You know...

...if this wasn't going on in the front yard...



... I wouldn't have these in the backyard.

If it weren't so windy, there would be photos

Yesterday I drove through town to my daughter's house, to pick up the granddaughter for the weekend, and was just *amazed* at all the trees and shrubs in bloom. It was like magic... until I realized I had not left the house for almost a week. The little cough I was working on at the fiber festival turned into a hacking mess before the weekend was over. Wednesday was hump day in more ways than one, and I have been on the mend ever since. Still a lot of coughing, plus some wheezing (I think I now know what asthma and emphysema feel like), but generally better. If I am still wheezy come Monday, I will call my internist, but according to Dr. Internet, I probably have bronchitis, which is treated with ibuprofen and rest.

The daffodils are done, but the dandelions are making up for their absence. Because of my chest cold plus grandma duty, the yard looks like a jungle. I have puttered a bit, planting 'Angelina' sedum in the bed by the front walk, transplanting tomatoes and other vegetables (but not to the garden proper yet), picking (and eating) arugula and spinach and asparagus. I haven't been able to dig in like I want, though.

And now that the weather is just absolutely perfect and the garden and yard are in so much need of attention, I have to go on a business trip. *sigh*

Pop!

Northeast Indiana Fiber Festival

The information said the Northeast Indiana Fiber Festival was to be held at the Noble County Fairgrounds, in the log building.

This one?

Sign says "Closed. Call 911"

No.  How about this one?

Snack bar?

Nope.  Maybe here...

Outside

Yes!

Inside

My SO and I popped in for a quick shopping spree. Despite there being some lovely roving in a variety of natural and not-so-natural colors, I resisted. It has been hard enough to get to the wheel at all, but with gardening season starting up, it is nearly impossible. And it is not like there won't be roving elsewhere.

But fiber fests have not just wool, but other goodies. Like soap made from sheep milk. I asked the vendor, "Who milks the sheep?" She does. She is quite petite with small hands, so I can see that (as I imagine the teats on sheep are rather small, but what do I know?)



Because I am growing tired of carrying a purse, I bought this card carrier. I figure I can get the bare essentials in there (bank card, library card, insurance card) and slip it into a back pocket. Now if designers would just put pockets on women's clothing.



I like to knit shawls but I don't like to wear them because they involve a lot of fiddling if one does not have a shawl pin. I've been looking for shawl pins for a while now, but this is one of the first ones I've seen that I really like.



And there were other purchases: local maple syrup and lanolin based lotion (which smells decidedly sheepy). I also meant to buy some sock yarn that was a blend of merino, alpaca, and nylon, but forgot. Ditto the finger puppets. But I think I can make my own finger puppets, from leftover sock yarn. Should not be much more difficult than glove fingers, right? (Famous last words.)

Rainy days and Sundays

Look what my SO bought me

The trick to good gifting is to figure out what someone wants but would not buy for themselves. Bingo!

Brave New World

Modeling a handknit hoodie

My granddaughter just turned two-and-a-half this month. She stays overnight with me most Saturday nights, to give the 'rents a break. We have our routines (supper, games, Shaun the Sheep or Curious George, popcorn, etc.) One of our routines is reading in Grandma's bed, then falling asleep in Grandma's bed, then being transferred to the Pack n Play.

Some of the games we "play" are on my Nook. Some are puzzle games, one is a memory game, and another is a coloring app. Granddaughter particularly likes the latter.

Last Saturday, while lugging her from my bed to her bed, she woke up. I was too tired to deal with the ensuing pleas and tears, so I just put her back in my bed and we both went to sleep. The next morning, granddaughter hopped out of bed almost immediately upon waking. After a few minutes, I staggered after her. She was sitting on the couch, Nook in lap, "coloring". She had figured out how to turn it on, get past the screen saver, find her game, and start playing. It wasn't long before she was trying to get more games off the B&N site. It is a good thing she does not know my B&N password or my credit card would have some mysterious charges on it.

Watching Thomas the Train

I'm sure there were predictions of doom following the invention of the telephone, automobile, radio, television, etc. but these new technologies were all so useful and desirable. They transformed society in ways that are both bad and good (mostly good, I think - I'm a big fan of hot running water and electricity), but in no time at all, we found we could not do without them. Ditto the computer age - what did we do with all that free time we used to have before surfing the 'net and chatting online? We probably watched TV and talked on the phone. And before that, we foraged for food and tried to figure out how to start a fire rubbing two sticks together.

The world changes. Fortunately, our children and then our grandchildren take these changes in stride. It is just us old farts that resist the new (my 93-year-old dad is struggling with transitioning from XP to Windows7 on his laptop and won't text on his iPhone, but he did send me a message via Facebook the other day). That's not to say everything new is good, but that which is "new" becomes that which is "normal" in a very short time. And sometimes what is "new" used to be "old" - for example, it wasn't that long ago that we ate locally grown food because that was all that was available.

The other day my daughter and I were double-teaming the granddaughter, getting her changed from her fleece pj's (she calls them "feecies" which sounds a lot like "feces") to street clothes and brushing her hair. "It's like 'Downton Abbey'!" I exclaimed. "And we are the lady's maids." Part of that show's story line shows the changing times and warns of what can happen if one does not adapt. The trick is to figure out how best to make use of the new stuff without introducing ruinous consequences.

Some days I fall into the camp labeled "Hell in a Handbasket" but other days I'm optimistic. Significant change is coming, especially for that endangered species, the White Male. It may be a rough transition, but I think the young can lead us into a better future. At least I hope so, for their sake.