Under the pier at Myrtle Beach

Now that my life is getting more settled again, it’s time to get back to blogging.  Since I last wrote, we moved out of the house and have finally hit the road in our new home.  Frank and I have a travelblog set up at artfulvagabonds where we’ll put most of the travel stuff.  I’ll be back here with painting and knitting and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Just a quick note about where in the world I am:  near Dillon, South Carolina.  We were hoping to be out of the snowbelt by now, but it actually snowed here this morning (although it didn’t stay on the ground at all).  After the warm sunshine we had at Myrtle Beach on Sunday, the cold winds and snow have been less appreciated.  Maybe these hospitable South Carolinians are just trying to make us feel at home….

You know how sometimes you can be so wrong about stuff?  We arrived at 3:20, somehow managed to find a parking spot, and headed for the end of the line, which was by that time a good long way out on the sidewalk of the rec centre where the clinic was being held.  About an hour later, we made it to the building’s door and took our numbers (mine is in the photo above, and I do believe that they really *did* start with 001).

Around 5:00 we decided to go to a nearby sushi place for supper and resume our lining-up after that (by this time the organizers were encouraging people to do that — well, not specifically to eat sushi, but to leave and return a few hours later).  As you can see from the sign above, the clinic was to run from 2:30 to 8:30.  The buzz in the line was that at around 3:30 they started turning people away because they realized they’d never get through them all in time.  We got our shots at around 8:45, and there were still plenty of people behind us. Clinics were set up in a few different places around the city, and the story was much the same at all of them.

I’m so glad that we now have our shots, and don’t have to worry about that as we travel around.  I’m so glad that we live in a place that has enough vaccine for anyone who wants the inoculation (so they say, at any rate), and gives it away for free.  I’m so glad that, in spite of the long waits, almost everyone in the line-up (including all the little kids, who certainly had reasons to get cranky) stayed in good spirits for the whole five or six hour wait.  I’m so glad that the people working the clinic were willing to stay several hours later than they’d planned so that everyone could get their shots.  All that *and* sushi.  Not the way I’d envisioned spending my Monday afternoon and evening, and I have to say that I was quite happy to finally get home at about 9:30, but, all in all, a much better experience than it might have been.

We hardly got used to the "For Sale" sign....

We’ve long been planning to sell our house, buy a fifth-wheel and travel around the States and Canada, painting and photographing to our hearts’ content.  We finally took matters in hand and listed the house on Oct. 16th, and on Oct. 17th we had the house sold.  Whew.  Still makes my head spin!

Our last day here is Nov. 20th, so we are frantically packing (house, barn and workshop), rounding up storage, looking at potential trucks and trailers, sorting out how we’re going to have internet access while we’re on the road, figuring out where we want to actually *go* and in what order, and just generally getting ready for a year or so of travelling.

I’m *so* looking forward to having this in-between bit behind us, and the open road in front of us….

A view from the road

Last weekend my friend Elisabeth had to deliver two llamas to a farm in Quebec’s Eastern Townships (about a four and a half hour drive from her place), so, hoping to get some photos of spectacular fall colours, I went with her.  The colours weren’t at their peak yet, but the rolling hills and fields are scenic at any time of year.  It was a very windy day, so by the time the colour is at its finest, there may not be any leaves left on the trees, anyway!

This is Camilla, who didn't know yet that we were bringing her two new friends

I took quite a few photos and will put them into my “painting ideas” folder for future reference.  I knit an entire scarf on the drive.  Elisabeth bought me a yummy lunch at St. Hubert (a chicken restaurant chain) and fed me pastry and pumpkin pie back at her place.  We passed by “Le Ranch de Spaghetti” in Magog — haven’t you ever wondered where spaghetti is grown?  (And if they harvest it early, is it spaghettini?  If they leave it in the fields longer, does it grow into lasagna noodles?)  We marvelled at the price of gas in Quebec (about twenty cents a litre more than here in Ontario).

Tiffany and Hot Chocolate in their new home

I brought home some more of Elisabeth’s custom-spun yarn (can’t remember whether it’s llama or alpaca), and will be making another hat like Amelia’s.  I’ll write down what I do this time, so that I can share the pattern.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend away from it all.  Thank you, Elisabeth!

Fields, 20 x 28" acrylic on textured canvas

I had some fun this morning making a larger-than-my-usual painting, and I even used house-painting brushes for most of it, which seemed somehow weirdly wrong.  They worked well to cover the canvas, though, and I have some other large-ish canvases, so I’ll be using them again.    Originally I’d been planning a much more orange picture, but it wanted to be this way.  I didn’t feel like arguing….

Yummy!

When our local bulk foods store introduced tamari almonds as a new product, they offered it at a sale price and so, naturally, I bought some.  Frank and I both liked them, but when I went back for more, the introductory offer was over, and plain, raw almonds were on sale, instead.  Well.

These are so easy to make, and so good!  Here’s how it’s done:

1 lb shelled, raw almonds

1/3 cup tamari sauce (or soy sauce)

kosher salt to taste (optional)

Place the almonds in a bowl and pour tamari sauce over them.  Mix it around well, and let stand for at least several hours (I left them overnight).  Stir occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Scoop almonds out of the bowl with a slotted spoon (maybe even a runcible spoon, if you’re a fan of  The Owl and the Pussycat, or know a Dolomphious Duck) and spread them evenly on a cookie sheet.  Reserve the remaining tamari sauce.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and shake them up to keep them from sticking to the sheet.   Sprinkle the remaining tamari sauce over the almonds and return to the oven for a further nine to ten minutes.

Let the almonds cool on the cookie sheet and if you like, toss with a little kosher or other coarse salt.  (Good luck with the letting them cool bit; I discovered that they taste pretty nice warm, too!)

"Edge of the Woods", 10 x 12" acrylic on textured canvas

Well, yesterday it finally happened: I had to turn on the heat when I came downstairs in the morning.  First time this autumn, and certainly not the last, although today it is much warmer again and no extra heating is required.  The forecast for the rest of the week looks pretty moderate, in fact, so it may be (may it be!) a long while before I have to use the furnace again.

My painting is another fall one — have I mentioned that I just love the fall colours?    But I’m starting to think of snow scenes to use for this year’s Christmas card….

“Edge of the Woods” is available to purchase here.

Super quick to knit, and the stitch pattern is easily memorized

This is a quick, super-warm knit done in a lopi-style yarn (in this case it’s a custom yarn of 80% alpaca, 5% merino and 15% bamboo, so it’s snuggly *and* luxurious!).

I used 6 oz (170 gm) yarn and US 11 (8 mm) needles to make a scarf 7 x 70″ (18 x 180 cm).

Please let me know if there are any mistakes or unclear bits in the pattern. Download the PDF and enjoy!

Quick Easy Peasy Scarf

This is my desk

Today I felt like posting a picture of my desk.  What does your desk look like?