JUST TOO......

All great books. It has been hotter than Hades here and I have been locked up in a dark cool basement-so over it all. 

I'm screaming for WINTER!

Quilt borders done, sandwiched but not quilted---too HOT

Waiting for rain--Always

Arms are yet to be knitted----yup, you got it--too HOT

Love this sweater! Done knitting, not done finishing, weaving and sewing underarms closed=

You should know why by now.

This river flooded 2 weeks ago, we were here 3 weeks ago. It is expected to have some heavy flash flooding tonight thru Monday morning. With glorious rain and cooler temps comes evil brotherII....flooding.

The river looks dark but the flood brought a river rolling with thick mud, it turned black.

Five people died in the river as well as so, so many fish. 

We sure had fun while we were able to be on the river safely. 

We really need to FIX the environment and now!

Too Hot, too Dry, too many Fires, too little rain, too little snow and now Deadly flash flooding.

Oh Colorado, we need to help heal you and care for you better.

SEEING THE LIGHT

As we are all aware of-it's been a long year! The anxiety of COVID, of a loved one being stricken with the virus and worse, the economy, financial issues, family separations and the ISOLATION.

I am a serious homebody and thought I was doing well the first 11.5 months of this crazy stay at home thing. Heck, I have been practicing this isolation thing most of my life! But, these past few weeks I have really been struggling, not sure if I'm just over it all, (not a good enough excuse to give up now), am I experiencing the end of winter blues, or do I see the light at the end of the tunnel , (my name goes on the vaccine call up list Friday.) I think its all the above! 

Tuesday, I said to Eric; "lets go up the mountain and get lunch by the river." Oh my gosh, it was glorious, 60 degrees, up in the mountains, pine trees, snow, sun, the river, fresh air, very few people and lunch...out, not made byEric or myself, and a beer... from a tap!  Everyone keeping their distance, masks on when not eating! It felt like getting off a space ship vacation, ( no, I have never been on such a trip, remember I am a homebody),  back to earth and normal living. 

I hope to be vaccinated within the next two weeks, then Eric and I can breath a bit easier.

I re-soaked some skeins of yarn to get more 'pig tails' out of the skeins. A class I took said to 'whack' the skeins wet on a hard surface. I thought, yeah right. It worked beautifully! 4 skeins out drying in the sun this afternoon. I often wonder what my new neighbors think of me, whacking making for a very loud noice and then seeing hanging skeins. I tell myself, they will get use to me.....haha.

I see spring popping up through the ground.

Friends I visit out walking.

Mountain Quilt finished and to be donated.

Altheda done and even worn once. Only change I made - was short sleeves! Much more practical for Colorado weather. This is a fun and easy knit, I will probably make another or three for my girls.

READING: 

The Power Worshippers, by Kathrine Steward.

This book is well worth the time to read and understand how the 80% of American White Christians are working within the GOP political framework to control the politics and laws of this country. It is eye opening and very frighting. 

 Mary Lincoln: by Ruth Painter Randal

Excellent book about Mary  Todd Lincoln. So different from other books about her, but then those have been written by men. This book is written by a women who spent endless hours reading Mary's correspondence to her family, friends as well as her enemies.  Also are the letters to Mary from Abraham, who was so very much in love with his wife!

Linking up with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday

FIRE WEEK

above picture was taken over a week ago, last semi-smoke  free day for the next eight days.

Wednesday, Oct.15th. Cameron Peak fire exploded and moved quickly burning through 15 miles in a day. We had winds sustained in the mid-thirties and gusts 70+ MPH. 

Days like Wednesday are filled with anxiety. Friends up in Foothills that own homes, will those homes be there when this is all over? Nothing to do but wait and try to keep busy. I made beef bone broth, the broth I simmered for about 36 hours and then pressured canned my golden broth. It has been years since I have bought any bone broth, homemade is so much better with a real deep earthy taste. Also, it's a great way to use up dead end veggies. (that I throw in the freezer), and all the bones from meat we eat. Use it up or do without! 

Kids are playing in their new Halloween outfits! Since we will not be trick-or-treating this year, thought it would be fun to start a little celebration early this year. 

OUT and ABOUT

eagle spotted by river

helicopter flying in to fill up with water to drop on fire

 helicopter flying to fire with bucket of water

We went out for a little hike on Saturday and had I realized how smokey it was, we would have stayed home.  But, the kids really wanted to go and so we did. We hiked about 2 miles or more and the kids did great, very few people on the trail which was a welcome situation. On the way back the helicopters were coming in one after another to fill their buckets with water, then fly back up to the fire to drop their load. 

This was an extra treat for  us all of to watch, they have about 4-5 helicopters flying all day everyday and over 900 fire fighters working up on the Cameron Peak Fire. To complicate things, the Mullen fire that started in the Medicine Bow Range has crossed into Colorado, ( burned over 120K+ acres). Beginning to wonder if these two fires are going to run into each other, not sure if that is good or bad.

FILLING TIME

Time has become almost surreal 6 months into this pandemic, a National Disaster for sure, that just keeps cycling around with more bad news. In the West, the more bad news - the fires! We have two burning, one within 10 miles from us, the other 40 miles. Both are burning hot enough for the smoke to block out the sun, almost daily. It's nearly impossible to sit for 20 minutes on the porch, fresh air, not at this time! Daily temps. are hanging around 99-100 degrees, we need cold and snow! The RNC is not helping my mental health

 with all the HATE they are spewing on TV! Oh, 2020 you have been one hard year!

But, a little break yesterday....Caitlin and I canned Roma Tomatoes. Jason first roasted them,    (4 cases in less than 10 minutes), never again will I do the blanching method to remove skins.

I thought we were going to make tomato sauce, the kind that is ready to pour and use for pasta dishes. Caitlin wanted to can whole tomatoes, because they are so much more versatile, open a jar, make sauce (by adding garlic and spices), open a jar and use the whole tomatoes poured over a roast, or make soup, spicy V-8 juice.......

You get the idea! So whole tomatoes it was and it was fast. We started at 1pm and I pulled the last jars out at 6pm. Not bad for a winter supply of deliciousness! 

The Brown and Pink quilt is on the machine and it is going to be slowing going!  Though it will be beautiful when completed and I have the time! 

Reading: 

~Caste: This is a hard read for me, but a much needed read for me! Please, if you are interested in Race and Race relations, this is the book you are looking for, get it, read it slow and digest the information. 

~The Mountains Sing- Is about a family in Viet Nam that survives the years of wars from the French through the Americans and last-the Communist Party. WOW. 

Connecting with Kat and Unraveled Wednesday

KEEPING IT SIMPLE while THE WORLD IS ON FIRE

The kiddos were here on the weekend and I came up with an art project that, 1) they loved and 2) lasted most of the morning....BINGO that's a win! I had used up some fabric on a few bolts and hated to just toss the cardboard , so I decided to put them on the table with a bunch of art supplies and said 'go for it'. 'Go for it' they did, what started as making -'people board's' went to pure unrestricted artistic expression. I love that kind of kid art! Let them run with imagination.

We have a GIANT fire burning about 50 miles up the canyon from us and the smoke is awful! It has been blocking out the sun for days, some days worse than others. So besides for COVID reasons, we are locked inside our homes due to the thick smoke. Oy Vey, what else is 2020 going to throw at us?

A few projects that I have completed are:

--sweater for Gus

---rainbow socks that I am keeping for me

---the disaster quilt for Gus

I call it the disaster quilt because of all the mistakes in the quilt. One would think- this is the first quilt I have ever made and I have close to about 150 under my sewing belt. One thing that I finally cried "uncle" on -is my straight edge ruler. It must be 15-20 years old and has few markings  left on it that I can read and the edge is all gouged and nicked. I ordered a new one! If Disaster quilt was not going to little Gus I would of thrown it out. It almost landed in the trash several times but I thought, Gus is just going to drag it through the dirt, stomp on it and use in fort building....well now, it may just be perfect for him. Betty saw it and thought it was so "beautiful" and asked if it was for her?

Me: no Honey this is for Gus.

Betty: But Mimi, Gus does not SHARE! 

Betty:  I know, You can make me one too!

Me: Of course I will!

The quilt is made from scraps and I mean true scraps. I have buckets of small scrappy quilt fabrics. I can't bear to throw out fabric, it's expensive and I can always make something from the scraps. 

I'm anxiously awaiting a Di Ford -BOM quilt and book to arrive, it will be the first Di Ford quilt for me. Lots of piecing, (so glad I ordered that new ruler), and some appliquéing, best of both worlds. 

Also on the agenda is a Hexie Quilt that will be done by hand! Hope I live long enough to complete this beautiful quilt, another quilt inspired by Di Ford.

Presently, I am machine quilting the Brown and Pink Reproduction Quilt. 

Reading:

The Good Lord Bird by James Mc Bride

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton

Joining Kat - Unraveled Wednesday