I still haven't figured out who we need to appease to get some rain around here. This is a summary from a Texas-based meteorologist's Facebook page:
San Antonio...
March 2011 was the 2nd driest March at San Antonio with 0.01
inches of rain... and the 12th driest October to March... with
4.22 inches of rain from October 2010 to March 2011. January
to March 2011 rainfall was the 40th driest January to March
at San Antonio since 1871... with 3.16 inches of rain... 2.14
inches below normal for January to March.
The worst drought in 44 years, or so this news story says. West Texas is on fire, with the latest fire already having burned half a million acres. No fires (yet) near San Antonio but it is so dry. I am watering the new shrubs and my pots by hand. This weekend I am going to buy some soaker hoses, which we are allowed to use under current water restrictions. I am going to have to think about rock gardens. Or carpet. I have decided not to put in a vegetable garden, even in pots.
Other droughts show signs of ending. I did a crepe paper collage of the scene I described a couple of entries back, of a spring green tree and a cardinal on a wire against the sky. Now to reimagine it as a tapestry. This one might go on my big floor loom, and that would be the first time I put a warp on that one. The one I have is the larger one in this picture, which is from a catalog. I am used to working on the smaller size, which is the 24" wide model. I bought the 40" model, which was only about $40 more, figuring it would be more versatile. Which it will be, but silly me has been a bit intimidated about putting a warp on it. The first thing I have to do (tonight maybe) is hold a ruler against the top horizontal board and the lower horizontal board and mark the inches. It's the same process as putting a warp on the smaller loom, but the larger size of the frame might make it (or me) clumsier. But I won't know til I give it a try. The size of the collage I did will be a good size to work this tapestry, I think, giving me room to work the techniques I want for the leaves and for the cardinal. And I am thinking of weaving all of it -- leaves on the trees, bird, and sky -- in shapes. That is, even if the sky will be blends of light grays and blues, I can weave it in wedge-shaped sections, which will add some movement to the large light gray area. The idea of weaving the abstracted green area of the tree gave me the idea -- I will weave abstracted leaf shapes, and continue that into the sky portion of the tapestry.
Working full time makes weekends valuable. Two weekends ago I was traveling. Last weekend I spent in bed. That means this Saturday has too many conflicting obligations. Nice ones, but still, I am going to have to choose. I was going to go to Seguin, Tx, about 40 minutes away, to the first Yellow Rose Fiber Festival. Then a colleague announced he is having an open house tomorrow afternoon when his neighborhood, King William, becomes a focus for one of our Fiesta activities. And another invited me to visit a local nursery with her tomorrow, where I can buy more shrubs to put in my wizened yard. I decided I really don't need to buy more fiber, spindles or yarn. We all know that. I don't need to buy, I need to act. So ... the garden center for soaker hoses, so that my new xeriscapable shrubs can get the water they need this first year, so that they will be able to withstand next year's drought. Some other xeriscaping plants for the bare dirt section of my yard (and ditto on the soaker hoses). And a visit to King William in the afternoon. The rest of the weekend will be spent planting, watering (according to water-saving guidelines), weaving and knitting.
Because the knitting drought shows signs of ending too. I have to add another cardi wip to the pile (the Que Sera) but I did sit and knit for a while on the Arwen wrap.
