Blog, day one

Ok, this is it. Suzanne, I'm doing it!!! I'm really doing it!! I feel like I should begin by saying "Dear Diary" or something. How do I find my voice when I don't know who will be reading this, assuming anyone does.

This morning it is gray and cloudy and humid as only Minnesota can be. We had a thunderstorm during the night so the garden got some much-needed rain. There are deer tracks in the garden so I suppose the peas will start disappearing soon. I work until noon today and then in the afternoon I am going to be doing a spinning demonstration at the Land of the Loon arts and crafts fair in Virginia. The forecast is for 85 and humid. (As an aside, here is the garden last Sunday morning, a few short days ago. Covered to protect it from the frost we had. Crazy weather.) This will be my first time attending the Land of the Loon festival; I guess it's huge and very crowded. From what I understand they have over 300 arts and crafts vendors. Everyone tells me to plan to eat a LOT of good junk food. If it's that hot and that crowded I probably won't do much more than sit and spin. Too hot to be walking around in the crowd and eating junk food. I will be spinning at my guild's booth, Range Fiberart Guild. The good news is that it is the first booth inside one of the gates, so it is very easy to get to with my wheel. I don't have to wind my way through zillions of people while carrying my wheel and stool and basket.

Oh, speaking of wheels. I bought a new little wheel to take to demonstrations. It is a Kromski Prelude. Isn't it cute? I am working on putting a coat of tung oil on it. Right now I just have it on the front of the wheel so it will look nice at the festival today. I haven't had a chance to do the whole wheel yet. It's a perfect size for taking to demonstrations etc. I can carry it under one arm and my basket under the other arm. It fits right into my front seat and I can seatbelt it in and off I go. It does not spin as smoothly as my Lendrum, but I am finding my rhythm on it. This way I can protect my beloved walnut Lendrum and keep it at home. I always have to break down the Lendrum and take off the mother-of-all and fold the wheel to get it into my car, and it is also much heavier to carry. If I'm in the middle of a bobbin, it's very difficult to get the tension back exactly where I had it before taking the wheel apart, at least for me. So this wheel is perfect. Some day I might get a real-size car and then I can get a real-size wheel...yeah right. As if I want to pay for gas for a real-size car. I love my little red car-car. It's been a great car.

There are some ladyslippers (Minnesota's state flower) growing next to the sauna and I've had a hard time getting a good picture of them because it's not bright enough in the morning before I go to work, and when I get home from work it's so bright I can barely focus the camera. When the sunlight starts fading a little, the mosquitoes swarm me. I am usually covered with my lavender and peppermint spray and they pretty much leave me alone, but I still hate them swarming me. Here is a picture I took of the pretty ladyslippers yesterday morning before the sun was too bright. You can click on any of these pictures to get a bigger view.





OK, that's it for day one.