Orange You Glad

Twas a dyeing day. My colors came out more orange than I’d intended because I accidentally used Flame Red rather than Ruby Red. Arghhhhhh! Good thing I don’t vend anymore – orange never sells!

Book Corner 2024.32

by Bill Maher

Laughed out loud super-frequently. What great therapy.

All the Things! Magazine Edition

Occasionally I still work on my “Inventory of Everything” project. Today I learned I have exactly 100 issues of Spin-Off, fondly dating back to Summer 1998 – when we first got angora goats. I also have 24 Wild Fibers – that was a good one, now defunct. And 35 Ply. I don’t like the vibe of Ply as much as Spin-Off somehow.

Burke

Yesterday was rain off and on, mostly on. We did not bike. We went driving. Between rain, sometimes during rain, we saw people on bikes, which made me feel slothful. This is a lovely picture of a store in Burke, Vermont. I am up to 143 Vermont towns on my extremely lackadaisical mission of capturing all 251.

Ramona in Various Forms

The rare Albino Mohair from Wiseacres Farm.

And Batts of Blue. Ya know, I had three days off this past week in addition to the weekend, and I washed and dyed exactly zero mohair. It was too freaking hot.

Book Corner 2024.31

by Cixin Liu

(As far as I can tell, it’s pronounced “Tsih shin loo”.)

I don’t usually read science fiction, and I have no recollection what brought me to this story. I do enjoy reading Chinese authors; so I probably came across some tempting description, like “futuristic Chinese Lord of the Flies.”

The premise is – well, a futuristic, Chinese “Lord of the Flies”, caused by a supernova that destroys the chromosomes of everyone over 13, gradually killing them, leaving Earth in the hands of children.

I was most swept up in the first third or so of the book that focused on China, and the immediate aftermath of leaving the children in charge. An extremely brief period of normalcy, followed by chaos, more normalcy, then laziness, rebellion, and giving up… just when the 13-year-old leaders think they’ve hit upon a way out, we switch focus from China to the global arena.

Then things get nightmarish and violent. I thought the book gave short shrift to the role of girls in the Supernova Era. They would be half the population and I can’t see them going along with the war games and such. I also didn’t get how the ending jumped from Point A to Point B.

Dyeing Season Kickoff

I dyed this blue-turquoise a couple weeks ago.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

It’s strawberry season, and my life is a picture right off a cereal box!

You Are Beautiful

In the wonderful book I read last year THE GREENGAGE SUMMER, the protagonist, a girl named Cecil, the second oldest among 5 children thrown into dire straits, is having a distraught moment. The Mystery Man who has befriended the children for the summer is comforting her. She cries to him, referring to her beautiful older sister, “I’m not beautiful like Joss.” He kisses her and says, “No, you are beautiful like Cecil.”

If you ever find yourself comparing yourself disfavorably to someone, someone real or just some image you have wished you could live up to, you can tell yourself, “I’m not beautiful like her. I’m beautiful like [your name here].”

Big Girl

Annie shows us what a big girl she is. Aunt Zowie is watching too.