Time passes quickly

I can't believe it's another weekend gone. This week has been really wild. Skylar's visit has been the tonic I needed to get out of the terrible funk I had sunk to. Be careful what you wish for! I'm out of practice, keeping up with an active, precocious, smart, life loving, 8 year old is keeping me busy. I have managed to get a lot of plying done on Thursday, and even beaded yarn as Skylar loves watching the beads and the control of a machine. She is a great starter of projects but going the distance isn't her strong point.
We have been to the pound to "look" for Mo, no luck. I didn't see anything that would tempt me into adopting an animal (no cute kittens yet), although they did have some great looking puppies, they held no appeal for me.
I tried dyeing on Friday. Andrea was here weeding, Greg was here mowing and I had Skylar "doing projects" which I assumed would leave me able to get lots of work done. It took all day to dye 5 pounds. Four of those pounds were cashmere in Newport Rocks, yeah, and one pound of cash/silk in Winter for a special order.
Poor Andrea isn't familiar with weeding, so plant identification was my job. Greg didn't know that the whole embankment is covered in Lavender plants, I had to go, quickly, an enlighten him as well.....however my foot ware at the moment, as I ran to protect my precious lavender, was house slippers. I of course was tripped up and both feet landed smack into a bunch of Thistle plants, unshod. I've gotten most of the larger thorns out of my feet but fear that I'm several lavender plants down, and after our tour yesterday know I have several small thorns still in place.
After have exhausted "our" time and energy on Friday, I got a call just as dinner was done. Diane (one of TFC's spinners) called to remind me of the "Movies on the Water Front", downtown St. Helens. This was the first Friday of a summer long program to show movies out doors. This week the selections were "Singing in the Rain" and "Roman Holiday". I don't think I have ever seen Singing in the Rain in total, so was looking forward to it. However there were technical difficulties and a bored 8 year old. Diane and I sat spinning and visiting with the occasional "Stay where I can see you please". Skylar had lots of running and playing fun, with new friends, and of course the normal negotiations over what sugary snacks could be purchased with money that neither of us have. So I've still not seen Singing in the Rain all the way through but have caught onto more of the story. It got progressively colder. even though we were both wrapped up! I'm usually the last person to feel the cold, but towards the end of the first movie neither Diane or I could feel our fingers never mind the fiber, so we made it through only the first movie. Skylar (she really likes the heated seat feature of my car) and I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for Saturday's picnic then came home and made hot chocolate. We fell into bed just after mid-night.

Yesterday we went for a behind the scene's tour of Pittock Mansion. I loved it, Skylar did well, it was harder for Becky, as I was in my "MOM mode". "Don't touch", "put your hands in your pockets", "stay with the group", "no, only one cookie", "no, I said one", brought back the more unpleasant memories of being a daughter of mine. We started our fun day with a picnic at the Rose Garden with Emma, Don, Mark and the visiting Elizabeth, Emma's sister. We were joined by a couple of Don and Emma's friends, (I didn't catch their names as I was sighting Skylar and asking her to stay where I could see her, "No we have to stay together", "yes we will go to the gardens when we are finished eating", so I never got the names and Becky took Skylar through the Rose Garden, which I'm sorely sorry to have missed, but glad of the 10 mins. of visiting with the lovely young people).
Skylar had a fit of homesickness last night and came into bed with me. We read "Dinatopia" together until fatigued enough that neither one of us could hold the book up. She wriggles and kicks (surprisingly hard) and talks in her sleep. She isn't large, tall, but not large, and it is a queen size bed, I still can't believe she could shift me onto the edge of the bed. I'm so sore and tired from fighting for space and blankets all night, that today I'm declaring "Restful Sunday". I'm going to knit on the front porch and think lovely thoughts, and may even plant the plants I bought a week ago, now that the garden has empty spots in it. Greg is coming over to finish the mowing (he ran out of fuel most of the way finished, which meant a trip to the filling station, I was also out of propane in several tanks so took care of all three, but this meant I had to stop mid-dye and turn off pots making the dyeing process longer and not as nice, plus loading Skylar into and out of the car, which all added to time passing quickly, not in a good way).
I'm really out of practice, and I'm having a good time, I'm sure we are both ready for a relaxing day. I have suggested that Skylar makes a play house out of a section of the barn with all the old furniture stored there. If she ever wakes today and gets restless that's where we will be!
In addition to all the fun, I've been suffering from allergies, a walk through the forest next to our farm on Thursday and through the meadows in between really got them going. Greg mowing and me running through waist high grass really kick started the season for me. A trip to the Doctors next week before Black Sheep will be in order, as I can't imagine what Black Sheep will be like for me if I don't have some protection. Audrey still remembers guiding me back to the RV because my eyes were so bad (and scratched enough that pieces were coming off) that I couldn't see. Audrey won't be there and I really don't want to repeat that not so fun part of Black Sheep.
I'm off to start my knitting and have my first cuppa. I've found a small ball (two ounces, 156 yards) of beaded Yak/Silk in the production room that I'm going to knit a small bag from. I wanted to get some knitting done while on the picnic to celebrate National Knit Out day but those plans where dashed, what was I thinking? Again those with small children are laughing right now.
I have been taking pictures so one day this page will be festooned with a pictorial account of our fun. See Becky's blog for pictures, she has high speed and lives alone.....