botticelli's venus

i was an outcast in my last years of high school. i didn't fit and rather than have that "otherness" in my face all the time, mostly i chose to be alone. i also didn't eat in those days, so i spent my lunch hour every day in the school library discovering the "classics" (i had no-one to point me in their direction), and looking at art books. most of the books were "encyclopedia" type with tiny grainy photos - often in black and white. but this is where i fell in love. and i continue to cherish my "first loves". botticelli was one of those loves, and his "birth of venus" was the inspiration for my latest yarn.

an about face

this past weekend our craft group met in woody point (in beautiful gros morne park) for a gathering and sleep-over. at the very last minute i decided not to go. i felt badly backing out, but i've been feeling overwhelmed since returning home last week with all that needs to be done. so i stayed home and got alot done! i had knit quite a few scarflettes while i was away, so i finished them off - attaching buttons and tidying up loose ends. i'm taking part in the first ever corner brook farmer's market on the majestic lawn this coming saturday and want a basket of scarflettes to sell. i painted the faces on 30 cat banks for the bay of islands spca (after being a volunteer/worker with them for years, i now only help them out with "art related" activities and projects). and yesterday afternoon i tended my flower gardens that have been so neglected now that i'm looking at vegetables.

daphne

to celebrate the birth of each grandchild we plant a bush or tree. for eamon (who is now 9) we planted a plum tree. for years we've enjoyed the rich bounty of "stanley" plum. unfortunately last year we noticed black rot on him and this year we've had to cut off alot of his limbs in hopes of saving him. we planted a small chestnut tree last fall for eamon in case stanley doesn't make it. for lucy (who is almost 4) it was a quince. delicate and slightly awkward in shape but with the most exquisite early blossoms. and yesterday, for finn (5 months old) we bought a daphne bush. strong and solid but with the most surprisingly fragrant little purple flowers and bright red berries in the fall. these are my grandchildren...

sharing

this summer i'm turning my attention to growing vegetables. i haven't had a vegetable garden for over 20 years. like the craft community i'm part of, i see i'm entering into another community of sharing. yesterday, craig (who happens to be a potter - meadows point pottery) dropped in to see my greenhouse. craig is a serious gardener (he basically lives off of his own produce).he wants to replace the peaked roof of his greenhouse with a sloped one like mine (so that there is no snow build-up). i told him i would take photos and email them to him. i gave him a basil and a pepper plant and alot of spinach and lettuce seedlings. he's going to bring me egglplant and some tomato plants that are already in flower. he told me my onion sets were planted too deeply.

nana banana

having just returned home after spending a week with the grandchildren, i felt this was an appropriate name for the first yarn i've spun since coming home. "nana banana" is handspun with banana fibre combined with linda lewis's yellow and brown mohair/wool mix (linda lives in chapel's cove, newfoundland and uses the wool from her own animals - sheep, goats and lamas). "nana banana" is now listed in my etsy shop.

two out of three...

last week mary from the toronto one of a kind show contacted me. she'd discovered my blog and wondered if she could use some text and images of it on the ooak blog. i checked it out last night toronto one of a kind show blog and discovered that of the 3 blogs she featured, 2 were from here. rilla of marshallarts is part of our craft group and just moved to halifax. it confirms that you can live absolutely anywhere these days and still make a go of it in the craft world.

what i came home to ,what i left behind

as always, after a week spent with my daughter and her little family, there's always aching longing when it's time to leave. the little children. their smell and soft bodies. but always glad to get home - to keith. this year to the greenhouse and garden. to this surprising banana and sari silk fibre for me to spin up.