are you the sun?

we've had so much greyness and rain lately. yesterday the sun made a brief appearance. i grabbed the skeins of yarn drying in front of the fire and hung them out on the clothesline for a few hours. then abigail and i went for a lovely autumn walk on three bear mountain. today it's raining...

an infusion of colour

we've had days of cold grey rain here. so indoors i've been dyeing and spinning up some pretty bright colours in retaliation. "limelight" is now available for purchase in my etsy shop

plums

it's canadian thanksgiving and our collective brains turn to food. this year our plum crop was meager. i passed on some to keith's mum for a few bottles of plum jam. but the rest we are just eating. last night i made a wonderful gingered plum sauce from "moosewood restaurant cooks at home" - 12 prune plums pitted, heated with 1/4 c maple syrup, and 1/4 tsp ground ginger. when the plums begin to relase their juice, add the juice of 1/2 lemon that has been combined with 1 tsp. of cornstarch. bring to a boil and cook until thickened. wonderful on yoghurt - a really tart exotic flavour. and i used the plums to inspire some of the fleece dyeing i did over the weekend.

bountiful

it is canadian thanksgiving weekend and i am grateful for all that surrounds me.

and of course - the place

i moved to newfoundland from toronto 35 years ago. so for almost my whole adult life, st. john's has been "the city". i love visiting st. john's. it's strong character. "giver" means putting your whole heart into something (something this city seems to do - it's colourful buildings, it's music, it's politics) and i was excited to see this graffiti down an overgrown alley. st. john's is still cleaning up from hurricane igor. the tall trees in bannerman park. autumn is my favourite season in the city (it becomes almost impassable in the winter because of all the snow). the late flowers. the leaves turning. the sparkling sea out the narrows. it's age._

and then the work

the next couple of months mean full days (and nights) of work - dyeing, spinning and knitting - making product for the toronto one of a kind show that takes place the end of november. so when i went to st. john's for 10 days i took with me enough yarn to knit up while i was away. i managed to get through about 3/4's of it - cowls, shawls and scarflettes. after i dropped the children off each day for school, i went to coffee matters on military road and enjoyed a double cappachino in the comfort of a soft couch and read a little and knit until the craft council opened at 10:00. there i worked on the third floor - that's the view looking out over the narrows. i'd break at noon to pick up lucy and then back for a couple of hours until school was out at 3:00. evenings were exhausting and after the children were all in bed i had only a couple of hours to work. i remembered how it was when my own kids were little. how hard it was to work. how much you have to set yourself aside for your little children.

first the children

last night i got home from 10 days in st. john's looking after the grandchildren while my daughter and son-in-law were off for a much needed vacation to new york city. keith drove me out and stayed for the first 4 days to help us all get adjusted. it was exhausting. but excellent. finn- who is 21 months old - and i got to know one another. he melts me. lucy has just started kindergarten so it was lovely to be there watching her embrace a larger world. and eamon in his own environment on the cusp of adolescence. the days started at 6:00 with finn's "nana?" and ended for me at 10:30 - after dinner and baths and stories. and talking all the time. all the little voices. during the week days their babysitter maria (a wonderful woman from columbia) looked after them while i went over to devon house and knit - stopping work only to walk the children to and from school - 6 back and forths (same school but different schedules). time spent with young children slows you right down and at the same time you never stop. so i slept deeply each night.