As the Spindle Turns . . .

* Tuesday's Dyebath * Dyer's Coreopsis * Bulky Superwash

It was a very warm day Wednesday. After picking up my friend and renfaire cohort, Madelaine Rose, we set off on the day's excursion. I learned about the tool library in Columbus. It's a really cool idea. By having tools available for public use, it encourages people to maintain their homes and yards. We then visited Egil's Woodstuffs, where I picked up a loom for a client. Then off to the Ohio State Store ie thrift shop, where I found a dyepot. It's the perfect size for the workshop I'll be doing in August. I want four pots to fit on the campstoves. Some of my pots are too big. The Washington (PA) Spinners and Weavers Guild is having a Natural Dye Workshop (on August 23rd?). I am their guest teacher. It's going to be fun. I also found a unit that is perfect for displaying my yarns. And I am building another for the farmer's market. But I digress. We headed over to La Chatelaine on High St for dinner. And while we were there, Siri's Siren of Doom went off twice. Danger, danger, tornado in progress, go hide immediately! The sky was perfectly clear. No clouds! I checked in case Siri thought I was in Iowa. Nope. Storm cells in a line from Rochester, MN to Lancaster, OH. Just not here yet.

I drove home, timing it very carefully between two of the horrible storm cells that spawned a tornado in Delaware, OH and hail in Cambridge. I didn't get wet from above at all! There was lightening all around me and Siri's doom siren went off twice on the way home. I checked for funnel clouds with every lighting flash. The ground was wet through 10 miles of WV's panhandle but that was it. I got in around 1 am. We got hit with the rest of the storm around 3 am. I didn't wait up for it. I did stay up until Chicago finally won in the third overtime period in the Stanley Cup playoffs. (And I thought I'd missed the whole game, little did I know).

Now my body is out of sync again. It thinks I live on the west coast. Sigh.


*Proto-type * Practice * Tarboosh Style * Hat * And Sophisticated Hat Blocking Form *

Thursday is Market and Library day. You never know who or what will be at the Farmer's Market. That's why I enjoy it. Always a treat. We scored locally grown snow peas, strawberries, and greenhouse tomatoes. We picked up more basil, parsley, a Circus coralbell, and an unusual strawberry plant. And the biscotti booth was there. Yum.

Good and not so good weekend. The art show failed to live up to my expectations. Will try to give them useful ideas for another time but they can try them out without me being in attendence. I believe in their cause, but their clientele may enjoy a garden show or flea market better. Most participants enjoyed looking at art as if they were in a museum but did not interact with the art, which means cranky impoverished artists. 90 percent of the artists I talked to were new to the show. Very few coming back from previous years. The show is in its 36th year. That is not a good sign. On the flip side, we met some fantastic artists! More on them later when I fish out business cards.



So to lift our spirits, we headed to the Chicago Botanical Gardens just as the rain hit. It was nice to put up our umbrellas and walk in the English garden. We toured the Bonsai garden as well. It was very spiritual. Then off we went to the Plant Science Center to wait out the lightening. When the fury abated, we went up to the roof to view the green roof gardens and solar panels. Ed Begley Jr would love this place! We learned about the necessary layers to make it work.





We also learned about invasive species and found several that inhabit our yard. Buttercup has toxic sap and needs to be pulled with gloves. The little blue flowers are forget-me-nots and spread rapidly. (The ones we thought were Forget-me-nots are actually Siberian Bugloss, which is a good plant.) And the garlic mustard must go! Invasive species choke off native vegetation.