Monday, August 07, 2006

soft and sleepy

That would be the best description of today. Today's high was 88F, and for once I was the only person in the house not complaining. I woke up and wandered around in a haze for a couple of hours and finally dragged my Mum outside. She immediately made comments about the heat and humidity. I just shrugged, also strange for me. But, after two weeks of 100F days, 88F ain't at all bad.

While I was waiting for Mum to get outside and start the car, I took some more garden pictures. There's knitting stuff coming up, I swear. But, this next picture is kinda fibery. One of our lavendar bushes had reached epic proportions. I think we've about equaled the Gross Domestic Lavender Product of France, or at least Provence with this one bush, y'all. The photo was taken at bust-height (I am 5'3", but I'm not that short). Look how enormous it is:


It smells glorious. I need to harvest and dry it all to make into sachets. I did the same last year and they work wonders for keeping moths out of my wool. I have a lot of wool, so a lot of lavender is very welcome in my home. And it smells nice, too ;)

Here's another Passion Flower picture (yeah, yeah, I know) but this one blossom had 10 bees on it! It was insane - the bees were out in numbers today. Oh, Sachi, the Northwest is a growing paradise. We've been ignoring all our plants, and they're thriving. I fear what'll happen when Mum actually makes an effort. We actually met someone in town who grows pomegranites. And several of our neighbors grow artichokes. Mum started an avocado from a pit and it's still thriving after 3 years...

Anyway, the bees on the blossom (on each other!):


Once I managed to get Mum into the car and driving, we headed over to Mt Pisgah. We drove around Seavey Loop for a while looking for some open U-Pick places (no chance on a Sunday) and I tried one of the stables. But they don't rent time with the animals. Nor could the owner think of any places that did. Which is what I've been told time and time again. It's so lame. I really miss riding.

After wandering about the farming section, we headed into the Arboretum proper. This is one of my favorite river paths:

It's always deserted (except for the songbirds) and shady and peaceful. The birds were singing up a storm this afternoon, too. I swear I heard some warblers. Lovely.

I didn't take that many pictures inside the park. Mostly because nothing would hold still long enough. But, it was a good walk and very soothing. I've felt so restless lately, and have had slight wanderlust. Dragging Mum to the Rose Garden and Mt Pisgah are definite signs of this. I'm also trying to organize a family trip to the coast. And the Dalles. And possibly Crater Lake.

Yeah, I'm getting my energy back. Thank g-d. I don't think I could have stood to have been exhausted all the time much longer. After all that, I had a ferocious head ache from the sunlight. I get them all the time. Usually a lie-down in a dark room dispells them quickly. But, I didn't have that option because Guild was tonight!

I picked up M (my evil triplet) and we headed over to McMenamins. Food was good, headache bad. I gave into the urge and bought liquor. I'm not complaining, I'm not!, but I was a bit iffy about their hard cider. Tasted like white wine to me. Hard cider should be crisper and tarter and fuller and ... well, hard. I liked it, but it was a bit "light" I think Emmos called it. I miss the hard cider we used to get on the East Coast.

Man, that stuff'd knock you onto the floor.

A pint of this just banished my headache. I didn't even get fuzzy or anything.

Ahwell. Not complaing. It was a good dinner and I taught a nice new knitter to knit while waiting for my food. After finishing dinner, we all wandered over to Prince Puckler's to grab some frozen yummies to eat at the Concert in the Park recital at Washburne Park. Here's Emmos and M (my evil triplet) working away:


Emmos' hot pink snowdrop shawl is showing progress and M is knitting the Mandarin Collar jacket from Minnow Knits to enter into the County Fair this week. Looking good. We got shushes and evil looks from several of the people near us, who just didn't appreciate knitting convers. I think yarn overs and yarn tales are much more interesting than a tuba...

And here is my snowdrop and falling leaves shawl:


I have a feeling it'll eventually be dubbed the "Oregon Shawl". Eventually.

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    I'm a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, a Peace Corps nominee, and trying to knit, spin, and craft up my stash before I get sent off to a foreign country for 2 years.

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