I am typing this on the most astoundingly  pink gummy keyboard I have ever witnessed. It is a test to see if the keyboard will work for typing on a tiny machine when in Brattleboro. I have to do a picture transfer test too, which will allow me to show you exactly how gummy and pink this keyboard really is. Also how tiny the tiny mchine is. If I can make typing more comfortable then I can write letters, post to this blog, cope with pictures, etc. from someplace other than the home base.

I never thought of myself as yearning after a laptop much. I use to joke that a laptop machine meant to me a sewing machine I could use on my lap while in the passenger seat of a car. But maybe there is use to this after all.

What I like about biking in Vermont is that all the roads are either uphill (no biggie, that’s why I have all these gears) or down hill (whoopieee) or running along next to a river.

Both girls have camp in Brattleboro VT for the next couple of weeks. Aerin is helping keep small children from falling off circus equipment, Alice is learning scenes from Shakespeare to be performed at the end of two weeks. I get to have a day in Brattleboro while I wait for them to be done. Yesterday and today I rode my bike. Yesterday was down the Connecticut River on the New Hampshire side and into Massachusetts, then across it and back north on the Vermont side. It was lovely coming back up the river with the wind pushing me along up the hills. Today I followed Rt 30 north along the West River. It was busier than I usually like to ride along, but the river was gorgeous. I got so hot I waded in, bike clothes and all, at my lunch stop. It was cooling as I continued back to town.

I am still working on the June TIF Challenge, I am almost done, and that should be my next post.

no bed times (until camp starts)
no getting up times (see above)
no commute to any where
fireflies
games of Manhunt all over the neighborhood in the dark
taking six (!!!) kids to the beach and sailing (my two, a sleepover friend, plus three neighbors)
how cool the air is in the night (mostly) with the fan organized just right
more fireflies
fresh veggies from the garden (not mine – black thumbs – but the local CSA is across the street)
the smell of the first cut of hay
sailing a tiny boat in a tiny pond
fireworks
driving around with all the windows open

Happy 4th of July for other USans
Happy Summer for the rest of you in the Northern Hemisphere
Happy mid winter for those of you in the antipodes

I am busy sticking beads to the pages I made so far, there will be pictures once that project is done, but I may not make it by tomorrow.

In other news, Aerin and a friend of hers and I went to see Primate Fiasco (awesome name!!) which is best described as deranged, New England Dixieland with tuba. It was a great show, with guests, killer clarinet playing and a completely invisible tuba player. I was a huge tuba, and some dancing feet, but only saw the man’s face at the very end. We didn’t get home til after midnight, but since I have ceased to patrol bedtimes and rising times it didn’t really matter.

It has been hot, and sticky, with random thunderstorms. I am deeply grateful for our air conditioning.

I found this on Elizabeth Bear's blog:

from

majikshop

"If
you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,even if we
don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory ofyou and me. It
can be anything you want — good or bad. When you'refinished, post this
little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (ormortified) about what
people remember about you."

I wrestled with a pile of power tools yesterday. I managed not to remove any fingers, which is always good.

The hedge is substantially shorter than it was, and my neighbor can now see over it when she backs out of her driveway. This maintains a peaceful relationship between us and the neighbor with lawn issues. I keep the hedge down and she keeps off my case about how ratty and kid abused out back yard is.

My work table (which closely resembles a hollow core door on six stacked shoe holders) has been removed from the workroom. I am trying to make space that is permanent; real furniture, real materials, and no casters. The table has been a stop-gap measure for years. I just decided it wasn't working. So I whacked a chuck off the end of it, and I'll see if that makes it fit better, and if I use it better. Things just stacked up on it, until I couldn't find anything. Clearly I don't need something that long, if I only pile things on the end. Unfortunately I have no clear idea what to rest it on.

I am wavering on what to put back. I had to rest my sewing machine on something, so I have a sewing table given by some friends. It feels pretty sturdy, so it is almost real furniture, although it doesn't quite meet the real materials criteria. I need a place to construct things, and I've been doing that mostly on the ironing board. I was thinking about a piece of Ikea kitchen ware with lots of drawers to store fabric and sewing machine parts, and than padding part of the top for ironing purposes. It would be nice to have enough ironing space for big square works all at once. 

I am up to my earlobes in clearing out.

Apparently I make too many things without a clear idea of where they will go next. I have projects that are years old, and parts of projects that are even older.

I did finish the May TIF but it is under some other stuff. If I can photograph it on the way between the pile of stuff and the place I plan to file things, I'll post that.

Promise.

I love my library. I love almost all libraries, but the local one, with the friends who check your books out, and the books that are friends, old and new; all that – total love.

In the Grand Room Emptying Scheme, I collected all the Cloth Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts magazines together, and prepared to donate them to the local library. There were interested, so I Was Not dumping them. I had a lovely talk with the Periodicals woman, and she arranged for there to be shelf space and labels for both. In the interim I gave Cloth Paper Scissors to someone else. I can’t remember who. That part is embarrassing. But I did get the Quilting Arts subscription shifted to the local library, and all the back issues (which I think are All the back issues) to them.

And then I got a very nice call from the Periodicals Keeper asking if I minded if they swapped their new subscription from QA to CPS. So I said that really it is up to them, because it is a gift and they should do what makes them happy. But she pressed me and I allowed as how I had been hoping to visit QA in its new home and keep up, sharing the bounty among other aficionados (and incidentally not having to shelve it here). So she decided they really wanted both. So I will have twice as many friends to visit at the Library. Now all I have to do is start checking them out, to prove that they are fabulous, and totally worth having both of….

Walking around Smith late last week, I spied interesting carved leaves I wanted to photograph. Once I got there, I realized there were critters in the cornices, and finally I realized that both sides of the doorway were completely different. I present the squirrel with head injury:

squirrel
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

a mysterious daylight bat

bat
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

a proud poppa bird,

bird
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

who is clearly not paying enough attention to his nest

snake
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.