Back home in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Tired and glad to be home

We had such a lovely time, but it was great to get back home, however grubby, and have the dogs and cats be so happy to see us. I always miss my girl Lily especially, and every time I see a dog when we're away from home I have to talk to it and see if it looks like her. I even missed TJ a little when I was walking in Colorado!

First harvest...fresh lettuce!

I came back to a pile of Dad's dirty dishes, laundry and lots of weeds, of course. Could have been worse, of course. And work, which I'm still catching up on. The weeding was kind of fun, really, and I uncovered broccoli, a few Brussels sprouts plants that we had seeded before we left, and some nice lettuce. I've been eating lots of salad this week! There are little tomatoes on the plants and I staked the largest ones this week.

Getting crowded in there....

While we were gone the baby barn swallows in the nest on the Greenberry House shop porch grew and grew. Mom and Dad have been trying to get them out of the nest all day today, but the babies are stubbornly clinging to home. I've been watching them stretch their wings and then hunker back down, while the adults call enticingly from the yarn drying swing. They keep looking down like they're thinking "you've got to be kidding! What do you think, I can fly or something?"

Border Leicester wool yarn

I've spent most of the week catching up on work. It's amazing how much can pile up during ten days away! Before I left I had a huge dye day and got lots of yarn and some roving done. This week I spun up some of the Texel roving I dyed into yarn, and reskeined some dyed Border Leiecester cross brown yarn that I had overdyed with acid dyes in red. Now I'm spinning some gorgeous Corriedale I bought at SAFF a couple of years ago from Rising Meadow Farm. Hand carding it because the colors are so nice in this variegated fleece and really loving the process!


Wrecked truck in the mountain on Route 58

I've been without a car (except for on the trip) for the last eight weeks because the SO has been battling serious problems with his trucks. I had been putting aside commitment after commitment because of lack of transportation, but this week I just had to get things done. Which meant some serious running around. Normally I don't leave Meadows of Dan more than once every couple of weeks, but this week I've been to Stuart four days in a row. Got a lot accomplished, though, and we're nearly through with the brochure for Patrick County's Community trail with 'Round the Mountain, the Southwest Virginia Artisans' Guild. I also proofread the Tourism Advisory Council's other big project, which is a hospitality book to be used to help tourists find the great things available in Patrick County.

On the way down the mountain yesterday I saw this accident. Didn't hear any details so I hope the driver was OK. It caused one of our rare traffic jams in Patrick County, though. I always bring crocheting, just in case, and was fine with sitting in the sun for a few minutes!

Crocheted Cotton Shawl

Another finished object. I spent most of the trip crocheting this piece, meant for a local consignment crafts shop. Haven't gotten quite ready to send it away, though! The yarn was a cone of cotton bobbly yarn and I really like how soft the shawl turned out. Nice for summer!