Foothills Folly

I’ve been scanning old family photographs, not sure why,  but it seems like a good idea.  But what a headache!  iPhoto won’t read the scans, then it will, then it won’t, then it will.  Can’t get the Flicker uploader to accept the scanned photos.  Uploaded some with their old online uploader and the pictures have a little copy of the image in the corner. Grrrrr!  I’m about to try here.  I don’t know if this part of my grandparent’s trip in the 20’s is in New Hampshire or Maine.  I think they may have driven past the ‘Old man in the Mountain’, so perhaps NH:

There were actually others on the road!

And here it seems they stopped for ice cream:

And the last photograph is of their destination, near Middle Dam in Maine, the Anglers’ Retreat. I think this was a publicity photo they got there, not taken by them:

There are others of brooks and lakes, the dam itself, and a lake steamer— but I am tired of trying to make these images behave!

I see I’ve put a vertical border to the left; I’m afraid if I take it out I’ll lose the text and photos.  I can only get photos that I’ve scanned into Flicker, and thus into here, by taking them from iPhoto, putting them into the Preview app, save them, and lo!  then they can go in the uploader. I even downloaded a new Uploader for Flicker, and it sure is nicer then the one I was using, and the images now don’t have the little copy in the corner, but it won’t accept the scans either.  Maybe the fault, Dear Brutus, lies with the scanner. Tried to take the line out, now there are two! (Ah! I have made them go away!)

I love the new beginning feeling that comes with the 1/1 date. I have made some sweeping resolutions; one of which is to get outside more: (starting tomorrow!) (I am nothing if not a procrastinator!) I am up for changes in five categories: Health, Wealth, Art, Life, and Permaculture.  I think that about covers the essentials. I would have put in a spinning and/or a knitting goal, but they seem to be my default activities and don’t need any encouraging.

This is the storm of yesterday; I didn’t get a photo of today’s; kind of looked the same. I would miss this season if I ever went south for the winter. Especially that cozy feeling of a ’snow day’ with food in the house and no where one needs to go.

Mitzy has taken over the tree; I know she thinks we brought it in the house just for her. To her credit she has been a huge help at undecorating it, though I’m not yet ready to take it down.

 The amaryllis opened yesterday; the picture does not capture how red it really is. Kind of the red of this yarn:

The Fleece Artist sock yarn was part of a raffle prize from the fall Spin-Out. I wasn’t able to go, but made a donation to the Heifer Society—and was delighted with the prize package that arrived yesterday—Thanks, Cara, and all your sponsors!

I have been spinning, this fuzzy fiber I carded a few months ago—is it the alpaca mixed with wool?  Or the moorit locks from RHLindsay? Inquiring minds want to know, and I have forgotten.  Lesson learned: always label!

Lastly, Sam, and girl friend Kath, dressed for a dinner out at Bizen’s, everyone’s favorite Japanese restaurant.  I stayed home and made my own sushi!

I’ve been cleaning up. And working. Last week my sisters showed up and we filled a dumpster, 20 cubic yards of trash and who-knows-what. We began in the loft of the barn, which had 10 years of stuff just dumped into it:

One sister thought we could work for two days on the barn; I’m sure we could have but I had high hopes of getting to the worst parts of the house too. We got this much done on the barn:

Then, we, um, they, organized the landing in the house and had time the next day to tackle my bedroom:

Not yet finished, but wow! I am delighted; I can see where to work on the next step:

And there it all goes, worth all the money for the roll-off, but I couldn’t have done it without my sisters’ help. One couldn’t pay anyone to work as they did, with caring and thoughtfulness, and toughness and energy!

DS #3 then proceeded to clean and organized the mudroom; he is soooo good at this! I would post a picture but it needs a coat of paint and only looks good to those of us who had lived, too long, with the cluttered version. I can actually envision an uncluttered future, down the road.

One sister reported that pack-ratting/hoarding may not be an OCD stepchild as much as it might be a problem for those folks whose brains fail in one area, the decision making area that relates to things: given objects to evaluate for keep/toss/donate/important/not-needed, the part of the brain that decides these things doesn’t even fire in hoarders and pack-rats! Can’t quote the study, but boy, that is me. Making those decisions just wears me out and I quit, long before the task is done.

Not much knitting/spinning this week, but I am working on the shawl with my homespun. Pictures next time.

Got home tonight from sister L’s house; moved some furniture, sorted, tossed, labeled, sorted, tossed, and generally probably made it look nicer but no doubt it will be a source of confusion as no one will know where anything is. We began this ritual last year (does one year make something a ritual event? Why not!) and have done one and a half of our six days. Next Monday at A’s and then my place at the end of the month.

I have some how promised to get rid of 48 boxes by then— or is it 3 a day times about 25 days? –then it would be 75 boxes!! Oh my gosh!!! It would be nice to do that, so let me keep a count. (Today: none)

At dinner last night at a great restaurant (there are great perks to this cleaning) we almost shared a table with a certain girl’s college basketball coach whose name happens to be Geno; he was just a smidgen away at the next table; kind of made the night a memorable event.

Signed up for the mystery stole #3; I’m not spinning the yarn for this but am using a thin two ply from the Bartlett Mill. a rich brown called ‘bark’; but the beads I bought seem too small unless they will thread on a needle threader, but then how will the stitch get off the needle, I don’t think that is going to work—-

We had a great time visiting T and M at their new home:

It stands where in the previous post’s picture there is an empty lot; it’s wonderfully comfortable and has a terrific pool; and loads of beautiful orchids. Retirement sure looks good!

Saw lots of wildlife: bald eagles, all types of herons, sand hill cranes, etc etc, alligators on the golf course, and this speedy gopher tortoise:

A few hours at the beach and I added to my fossilized shark tooth collection; or rather, if I ever get the others back I’ll have ‘more’:

The last night we saw the Sarasota Reds play; the ‘Mike and Mike’ team played well; this is Mike DeJesus, the second baseman, who helped make the eighth inning a thriller; they won 4-3 with all of Sarasota’s runs coming in that one inning; good fun.

Back to work today; retirement is much more fun!

Tomorrow I wake up at as early an hour as I can manage to get to the airport and meet up with my sisters for a flight to Florida. I hate hate hate to fly, but I will. We are visiting my brother, the oldest of us all, who has built a new house. We will sit by the pool, eat, go to the beach, eat, maybe I’ll work on a sock, we’ll eat, visit the botanic gardens, and no doubt eat again. The photo is of the DB and SIL, and behind them in the picture is now a grand house.

I am only sorry I won’t be able to spin, and don’t anyone suggest the spindle, I haven’t gotten past park and draft.

Today was one of those days at work that makes one question the whole fabric of one’s being; it’s good I’m getting away, if only for a long week-end.