Becca with good news!

Hi, you remember me from the last post?  Well, the nice people I have been stayin' with have decided to keep me!  I knew they would because I am a nice doggie.  I try really hard to do the right things, but I get it wrong sometimes.

Do you want to know why I was sure they would keep me?  Even when I made a mistake, they didn' get mad at me.  They are both very nice about lettin' me know what I should do.  They even praise me when I get something right.  And the lady gives me yummy treats when I do things right.  I think I will take them up on their offer and stay.

I am also gettin' better about not barking at people as much - better with other dogs too.  But they don't understan' how much I think I should protect us all from strangers.  I had some not so good things happen with strangers in my life.  But we sure are meeting lots of nice people an' dogs.  Life is pretty good. :)

She took this picture of me while I was sleepin' in the "cat bed".  (That's what they call it, even though I am a dog.)  It was dark, cuz I was sleepin', so the picture isn' the best quality.  For some reason, the lady thinks it is cute.

Remember, you can click on it for a better view.

Luv,

Becca

Something is interfering with my weaving!

Hi there!  I'm Rebecca, but most call me Becca for short (and I am pretty short).  You can see the legs of my person's loom behind me,  I don't think it is right that she is blaming me for keepin her from weaving.  I know how to sit right under her weaving bench.

No problem for me!  I like being under things. 

I like being on the furniture too, but the living room furniture seems to be off limits.

However, to make up for that, my person got a new cover for the futon that matches me:

Don't we look good?

But I found another soft spot.  I have lived in several houses, but I had never seen a soft spot like this before.  It is in the bathtub!

OK, I, Dawn,  should probably explain:  We had to shut the cats in their bathroom when we had some deliveries right after moving to this house.  I wanted them to feel comfortable, so put an old comforter in the tub for them.  Now I don't know what to do with it, so it has stayed in the tub.

Rebecca is staying with us right now.  She may stay with us for a long time.  It depends on the cats.  We are fostering Becca to adopt from Animal Friends Rescue Project, which is located in Pacific Grove, Calif.  If the cats accept Becca (and I can teach her not to bark at strange people and dogs), she will become our new doggie.

The siamese (Jones) is doing great with Becca.  He doesn't seem worried at all, though he is even more vocal than usual.  Chloe, however, is taking her time.  She hides under the covers (a common hiding place for both of them) all day long, not even coming out when Becca is gone.  So, we shall see...

My New Spring Loom

Wednesday,June 1st, my new Louet Loom arrived. The very pleasant delivery man put it on a dolly and brought it up the driveway (only moderately sloped) and put it just inside the first bay of the garage, behind the black Z.  My husband is a car buff; one must not even breathe deeply when you are near any of his cars. 

Here is how it looked:

If it weren't for the photo of a loom on the box (upper picture), you would never guess that a loom, or at least its guts, could be hidden within.  However, if you stand on tip toes, you can just see a suggestion of the Texsolv cords that are part of the countermarch system.

Meanwhile, I have cleared some of the left-over boxes out of my room I know, I know; all the boxes should be emptied by now.  Here are my excuses: 

My desk has not been delivered yet. We are being kind to the furniture store, located in Pacific Grove, and agreeing to have all the pieces we ordered delivered at once. So, while my desk is in PG waiting for me, I also wait for it and its companion rolling file cabinet to match.

Some of the contents are things I am just not sure about. Do I need the Texaco cap with the signatures of Bobby Rahal and Bryan Herta (open wheel race car drivers)? And decorated with 2 pins from races at Laguna Seca (the local raceway set in the hills)?  I don't very often win things, and I won this hat - actually heard my name being called over the loudspeaker when I was outside the tent.  The very large tent was set up on the lawn at Laguna Seca for a fundraising dinner/silent auction put on by the raceway volunteers.  Big social event, with many of the drivers and owners attending.

• Some will go on the shelves that I want built beside my desk, like my little inkle loom (made by Tony Irwin from Vancouver Island) and baskets with yarn or fluff in them.

So those are my main excuses.  I am sure I could find more if needed.  Nevertheless, here is the space I made for the loom:

You can just see some of the boxes in the upper right-hand corner.  The window faces south west, so I will put my right shoulder toward the window so the afternoon sun comes over my shoulder.  If need be, I can pull down the blinds that are hidden at the top of the window.

So, I decided (against my husband's advice) to assemble the loom in place.  I am very glad I did.  Here is the piece unpacked from the large box pictured above:

As you can see, it was well packed.  The reeds and the footboard plus other parts are packed into the spaces in the loom body.

I was sure that I took a picture of all the parts and tools and five bags of hardware, but it is nowhere to be found.  I will say that laid out on the carpet, the various parts took up about 8 square feet.  I carefully labelled everything that was named and pictured in the Assembly Instructions with little hot pink sticky notes.  I began at the beginning and followed the instructions.  I made a couple of mistakes, and I fixed them.  Gradually it began to come together.

I am glad that I had already used a Louet countermarch loom.  I pretty much understood what everything was for and that helped a lot.  Of course, there were not enough heddles to suit me, so I took my time determining the shuttle count per shaft for the first project I have planned.  I ended up putting 175 heddles on shafts 1 and 5, 125 on shafts 4 and 8.  The other four shafts got 100 heddles each.  That works fine for the basketweave and huck baby blanket I have planned for a certain new Canadian (shh...).

Here she is - assembled though, as yet, unnamed:

Isn't she pretty?

I am going out later to do errands.  One will be to get two "milk crates" or the like so I can elevate the loom in order to sit in a more reasonable position while I tie up the treadles with the fist-fulls of Texsolve cords included.  They are all cut to size, thank goodness!  It took me more than an hour And, yes, I am slow. to cut all the loops on the heddles before putting them on the shafts.

It is nice to be communicating/writing again.  More when I get that first warp on the loom...

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

I said that I would share pictures of our visit to Multnomah Falls, along the Columbia River Gorge.  I didn't realize that it would be so long before I would post again.

But, finally, here are the pictures.  This falls is right next to the Columbia Gorge Highway on the south side of the Columbia River.  They have made a very large parking area and a walkway under the road for easy access to the falls.  My guess that they were forced to do this because of all the people who just stopped by the side of the road to look at this very tall waterfall - 611 feet tall.

Only 30 minutes or so from Portland Oregon, this is a falls worth the time.  This is how you first see it from the road:

Not until you get closer do you see the bridge across the falls part way up:

It is fairly easy to walk up to that bridge.  The paths use switchbacks, so it is not very steep.

It is only when you get there that you realize that it is possible to continue walking up to another viewpoint right at the top (just to the left at the top of the falls).  We weren't sure how much farther we had to drive that day, and it appeared that you would get pretty wet crossing the bridge to continue up, so we did not go.  Now I am sorry I didn't try to go all the way up.

It was amazingly wet everywhere around the falls.  So much that not just moss grew on the tree trunks.  Ferns grew as well.

It was a beautiful sight; I am very glad we stopped.





The Trip To California

Finally, I am able to share some of the pictures I took while driving from Vancouver Island to the Monterey Peninsula.

My friend and I drove as far as Vancouver, WA and stayed the night.  The next morning, we met a young woman friend of mine at Lewis & Clark College.  After she took us on a tour of the beautiful campus, we drove to the Portland Japanese Garden, known as one of the best outside of Japan.  We had considered visiting the Rhododendron Gardens in Portland, but the blooms had not even begun by early April, so the Japanese Garden was a better choice.

This was our first view upon entering the garden.

There was a tour going to the right, so we chose to go left.

The moss was gorgous, everywhere.  Those rainy days in Portland are good for something!

You can click on any of these pictures to see an enlarged view. 

Click your browser back button to return here.

This cherry tree was just beginning to bloom:

Here is proof:

Inside the tea house, there was a display of Japanese flower arranging;

I would like to study this form, which allows the use of non-native (to Japan) materials.

Just outside the entrance to the garden was another cherry tree (I think) in full bloom, reasuring us that spring was really coming.

And, under this tree, way on the other side, a little drama was unfolding.  I was concerned, so walked over to observe (and intervene if necessary).

The little boy and girl were taken with this lovely, patient black lab.  And their parents were not paying attention.  But I was!  One never knows how much even a patient black lab can tolerate.

Just as I was about to intervene, the parents called these two away and the lab settled back down to wait for his/her owner.  Just look at that face!  "Help me, someone!"

All in all a lovely visit to Portland.  From there, we drove about 60 miles along the Columbia River Gorge.  But that is for next time.

Connected!

This is the first day I am able to access the internet from our new home.  Seemed like it took forever.

Now all I have to do is find where the two cables are that connect my phone and camera to the computer and I will be able to show you some pictures...

Meanwhile, I have work to do to finish grading my online class.  Oh, I haven't told you that I teach a class online for the college I worked for before retiring six years ago.  I do love teaching.  And being able to do it from home, whenever I want, is just great!

The class is a lecture class about fitness and wellness and includes 15 Behavior Change Workbook Activities which are designed to help one to make a behavior change (anything that is reasonable to be accomplished in the eight weeks of the class, and some things that will take much longer).  Examples include finding ways to meet new people, quitting smoking, eating more fruits and vegetables, anger management, stress management, time management, etc.

Sharing the skills needed in order to make life changes is really rewarding.  And I had better get to it!

Friends

Just a short note to let you know that I am now in California.  The last month has been difficult, but with the help of numerous people, I have made it through.  Friends are vital to our survival.  And we don't really know how important they are until things get rough.

I now have good friends in two places in the world.  I am sure some of you have learned how to keep friends even at long distances.  Share those experiences with me, will you?  These friends are keepers, for sure!

We will take possession of our new house tomorrow.  Nesting should help me to feel a sense of connection that is lacking right now.  We expect the moving van to arrive about the middle of the month and then the unpacking will begin in earnest.

As I sit at my computer (or rather a somewhat random collection of cast-off peripherals connected to my computer), my little black kitty Chloe is curled up in my lap purring.  I do think she missed me!  I sure missed her.