She got a new camera for her birthday and is going a little nuts taking pictures. But that’s a good thing to go nuts about, so I don’t complain…much.
I was browsing through her shots and found these two and decided to play with them on PicMonkey. I like the results.
We had some pretty spectacular sunsets last week when the smoke was at its worst. While my eyes were fretting the conditions of the air, they were taking in the majesty that is right here on my street!
Best doggie ever.
He’s almost five years old. Finally mellowing!
My daughter took this picture earlier today when she was goofing around with the camera.
Lando has had a very busy week. He’s been babysitting the neighbor’s dog. She’s a very rambunctious little filly and she’s kept him hopping. I think he’s ready for some down time.
I’m also pretty sure he’ll miss her. But since she lives right next door, they’ll get plenty of nose time.
My bloggy-vacation is going by too quickly!
Our weather has been amazing. In response, my flowers are doubling their growth every couple of days. I love it!!
I’ll show you some pictures while I talk about a much needed break that a close friend and I took, in an antique store recently.
During the visit I came upon a book entitled Household Manual.
Published in 1879.
Authored by J.H. Kellogg, M. D. Yep! The guy who invented cereal flakes.
I got a kick out of some of the things I found in this gorgeous little green hardbound Victorian book.
I had to buy it.
Fantin Latour has bloomed for almost a full month this year! An intoxicating gift.
Dr. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism and he has some very interesting things to say.
For instance, in the segment titled ‘A Live Hog Examined’, Dr. Kellogg writes, “Stop, friend, admire your savory ham, your souse, your tripe, your toothsome sausage, in its native element. A dainty beast, isn’t he?”
Under the heading ‘Greens’ I was interested to learn, “This kind of food contains little nourishment, but is well relished by some people.”
He had some hearty (and accurate, in my opinion) criticism for women’s fashions of that day.
Particularly the corset. Here’s a link to some common problems with corsets.
“The absurdities of fashionable dress are too glaring to require exposure. All admit the need of reform, but few have moral courage to break Dame Fashion’s shackles.”
He recounts the tragic news story of a young girl who wore her corset to bed (because she dearly wanted a tiny waist) and died.
The book contains a lively section on first-aid and poisons.
My favorite is the cook book section.
The recipes are sometimes as brief as one sentence.
Directions include measurements like, “One teacup of flour and two teacups of dry snow.”
Conventional cooking wisdom was so much broader back then that it was actually possible to write vague recipes like this and have confidence that anyone reading it would
clearly understand.
One of many bits of wisdom: “Laugh and grow fat is an old adage. Laugh and get well would be just as true.”
I know I said I was taking a blog break – but this needed to be shared.
I bought a gorgeous hank of lace-weight baby alpaca/silk yarn in March of this year. I used the flower section of the Field of Flowers pattern from Fiber Trends.
Before blocking it looked like this:
Doesn’t look terribly interesting.
After I finished knitting I put the wrap/shawl in a sink full of cold water and squeezed until the yarn was saturated. I picked up the entire bundle and squeezed it to get rid of much of the excess water. Then I gently spread the wrap on a clean beach towel. Next I rolled up the towel and then squeezed it to get as much water out of the yarn as possible.
Once the wrap was drier (no longer dripping wet) I spread it on a super large towel and then pinned it.
Be sure the yarn is still damp when blocking.
The yarn will retain the shape that you pin. If I had wanted straight edges, I would have needed to pin them straight.
This is just to show you how long it is.
This wrap is helping me to look forward to winter. That’s sayin’ something!!!
Here in the high desert we spend a lot of time waiting for spring. At least, I do!
So without much talk…I give you a taste of springtime in my yard this year.
***dreamy sigh**
Bliss!
