gray, dark and overcast

that is the day today.
yesterday we got up to brilliant sparkling sunshine. today not so much.

i finished damask last night
i did the medium in ella rae #117
 jen found me two more skeins in that dye lot, good thing too cause i used a part of the second skein.
i was up at like row 98 but i still needed it. i don't even think i used 10% of the second skein but i wouldn't have been able to finish without it
and that is with using beads instead of nupps! i would have used the entire second skein i think if i'd done the yarn nupps.

for beads i changed color every tier of 'nupps'
first was a golden topaz color
then ruby
then purple
and last a nice orange
it sounds terribly gaudy
but due to the color range of 117, works well.........
AND really does not LOOK as gaudy as you would think
more like a 'broken' color of overall warm tones, think impressionistic
i need to make a hat to go with it.
i may even have to make lace and line it with cotton fabric or something.
so today it goes into it's bath.......and then, the blocking!

now i need to figure a way to print my next shawl pattern out, as my laptop doesn't have a parallel port so can't interface with the printers

since the weather is so damp, dark and unfriendly to painting, i am going to have to figure out something else to do around the house, however a LOT of stuff depends on painting now.
last year between family visits ( tons of family visits) and baby duck raising, i didn't get any of the painting i needed to do done.
i am hoping for a balanced summer weather wise so i do get my painting done, the garden watered, no drought etc.
i am also going to paint two old bird cages black to house my 'crows' (fake from dollar store) add that to the list a mile long of stuff to paint, i need a spray booth!

HEY, i saw a crow chasing a hawk yesterday..........that crow was pretty insistent and the hawk was getting the hell out of dodge....... was it bad of me that i laughed my ass off at the hawk? it actually flew into the woods to try and shake the crow off it's ass.
bless the crows for they chase the hawks and my babies are safe for a few more hours

let's see, i told you about my easter basket.......wow what a surprise!
we had a smithfield ham for dinner, i am not impressed with smithfield anymore, it wasn't bad but it wasn't great like i remember.

i found out that during the summer i hate eating in the living room (which is our dining room) i love it during the winter, but not at all in the summer. it's a 'winter' room, if you know what i mean. it's cozy for fall and winter but too dark for summer. i told bernie i am going to try to lighten it up with mirrors that face the front windows but i doubt i will ever like being in there in summer.

i hope someone is joining me this morning with my coffee, as i am drinking a huge mug of it.
and i am hoping that the wood stove is finally going to be off duty for the summer now......time to clean it, time to move the wood out and time to get the last 2 budgies for my girls no?
after all it's been a while since i've had any thing coming off the drafting table to share with everyone right?
is everyone still out there?

vi