***Tuesday"s Tip*** Signs of Spring???

Despite how it looks outside and the temperature forecast says the high will be 29 and the low 5 today there are signs of spring around here.  This week begins my gardening activities...&...dreams.  I have prepped my soil and will start my onions, celery, leeks...and for something different Stevia today.  Soon too follow will be my eggplants and peppers, then tomatoes, finally some broccoli and cauliflowers.  All before anything goes into the ground outside.  This is the way it is here in the Northeast.  Spring is something that slowly emerges  in Maine.  I like it, I am not weary of winter yet but, in all fairness I seldom have to leave the homestead or drive when the weather is dicey.  But nonetheless,  the dreaming begins...the too large of garden is planned...and the optimistic thoughts of bounty commence.   

I have tidied up the growing shelves...

I am saving egg shells in my freezer ~~A TIP~~ Add a handful of eggshells into each Tomato planting hole...They love the extra calcium!

Also...

Save your cardboard milk cartons for transplanting tomatoes.  I am not sure why but the seedling that get planted in the milk boxes do much better than those in other containers.  I have done numerous experiments!

Something new I am trying this year will be planting my eggplants and peppers in my saved  Ice tea cups from last summer....little mini greenhouses, I hope.  (Ok I do go out, occasionally, and I do indulge myself with a drive-thru Dunkin Donut Ice Tea, with Lemon.) 

My box of first dreams ready for the winter starting....

and back to the cold room the summer dreams go after an evening of garden planning reverie sorting seeds and imagining the future.  The cold winds may blow outside my window but... "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer"  ~Albert Camus

~~~Gratitude~~~

morning moon set

It has been a hectic week and one that has kept me away from the computer more than others.  No complaints, actually refreshing.  I got a lot of loose ends taken care of this week.  But rather than go on about what got done I want to share what gave me joy.  Here are some of my moments this past week that made me smile and feel grateful to BE in my life~~~

snow fog snow shoe

sparkle snow

woodpecker art

Vern & Runa Play!

Catnip Stupor 

walks with my good companion

And finally a special bit of warmth and gratitude to my blog fans!  

This is the Little Bear Family from Germany~~ big admirers of Vern!  

Thanks so much for reading & looking~~~EVERYONE <3

Each and Everyday may YOU find something that makes you Smile and feel Blessed!

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

***Tuesday's Tip*** Dusty Books

 I dove into the bookshelf project Sunday and finished last night.  Not the kind of project you want to live with for too long.  So what could possibly be the "tip", you might wonder?  My books were wicked dusty!  I love micro fiber cloths as an eco way to clean.  My regular cloth just wasn't getting the job done.  I was rummaging among my rags and I came across this lime green sea anemone looking thing I forgot that I had.  It was a gift.  A Christmas gift from 2 years ago.  I don't remember who gave it to me, I am sure I thanked them...I am good about that sort of thing.  But, I do remember opening the package and wondering...What the Heck?!  Must of tossed in the cleaning rags back then.  Well, I will tell you this thing is FANTASTIC!  I wiped down all of my books with this thing and it cleaned each one wonderfully getting into the edges and right down to the last book! I don't know where you can get one of these things but, if you see one I would get it!

It was a lot of work and a bit of a push but I really wanted this project done!  Now I can focus on taxes and garden planning (& ETSY)  What I like about a project like this is the purge aspect as well as the organizing.  I have a pile of books to give away and some nice vintage finds to list on Etsy.  Also, I know better what I have for books and they are organized by subject.  I arranged the books I use the most to be more accessible and the books I want to read more seeable.  When I glance up from scarf weaving all the books I want to read most will be right there!  Think I've earned a cup of tea and a bit of reading time!!  (moral of the story too--->I will keep a more open mind about odd gifts in the future!) PS...no more taxes procrastination excuses either!

~~~Gratitude~~~ Outside

Today is cold and blowing.  We got another few inches of snow last night.  It is hard to gauge how much because of the wind.  Some places it is 4 inches other spots it is 9 inches.  One might be tempted to just stay in bed on a frigid day like today.  Not us, though.  I am motivated to go outside by one wonderful Icelander, Runa.

And my DH gets outside to plow.  He actually really loves plowing!  

(Especially since he acquired electric heated gloves from LL Beans this year!)

I am grateful to live where the outdoors beckons.  And if I forget that I need to go I have this reminder on my door.  Going  Outside each day is more for me than just walking the dog.  Outside is the place I feel the most connected with all that is beyond me.  

It is where I become whole each day.

 You can see the finger smudges on the paper...somedays I need to connect with these word in a deeper way, by touching them as they touch my heart.

It IS a Beautiful Winter Day

Blizzard

BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

Snow:

years of anger following

hours that float idly down —

the blizzard

drifts its weight

deeper and deeper for three days

or sixty years, eh? Then

the sun! a clutter of

yellow and blue flakes —

Hairy looking trees stand out

in long alleys

over a wild solitude.

The man turns and there —

his solitary track stretched out

upon the world.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174764

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

---Shop News--- SNOW!

Last night we were blessed with a good old Nor'Easter.  I was busy working all day on my Etsy work.  This week I am focusing on the InJoyEmporium  Shop.  I focus on one shop a week, this helps me to be more productive and not too scattered.  Tuesdays & Thursdays I try to put in 12 to 15 hour days.  I actually do my best work in long sessions.  But since there was the storm I knocked off early...8:00 PM and took time to just enjoy the storm!  Runa & I sat in bed and just looked out the window. We were entertained by the feeling of being in a big gigantic snow globe!

Ok! Back to work!  That is what I say aloud whenever I get distracted by non-Etsy work on my Etsy work days...the trials of working from home!  But here are a few of the Emporium tasks I was able to get to this week.....

Emporium weeks I make sure to have time to weave.  I have made some nice progress at the Baby Wolf weaving this undulating twill table runner.  It always feels good to weave!

Finally, getting a big batch of Peace Flags done for the shop.  I had a bunch and they sold out!  This is one of my little ways of giving.  I donate $5.00 to The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights for each Peace Flag sold.  Coming Soon!

And, of course, my weekly treasury!  Could not help but to celebrate winter and my MaineTeam!

....and Oh Yeah....Valentine's Day...Happy Happiness!     Maine Snow Love

And Finally...some cute cat pictures....how Verns spends a snowy day...

 Thought I could keep this couch tidy after the boyo went to college...

it has become Vern's sofa now!

Think Vern is sticking his tongue out at winter?

He did manage to switch directions~!

***Tuesday's Tip***

If winter and snow is getting you down here is a fun & useful thing to do with all the cold and snow, rug cleaning!  This winter, here in Maine, has provided perfect conditions, light fluffy snow and COLD.  I first learned of this technique from a Swedish hand weaving book many years ago.  I have since found out that is a good old Yankee tradition as well.  This is great way to clean rugs without chemicals that are harmful to the environment and also, strip wool of their natural oils.  Rug cleaning this way is a lot less messy than chemicals too plus, it is free & fun!

So here is what you will need: Dirty Rugs

A nice clean patch of fluffy snow on a below freezing day

And a broom

I start with the rugs upside down if they have a up & a down. I give them a good shake then lay them in the snow.  Take your broom and give them all a good beating (if you have kids this can be a fun task for them!).  Flip the rugs and then repeat. You may need to find fresh snow if a lot of dirt comes out.   I then leave them out for a few hour to air.  Because it is so cold they will not be very damp at all.  When I bring them in I do hang them on my inside close line until they are completely dry before replacing them.

Now a bit of each Rug's story.  These are all handmade rugs by me!

These 2 rugs are handwoven with my own handspun yarn.  The weave is a 6-shaft diamond twill reverse treadling weft face.  I made them about 4 years ago.  This was the first time I used handspun in a rug.  I love them...just wish I could find more time to weave!

This big red lovely is hand woven too.  This was a super easy weave because I used Pendleton Wool Selvage for the weft.  It wove up quick and is about 12 years old!  Very durable rug!  Wish I could get my fiber stash used up so I could "justify" buying some more selvages!

I am standing on this blue beauty right now as I type.  This is actually a latch hook rug.  No loom necessary!  It is made from fleece locks that I dyed before hooking.  Maybe some day I will blog about this technique.  It is fun and easy!  Now scroll down for a lovely Rug Poem!

Rag Rug

BY RACHEL HADAS

It has arrived—the long rag rug

    multiply folded. On top, one alien hair.

       I put my face to the folds and smell despair

            palpable as salt air

       in all those rooms and houses, small and smug—

enclosures I passed through on my way where?

Whoever did the weaving appears old

    in my mind’s eye. I can’t make out her face,

       can only conjure up the faintest trace

            of an abstracted grace,

       clack of the loom. Does she know they’ll be sold

these precious things, in some unheard-of place?

I perch her on a hill, precariously

    beyond the reach of waves’ daily boom.

       Sun blazes overhead, but her dim room

            (no bigger than the loom)

       is proof against the violence of the sky

From it I further spin what I once called my home:

Endless horizons fading into haze,

    the mornings dawn came up so rosy clear;

       snails in the garden, sheep bells everywhere,

            the brightness of the air,

       terraces, valleys organizing space

and time’s cessation. So this package here

I’m now unwrapping, in New York, today

    (rugs like rainbows, woven with a grace

       my strands of language barely can express;

            dishrags of dailiness

       dispersed and recombined and freshly gay)

comes to me imbued with images,

slowly and faithfully across the water,

    across the world. It represents a time

       I myself snipped and recombined as rhyme

            as soon as I went home,

       if that is where I am. These rugs recover

the sense of stepping twice into a single river.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177399