They're There

Yep, Friday night we had our last dinner together at the Peerless Restaurant. As always the food and spirits where first rate and conversation and dessert lively. All too soon the meal (and the visit) were over. My folks flew home to Massachusetts ahead of the Nor'easter that came up the Atlantic coast. They woke up Sunday morning in their own beds to some of the white stuff and a downed branch in the driveway. I spent Sunday wishing for a longer visit, thinking about next spring and being grateful the Patriots game was blacked out.

We had a wonderful visit, the shopping was good, the eating and drinking...better!

Both my Mother and Father are great cooks and each did a few fabulous meals. I will say, my Mom gets points for always doing the clean-up and Dad for doing the daily run down the mountain for supplies except on Sunday's of course! ;) It's amazing what we can dream up when we all get together.

Robin and my Dad took to one another and each day the two would head out for a stroll. The donkey's got some extra attention too not to mention lots of carrots. Stella

got her fair share of ball throwing each day and Smoochie, who adores my Mother more than anyone he knows, lavished her with attention.

There was also some sewing, Mom picked out some neon green corduroy at Fabric of Vision and I whipped her up another Quincy top.

Got one done for myself too!

Dad got some wonderful hand dyed Tencel yarn at Webster's and will be making a beautiful scarf or two from it. Just grand stuff from Prism. Here's my hank.

His was in greys, blues and bronzes. Sorry no pictures. As is typical, I put the camera away during these much anticipated and enjoyed visits and go with the flow.

I managed to get a prayer flag done and sent home with my Mom that was requested last spring. They are so time consuming and I have to be honest, writing out the prayers always makes me rather depressed since it was a Rainbow Bridge flag.

The towel warp is again being woven on, but not too much. I need to get those rolling as the holidays are just around the corner and I need a lot of towels!

The horse shelter is slowly moving along too. Gene completed the digging and form building Sunday and will be getting rebar today and pouring the concrete foundation tomorrow. From there it's all simple building and I hope goes quickly.

Parting shot: Small-Medium-Large.

They're Here!

And that means that I am usually not blogging but enjoying every moment I can during the two week stay. Worse, I have no pictures to post. You will have to take my word for it that the top I made my mother fits and she likes it and that the wool runner is packed up in my Dads bag so it isn't forgotten when the visit ends.

The loom is weaving again some more Celtic towels, the sewing room isn't being totally neglected, food, beer, wine and football all are being enjoyed.

Parting Shot: A sniffing nose gathers some interesting moss!

Able to Leap Small Gullies in a Single Bound

Yeah, sure, They can try to keep me quiet with their bandages and bags and inflatable collars.

But my nose is good.

My hearing and eyesight keen.

I could go for miles wrapped paw or not.

And I'm smart too. It's nicer to just stay close to home, walking with someone who loves me

and has treats... ;>

Let's Play Dress Up

Oh heavens, Robin isn't the only one wearing some gear these days. Who would have expected wet snow on October 5th? Not me! But there it was, snow here in the air and snow actually sticking just a bit higher up. And now I have three Miniature MEDITERRANEAN Donkeys. I'm pretty sure it doesn't snow where they are originally from and donkeys with the exception of the Baudet du Poitou,have a pretty skimpy coat. Hence my having to go out and dress the donks yesterday.

Brand new waterproof coats with warm linings came out of the packages and onto the donkeys. And they were pretty good about it too. I didn't get kicked and the only one who appeared never to have been blanketed was Sugarfoot. The girls stood like like little troopers while I adjusted and crossed back leg straps. Sugarfoot needed a bit of a lead around with just the neck and belly strap buckled but finally relaxed enough for me to do the back leg strap cross.

He got carrots, they all got carrots and then went and wandered around their paddock admiring each others new clothes. They hopefully stayed warm and dry last night as the temps dropped to below freezing. I will undress them today once it has warmed up.

Robin is doing well although his maid is becoming weary of bagging his wrapped foot for the wet outdoors. He is so good though and while he'd tear that bandage to pieces if left for very long on his own, he minds his manners about it for the most part.

I've put a little infant sock over the whole wad to keep it clean and he seems less likely to want to chew that.

We'll change it today and check on the nail growth. Once he has a bit of it over the exposed bone he'll be good to go without the bandage. About two weeks.

I managed to carve out some time from cleaning and puppy care on Sunday and had a fabric cutting bonanza while I watched and listened to football. Lord knows there is enough of it on Sunday! A couple of shirts have been completed, another three are cut

and waiting for marking and then I can start in on them as I have time. The first of the completed shirts is a second rendition of the grey tie blouse. I opted not to do the ties and did a better job of grading.

It fits very nicely and I love the soft interesting print. Yesterday morning we had a disaster with it though. I was serging one of the side seams and the fabric from the side front got creased and serged under it. Now mine is an old serger, fast and powerful and cuts quicker than you can take a breath. A large V cut was created in the front panel. I creatively patched it after shedding some tears and truth be told, I like it better. I LOVE happy accidents.

The second top is my standard TNT (tried and true) Hot Patterns shirt.

I did the collar for the first time and I like it. Of course I cut it way down along with the stand to be more like ready to wear.

That is my main gripe with just about all shirt patterns. The collar and the stand are too big. I took this down by almost half. Next time I may trim it even more and do a button down collar.

The loom is all back and ready for weaving.

In fact I might get to some of that today after I put my portion of cleaning time in. I loved that one dark brown/mink colored towel and think I will do a couple of them for myself.

The folks will be arriving next Saturday and we're both getting excited. This Saturday hay arrives and that should excite everyone outside. Hay is costly this year, less growers since the livestock market has tanked, especially horses and those that are, sell out of their barns and fields in small tonnage amounts. Fewer farms are offering delivery. We're paying about what we did last year for hay. Buying less with just three horses but spending more. The donkeys don't eat enough to really add into the equation, much like the goats.

Parting shot: "More cut carrots, Please!"

The Collar of Shame

Oh it is so sad, my tale of woe. ;) Yesterday was the big day for Robin. On Weds he had injured a toe on his front foot digging. We figured it was a thin slice in that little space between the bottom of the toenail and the pad. Well, it seems he peeled enough of the nail off below it's bed that he actually exposed the bone underneath. The nail had to be cut back, lots of antibiotics and of course, a bandage. Oh joy! Try keeping that on a 5 month old Jack pup.

He had a baby tooth pulled, he was microchipped and of course, he was neutered. He was quite a doped up sore little mess of a dog when I rescued him from the vet yesterday afternoon. As it seems all dogs do, this morning he has made a remarkable recovery. Bouncing, jaunty, ready to take on that vet wrap and his appetite is back!