Thursday, May 22, 2014

Five Faves for This Week in May

The weekly Fave Fives are here.  If you want to, you can join and post your Friday Fave Fives at Susanne's blog.  This is Willow's Week in Five Easy Favorites.

1.  On Sunday I did my FAVE gig of the year for the Ventura County Weavers and Spinners Guild:  Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival held every year at Paramount Movie Ranch in Agoura Hills.


If you ever watched a movie, and the movie was a Western, if it was made by Paramount Studios, and even part of it was set in a town, then it was most likely shot at The Ranch.  Does it look familiar?



Every year we sit on the porch and weave and spin all day.  And all day, people -boys, girls, men, women- stop at the porch and watch us, ask us, "What are you doing?", and tell us, "That's awesome!"





People look through my hats which are for sale and sometimes they buy one--or two.


Of course, the main reason people attend the festival is not to watch us but to listen to the music.  You can listen to some of the contestants HERE.  Everywhere, people gather to jam.





2.  More spring flowers! MY FAVES.
Lance Leaf Coreopsis


Farewell to Spring


3.  Another FAVE!  A big clear out.  I have been feeling overwhelmed by just too much stuff around my house.  Lately, I've been culling things I no longer use or want.  I finally did it.  I gave away my Noritake china set.  And some vases and small glass serving dishes.  I never used any of them.  I thought I'd have a bit of 'post decision dissonance' about getting rid of that stuff, but I didn't.  Not at all.  It was actually a relief to get those boxes of unwanted items out of the house.  I am on a roll now.  More decluttering coming up!

4.  Now that school is done--- oh, yes--THAT'S a FAVE!  We're done with the year!  All my papers are corrected and returned.  The Professor needs only to post grades.

5.  Now that school is done, I can focus a bit more on knitting.  The New Boy wants his afghan made in red, purple and blue.  I've barely begun...but I have all summer to work on it.  Knitting is always a FAVE for me.


Enjoy your weekend.  And be aware of the blessings that happen every day, all the time...

16 comments:

Gattina said...

I love your pictures of the spinning wheels ! Sounds you had a nice week !

Tracy said...

Sooo many good today, Willow... And wonderful to see you too! Such fun to see you spinning--you look so happy! :o) ((HUGS))

Faith said...

Love all your photos...you look so happy! How much Re your hats? I'd love to get one for a friend of mine who is going through chemo if you have anymore to sell. Yay for no more teaching days until autumn! I still have 26 days left and my high school girl has 20 plus exams. But we get to enjoy a 3 day weekend so.....that helps!! Enjoy your knitting!!

Hazel said...

Wow! Weaving is something I see only in films or read about in fairy tales. How awesome to find it is actually happening 'for real'! Love your photos. Enjoy your summer!

Karen said...

One of my favorite TV shows was filmed at Paramount Ranch. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. It was fun looking at your pictures, remembering how the town looked on the show. I'm envious that you got to see it!

Decluttering is so good for the soul! It takes me a while to work up to it, but I'm always so glad to have it done.

Have a good weekend, Willow!

Monica said...

Willow, I so enjoy your pictures. That takes some time and it is a special treat as I am a visual person! :)
The festival looks like a great time! I so enjoy things like that but rarely get to attend because life is so busy right now.
I too am involved in a BIG clean out. I working towards a more simple life and the first step for me is get rid of unused/unneeded "junk". :)
I so wish I could knit!
Hope you have a great Memorial Weekend my friend!

ellen b. said...

What a great setting for spinning! Congrats on your summer vacation.

Jerralea said...

It looks like a great time at the festival! I'm glad you had a great time.

I know you are excited to be done with school for a bit. My daughter, the math teacher, is counting the days.

I love to de-clutter, but your getting rid of your china brought a shudder to this dish-collector's soul!

Bethany said...

You have such great photos from the Festival! You look so great in them! I like your new avatar photo! I like this time of year when school wraps up and summer break comes. But of course I love September when school starts up again! We must be on the same page this month because I finally cleaned up my studio after a year of it being piled with a big mess. I'm culling like crazy too! I have bags and bags to take to Salvation Army and am trying to move some furniture out to new homes. Have a great weekend!

Gracie Saylor said...

What a great post! Thanks for sharing your happiness which cheered me up. I hope you have a wonderful school break and complete the projects you most want to do. I look forward to your reports via your future posts :) xx

Susanne said...

The festival looks so much fun! You look so happy. And it definitely looks like a dry and dusty western location. Love the flowers.

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

Your #4 definitely resonates with this teacher! Now I want to visit The Ranch - great pictures and sounds like it would be fun. I used to know how to crochet and did a little knitting, and every time you mention knitting I want to pick it back up again. I need to find a friend to refresh my memory. Have a great week (and summer) ahead!

Linda said...

Great series of photos!

Barbara H. said...

The festival sounds like a lot of fun! And it's always a thrill to be done with the school year.

It does feel good to get rid of thingds and give them to a good home.

Mereknits said...

I would have loved to have been sitting there on that porch with all of you lovely ladies playing with my new loom. It sounds like a perfect day.
Hugs to you,
Meredith

nikkipolani said...

Wow wow wow, wonderful faves, Willow! I saw your invitation to see you at the festival, but it wasn't in the cards... So glad you had some photos of yourself taken at the event. Can hardly believe school is over already. Your decluttering progress is stirring me up to resume the same cause.

To answer your question, purple perilla is used in many Asian cuisines. I use it in making Vietnamese chopped salad which is redolent with herbs -- cilantro, rau ram, purple perilla, mint, and an herb that I've never found a satisfactory English name, but "fishwort" sounds interesting enough!