Sticking my head up
It has been a busy month. My mom was here, then my friend of 20 years (this year!) for a long girl's weekend in Hill Country, then another friend from IL. I loved having visitors, but am looking forward to my own schedule for a bit.
The Hill Country trip was particularly wonderful. A few days of nothing with excellent company, good wine and great conversations. Having a friend who still gets you after 20 years and who has known you for all of your so called "adult" years is really a gift. We reminisced about all of our drug addled years and the folks from that time who we lost touch with. We even found a guy I have missed so much (and who when last heard from was in the throes of terrible heroin addiction) online; doing well, working for a non-profit and still making music. I have very fond memories of time spent in the back of a beat up civic with him and 2! other people on our impromptu way to Virginia Beach from DC after a show at the 9:30 club. I had not a dime in my pocket and it was the only time I've ever shoplifted; hunger drove me to candy bars in gas station minimarts. The only tape we had was Metallica's Ride the Lightening which was looped for THE ENTIRE DRIVE. We slept out on the beach marvelled at the LSD enhanced night sky and we had to physically restrain D. from swimming in the sea. The waves were big and none of us felt much like lifesavers at that particular moment. Anyway, it was good to see he's still out there!
I just ordered a bunch of seeds to start a dyer's garden. I found out that the hibiscus in my backyard is actually an excellent dye plant. Good thing as I've had a couple of mason jars of hibiscus flowers fermenting out back for the past two months. Other plants to be fodder for all the wool I'm spinning: indigo, coreopsis tinctura, woad, marigolds, marjoram, hollyhock, tansy, weld, cosmos, purple basil and bronze fennel. Bonus is that most of these plants will not take much water and I've got a bed of azaleas, which aren't worth the water they need, just the right size to fit this all in.
The Hill Country trip was particularly wonderful. A few days of nothing with excellent company, good wine and great conversations. Having a friend who still gets you after 20 years and who has known you for all of your so called "adult" years is really a gift. We reminisced about all of our drug addled years and the folks from that time who we lost touch with. We even found a guy I have missed so much (and who when last heard from was in the throes of terrible heroin addiction) online; doing well, working for a non-profit and still making music. I have very fond memories of time spent in the back of a beat up civic with him and 2! other people on our impromptu way to Virginia Beach from DC after a show at the 9:30 club. I had not a dime in my pocket and it was the only time I've ever shoplifted; hunger drove me to candy bars in gas station minimarts. The only tape we had was Metallica's Ride the Lightening which was looped for THE ENTIRE DRIVE. We slept out on the beach marvelled at the LSD enhanced night sky and we had to physically restrain D. from swimming in the sea. The waves were big and none of us felt much like lifesavers at that particular moment. Anyway, it was good to see he's still out there!
I just ordered a bunch of seeds to start a dyer's garden. I found out that the hibiscus in my backyard is actually an excellent dye plant. Good thing as I've had a couple of mason jars of hibiscus flowers fermenting out back for the past two months. Other plants to be fodder for all the wool I'm spinning: indigo, coreopsis tinctura, woad, marigolds, marjoram, hollyhock, tansy, weld, cosmos, purple basil and bronze fennel. Bonus is that most of these plants will not take much water and I've got a bed of azaleas, which aren't worth the water they need, just the right size to fit this all in.