Layers

The men covered up the styrofoam with cement today.........glad we got a peek of the before preparations because you'd never guess what lies below looking at it now!

We went into the city to run some errands and on the way home Bill stopped at a local junk/thrift store , I sat in the car knitting (my usual mode when he runs into each store) and as I glanced up I saw these. I have wanted a pair for so many years, and now I am the proud owner ! I have to decide what color to paint them as they have a few nicks but no cracks (they are ceramic, 32" tall). I am thinking white........sitting on each side of the front door. We shall see. I put on a new warp (172 threads of 10/2 cotton, black)............almost ready for me to begin weaving tomorrow but I ran out of light when a thunderstorm moved in!

I also started a new knitting project, before I finished the shawl I am working on-which is very unusual for me but this project is calling me and I caved. (This is the lace yarn Marsel bought while we were visiting! ) It is invigorating to live on the edge!

In the Weaving Seat

I finally had time to sit and weave up the last of the warp for plastic bag totes. It was so good to sit after the break while on vacation. But now the loom is empty and needing a new warp and another project-perhaps the ribbon 'yarn' I have.......
Thought you would be interested in the way Bill chose to insulate the original part of the cement block house. The men glued 2" styrofoam onto the blocks. The sanded the whole wall to even out the surface, then they work on the window sills to reinforce it with cement. Today they glue a fiberglass webbing to the whole wall so it will be ready to receive the stucco. Neat idea-it sure makes a difference to the insulating factor of the house which was zilch before we added any! The back of the house faces east and gets the full impact of the sun all morning and the front faces west to get baked all afternoon-now we have the beauty of the sun without the baking affects! Perfect.

Stucco Update

We came home to an exciting sight-the front of the house is all stucco-ed!

Now the arches are not arches and Bill says it is what happens when you allow men to work when you are not there to supervise. The contractor will fill in the angles and make them curves, he apologized for the mix up. They are working on the back of the house today. The end is in sight!!!!

We came home to a wonderful thunderstorm; in fact we got over 4" of rain while we were gone; it is a good thing to love to come home-it helps with the sting of the goodbyes that end a wonderful week.....

Many thanks to the Lord for safe travel-we saw a terrible accident on the way up and was almost involved in one ourselves on the way home. The traffic was mild all the way until we got to our own little city and hit a major jam for over an hour. This was why-a trucker fell asleep at the wheel and drove through the fruit stand! Can you believe no one was injured-not even the driver!

Saturday's Hike

We went to Buford Dam State Park for a family day on Saturday! We brought a picnic lunch and fed the geese-who ,we discovered, are related to their FL counterparts.........seagulls and their ability to rudely scrounge!


This is the outlet side of the dam; where the river continues on its way without a view of the interruption just to the other side of the earthen barrier! We made plans to come here for another family trip with canoes/rafts for a river ride day in the future!







After exploring the river side we drove over to the Lake Lanier side and explored a small portion of this beautiful man made lake; we hiked, saw the mounted police, played on the various playgrounds, admired the water activities and then let the kids cool off in the water before heading to dinner out and home! A perfect day.

(On a side note-David brought home an unwanted gift-poison ivy! We couldn't keep him on the trails 'cuz there were interesting things like sticks (which became bows for imaginary arrows and pinecones which he launched into the water like bombs...!)

Doing Some of This and That

Girl's field trip to a yarn store, to my favorite store......piano lessons, OT appointment for Abigail,

remaking an old wool coat of Marsel's from a swing style full length coat to a jacket;

sewing up some pretty colored bags,

and cutting up some new ones, playing at the pool,
yard work, reading and laughing! Nice week!

A Winner!

Congratulations to CJ & Family for winning the blogiversary 'GiveAWay'!

I will get your pertinent info and send the woven tote in the mail to you today!

Thank you to all of you who left comments;

you are all appreciated.

Blogiversary GIVE-AWAY!

To celebrate my 2 year anniversary for blogging, I am going to give away this plastic bag tote!
Just leave a comment Monday -Thursday and I will randomly draw a name and announce it on Friday!

Stucco Started!

After many false starts..........the stucco finish is going on!

It is just what we hoped it would look like!

Tomorrow, we are heading to Georgia to visit Bruce and Marsel and the grandkids for a week. I will be blogging from there. The guys are going to keep working on the house while we are gone-we will be coming home to a finished exterior on the house; even arches on the front veranda!

( The expectation and excitement of seeing the house will soften the pain of saying goodbyes!)

A Night on the Town

Bill and I went to an evening, outdoor wedding in St Augustine tonight. (I did mention a sunburn in the last post!)

I wove a bag to go with my outfit-I used the pretty greens that I have been given! And I wore the olive green, alpaca Pi shawl.

In fact, I wove quite a few bags ........ to the sewing room tomorrow and give them their shape!

There is a Monday flea market that is opening soon and I am going to look into a booth to sell these..........will keep you posted.

Playing Hookey!

Caleb came for a visit and we decided to try out those garage sale water skis he bought last month! It was a perfect day for being on the water; 95 degrees, little breeze and low humidity.

The clouds rolled by but didn't threaten any storms. (No , the stucco contractor didn't come today either, he , too, decided to play hookey as he has gotten used to not working.......grrrrr!)

Caleb last used water skis when he was at Bible camp 8 yrs ago. I'd say he did really well-up the first time! Now he did quite a few falls , too, but it comes with the territory and I predict many sore muscles when he wakes up tomorrow!

After an hour, he got pretty fancy and took a spectacular fall on the St Johns to prove it!

We docked the boat for lunch at our favorite restaurant, Corky Bells.

The greater Egrets were all along the shorelines, treetops and islands today. So graceful.

The shoreline is so green and all the Cypress trees are leafed out after their bare winter garb. We rested on the ride home down the St Johns and Dunn's Creek and then Caleb skied on Crescent Lake before calling it a day. (We do not entertain the idea of skiing on Dunn's Creek because it is alligator alley! And yes, there are gators in Crescent Lake but they do not swim in the middle during the day....so the locals say!) The new trailer guides Bill bought sure made loading the boat back on the trailer a breeze! (See first photo) Great idea, Bill!

Sun-kissed and fresh-air-tired, we are calling it a good day.

(PS-I got my spinning time in this morning.........and now there are 300 yards of Suffolk yarn; waiting for the dye pot!)

Catching Up with Projects

I have been rather eclectic in my interests this week. I pulled a bunch of tee shirts out of the toss pile (stains, rips or old) and cut them into strips to use for a rag rugs. My grandmother used to cut strips like this and then crochet them into oval rugs which she then gave to for each of her grandchildren. I think she would have appreciated what I am going to do with these, too. Bill took this picture of me because he said I looked so peaceful and I never have pictures of me on the blog........I told him I was peaceful until he took the picture.
I am still spinning for the Tour de Fleece but the wool has been white so it is boring to post pics. I am also spinning my handprepared Florida Suffolk fleece and it is natural colored and so not too exciting to see either but I am making my allotted time each day. So far I have 1200 yds of the superwash that will become a woven lace shawl. (see the latest Handwoven magazine and you will know what I am planning.)
I finished the teal/brown overshot weaving. I will tackle sewing it into a few coin purses tomorrow! (I ended up weaving a yard of 8" fabric)
I warped up the loom so I can weave some more plastic bag totes! I saw this idea on one of the blogs I read but can't remember which one so if it was your idea, claim the fame in the comments! I sat on the exercise ball to warp all the heddles, I was able to pivot comfortably and it was just the right height for perfect vision! I did laugh-if you know me , you know I am allergic to 'exercise' and so to find a pleasurable use for this ball is indeed funny!

I have woven two so far today. It is so satisfying to see them roll off the assembly line! I have accumulated quite a palette of 'fiber' for weaving.

Bill has been mowing each morning this week; first our place, then the Lake Como house and then today at church. It has rained each afternoon and so the stucco work has been put on hold until it is dry-it is hard to be patient.......