Busy, busy, busy

It has been a while, although not quite as long as I thought. There has been knitting and coughing and gardening and coughing and traveling and coughing and birthdays and finally the coughing stopped. I did go to the doctor at one point, and for some inexplicable reason she gave me a prescription for an antibiotic (I really need to become a more assertive patient), which gave me diarrhea, and there was no way I was getting on a plane with THAT going on, so I stopped the antibiotic (first time I have ever not finished a prescription), but there was no time to contact her again before I took off for the East Coast. Dr. Internet said bronchitis lasts for three weeks, and almost three weeks to the day, the coughing went away.

My trip was uneventful if a bit grueling. I flew into Westchester on a Friday, rented a car, and drove to Boston. Where my dad used to live was a three-hour drive, now it is four, and with traffic, almost five going there. Coming back Sunday was closer to four. Then three days of training (I scored 100% on the test - yay me!) and interfacing before heading home again.

While I was gone, my SO dogsat Betsy, checked on the house and Finn, and brought in the newspapers which were supposed to have been on hold, and my neighbor mowed the front yard. The backyard was a dandelion jungle. Since then I have been yardening almost every spare minute, and everything is still not in the ground. Soon.

And somewhere in there was rhubarb pie.



And a new pink flamingo.



Unfortunately, it is a cheap piece of crap, so the lights don't work.

You know...

...if this wasn't going on in the front yard...



... I wouldn't have these in the backyard.

If it weren't so windy, there would be photos

Yesterday I drove through town to my daughter's house, to pick up the granddaughter for the weekend, and was just *amazed* at all the trees and shrubs in bloom. It was like magic... until I realized I had not left the house for almost a week. The little cough I was working on at the fiber festival turned into a hacking mess before the weekend was over. Wednesday was hump day in more ways than one, and I have been on the mend ever since. Still a lot of coughing, plus some wheezing (I think I now know what asthma and emphysema feel like), but generally better. If I am still wheezy come Monday, I will call my internist, but according to Dr. Internet, I probably have bronchitis, which is treated with ibuprofen and rest.

The daffodils are done, but the dandelions are making up for their absence. Because of my chest cold plus grandma duty, the yard looks like a jungle. I have puttered a bit, planting 'Angelina' sedum in the bed by the front walk, transplanting tomatoes and other vegetables (but not to the garden proper yet), picking (and eating) arugula and spinach and asparagus. I haven't been able to dig in like I want, though.

And now that the weather is just absolutely perfect and the garden and yard are in so much need of attention, I have to go on a business trip. *sigh*

Pop!

Northeast Indiana Fiber Festival

The information said the Northeast Indiana Fiber Festival was to be held at the Noble County Fairgrounds, in the log building.

This one?

Sign says "Closed. Call 911"

No.  How about this one?

Snack bar?

Nope.  Maybe here...

Outside

Yes!

Inside

My SO and I popped in for a quick shopping spree. Despite there being some lovely roving in a variety of natural and not-so-natural colors, I resisted. It has been hard enough to get to the wheel at all, but with gardening season starting up, it is nearly impossible. And it is not like there won't be roving elsewhere.

But fiber fests have not just wool, but other goodies. Like soap made from sheep milk. I asked the vendor, "Who milks the sheep?" She does. She is quite petite with small hands, so I can see that (as I imagine the teats on sheep are rather small, but what do I know?)



Because I am growing tired of carrying a purse, I bought this card carrier. I figure I can get the bare essentials in there (bank card, library card, insurance card) and slip it into a back pocket. Now if designers would just put pockets on women's clothing.



I like to knit shawls but I don't like to wear them because they involve a lot of fiddling if one does not have a shawl pin. I've been looking for shawl pins for a while now, but this is one of the first ones I've seen that I really like.



And there were other purchases: local maple syrup and lanolin based lotion (which smells decidedly sheepy). I also meant to buy some sock yarn that was a blend of merino, alpaca, and nylon, but forgot. Ditto the finger puppets. But I think I can make my own finger puppets, from leftover sock yarn. Should not be much more difficult than glove fingers, right? (Famous last words.)

Rainy days and Sundays

Look what my SO bought me

The trick to good gifting is to figure out what someone wants but would not buy for themselves. Bingo!