I forgot to do the usual “the shop has been updated” post this past Monday.  My bad.  Well, since there will be another update tomorrow, I’ll wait and do all of that at one time.

But… I did want to make sure that the code for our sale was posted.  Need any Cascade 220?  Well, you can save 30% off of all of our Cascade 220 by using code Cascade30.  The code is good until September 12.

I have been having the hardest time getting anything done lately and the blog keeps getting put on the back burner.  Goal for the week?  Get my act together.

Any of my Lake County based readers know of a good realtor in the Eustis area?  We drove through downtown Eustis last night and now we’re convinced that we want to move there.  Found a few houses and want to see them NOWNOWNOW.  But our Orlando based realtor (from when we lived here before) isn’t returning calls and we think she doesn’t cover that area anyway.

So…church friends…any ideas?  Oh…and I may be imagining this…isn’t there a guy in the church who is a realtor?  Did I fabricate that in my own mind?

I’ve been getting a lot done today… organizing… redoing the shop…..cleaning out…throwing away, etc.  All was going well.  Then I decided to re-do the books on the lawyer’s case in my office.  Picked up the front door and the glass panel fell out.  Scraped my knee on its way to the floor where it accomplished this….

Ouch!

At least its “walkable”.  And for the family member who is just shaking his head (Hi Dad!) I’d just like to point out that this had nothing to do with my ability to be clumsy and trip over my own feet.  I was just in the wrong place at the wong time. So… while not related to my inability to place one foot in front of the other, the injury does seem to repeat the usual pattern of getting injured while doing next to nothing.

Have you any wool?

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three bags full

One for my master, one for my dame

And one for the little boy girl who lives down the lane.

Once upon a time a girl went to a spring fair in Puyallup, Washington.  And when the girl was at the fair she saw something that she had to have.  The girl was addicted to all things fiber and saw these beautiful fleeces up for sale and decided that she must have one.

But there was  a problem.

The girl was trying to sell her house and she was getting ready to move.  There wouldn’t be a place to clean and process a fleece.  Undeterred, the girl bought the fleece anyway and promptly stuck it in a big plastic bin.  The fleece was sad to be locked away in such an undignified way but little did the fleece know that life was about to get worse.

You see, the girl who had to have the fleece was moving to Florida.  So not only was the fleece destined to spend an extended period of time locked in a bin, the fleece was going to have to be locked in a bin in a hot climate.   In a garage.

The fleece was sad.  And sweaty.

Then one day the fleece heard the girl saying things like “wash” and “dry” and “lanolin” and he knew his time of imprisonment in the bin was coming to an end.  And 18 months from when he entered the bin, the fleece was filled with joy when he realized that his bin was not only being moved but that he was being taken into the house, into the air conditioning.

Wahoo… I’m the fleece and my captor has finally brought me in from the garage.

The girl opened the bin and the fleece gasped for air.  The fleece also filled the air with the “aroma” of hot farm lanolin and sheep sweat.  Smelled sorta good and natural and sorta not good and pungent.  The fleece was so happy to have his imprisonment coming to an end he almost jumped out of the bag.

I’m a Targhee fleece, out on parole.  That purple croc belongs to the mean girl that imprisoned me.

The girl shoved the fleece in the washing machine filled to the brim with hot water and Dawn dish washing detergent and just let him bathe.  The fleece wasn’t thrilled about this initially but then sunk down into the water and decided to relax.  Just as he started to get comfortable and the water started to cool just a smidge, the girl turned on the spin cycle and the fleece went around and around and around.

Dizzy, the fleece was so glad when the thrill ride was over.  The girl took him out of the washer and the fleece thought his life was getting ready to be a little less stressful.  But then the girl filled the washer again, shoved the fleece in and he was subjected to another long, hot bath.  And with long hot baths comes more of the spinning.  Eventually the girl was satisfied that he was clean enough and she put him out in the yard to sunbathe on the little drying screen that the girl’s husband made for her.

Here I am in the sun.  What is with this girl and doing things to heat me up????

The fleece laid in the sun for a while and thought his adventure was over. But suddenly the sky turned dark, the wind began to blow and a fierce storm came up all of a sudden.  Just as it began to pour down rain, the girl rushed outside and shoved the poor fleece in a laundry basket.  And the poor fleece returned to imprisonment by spending the rest of the night sitting in a laundry basket on top of the dining room table.

The end.

With the trip last week, the storm and just trying to catch up there was a shop update but it took place over several days.  Now, for the amount of time it took you’d think it would’ve been a good sized update but not so… we just added a few things.  But they are pretty, pretty, pretty things. 

First, we have  a new line of roving from a lovely studio in central Ohio.  Anona, the dyer for Barrister Lane Fibers, does a great job with semi solids and depth of shade.  They have proven to be pretty popular as they started selling while we were listing them.

Evanesce: NautiKnitter

Rococo: Rogue Moon

We also stocked some Pigeon Roof Studios BFL roving and they came out sooo pretty.  I’m having a hard time keeping my hands off of them.

BFL : Vintage

BFL: Artichoke

We also started carrying a new sock yarn from Pigeon Roof and I love the way this base yarn dyed up.  With the original base yarn, you’d need 2 skeins to create a pair of socks.  Well, with Kalypso, you only need one and the colors are amazing.

PRS Kalypso: Corrosion

We have several boxes sitting around here, all filled with yarns/rovings/kits that are waiting to be listed. (You read that right. Kits.  As in…. the Lorna’s Laces/Mountain Colors kits.)  We also have many, many boxes en route including a big ol’ box of Dream in Color Classy.  Those kinds of things will need to wait for next week and maybe the week after.

Now… I am thinking about having next month’s contest focus on a comment that I recently heard on the NPR show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me (I love that show!) about a cable news guy and Cher.  So… start your searching (or your listening to WWDTM… you’ll love it, I pinky swear) so you can find the answer.

Oh…and BTW… I am dense.  I thought last month’s question was a tough one.  Boy, was I wrong!   I received more responses to that question than to any other question we’ve ever had. And for the first time ever, every single response I received was correct.

Y’all have a good week!!!

Wednesday my mother had to leave a few hours ahead of me so I did some more exploring.  After doing a little reading I learned that Rochester was the hub for much of the abolitionists and that Frederick Douglass had lived here and was buried here.  In addition, I learned that Susan B. Anthony had lived much of her adult life in Rochester as well.  So… I had some places to visit.

The Tombstone Tourist in my could not resist so I went off to Mount Hope Cemetary where I found Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

Frederick Douglass Monuments

Susan B. Anthony Memorials

From Mt. Hope I headed through downtown in search of a waterfall ( I know… you’re shocked!).  And I found it.

Upper Falls

Then I went to the Susan B. Anthony house and museum.  The museum is in 2 houses.  One was Susan B. Anthony’s and the other belonged to her sister Mary.  There was a docent tour which was fascinating to me.  Lots of personal items from her life and just info I didn’t know…like I didn’t know that her and Frederick Douglass were close friends.  So close, in fact, that around the corner from the house is a lovely statue of the two of them having tea.

Another thing I learned was something about a nursery rhyme that I used to say as a kid.  We actually used to say this while jumping rope and it was called Miss Lucy.

Miss Lucy had a baby, she called him Tiny Tim

She put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim

He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap

He tried to eat the bathtub but it wouldn’t go down his throat

Miss Lucy called the doctor, Miss Lucy called the nurse

Miss Lucy called the lady with the alligator purse

In walked the doctor, in walked the nurse

In walked the lady with the alligator purse

“Mumps” said the doctor, “Measles” said the nurse

“Vote” said the lady with the alligator purse

Out walked the doctor, out walked the nurse

Out walked the lady with the alligator purse

We used to sing that all the time when I was a kid but I never knew that the “lady with the alligator purse” referred to Susan B. Anthony.  Apparently she carried an alligator purse, it actually looked like a doctor’s bag, everywhere she went and that bag was on display in the museum.

Museum entrance: formerly the house of Mary Anthony (Susan B. Anthony’s sister)

Susan B. Anthony’s house

One thing of interest that I discovered… there were tons of spinning wheels, niddy noddy’s, etc throughout the house.  Even a family wheel.

Anthony family spinning wheel

The house is in a neighborhood that has been preserved to the time period.  It is an active neighborhood and the houses are gorgeous.  Just around the corner from the house is this little garden square.  In the middle is a beautiful statue.

Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass having tea.

At this point I headed home and began the unending task of dealing with Tropical Storm Fay.  We have standing water in our yard, water coming under our front door and through the front wall.  All of this is an aggravation but nothing more.  We’re safe and all is well.  We just want that silly thing to go away for good!

Tuesday we spent the day going to Niagara Falls.  The “falls” are actually three separate waterfalls: American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls.  Horseshoe is the big one.

Horseshoe Falls and Maid of the Mist

Mom and Me at Horseshoe Falls

American Falls

Maid of the Mist at base of American Falls

American and Bridal Veil Falls as seen from Canada

Portion of Horseshoe Falls as seen from Canada

Horseshoe Falls as seen from Canada

After we finished sight seeing, we headed back to Rochester and then headed off to Canadaguia for the concert.  I, personally, froze to death at the concert.  It was cool to see Bob Dylan but I understood less than 5% of what he said or sang.  But, I had a ball seeing my mother see Bob Dylan.  That was a hoot.  And… in all truth… seeing Bob Dylan sing Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower was pretty awesome.

After dropping Anna Grace off at school, I quickly packed my suitcase and Dana then took me to the airport.  By nightfall, my mother and I had met up in Rochester, New York for the big Bob Dylan adventure. Monday evening we went down to Lake Ontario to see what we could see.

Sailing statue along side the Genessee River (which dumps into Lake Ontario)

Sunset over Lake Ontario

The beach at Lake Ontario

The next day we got up and drove to Buffalo, NY to see Niagara Falls.  My mother had never been there before so she was looking forward to the adventure.  We crossed over into Canada to get a better view.  My mother had never visited our neighbors to the north so this was all new to her.

Anna Grace started pre-kindergarten on Monday.  She’s getting to be such a big girl.