Tag: Tynan

June 19, 2018

Tynan gripes

Tynan dog on hooked rug. — Tynan putting on his best face. Looking good, man! He’s bringing you one of the rugs “on the frame” for this week. “Australian Welcome” is just about done; there are just 12 more little triangles to color in. For some reason this rug seems to have taken forever!

Hey, it’s me Tynan! I’m back again. She couldn’t come up with a good topic for this week’s blog,so she put it on me. Thanks for the favor, Mistress. Not! As if I just have a ready-made post just sitting around my in dog-bed. I’ll take some advance warning next time, sister!

Things haven’t changed much since I last wrote. My fur is still a problem. We live in New Mexico. Sure, it’s high desert, not as bad as Pheonix or Tucson where they close the airports when the tarmac melts. (How is that a real thing???) But Albuquerque is nonetheless in a freaking desert. It’s been in the mid and high 90s for a few weeks, and they still haven’t taken me to the groomers. Again. A long walk that they took me on one morning a week or two ago almost killed me. Thank God for Starbucks! The master, he goes in to buy our refreshments. Leaves me to wait with the mistress. After a l-o-n-g time – do they not see my tongue hanging our of my mouth? – he comes back out with: 1) an iced coffee for himself; 2) a white iced tea for her, and 3) a cup of ice water! What? Not only is it not the iced caramel machiatto that I requested, it’s a cup of water. Just water. No whipped cream, no caramel drizzled on top, no nothing. Poo! Blech! And have you ever seen a dog try to drink from a cup? Not the easiest thing to do. My swollen, over-heated tongue loses half of the liquid while she holds the cup in front of me. At least she went in and had the cup refilled. Thank God for small, miniscule, itty-bitty favors.

Tynan on bed. — Just look at all the fur on me! I wish she’d put the ceiling fan on high. And the AC even higher. This High on Hooking Dog deserves more respect. And a damn haircut!

Not that I want to bore your with my grievances, but they’ve been promising me that we’d go hiking all spring-into-summer. And yet, and yet, we haven’t done any hiking. First there was her big RA flare-up, then he had to one-up her with a big, old gout attack. Both feet. I did kind of feel sorry for him. No walking really for weeks with me and the mistress. But he’s feeling much better now. Finally talked to a doctor, and she’s getting by enough, but are we going hiking, preferably somewhere cooler, like up the Sandias or to Nambe Falls where we could even get wet? No, not at all. And now that this stupid New Mexico drought had gotten so bad, they’ve closed all the national and state forests and such. Didn’t want to, but people are stupid with campfires and cigarettes, and forest fires are a real thing here. So, we’re sh… out of luck. What’s a dog to do but lie on the bed in the air conditioned air and under the ceiling fan…

I’ll tell you though, there’s a definite bright spot in this hot, summery, New Mexican dog’s life.

Tree man rug. — Sorry, couldn’t find a pic of my new best friend Darlene, but here’s one of her rugs. Ask her who the designer was. I’m a dog, not a rug hooker.

Vacation’s coming! Yesiree! Yep, the humans are going on vacation in August, the two of them alone on a river cruise. (Can’t wait to hear how they resolve the whole problem of her light sleeping and his industrial snoring. If you have any ideas, write’em down in the comment section below.) Me, I was supposed to go to one of those doggy “resorts” – resort, my ass! – but one of my lovely hooking ladies – Darlene – and Rex her husband have offered to let me bunk at their place. You should see it: Trees and real grass! Not that fake putting green like we have here. I burn my pads on it! Their yard’s bigger than ours too. Lots of places to sniff out geckos and rabbits. And to do my business in private, if you get my drift. Best of all is their liberal offerings of treats. One time I was there and Rex brings me out a big-ass bowl of lunch. Lunch! Mistress up and tells him, Oh, Tynan doesn’t eat lunch, Rex. Bitch queered my action. Still, I got a half of that bowl and some other treats from Mary, another one of my hooking babes. She lives near Darlene and Rex and might take me for a walk or something that week. She has a good house too. Lots of birds; always an excellent thing. I might catch one one day. If I try a little harder. Maybe. When it’s not so warm.

That’s my story. Today. Tune in again to see if she lets me have the laptop again. Hope you’re

No. it’s not too exciting. Yet! Slowly working our way around the perimeter of the “Big Boucherouite.” Hoping to have more time to work on it in the coming month. Remember that it’s got a due date – March 1 – in order to enter it into next year’s **Fiber Arts Fiesta** here in Albuquerque. Check out the into **here**. Can enter starting January 1. You don’t have to be local!

cooler than I am. Or at least have good AC and a haircut.

Tynan, the High on Hooking Dog

Notes from Laura:

Tynan has a haircut scheduled for later today. he’s just not aware of it. He’s not usually too excited to go there, though it’s not as bad as going to the V-E-T.
Apparently, Nambe Falls is open, and they allow dogs. We’ll try to get up that way later this week. Don’t tell the High on Hooking Dog, though. It’ll be a surprise.
Thanks, Darlene and Rex!

June 12, 2018

Gardens Gone Wild!

Sign in botanic gardens. — Dan Ostermiller is the artist who brought the wild things to Santa Fe’s Botanic Gardens.

Last Wednesday Tom and I took a little field trip. Several months ago he’d surprised me with tickets to Santa Fe’s Botanical Gardens, a place we’d never been to. He picked them up for a sweet price on Groupon; I was good with that. Unfortunately, Tynan and his canine ilk are verboten at the gardens, so he had to stay home. (Not that he minded; he managed to log a lot of air conditioned snooze time on the bed with us gone.)

So, we get to the garden. It’s up on Museum Hill in Santa Fe. Friends had warned me. It’s no BioPark. The BioPark here in Albuquerque comprises both our zoo and botanic garden – don’t ask me why it’s called “botanic” and not “botanical” like I’ve always heard. But I’m used to the plain BIGNESS of our botanic gardens becaue I’m there regularly; the Adobe Wool Arts Guild does demos there the first and fourth Tuesdays of each month (except June and July when they kick us out for summer camp groups).

The Santa Fe gardens are far more modest. Really, it takes very little time to cruise through it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant place to spend a warm (read: HOT) early summer hour or so. And one thing really stood out – or really twenty-three things: the animal sculpture exhibit of Dan Ostermiller called “Gardens Gone Wild.” If you’re thinking of seeing the garden, I recommend going while the critters are there; they made the place. According to the literature we picked up, the exhibit runs from May, 2018 – May 12, 2019. In the meantime, check out some of the pics I managed to get.

Frog sculpture in botanic gardens — This is “Bullfrog.” There were actually two of them hanging, but I spied this one when we first started down the garden path. He charmed me especially as my maiden name is “Croke,” and for decades I collected froggies.

Bronze hen sculpture in botanic gardens — “Melba” is a whopping 69x72x41 inches. I suggest that you don’t try to take one of her eggs for your breakfast. (Even if they’re bronze like the sculptures.)

Ramada in botanical gardens — Wouldn’t this **ramada** in the midst of the rose garden make a perfect place to get married or to renew your vows?

Rabbit sculpture in botanic gardens. — Meet “R.B.” He’s quite the distinguished looking bunny rabbit, no? He stands 55×50.5×42. After I put him (or perhaps one of the other two rabbits in the exhibit) up on Instagram, there was a discussion regarding how much he looks like a chocolate rabbit. Yum!

Artichoke plant in botanic gardens — But before you eat the chocolate, you have to eat your veggies. Artichoke, anyone?

Horno in botanic gardens — Near the various herbs and the artichoke, of course, was the **horno**, an outdoor adobe oven that was used by Native Americans and early settlers. Drive around New Mexico and you’ll see them in backyards being used still. Good kitchen equipment never dies.

Bear sculpture in botanic gardens — “Boys Will Be Boys” is just one of several bear sculptures in the exhibit. Together these two are 50x80x73.

Eagle sculpture in botanic gardens — This was the sculpture that really WOWED me. “American Gold” is huge! If I read correctly, 113 inches across the wings. Just seeing this one animal sculpture would’ve made the garden trip worth it.

Dog and hooked rug — Meanwhile, my own wild animal clearly had a wild hair across his butt during his latest photo shoot. He decided it was face-scratching time rather than presenting “What’s on the frame.” Hm, maybe it’s a full moon… Or the almost 100 degrees today. Stay cool, people!

June 5, 2018

It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to. Or not.

No, of course, I won’t cry because it’s my birthday. But what I will do is keep this post brief. And write it up on Monday the 4th to post Tuesday. Because, peeps, I am très busy on my birthday. After a mimosa breakfast of champions, I’m off for a visit with the rheumatologist. Then I’ll meet friends for lunch after which we’ll head off to Edna Fergusson Library for an afternoon of hooking. Which is good, as I need to finish a piece that’s nowhere near done for Sunday’s Rail Yards Market here in Albuquerque. What the evening will bring is still up in the air, but Tom’s promised to get me gluten free carrot cake from Flying Star. This excites me to no end as I haven’t had cake on my birthday in years. Oh, and there will be wine. Good wine.

Happy birthday to me! What might your birthday traditions include? I’m always looking for new ways to celebrate…anything!

Dog with hooked rugs. — Tynan brings you not just one rug, but two! Yes, there are two rugs on the two frames. The Anderson holds the **BIG Boucherouite** which is on the l-o-n-g plan. Ty’s keeping his paws on the one that needs to be done for Sunday’s Rail Yard Market. (That might require a little miracle.) Come visit us there. Mention this blog post and get 10% of a rug!

May 30, 2018

Progress is s-l-o-w

Hand-hooked mug rug set — A new mug rug set: “Meanderings.” And it’s all wool! Not a t-shirt or bedsheet loop in sight. It “debuted” at **Albuquerque’s Rail Yards Market** Sunday.

So last week’s post was all about making changes; not necessarily BIG life changes, but the small ones that you hope really take hold. This week is about the progress I’ve made in the last week. Or not made.

The good news:

I did not turn on my laptop two whole days last week.
I managed to make one journal entry. And one is better than zero.
I did NOT freak when I decided not to pass on various blog and Facebook posts.
After such a busy two months, I finally got to clean up some of the dirt and clutter piles that had grown in my house. I have more to go vis à vis “life clutter,” but more on that later.
I’ve realized that looking at Pinterest just before I go to bed results in brain-racing and too many ideas all at once which in turn results in no sleep. Knowledge is power…when I choose to use it.
Today I took a whole day to make a field trip with friends. Cathy, Melinda, and I headed up to Española Valley Fiber Arts Center to drop off some guild donations. After that we investigated a thrift store (where they were selling four – 4 – iced tea spoons for $600!) and had a leisurely lunch in Santa Fe. No one looked at her phone during the meal. (I think.)

The bad news:

I spent more time on my phone and tablet on the days that the laptop was off. At least I can’t play Scrabble on my phone. Thank goodness; the game is a HUGE time-suck.
While I’m glad about being off the laptop and doing other non-electronic activities, certain things haven’t gotten done that need to be done, particularly, updating my Etsy shop. That’s a definite negative especially as I’ve sold a couple of listed items at shows.

Since I can’t seem to come up with another negative, it appears that there’s been progress. We’ll see what happens this week and beyond.

How about you? How do you manage the whole balance thing when it comes to electronics, real life, and what you really want out of that real life?

Dog with hooked rug in progress. — Tynan brings you “What’s on the frame” this week. It’s long and narrow. Hang it horizontally over a door or vertically down a wall.

May 23, 2018

Ramblings and little epiphanies. Or: change happens.

After a super busy two months of fiber art shows and vending, spending a slow three days at Casa San Ysidro last weekend demonstrating and attempting to sell gave me some down time, a chance to think, to come to a few epiphanies.

Hooked rug exhibit, what a change for us. — This was the kick-ass set-up that Cathy and I had at last week’s **Heritage Days** and **New Mexican Fiber Crawl**, both happening at Casa San Ysidro in **Coralles**. They were very generous in providing us space; what a change for us! Though we both made sales, we hope that next year there will be more vendors and better publicizing of our location in the Crawl.

Hooking and husbands
Cathy Kelly and I would have a wicked hard time (yes, there’s still some New England twang left in this now Southwestern girl) vending without our husbands Bill and Tom. (Sorry, never got any pics of them Sunday evening.) Between my recent RA flare-up and Cathy’s emergency appendicitis (the same night as our last vending gig!), those display grids were not going up or down by themselves. Thank you, Bill! Tom, unfortunately, has been suffering his own autoimmune failure – gout – for the last two or three weeks, but he gamely showed up with iced tea and helped with break-down. Hooking – it’s best when it involves a village, but it’s nothing without a helpful spouse.

Living or reading about living?
During last weekend’s New Mexico Fiber Crawl, we were at Casa San Ysidro from about 9:15 to 5:00. Those were three long days, and we didn’t see the traffic we expected. But what a great place to hang and hook! By the time I made it home each evening, though, my laptop was the last place I wanted to be. So, I wasn’t. Lo and behold, the world didn’t cave in because I didn’t share as much on the three Facebook pages I manage (my own two and the guild’s). Don’t get me wrong. I managed to do most of my daily computer and email “toilettte” on my phone as I sat enjoying the weather and the ambiance of the old casa’s courtyard. But I didn’t worry much about passing anything further down the information highway. Sure, if a blog or Facebook post came along that had an easy share button, I’d click it away to others. If not, oh, well…

Hooked rug — Here’s how “Zinnias” looked finished. Now to get them up on the **Etsy shop**.

This got me to thinking about how tethered I am to seeing info and, more importantly, passing it on. Which I generally think is a nice thing to do for everyone. But it takes time, time I want back. Summer is perfect for letting go of the self-imposed idea of me as the town crier. After this weekend’s Rail Yards Market, I’ll have a couple of months with only one gig each before fall festivals and such heat up again. I have products to make, a BIG rug on the Anderson frame, a friendship rug to finish, and a whole slew of new ideas running through my brain after I turn off my light each night. And…I think it’s finally time to try some weaving. Starting with a triangular loom, but it’s a start.

So…actually working, playing, and experimenting more are on tap this summer, less so reading and passing on other folks’ work, play, and experiments, much as I like to do all that. Don’t take it personally, anyone. And thank goodness that Instagram only requires pressing that little ♥ button. We won’t even mention my late night Pinterest habit right now.

Change happens
Awhile back I mentioned how I really wanted to get back to writing short fiction. I spent years writing and even had some bits published. It was creative and incredibly challenging. But emotional family issues got in the way making it difficult to access the place in my head where

Succulent garden. After little epiphanies. Change happens. — Not about writing or even hooking. Just about freeing your time up to do the things you want to do, making a change. I was getting pretty testy; with everything going on, Tom and I hadn’t managed to plant anything this spring. We live in New Mexico; it all could’ve gone into the ground or pots over a month ago! Finally did some today like this mini-succulent garden. We managed it without the usual domestic squabbles that crop up when we do this kind of thing. Even after another very prickly cactus kept biting us.

stories came from. Hooking showed up too, gradually taking up more and more of my available time. Frankly, making rugs, visual art, is easier for me, and it’s been quite healing. Still, every few months I’d beat myself up and drag out the pen and paper. It’s part of who I am I’d tell myself. After countless false re-starts, though, sometimes we have to grasp that CHANGE REALLY HAPPENS, and I think I’ve finally gotten to a point in my life where I can admit that writing short stories is more about who I was. It’s a hard thing to admit, but it’s where I am NOW. And it’s rather freeing. Fiber art’s it for me right now. I’m happily looking into things to become better at and new techniques to try. Maybe I’ll even pick up my journal again now that I can ignore the guilt monster. Even better, it gives me more time to read. There are so many great books out there just waiting for me!

Like I said , ramblings… Nothing earth-shattering; in fact, most is stuff I already knew, but so often we need a good reminder about just those very everyday things in our lives. Three quiet days can give you that, can remind you of the life you really want to live.

Happy Memorial Day, all! Remember those who should be remembered. And enjoy this first summer weekend.