As a preface, and I hope to not offend anyone, but each year we receive a percentage of Christmas cards we affectionately call “The Tea with the Queen Letters.”  In these epistles, everyone is FABULOUS, everything is WONDERFUL, and every place is GRAND.  These families end eve/… Read full post »

1. Get some wool.  You can dye it straight off the sheep, washed and carded into roving, or after it is spun into yarn.  I prefer the roving myself, tidy but not too predictable.  Montreal steak seasoning and pepper mill are optional.
2. Totally/
… Read full post »

Let me preface this by having a bit of a whinge.  I'm tired, exhausted even.  I've been dyeing wool over a hot stove all day, burning my hands, and most likely poisoning my bloodstream with the chemicals.  My choice, my fault.  I've also been playing laundress to 20,000 Guatemal… Read full post »

 You knew it was coming.  After the unfortunate tale (and reporting) of the hapless carpet roll-clobbered Gila monster (who, on his lawyer’s advice, refused comment for this story), I, the great creature-feature-knowledge-seeker, yearned to discover more about this bad/… Read full post »

Shakespeare it's not.

I think that I shall never see

A sock more beautiful than thee

With traveling lace and demure grace

Knitting is a fiber ballet, you see.

With circular needles and Rowan wool

Tiny stitches danced a spirited reel… Read full post »

From our local "Sonoran News" weekly paper:

Gila Monster startles carpet installer

PHOTO BY LINDA BENTLEY

     When lifting up a roll of carpet, a Cave Creek installer became so startled by this Gila Monster he dropped the roll of carpet. Unfortunately, the… Read full post »

The husband and teenagress together delivered a well-placed coup de grace upon my person this morning.  Both on their way out the door, the husband asked about my plans for the day (the man has been gone more than he has been here for the past week and today/… Read full post »

Neither of which is named Charley. 

A grand scheme has been hatched and, although the particulars have yet to be determined and might very well not be decided upon until the last minute, we three caballeros, musketeers, and/or blind mice, will soon vamoose to parts less traveled. 

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It’s the morning but you don’t want it to be.  Can’t the dark cover you longer?  The sunshine is too revealing, too overwhelming, highlighting your many deficiencies, pointing out the insurmountable  tasks you didn’t have the energy to begin yesterday and sure/… Read full post »

A few days ago, I went on a search for the perfect saguaro. What I found, however, is a life lesson (at least for me.) Every saguaro is perfect. Not one is the same as another, and some are pretty darned funky, but they are all perfect.

This/… Read full post »

When I was 35 years old, my life changed.  Not that it hadn’t before, I moved towns on average every two and a half years from the age of seven; I lost my father when my daughter was just three and my boys were not yet born; I attempted/… Read full post »

When I was a little girl, and an only child, I didn’t have a lot of exposure to those of my ilk.  My mother and father married young but, unlike some new parents, were not ready to embrace a life of domesticity just because they hiccupped a honeymoon daughter. … Read full post »

When deciding whether or not to move here to the Sonoran Desert, the fact that scorpions would share our habitat definitely came into the discussion.  In my youth, my father and I spent many a weekend afternoon watching giant insect/creature B-movie horror flicks on television, and Gil/… Read full post »

Once upon a time, we had an elderly Springer Spaniel/Chocolate Lab mix named Cocoa who died while we were tenting over a President’s Day weekend with a dear group of friends we call The Illustrious Camping Crowd.  She had a good last day, chasing the ball nonstop and/… Read full post »

Yesterday, I put on my bitter hag hat; you know, that old grey one with the blood stain just above the brim and the point that never stands up straight?  I should know better than to wear that ratty old thing; its powers are legion.  Humor-usurping, personality-draining, bad memory-r/… Read full post »

Imagine the scenario, keyword being imagine.  You are financially comfortable.  You're not bubbling over with funds; yet, you're no Barbara Hutton nor Bill Gates,.  If you manage your money somewhat correctly, you could survive for life on the capital yo… Read full post »

This morning, through catalysts internal and not (thanks DK), my mood has grown dark and introspective, weepy and ridiculously self-pitying.  And let me tell you, it pisses me off.  I am weary of being a creature ruled by emotion, emotion that usurps plans, disappoints friends and family,/… Read full post »

Perhaps it’s the fault of global warming disrupting our weather patterns or maybe it’s the bounty from the powers-that-be listening to my desperate entreaties after I had a combination physical and mental breakdown from Monday and Tuesday’s 106 degree temperatures.&n… Read full post »

Down the road a spell from us, by way of dirt roads and two-lane roadways, is a hidden watering hole that harkens back to stagecoach days.  In the 1880’s, it provided rest and sustenance to travelers making the rough journey over the McDowell Mountains between Prescott and/… Read full post »

On the road, you were a fearless traveler.  Years ago before marriage or children and no longer under your parents’ thumbs, you thought nothing of packing up your 1972 VW Superbeetle and heading to destinations planned and unplanned.  You added gas at $5 increments and saved money b/… Read full post »

Well, you’ve come to the right place.  I’ve got dogs; I’ve got dog photos.  I also have dog mess and dog destruction and dog food bills.  And despite the fact that I cannot go out in public after receiving it, I’ve got dog love, lots and lots of/… Read full post »

Since Kentucky’s people are being dissected and polled for their opinions by age group, ethnicity, educational background, and income level, I thought I’d add another segment of the population to the debate.  Blue People.

Yes, once upon a time, and potentially s… Read full post »

In the past few years and, in particular, since I’ve become a beta tester for Open Salon, I’ve made no secret of my desire to become a professional writer.  Writing has been a catharsis of mine since youth.  When my first serious boyfriend broke up with me to go/… Read full post »

In the past day or so, we’ve had a few serious and combative discussions here at Open Salon.  In an effort to bring some levity to the arena, I decided to once again embarrass myself and let you all in on my foibles and pseudo-talents.

We have a new romance in our midst.  It’s been surreptitiously going on under our noses, but we just recently discovered the amorous pair.  Lovingly curled up together in a stolen hole were two rattlesnakes, soaking in the heat, blissfully unconcerned by our presence. … Read full post »