July in North Carolina

24 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Laurie in Back Forty, butterbeans, critters, fiber art, Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina, Slow Food

My “summer” is almost over, at least as far as work goes. I have a job that is most intense January-early May, calms down in summer, then starts ratcheting up in early August as the new semester begins with a new cohort of history graduate students. September quiets down a little, then October hits like a hurricane, then there’s two tolerable months until January, when it all starts to get crazy again. I like it. It is a bit difficult making the transition from July to August, though.

It has been very hot and too dry. The occasional strong thunderstorm has not been enough.

This past weekend I lolled around the house, mostly, watching movies, reading, and cooking a little bit. I had plenty of butterbeans from the garden, and some very tasty tomatoes. There are a few volunteer field pea vines, but I didn’t plant them this year because of the annoying ants that hang out, who will run up your arm and bite you unless you shake them off before picking each pea. My poor little okra plants have recovered enough so that I will have a few to eat with my butterbeans this week. I used to only like my okra fried. Now I prefer young whole pods, boiled briefly to make them tender but still a little crunchy, and eaten straight up. Pickled okra is nice too, even though I am not generally a fan of vinegary foods. The woodchuck came back and decimated my broccoli and even tried to eat my Mexican sunflower, which is trying its best to survive. I hope that my neighbor traps him soon.

Movies watched: “The Dallas Buyers Club,” “Django Unchained,” and “Chicago.” I love Chicago and have watched it several times. Book finished: “Ghostwritten” by David Mitchell. Excellent book.

I got a bit of prep work done for the back side of the t-shirt quilt – cutting apart more t-shirts and ironing light interfacing on the fabric, then cutting the pieces to specific sizes so that they all fit together once I start designing. This side will have the rejects from the front side, so I’m not putting as much effort into it, but it was so much fun doing the front side I decided to piece the back side as well.

The tapestry loom has been moved back inside. It was way too hot to weave on the front porch, even with the fans. I’ll probably leave it in, but I moved it in front of the window so I’ll have a little more light.

I have an opportunity to buy a 60″ tapestry loom that once belonged to Sylvia Heyden at a good price that is within an hour’s drive so that I can pick it up. It would have to be taken apart and rebuilt, though, and since it was probably handbuilt for her, there won’t be instructions. It is massive and heavy according to the owner, and I’d have to get rid of some stuff if I acquire it. The 24″ Shannock loom would definitely be up for sale in that case, but I need to finish “Cathedral” first. I’m going to go see it soon to make a decision.

Last weekend Sandy and I went to Lake Waccamaw for a long weekend. My focus was, and still is, healing my neck and shoulders. It’s been almost exactly two years since I hung that Scandinavian-type vertical loom on the stairs at Arrowmont and heard my neck say “uh-uh.” Since then, it was touch and go with my chiropractor helping, but since he moved out of town and I lugged a big backpack and bag around the United Kingdom and Ireland, my neck and shoulders have been very, very unhappy. So I am undergoing some intense massage therapy that hurts so much it makes me cry on the table, but I’m tired of depending on pills and I want this to heal. I have faith that it will help, and I’m looking forward to being able to get back to weaving without pain.

On this trip my sister and brother-in-law took us to a new BBQ joint in Whiteville, Big W Barbecue, which is owned by a Slow chef, Warren Stephens, who was the executive chef at Cochon Butcher in New Orleans and at the Fearrington House near Chapel Hill. According to the article linked above, he is here because he loves Lake Waccamaw, and he is a native of Lumberton. I was pleased and surprised to find out that he uses heritage pasture-raised pork. I mean, you can’t find that in eastern NC, which is ground zero for hog factory farms. I am somewhat of a heretic in North Carolina because I am not a fan of barbecue, especially the vinegary eastern NC style. But everything on our sampler plate, even the Q, was delicious. He makes his own sausages, so I bought some for the freezer at a very low price for Slow meat. I will go back for sure, especially since I missed the pork tamales – they were sold out. He was playing John Lee Hooker in the restaurant too.

There is always a lot of beauty at Lake Waccamaw, so here are the shots from that hot weekend. The bottom one is my favorite – taken while sitting in a gentle rain at the edge of the lake. Click on the photo at the top of this post to be taken to a video and turn on your sound for a stress reliever.

Catching up

13 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Laurie in augggghhhh, Back Forty, butterbeans, critters, whining

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The front yard container garden has been producing tomatoes, despite its propensity to dry out every day and some blossom end rot. I should have remembered to put epsom salts in the holes when I planted these. The peppers are really unhappy. A few of the plants’ miseries have finally been put to an end, due to an early invasion of aphids that I didn’t control when I was traveling. I made chili with ground bison and tomatoes and peppers from this garden last night. Even the Romas that had blossom end rot were fine – I chopped off the ends. The Beefy Boys, which Sandy picked out, are a hit. Very sweet and dense, the right exact size for two sandwiches. Even when they split, they patched up just fine.

Butterbeans are here. I hope to have enough for a little taste for everyone when I go to see my sister and brother-in-law at Lake Waccamaw this weekend. We have also eaten a few green beans. That patch did not germinate well at all, but I combine them with potatoes as they get big enough to pick and they taste good. The celery is ready but I haven’t tried it yet. The broccoli is all leaves. The woodchuck has been enjoying munching on that.

Also, the semi-shady spot next to my steps seems to be a great place for lettuce and parsley.

My big trips are over for the year while we pay off credit cards and concentrate on home for a while. I wish that I didn’t bunch them up together, but May-July are the best times for me to take off from work, and flights are much cheaper before June. I’m lucky that I get so much time off at this job – it is one of the reasons I love it here so much. However, it does come at the expense of regular pay raises.

I came back from Portland with a raging case of food poisoning – certainly the worst I have ever had. Once my fever came down to the point that I could think straight and use Google, I played Dr. House and self-diagnosed myself with e coli from the cherries from the farmers market that I munched on from Sunday to Thursday, which I forgot to wash. I chose not to go to the doctor, although I had my husband on alert that I might have to go to the ER or urgent care. From what I read, you just had to stay hydrated and suffer through it, and doctors couldn’t do that much for you. So my lesson was learned. I will never be cavalier about eating raw unwashed food again, especially food that has been handled by the public.

I spent another week getting my stomach back to accepting normal foods and healing from the muscle aches. Now I’ve turned my attention back to healing my neck and shoulder, which, in the words of my massage therapist, is all “cranked up.” She recommended that I see a different therapist who specializes in pain management, and I’ll go to her this afternoon. On Tuesday morning I went to my regular GP for my six-month blood-letting and she prescribed me muscle relaxants, which haven’t kicked in yet. Gawd. What a mess. It’s hard to get anything done when I’m in this kind of pain. Heat helps, but in mid-July I’m not eager to curl up with a heating pad or use a patch.

I want to weave and dye and weed and plant and do a lot of things that keep me from healing, and I’ve been too stubborn to stop with the yard work. I can’t stand to see the weeds and vines take over. My worst fear is that I won’t get better. In that case, I have to find a way to keep doing the things that I need to do. Stopping permanently is not an option, but I may have to stop for a while longer.

There is some good news. The new chiropractor I saw in June fixed my lower back and hip problem! Hooray!

Anyway, I hope to start posting more art-related photos and topics here very soon. Please bear with me!

Diego and Pablocito have been enjoying the front porch. They stay there until we make them come in, most of the time. Diego often enjoys the swing, but they have to share the cat tree. It’s fun watching them watch the birds and squirrels. You should have seen Pablocito when the woodchuck ran by. The expression on his face was priceless.

Theo O’Neill, Rest in Peace, 2001-2017

05 Friday May 2017

Posted by Laurie in critters

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^^^Theo came to live with us on November 1, 2009. The vet thought that he was probably around 8-9 years old. We adopted him from the Friends of the Shelter Cats rescue group at PetSmart, where his name was Timmy. He had been in and out of there since that May. We had no plans to adopt a fourth cat, but I kept looking at him because he looked exactly like my beloved Squirt. Finally I asked to hold him and Sandy looked at us and turned to the volunteer and said, “How much is the adoption fee?”

^^^2010: He was a fairly small cat and had a lot of allergies but he got a bit fat and sassy pretty quickly at our house. Jazz always despised him, but that’s the way she was. Guido tolerated him most of the time after a few days of hissing.

^^^Not sure of the date on this, but Theo and Lucy were pretty good pals. He played the dominance game with her until she kicked his ass every morning.

^^^2013, before the young terrors destroyed the upholstery and Theo lost the position of Top Cat.

^^^2015: He was more of a cuddler than a player, but he did enjoy playing.

^^^2017: Friends came to visit him on the front porch on Wednesday to give him treats and petting and love and to say goodbye.

^^^2009: Everyone commented on Theo’s unusually vivid color.

Oh, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts to let Theo go. The vet said it was best to go ahead and do it because he was so severely anemic that he needed a blood transfusion to even diagnose him, and he was obviously emaciated and very sick. But I know we gave him a great life, and we were lucky to have him.

14 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by Laurie in Back Forty, coffee pot posts, critters, depression/anxiety, More gardening, tapestry

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I shared this post from the Bloggess on Facebook one year ago: I’m Not Quite Myself Right Now.

It is still the best description I have ever read about low-level depression such as mine. My depression and anxiety are controlled from wild swings by medication, but I need a stronger dose and I found that the cognitive and physical side effects of that dose are not worth it to me. I can experience joy and sadness and anger and fear at normal levels, though, and that is why I encourage people with chronic depression to give medication a try. Right now, I’m having a hard time. It is difficult to make myself do things that need to be done. I have xanax for panic attacks but haven’t needed it for a long time. I came close yesterday with two near panic attacks.

This weekend we will visit my sister at Lake Waccamaw and stay in my cousin’s house that I have blogged about for years. We have an excellent pet sitter who loves our cats and will hang out on the porch with them. I hope that the mayfly swarm will dissipate and let us spend some time outside and on the pier.

A couple of weeks ago, Susanne was marbling paper and I marbled a couple of pieces. I’d like to try marbling on fabric.

I would have stayed to do more but I was itching to weave on my tapestry (which I haven’t done since!).

It looks like I am not going to have a piece in the Tapestry Weavers South show. I was planning to put “98% Water” in but it probably won’t be back in time for me to change the mounting device on it and deliver it. The ATA Biennial ends tomorrow and the deadline for the TWS show is around 10 days from now. I don’t have another piece ready or available that I want to put in this show. I guess I could go fetch my work from the show at the United Congregational Church and send a smaller, older tapestry.

I’m almost finished with planting and weeding and fixing the border on the front yard garden. The south side will be sunny for a few more weeks, at least. I hope it will be sunny longer. I planted a globe artichoke, borage, Salem rosemary, foxgloves, French thyme, spearmint (in a place where I don’t mind it spreading), more hellebore seedlings that I got from my neighbors (these have purplish flowers). They may not make it but they have plenty more. I bought orange thyme and lemon thyme plants from Deep Roots today.

Above: the before photo of the south end.

In the back I planted broccoli in one half-barrel and celery in another. I’ll wait until early May to plant the stuff that likes more heat.

There is still much to do, but we have gotten a good start on cleaning up the back forty.

The cats are in love with the front porch, but it is aggravating Theo’s allergies, so I may have to limit his time out there or take him to the vet for another shot. Right now I give him loratidine every night. His new name shall be “Snufflebutt.” Diego is “Chunkybutt.” Pablocito is “Wigglebutt.”

Diego has become a swinger.

Pablocito does his impression of Hello Kitty for passerby.

Okay, I have to go home and do some cleaning. It finally reached a intolerable level while we were concentrating on the outside and hanging out on the porch.

Sunday afternoon La Croix sparkling water post

26 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by Laurie in Back Forty, coffee pot posts, critters, tapestry, weaving

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Tapestry weaving on the front porch yesterday. I actually got a bit farther than this. When I go back home this afternoon, I hope to finish the blue grey part, but that also depends on working the dark part, and that might build on top of the right side, so that’s how it goes!

Sandy and I cleaned out the shed in the back and filled our city garbage and recycling bins. Most of my tobacco sticks that I used for trellising beans and peas have gotten rotten, so we’ll burn them in the fire pit. Disappointing, but it’s my own fault for being sloppy and lazy. We removed a lot of English ivy and wisteria vines, but as to be expected after a couple of years of neglect, there is much more to be done.

I planted peas and carrots over here at the Wharton St. studio. Susanne prepared this bed last year, and it had some of the biggest longest earthworms I’ve ever seen! In the process of weeding it out, we discovered some healthy asparagus. We are going to add to this once the peas are done.

Theo is growing more frail and losing weight. He will only eat very little. The only thing he wants to eat is Greenies Hairball Control treats. So I’ve given him six on top of his canned food twice a day, but this is confusing him and he doesn’t find all of them. I give him 1/4 of a loratidine a day for his allergies, but I think that his sense of smell is gone. Of course it is all speculation. I don’t want to put him through a lot of intense medical care. Right now he enjoys being out on the front porch, but it is possible that we might make the decision to euthanize him before we go to the UK if he doesn’t start eating enough to sustain himself. I will miss him but I am not going to force feed him and I don’t want him to suffer.

I’m one of the few people in North Carolina who has not been glued to college basketball watching the last several days. North Carolina lost hosting several tournaments because of a discriminatory law the Tea Party insists is about protecting women and children in bathrooms, but which has nothing to do with bathroom safety. I’d so much rather that they protect children by providing them food to eat, good public education, and free health care, and I’ve never worried about being attacked in a bathroom, much less by a transgender woman or man pretending to be one. I just wish the state government would pay more positive attention to my rights, water, air, soil, health care and place of employment. But, hey, let’s pretend that we’re under attack from the “gay agenda” while losing all kinds of businesses who would have hired people and paid taxes here.

Anyway, the only reason many people know about Greensboro is ACC Basketball. We don’t care about pro basketball here. We don’t care much about college football. Baseball is meh, okay. But college basketball? Get out of our way.