Henry

This morning I got the inspiration I needed to put down Kenneth and Naomi's half-finished baby blanket and finally finish the trim on Damien and Stacy's - their baby boy was born! His name is Henry. We're SO happy that he is here and healthy and that Stacy can now get up. I love the name Henry. His middle name is Sebastien, which is strong and beautiful but was also the name of our St. Bernard when I was young, so I am glad about "Henry" winning the first-name honors. And I am glad that I finished the blanket so that it could fly with my mother-in-law to NY to wrap him in assymetrical, cotton goodness.



You gotta love a guy who drops what he is doing on his day off to walk out into the yard and hold up a blanket for his wife who is trying to get natural light to show the true Mission Falls 1824 cotton yarn colors. I got mine on ebay, very reasonably, from "supercrafty".

Abundant day

Gillen and Nicolas came home this morning with three Bass this time. With so much going on today, they were put in the fridge for another night. We spent most of the day at the annual Hummingbird festival, held every year on Gillen's birthday weekend, at a local plantation.

We brought Gillen's friend Aaron with us, money for fun treats like shaved ice with syrups, moonwalks, homemade ice cream made in a giant motor powered churn, a gift for Nicolas' mother, Helen, whose birthday is today, and of course - more plants. I also brought my camera, so there are an abundance of photos and they were uploaded in a much bigger size than I intended and take up an abundance of room! And I didn't even get to the ones from dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant for Helen's birthday tonight.



















The shaved ice man is Ed, the man who lived in our hundred year old house before we did. He repaired it, added stairs and a second story and built a deck and a side porch. He is the reason our house is so cool. He and his wife (whose landscaping and frog pond are what made me want this home) are also from Mass. and that may be the reason that we could afford it. He now runs an ice cream shop that he created out of a train caboose. The Caboose is being used in the filming of a movie with Luke Perry and LeAnne Rimes, called Good intentions, later this week.















Ewes Full Acres was there, run by an amazingly energetic and talented woman we've known for years who spins virgin wool collected from her own sheep. She had a huge array of variegated, hand painted colors. I bought some called grape hyacinth, that is a mixture of purple and green. Gillen's variegated green syrup tongue may have inspired my choice.

This is a goat from the animal petting area; no wool was spun from this guy. But he was quite the model.












Gillen was given a Butterfly Bush by a nursery owner who was impressed by his knowledge of the plants. How generous. Once home, he and Aaron immediately planted both this one and the ones Gillen had bought. Gillen always gets enthusiastic volunteers for the shovelling. Yesterday, another friend, Andrew, shovelled the burial hole for the neighbor-dog-slane turkey chick. Today, Gillen watched Aaron shovelling a hole for the Butterfly Bush. The butterflies already found the blooms before it was even planted. Hummingbirds soon followed. Life in the country, today, has been abundantly good.

Finally!

Gillen caught two Bass. Nicolas set the alarm for 6am and took him to a local lake where they fished for three hours until Gillen finally did it. They hadn't been so lucky on previous trips. Gillen was so proud to be bringing home dinner. He also had a big-fish-that-got-away story to complete the experience. If only I had a filet knife and a fisherman's wife next door to teach me how to filet them. I ended up ripping the flesh from the bones. It was a smelly, painful process. At least it was on a Sunday. Getting to hear some of David Sedaris on NPR's This American Life while I ripped and swore did help. Isn't Nicolas a dream-father, getting up on his one day off to go fish with his son? He is taking Monday off from work, so he will actually have a two-day weekend for the first time in months and months. joy!



I woke up determined to finally finish the Babette blanket. I sat in a chair and crocheted most of the day, only getting up to change loads of laundry, to turn up the overhead fan (blanket making in the summer - not so smart) and to strew fruit and chips on the table for any male who may decide to ask me to cook something. Except for the bowl of cherries, the grapes and the Kettle brand Salt and Vinegar chips, they were on their own. They survived well. Salt and Vinegar chips are "unconventionally strong and tangy" (it says so on the bag and I agree) which helps to hold off hunger. They may have managed to feed themselves lunch things at some point. I was too busy watching Food Channel cake challenges and crocheting to notice.

Anyway, here it is! I only have to finish the border. It is for my soon-to be-here nephew in NY. I had to use a flash so the colors are a bit off. I really like that the squares are misshapen and it reminds me of a Klimt print that we own;
the first thing Nicolas and I ever bought together, from MOMA in NY(ours has a different frame).





But I can't put down the needle. My sweet niece is arriving soon in Sydney and she must have a blanket as well. Here are some of the colors for her ripple blanket.