpark," indeed

Breakfast at the Boston Public Library

2011-09-26T04:00:00.064-06:00

Continuing the story of our trip by rail to Boston (all posts are indexed here, for those of you who just can't get enough of other people's endless vacation pictures):

I'm pretty sure that Beez didn't plan it this way, but our hotel in Boston was right next door to the Boston Public Library, a National Historic Landmark. On our first morning in Boston, we strolled over there for breakfast and to meet our friend, Greg, who had driven down from New Hampshire.

On the way, we saw a Duck Tour bus/boat. These World War II-style amphibious vehicles take visitors around the city and right into the Charles River.

Libraries grow with the times, and the Boston Public Library is no exception. Its building at Copley Square was built in 1895, with an addition in 1972.

Between the old and new buildings there is a wonderful courtyard. We picked up our breakfast at the in-library cafe, and headed outdoors to admire the fountain, the morning, the beautiful buildings, and to catch up on news with Greg, who was one of my students way back when he was in elementary school.

The display in the foyer of the newer library building was all about Boston's role in the Civil War, and we admired a signed, first edition copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Greg (left), has grown a bit since third grade, when I first knew him.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the first streetside pissoir that I have ever seen. Very civilized, I think.

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a limousine ride to America's most beloved ball park and a very special baseball game.

Dark Skies Over the Night Train, for Skywatch

2011-09-22T04:00:00.047-06:00

On our recent train trip from New Mexico to Boston and back again, I was fascinated by the night scenes I could observe from the lower berth. I awoke one night when the train stopped for fuel in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mmm, mmm, it doesn't get any better than a night train. A night train in Kansas City. I know there's a song there, somewhere...

I loved the angles and the light and the sight of the empty night train. And the dark skies, of course, for Skywatch.

I think I just like that phrase: Night train. It conjures up the memory of train sounds, and that slightly swaying train feeling, and the darkness sliding by, and the moon on the river, and the clackety sound of going over the bridges. Night train.

And I really, really loved the effects I could get of the night lights in Kansas City, once the train started moving. You can see that it was just a little bumpy, down there in the lower berth.

For skies in the day and skies in the night, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

Luxury in Boston's Back Bay or, Is It Really Us?

2011-09-21T04:00:00.008-06:00

When we travel, our overnight accommodations can usually be described like this: Cheap, close to the highway, pets allowed, easy check in and check out. Yep, I'm talking Motel Six.

Not this time. For our trip by rail to Boston in honor of our anniversary celebration, we stayed at the Lenox Hotel, which has been described in the following ways: Boutique hotel, "one of the five greenest luxury hotels in America," historic charm, environmentally friendly, personalized service, richly appointed... The list could go on, and it all accurately describes the place.

I'm telling you, I could hardly recognize us as we stepped into the elegant mirror and marble elevator run by a uniformed elevator guy!

Our room, chandelier and all. I kept opening the curtains day and night for the wonderful view.

Our view from the 10th floor.
Harvard and the Charles River are off to the right, just outside the edge of this photo

A beautiful stairway just down the hall

One of the great characters at the hotel is Jimmy Fisher, who has been a bellhop there for over 60 years and who is well into his eighties. You can read about him in the article, Beloved Boston Bellhop Gets His Due, and you can see him at the hotel on weekends. I know you'll want to go.

Here is a video showing some of the amenities at the hotel. Oh, my, I am still impressed with the fact that we stayed in a hotel with actual amenities. Imagine.

Irene's Damage in Upstate New York

2011-09-20T04:00:00.094-06:00

A lock along the Erie Canal has been terribly damaged by the flood. It has become a dam, rather than a bridge.

From Chicago to Boston, we traveled on Amtrak's Lakeshore Limited. According to the route guide:

The Lake Shore Limited follows some of the nation’s most beautiful shorelines, combining scenic beauty with interesting history. Traversing the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, the Erie Canal, the Mohawk River, the Finger Lakes and the Berkshires, it splits in Albany offering alternate routes to either Boston or New York. The variety of landscapes and waterways that make this trip so beautiful and memorable punctuate the skylines of either city at journey’s end within blocks of the Atlantic Ocean.

[The Lake Shore Limited is the descendent of the former New York Central Railroad’s train of the same name, along with the 20th Century Limited that plied the same route,albeit with all-Pullman (sleeping car) service. Making its first run in 1902 out of New York’s Grand Central Station, the train ran for almost 70 years. So rich and famous were its patrons that Paparazzi would often wait at its terminus with the expectationthat somebody in the public eye would step off of the train – perhaps James Cagney or William Randolph Hearst.

The most famous incarnation of the train was the new streamlined version designed by Henry Dreyfuss that debuted in 1938. However, “cowled” steam locomotives soon gave way to diesel power at the conclusion of World War II. After the failure in 1970 of the merged New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Amtrak was formed to take over passenger service. On October 31, 1975, the Lake Shore Limited returned to the route with service that included both coach and sleeping cars, more closely aligned with its namesake than with the Century.]

After the train split at Albany--our part went on towards Boston and the other part went to New York City--we began to see the effects of Hurricane Irene, which had churned through the region just days before, leaving flooding and extreme damage in its wake. We first saw curiously gray-colored ground cover in the woods along the track, finally realizing that this was due to the recent flooding and that everything was drying out after being covered with mud.

Then we saw a beautiful historical building (Guy Park Manor, built in the Revolutionary War era) that had been torn apart by the raging floodwaters. You can see photos and an article about it in the New York Times of Sept. 1, 2011: Manor That Has Stood For Centuries Teeters in Storm's Wake.

I took these photos along the Erie Canal--as far as I can tell, we were just passing Lock 11 near Amsterdam. You can see a newspaper slide show of the area and the damage in the Albany, NY, Times Union newspaper of Sept. 19, 2011.

The downstream side of the lock

For more information about the Erie Canal, see The Erie Canal for the history and some historical photos; and The Official Site of the New York State Canal System, where you can find updates and press releases about the damage to the Erie Canal from both Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, as well as advisories and anticipated re-opening dates for the canal. This site also includes information about all the canals in the 524-mile New York Canal System.

In spite of the damage we could see, this was beautiful country, much as we both remembered seeing it in The Last of the Mohicans.

Union Station, Chicago

2011-09-19T04:00:00.005-06:00

Continuing our rail journey out of Albuquerque: On our second day on the train we came into Chicago's Union Station for a bit of a layover and a change of trains. What an amazing place this is! On our first stop there on the way back east, we pretty much grabbed something to eat, pawed through our suitcases for a change of clothes, and hopped onto the Internet to catch up with the world. On the way back, we took more pictures, shown here.

From the Union Station website: ... completed in 1925 by the Graham, Anderson, Probst and White Firm, the Great Hall is considered to be one of the greatest indoor spaces in the United States.

Guests are awed as they enter this 20,000 foot classic Beaux Arts style room which boasts 18 soaring Corinthian columns, terracotta walls, a pink Tennessee marble floor and is crowned with a spectacular five-story, barrel-vaulted, atrium ceiling.

While waiting for the train the second time through Union Station (on our way back home) we found the Metro Deli, where I had the best salad ever--Grilled Shrimp and Roasted Pear. I have posted a version of it here on my recipe blog. You can drool over the rest of the Deli's menu here.

On this leg of our journey, traveling from Chicago to Boston, we had a different type of roomette. I was so looking forward to having my own private bathroom, but once again we were reduced to giggles at the sight of it. If you look carefully to the left of Beez, that is the whole thing. There is a toilet (with a pillow stored on top of it in this photo), sitting right there next to the seat, with a little pull-down sink above it.

I'm telling you, we broke some new ground on this journey! At least there was a nice view from the toilet, and a nice view of the toilet, as well. When you are traveling by rail in the eastern part of the country, only single level trains are allowed, because bridges and overpasses are lower than in the wide-open west, where our double decker train traveled with no restrictions. So our little in-room bathroom was in full view on ground level.

I was so desperate to wash my hair that this is where I used a rinsed-out wine bottle to pour water over my head and into the tiny sink, while waving merrily to the porters just outside the window in the station as we waited that night for the train to leave on the final leg to Boston.

Three Suns in Cleveland

2011-09-15T04:00:00.027-06:00

This is pretty much what I saw as the sun rose over Cleveland, Ohio last week. Well, I really did see just one red sun, but the fact that I was shooting through a train window as it trundled along while I was balancing in a not-so-big lower berth made some other things happen, and I ended up with three red suns.

For all kinds of surprising skies, please visit Skywatch Friday. You never know what you will find there.

Second Day: On Board at Last

2011-09-14T04:00:00.051-06:00

Just before noon in Albuquerque we boarded the Southwest Chief, Amtrak's train that runs from Los Angeles to Chicago. We had plenty of time before the train left to get adjusted to our tiny upstairs roomette. Although we had spent time on the Amtrak website looking at all kinds of info and pictures of roomettes, the actual size of little room itself gave us the giggles. I had thought that our suitcases would fit in there with us--wrong. They had to stay downstairs in storage for the first two days of our journey. If I had only realized, I would have brought a change of clothes in my carry-on bag.

However, we learned a lot about train travel during this first leg of the journey. We quickly arranged our possessions, and staked out our little areas, surrounding ourselves with cell phone, books, and magazines (Beez); and knitting, sudoku, and digital reader (me). We made do with the clothes on our backs for the first two days, pulling clean clothes out for the next leg of the journey when we had our stopover in Chicago. I even figured out how to wash my hair in a tiny pull out sink while the train was moving, using an empty wine bottle to get the rinse water to my soapy head. But that was on the second leg of the journey, when we had changed trains and had an in-room bathroom of sorts. More about that later!

Most important, we learned to do the train-walk-jiggle-dance (Beez's name for it) as we walked the length of the train to get to other cars. The important thing is to keep your hands ready to reach out to steady yourself on the back of a seat, the edge of a table, or a solid wall (when available)--this will help you avoid landing in someone's lap or in the middle of their dining table when the train makes sudden and unexpected movements. Walking on a moving train is a lot like walking on ice--you need to keep your weight right over your feet and be ready for anything!

Apache Canyon, New Mexico

As residents of the sleeper car, we soon found that we were considered to be first class travelers. It was almost embarrassing and really unlike anything I've ever experienced, as my previous travels have been less than luxurious. My only train experience was two days in coach class with a three year old, long ago; and a trip cross country with my mother when I was three, myself. For this journey, we were called to our meals in the dining car to be waited on and to dine at white tablecloth-covered tables; to get to the dining car we crossed through several coach cars where folks were either trying to sleep in a variety of uncomfortable-looking positions or making do with snacks either brought from home or purchased at the snack bar.

When the dining car attendant ascertained that we were "sleeper," all we had to do was to sign for our supper, as all meals (excepting alcoholic drinks) were included in our fares. We could choose anything off the menu without any concern for cost, and without being bothered with any pesky payment. Lovely!

Another nice thing about the dining car is that you sit side-by-side with your traveling companion, which means that you are seated across from someone new at each meal. We ate and chatted with people from Australia, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Florida, New York, and from other places, as well. There were a lot of Amish folks traveling by train, but we didn't get to meet any of them, to my disappointment.

On the Amtrak site, you can download a copy of the Southwest Chief's menu, if you wish. The veggie burgers were delicious.

Near Glorieta Pass, New Mexico

When traveling by train you can wander around to the sightseer lounge car or down to the snack bar to bring back a bottle of wine. It was so relaxing, with someone else doing the driving.

Near Pecos, New Mexico

At first, I was shocked at how close trains were to us when they passed on the next track, but I got used to it

The remains of Fred Harvey's Hotel Castaneda at the Las Vegas, New Mexico train station

Late afternoon in the Sunflower Valley of Colorado

As it got dark, we tried to re-arrange our seats into berths, but needed a little help. The porter chided us for even trying, and set the whole business up in a moment or two. Sleeping in a train berth took some getting used to, and my first night was a bit restless. However, I loved waking up as we passed through little train stations and farmland, and I saw a whole batch of very wide-awake looking people board at 4 AM in Newton, Kansas. Beez, on the other hand, spent his first night in the upper berth worrying that he might fall out as the train swayed and chugged along. We got better at train-sleeping as we went along.

We traveled through much of Colorado and Kansas in the dark, waking to see Kansas City, Missouri
in the early morning light

Crossing the Missouri River

Train shadow on a trestle

The farms in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois were the tidiest that I had ever seen. This one is near Mendota, Illinois. The sky had a smoggy look at we approached Chicago, and the weather outside was hot and humid.

Next Monday's post: Chicago, a layover, and a new train to Boston

First Day: Las Cruces to Albuquerque

2011-09-13T04:00:00.025-06:00

Our vacation began with a trip by car up I-25 to San Antonio, New Mexico. Anyone who knows Beez also knows that he never passes San Antonio without stopping in at the Owl Bar and Cafe for the world's best green chile cheeseburger.

Our ultimate destination for the day was the Courtyard Marriott in Albuquerque. The hotel will let you leave your car in their lot as long as you stay one night at each end of your trip. Since parking would have cost us $8.00/day elsewhere, this was a great deal for us, and it ensured that we had a leisurely beginning and ending to our journey.

We took advantage of another great Albuquerque deal, and stopped by the Albuquerque Public Library to sign up for library cards. They will issue a card to anyone in the state, so we each brought in an application (printed from their web page before we left home), picture ID, and proof of residency (our car registration worked just fine, as it had our home address and was in both of our names). I don't plan to stop in at the library much, as it is a three and a half hour drive from home. However, I can download free e-books for my Nook digital reader from the library website, and they have some great titles in a much larger and way more up-to-date database than our local library offers.

Then we stopped by the train station to print out the tickets Beez had already purchased online at home. I've said it before--he did a beautiful job of planning this trip. Everything was thought of and everything was done ahead of time. He had even programmed each destination into his smart phone, so a little voice in his pocket told us each turn for everywhere we wanted to go.

Amtrak Train Station

With all our business done, we headed up Route 66 to act like country mice, snapping photos right and left. I loved the tiles on this building...

... and there were murals everywhere I looked.

What librarian wouldn't be thrilled at the sight of the Library Bar and Grill?

Be sure to click to enlarge so you can read the book titles

Intentional mural or graffiti? You decide...

Independent film studio

After checking in at the Marriott and freshening up, we headed back down Central Ave. for an elegant supper at The Standard Diner. Nothing standard or diner-ish about it at all, unless you count the fact that they serve meatloaf, and even that is prepared and presented with panache. You can see their menu here. The Standard was featured on The Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," which we had seen on TV about a month or so ago. Watch this video, and you'll be craving some upscale diner food.

Then we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the sunset from our little balcony and to get all rested up for our train journey in the morning. Next stop: Chicago!

By Rail Across the Country

2011-09-12T04:00:00.006-06:00

Our first train pulls into the station in Albuquerque, ready for us to climb aboard. We were so excited!

A week or so ago I took a little break from blogging, ostensibly to work on some fiber projects. While I was knitting, Beez and I took a train trip across the country. We had many adventures: We visited America's most beloved ballpark, we ate (always with the eating, I know, I know!) at America's "oldest restaurant in continuous service," we met up with friends and family, and we met people from all over the U.S.--we even dined (eating again!) on the train with a couple from Australia.

At our destination, we stayed in a historic and elegant hotel ("one of the five greenest luxury hotels" in America). If you know us at all, you will notice that the luxury hotel part is very out of character. We are way more Motel Six kind of people, because we often travel with our dogs and we have to choose places where we are all welcome. However, this trip was in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary and that called for something special. My good husband, Beez, put the whole thing together and I am still thanking him for planning such an amazing and special trip, where the journey was as much fun as the destination.

Our sweet Auntie Bucksnort stayed home with our animals and hers all mashed up into one great big dog/cat/chicken pack-flock. We couldn't have done it without her! Here is one of her emails to us while we were gadding about:

This is a full time job with all these digestive systems churning away. There's always something going in one end and coming out the other, every minute of the day. It's like a factory around here.

Cody is still being a great big little piglet. He never touches his special dry food. Skimpy spent the night outside last night. I couldn't find her anywhere. She finally showed up this morning. Chickens are fat and happy, getting lots of scraps and scratch.

Petey is everyone's favorite toy, he just rolls around on his back waving his arms in the air while the wild bunch snarls and puts his head in one mouth or another and fights over their squiggly little toy. He just lies there grinning.

The mosquitoes are REALLY really really bad, inside and out. I have to put on repellant before I go to sleep!

And that's the news from Lake Poop-Be-Gone.

In the next few days, I'll share the details of the trip with you. Just think, it will be like watching some friend's never-ending vacation slideshow, only you can opt out with the click of a button.

Taking a Little Break

2011-08-28T20:09:00.001-06:00

I'm going to take a little time away from the blog, but I'll be back in a few days with photos of the fiber projects that I am working on.

Paradise Lost, for Skywatch

2011-08-25T04:00:00.070-06:00

Desert Bird of Paradise

I find our desert bird of paradise to be very decorative, even when the flowers are about to lose their petals. I especially like the flowers with the skies of the Mesilla Valley in the background.

When I looked around for some nice quotes about paradise, or paradise lost, I found this one by Doug Larson: Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, opulence is when you have three - and paradise is when you have none...

... but my chickens liked this one better: If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen. (Nikita Khrushchev).

For skies from everywhere, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

My Spinning Wheel

2011-08-24T04:00:00.018-06:00

While we're waiting for me to tease the rest of Kai Llama's fiber (see Spinning Kai: Teasing) and get it ready to spin, I thought you might like to see my spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Traditional Single-Drive kit wheel, made in New Zealand.

Although I specify "single-drive," I believe that was the only kind of drive available back when I ordered it in 1975 or so. Now there are lots more choices, and even the traditional wheel that is sold today looks a bit different in design.

I assembled this wheel completely by myself, and that made me feel very proud, as it was the first time I had ever attempted such a project. You can see the assembly directions here. By putting it together, I handled every piece and understood its function, and how it was connected to the next piece. That knowledge came in handy when I later needed to adjust or tune up the wheel.

Way back then, the kit cost $95.00 delivered to the closest spinning and weaving shop, which was in Puyallup, Washington. I see that unfinished wheels cost between four and five hundred dollars now!

One of the things I have always loved about spinning is how the names of the parts of the wheel hearken back to another long-ago time: The maidens, the mother-of-all, and the footman. You can see a diagram of a wheel and its parts here.

If you are thinking of getting a wheel, I would recommend that you buy a kit and put the wheel together yourself. Another suggestion: Don't store the wheel out in a hot, dry garage like I did. It's been a real job to get it back into working order after it was exposed to such extreme temperatures! Never again...

Spinning Kai: Teasing

2011-08-23T04:00:00.004-06:00

Once Kai Llama's beautiful fiber was washed (see Spinning Kai: Washing the Fiber) and had dried nicely in our hot New Mexico sunshine, it was time for some teasing.

Teasing any kind of animal fiber by hand is slow business. As you can see in the photo above, a lock of fiber is grasped and the single fibers are pulled away from the lock, several at a time. When done correctly, most of the inevitable bits of dirt and vegetable matter will fall out and you will be left with a lovely pile of fiber that is ready to card.

My sister (aka Auntie Bucksnort) is both patient and meticulous, and her fiber teasing is next to perfection. I'm afraid that I am impatient and eager to get on to the next steps, so my pile of teased fibers always has some "stuff" still in it.

Never fear, there will be other chances to get the last little bits out--first, when carding; and then again when doing the actual spinning of fiber into yarn.

You can tell Gracie is concentrating on doing the best job possible

Gracie came along to help out. She is kneading the clean unteased fibers; the teased mass of airy stuff in the basket in the background is ready for the next step that I will be showing you: The Carding. Give me a few days to finish the teasing, and I'll be glad to show you how that is done.

Snack

2011-08-22T04:00:00.001-06:00

Who snacked on this piece of unfriendly cactus?

While Beez and I were out riding our bikes across the big Las Cruces flood control dam, I noticed this prickly pear (Opuntia) with a great big bite taken out of it. Now, if you've ever dealt with this plant, as I have in my garden, you will know that it is full of tiny, threadlike prickly awful things right where those cute little polka dots are on the pads.

I'm not talking about the big obvious thorns, but the all-but invisible "hair-like prickles called glochids," that get stuck in your fingers and other places. I know this all too well from carrying a heavy pot with a prickly pear planted in it. The pot shifted unexpectedly and I lived with glochids stuck in my mid-section for a while until I figured out how to remove them.

Knowing these things about prickly pears, I was surprised to find that someone out there in the wild used them to snack on. However, I just googled around for a bit and found that livestock, javelinas, and coyotes will take a bite of the juicy pads. As a matter of fact, the young pads (nopales) can be peeled and eaten by people, and the fruits (tunas) can be used to make jelly. A friend of mine just made a batch of cactus fruit jelly and I admire her for it.

As for me, I have a glochid stuck in my thumb again. A year ago I wouldn't have even known its name.

*****

For more information:

Prickly Pear Cactus, DesertUSA

Opuntia; article from Wikipedia: Includes information about prickly pears as food, medication, and as a source of cochineal for dye (made from a scale insect that makes the plant its home).

Storm Over the Tularosa, for Skywatch

2011-08-18T04:00:00.030-06:00

When we drive through the Tularosa Basin on our way from Alamogordo to Las Cruces, New Mexico, we always marvel at the amazing skies. Something is always happening, something that makes me put down my knitting (imagine that!) and gaze up at the miraculousness of it all.

One tends to think big thoughts in the Tularosa.

For more skies and the thoughts they inspire, please be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

*****

Klaus Peter, 1960-2011

Today's Skywatch is dedicated to the memory of Klaus Peter. According to the Skywatch site, "he was an active participant, supporter, and eventually owner/maintainer of Skywatch and the founder of That's My World." He will be missed by so many, although we may not have met him in person.

Spinning Kai: Washing the Fiber

2011-08-17T04:00:00.004-06:00

This is Kai after her haircut. I swiped this photo from Danni's blog here.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the luscious chocolate-colored Kai Llama fiber from Danni's place in Oregon (see Getting Ready to Spin). I've been working away, preparing the fleece for spinning. It's so nice to be able to work on it outside, because it can be a messy job.

Here is the fleece, just as it came from Kai.
Danni offered to sort the fleece, but I said to just send the whole thing.

On our hot summer days the water straight from the hose is nice and warm.
The fiber got a short soaking.

This mesh chair was a handy place to dry the fiber, since it could drip on the patio

The next step, hand picking or teasing, takes patience and a lot of time. I will show you what that looks like in a few days.

Take a Look Around

2011-08-16T04:00:00.041-06:00

Sunset from our porch

It's no secret: New Mexico is a photogenic place. Photographers love the early morning and the evening light; and the mountains, skies, rivers, and the desert all provide amazing scenery.

I hope you will check out New Mexico Magazine's online photo tours. They are featuring some delicious chile photos from the harvest that is taking place right now (I can see the local pickers across the road as I type this), the winners from their annual photo contest; and tours of Native American ruins and petroglyphs, historical spots like El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, and ranches that will give you a glimpse at modern-day cowboy life. The show starts here. Prepare to spend some time clicking and oohing and aahing!

Sun, silence, and adobe - that is New Mexico in three words.

~Charles F. Lummis, in The Land of Poco Tiempo, 1928

Bright Socks for Happy Feet

2011-08-15T04:00:00.019-06:00

I'm still knitting socks, although I won't show you any more for a while because I'm starting on some stocking gifts for Christmas.

This pair is for me, though, and they are nice and bright!

The yarn is Knit One Crochet Too Ty Dy Sock Yarn in the Tropicale colorway, and I bought it online through Jimmy Beans Wool, my favorite.

August Morning in the Desert, for Skywatch

2011-08-11T04:00:00.053-06:00

More cloud shadows fall:

rainfall promises not kept

***

Tears salt the parched land

For sky views from the world over, please visit Skywatch Friday.

Socks: Violets Rainbow

2011-08-10T04:00:00.003-06:00

More Mini Mochi yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool, this time in the colorway Violets Rainbow.

I'm getting better at this sock knitting business. I believe I knit each of these socks only once. No do-overs at all!

They are very soft and will feel great in cold weather. I know, that's pretty hard to imagine in this steamy summer of broken heat records. I'm making plans for some Christmas gift sock knitting now.

The nice thing about ordering from Jimmy Beans is that I can dream up a project on a Friday night, order online, and have the yarn in my mailbox Monday afternoon. Can't beat that!

A Colorful Neighborhood

2011-08-09T04:00:00.105-06:00

There is a colorful little neighborhood in Las Cruces. I don't know its name, but it is close to downtown and to the Alameda-Depot Historic District.


Unfinished wall with window reflections

The houses are oldish, but not old enough to be called historic. Not yet, anyway. In the meantime, the neighborhood is slowly being "discovered" by artists and by folks who want a cool home to fix up at a good price.

You'll want to click twice to enlarge this one

I have a friend who bought a home near this artist's cottage. She is happy to report that her place only cost around $70,000 a few years ago and is coming along nicely as she installs tile and cupboards that she has built herself.

Some of the homes just stop you in your tracks. And some are painted a little more conservatively, but they still have spunky touches of color.

Sometimes you can only see a hint of the wild colors beyond.

I've actually been inside this last house for a party.

Colorful inside and out

The colors in the rooms are absolutely inspirational, and there are freehand murals painted throughout. I (secretly) wanted to take notes, and I (secretly) wanted to take photos--but the people I met there were so interesting that I couldn't decide what to do first.

Here there was a painted bird sitting on a painted tree branch above a window with bright turquoise trim against an orange wall;

and over there an artist wearing gorgeous handmade jewelry and a zebra-striped vintage hat

(was there a veil on the hat, and did she hold a long cigarette holder, or is my memory

playing tricks?);

just beyond her was a french door leading to a beckoning enchanted garden

filled with bright benches and birdsong and flower-covered arbors,

but next to the door was a professor who could talk firsthand about discoveries of prehistoric dinosaur tracks in the nearby mountains.

It was the best kind of gathering, colorful in every way.