Please visit if you like that sort of thing!  xo Dawn

So many good things have been going on that I have MEANT to blog about….

You can check out the flickr stream for the visuals.  In the meantime, here’s a quick update.

Chloe is doing BETTER!  A bit.  But We’ll take it!  Big meeting on Tuesday night with all of the Doctors to make a plan for the summer.  We’re just trying to go with whatever each day serves up and making the best of it.  She is still really dizzy all of the time, and there are some days that feel bad, but there have been other days with SWIMMING, and SKATING at roller derby!  ( see Jimmy’s blog for details  )  That’s HUGE!!  We’re really happy and hopeful that we’ve seen the lowest point now with the POTS adventures.  She has started outpatient physical therapy, which will help her work on her strength and endurance.

And it’s almost SUMMER… which helps with the moods around here for sure!

Lil is great, and looking forward to school’s end in a couple of weeks.

She’s still loosing teeth too.

Today we wrapped up a project that has been in the works for a couple of years.   It’s been a  lot of fun and makes me really happy.

Now I get to smile  about them every time I go out in the garden.:)

Here’s a slideshow if you’d like to gander at the individual flags.

I’ve been working on a couple of new things…
Here are the “Raga” yarns. Named for a Sanskrit word that means literally “color, hue, beauty, and melody” and ALSO the term for some really nice Indian music— they are mostly cotton yarns that are complex and so textural. The process of making them is a bit long, but results in a yarn that isn’t too primitive and also very strong and balanced, structurally speaking. I really like it, and hope you do too.  I am dreaming of great summer bags made from it!

New to the gnomegarden etsy shop, and spun in limited quantities, are the Charms yarns.  Trouble dolls are not new to art-yarns, but these have a bit of a story behind them…ready?

These are inspired by my girls.  Like a lot of kids, both of them have a penchant for talismans, amulets and magical thinking.  With the stress of this past fall and winter, Lil took to some pretty complicated before -bed rituals.  She was having such a had time sleeping, so I dug out a box of old worry dolls from my own treasures.

She started using them ardently.  Each night before bed there was the telling-of-the-worries, but also, the dolls were very real for her, so they had to be free at night.  You know, to do their work I guess.  That started out with a very organized placement around her pillow–

add a bunch more dolls.  Um, the cup– that’s full of cardamom.  Yes.  We played “dreidel” at the Holidays and for lack of pennies, I grabbed the giant jar of pods in the pantry.  I might have also mentioned something about the scent of them being comforting to me… and maybe as I was trying to get her to STOP dreideling and go to bed, that she should take the pods with her because I thought they might just help her bad dreams…  Ker-plunk.  Its like that falling-blocks  computer game, but with parenting steps and miss-steps.  Suddenly Cardamom pods had to be a part of the nightly ritual.  Oh, and that cup also has all of her baby teeth mixed in with the pods.  It does.  I dunno about that one…( cue voodoo drumming. )

Inevitably, the mornings brought a gorgeous sleepy-eyed girl with worry dolls and cardamom pods all tangled up in her hair.

SO around the Holidays I made my friend Sue at Lovely Yarns a gift of a yarn inspired by this story. It spun like this– and it smells so nice.

I spun in a few Latin American “miracle charms” or Milagros for good measure. While not of Latin descent myself, I have been fascinated by these since my friend Cat told me tales of them from a trip to Brazil.:)

Milagro refers to an ancient aspect of Hispanic folk culture: small silver or gold votive offerings in the shape of arms, legs, eyes and other body parts; animals, fruits, vegetables, etc. These milagros are often attached to statues of saints or to the walls of churches/shrines.  In the classical sense, milagros are offered to a favorite saint as a reminder of the petitioner’s particular need, or they are offered to the saint in thanks for a prayer answered.  If, for example, someone has a sore arm, a tiny silver arm is hung on or near the favorite saint; the farmer who hopes that his pig will bear him many healthy piglets, asks his patron saint for intercession, and pins a pig milagro on the saint’s robe. Milagros can be flat, three dimensional, tiny or large; they can be of gold, silver, wood, lead, tin, bone, wax or whatever the petitioner desires.

So I’ve been working them into some yarns as a sort of magical-intentioned-adornment.  I like the idea of a garment or object made from the yarn that feels sort of cosmically hopeful or even protective.  That’s how I like to think of them anyway. here’s a few shots.  I have a bunch of really bright offerings right now and will keep them coming in various colorways until the blessings are all spun up.

bless y’all.

( If you click on the photo mosaic, you can see a larger one.)

That’s all for today.  Have a great one!

We will NOT negotiate* with garden terrorists…

* But we will feed them organic produce and send them on a FREE all-expenses-paid exotic vacation.

Ode to the menace I’ve named  “BROWNDOG, LOL.”

He will also answer to “crap-weasel,” or “here is some lovely lettuce and brussel sprouts.”

My sister Sharon and I share a common enemy.  Marmota monax. Latin for Terrorist Varmit.

Cute, right?  Name a holiday after it!!  A movie!! Call it sweet things like “woodchuck” and wonder about how much wood it would chuck….If it only could.

Bake it a bless-ed cupcake.

Here’s that little sweetie now–

or more commonly

That gaping maw is where it will put your garden.  Your WHOLE garden.  This blog has some beautiful illustrations of the havoc they can wreak on a garden.  This is just what the NJ sister and I have experienced without the nice pics to show you.

The almighty WIKI reports that most live 2-3 years… except for that little trucker Wee Wiarton Willie– who lived for 22 years.  Ours lives under the front porch in a nice cave dwelling with garden terrace.  He often rolls out of bed to a loverly breakfast al fresca.  For the past years he’s eaten a mile-wide path of destruction through anything we’ve grown in the garden.  Except peppers and basil.   He likes to shake it up too… last year he waited a long while and employed the element of “SURPRISE, I didn’t die over the winter.”

I DO love me some Guinea Pigs and Hedgehog, but Hates. Him.

Maybe he is dead this year??  It’s been 2 of the could-be-3 year life span…

Not tough enough for bad-nature-karma-death-tactics, we are trying the havahart dining-car.

If LOL happens to be DEAD– rest his angelic soul– the havahart will reside like the sublime-Buddah-shrine in a nail salon.  I will place offerings of fruit and burn sweet incense all season long in honor of our varmit-free renaissance.  Maybe we’ll catch a raccoon or 2.. Or some of Erin’s stealthy cats.  Please note, previously promised vacations are only for LOL.

I somehow doubt that dreamy possibility however…  As Jim says,  “Make your own luck.”

That there is what Sharney and I like to call the FOUR DOLLAR CANTALOUPE.

Praying for this–

Here is a bit of information on what to do next…  Don’t worry, I’ll be sticking a stamp on him and sending him some place legal to release him… Or at least it won’t be near your yard.

This is the most awesome exterminator since Sir Burroughs.  Maybe we’ll call him in if old LOL wins again.

I’ve also decided that it’s maybe about time to start researching “We’ll come and fix your house up shows.” I  think it might be our end-of-the-world strategy.

God save the Queen.

Back to my spinning wheel.

The cleaning-up part of the garden year has not historically been one of my strongest talents.  While I’ve been know to pull off some 11th hour jungle-takeover heroics during the season, I am not so much a fan of the fall clean up.  Stupid, as it just means more work, and more weeds, in the spring.

I have the awesome blessing of being much healthier this new year than in many past… and I am marveling at the renewed joy and total stress catharsis of slogging around in the garden.  Last week was so nice on cello lesson day, that I settled Lil and Ryan on the front porch and made like a groundhog in the garden beside them.  For one thing… I think cello accompaniment should always be available when there is gardening to do.  That was a nice idea, for sure.

Then I kicked weedy-butt.

I did.This was the sad blueberry hedge– which is now TWO bushes that aren’t doing all that well.  The strawberry plot has fed no one but SLUGS for a few years now, so I ripped that apart as well.

Don’t think it’s all freedom and ease, there are a fair few mulberry roots that are giving me fits and conniptions….  I reached a standstill on this one… I cannot get it loose, and am not sure how to KILL IT FOR SURE at this point, so if anyone can advise, please leave a comment!!  I do not want to see it’s nasty devils-snare tendrils ever again.  As you can see it is right near the retaining wall, so no tying it to the gnomemobile and heaving-ho.  The roots appear to go down under the wall and driveway.

So it’s one of the most exciting times of the year for me… garden is cleaned up and ready to go, and I just need to make a new plan.

Please send any ideas you want to share… I need a new full-sun ornamental vine idea to grow on the fence– I have grown hyacinth bean there in the past but am looking for a new inspiration.

I am also WIDE OPEN for garden orphans and contributions… If you have an overabundance as your seeds go in and your gardens grow give me a yell!!  We have lots of sunny and shady spaces in need of plant material, I’ll come and thin out your crowd and give them nice homes!

Tomorrow, part two– the BAD and the UGLY.

This site is organized a bit differently now…. Jimmy has been making some changes.   Now you can click on “fiber arts” to see the latest gnomegarden and fiber related developments. Those yarny exploits will be kept mostly separate there for those of you who don’t care to follow the rest of the family adventures and vice versa.  The blog will continue to follow the life and times ’round these parts.  Please stay tuned.

I have not updated you on our POTSy life of late… I wish it was because all was SO GREAT that I forgot all about it. Not so much. POTS continues to rule the days here at the Delight Ranch.

We are working with a new team of providers and new-ish treatment protocol for the past month.  The focus now is not so heavily on medications, but on restoring her physical conditioning as well as some different medication choices.  It seems to me very similar to the approach they take with astronauts who experience similar orthostatic hypotension as a result of being in little to no gravity.  Chloe now has a regimen of exercises to get through each day, in addition to getting vertical and moving around a bit more each day.  It is slow progress, and unfortunately is not met with actually feeling better at this point.  It’s still ALL DIZZY, ALL THE TIME. Which just makes her doubly sad and really uninspired to push herself.

We restart each day.  Try to keep a hold of any progress made and to break with the frustrations that were part of the previous day.  She is up and around more– and we take that as some improvement.  It would just be so much better if she either could SLEEP or just didn’t feel quite so dizzy all the time.

Bob watching his favorite show

mysterious result of Lil’s playtime.

Bob face-timing Chloe.  Telling her to get up and come play, no doubt.

CRAZY MAMA.

To catch you up from  end of last post, We did not make it to the roller derby bout as a family, but Jim and Lily did. They had a great time, and Lil even got to skate as jammer for the team at one point! You can check out the pics on Jimmy’s blog.  We are hoping to attend the next one all together–

Chesapeake Roller Derby’s Game Two – The Land Hos v. The Vampirates

Time
Saturday, April 23 · 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Location
Shipley Areana
706 Agriculture Center Drive
Westminster, MD

Chesapeake Roller Derby
More Info
Don’t miss out on seeing a hard-hitting match-up between two of Chesapeake Roller Derby’s three intra-league teams – The Vampirates and The Land Hoes. What will the Rolling Plunder be doing?? Refereeing, of course!

Get ready for roller skating pirates, live music, cool vendors, family fun and fast-paced derby! Come dressed as your favorite pirate!

Doors open at 5pm, game at 6pm!

Advance Tix: $10 adults, $5 12 and under
At the Door: $15 adults, $8 12 and under
Season Tickets now available – Get 3 or 5 games at up to 30% off!

Tickets available at http://www.chesapeakerollerderby.com/ in the online store and at Starry Night Bakery (330 One Forty Village Road, Westminster MD) & Blue Sage Florist (3411-B Sweet Air Road, Phoenix MD) Credit cards accepted at all venues!

Yarrrrr!

I’ll be updating yarns today and batts this evening or tomorrow am.

Last night a roller derby team dropped by our house.

Seriously, how often in your life do you get to say that sentence?

Yep.  A bunch of skaters from the Chesapeake Roller Derby team came by visit Chloë  last night.  You can check that link to read about how awesome they are.  Don’t tell too many people– but what a bunch of amazingly sweet skater-folk — you know, for a bunch of kick-ass roller derby people, that is.   WOW, DO THEY ROCK!  So, so much.

You see, you might not know this, but Chloë really wants to be a roller derby girl– She was working on it and then she got sick.  So, she says now it’s going to be as soon as she feels better.  It’s a dream.  They came bearing smiles and get well-wishes and lots of pirate-love.  She is still totally blissed out over it.  Just sits there in the recliner with her skates on.

All of this came on the heels of a very tough day–  It was so great to see her happy and smiling and INSPIRED!!

She is to be their guest at this weeks opening bout.  She’s taking US!  We are conserving all energies in order to get her there.

It was thunder-storming when they sailed up to our back door.  I think they moored the ship on the giant circus peanut out there.  They weren’t afraid at all to go up to Chloë’s room. 

They brought her booty and love.  (Piratey team swag and also nice red booty!)

They sent get-well cards.

They signed her skates and brought her autographed skates from the whole team and left her so, so happy.

Thanks from the bottom of the Doran family BIGHEART.

We made them THESE cupcakes, but with devil’s food to feed to the team.  That’s right… there’s a lump of frozen cookie dough in the middle so its sort of the world’s best cupcake. In theory at least, we didn’t actually taste test them first.  Derby people are tough though… even if they came out bad, they’ll be fine.

I sure hope they realize what a special gift they gave to our family yesterday– and how very thankful we are for that.

xoxo Dawn

ps.  There’s a lot of POTS chronicles stuff to update you on… and a YARN PARTY fast approaching to show you some pictures of stuff for– maybe tomorrow.