Record reading
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: "Too Hot" by Kool and the Gang on Summer Daze Radio AOL
I finished reading "The Shop on Blossom Street" this morning. It is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it. The story takes place in Seattle, and starts at a new yarn shop called "A Good Yarn". Each chapter is about one of the four women that attend knitting class at the shop and how their lives evolve and change due to this knitting class.
If you are looking for a book to sit back and relax with this summer, I highly recommend this book.

Today I am going to try to register Twist with IAGARB. I'm not sure he'll pass the wool registration; we've had some incredibly hot days in the past month, and his fur isn't as long as I'd like. I have seen a good increase in his wool since I started him on Leslie's food (and for the record, only the purebred Germans are on this food, everyone else is on the Blue Seal feed). If he doesn't pass today, then we'll go for another registration, probably sometime in the late Fall.

I will be at Linda's spin-in tomorrow. I have lots of rovings to bring, along with one or two bunnies to sell. :)

It arrived!
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "Vacation" by the GoGos
After saying this morning that I didn't have my copy of "Hot Knits" yet, it arrived in this morning's mail. I've already gone through it, and found 3 (yes three) tanks that I feel a need to knit. I think I will do the Cynthia top with the angora yarn, and save the Diana top for some cotton yarn.



I think I'll keep reading the book, ignoring the screeching coming from the family room. :) Actually, school vacation started today. And while the boys have been playing rather well together today, I'm foreseeing some trouble brewing later, so the sooner I finish my work, the sooner I can take the kids outside to play. That will help them burn off some energy, and let me sit back, and relax, reading either of my new books.

My next project
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: "All Summer Long" by the Beach Boys on Summer Daze Radio AOL
I've decided to start this, and join the Tank-A-Long. Since my "Hot Knits" book hasn't arrived yet, the angora shell will have to wait as I know exactly which top I want to knit out of the book using that wonderful angora yarn.

Anyway, here it is:



Plymouth Electra Yarn from the Italian Collection

Happy Birthday to me!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Rio" by Duran Duran on Awesome 80's Radio AOL
Topic: Daily musings
Yes, today I turn 37. I'm not even sure my husband has remembered that today is my birthday, but my Mom already wished me a happy one, and my parents will be down tonight to have dinner with us (Chinese; I'm not cooking outside in the rain!). So, to treat myself today, I went over to Barnes and Noble and picked up three books. The first book is about pasta sauces; most are tomato based, which I can't eat, but I found a few in there that sound delicious, and have potential. The next book is a Martha Stewart book on meals for the seasons. While most people despise Martha, I've come around to enjoying her magazine and show. I used to be one of those people that couldn't stand to watch her, but after seeing her magazine, and really liking the recipes, I've changed my tune.
The last book I purchased is a hardcover (something I *never* do, since I'm cheap, and like softcover books), but this is a treat for myself. It's called "The Shop on Blossom Street" and is about several women that frequent a knitting store. Some members on the NETA list have been raving about it, so I decided to buy it. I'll give a review when I'm finished.

Yesterday, another box of roving from Wooly Knob showed up in the mail. I'm in awe of the skill of Matt and Jamie. All four fleeces in the box are stunning, including Halcyone's, which is slightly darker than last year's fleece, with more black in it, but still amazingly beautiful

I'm bringing several of these new rovings up to the Grafton Fibers Spin-In on Saturday to sell. Wait till you see them! The rest will go up on the webpage after the spin-in, if there are any left.

Who knew?
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Centerfield by John Fogerty on AOL's Summer Daze

That there were so many different kinds of day lillies? Yesterday, we did a lot of gardening. The great news is that our front gardens are nearly finished. They have been a work in progress for nearly 8 years since we moved here. I have two more lavender plants to buy (which I plan to get next Sunday at the Lavender Days festivals in Greenfield), and then it will be complete.

We started out our Father's Day by taking a trip to WalMart, and then heading to Andrew's Greenhouse and buying quite a few perennials. All flowers/veggies were on sale, since they were celebrating their 25th anniversary. So we picked up a hibiscus, some sedum plants, and veggie plants. We came home, and Dale got everything planted while I ran over to Hadley Garden Center, and bought a replacement honeysuckle (mine was hit by winterkill this year), and a jasmine plant. When I came home, we piled into the truck and went up to Deerfield to Pine Nook Day Lilies. The owner has over 160 varieties of day lilies for sale, and will dig them while you wait. We came home with 20 plants. One third of them went into the front flower beds, and the remaining plants went into the back bed, which used to be a rose garden. I dug all the roses up yesterday evening, Dale rototilled the garden, and I set about planting day lilies. Here is the finished garden (well, I don't have my woodchips down yet, but we finished up at 7:30 last night).


Day lilies in the early morning sun

I have some that will come up a ruby red color, others that will be cranberry colored, another that is cream colored with a purple center, and yet others that are various colors of pink and lavender. What I'm hoping I will get is a beautiful garden that is mostly maintenance free (this is why the roses didn't do so well). :) When I get my first day lily blooming, I'll post a picture. Several plants already had buds on them when we bought them.

Good day at the craft fair
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: "Rock Me Tonight" by Billy Squire
Topic: Daily musings
It was a lovely day at the craft fair. By 10:30, when the show is usually packed out, it had a modest crowd (and it wasn't even raining!), easy parking at my former kindergarten-2nd grade teacher's house (she hates thinking about that when ever I see her, ), and the wonderful company of my husband.

My big purchase for the day is the Edmond Johnson painting I was looking for. All of these are originals; no prints from Mr. Johnson. This painting finishes the trio of farm scenes we now have up on our wall in the living room.



My other purchase was 9 bars of soap from this farm Jenness Farm. I actually had the opportunity to try to soap out shortly after I came home. I went outside to feed and water the rabbits, and held one of the does, Mia. That was my first mistake. The second mistake was going over to Lucky's cage, and thinking he was just being affectionate, but instead, he was smelling Mia on me. After I put his food in the food dish, he kicks up his hind legs, and sprays me. This is not pleasant from a buck. So, in the house I go to take a shower (buck pee smells really bad), and unwrapped the coconut soap. It's wonderful! Now I smell like the beach. :)

There was one item that we didn't buy, but I might go back to pick up tomorrow. Dale saw a picture by a local photographer, Patrick Zephyr. Patrick is an amazing photographer, and captures nature in a serene sense. He also holds three weekend seminars each year, which we both want to attend. Anyway, Dale wanted this picture, but after buying the painting, and the soap, he decided against it. I might sneak over to the craft fair tomorrow, and purchase the picture as a Father's Day present for him.

Posted by baycolonyfarm at 6:16 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 19 June 2004 7:47 PM EDT

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Weekend plans
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: The Four Tops
I'm being lazy, and I'm really enjoying it.

I've had two weekends in the past three months where I haven't had any personal commitments to attend to. This is that second weekend. Today, after my husband gets home from work around noon, we are taking our boys up to my parents house, then heading over to the Old Deerfield Craft Fair to shop! Tuesday is my birthday, and I want to buy myself something special. Specifically a painting by Edmund Johnson. Mr. Johnson is a very talented watercolor artist, and I have two of his paintings that have been purchased in the past year. Today, I hope to acquire my third, so that I can finally hang the others up in the living room (I need a group of three to replace the Gene Mattras prints on the walls, which will move down to the family room, where they will fit in better). Then I plan to buy some more Nantucket photos, and eat strawberry shortcake which is a regular item at the fair, and I've only had it one other time. DH and I rarely get time alone together, so I'm looking forward to this outing.

The rest of my weekend will be spent spinning. I'm in the mood to work on my lovely Corriedale that Wooly Knob Fiber Mill processed for me. And maybe, if I'm lucky, the rest of my rovings from them will come in todays mail too. :)

Another early riser
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone

These 80's songs really bring back a lot of memories for me. My summers as a kid and and until I was 17, were spent down at my grandmother's house in Southern NJ. We (my cousin Ang and I) would spend the majority of our time on the deck of my aunt's pool, which was just across the street from my grandmothers. We'd have our radio blaring out the latest top 20, swim, paint our nails, talk about boys and do all that girl stuff. It was a very good time. :)

I've been up since 3:30 this morning. I saw the sun rise. It looks like it will be a lovely day outside today. That's good. I need a nice sunny day (not too hot) to be outside. The cold has taken it's toll on me, or rather, all the stress in my life basically told me that I needed some rest for the past few days.

The rabbits had a hard time yesterday. It hit 89 degrees, but thankfully, it's 5 degrees cooler in the barn. Still, they were hot. Even Merlot, my new buck who was just sheared a little over 3 weeks ago, curled up against the bowl of water I brought him.

Here is a picture of Mia and two of her three babies. They are so curious now, and have to explore everything the minute I open up the cage door.

I like to sing, but.....
Mood:  a-ok
Yesterday was NOT one of those days.

I'm on our local parade committee. I love being part of this group, even though sometimes it requires a lot of work, like yesterday. We hosted an 8 hour pig roast/benefit dinner; two live bands, lots of food, and we did pretty well. Except, I'm fighting a cold. And in the middle of the first band's set, they start asking for a female to come up and sing with them. Somehow, my friend Ethel starts yelling from the cooking area that I should go up there. Normally, I'd be happy to do this, but I knew that my voice was far from good sounding with this cold lurking. I get pushed up there (and yes, I did try to fight my way off), and forced into singing a Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow song, one that I am not familiar with. Lets just say that I'm really happy that the crowd at that time was probably less than 40 people (more people show up around 4, when the pig is being served, than are there around 3). And a photographer was there for the local paper taking pictures. At least the people in the newspaper (if the picture appears) can't hear me singing. :)

This week at the farm, I will be working in the gardens getting the vegetables planted, and the flower beds done. I've been too busy with work to do this before now, and hate getting things in this late. Especially since I've had my flowers since shortly after Mother's Day, waiting in their small pots to go into the ground. Maybe we'll get lucky, and have a few days of good weather that allow me unlimited planting time.

Hot, hot, hot!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls
This is going to be a short post, since a thunderstorm is threatening.

However, I do have a HUGE reason to celebrate today. I finally finished the last leg of my licensing with the state, and PASSED MY CERTIFICATION EXAM! YEAH! I've been avoiding this exam for years, since I'm exam phobic. But I sucked it up, and passed it at 10:30 this morning.

I will write more later. I'm watching trees bend in very bad ways. The storm is here.