Fiber Arts, Books and Friends

Good Morning!  It's Friday!

Willow's Week has been busy but normal.  I like normal.

Here are Five Things that just made my week happy.

I share these to encourage you to find the joy and good in your life.

Want more?  Here's the link to Friday Fave Fives.

1.  I bought two sweaters recently at the thrift shop.  One was a grey linen/cotton cardigan.  The other was this--a crazy pink, coral, grey and white combo.  I unraveled both sweaters and reset the twist (that's like getting the wrinkly twists out of the yarn).  Then I used the multi-colored yarns to warp my loom.  That means all the long strands.

I used the grey yarn to weave the scarf.

I like the result.

The scarf will be displayed in the Ventura County Handweavers and Spinners Guild booth at the county fair in August.

2.  More about weaving.

Here is the finished scarf I wove for Son #2. 

He says he likes it.

3.  My sister-in-law knows what kind of t-shirts I like!

A gift from her this week.

4.  This week we met up with long time friends for lunch and coffee.  It was great to renew our friendship with them.  The Professor and the husband were neighbor and friends from where he was one year old.  Yes, that long!  I met them in college when the husband was one of the new, young profs in the English department and I took several classes from him.  One of the best parts of the day was watching the guys smile and laugh--just like you do with your first friends.

5.  It turns out that both the wife and I love reading mysteries.  When she got home, she emailed me a LIST of all her favorite mystery writers!  I've already been to the library to search for some of them.

Normal activities in a week.

But these are what fill our hearts and minds

and make us thankful.

Willow's Week Mid May

All of a sudden, it was Friday night! And I realized I hadn't posted my Friday Fave Fives.  Where did the week go??

1. Mother's Day.  None of my children live in driving distance but they are always good to call or text to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  Makes my whole week.

2. A couple of things have pushed me to start scanning my photos.  Mission Aviation Fellowship is writing an article on how they have helped bring Bible translations to groups of people who don't have the Bible in their languages.  Since MAF was an intregal part of our ministry in Indonesia, they asked us for information and photos of our time there.  So we did that and dug out some photos and scanned them.  Then our kids' house mom in their boarding school hostel has been posting on facebook lots of pictures she has been scanning.  So...I've been inspired!  And since organizing and scanning my pictures has been a goal of mine for YEARS, I jumped in this week and have begun.

Me in the Papuan jungle 1987

3. I got to do that drive to Santa Barbara again this week to pick up World's Best Neighbor from the airport there.  This week I took some time to stop by and visit with a former coworker from Indonesia who lives there.  We had a great chat.  I took her photo to share with my kids who knew her as "Aunt Marge", but she made me promise not to post it on social media.  (But for eighty-seven, she's looking good!)

And of course I had to stop and snap a photo of the Isla Vista pier

4. On Wednesday, we decided to get in a long walk along the beach and through the town before the rain came.  Oh, it was wonderful to watch the waves roll in and smell that sea air.

Surfers Point

Mission San Buenaventura

5.  Rain!  It is so unusual for Southern California to have rain in May.  I loved just listening to those drops hit the ground.

Beaches and Gardens

Happy Friday!  I've had a most energetic week filled with all kinds of activities.  It's good to arrive at Friday, take a breath and look back on the best things that filled the week.  As always, I link my Willow's Week report to Susanne's Friday Fave Fives post. 

1.  Saturday was a fun day.  We drove to Pasadena (well, San Marino, really, but no one knows that San Marino is next to Pasadena) to the Huntington Library and Gardens.  I spent the day in the Huntington Rose Garden with my weaving and spinning guild friends talking with people and demonstrating how a simple loom works.  The bonus was that I got a lot done on Son #2's scarf.

Lunch spot overlooking the Japanese Garden

2.  Our local hospice hosts a yearly spring garden tour to raise money.  I really enjoy going with friends to wander around people's gardens and noticing what is being grown and how they are landscaped.  On Sunday, a friend and I took our pastor's wife for her first tour.  We all agreed that while we like seeing the large expansive and expensive gardens, our favorites were the small ones which are more our style.  And it was fun to hang out with someone who is just learning about gardening and finding a few ideas that might work in my garden.

I like the border of this herb garden--pots to plant MORE herbs.

We all agreed that this terraced hillside area was perfect--flowers and veggies together.

3.  World's Best Neighbor went to visit her son for Mother's Day.  I took her to the Santa Barbara airport.  That is SO MUCH easier than LAX!  On the way home, google maps routed me off Highway 1 onto Santa Barbara streets because of two accidents.  It was faster and I got to drive right along the beach!  Obviously, I didn't take any photos.

4.  The route from our place to Santa Barbara has some of the most beautiful beach scenery! I love just glancing over and seeing the pods of surfers and the sand and the waves.  The tide was all the way in.  I don't think I've ever seen the water so high and near the road.  It was beautiful!

5.  Most people, when they think of Southern California, imagine that we have 365 days of sunshine.  What they don't realize is that we have what is termed May Gray and June Gloom--days and days of "early morning coastal fog and low cloudiness".  Hence May Gray.  That's what we have had most days this week.  I really don't mind.  The soft clouds and cool temperatures are a pleasant contrast to those blistering hot days of July (July Fry), August and September.  I love soaking up the cool days.

Blessed and Thankful

I'm a bit late today posting for Friday Fave Fives but not for want of being thankful.  We decided to go for a hike this afternoon after I was home from Bible Study, so I am just now posting.

1.  And that's my first fave.  The weather was perfect and so we headed out to Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area at Satwiwa.  We've hiked there often but always enjoy it.  The poppies are done blooming but the yellow mustard and the purple flowers still provide color.

2.  A friend gifted me a new mug.  It is inscribed with the Bible verse "The joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)  I have a new favorite tea mug!

3.  I have a new scarf warped on my loom.  I went over to my friend's weaving studio and spent a couple of hours with her while I put the navy and grey yarns on the warp.  I love a new project!

4.  I've also taken on another weaving challenge.  This week I drove to the thrift store and found two different sweaters, both of them made mostly of cotton (one is about half linen).  I am pulling the sweaters apart and recycling the yarns to weave a shawl.  No photos yet because it's just in the beginning stages of planning.

5.  And finally, my biggest fave of the week!  A little background first.  Eleanor my bunny accompanied me on our trip to England.  Well, at least she started the trip.  One evening while we were staying near Glastonbury she met some other bunnies and sneaked off with them to play.  I didn't notice that she had run away until we received a message from our hostess asking if Eleanor belonged to us!  That sneaky little bunny, running off to play hide and seek in the garden and snack of the carrots and lettuce!  So. What to do?  Finally our hostess caught her and mailed her back to us and she arrived this week.  Truthfully, as much fun as Eleanor had, she is happy to be home with me again. And I'm happy to have her back.

Bonus! A few quick photos of England!

Be blessed and be thankful this week!

Exploring England, Part 2

Barrows and Tors.  What are they? Why would we spend most of a day in Cornwall searching for these isolated places?

A barrow or carn is an ancient burial site.  (If you hang around the Willow family, you will discover that conversations about such places is commonplace, even at the dinner table.)

Ballowall Barrow, or Carn Gluze, is a burial mound with chambers where more than one person would have been buried.

The walk up to the top of the cliff was worth it for what we found.

We were warned to stay on the paths and not wander around because there are mines and holes left over from the tin mining that was done.

The view over the Atlantic Ocean was amazing.

 But we didn't really come just for the view.  We wanted to see this hidden treasure.

For a long time, this barrow was covered over with debris from nearby tin mines. Eventually, it was discovered and excavated by William Copeland Borlase in 1878.  According to the sign at the site, "His excavations revealed a unique and complex Bronze Age funerary monument."  

"Ballowall Barrow is one of the largest and most complex of the prehistoric funerary monuments that cluster along the West Penwith coastline.  Often located in dramatic locations, it is likely that the local communities which built them did so to provide striking tombs for the dead."

Older Daughter loves to explore these places.

Another site in the area is Carn Euny, an Iron Age village. According to archaeologists who have done excavations there, it was occupied from at least 500 BC through late Roman times.

 "At the heart of the village is its most intriguing feature -- a stone-walled underground passage know as a fogou.  This mysterious type of Iron Age monument is found only in the far west of Cornwall." (English Heritage site statement)

As we were walking up the path to the village, we met a couple who had been there before and they told us about the fogou and its importance.  Otherwise, I might not have been as impressed with walking through the tunnel.

Carn Euny Holy Well was on the edge of the path and we almost missed it!  

As you can tell, we are a family who love ancient history!

Friday Fave Fives, end of April

Friday Fave Fives!  I'm living in the recent past processing all those photos from our trip to England, but I'm also living in the present--reviewing this week and finding the blessings.  Here are my Five Faves from this last full week of April.  If you want, you can join me and others by clicking THIS LINK to our host Susanne's blog.

1.  The Professor did his magic and I have photos!  So far, I've published ONE POST with pictures from our trip to England.  I'm loving reliving our days there through processing the photos.

2.  Trip to Phoenix.  I don't necessarily love the hours we spend on the road.  But I do love the beauty of the desert and of course the destination which is PAL's house!  We took a hike on Friday and she was our 'guide'.

3.  Easter with our PAL!  I love celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I love celebrating with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter.  We attended their church for both Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday services.

4.  This week we received a couple of emails from former coworkers in Indonesia, telling us about a person who is writing a booklet about the history of our international mission in Papua.  She asked for our biography and some photos of us and our ministry there.  So I dug out my albums and found this picture of our family from 1988.

This also reminded me that I really need to get back to focusing on organizing and scanning all those hundreds of photos we still have sitting around.

5.  Our weather has been perfect for getting out into the garden and weeding, and there are lots of weeds to keep me busy.  I love to be outside and just gaze at the flowers while I'm cleaning up the weeds.

Lavender and Poppies on the bank

I hope you have had a blessed week!

Exploring England, Part 1

Are you ready for this?  Lots and lots of photos of England!  Be ready to be amazed and fall in love!

The Professor and I planned this spring trip to England so we could travel with World's Best Neighbor and with The New Boy and his mama.  We all met up at Heathrow airport and hopped the express train into London.  World's Best Neighbor waved bye to us and joined her husband's cousin for a visit.  Then we climbed aboard our Night Riviera train to Penzance.

May I say that I fell in love with Cornwall!  There is a caveat to that statement, though.  We found the roads in Cornwall to be...challenging. Narrow. Windy. Sometimes scary. Like when you meet another car on the one lane road with stone walls on either side.  The Professor navigated them with amazing ability.  I'm glad it wasn't me driving.

Lanes and roads notwithstanding, we all four loved Cornwall!  What do you know about Cornwall?  It is famous for tin mining and the birthplace of industrialization, for pirates (think Pirates of Penzance), for Cornish pasties, for remote moors and beaches, for ancient barrows, for legends about King Arthur.

We gave ourselves only two days in Cornwall so we had to choose carefully where we would go.

Cape Cornwall is almost the farthest west spot in England.  Land's End beats it by four miles.  But oh! The views!  I could live here!

Looking over the cape toward the Atlantic Ocean

That smoke stack tower?  You can hike right up to it.

Yeah. I could live here.

Walled gardens overlooking the beach and sea. 

Even a greenhouse!

While The Professor and I hiked to the tower, The New Boy and Older Daughter scrambled down to the beach and wandered around.

 

The view across to the other side of the cove!

There was once a church in this field.

This is just the beginning!  So. Much. More. To. See.  Come back for a continuing tour of Ballowall Barrow, Ancient Tors,Tintagel...

Back on Track

It's Good Friday!  I'm finally back online to share my Friday Fave Fives with you all.  Did you miss me?  Did you even notice I was absent?  I hope so!  Here are my Five Faves from the last four weeks!  (Was it really that long?)

1.  If you read my previous post, you will know that we spent three weeks in England. Yes, England!  Because our daughter wanted to take The New Boy on his first international trip during spring break, we tagged along to share the experience with them, and then we stayed for another twelve days to visit more new places.  I am thankful to this wonderful opportunity!

2.  I'm thankful for safe travels to and from England and all around the country.  We rented a car for the first week, we rode trains, and we hopped on and off the tube in London.  That was a lot of traveling, and I never take safe travels for granted.

3.  I'm thankful for good friends.  Because of a theft of cards, etc, we had to close our accounts, and people helped us by paying for accommodations and sending cash.  I am so very thankful for good, good friends!

4.  As usual, our friend picked us up at LAX, even in the midst of a huge airport traffic jam, at 11pm!  That's a true friend!  Then she drove us to her house where our car was parked and we hopped on a mostly 70 mph freeway and made it home safely at 1 am.  I'm thankful for yet more wonderful friends and a successful last leg of our trip.

5.  Have you noticed that there aren't any photos here yet of our trip?  Yeah, well.  I bought a new camera just a day before we left, and I pushed the wrong button (I 'knew' what I was doing, but not the result), so four days of my photos have not been easily accessible to edit and put my copyright mark on them.  What I'm thankful for is that The Professor is working on a solution.  The photos should be available 'soon'.

Happy Easter to all my friends who celebrate Easter!

Revealed

Oh, hey! Hi! Yes, I'm back! So, where was Willow for the past almost month?  Here are some hints.

Obviously, it was a long trip.  The New Boy was tired.

He revived.  There were special places he wanted to see that first day.

YES!  We were in LONDON!

Can I say that it is really fun traveling with an eleven year old boy?  His view of what's interesting was different from his mom's and ours, but he (mostly) happily went along with our sightseeing plans.  As long as it involved food.

I am still recovering from jet lag and still organizing photos.  Come back soon to 'see' the whole trip!