the prodigal molly returns

i hadn't seen molly dolly since before we went to arizona back in may. she wasn't here when we came home and she seriously didn't show up again until two days ago - july 10 to be exact. my last photo of her before that was april 6, though i am certain that i saw her on may 3, the day we left for arizona. at first, i wasn't worried - she can easily disappear for a few days and maybe a week, but i'll admit that eventually i thought something had happened to her. 

i was just sick about it, but couldn't even bring myself to speak it out loud. i would go out in the garden and talk to her, both out loud and just in my head. i was so sad to think that i might not know what ever happened to her. but now she's back, like nothing happened. i wonder where she was? billy, her grandson, does this all the time - he clearly has another home and lives there most of the year, only coming home for a few weeks every summer. but molly's never disappeared for more than a few days before this. she must have been angry that we left for 10 days. 

she's 12 years old now - yes, it was 12 years ago that we brought that tiny grey kitten back from our trip to minnesota and south dakota. 

at long last

after going all this time without ever having covid, it has finally caught up with me. so much for my theory that i hadn't gotten it because of my b-negative blood type.  i think it was last week's travels and i think husband also had it last week. thanks to 4 vaccinations, it's like a bad cold/flu. i have a fever, a headache, a very sore throat, aches all over my body and a weird revulsion to fish. husband was eating torskerøgn for lunch and i couldn't even look at it. i had some avocado toast. it must be the new flirt variant - they try to make it sound fun, naming it that, but it's not fun at all. 

an abandoned house in belgium

do you ever just want to give it all up, buy a falling down house to fix up and move to belgium? me neither. though this house near gosselies was rather tempting. tucked in the undergrowth along a cobblestone street, windows open, quietly falling into disrepair, yet strangely appealing. i peeked in a window. it was like the people left it from one day to the next, taking nothing with them. i so found myself wanting to know the story. what happened? was it elderly family members who died and the family didn't want the house? was there a murder? have i been listening to too many true crime podcasts? could i learn to speak french?

i don't really know what to make of belgium. i've been in brussels a few times and also to ghent. this was my first trip to the french-speaking part. it felt like entering a pocket in time. quiet, slow, and maybe a bit abandoned and forgotten, like this house.

scenes from a quick trip to stavanger

had a quick work trip to stavanger this week. it's such a lovely, charming, creative, artsy town. and the light was amazing. i had a chance to stroll around a bit, spotting street art at every turn. and there was even time for a get-together with miss buckle from the old bloggy days! we ate a great burger and had a few laughs!

progress

i've made progress on the first tea towel. the "pattern" i gave myself may result in one that's a bit short after i wash it, but that's how you live and learn. i'm too far now to turn back, so i'll just go a little bit longer on the next one. it goes faster than you think. even husband was suprised. and check out the difference the color you weave in with makes to the overall color. this is exactly what i wanted to learn. 

every single thread

we had an unexpected (for me, i've been busy lately, what can i say) day off midweek this week. i needed it more than i even knew. so i asked emmy if she had time to come and help me dress the loom (yes, i looked that up - i've learned weaving in danish, so i know none of the terminology in english). 

i'm really happy with the colors and the way this turned out. i can't wait to see what weaving in with different colors does to the whole. i'm hoping to learn a lot about how the colors affect one another.

some of the palette i've chosen for the weft. these colors are all in the warp itself. i have so much to learn.

i don't think i meant for this to be quite such a rainbow - i was playing with the color and the transitions between them and the process of moving from one side of the spectrum to the other. 

the threads are in such order, behaving themselves. there's so much potential for chaos within them (just two minutes with mazikeen the demon cat), but here, they are behaving and in order. and i can really see the color transition go from blue to yellow to red. there's some purple in both ends for balance. 

and now, i'm pulling the threads through (no idea what that's called), but this is essential to connecting them to the pedals and making a pattern. i have so much to learn. but what i love right now about this process is that i have to work with and develop a relationship with every single thread. i have to ensure that they are in the correct spot, checking and rechecking. i have to get to know them, to tame them. yes, they're going to be tea towels - an everyday object that gets used and isn't really noticed. but i will have noticed every single thread in them. that feels profound somehow. and it's so nice to be making something tangible, that i can touch and sense and feel and notice and ultimately use. and that isn't made up underneath it all of 0s and 1s. 

colors of kindness warp

here's how my colors of kindness warp turned out. i'm so grateful to my friend emmy for helping me make it yesterday! i spent all my time choosing colors and deciding when to add the next one and change it out and didn't learn as much as i should have about actually making the warp, but that was also something. and there will be more warps to make. this one will be tea towels where i play with color, learning what it does to this rainbow of colors when you weave in with only one color or another. it'll be a few weeks before i have time to dress the loom, as i'm really busy with work, but i can't wait.