Soapwort

 

Tattered

 

The May Report and Catch Up

At the end of January, while outside playing with Conner, I slipped and damaged my ankle—dislocated it and broke three bones. Now the ankle is held together with a metal plate and several screws. After the surgery I was forbidden to put any weight on it for ten weeks. I've had two months of physical therapy, and now I can walk a bit with a cane. I'm told it may take a year or so to get back to close to normal.

Lacecap hydrangea

Now, in May, I am finally getting back to some of my regular activities—I can wash dishes, make the bed, and do laundry—fun, fun, fun. I just can't stand up for more than about ten minutes.

Oxeye daisies

Sitting on the ground in the cold waiting for someone to come and pick me up after breaking my ankle, I thought some profound thoughts. One was that time is short and I had better get on with doing those things I have always wanted to do. I've always wanted a studio where I could make my crafty messes. The original plan for the house above Heck Creek included a largish area downstairs for this, but when the plan needed to be downsized, the studio was lost. I talked things over with the Ralph, and we decided we could go ahead and build a separate studio. In May the Ralph and his friend, Jerry, rented a track-hoe and began the excavation. Hopefully we can get the foundation poured and the block work done in June.

Conner's gotcha day was in May. We've had him for a year now. In mid-May we had a visit to the bird feeder from a bear. Conner got excited and very loud. For about a week afterwards, Conner would bark at every sound he heard all night long—we had some interrupted sleep and lots of admonishments for him to be a “quiet dog, quiet dog”.

I'm back to making handmade books. I've tried to start a few in the past months, but there are just some things I couldn't do sitting down like cutting book board, making signatures, and making book cloth. Here's my version of the Handmade Book Club May project— a small sketch book with spring leaf binding, a dyed cork fabric cover, and stud closure.

spine

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