NZD 12162009

Duck on Lake Ohakuri

If I remember correctly this is one of the native ducks to New Zealand, maybe the blue duck.  In any case, this lone one was swimming his way across the wind swept lake.  I love the texture of the lake, the sky reflecting in the water and the dark bird to contrast.

The New Addition

We knew from the beginning that Shadow was a social dog.  We did what we could be doggie daycare and playdates.  They certainly helped, but ultimately it was a constant conversation of what we could do this week for him.  Hiking was good, but of course the snow and ice made that difficult this winter and was only good for weekends.  We finally brought up the subject of another dog.  said we wanted two after we lost Dakota last year, but I really thought the two of them would add up to 100 pounds rather than what we have in Shadow right now!  But I can't help it - I'm in love with this dog and I'll do so much to make him happy.  And the search began.

What does a 100 pound 2 year old male black lab want???  We decided after research a slightly smaller (60-80 pounds), older (4-7 years old) female lab would do.  Let me tell you how difficult it can be to find such a thing.  The Greenville Humane Society where we adopted Shadow could only produce a 40 pound dog right now.  We started to hit all the labrador rescue groups.  We found that in general these labs were 2 years old or 10 years old.  So we kept looking.  Found two in Greenwood at 3 years old.  Getting closer.  They even had a purebred male at 5 years old, but Shadow is such a strong alpha male....

Then we hit every shelter in the upstate and there was a possibility of a black labrador mix at 5 years old at the Spartanburg Humane Society.  They are just as convenient as the Greenville one.  We called to see if she was still there and asked the big question:  "How big is she?"  The woman on the other end said, "She weighed in at 74.2 pounds."  (I love the 0.2!)  We told them we were coming to check her out and have her meet our dog.  They were all ready when we got there - even put a "hold" on her kennel so all would know she was spoken for.  They touched noses from the first moment, ran around the run to sniff all they could, and even wrestled a bit.  The tails never stopped. 

So a couple of days later we were able to pick up our new girl!  Let me introduce Raven...

We had left her there to be spayed since she had been picked up as a stray just last week.  We had made all sorts of arrangements to take her to the vet so she could recouperate before living with Shadow.  We made it half way home before they called and exclaimed, "We forgot to tell you she had already been spayed!"  Life at home changed immediately.  I was glad we had already bought a second set of bowls, rawhide chews and a dog bed!

Things started in the backyard with Shadow.  Isn't she a pretty girl?  Such style and grace...

You can really see the mix better in her with Shadow right there.  She actually reminds me of a border collie in her grace and the way she holds her ears back.

We've only dealt with a couple of fights - one over the Kong in the background above...  They've been short lived and I think just part of finding each other's place.  They did spend most of the first evening facing each other while they watched each other devour a footlong rawhide bone.  I think I need to buy stock in rawhides...And they immediately took to the favorite pasttime of watching birds (and cats) from the bedroom window.

I'll work to get some better pictures, but I just couldn't wait to share about our new addition! 

NZD 12162009

View from Watershed Road North Island

This is one of those fantasy pictures that I often can’t believe is real – but it is.  These are rolling green hills made dramatic by the shadows of clouds with the far mountains in the background.  If you want a bit of scale, look more closely at the white dots scattered about.  Most of those are sheep.  I love the drama of the shadows and the layers upon layers of hills.  We were rewarded for our trek off the paved road to be able to see this.

NZD 12162009

Tree Fern

This was one of the first days of discovering the tree fern.  I am 5 foot 9 and these leaves were higher than my head.  I appreciate how the leaves are made up of a geometric pattern.  The main leaf is made up of sub-leaves in the same pattern and shape as the main leaf.  The sub-leaf is made up of sub-sub-leaves that are in the same pattern and shape as the subleaf.  I bet it even goes further in either direction.  I like that the fern is backlit, so that each vein is pronounced in the leaves.  I like that there are many direction of stems and that these even are imperfect so that the pattern is broken up.

Fourth Time’s a Charm

At last, at last, there is something to say about weaving around here!  In my last entry on yarn, I showed how I struggled getting the wedge weave of the Noro yarn level.  It was growing thicker, which indicates there is too much yarn in there.  From suggestions – I chalked it up to how the Noro yarn packs.  Typically in a wedge weave, I advance one warp with each pass.  With the difference in the packing, I started to take an “on-off” approach.  So I took out the weaving and tried skipping every other warp with the next pass – the top sank which indicates there’s not enough yarn.  Ugh - Unweave that as well.  Now let’s try two rows together, then one single.  Still droops…  Take that out again.  Finally, I went with two together, skip a warp and two together again.  That seems to be working VERY closely to level without much interaction from me.  So now I can show you a complete wedge!!!!

Besides the Noro Yarn, one of the new things about this piece is to make it reversible.  Unweaving and reweaving has given me a great deal of practice since I am working in the ends as I go.

Here’s where I came to the end of one bobbin of yarn: I did secure the end with a half hitch around the warp and brought the end to the front of the weaving.                                   I then split the yarn into it’s number of plies and distributed them around the warps.                                                                            The chocolate yarn breaks down into 4 plies, so I distributed two in either direction.  The far left and the far right ends were woven to hide them within the weave.                                                   From there I threaded each ply through a needle and fed it through the middle of the weaving next to a warp.  In this picture I’ve already finished the first and am about to pull through the second. The ends are carefully trimmed and i even pull a bit on the half hitch to hide the very tip of the yarn into the fabric. Then same is performed with the start of the next piece of yarn.

Hopefully now there will be a bit more news relating to yarn from this neck of the woods!

NZD 12162009

Rainbow Lookout - Orakei Korako

I was drawn the the number of colors created in these silica terraces - by the minerals themselves and then the hot water algae living in these conditions.  I like the eange from very dark to white.  I like the hard definite lines at the edge of the water flow.  It reminds me of those wonderful pictures from NASA on the astronomy picture of the day.  And yet this is on the earth where the crust is very thin.  The creation is very delicate and would likely be harmed if I step too close - AND I would be burned if I step too close.  Like those space pictures - I can only look and not touch!

NZD 12162009

Raindrops on Roses

I don’t grow roses.  I don’t know why, but I never have.  I think it is possibly my aversion to maintenance.  I love installing and creating, but always forget maintaining.  So, I accept who I am and don’t grow roses.  Which also means that prior to this date, I had never seen raindrops on roses in the early morning summer light.  It was hard to pick just one of the many pictures I took.  I chose this one because it isn’t obvious this is a rose.  I like the purity of the white.  I like the layers of the petals and the suggestion of a center, but yet not a well defined one.  I like the raindrops in only some areas - allowing an area of petal smoothness and an area where it is broken up.  I also like the raindrops defying gravity on the edge of some of these petals.  I hear a deep silence in this picture.

(which was not reality since it was taken in summer and early morning!!!!)