Tag Archives: everything else

Today’s topic is a little out of left field, but this has been on my mind lately. Do you ever lie about your age?

It had never occurred to me to lie about my age until recently. I think I look great for my age, and I’ve finally started to appreciate that hard-earned wisdom that comes with experience.

But during an encounter with a flirty younger man in hotel bar a few weeks ago I started dreading the question (which actually never came up). I’m not sure exact numbers matter overmuch among adults but friends of mine that use online dating sites tell me that the men that turn up in their searches are almost invariably seeking women that are at least a couple of years younger than themselves.

Lying about my age probably isn’t an option for me. I’ve blogged about all my birthdays for years so a quick google search would out me in about 15 seconds. But also, I’m just kind of terrible at lying. Keeping track of my new birth year would be near impossible and I would fold like a cheap camera if anyone cross-examined me on the year I graduate from high school or college. Math on the fly is not my strong suit.

So how about you? Have you ever fudged your age? Fess up, y’all!

*I’m posting a picture of myself because someone asked in the comments the other day why there are never pics of me here and also because we’ve had a lot of text only posts here lately.

I’ve received so many emails and comments lately asking about how things are going with the farm that I thought I should take a moment to address where things currently stand. But first  I want to emphasize that I know that all of these questions are coming from a kind, caring place. I totally get that. And I love that y’all are invested enough in our little farm to go to the trouble of writing to inquire.

At the end of April, the animals and I moved from the property where we had spent four glorious year. I was bummed to leave, because that particular slice of heaven had been a magical, healing place for me and so many others, but there were many reasons why it was time to move on.

Probably the most important reason was that I suffered a health crisis in 2012 that nearly did me in and completely wrecked my body. I was incapable of physically running the farm by myself anymore. And the truth is, that even though I have recovered much of what I lost, my health is unreliable in the extreme even now. I have super-fantastic days in which everything is easy and I soar through the world. Sometimes those days turn into weeks!

But the trouble with auto-immune diseases is that they can lurk under the surface and pop up at the most inconvenient times.

So my health was issue number one.

Issue number two was the fact that the property I was leasing was for sale. I wasn’t entirely sure the price was right, and I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready to commit to purchasing it, so I passed on my option to buy. It was one of those heartbreaking decisions that kills you even though you know it’s the right thing.

Finding the right place for me and the farm was going to be difficult, particularly given that I was very specific about where I wanted to be and I had several unbreakable commitments this summer which I knew would prevent any serious house hunting. So I decided to take a break from stressing over this and just get through the summer.

I am now starting to think about what I want in my next farm, where I want it to be, how much I will be able to handle on my own, etc. But I am not in any rush and I won’t be hurried into anything. Two years ago, not having a definite plan or knowing where I’ll be living in a few months would have freaked. me. out. But getting ill has changed me in many profound ways, including giving me the gift of being able to live in the moment.

I hate to repeat the cliche-iest of cliches, but it true: right now is the only thing we can be sure of. I have learned to appreciate the hell out of right now, y’all. (More on this soon.)

There is one other BIG thing that has influenced my thinking on all this, one other big reason that I am not in such a hurry to get everything sorted. When I was sick last year, my family was amazingly supportive. And, while they were being supportive, something amazing happened. I remembered how much I enjoy being around them. Spending time in Texas for medical care really made me appreciate how lucky I am to have my mom and my sister.

So, for now, I will continue to spend about half my time in Virginia with my sheep and dogs and pigs and half my time in Texas with my family.

It’s not a perfect solution by any means, but it’s perfect for me right now.

For most of you, this whole post was way more information that you wanted. (I won’t hold it against you if you skipped over that great wall o’text.) But for those of you who have been part of our farm family, I thought you deserved an update. I’ll be headed back to Virginia soon and I am so excited see the animals and my friends. You’ll soon see some more photos of sheep. I bet you can’t wait almost as much as I can’t.

It has been so long since I wrote a serious, thinky blog post that I’m not entirely sure to begin. There are a million thoughts and ideas bouncing around my head right now, all jockeying for position and demanding to go first.

This summer has been completely chaotic for me but not necessarily in a negative way. I feel like I’ve been traveling non-stop due to business obligations, which is completely exhausting but also the best way I know to get re-inspired about yarn, knitting, textiles and all the other components of my work.

Meeting craftspeople who are excited by what we’re going at Juniper Moon fills me with joy, and seeing what they are working on, what’s inspiring them, is a gift that I treasure long after I’ve returned home.

It reminds me to be grateful for this life I get to lead. While there are certainly times when I get frustrated and cranky, and I work very hard, it’s hard to call it “work” in any real sense. I’m not roofing houses in the Texas sun or performing some mindless task a million times a day with no end in site. I am so incredibly lucky, and a reminder of that now and then goes a long way to minimizing my cranky days.

I’ve also been doing a lot of what Joss Whedon calls “filling the tanks” lately. Reading new magazines and authors. Listening to new music that’s outside my comfort zone. Watching foreign film on Netflix. Researching the traditional textiles of other cultures. All of this will be informing where JMF’s commercial line goes from here, sometimes overtly, sometimes not.

I’ve got so much more to say on this subject but first I want to here from you. Where do you find your creative inspiration? Feel free to be as specific (or general) as you like, and links are always welcomed!

It’s my favorite day of the week, you guys! It’s Tell Me Something Good Tuesday! I want to hear it!

I’ll go first. I’m so floored by the response to the digital patterns release and giveaway. I was very conservative in this release because I really wanted to make sure that we were giving you what you wanted, but it looks like you want more! So we’ll be working on releasing more patterns soon!

I made up this graphic last night to show some of my favorite of the patterns available for download and just wanted to share!

What good thing is happening in your life today?

I am back from the U.K.! Kris and I had an incredible time. I fell completely in love with Edinburgh– the weather, the architecture, the history. It truly is one of the world’s most beautiful cities. I will definitely be going back some day.

As expected, I am now in full panic mode because I got so behind on all my work while I was away, and there is a mountain of things I must get through by the end of the week.

While I run around like I’m on fire, enjoy these pictures!

We rented a lovely little flat in New Town for a week. It was really perfect and very affordable. If you’re going to Scotland, let me know and I’ll send you the details.

There are so many beautiful historic buildings here that it’s nearly impossible to take a bad picture.

The weather was positively glorious while we were there. They were in the middle of a “heatwave”; the high got all the way up to 73 one day.

We didn’t have one disappointing meal the entire time we were there.

We went to a private whisky club and sampled some really fancy whisky, which was pretty much wasted on us.

We both tried the haggis. It wasn’t bad, but definitely was not my favorite.

The best yogurt I’ve ever eaten.

Best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. (I sort of famously don’t like sandwiches, but this was exceptional.) Brie, tomato jam and rocket.

We had afternoon tea at Preston Field House, a very swanky hotel.

The tea was nice, but we were really there to see the Highland cows they keep on the property.

This is Harold.

I have always wanted Highland cows and Harold didn’t change my mind.

We spent two days at the National Museum of Scotland. It’s magnificent and free!

They have far and away the best textiles collection I’ve ever seen.

This is a fulling machine ( like the one Jack builds in World Without End).

I love this photograph of a woman knitting while gathering peat.

We saw lots of men in kilts. I think I mentioned in an early post that it was graduation week in Edinburgh, so there were lots of young graduates in kilts being taken out to lunch by proud parents.

I was really knocked out by these kilts! These guys are the bellmen at the Hotel Missoni.

On our last full day in Edinburgh we walked  ten miles! And I have proof!

I have at least one more post worth of pictures, unless y’all have been bored to death already.

We were down for a little over an hour for unscheduled website maintenance. Basically, we’ve posted so many pictures that we ran out of room and when I went to backup and upgrade the website, things went topsy turvey. But Web Shepherd Michelle came to my rescue on this late Sunday evening and fixed everything right as rain. So maybe I didn’t need to alert Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook about our techno-woes.

Back to our regular blog posts and your favorite, pictures of lambs!

The flight on Virgin Atlantic was uneventful, although I did not sleep as intended.

Instead, I watch a Matt Damon movie about the evils of fracking. Then I watched some movie starring Ryan Gosling, and I have to save, I get it now. He’s dreamy.

Hello, England!

When my friend Kris’s husband planned our trip, he said that the best way for us to get from Heathrow to King’s Cross Station was to take the Heathrow express train to Paddington Station. He assured us repeatedly that this would be easy! And fast! And fun!

And it might have been if we hadn’t had ALL THE LUGGAGE IN THE WORLD with us. ALL. THE. LUGGAGE.

And did I mention that there seems to be an epidemic of broken elevators in the U.K. this week?

This very kind man took pity on me and carried my luggage up the first flight of stairs we encountered.

This sign was in Paddington Station. Lionel Richey and J-Lo? Who knew those to even knew each other?

Oh look! There is another poor man carrying my luggage up another flight of stairs in another station! Next time, we’re taking a cab.

The train trip to Scotland was actually quite lovely. We had reserved seats with a table in between us, and we were served a lovely lunch. By this time, we’d been awake for about 36 hours and we were getting punchy.

By the time we got to our rented flat in Edinburgh, we were ready to collapse. Which is exactly what I did. I laid down on my bed without even taking my coat off and slept for 18 hours.

We woke up at noon on Tuesday and spent the afternoon getting our bearings and taking a tour of Edinburgh Castle.

The city is very small and manageable; we’ve walked everywhere since arriving. (My Fitbit Flex  register over 14,500 steps, about 6 and a half miles, in just one day!)

Today we walked, shopped, ate, and walked some more.

Look at me trying new things!

We visited the most amazing vintage clothing store called Armstrong’s. There were racks and racks of cashmere sweaters, giving us big ideas about the all the pillows we could make. But we reminded each other about the mountain of luggage we already had to haul back, and limited our purchases to two silk scarves.

It’s graduation week in Edinburgh and everywhere you go there are handsome young men in kilts showing their families around.

On the way home, we passed an amazing cheese shop. Dinner tonight was three Scottish cheeses, oatcakes and apples.

More as soon as I have enough pictures for a post!

Okay, y’all! I need your Scotland recommendations. GO!