Thursday, April 13, 2023

Hello, Friends!

 Well, everyone, I've been gone a while. I've struggled to keep up with both my blog and my Youtube channel. Sorry! But I'll try to catch you up on the highlights of the last few months.

Christmas was not what we expected! Just before leaving on our long-awaited trip to Mississippi for Christmas with our kids and grandkids, Adam tested positive for Covid. He was not very ill, but he couldn't travel. Then, on Christmas Day, I had to make a "mad dash" trip to visit another of our children to help, and Adam stayed home. I traveled quite a bit, ended up in Chattanooga for a late family Christmas. Chaos ... but it all worked out!


Adam visited a new doctor for his auto-immune illness and was approved for two Rituxan infusions in March. They've already made him feel so much better! We're very thankful for his improvement. He has much more energy and hopes to be in remission soon. 

I'm still making soaps and lotions and working with yarn a lot. I bought two fleeces at a local farm, and then my brother gave me a large bag of fleece from his sheep in West Virginia. Those fleeces have been so fun to clean and work with! I love working with fleece more than I expected, even the feeling of lanolin on my hands and the smell of the barnyard in my studio. I used the old alpaca fleece to make a rug -- a trial run on rug weaving.


The farmers market has started up again. I've been doing it for nearly 11 years. I still enjoy it, but it's quite tiring. I'm slowing down a bit on making some of my wares. But I'm still enjoying my chickens and my spinning and knitting.

I've had a little medical problem, esophageal spasms, that keeps me from being as active and productive as I like to be, so it's been a more "restful" year than usual. REST is my word this year, I think. I don't mind slowing down and realizing I can't do all I used to do. And as we get older, of course we want to use the energy we have for other people, especially family. Adam is still pastoring and teaching middle school, so that keeps him very busy.

If for some reason you'd enjoy watching my Youtube videos, here's a link to my channel. A lot of the things I mentioned here have dedicated videos there. Wishing you all the best, blog friends!


5 comments:

Henny Penny said...

Your posts are always so enjoyable. Lucky I looked in on just the day you posted. Your grandchildren are so adorable!! and aren't they growing fast. Believe me, you need to enjoy every day you can with them. Wish I could go back and have more time with mine. Life is so busy. Been several days since I even sat down at the computer. You do really well on Youtube videos. You know my daughter Lynn does a video just about every day and I simply can't find he time to watch them. Your's are very interesting. Glad Adam is doing better. Oh, I plan to start selling at the little Louisburg Farmer's Market on May 5th. Not sure how good it will be. Need to earn a little spending money. :)

Granny Marigold said...

How lovely to see a post today. Yes, it has been a while. I haven't been over at your Youtube channel much because I'm not into fleece and spinning. I do check it out from time to time though. I like that rug that you made!
Great to know that Adam is doing better.

Granny Marigold said...

Forgot to say that I loved seeing the photo of you with the three grands.

Gretchen Joanna said...

Hi, Mary Kathryn! I'm glad you posted that picture of you with the kids on your lap <3 And what with fleece and spinning, and grandchildren, and the farmers market, not to mention YouTube, it's no wonder you don't write here much. You are always so productive and creative, and it's better to be doing than reporting.

I can imagine how lovely it is to work with that wool, because I did acquire some fleece one year and spent a lot of time cleaning it and getting it ready to stuff dolls with. I agree about the lanolin -- I love that part!! Most of what I was given, though, was incredibly full of stickers and burrs, and I just could never get it clean enough. And I haven't gotten back to the Waldorf doll project -- yet!!

Lisa Richards said...

Howdy, MK! Yeah, I'm slowing down, too. Lots of reading. Have to force myself to get some movement in my day. But the Lord is good. If I remember to stay close to Him it'll be okay! Glad to hear Adam's getting the help he needs. I tend to stay away from doctors. Not sure if that's wise or not. :) Hugs to you!