Kittens Week 2

Last week I got a mom cat and 4 kittens for fostering. Mom was found at the Amesbury Stop & Shop with her kittens in one of the planters. My theory is that she was dumped off, did not know how to find food then had her kittens in the best place she could find. She was skinny when she was found and ate 2 cans of food right off. She is still eating well but will leave some for later now that she realizes it will come on a regular basis.

First are photos from last week when she came to me, the kittens were about 1wk old then.

These photos were taken Sept 27, their eyes are open and they are starting to figure out what their legs are for.

Minute Man National Park 50th Anniversary Gala

Last night, Sept 20 was the Minute Man National Historic Park 50th anniversary gala in Lexington. Great evening with lots of familar faces, some of whom I actually can attach a name to. The night started with snacks and drinks and lots of people

Then everyone moved into the hall with all the re-enactors entering to the tunes of the Middlesex County Volunteers. Doris Kerns Goodwin was the keynote speaker, very dark photo but it's hard to get a photo when there are photographers taking candids of those of us in costume and I didn't want one of me using my camera.

Then there was dancing...

Colors in Spinning

I've found that every spinner has a favorite fiber pusher...I mean vendor. Mine is Sereknity http://www.sereknity.com/ I love her colors, I can't resist buying more even though I have more fiber and yarn than I will use in this lifetime (SABLE-stash aquisition beyond life expectancy). So last year I saw her colorway Wildside and had to have it, my first Sereknity fiber.

I don't like to ply the fancy fiber to itself, I like to ply it with another color or fiber. I spun one bump of the Wildside with turquoise wool and another with white. Boy did I get very different yarns. I'm thinking maybe a sweater with the colors starting dark and getting lighter. We'll see.

Time Warp II: Mr Moose

All those wildlife photos of moose made me long to see a moose, a real moose not just Mr. Moose from Captain Kangaroo who used to like to bounce ping pong balls much to the annoyance of the Captain, but a real moose. I saw a stuffed moose at LL Bean in Freeport and a dead moose on the median of I-93 in New Hampshire while on my way to the 5th anniversary memorial service for the Old Man of the Mountain. (I still miss my Old Man).

For several years now I have been finding moose scat in the yard but never got to see the moose. Just moose manure... Until this July. It was my lunch break, 1:15pm and I came into the living room and looked out the slider and saw a very large land mammal way in the back yard. At first I was wondering what Buffy the horse was doing out there but then remembered Buffy was dead, so what was dead Buffy doing in the yard, wait a minute, wrong color. Must be a large deer I thought, but there was no big black nose just a big round brown nose, round ears and a swishing tail... Well, Mr Moose saw me move in the door and disappeared off into the swamp. I still find vegitation eaten down to knee height unlike the deer who eat it to the ground but have not seen him again. Maybe he'll be back when I can get a photo of him.

Time Warp-What I should have posted in July

I have been quite lax about posting here so now I'm going to try to catch up...

For the past couple of years I've spent the 4th of July with the Island Pond Spinners at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth NH http://www.strawberybanke.org/ The program on the 4th is great fun, a really great place to spend the 4th. They start out with a naturalization ceremony, gives you a warm feeling to see people become Americans on our country's birthday. Could have sworn I had a photo of the other spinners but guess I missed that one.

I did get a photo, unflattering though it may be, of one of the costumed interpreters portraying the 1940s. Other's in costume were a Rosie the Riveter look alike and kids in 50's garb playing hula hoop.

And of course my friends Dot and Lee Fisher, AKA Dr and Mrs Jackson and "daughter".

Always fun to meet up with is my favorite basket

maker, Fred Lawson of Wicker'd Good Baskets http://www.wickerdgoodbaskets.com/contact.php

I got home around 6 and as promised my wonderful neighbor Lisa had saved me a dish from their cookout. The concert preceding the fireworks looked lame so instead I parked by the golf course and watched the fireworks from there. All in all a great 4th.

Sam Whiskers

Sam and his sister Josette came to me in December 1994 when they were about 3 months old, their previous owner didn't want them anymore. Josette was diminutive, friendly and cuddly. Sam hid behind the sofa for 2 days. When I would feed them Josette would push Sam away until she was done, they had come with a double sided dish and I tried splitting their food so each had a side of the dish, Josette would put her paw on Sam's head to he couldn't eat. Sam was the quiet one but so you didn't notice that he had just shredded the multipack of toilet paper until it was just a pile of confetti. Or when he sliced open the bag of birdseed so he could play "hockey" with the sunflower seeds. Sam was afraid of his own shadow, if the neighbors slammed the car door he headed for the basement. For years I tried to get him to sleep on the bed with me and finally last year I found him curled up by my feet in the morning. Cats always start to do something new just before it's time for them to leave us. Sam traveled to the Rainbow Bridge early Monday morning. I will miss him very much.

Spinning Bee Inspiration

To inspire us all to spin...

Boston News-Letter and New-England Chronicle February 16, 1769

NEW-LONDON January 7.
On the 16th Instant; the Wife of Mr. John Vaughan of Lebanon, agreed upon a spinning Match with a neighboring young Woman; they began their Work three quarters of an Hour after Sunrise, and left off at Nine o’Clock in the Evening of the same Day; in which Time Mrs. Vaughan spun seven Skeins and two Knots of fine Linnen Yarn, each Skein containing 15 Knots; The other Person spun 6 Skeins and 10 Knots, the Skeins of equal Bigness with the first mentioned.—[Would the Sex in general apply their Hands to the Distaff, instead of the idle Apparatus of the Tea-Table, perhaps we need not always be beholden to Asia for our Food, or Europe for our Cloathing.]

How much is that? A thread of linen is 2.25 yards and a knot is 40 threads. A skein may contain any number of knots just like a modern skein may contain any number of ounces. So a skein containing 15 knots has 1350 yards (I think-math isn't my strong point even with a calculator)

We may not get that much spun on Sunday since the spinning matches of the 1760s lasted from dawn to dusk and we'll only be spinning from 1-5.