Ha Ha Ha, Strange Neighbor!

I received my first W2W2 envelope, from Margery, yesterday and saved it as a reward for working on my sketchbook today. Here it is, with a special van Gogh card and a yarn with his colors spun by her, some silk tops, a lovely letter, car color chart, (I had fewer than these color choices for my yarns when I started weaving, believe it or not!), a poem by her friend, a cute clothing label, and a lovely notebook with a handwoven cloth cover.

I love the card, from Minneapolis Institute of Art, as I was just reading yet another psychoanalyst's version of van Gogh's life, where he discussed the olive groves and Vincent's identification with Christ. I believe the yarns in the woven piece are handspun by Margery, but they are very very fine, and I love the weave structure that has plain weave areas and longer float areas to create texture; I'm going to ask her for the draft. I can just see it in soft gray wool, something just for me!! (The colors in the notebook cover are a little more saturated and richer, and overall, a cool blue.)

For more W2W2 links, please check the bottom line of the post linked above.

* * * * *

I did work on my sketchbook today, and I finished a few pages, but the majority are still being worked on, and two are totally blank. Because I chose the theme "Strange Neighbors" and such strange folks as Vincent and I are on my mind, I may be sticking too close to the theme and making the book as a whole... boring. Tomorrow, I shall concentrate on just the visuals, I think.

* * * * *

I know some of you have been experiencing mind-blowingly weird weather and in some cases dangerous extremes. While not to the same degree, this morning I heard on the radio we may be having winter-like temperatures this week; Jan/Feb is the hottest time of the year here, so, weird!!

This is the view I now see when I open the front door. In September, after I came home, I cleared the entire area above the retaining wall, (it goes about thrice as wide further to the left, and twice as deep as the patio, to the boundary,) including the viney weed, and dropped the rubbish down the retaining wall, until the heap was as high as the wall.

All that rubbish has flattened, some of it turning into OK compost perhaps, but the heap contains weedy bulbs and seeds, so they will be discarded. In fact, some weed grew out of it, as well as some growing back from above, and now I have a nice continuous,,, thingie! (I have more of the yellowy shrub all the way across, now partially obscured.)

Planning, looking at, or posting pictures of our place right now feels like binge-eating before a diet. I am so looking forward to this fall/winter's mad gardening, although I will do some tidying between now and May. I think. Unless I find more interesting things to do. Like making a new warp.

Half and half again, with Doni's cashmere-mix; beige on one side and pale terracotta on the other.