While I was away from the keyboard, I knit a pair of Fast Florida Footies in a wild green color. Someone flipped about my cool yarn when I was knitting in public, so I gave her the ball band, thus I don’t know the color number.

These I intend to keep for myself. I have knit at least 5 pair and at least a half dozen baby FFFooties from this pattern, mostly in Fixation yarn. Never have I been able to keep a pair for me. They either are gifts, or they are destined for a yarn shop that (thankfully) carries my patterns. People would ask me about how this unusual yarn felt to wear, and I never could tell them! I knew how it felt to knit, but not to wear.

Now in one week’s time I’ve finished a dance top and a pair of footies, both from Cascade Fixation yarn. And both for me. The dance top is quite comfortable, really. It is a thick fabric right now in the 90F degree heat, but so is almost anything else I could wear. I like how the top feels when I wear it, though.

And now we will see how I like the cotton socks. I’m not a cotton fan, I can’t remember really loving much cotton other than brushed flannel and thin, drapey commercial knits (sometimes cotton/lycra). Woven cotton broadcloth (shirt fabric), in particular, does nothing for me. I don’t own a pair of blue jeans, though I have 2-3 pair of black jeans I wear very occasionally for camping and/or dyeing yarn in the studio.

I take that back… I do like that super-lightweight cotton used in the “broomstick” skirts often imported from India. Sometimes they are two layers thick to create some modesty, they are so transparent. I love that fabric, it moves so well, it’s very feminine without being prissy.

However, thicker cottons, woven or knit, can be very lumpy and unmoving. They can make me look like I’m wearing someone else’s clothing. And the only pair of mostly cotton (and acrylic) socks I ever made (my second pair) were too lumpy underfoot to be comfortable worn while standing up. At least for me.

Now I have my very own FFFooties. I’ll be interested to see how I like wearing Fixation on my feet. It *does* feel softer than a lot of other cotton yarns, and the lycra makes up for cotton’s lack of spring. There sure are a lot of folks out there wearing these socks, so I know they are favorites of many!

I’m away from the keyboard for a while. Check these out:
Speakeasies, Flappers & Red Hot Jazz
Wikipedia: Flapper
The Flap over Flappers
The JAZZ AGE – Flapper Culture & Style

My favorite singer, Annette Hanshaw, was an early jazz singer and darling of the flapper era.

I finished my dance top and wore it to Habibi Dancers’ rehearsal Wednesday night. Brian is gone so I have taken the artsiest of photos, of myself. I have no real way to get any other sort of photo right now.

I designed this top myself, with some help from Knitware Sweaters software. Of course, I had to change the pattern or I would not be me (I knit in the round, for one thing, and the straps are about half their specified height). But the software made a much better pattern than the one I knit from a magazine recently, by a long shot.

It’s funny. The garment looks like a bunch of rectangles when it is on a flat surface. The back and front were knit identically. But on me, the front has a deeper scoop thanks to the pull of my curves, and it actually is enhanced a lot by the stretchiness of the fabric. What a nice neckline it turned out to be!

The yarn is Cascade Fixation, cotton-lycra yarn, DK weight, knit on 2.75mm needles (US2 in Crystal Palace needles, US 1.5 in Brittany Birch, I used Crystal Palace circulars here) at approximately 25st/4″. I would perhaps do this again! Maybe a full-length tank next time, with skinnier straps. Or not. I sure have enough projects already on the list, where I currently own the yarn.

At least from this angle, I think Brian is right. It *is* “kinda cute.” Thank goodness! I had real visions of ripping out the whole thing once I had it done. Can you hear my sigh of relief through the ether?

Today I held a little knitting gathering at Gone Wired Cyber Cafe’ in Lansing. It all started because a few of my knitting kidz were sad that they would not have CityKidz Knit! program this summer. So I thought about it, and decided that outside of Foster Center, I could choose a relationship with the kids that involved a get together or two during summertime.

This was the day the girls wrote “Knitting Rocks!” on my whiteboard. So the “Knitting Rocks!” summer knit gatherings were born. Today was the first.

This was not a class, not a City-sponsored event. I didn’t get paid to do it. I just wanted to give my kidz a chance to ask me questions if they got stuck during the summer. And I wanted to see them, because I do miss them terribly when we don’t meet regularly.

What happened after that, was I invited some of my other students (adults) to also come and join us. I was not very methodical at all, I just asked those people who I ran into between the concept and the party. But those who did come, had mostly met one another before, except for OfficiallyAKnitter (far left in photo) who usually gets private lessons with me, but who enjoys a gathering as much as anyone. She got to know the rest of the gang quickly and we all had a blast!

In total, I had four young participants, and two adult students of mine. That made seven of us in all, which pleased me very much. I figure that is a really nice success rate in the middle of a summer Wednesday. We are going to do another one next month, August 10, from 3:30-5:30pm (or so). If anybody local would like to come and join us, we’d love your company!

I wish I had more photographs. Here there are 3 of the four kids, but the fourth finished a wristband as a gift for his sister, in one session. Well, he bound off and will have to sew it together at home, but he was a speedster indeed.

Joy, the adult on the far side of the table, is in the middle of two pair of socks. One pair is my First-Time, Toe-Up socks, in Naturally. And the second is top down, two at a time on two circular needles. She’s taking a class at Rae’s learning this technique, tonight was the second of three sessions.

And OfficiallyAKnitter has finished her first pair of socks as well. She also used my First-Time Toe Up Socks pattern, and she made them in some wonderful bulky wool/acrylic as sort of slipper socks, sunshine/egg yolk yellow with orange Fun Fur in the rolled edges. She finished them up today, learning how to close up those pesky holes that happen at the corner of the gusset so often. The group was properly impressed with her excellent work!

The lone young girl brought me a present, a lovely pouch in sort of a half-moon shape which fit my cellphone perfectly! She made it in single crochet, something she just recently learned in CityKidz class between a little bit of instruction from me and a little bit from Jennifer, Joy’s daughter who could not join us today.

Note that she is holding two pouches in her hands in the photo. The pink/purple one was my gift. The purple/blue one she started and finished today in one session, with her brother’s assistance. She had been crocheting in circles and asked me today how to knit a rectangle (Whoops! I guess I needed to show her more in her first lesson.)

The first boy here, the brother who helped her out, is wearing a unique necklace. The dark navy part hanging center is his first attempt at I-Cord. The cord around his neck was a crocheted chain made with a crochet hook, something that he is still working on (he crochets very tightly). I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity of my young knitters. They can figure out how to make anything useful!!!

The second boy knit and sewed together this Lion Brand Microspun wristband in this one session. The yarn is so pretty, he really enjoyed it although it is slippery and can split more than the yarn he is accustomed to knitting. I think he was eager to have a simpler project this time, as he did bring the toe of his First-Time Toe-up sock (yes, you heard that right, this child is knitting in the round on double pointed needles and several inches into the foot of his first sock).

Can you see why I’m so in love with my job, with my kidz, with this teaching life? I had an amazing day.

This Tuesday was a blank-slate day. My calendar did not have a single thing on it… no radio show to remember, no appointments, no teaching, nothing requiring me to be anywhere at any time. Oh, I had some plans, but it was divine to know that I’d be alone most of the day with no expectations. Tuesday is usually my day off, but often I have a guild at night, and sometimes I make dates for lunch or tea.

I slept in as long as I wanted, had a pleasant cup of tea, caught up on my weblog reading, and started to do some maintenance work (a little bookkeeping… yes, it is work related but it was at my own pace and I was happy to do it).

Then the phone rang. I hoped it was April, and it was. She was taking the baby to get her pictures taken, and would I like to tag along? Of course, I would! We had fun, doing what we could to get sweet Isabel to smile, giggle, laugh, and take a few steps on her own trying to get to this or that toy.

They got some very nice photographs, and while April was picking out the shots she wanted, I got to hold sweet Isabel again. Lucky, lucky me! She is a very social baby, loves talking and cooing to the folks who go by, but she really has a preference for being held by her own Mommy. I’m pleased that I’m becoming enough of a constant in her life, and a safe one apparently, so that she allows me to hold her for longer and longer amounts of time. And she’s a delight. She likes to be entertained (I was the same way) but you can not help but want to entertain her! I had the time of my life.

After I got home, I spent a little more time on bookkeeping and then gave myself a reward… time in the hammock with my almost-finished dance top knitting project. Brian came home, and took me out to eat at Taj, a local Indian restaurant. Mmmm, Channa Masala is my favorite… chick peas with a tomato sauce and a bit of spice. I could not finish, but that just means I can eat the rest tomorrow. I love that!

After we got home I finished the neckband on the dance top. I tried it on, and Brian’s thought was that it was “kinda cute” so I am pleased with that! Only two armbands remain, and working in the ends. It’s possible I can finish this before I go to bed tonight.

But between then and now, Brian and I will rehearse a bit. We are still working on a collection of songs we expect will become a CD entitled “In the Garden.” Many of the songs on that album we had not performed before we put together the project, so we have a lot of work to do learning them all. We have two private party performances next week, so we are working to see how many of the new songs we might be able to work up by then. It is always good to strive for something new!

Have I mentioned how much I love summer? It is warm and breezy tonight and I am soooo happy to have the door open! I love opening the doors and windows as much as I can. This time of year delights me, in part because of the fresh air factor. In part because of the flowers outside. In part because we don’t have to wear so many clothes to keep warm that we can barely move! I love wool, but during winter I get tired of feeling like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy all the time!

Off to sing a few songs. Then back to the dance top. I’ll hope to have photos of my top, soon!

Meanwhile, here are some photos I took on July 2, on a trip I took to Charlotte (Michigan) to visit Kim at Yarn Garden. The sky was amazing, with tiny fluffy clouds, and Sharon’s Cafe downtown looked as colorful as ever! (If you ever get to Charlotte, go to Sharon’s and buy pie. That pie is an artform itself!)

I finished darning two balls of feet on a pair of sox I originally finished knitting for Brian on December 10, 2001. They were not all the way worn through but some places looked more like sewing thread than yarn.

There were a few places on one of the toes (dreaded ladders) that needed some reinforcing as well. But I did not spend even 2 hours totally rebuilding two socks, and now he will be able to wear them for another several years. That pleases me.

The repair does not show in shoes or sandals. It’s just a little secret between you, me, and Brian.

We both enjoy how these look repaired. I used yarn of the same striping style, but in a different colorway. The stripes are fatter since I didn’t have to take the yarn all the way around the foot. I think it is like a little greenish rainbow on the bottom of a grayish sock. Fun! By the way, the patches are odd-shaped because the wear patterns were also odd-shaped. I replaced only the stitches that needed replacing (including an edge stitch to anchor the patch to solid fabric). It looks a little like a map, doesn’t it?

In other finishing news, I do need to work ends in on the Cashmerino Aran wristwarmers that are a gift. I also made myself start in again on the cropped Fixation dance top I’m knitting. It’s on size 2 needles and it is impossible to know how it will look until it’s done. This stuff settles in and “shrinks” (except with the lycra it stretches out again) when it has been washed. It looks too big on the needles, but I’m hoping it will be fine after washing.

Sunday night I finished the last strap on this top. I connected the straps and tried it on, all 6 needles holding stitches in place. (Ack! Nervewracking!) I did so without poking myself once, yeah!

Given this preliminary try-on, it looks like it probably will fit although very differently than I’d imagined. However, the straps were inches too long! Good thing I tried it on before starting the neck band.

So, I ripped the straps back, connected them with three-needle bindoff, and tried it back on. Much better. Now I need to pick up stitches and knit arm bands and neck band. Then wash. Then determine if that was a waste of time or if it was fine. I’m ready to have that mystery behind me!

I’m also plugging away on that Fast Florida Footie I started in my class Saturday. It’s good away-from-home knitting. I did a lot on it Sunday waiting for our turn to perform music at a little potluck party for a friend.

Photo: Darned socks. These are my pair #23, from December 2001. Ready for a new life with reinforced sole. (This sort of darning can only be done easily if you catch the socks worn thin but not worn totally through with a hole. I typically darn a hole by weaving rather than duplicate stitch.)

I am delighted. I got an email from my friend Susan Luks today.

I have known Susan since we were in elementary school. She and her sister, Bethany, were big influences on me in Middle School… they were expert sewers even then.

I made several Easter dresses with the Luks sisters as my inspiration, at that age. I remember staying up all night one year to finish a dress. It had two overlapping short sleeves (like a tulip). The fabric was chambray (pale blue workshirt broadcloth) which was machine embroidered with flowers in pastels. My taste has changed, but my inclination to create has not.

I have mentioned her work here before but it was about a year and a half ago. Susan has a new website to show her amazing, beautiful, wearable artpieces. She makes something like collage from fabric, and makes it into capes, coats, totebags, you name it. She even has some really great jeans jackets with back panels that are her fabric collage. The new photos really show off her work well. I know she is pleased.

Of course, this is merely my way of describing her work. Maybe you should go check it out for yourself? The colors and textures are rich and wonderful. I’ve seen her work in person, and it’s even better with true light showing all the textures.

Do go check it out.

Saturday I taught at Yarn Garden. I did Fast Florida Footies… for one woman who had never done socks and one who had done one form of toe-up socks, one time. We had a very pleasant day.

I have half of a footie in hot green finished, in my size. I can not tell you how many of these footies I have knit, but they all seem to become gifts or store samples. Maybe this time I will be able to keep one pair for myself? That would be fun, though really I’m such a wool fanatic that I am OK if I use Fixation (cotton/lycra) yarn for tank tops rather than socks most of the time.

When Brian got home from work, we went to Altu’s restaurant for dinner. Blue Jello was playing tonight (Ben and Pat, two of the guys from Mystic Shake). They are fun guys who are cranking out the songs lately. They are in a really creative, songwriting time, and it is fun to hear their new pieces.

At one point they asked Brian to sit in and play Mandolin with them. Here’s a photo of Brian, Ben and Pat… at my favorite Saturday night haunt, Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine!

Sunday I will teach my new class, Darn Those Socks! at Threadbear. This all happened because I was at the store one day and a customer asked me to schedule a class on darning. I was excited to do it!

I love darning socks, I find it very relaxing. It also makes me feel clever to fix my knits! I have one pair (worsted weight 100% wool, no nylon to help the wear and since they are fat and warm I wear them a lot in winter) which have been darned three times, in three different colors. I sort of like the mix and match look on the bottom of my foot! Nobody else can see it but me, but it makes me feel accomplished that I was able to fix my very-loved socks.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer weekend… those of you in summer, anyway!

What a great day it was. I did get up too early, after a night of making polymer clay buttons and a whistle. That was fun but I was up too late!!! No problem, I went to Mom’s and we drove down to see Eric. We met at Zingerman’s deli again, this time to celebrate Eric’s birthday a day late.

The sun shone but was not too hot. The sky was full of fluffy clouds. The neighborhood near Zingermans was just full of beautiful gardens, as usual. Zingermans’ garden was wonderful, and since they have added a canopy we prefer sitting outside in the garden to eat. Lovely.

We must have sang Happy Birthday three or four times in all, but we all enjoyed it each time so no harm done. We talked and talked and talked, for about three hours. We ate and sipped good tea and had dessert. We enjoyed the outdoors and one another. And then Eric went to work and we drove home.

After I got home, I took a wonderful nap in my favorite spot, the hammock on the porch. Even after the nap I sat there and read until it got too dark to read. Such a luxury! As much as I talk about the hammock, say I’ll go out there, plan to go out there… I don’t get out there much. This is the first time I’ve spent more than a half hour out there all season. Aaaaahhhhh….

Later, Brian and I had dinner and then played music together on our instruments, rehearsing some songs we know almost well enough to perform. That was also great.

And now I’m wrapping up things. I downloaded a trial version of Knitable, which is a knitting program for a PDA (palm device). I don’t have any interest in taking time to enter the inventory levels of my needles, yarn, books and patterns, but I like the conversion feature (metric to US, for instance) and the decrease/increase calculator feature.

The increase feature I tried twice (preparing to knit my Tagliatelli shrug) but once it seemed just right and the next one (almost no increasing over a long stretch) it returned very odd results. I’ll have to do some manual math to see if that second one makes sense. One line was repeated twice and I think that is a bug rather than true directions, but maybe it really doesn’t increase in 38 rows (it said 19 but said it twice.) We’ll see.

I finished a pair of wristwarmers today in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (purchased at Yarn Garden), a gift. I need to work in ends for those and the baby blanket so I can cross them off the list.

I’m off to bed, I teach Fast Florida Footies Saturday morning at Yarn Garden and Darn those Socks! at Threadbear on Sunday afternoon.

The only thing imperfect about this day is that it must end. I guess there is nothing to complain about, then. Is there?

Photos: Eric, Mom, Zingermans’ Garden, Ann Arbor street/garden. Mom and Eric looked so good and happy and relaxed, I just had to take close up portraits this time. Notice what Mom is wearing? The apple does not fall far from the tree, I’d say!

It’s my brother Eric’s birthday today. I love my brother so deeply into the cells of my body, I can not explain it in words.

He and I have been through some things nobody should have to go through… the biggest being the loss of our father when I was 14 and he was 1 week before his 13th birthday, and the second being the loss of his first wife when she was 27 and he was 30. I was there with them the day she died, very unexpectedly.

What I often say is that I lost my father, but I gained my brother in the process. Before that, we had our typical sibling conflicts. After that, we had to pull together or we were clear we would not really make it. Mom had enough to deal with, being a single mom out of the blue at age 38 (Dad was 40) and she had a full time job as a teacher. So she became the Dad, so to speak, and we sort of became the Mom. We did grocery shopping, on our bicycles at first. We cooked together. And when I cooked with Eric, I enjoyed cooking. Today it is a necessary chore, but with Eric it was entertaining and artful.

I’m a moody grrl, and sometimes I get stuck with thinking in circles and not knowing where to go, what to do. I just have to call my brother, spill out all of what seem like random thoughts rattling around in my brain, and then stop and listen. Eric will ask me one question. And that question tells me where I need to go. He never tells me what to do, he knows how to lead my mind to my own solution.

When I chose a difficult relationship for 16 years, Eric was always there. If I needed to get away for a weekend, I could always go down to his house and crash, and talk, any time I wanted. And I did. When the marriage was over he admitted that it was painful to see me make that choice but it was clear I was choosing and he respected my right to choose my own life. Well, I’m big on boundaries, and my brother was good at that one for a very long time. Bless his soul, he loves me just right for me.

By the way… all you fiberartists out there, Eric is probably the best embroiderer I know. Lucky me, I have a pair of pillowcases he made years ago… they still are in good shape because I don’t use them much, they are so precious.

He also sews well. For my first wedding, he made his then-fiancee’ Kelly (late first wife) a dress just as she requested… blue with ruffles and added lace. Exactly what she wanted, and beautifully executed.

And one time he sewed a pair of blue jeans from scratch, that looked like he’d purchased them at the store, with proper overlapping seams and the whole nine yards. When he wants to be particular, he can do it better than anyone else I know. Fortunately he is usually a mellow and relaxed sort of guy… with other people, anyway. With his art, he’s picky just like me.

Here is a photo of Eric last Thanksgiving, when we were finishing our meal at the Sushi restaurant we finally found open that day. And a photo of the neighborhood kids in about 1969. Eric is the far right kid with nearly-white hair and red shirt. I’m in the back row just behind his shoulder, sort of hiding. The other kids lived next door. I wonder what they are doing now…

Today the best thing that happened to me was that I finally got to hold sweet Isabel. She knows me well, she sees me several times a week. She often reaches out to me as if to hug me but stays stuck to her mommy (my friend April).

Well, today at rehearsal for Habibi Dancers, April brought the baby, and Sally brought her baby, and I sat on the floor with them all. And Isabel leaned up against me when she was still leaning on her mom also. Next thing you know, she had crawled up on my lap and was smiling at mommy. Mommy even got to dance a little today without holding her sweet one. I know this was a treat for all three of us!

There is nothing like holding a child you know and love. It has been a long time since I’ve known a child well enough to want this. I don’t have any interest in holding a child I barely know. Yet I can not tell you how delighted I was to hold this baby for maybe ten minutes today.

I have said before, that a happy child is definitely a work of art. This child is a masterpiece.

I started my workday today when Threadbear called to say they were out of my Fast Florida Footies pattern in 8 sizes, and could I bring some right over since there were 2 people at the cash register who wanted to buy them?

Of course, I bounded over there with the six patterns I had printed and in stock. The customers were happy, and I got to meet them which was delightful. I’ll be delivering more patterns tomorrow. Woohoo! I’m just delighted that folks like my work. It doesn’t hurt me that a few folks who work at Threadbear are knitting or have knit this pattern. I need to send thanks out to the whole staff there, everyone is so good to me and here they are now, selling my work as well!

I hung out at Threadbear a little and knit on my interminable project (a cropped tank in Fixation yarn, which looks too big but hasn’t been dunked in water/washed yet so it may actually fit soon). I’m almost done. I have one more strap to knit and then neckband/armhole bands. We’ll see how it goes. I keep telling myself that I so often have successes it’s OK if something doesn’t fit right sometimes. One day at a time, there.

I then ran over to Little Red Schoolhouse to see Linda. Unfortunately, she was stuck in a huge traffic jam because of a big accident. I waited until I couldn’t wait any longer, but I did help out one customer who needed assistance there, while Linda was gone. It was good for everyone I guess, and I did have a relaxing time sitting on the couch and knitting, again on the cropped tank.

I finished my baby blanket today as well. I am ready to be done with that! Too much of the same, with a little more thinking than usual for me (this was knit flat, basketweave… I missed my stockinette tubes). But the colors are really pretty and I’m overall pleased. I’m not sure if this will be the final shape of my pattern when it’s written (it is very long and rectangular, and somewhat small, but friends with babies say it’s a good size for wrapping a baby). I’m not in a huge hurry here, so it will evolve as I have time to knit yet another one, I expect.

I went from there, to Borders Books in Ann Arbor. What a great group that is! We talked and knit and talked and knit, it was wonderful. I started a pair of wristwarmers for a special person, out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Wowie is this stuff nice. I got it on sale at Yarn Garden last weekend, 15% off. It’s a soft purple, just perfect for this person. And I am really enjoying the knitting process, the fiber is so wonderful to touch!

It seems my photos are always one or two days behind my stories! These photos are the flowers June gave me from her garden. First is the whole lot, still in the boxes from transporting them home. Second is a close-up of the two flowers June did not have names for. Both re-seed easily, she says. I’m crossing my fingers!

I had a lovely 4th of July/Independence Day holiday. I slept in a bit, had good food, was alone at home (my favorite thing in the world these days) for several hours, did housework, knit on the porch in the hammock.

Music Party
Then Brian came home (he had to work part of a day) and we went to a music party. It was lovely. While I was there they played a song I used to play on guitar. I was pretty sure I could still play it, at least the basics. But we hang out with steel-string-guitar players and I learned on a “gut” nylon stringed guitar. Well, that is the kind I’ve owned since probably Christmas 1972. I tried to play someone else’s steel stringed guitar, but the strings are so close together I could not get my fingers to the right spots!

My Guitar and its Story
As a kid, about 11 years old, I wanted to play guitar in the worst way. It was Karen’s fault.

My cousin, Karen (who reads this blog but lives in Texas, hours and hours away) had lived in St. Louis for a year or maybe two. Mom drove my brother and I down one Easter weekend to see them, because that was the closest they had ever lived to us (they were in California before that) and we knew it might not last.

When I was visiting Karen, she showed me two chords and taught me a folksong I can’t even remember now, maybe “Down in the Valley.” And I was in love! All I wanted was a guitar. They were not cheap, and my parents were not sure I would stay interested (I was very much into singing but this was a new thing). I can see why they were worried.

My father told me he would buy me a very basic guitar and if I proved I actually was playing it, he would buy me a good one in a year. So off we went to Century Discount (or was it S&H Green Trading Stamps?) and got me a 3/4 sized guitar with steel strings and plywood top. For $14 USD. That was waaay cheap even then. The strings were probably a good 1/4″ (6mm) from the fretboard, uncomfortable to say the least!

I took group lessons at community education that summer. I learned chords and I learned songs… I played for hours, until the steel strings dug into my fingers so badly that I could not play because of the pain.

A year later my father bought me a “real” guitar, as promised. Now, I had only some input on this. I remember he ordered it over the phone, talking to the local music store. I was very sure I wanted nylon strings. For one thing, folk music was very big and I was sure that folksingers such as Peter Paul and Mary would be playing nylon strings. For another, I was really tired of those steel strings digging into my fingers when I practiced, and nylon sounded softer!

For years after that, I played guitar with my church youth group. There were three of us who played guitar at the front of the room, all at the same time. We all had nylon strings, if I remember right. I played nonstop during high school, pretty regularly during college. Then I stopped. The guitar continued to be my most precious belonging (Dad died not long after he bought me the guitar) but I stopped playing. I had a life with so many challenges that I dropped a lot of pastimes in order to stay afloat emotionally, or that is how it seems now. But I loved my guitar.

Waking Up, Creatively
I only started being creative again just before my divorce, around 1990 or so. I started with polymer clay and did that obsessively for maybe 10 years before I tried anything else! After that came soft-block printing/Mail Art and then feltmaking/knitting socks. And that is only my visual arts (not performing arts, which I also stopped during my difficult marriage and started again afterward).

In the years before I “woke up,” I did a lot of sewing, I was very good and had 3 sewing machines. I also did a little bit of housepainting/decorating but only those domestic sorts of creative outlets.

My first performing art since high school, was to dance a bit, modern and jazz at first. Then I performed in Pippin, a musical at Riverwalk Theatre. Then came Brian, and the music we do together now (including learning to play bass and a bit of ukulele). Finally I picked up the mideastern dance, just after Brian and I got married.

The Reunion with My Loved One
But the guitar! I love her. (I’m surprised I never named her, really, I’ve always named cars.) Tonight I played her for 20 minutes and she still feels the same, still smells the same. I’m not as good as I once was, but it was a wonderful reunion. I think I’d still rather play ukulele or bass than guitar these days… but it felt good to touch that beautiful piece of wood today.

Tuesday Plans – Ann Arbor?
I need to get to sleep because I have a very-early-morning dentist appointment Tuesday. Big Yuck!

If I feel OK at night from my dental experience (I expect I will), I’m planning to go to Borders Books, Arborland/Ann Arbor, Michigan, tomorrow night. It’s about 7pm to 11pm (not everyone stays late but I usually do). I’d love to see some of you there! Say hi if you heard of it here.

Photo here is of me and my family, probably just before the time my father bought me my first guitar. Notice I’m wearing turquoise?

I went to June’s Garden Sunday morning. It is absolutely beautiful. It’s mostly perennials, many of them blooming right now, with strategically-placed huge pots of dark red geraniums. Absolutely beautiful.

I was there 2 hours. First she invited me to sit on her great-grandmother’s white wicker porch swing (June is over 80 herself, and this swing looks new). We chatted a while, and then I got a tour, and then we got out the shovel.

She sent me home with seven different types of plants. I got 3 small dill plants (I could eat dill on every single lunch or dinner meal and never get tired of it), and six other perennial or self-seeding plant types. The ones I remember are Feverfew and field Daisies, which are both white with yellow centers but very different structures. She also gave me what seemed like a huge yellow blooming flower, and a plant with purple bell-shaped flowers, and a plant that has white leaves but which is not lamb’s ears. She didn’t know names of the yellow or purple flowers. The purple flowers originally came from the home where her great-grandmother had the porch swing, if I have the story right.

Brian was gone all day so I did my own physical labor today. I know I can do this sort of thing, I was single a long time and did a lot of things back then that pushed my body past where it enjoyed the experience. Brian is quite cheerful while digging holes for me these days, and I gratefully accept his assistance. However, today I was alone and I rose to the challenge.

I dug six holes in the back yard, between our walkway and driveway, about 3 feet from the sidewalk. This is about the only part of our yard that gets sunshine most of the day. Only about a week ago I decided I wanted to have a sun garden so here I am already!

I don’t enjoy digging, do not like being dirty, do not like soil under my fingernails. It was hot and my sun hat kept falling off so I just finally got a rayon wrap (the kind they sell to cover a swimsuit, but I wear them as a summer shawl often) and wrapped it over my head, shoulders and upper arms. It made a difference against that strong, hot sun, and was pretty comfortable. (Women had this look often in midday in Africa.) It created me an instant sunscreen, and it kept my head from being so hot from the sun.

It was only 84F degrees, which is a temperature I adore when sitting still in the shade of the porch. However, when I was moving 40lb bags of composted manure and digging holes in a packed-soil yard (in full sun), it seemed very hot to me.

Anyway, now I have planted the dill with the other dill and parsley, and I have planted the 6 new decorative plants in their new homes. Cross fingers for me, friends. I really would like these plants to be happy here.

I’ve never had very good luck planting things in our soil. I do fine, actually very well, with planting things in containers, as you’ve seen before here. But our soil is a problem, I believe, and many smaller plants do not make it, or they take a good 3 years to survive being planted here. I’ve lost several plants the first year, and I have one plant (a bleeding heart) that was blooming and beautiful the first season but it’s down to a few leaves that don’t die but don’t thrive, either.

So today I dug holes deeper than necessary and wider than necessary. I mixed a combination of reasonably-dark soil from the yard, potting soil, composted manure (it looks like very dark soil, is not smelly at all but has a lot of nutrition for plants and holds moisture well) and peat moss for drainage. I put that mixture in all the six holes and then planted the transplants in with that mixture around and on top of the roots I was given.

I really, really, really want this to go well! I watered like crazy today, several times (I’ve learned that the first time, water does not get all the way down through new plantings to the deeper roots). Tomorrow I’ll water a few times as well. Then I’ve been advised that many plants do best if you only water every other day, because they grow longer roots under less than perfect conditions, looking for water further from the plant stem.

I wish I had photos of June’s garden for you, it is magnificent. My new garden looks like a few sticks coming up out of the grass right now. Thank goodness at least my tomato plant is happy and the climbing wild roses, although fading in the light/heat, are still colorful and abundant. I will enjoy each phase of summer as it arrives.

It’s so late I’m not going to post a photo now. Perhaps I’ll add photos when I awaken tomorrow, perhaps not. I hope those who have holiday weekends are spending more time with loved ones than reading blogs, anyway!

Late update (noon Sunday): Photos of women in Africa, wrapped in fabric (as I did yesterday) to protect them from near-equator sun. First in Kenya, a woman on the street in Mombasa. (Sorry for the bad photo, she was moving and I was in a moving car. She’s too pretty to pass up, blurry or not.) It was blistering hot there, in the 90s F (the only place on our trip where we were actually hot), and yet all those layers do protect a person against the direct sun.

OK, so I thought I’d give you pictures of flowers. These women are more beautiful than the wilty flowers in my yard, trust me!