The Woolen Rabbit

Weekend Adventure

 It's amazing how fast a weekend flies by isn't it?  Last week I told you that Ken reached a milestone birthday, so I wanted to make this weekend one he could tuck away in his memory book...and we certainly crammed a lot into a 1/2 days!

We got a late start because I had the rest of the yarn club to get packaged and shipped out along with a few orders, which was fine as it was raining and a bit gloomy.  I surprised Ken by taking him to a place we had never really been before other than to quickly drive through a number of years ago...Harpswell Maine.  We stayed at a cute little place called the Quahog Bay Inn, which was very clean and spacious with wonderful owners who didn't require a 2 night stay.  We loved it, and will definitely go back again!

 

After we checked in and spent some time enjoying the view from our room, listening to music, we headed out for dinner at a fabulous place called the Dolphin Marina and Restaurant.  The sun had broken out just in time for us to see a stunning sunset.  The pictures above and below are the view from the property...so.beautiful!!  Another place we will definitely visit again!  The food was wonderful and the service was exceptional.  They even made a lemondrop martini that tastes like one I would have made myself, which rarely happens.  Yum!

Sunday morning we got up and out fairly early and took a hike on both sides of Devil's back, which really was little more than a nice walk with some small inclines, but wonderful views.  What you can't see on this group of rocks on the small island are lots of seals sunning themselves in the warm sun, the only thing missing was a pair of binoculars.  Note to self...."Christmas is coming." ;-)

We packed up and headed off to Brunswick which is very close by.  They have a wonderful recreation bike and walk path that we visited.  Almost 6 miles back and forth filled with beautiful views and nice areas to rest if you need to take a break or enjoy a picnic lunch.  I was glad that we brought our bikes along.  It was a perfect day for a ride!

Ken is a bit of a history buff, so anytime we go away like this, he always finds a few historical spots that he wants to investigate and this trip was no different.  The first stop was this swinging bridge that crosses the Androscoggin River from Brunswick to Topsham.  Built in 1892, Ken immediately recognized the Roebling name, which instantly made it all the more interesting to him.

From there we headed back into Brunswick to visit the grave of Joshua Chamberlain, a civil war general, best known from his gallantry in The Battle of Gettysburg who later became the 32nd Governor of Maine.

All in all I think Ken had a birthday that he will remember with a smile.

 

Encouragement....

Lines on the face tattoos of aging,
Life is proved upon the body
Like needle-jabs from a blind machine.
Deng Ming~Dao

He goes on to say , "In life, it is we who select what we will become by the actions we perform.  There is no reason to go through life thoughtlessly, to let accident shape us.  That is like allowing yourself to be tattooed by a blind man."

Wednesday I put on my shoes and went for a walk.  I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by so many things lately, as I am sure each of you feel in your lives as you go along.  So when I saw this Blue Heron (look close) on my walk, it made my heart smile.  I have always felt that the Blue Heron is my Spirit Animal and they always seem to make an appearance when I need them to, even when I don't realize it.

This morning when I left the house, I saved this picture here on TypePad and was going to finish my post when I got home.  When I finally had time to sit down after a busy day and had time to think about my post, it was a completely different post than what I had planned in my mind.

 I pulled out my favorite book tonight thinking I would land on a meditation about feeling overwhelmed for inspiration for my post, but instead I landed on the quote above, which made complete sense today when I thought about it.

Last month I turned the page to a new decade...60, and today, exactly a month later Ken turned that page.  I won't lie, I struggled with it for a few days and then moved on, but today I watched Ken go through the same struggle...the struggle is real, but time marches on and we can either keep up with it or not.

When we are young, we never think about aging until we are, but yet in our minds we settle our brains to see our 30 something self because even at 60 you really don't feel that much different other than gaining some knowledge and experience along the way....and my thirties were fun! Days filled with children, work and new explorations along with the struggles of our 30 year old selves. I know our sixties will be filled with special times as well with different explorations and different struggles, but even when we make mistakes as we all will, we get to select who we will become by our actions and our heart.

Nope, this was not the post I had in mind when I sat down this morning.at.all.
That Blue Heron made me smile and contemplate beyond the moment.

Brand New Shoes...

You will be seeing a lot more of me here in my effort to spend less time on facebook, which tends to be a huge time suck for me.  
With the upcoming elections I'm sure the political fury will kick up which is another good reason to back away and concentrate on the positive things in my life.
Soo...I treated myself to a brand new pair of walking shoes and have begun walking again now that the summer heat and humidity is behind us.  I have to be in tip top shape (which I am definitely not) to have the stamina to do any serious work out when it is hot and humid and it was exceptionally humid up here this summer..ick.

Inspired by my friend Julia I am starting a journey towards wellness.  I will be honest with you, Ken and I did not pay much attention to the things we were eating nor did we do a stitch of exercising this summer and I am feeling it, both in weight gain and lack of motivation.

I've decided that this is not how I want to live and have made a conscious decision to make some changes starting with trying to refocus my mindset...which brings me right back around to FaceBook.  It's waaay to easy to let an evening go by there sitting in my chair.  I learn so many things from some of the groups I belong to, so I will hop on to check those groups and see what my friends are doing now and then, but I will be there a lot less, so that I can spend that energy being more productive, putting things I have learned into action.

Back to the topic of wellness, I am joining along with Julia using the 2B Mindset program and integrating some of the products and recipes from Arbonne's 30 day program that I like as well.  The thing about 2B Mindset is that there are suggestions and guidelines for what to eat, but no strict program that is impossible to maintain long term. Ultimately it helps to put you back in charge of your own wellness by listening to how your body feels with what you are eating and so far I am finding it very helpful and realistic.

I have also decided to bite the bullet and have a consult with a foot doctor to see if I can get these darn feet of mine fixed now that there is a less invasive type of surgery to correct bunions available and down the road I will see what can be done about my bum hip because constant daily pain sucks the energy both mentally and physically out of your spirit....and no wants that right?
I'm looking forward to 2019 with a healthier start!

**As a side note, I apologize for not being able to easily respond to comments here, but I do read and appreciate each and every one.  Typepad has made some changes that makes it so much more cumbersome to reply to comments, so much so that if I can figure out a way to move my blog without losing my 11 years of history here I may do that, but I will let you know if I do. :)

Autumn Sale!

Come join us celebrate the colors of Fall!
15% off this weekend!

Eye Candy Friday....and a Sale!!

As summer winds down the flowers are starting to show their Autumn shades.  
These beautiful hydrangeas are getting ready to give us their last blast of color before the cool crisp days of fall settle in.

So...to celebrate the start of the Autumn Season, we will be having a sale this weekend, so check back at 
The Woolen Rabbit tomorrow!  We have some new and fun yarn bases for you to try.

 

Vacation Postcards #2

I have to say that the weather this summer up here in the mountains hasn't been the best.  So much more humidity then we are used to and a lot of murky days.  Our first few days on the Cape were pretty much the same.  Cloudy, hot and humid, but we decided to make the best of it and visit places we had never seen.

We started out in Chatham and visited this beautiful lighthouse and walked along the beach...but not too close, there could be some sharks in those waters!

Ken spotted this little pie shop that he wanted to visit, so we stopped in on the way home and when I tell you it is little, I mean postage stamp little.  Oh my though when you walk in all you see are wonderful, delicious pies!  Sweet pies, meat pies, seafood pies.  We took home a small chocolate cream pie and a small blueberry pie...YUM!

If you are bringing your children into this tiny little shop though.....beware! Haha!

The next day we headed to the Ferry in Falmouth and over to Martha's Vineyard.  It's the first year that we have visited the Vineyard alone.  While I enjoyed visiting with my daughters one year and my granddaughter another year, it was nice to wander around at a slower pace.  I remembered loving Edgartown when we visited with the girls one year, so we visited again this year and instead of spending time shopping, we walked along the beautiful streets and homes.  I could SO live in this place!


All that walking definitely made for 2 thirsty adults so we headed back to the shopping and restaurants and found a great place right on the water...the Seafood Shanty.

It was a delightful place with delicious seafood...and with a view like this...I know we will be back again someday!

 

Postcards from Vacation 2018

I have been trying to find my blog voice again, so to ease back into it, I thought I would follow Carole's lead and share snippets of our summer vacation on Cape Cod.  We have been so fortunate to enjoy 7 amazing summers on the Cape both with our children and some alone. 
We have loved every single vacation!
Many of these postcards will be clipped from videos because I am also trying to better about doing my 1 second video as a way of sharing our life with my grandchildren....so here we go!

 Our yearly trek to the cape this year was filled with crazy frustrating traffic around Boston, but when we saw this duck boat we both smiled thinking of our favorite sport teams who have graced these boats in celebration! 

The traffic though...yah, it sucked! To keep it positive, it was definitely uphill from here. We love our time on Cape Cod!

It was pretty late by the time we got to our little house in Mashpee, so we opted to eat and sip some cocktails on the sweet little screened in porch that we get to enjoy for a week. 
I guess we were both exhausted because we slept until 9am Sunday morning and if you know my husband at all you know that NEVER happens..ha!  It was so nice not to to have to jump up and have to get something done.  I took the free time to get some knitting done.

More about this sweater next week.....it is finished!!

Deng Ming~Dao

Peacock iridescence in veridical shadows,
Violet blooms spread to noonday sun.
The world's beauty is a swirl of color,
But in the flower's center is bright stillness.
Deng Ming~Dao

It's been a while hasn't it?  When I took this picture yesterday, I was looking for this very quote from my favorite little book, but just couldn't find it even though I searched for a long spell.
Yet, when I was feeling a bit sad tonight about a few things and opened my little book for some words of wisdom, this was the very page I opened.  

I have been finding social media a bit overwhelming at times lately, so you will probably see me here more as the days go on.  I have always found my blog a comforting place to share things that are important to me with things that I love...kind of like going home. 

The words of Deng Ming~Dao as you know if you have visited me here over the years are words that I find inspiring, encouraging and frequently challenging, so it makes me smile to come back here to write starting again with one of my favorite Deng Ming~Dao quotes.
 

 

Beekeeper's Cardigan

Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support.  Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die.
 ~ The Queen Must Die and Other Affairs of Bees and Men

It's been awhile since I have visited, but this always feels like home after all of these years and I am always happy to be here because I always draw inspiration from my sister bees! :)

Some of you may have seen that I ran a sale for Memorial Day and I had a very strange run on my Emma yarn, which made me know that someone had designed a pattern using this yarn base.  After a quick google search I found that the pattern design is a challenging 4 day sweater knit called the Beekeeper's Cardigan.

Did you just read this?  Do you know me?  If you do you know how very much I love our little bee sisters who work so hard to pollinate the food that we frequently eat with no real knowledge of just how they helped to put that food on our table.  Bzzzz!

(Marie Greene image) 

The above picture is from Marie Greene's images on Ravelry and once I saw her pictures I knew immediately that this was one challenge I would commit to this summer...and I am hoping to do it in a week.  I know that the design is a 4 day sweater, but she gives a little more time to those of us who are not tiny and I am giving myself an extra day or two for working 2 jobs, one of which has been dyeing yarn for others to knit this honey sweet sweater!

When I was knitting my swatch I was torn between which side of the fabric I would use and to admit I am not completely sure yet which side I will use.  In the swatch above and in Marie's picture you can see the bees if you use your imagination and on the flip side as you may see in my first picture you see the soft honeycombs.  Both are so beautiful!  The beauty of this pattern is you do not have to decide right away as there are no button bands.

The yarn that I used in these pictures is not Emma.  Because I sold out of this yarn so quickly, I decided to use a new dk weight yarn blend of soft merino, baby alpaca and silk that I have recently brought in and I really like it a lot.  Enough so that I will be adding it to my line and calling it "Piper" and will be listing it later this month.  Such a soft yarn against sensitive skin, which I definitely have.  The color of course is Tupelo Honey which is one of my most favorites, showing the beautiful shades of golden orange and soft greens of the pollen our little bee sisters collect on their journeys.

As a side note after talking to my mill, I will have more Emma here on Monday in limited quantities, so I opened up orders again for a little while as I know his supply is limited until late August.

I can't wait to knit my sweater and I look forward to seeing yours!!

 

 

Pottery Love...

It's been a little while since I have been able to spend time at my favorite place...with you!
My life probably mirrors so many of you out there.  Trying to find the right balance between family, work, creative endeavors and social media.  It can be a challenging for sure as we all know.

I have been busy though and have a lot to share with you, hopefully over the next few days, which may turn into weeks because of the above challenges. ;-)

So...I have been dabbling with pottery over the last year or so, taking classes at our local NH League of Craftsman.  I LOVE going to class even if it is at the end of a 9 hour workday and a quick gulp down dinner.  
I have learned SO much about playing with mud and how much fun it can be...and how very frustrating it can be at the same time.  Clay can have a mind of it's own it seems until you learn how to quietly master it.  
I'm not there yet, but I will keep working towards that goal.

Over the year I have had some successes along with many failures, but this is how we learn, right?  Each step of the process is a new challenge from throwing the vessel, trimming it, glazing it and finally keeping your fingers crossed when it goes into the final firing.
I have to say I was very happy with this small grouping of tea mugs and bowl.  I can't wait to pick up my bigger bowl in the same glaze combo tomorrow that someone accidentally took home .

 

The interesting part about pottery is that you can put one of the glazes that you love over another bottom glaze and get a completely different look. Trial and error for sure. These pieces had the same top dip that I used on the pieces above but over a different base glaze and you can see what a difference just one little glaze choice can make.  I like these, but I don't love them the same way I love the others.

...and even though these were dipped with the same glaze but in a different order, you can see how different they can be.
Goodness, this should keep my ADD brain busy for the rest of my years...ha!!

 

I have reached the point now where I will work at home.  I was able to find a pottery wheel in Vermont a year ago for a very reasonable price and the bonus is it's the same wheel we use in class, so I am familiar with it.

I also found this older kiln in Maine for next to nothing.  It's in pristine condition and even though it's an older manual kiln, our electrician has wired the studio and it works!  
New adventures and challenges to keep life interesting.