Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I Am a Sunflower!!

I was looking for referrences to yarn winders, skeiners, yarn skeiners, swifts this afternoon. I know you've all seen or been exposed to those emails that ask "What ____ are You?" Well, when I saw this link at the side of one of the sites (the link that asked "What Kind of Flower are You?") I just had to click on it - it took me here - to this quiz:


I am a
Sunflower


What Flower
Are You?



Being the curious sort that I am, I had to take the quiz - you just can't pass up the chance to learn more about yourself, now can you?

This is good - I really like sunflowers. Took some up to Mom the other day - some of my 'Velvet Queen' sunflowers that have a deep burgundy center with yellow tips on the petals. I think she liked them. I hope I can find those seeds again next year - they add a nice border in front of the mammoth ones that have the large heads and attract goldfinches.

OK, so I also had to find out about my "Free Sample Medicine Wheel: Native American Astrology" - it's always interesting to see what these things tell you. Here's me:
Sun in Rabbit Place = Ripe Corn Moon (Sun in Cancer)

The Tsalaki Moon of Early Summer, when you were born, is called Guyegwoni or Ripe Corn Moon. It corresponds to the South direction and to noon, as well as the Summer Solstice. At this time of year the corn really begins to produce and there is normally a lot of food for everyone. Early in this Moon, depending on the solunar calendar, the people finally have the Green Corn Dance, celebrating the first time that anyone is allowed to eat the corn that everyone has been awaiting. Then the stickball game season begins and sometimes games took place between whole tribes.

Ripe Corn Moon People are very social and emotional. They are possessive and competitive, yet they are patient and controlled. They are nurturing, domestic and they enjoy food and caring for others. They want to be there for others yet they are often unpredictable, volatile and unreliable. Often they try to give too much of themselves and then end up emotionally exhausted, so they learn to be very emotionally protective.

Kind of makes me sound like I'm a nurturing nitwit - I'll live with it, though. I'm not a danger to anyone so I think we're OK.

I am, once again, being bombarded with junk emails - and, many of my sent messages are doing a 180 and ending up in quarantine labeled as 'phishing'. I can't release them and send them on their merry way - they have to be deleted and resent, only to end up in quarantine again and deleted and resent, over and over and over until finally they get going to where they need to go.

So, because I don't know if you've received a message I've sent you, would you mind, please, OKing the return receipt? This way I'll know it got to it's intended destination. I'm having issues with the quarantine, I'm not sure what's happening and the suggestions from the technical staff make absolutely no sense to me (and, I understand these technical issues pretty OK). I have a sneaking suspicion that someone is just skimming the message I send or not reading it thoroughly. There is a bright spot with my ISP, though. One of the new techs is a student where I've recently retired from - he recognized my name on the latest tech support request and dealt with it. No drama, no underlying skepticism thinking I was a newbie to computers and the internet. It was truly gratifying to have someone really listen to what you were telling them.

OK, so right at this very moment, I'm trying to delete over 2300 spams from my webmail using the laptop while trying to keep myself occupied writing this post on the PC. I haven't been able to purge that junk for several days - I'm getting an average of 700-800 of these crappy things a day on the one address. Only about 100 or so on the 'clean' one.

It is interesting and amusing, sometimes, to see just what kind of things these people are trying to sell - and who's doing the selling - and from where! I tell ya, if I had a nickel for every lottery I've 'won' until today, I'd be in good shape!!

Russian brides, hernia patches, smoking patches, employment offers, financial aid and scholarship information, medicines - and other, uh, well, stuff..... Diets, government auctions, dating sites, surveys, gambling sites, insurance, loans, seized cars, properties for sale - the list just goes on and on and on. Looks like they really need to just 'GET A LIFE!'

Oops, sorry - I didn't mean to yell. So, I've gotten the spam count down to a little less than 1000 at this point and I think I'm going to call it a day with those guys - I don't want to be a nurse - I already have one in the family (and a fine one she is!) and becoming a police officer just doesn't appeal to me - I've worked with college students and faculty for the last how many years - law enforcement would be just way too tame after that. :o)

So, what kind of flower are YOU???

Later!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Well, this is embarrassing.....

This is the second time I've written this post - it was originally titled -

"Officially Retired!"

I had it all written, comlete with a picture I wanted everyone to see - one of the reasons I enjoy rising early each morning. I had clicked on the picture to enlarge it and make sure it was the one I wanted to upload - I hadn't saved the draft, Blogger wasn't autosaving and when I hit the 'back' button to go back to my draft - yup, it was gone.....

So, now we're starting from scratch - I've got a pretty terrific memory, but some things just don't hang around in the brainbox - especially when you're writing from the heart.

I am now (as a friend once put it)
"Unemployed with dignity!"

I never realized just how hard it is to retire from a job one loves, how difficult it would be to leave behind those friends that you're so close to and have come to think of as family - how much I would look forward to getting up each morning and planning my day without having to actually plan it.....

I've not yet cleaned my studio, but I've at least gotten the top layer of dust off the furniture in the house. The kitchen hasn't been re-arranged yet, but the laundry is all done for the first time in ages instead of in bits and pieces, just getting by.

I really do need to find some kind of schedule I can live with from week to week - that studio needs to be put to rights first. The spinning and knitting and felting (oh, alright - FULLING) can be put aside for a while and the patterns I've been writing and working up are stored in a folder on the laptop for the time being.

So, here's one of the reasons I look forward to each morning - an example of what God's paintbrush can do:





It was wonderful, standng in the parking lot, pointing at the sky and just turning to catch the 'brushstrokes'.

You know, I've just deleted the last half of this post again - it was profound.....

So, since this message seems to be doomed, I'm outta here for now - more tomorrow.

Night all - be well!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Almost retired!



That's how I'm going to sign my emails at work until the end of this week - 3 days to go!!!!


If you're reading this Jenny, I'm almost ready to devote much of my time to what I enjoy the most - and what I think I do best - making!


I know it's been a good 2 months since I last posted - it's been a very busy, very traumatic time. Life takes it's toll - then it gives back. Sometimes in equal amounts, sometimes more, and rarely less than what it's taken.


In my few free moments I've tried to keep my hands busy. As you can see, I've had expert help from Clyde. He's a very tough critic.


I've come across some incredible fibers - I'm trading some of my llama/angora blend for a tiny bit of alpaca from a nurse friend. She's a very talented spinner and as you can see from the photo, I use spindles as well as the wheel found in my favorite fiber shop. Spindles do have their place, though, in my spinning repertoire - I can take them anywhere because they're quite portable. Right now, I'm concentrating on finding or building a slabroller for my clay work.


I seem to have a strange fascination for things that go round - a good friend and I were discussing that very briefly a couple of weeks ago - I'm not the only one with those tendencies. Fiber artists and potters seem to gravitate to pretty much the same things and interests, it seems.


Several potters on this huge discussion list I subscribe to are also avid knitters. Several of the spindlers on a couple of other lists are very involved in clay work.


I had a dream the other night that woke me with the best laugh I've had in ages - I was spinning yarn with my kickwheel. I can only imagine that it's a possibility - maybe I should try it - well, maybe not. It's an interesting concept, though, don't you think?


Here, let me show you a picture of what my kickwheel looks like -


Not the little electric wheel in the front, but one of those large, mega-weight fellas off the the right of it - that's what I have in my studio. I can't show you mine, because my studio needs a thorough cleaning - as does the wheel - and you wouldn't be able to see it for the clay caked all over it right now. Bad potter!!! Bad, bad potter!!!! Gotta get that studio cleaned!

Really, I don't normally keep my studio and work space in such a mess - time just hasn't been on my side much lately. But, SOON!!!!

For the record, the picture is of the pottery lab at the college - I can only dream of having that much space to work in.

Can you imagine spinning yarn on such a contraption? Can you understand just WHY I woke up laughing so hard? Yeah, I thought so.

Two of my friends asked me today what I was going to do this week-end since my hitch it up as of Friday - my reply was very simple. It's not the week-end that I'm going to start my so-called retirement - week-ends are week-ends! But, come Monday morning, the first thing I'm going to do is (drumroll, please) NOT go to work. THAT's what I'm going to do to start my 'retirement'.

I almost did that this week already. Monday morning, 7 a.m., sitting in the back yard with my coffee and enjoying the hummingbirds and chipmunks and the little shrew that competes with the chippies (and there's also a little bunny coming to visit now) - I suddenly realized that I still had to go to work. Bummer!

This is one of the little hummers that frequent the backyard (what a friend calls my 'sanctuary' - she's right).

I knew hummingbirds are territorial - very social, but very territorial. This little fella chases away the bees that hang around the feeder. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. There are at least 3 hummingbirds that visit each day - each has his (or her) own favorite feeder, and heaven help another that tries to invade that territory! They are, however, so social with people that I can stand within a couple feet of them while feeding (the birds, not me).

I didn't realize how late it's getting to be - I need to be in good shape for tomorrow. I'm not sure just what the boss has planned, but there's been something brewing all week. Lots of smiles and snickers, but no clues. A very large cake appeared last Friday - it was great sharing with my friends and what has become my extended family - in some cases, very close family. But, I'm not sure I'm prepared for what ever is going to occur tomorrow. I'll be surprised no matter what happens - and grateful that the people I've spent so much time with these past years have become the close friends that they are.

Oh, how about a look at the cake? A full sheet - isn't it great?



Time to go - I'll do better about posting - really!!

Later!!

Lori