Sunday Ramblings

Summer has thrown a bit of a loop into my normal blogging schedule and I hope you can bear with me for another month anyway. During the summer I help my brother with his white water rafting business. You can see what I am doing if you click on the link on my sidebar under Fun Places. Like any business owner these days, my brother is short-staffed - and his sister comes in very handy - and very cheaply too!

I love to go out and serve the lunch on the side of the river. It's just me and nature before everyone comes up from the river - very wet and laughing their heads off. I serve them up a hot buffet lunch and listen to them talk about jumping off the cliff into the river or being thrown out of the raft. The cliff jumping happens right before the lunch stop - so that is usually the topic of conversation. My brother and the guides wait until everyone is served before they come up and hand me their bowl and give me those smiles that say they are so happy to make someone else happy. I fill their bowl with hot steaming home-made chili and share that moment with them. There was a time - long ago - when I use to be a white-water rafting guide for my brother - and I know what has been going on out there on that beautiful river!

These are pictures of the lunchsite and the lunch spread. I normally don't serve the lunch on the trailer - but I had just had a medical procedure on my back and I couldn't carry everything down the hill and set it up around the firepit - and then carry it all back up again. The only thing that gets lighter after the lunch is served is the huge cooler - and maybe me (I might have lost an ounce or two carrying all that stuff around). So I opted for spreading the lunch out on the trailer instead.

Most summers I have lived at my brother's place in our little 13' trailer. (This picture was taken on one of the Florida keys on our 2006 trip to Key West, Florida.)

Last year I told my brother that I couldn't help this summer - I wanted to stay home with The Man and swim in the pool and write and knit. But circumstances have changed all that. His full-time girl lasted a week before she went back to her fiance - and it has been cold and rainy so far this summer and I haven't been in our pool yet! My little trailer sits out at my brother's - but I have yet to spend a night in it. However - he needs me? I go. If I'm not helping out on the side of the river - I'm staying back at the building and showing off his pottery. Have a look at what my brother does during the winter months under Pretty Places. I think he is an amazing artist and I'm very proud of him. His pottery showroom is also where everyone meets to go rafting. It comes in handy.

As for the writing and the knitting? The knitting is happening - the writing isn't. My book sits untouched at chapter 14. In my head I am writing it - but it isn't getting typed out. The need to write eats away at me constantly. Perhaps when things settle down.

The knitting though!

Have a look at my sidebar at Big Blue Barn Knits! The Man and I have been working on getting my teddy bears up on Etsy.com. I've got 3 bears for sale on Etsy.com now and I will be putting up more. We are also working on putting the thrummed slippers and mittens I make on Etsy.com and also the Thrummed Knitting Kits I designed for those knitters out there who want to make the slippers and mittens themselves. I wrote a pattern and built the kits with yarn and wool roving. I also designed a slipper for little girls that has heart beads around the ankle. Those kits include the beads as well as the yarn and roving.

If you want to put a Big Blue Barn Knits button on your blog, here are some instructions for a few different blog types.

Now - one more thing before I go and grab my knitting and sit out on the deck.

I'm sorry to do this to you - but every once in a while I am going to ask you to throw a vote my way on the Blogger's Choice Awards. You can only vote once - so once you have it done you can forget about it and move on.

I hate begging and grovelling - but I will do it here quite easily because none of you can see the red creeping up my neck and taking over my face. You can't see the cowering look in my eyes or my inability to meet yours as I ask you to vote for me.

I know the site is very hard to navigate - but if you follow the instructions in this post - you should be fine. I've heard otherwise from people who are not so techno-savvy - and my heart does go out to you if you are one of these people (I am).

That's it for my Sunday Ramblings. I'll get back to the story as soon as possible.