Unexpected travels

The last few days have been quite unexpected. I had planned to fly home from Convergence on Saturday. But Saturday morning, as I was prepping for my flight home, I got a text telling me that a close relative was seriously ill. So instead of flying home, I caught the next flight to Ithaca, NY. I spent two days visiting him at the hospital.

Then, since I was in New York already, I caught a bus to New York City to visit my friend Edouard. He and I have been close friends since we were twelve – we met at a summer program between seventh and eighth grades, and have been friends ever since. I hadn’t seen him in several years, so it was delightful to spend some time with him.

Yesterday I flew home, and had a window seat! So here is what I think is Long Island, as we took off from JFK Airport:

While landing, we flew up the San Francisco Bay. Here are the pools near the Dumbarton Bridge, where brine is evaporated into salt (who knew we had a local salt-making industry?)

And here is the San Mateo Bridge.

B. picked me up at the airport, and I finally made my way home. What an adventure!

I got some sad news during my travels…a good friend, Joy Schulenberg, passed away totally unexpectedly. She was so full of life and energy, and passed so suddenly, that I’m still trying to comprehend that she’s gone. At least she didn’t suffer: she had a heart attack and died almost instantly. She was an avid fiber artist (spinning and knitting mostly) and world traveler – she had spent years living in India, helping her wives Lena and Nyondo tend to the Tibetan refugee community in Rewalsar, a small pilgrimage town. She will be greatly missed.

I’m planning to weave a memorial piece for Joy, once I’ve had a chance to process a bit.

Given all the travel and upheaval, I didn’t feel up to working today. So I took a day off and got back to the loom. I need to replace the dysfunctional alpaca/wool warp with a mercerized cotton one, which means taking the old warp off the beam, beaming the new warp, and then tying onto the remnants of the old warp. However, I decided to resley the reed first, going from a reed with 15 dents (slots) per inch to 30 dents, in hopes of eliminating tangling when I go to weave.

A 30-dent reed is very fine. The gaps between the wires are about the same width as the eye of a needle…definitely not for the faint of heart! But I’m making progress, as you can see:

I stupidly forgot to include the reed in the photo, so it’s difficult to appreciate how fine it is. Next time! I’ve got about six more hours of sleying to go, so there will be plenty of time for another photo.

Finally, if you’re wondering what the cats have been up to, I can tell you: hunting. Here’s a video of Tigress, making off with a freshly killed sheep, aka, my brand-new (and expensive!) wool sweater. All hail the Mighty Huntress!