first snow and a happy cat

we got our first snowfall on the west coast yesterday. actually quite beautiful.
and a report on flora. she's eating again and seems to be putting on a bit more weight. the kidney medication is working and we have our kitty back.

say it isn't so

corner brook is a mill town. it was established in 1924 on the humber river/bay of islands because of the pulp and paper mill.
5 years ago the mill put forward a proposal to burn tires as an alternative fuel. at that time there was enough of an uproar to squelch the idea.
it's happening again and it sickens me that it is even being considered as a safe and sane thing to do to an environment and it's population.
tomorrow there will be a march (meeting in the back parking lot of the university main building at 11:00 and marching to either the city hall or the mill gates). i pray that there will be numbers to show the government that we don't want this.

good company

in these final weeks leading up to the "big show", working 12-16 hour days, i've had good company. i've been listening to the sequel to ken follet's "pillars of the earth" - "world without end". it picks up the story about 200 years later - the time of the great plague. so the church, medicine. power and greed. serfs and landowners.
36 discs.

do i live here?

i leave for toronto in less than a week and the house is in chaos. i'm still making product. i'm beginning to pack. my attention is turning towards my booth display and what i will need to take with me. every surface in the house is covered with clutter. before i leave it will all be sorted and swept up and packed. and i'll come back to calm.

batt bags

last year at the ooak i had a number of spinners drop by asking for batts (fibre that has been prepared for spinning). so this time i'll be prepared. yesterday i started preparing batt bags - batts that have been carded with hand dyed mixed fibres (merino, shetland, mohair fibre locks, bamboo, soysilk, angelina glitter and bits of cut up commercial novelty yarn). these batts will be good for felters too. i'll only have a limited number, so if you're interested, come early.

the light

the hours of daylight are so short now. i feel that mostly i'm working in darkness. my work is about colour and when i'm making a batt, i'm carrying my dyed fleece to brighter areas of the house just to see what colour i'm using (is this dark purple or brown?) lately we've had a rash of sunny days in a row so this weekend i made up all my batts during the day in the rich strong light. and then spent the evenings spinning (something i could do blindfolded).
yesterday was my last day for spinning. today i'm making little batts to sell at the ooak as well as painting up some knitting needles to sell seperately. one week of work to go.

a fine day

this is the first weekend in months that hasn't been rainy.i took the morning off. got together with a couple of good friends for coffee and then went to the spca craft fair. this is my favourite local craft fair. love supporting the spca in any way i can. but also it's where i get my knitted socks for the year. i love these thrummed socks to wear as house slippers. and after we went to the 2nd annual women's international food and craft fair. there is no ethnic food in corner brook. so even just walking into the legion and smelling spices was a treat. we bought enough african and bulgarian food to last at least the weekend and had a real feast last night for dinner. in the afternoon keith raked the rest of the leaves and i spun. a fine day.