The Egg and Us
Hi!
I'm thrilled to report that
we have our first egg from our very own
poultry! The chickens (can't call them chicks any longer) laid
an egg.
At least one of them did and I've no idea who is the early bird.
It is
a smallish egg, as pullet (young hen) eggs are supposed to be.
And it
was laid in the middle of the outside run, not in one of the nice nest
boxes that were built for the purpose. Common wisdom about chickens
says that it takes hens a while to figure out what nest boxes are for.
We haven't dared crack it yet though we understand that early eggs
can
be yolkless, double shelled, double yolked, etc. as the hen anatomy
gears up for production.
The other news is that the
rugs Tom has been working on for about a
year are almost done. These are the natural color linen chenille
bath
mats that are gorgeous with subtle maroon and marine blue linen
accents. He finished the linen weft (we think - we can't remember
if
there was another cone of the stuff around or not and are turning the
house upside down to just make sure). He is already designing
his next
project; double woven lap blankets to be done in camel and silk and
mohair with the weave based on how the musical notes go in two waltzes.
(This is a variation of the classic way to "Name-draft" a pattern based
on letters in a name or phrase, but he plans to use music notes
instead.)
I'm learning to crochet
and am making button necklaces (apologies to
those of you who have already heard me drone on and on about buttons
and
crocheting). All the button necklaces are in preparation for
learning
to make clam shell necklaces. I've pounds and pounds of clam
shells
tumbling (fortunately we like to eat clam chowder!) and am learning
to
drill holes in them using a flex shaft drill so that the shells don't
shatter, overheat, or give off dust. I won't go into details,
but if
you are interested in the button collection efforts or the beginning
crocheting stitches or the necklaces in their various iterations or
in
polishing/drilling the clams or recipies on what to do with more clams
than the two of us can really eat, holler and I'll bore you with a
step
by step progress report!
There is a definite touch
of fall in the air and the crowds are slowly
evaporating, though I could hardly get in the general store today
because of all the stacks of Sunday New York Times and Boston Globes.
It is a fair gauge of how crowded the island is by how many Sunday
papers the store has for sale. The sunsets are also getting more
pink-purple and it is more windy, the chickens sit up on the swings
and
perches in their run and enjoy the cool breeze - all "fall is coming"
signs! Which means it is about time to check all the hurricane
emergency supplies, just in case one wanders up here. That sounds
like
a good project for tomorrow!
Katherine
