Teddy plotting revenge, three stories up, after a scolding.

A late November Saturday sky with waxing Gibbous moon, 86% of full. What does Gibbous mean, you say? Courtesy of Carpe Caelum:

The waxing gibbous Moon is very nearly full and illuminated generally from the right. This phase of the Moon is seen to rise sometime in the afternoon when few people are looking at the sky. This is why it usually goes unnoticed until it gets dark at sunset. By that time the gibbous Moon is well above the southeastern horizon. The Moon is in this phase for nearly a week between first quarter and full. Just a day or so before Full Moon the waxing gibbous Moon appears nearly full and might be mistaken for a full Moon. The Moon in this phase sets just shortly before sunrise.

One of the five old tobacco barns at Weston Bend State Park. The interior of the barn is filled with beams for drying the tobacco leaves before they are pressed, baled and sold at auction. Not at this barn anymore because it’s part of the park, but Platte County still produces and auctions off more than 7 million pounds of tobacco each year.

Since our sky today is gloomy and overcast, I’m giving you this beautimous sky from a few weeks ago at Powell Gardens. Not a cloud to be seen.

Anybody know what this plant is? It was in a huge pot, probably 3 feet tall and the plant itself was over 5 feet tall. It was situated on the patio and I’m assuming it’s a tropical that they bring in for the winter but I could be wrong. It was very striking with its big rubbery leaves and this weird fruit? blossom?

I’m already falling behind schedule in getting the Labyrinth Shawl finished before the one-year deadline. Yesterday I knit one measly row instead of the 14 my calculations said I need to do. Sometimes life just gets in the way of all my fun.

Bummer.

Have a good one chickadees.

Redwood doors welcome you to the Heartland Harvest Garden at Powell Gardens. There is a huge bunch of dill hanging from the right hand door. I came home and harvested my small dill patch (one plant) and it’s now drying on our privacy fence. The smell makes me want to bake rye bread. Instead I spent the day in spinning class and made a stop at our favorite bakery on the way home for the rye bread and a few other goodies.

Hope your Saturday sky is blue! Have a great weekend.

While looking for a Saturday Sky photo, I discovered this shot taken earlier this spring of our new swans. We’ve always had swans (as well as ducks and Canada geese) on our ponds until 18 months ago when the original pair were accidentally killed. They insisted on sleeping in the street instead of staying in the pond and were run over by a landscaper who was horrified at what he’d done. He replaced the pair early this spring.

When this was taken, the couple were still getting acclimated to their new home. All had been going well until one of them got too curious about the spillway into the neighboring pond and took a trip over the falls.

There’s no way out of that pond for a bird with clipped wings. For a week the pair were separated by no more than a street width, but it might as well have been a mile. Finally, a rescue was accomplished with the assistance of two guys and a rowboat. All was well in swandom.

Not long after, one of the pair (the male we think) was discovered floating lifeless in the pond. No signs of misadventure or predators, just a mysterious death.

Which leaves us with one lonely swan.  The association is deciding how to fund the cost of  a new mate since they’re fairly expensive. And then there’s the whole will she or won’t she question about accepting a new mate.

In the meantime, our remaining swan has been adopted by one of the resident ducks who has been ostracized by his buddies this spring. He’s taken up residence on the swan pond and most days you can find them cruising the shallows together.

Just shows, friends come in all shapes and sizes.

That happened to me this weekend.

I was innocently admiring some photos of daylilies and followed the author’s link to a previous entry which led me to another entry about shrubs and berries and this absolutely perfect word on the very last line of her post.

callipygian (having a shapely butt)

*For those of you expecting/fearing/hoping to see a picture of my butt to illustrate this post, dream on.

Last week we took a little trip to Iowa for a checkup on Jack’s fake ankle and since we were in the neighborhood, visited the Amana Colonies, a community of seven villages where residents practiced a communal life. United by a common religion known as the Community of True Inspiration, the villagers came to Iowa in 1855 from Germany, after first settling in New York. They built thriving villages where residents received a home, medical care, meals, and schooling for their children. The adults were assigned jobs by the village councils; the men worked as farmers or skilled craftsmen, the women worked in the communal kitchens and tended the gardens.

The communal way of life ended in 1932 in response to modern pressures; the Depression and the desire of the younger villagers to change their way of  life. The villagers received shares in the Amana Society, a profit-sharing corporation which managed the farmland, mills and other businesses. The Amana Church still survives and the Colonies were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

The highlight for Jack was the Amana Furniture Shop and the expert craftsmanship of their grandfather clocks, bedroom sets, rockers, kitchen tables and much more. One bedroom set that I liked would cost about $16,000. Maybe in my next life.

A small walnut dresser in production

After the furniture shop we spent most of our time going through the Heritage Museum, a complex of 3 original buildings where you can view exhibits about the Colonies and their people. No pictures allowed or I’d show you marvelous knit items from the  exhibit on needlework housed in the old schoolhouse below.

The little brown building is the schoolhouse privy

There were gloves and baby bonnets knit in cobweb yarn with seed beads so small they looked like a spot of ink. Men’s knee-length work socks in sturdy brown wool. Many crocheted items as well as quilts.

Both boys and girls went to knitting school where they learned to knit socks for their families and mittens that were sold to provide extra money. The gift shop had a pair of old two-color woolen mittens on display that had a  star pattern on the back and another pattern on the front. Unfortunately the only mittens they had for sale were done in acrylic and were still selling for $35 or $50. Disappointing.

We also saved the Woolen Mill for next time which wasn’t a disappointment for me since I’ve been there before and they concentrate on blankets and other woven goods.

Trellises for growing grapes for wine

The Colonies produced much of what they needed to survive and became known for their fine craftsmanship. They farmed, produced wool and calico, made wine and beer, raised sheep and other livestock. Today it’s an interesting mix of tourist schlock and history.

Actually, our first stop after grabbing lunch was actually this place. Two thumbs up on the maple nut fudge and one thumb up on the peanut butter fudge (mine, all mine).

Then Jack wandered over here and scored something sweet for breakfast the next morning.

It sounds like we ate our way through the colonies. We probably would have but only actually had time to make it to Amana which is the largest village. We saved some food (and history) for next time.

We’ll go back again sometime to the other villages since we’d like to see the communal kitchen in Middle Amana and the agricultural museum in South Amana. We take things in small bites  these days, particularly if it includes fudge!

A tuckered-out Amana resident

This actually was the sky earlier this week, early in the morning as the sun was struggling to break through the clouds that it seems we’ve had forever. We might get one day of sun and then several days of dismal overcast weather and rain. I’m not really complaining because the rain has been great for the garden, particularly the peonies and the clematis. They are soaking up every drop they get which has directly led to this: the first blossom on the Paeonia Suffruticosa Hana Kisoi (tree peony) this year.

It only has 4 blooms which tells me it needs more of some kind of food and less of something else. I always have to look this stuff up, I can’t ever remember from season to season. When this bloom is fully open, it will reach about 9 or 10 inches across. Just a lovely bush.

The rain and chilly temps have discouraged me from spending time out in the garden but I did throw some caladium tubers in the ground as well as in pots on the deck this afternoon. And look, there are pots of lettuce and radishes coming along, both of which need thinning. And a couple of tomato plants, newly planted.

And joy of joy, the Farmers Market opened today. Mostly bedding plants this early, but there I also found fresh asparagus and free range eggs and it looks like there are several new vendors selling bread and pastries this year, which will be sooo good for the waistline.

So that’s the garden to market report this week. More productive than the knitting and at least there’s one pretty picture. Lace knitting continues but it looks like the previous 279 rows so I’ll spare you. Spinning continues but right now it’s like riding a bike with training wheels: only exciting for the kid on the bike.

Have a good weekend chickadees!

That’s all, just a sky.

There really isn’t anything exciting going on around here. Chores and more chores. The spring rains are making the peonies and clematis grow six inches a day and the violets are popping up in new nooks and crannies all the time.  All the container plants have been moved outside and I’m beginning to think about what’s going to get planted where. Oh and I planted lettuce on the deck only to find the squirrels used the pot for a playground. I’ve overseeded it again so we’ll see if anything comes up. It’s early enough I could plant again if I have too.

There’s been some spindle spinning going on and I tried plying my first yarn yesterday. I improvised a lazy kate using our vertical wine rack and a couple of chopsticks. Yeah, not so successful. I have pictures but they’re not exactly action shots and it’s just undyed alpaca, so let your imagination run wild. Actually with a little tinkering the idea might work. Or I could just go buy a lazy kate and get it over with. But that would dip into the spinning wheel fund which is nearly non-existent as it is.

Time for a movie. Have a good weekend, chickadees!