14 March 2024

Non-stop rain. These clothes have been on the line on my porch for six days now.

At least they’re not getting mildew.

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An innovation this week – in spite of the rain: FIVE MINUTE OBSERVATIONS

Each day I’m going walkabout, seeing what catches my eye, and then standing there barefoot and just watching. Taking photos in this space feels distracting, but I did get three photos.

First day out was this white flower bush that was crowded with insect life. I only got one photo with any critters (there are two insects in this photo), too bad. This bush had three different types of flies, including some really tiny ones, ants making trails, and more. It was like seeing a video of sea creatures on a reef.

Second day out was BEAUTIFUL bark on a guava tree. No photo.

Third day was delicate drops at the end of the needles of a casurina tree. I didn’t get a photo then, but went back on day 5 when it was rainier.

This is from Day 4. Can you guess what this is?

This is the bark-y trunk of a big nopal cactus – the kind that has the paddles that are edible. To me, it looks mostly like a normal tree, except it has the rings every foot or so.

Anyhow – I’m finding the practice very restful. Going barefoot, “earthing,” is supposed to be very healthful. And walking home barefoot, medieval style (toe first), seems to be helping my slow-to-recover twisted left ankle. Wins all around!

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Cheapskate. I had a sheet I had mended and mended, and it was now a goner. So I turned it into potholders.

Early American thriftyl

AND

Akka put together the loom that was given to Monica. I thought I’d try making a rug with my cloth strips on it, even though the loom is made for yarn, not for fishing twine. The bigger problem was that I had never used a heddle loom before.

I got you-tube instructions. You need a warping peg for the vertical lines on the loom. I didn’t have warping peg..

. I tied a hammer to a chair and used that. You can imagine how well that’s going to go.

I finally got all the warp loaded. But there were crossed lines a the end, and some dropped loops that I tried tying with feedbag twine. Also the cloth strip was just too floopy (yes, floopy) for a rug. I was doing to have to make cord and use that instead.

By this point, I had reversed the inside stands so the loom was in the right direction, I had figured out that you have to wind things over the TOP of the roll bars, I had worked out how to use the shuttle. And I also decided that with the crossed threads, this particular piece was NEVER going to turn into a durable rug. So I took the weaving apart and will try again when I have figured out a better warping peg and I have enough cord made.

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Our guests – young female volunteers for the coral project, here at the farm until their place on the coast was ready, were my cheerleaders through the early weaving stuff. One of them, Gauri, showed me embroidery she did. She recently learned and is decorating her t-shirts.

Beautiful, isn’t it! So tiny! So much work!

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Look at my other blog today if you want to find out how come I’m going on walks and pulling out the loom.

Waking Up | FFWR – Celebrating the Baha’i Calendar (wordpress.com)

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Happy week, Everyone!

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