Christmas Eve, Christmas and damn that printer!

In case you wondered what happened to me,  I went to church Christmas Eve, then a short walk around the Riverwalk, and came home.  Here I remained alone and in solitude until this morning, when I emerged for my morning telephone conversation with Jackie.  This is my first isolated Christmas in years and I must confess, I rather enjoyed the experience.  There were no presents and thus no wrapping paper to sacrifice to the Recycle God.  I did buy a new printer on Tuesday,  not as a gift to myself, but rather out of necessity.  This led to a good cleaning of the office so it could rest in a dust free environment!  I decided to hook this up wireless.  
That led to an evening of trying to find the right button to poke so the computer could recognize this foreign device that had invaded or rather, not invaded the hard drive.  That did not happen until I realized (sometime in the middle of the night) that I had neglected to attach the USB cord so it could be read.  Then this morning Jackie talked me through getting it to bypass OneNote.  Aaaargh!!!  I want it to be wireless so I am going to unhook the USB after I print a label and I think I am good to go.  Hooray!  for technology!!
So now it is the day after Christmas and  I am back in the swing of things.  Need to pick up a very old friend and take her to the library to see the quilt display.  That will probably happen tomorrow.  Need to take some stuff out to Sister Nancy.  Got to get back the Mesa Nails, so I can finish that blog.  I have a little more dusting here in the office and need to wash the doggie beds.  Then down to the weaving room and vacuum that so I can measure out a warp and get to weaving.  I am working on my Aspirations for 2014 list.  Used to call that my New Years Resolutions, but that never worked out, so now I have high hopes and aspirations!  May actually publish that so you can all see that I really mean well.  I just get side tracked by life.  But then, don't we all?
Which brings me to my Words of Wisdom for the day...

Keep your eye on the prize, your shoulder to the wheel, and just try to work in that position!

Going to save this planet if it is the last thing I ever do!

This is my front porch every Tuesday morning.  Take a close look at this, because this is how much is NOT going into the landfill.  I see in Japan, they take this plastic and turn it into oil.  Here in the United States of America, where we are on the cutting edge, we throw it away.  So I am trying to do my little part to saving this planet.  My son tells me I am wasting my time and I had a male companion who told me  any idiot can do this.  I explained that I was looking at one idiot who couldn't, or wouldn't.  He has plenty of time on his hands now and could take up a hobby if he would like!  The son opted to save his recycles and deliver them to me a couple times a week.  I will keep him!

This is where I dump everything out and sort it.  Glass goes in the green bag.  The black bag poking out of the white bag, came from my step daughters shop .  Bag from the church is in there some where.  Friend on the southside helps fill the green bag with beer bottles.  The guy who picks this stuff up on Tuesday morning probably thinks I am a lush!  Oh, well, he may be paid to think!

Here my tiny little foot is mashing things so it will get more in the bag!

And this is my front porch Tuesday afternoon.  I sure feel better. 

At any given time I can pop my trunk lid and you will see almost anything recyclable.  Been hauling a big bag of clothes around for several weeks awaiting a trip to the Los Pobres.  That should happen soonly.  The other day I got a phone call that Big R had grain for the geese priced at 50% off with a limit of 5.  As luck would have it, I had not unloaded the one bag I had picked up 3 days earlier.  So off I went to Big R, completely forgetting that I had to pick the son and girlfriend up for lunch.  Also I had not unloaded the recyle stuff I had picked up Sunday and Monday.  So I had to call him and tell him they would need to meet me because I had 300 pounds of grain, a black trash bag of clothes, a black trash bag of newspapers and the spare tire in the trunk.  In the back seat, I now had 4 white trash bags of recycle, 9 cloth bags for a trip to the grocery store, a carrying case of CD's, 4 packages to be mailed and a partridge in a pear tree!

So, to make a long story short, think about me next time you throw that plastic bottle in the trash, or that aluminum can, or that glass bottle, or the newspaper.  If we all put our minds to it and get in the habit of poking it in a bag and calling Lou, we may last a few more minutes on this little spinning green ball I like to call home!

 

 

 

 

 



High Tea at Yumiko's house and it was fantastic!

OK I can see this is going to be tricky since the computer freezes up every time it saves and that slide show takes time to save.  But I shall persevere!  First I want to tell you how this slide show can be viewed best.  Take your cursor to the bottom left of the slide show and click on that little note just this side of the little people form.  That will turn on the captions and you can see what I have written about each picture.  Oh and there is a lot more you can do, but I will let you experiment!
Yesterday I was invited along with several other members of the Weaver's Guild to a High Tea at Yumiko's house.  And I am so happy I went!  To those of you who know Yumiko, you know what a joy she is!  To those of you who do not, I want to share with you that she is one of the most unique individuals I have ever had the pleasure of encountering.  My first glimpse of Yumiko was at a Guild meeting when she did a presentation on recycled weaving.  She explained how she haunts the Goodwill and other places in search of garments that can be unraveled and then knitted, crocheted or woven back together.  I was aghast!  This seemed way beyond recycle mania to me.  Then she explained.
She does not just unravel anything.  It has to meet certain critera, ie. silk, wool, cashmere....Ah now, I get the picture!  For  $2 or $3 she can get stuff I am paying an arm and a leg to buy.  Clever woman! Since she lives in another town, my only encounters with her have been at the guild meetings.  So when this opportunity arose I jumped at it. 
Yumiko is always impeccably dressed and when I comment she points at her sleeve and says "Goodwill", the bodice and says "ARC" and her hat and says "Garage Sale.  Most of her garments have been purchased, unraveled and reworked, but the hats are another story.  I think she buys them, and she always has one on! You have to get up pretty early to get the bargain before she has it snatched up!
Her home is a work of art in itself.  When we pulled up out front the whole yard is a profusion of color.  The Peonies on the right side of the drive were as big as dinner plates and every bud was open.  The Clematis were to die for and the Poppies, well what can I say.  the woman has lavender Poppies!  The yard was just the prelude to a wonderland inside.  First the display case with a million puppies in it and I swear they were all the same color.  Two looms  in that room, sort of a sun room.  Then into her studio where there was another loom and a stash of thread and yarn to rival mine.  Think she has me beat.
Between the sun room and the studio is a short hall and that is where the Kimono or what ever that is hangs.  I tried to give closeups of this stuff, but no camera could ever do justice to this stuff.  All the wood carvings were made by her mother. They are so intricate!  Just every where I looked there was more to see.  My brain almost exploded!
We finished in the living area where we met "Monica".  Monica is a mannequin that is older than I am.  Very stern looking woman.  Yumiko  changes Monica's clothes for the seasons and sometimes just for the fun of it.  And see the 2 pictures of Yumiko and me in front of Monica?  I did that so a certain someone who shall remain nameless can see that this is another person I am taller than.
 And be sure and check out the banquet.  I show only the dessert table.  The Ginger Chicken Salad, some sort of chutney,  and the most wonderful Squash Soup with Coconut Cream I have ever had the distinct pleasure of ingesting in my entire life  was not on the camera.  But I can see it in my mind's eye.  Oh, and the Naam bread. That woman can cook!!
I could go on all day about my afternoon, but I have other obligations.  Suffice it to say, I will be making a run to the mountain community soon, cause I know she has leftovers. That and there is a great Goodwill up there and she is going to teach me the fine art of unraveling.  So stay close and I will share with you.  For now, just enjoy the slide show and leave me a comment or two that I can share with Yumiko.  You can remain anonymous if you like, but I would love to have your name.
So, from this little member of the  Handweavers Guild of Pueblo, remember this.  If you are not naked you can thank a weaver somewhere!

Oh, Please! How hard can it be?

Company comes and company goes and I take the trash out so I can sort it and get out the recycle stuff and put it where it goes.  I have box right outside the door for the plastic.  I have a bag on the door for the pop cans.  A box is under the Philodendron for newspapers and another for the junk mail.  The glass gets set on the buffet and I take it to the tin shed.  Call me a nut, but nut I am.

It is all set up, all that needs done is everything in its place.  I guess I should be happy that it made it to the trash, but you know me, if I ain't bitchin' I am probably dead.  I like to go for walks and when I do I always carry a sack.  I come home with lots of good stuff!  I find aluminum cans which I stomp and put in my sack.  Sometimes I do the plastic if it is not really dirty.  No spiders allowed in my sack!  I even found a muffler once which was kind of heavy so I kicked it over and then came back that way and got it.  It went in the scrap metal pile.

The cans go in a drum with a big liner and when that is full, I got me some spending money!  Cardboard gets torn into manageable pieces and goes to the recycle place along with the glass, plastic and newspapers.  I have a box in the front room that accumulates stuff for the Disabled Veterans.  People actually contribute to my piles from time to time.  Remember when we used to use rags?  That was the good old days!  Now we buy nice square microfiber things to use.

So, here is my question, when you pitch that beer can out the window, what do you think happens to it?  Are you doing it so I can find it?  If you are, thank you, but I can not be everywhere.  I used to walk on the levee and I could really make a haul there, but guess where I make my biggest finds?  Right out here in my own trash can!  You would think when people live with me day after day that they would get the idea that mother is a trash picker for a reason!  But no.  What is it the Bible says about a Prophet is not without favor save in his own country?  Well a woman who recycles has the hardest audience under her own roof!

I have seen park benches made with recycled plastic and they are beautiful.  I have seen what aluminum cans can do when thrown over the fence at the Animal Shelter.  They land on the trailer and are then sold for medicine for the doggies.  Glass, I don't know about, but I am sure it becomes something better than a mess on the side of the road.  So, I am not going to nag you, but if you come to my house, I would appreciate it very much if you did not throw your beer cans in the front yard.  And leave your cigarette butts in the can on the back patio.  If you are tired of that jacket, throw it in the box over under the big North window.  We will have a good time if you just humor me on this!

Have a good day, put litter in it's place, and remember to smile cause God loves you!