Thursday, August 5, 2021

Doldrums of August


 I always love this picture with the glowing middle. August is such a bittersweet month. All of my plants and trees are so tired of this years seemingly endless heat. I really do think we should celebrate the life of Willis Carrier. This is what I found.

 "Genius can strike anywhere. For Willis Carrier, it was a foggy Pittsburgh train platform in 1902. Carrier stared through the mist and realized that he could dry air by passing it through water to create fog. Doing so would make it possible to manufacture air with specific amounts of moisture in it. Within a year, he completed his invention to control humidity – the fundamental building block for modern air conditioning."



When I was a kid my grandparents lived in an old farmhouse. It had a cooler that was in one of the windows. One of the jobs us kids had was in the summer, one of my grandparents would say, " Kim go out and spray the pads on the cooler." We would go out there with the waterhose and spray the pads down and the air would be blissfully cooler and we being hot would just lay in front of it until we cooled off and went back outside to play. Even today, I am happier outside than I am in the house. 

I finally quit procrastinating. I dyed wool. I am so happy how it turned out. I am working on my whale rug and I kept thinking of the ocean and ocean colors. So these came out so pretty. 


 This is from Saundra's website. I am working on this. I love this rug so much. I worked on it a bit yesterday. I dug into my worm stash and I have some interesting colors to use. Trying my hand at just putting my hand in and pulling out wool. Very hard, but I wanted to see if it works for me. 

Here are my colors for ocean. 



The top photo is my favorite color. But now I have lots to choose from. Its really prettier in person. I really experimented yesterday. That was fun. When we went to the beach last weekend, I really stared at the water so I could try and recreate it in wool. I think that is why I am so excited, it turned out like I see in my mind. 

I also finished this rug. Its by Old Tattered flag. I need to bind it but that just has to wait until its a tad cooler. 
It turned out okay I think. I was trying different colors, (for me) so it was a tad harder for me to hook. 
Rugs that I am comfortable with the colors and even my own designs are so much easier for me to hook. I was looking through my pictures and I ran across this rug I had made. Still I think the best one I have ever finished.

 
I should try it again. It was so much fun from my daughter drawing out the pattern for me to dyeing the wool to hooking it. Its still my favorite. 

Its time I started my day. My photos on Google give me fits and it takes such a long time to try and write a blog. I wish I was more computer savvy to completely redo my pictures. I hope you have a lovely day on this summer morning. 

~Kim~

When humor goes, there goes civilization.---Erma Bombeck.




 


10 comments:

Julia said...

Hi Kim, I can't imagine having such hot temperatures day after day. I guess we are spoiled here with cooler temperatres. It was sunny yesterday. so I worked outside and today, again, it's raining. I have no complaints because I count our blessings. So many lost everything they owned by wildfires forest fires in British Columbia this year.

I love that first ocean color wool. It's beautiful and perfect. Like you, I prefer hooking on my own designs. I find it more satisfying.

I hope that you get some cooler temperatures and some rain.
Stay cool and well.

Hugs, Julia


NMK said...

Love your Hooking projects ! The wool for your whale will look great !
July we had 12 inches of rain & high humidity ...August is starting out much nicer . Wish I could have shared all our rain with you !
Happy hooking !!!

Gretchen Joanna said...

What fun, to experiment with making BLUEs!! It will be fun to see how you use all your beautiful rug materials now.

I have memories similar to yours, of the swamp cooler we had when I was a child. Ours was in the distant corner of the house exactly opposite of the corner where I slept on the top bunk and sweated myself to sleep in the summer. But during the day we children would sometimes go stand in front of that cooler, which was placed nearest my father's place at the dining table.

It wasn't until I had left home that any sort of AC was installed in the house, so I have never lived with AC! The longest ever it was part of my life was when I was with Kate in India for six weeks, where I was grateful indeed. One reason I am glad that I don't live where it's truly needed, is that having the windows open for at least part of every day, and adjusting the comfort level of the house that way, is one of my favorite things about summer -- and parts of spring and fall, too!

Saundra said...

When I was a kid we knew nothing about air conditioning and lived in the heat and humidity of the east coast. But kids can endure anything as we'd play hide and seek in the tall grass, get sweaty, itch and it never seemed to slow us down. Now I can't stand it so guess the A/C has made me softer over the years.

Good looking blues all ~ looking forward to your progress.

Rugs and Pugs said...

Hurrah for Willis Carrier. I grew up with no a/c and my bedroom was on the second floor of an old farm house. It was stinkin' HOT! Now I am spoiled. I love my a/c.
I love the pattern you got from Saundra. Such a fun pattern.
I can see why your bunny rug is a favorite. It is just so sweet ;-)

Debbie said...

oooooh kim, you have always had the best morning glories, i adore that purple color!! i am baffled at how your plants, or you survive the california heat!! your dyed wool is gorgeous, i really like the ocean colors!!

i love the bunny, i too think it is one of your best!!

TheCrankyCrow said...

Hello my dear Kim.... Yes, I'm back. I finally received an email from Blogger this morning saying my reading list issue was resolved...I pulled it up and WOO HOO!! It was. I have not yet checked to see if I can change my format again...almost afraid to...but so very happy to be able to "connect" again. I sometimes feel like blogging is a lifeline...especially these days. I believe I have told you before how much I love that whale rug and have been so tempted to do it. I love Saundra's color plan, but now seeing glimpses of your mind's plan, I am very excited to see what you do. I am always in awe of people like you who can visualize and come up with their own color plans. I cannot...hence, I don't dye. (Besides....I have been told that dyeing can be very addicting once you do it...I don't need another addiction. So when I need a color I think I see in my head, I try to describe it to the hooking guru down the road and she patiently tries to recreate it.) The colors you dyed are amazing!! I think the first one and the third one would make incredible ocean colors for this design. The middle one is the color I sort of had in my head for "The Beast" background, but could not quite articulate it. I adore your sweet bunny too!!! You did an incredible job with both the color plan and the hooking. It'd be my favorite too....but still might hold out for the whale LOL. Wow....I did not know they had coolers like that! You were lucky! Although we did not have that many oppressively hot days, we did have some...and my bed was upstairs in basically an attic of an old, old, farmhouse. No fans either now that I think of it. Thankfully it was shaded by a huge old tree. I hope you cool down... We had about a week or two of uncharacteristically HOT weather (in the mid-90's, with high humidities) but overall, it has been a cool, rainy, summer. Some trees are beginning to turn here (early, even by Nodian standards) and I have heard the crickets sing...it will be an early fall it seems....and I shiver to think of the winter that will follow. ~Robin~

Pom Pom said...

Hi Kim! I love that rabbit and I love your completed rug and I love the whale! Your new colors are wonderful! Yes! Yahoo for air conditioning. I'm almost in the mood to pull stuff out, too. It's hot.

Gumbo Lily said...

Hi Kim! It's been terribly hot and dry and grasshoppery here this summer. Not great for grazing cows or growing grass.But we persist and hope and pray for rain. We used to have a "swamp cooler" that had pads that were in a tray of water. It was so nice when we lived in our 14x70 trailer house, but I'm ever so thankful for A/C now in our house -- especially on a hot, hot spring and summer like we've had. I think of you whenever I water my Comfrey plants.
~Jody

Bonnie K said...

You are so talented and patient. I see your rugs and think back to one I did for 4-H. I think it took me 5 years. Not the fastest little bunny. Thanks for sharing your childhood memories. I always like to get a picture of someone's life.