Dear Mom,
Life lesson #496, as learned by Ron (or, another reason not to watch a boiling pot):
If you forget to put the screen back in the stove-top Italian espresso maker, when it gets up to pressure, it will be a Vesuvius of coffee and grinds, and will explode all over the kitchen. It will get on every surface, including the ceiling.
Love,
Ruth

p.s. No one was hurt, and now we have an extremely clean kitchen.

Dear Mom,
As people are forced to do out here in the boonies, we have done a bit of Christmas shopping online. When Ron did an amazon order, I was told not to look at any of the emails concerning it. Can do! And since a lot of items were coming from amazon sellers, we've been getting emails from them, and I expect strange boxes to start showing up. Yesterday one did. But Ron didn't recognize it, and I didn't recognize it, but it was addressed to me, so we ended up opening it like it was a bomb. I peeled back the packing tape and held my face away and closed my eyes, and Ron peeked in. "I have no idea what that is," he said. What? You don't? I am going to have to look and ruin a surprise? So I looked. And then we were both confused for a minute. I wasn't expecting slippers til Christmas!

Now I have sleeping bags for my tootsies. The funny thing is since they are so short for my little feet, they are proportioned like elephants' feet. Or, actually, they look like camel feet. (Not to be confused with camel toe, which is a totally different affliction.) And they feel like how I imagine camels' feet to feel. WARM.

Thanks for my present.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Look what I did:
http://www.contagious.etsy.com

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
There are only 925 people ahead of you at Ravelry. Which means you'll be invited in the next day (or two, at the latest). GET READY FOR AWESOMENESS.

The only downside is I cannot post all my projects, as some need to be kept a secret. From you. Hmmm. Wonder why?

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Well, I guess I couldn't will it to be summer forever. We're having our first snow flurries of the season.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Are you excited? I am.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Oh, Kentucky, you slay me.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
You know you live in the country when you have not one, but two baby snakes INSIDE THE HOUSE in the matter of a couple hours. (And yes, it wasn't the same one twice; the first one had a little bit of cat bite in its tail.) They are so cute and sweet, but a little hard to pick up because they're such eensy weensy babies.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Thanks for sending me diamonds today.








Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
I don't have the camera today, but my box of three pounds of fleece came today. YAY!

It is very rainy here today, and it better not take all the leaves off the trees or I will be very upset. When I drove back from CT ron said the news claimed that weekend was the peak of colors, but I assure you, I drove through the whole state, and it was still green. No longer. Now the hills are on fire, with hot pinks and bright yellows and greens and all shades in between. And again, I don't have the camera.

Love,
Ruth

Dear mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
This week's theme is Pink.






My Monkey Vine from Jennifer is finally finally blooming, and the Night Blooming Cereus is working on flower #3. It would be nice to see this one open; we've missed the others--they only open once, and they do it at night. Even so, they're cool looking as buds.
Love,
ruth

Dear Mom,
Look: an amputated sleeve from a felted sweater makes the perfect handwarmer:




Now I have a hardwearing, no sentimental attachment mitt to wear when I'm working in the studio (and while working on the computer, because that's when my right hand gets so cold.)
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
New project started. This time, as a treat, I ordered the actual yarn called for, during a weak moment during a late night in the office. It's for the vest, and the color is slightly darker (by mistake) than the one in the picture. But it's still nice, such a warm caramel color. (Since it was a vulnerable fiber moment, I also ordered the two balls needed for the obi. That way I can keep my kidneys warm.)






The dress only needs its straps. Ron was suspicious that I was starting something new, but 1. the dress will be done soon, 2. It is big and unwieldy, and 3. I need something car-appropriate for next weekend.

Compared to the hardy Wool of the Andes the dress is knit in, the alpaca is so soft and sweet.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
You might need to explore the possibilities of vermicomposting. My second batch of worms seems to be faring better than my first: all they're doing is getting chubby, humping, and laying eggs. Well, and making compost. They're going CRAZY, and I might be sending some home with you in a couple weeks.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Almost done! (Ron told me last night it's about time to put it in a bag and leave it unfinished forever.) BUT I WON'T! Even though part of me wants to, because I'm not sure if it's going to fit. I just have to sew on the buttons, weave in the ends, and contruct some sort of straps. Straps aren't part of the pattern, but there's no way it'll stay up without them.
front:




Side needing buttons:




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
That's a lot of Play Doh.

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
New work. These are from the series entitled "Nesting."
Blood Line, front




Blood Line, back




Descent




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
What is this? Someone left something on the front door?
Was it the Birthday Fairy?





And did she leave something on the stairs?





And the dog?!?





That crazy fairy.

Happy Birthday, Mom!




I love you,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
The strangest thing just happened. We were flipping through the channels and landed on ABC's Primetime Medical Mysteries show. They were talking about a young woman who experienced the sensation and visual of objects getting very very small, or getting very very large. It's called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, and is connected to auras that people get before they get migraines. (I always thought "auras" meant people saw lights around things, but it's not.) The doctor said that some people see things as mosaics or fragmented, and some people see objects as receeding far away. One girl got them when she concentrated hard on piano sheet music or reading, and it usually only happens when people are young and they grow out of it.

This used to happen to me, usually at the dinner table. I usually had the receeding visual. I thought everyone had that happen to them. Isn't that the weirdest thing? I remember it happening so vividly, but I never told anyone about it until just now.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Progress has been made. This is the perfect tv-watching project.








Eyelet detail:




Woven band detail:




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Progress on the Origami Cardi sleeve:




Bumpilicious.




Startitus progress. This is where I am on the dress after 1.5 balls. The yarn is a little on the scratchy side, but I think it'll be okay for the garment. The cool thing is you start on the bottom hem, so as you decrease, you pick up momentum. YAY.




More bumpiliciousness.




Guess I failed at bringing more color into my life.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Sometimes the bumpy road is the one you want to be on.




In an effort to have a project that I can work on without concentrating so hard, I am using the recycled wool to knit the Origami Cardigan from Interweave Knits. The sleeve so far:








The peach cobbler I made last night was good, but during baking, the peaches shrank and the biscuit got big. I got teased for not using enough peaches, but I swear, I peeled and sliced at least 75 or 80. :) It still tasted good. I still have enough peaches to keep trying and refining my baking skills.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
We're back in the season of fog in the valley in the morning, and cobwebs in the grass covered in dew.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
One wool sweater from Salvation Army for 4.99:




A little bit of snipping, a bit of winding, and then everybody into the pool:




Hang it out to dry, and you've got a pretty sweet load of yarn.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Cuteness for this morning.

Kinda like a puppy, kinda like a parrot, kinda like a fire engine.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
A eulogy.
Tom.
You were a good fish.
You liked to look at me while I worked on the computer, and I liked looking at you too.
You were a good traveler; I'm glad you go to meet my family.
I hope you enjoyed your life here better than at WalMart.
Sorry that last water change didn't agree with you.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
I'm such a dope. For the past whole week, I thought your birthday was today. I was uploading your birthday photograph, and getting ready to call you to wish you a happy birthday. HA! You would have been confused.
The electric bill that came today is what clued me in. Due Sept 7. I was like HEY WAIT THIS BILL IS DUE TWO WEEKS AGO! Waitaminute--it's still August!

Sheesh.
Anyway, happy Unbirthday. Happy Beginning of Birthday Month. Happy Monday.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
We saw our first flock of geese flying south today.

:(

Love,
Ruth

Dear mom,
Ron went and did something terribly bad today.
He had all his hair cut off.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Because I missed a day this week, today you get two posts.
Yesterday when Dan and Corey came over for dinner, Dan brought the giant sump pump from the fire department and the boys took about 2/3 of the water out of the mucky fish pond. Then Ron got in the fishpond, scrubbed the algae off the walls and scooped plant matter off the bottom. When he was cleaning up afterwards, somehow in the muck he found two scales from the goldfish. Aren't they big? I mean, the goldfish are big too, but I was surprised at how big these were.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Another sky. Sometimes up here on the hill I feel like I'm living in a painting.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
A sky study for you.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Well, last night the weather cleared enough fo rme to go out and watch the stars at 1am. I set my alarm for 2:30, as the peak was supposed to be at 2, but I wasn't really sleeping so when I woke up and checked the clock I just went out. I saw a few shooting stars, not too many more than Ron and I had seen the night before, but one that was crazy bright. That was pretty cool. Tonight it is so clear out--the foggy arm of the milky way is perfectly visible, and we saw a few more shooting stars. If all the stars are bits of dust, then the entire world's has all been sweeped into a pile right above our house, waiting for the dustpan.

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Sorry I missed posting. Two nights ago we had unexpected overnight guests, and then I can't remember what happened last night. We had dinner guests tonight, and they just left. All day today, from 8:30am til late afternoon, I sat on the couch and worked on the fiber elements to new jewelry designs. By the afternoon I had that too-much-tv-now-I'm-stoned feeling, but a couple quick jaunts on the moped shot fresh air into my lungs and brain and cleared out all the goo. I was really looking forward to the Perseids tonight, but we have been having rain, and I don't think it's passed yet.

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,










Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
This is actually the real reason I lost the crankies on the 4th. How can you beat the Baby Scrambler? How can I get one of my own?




Just joking.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




Love,
Ruth