Bring on the daffodils!

Sunday March 2, 2025 I’m still here! We lost a couple weeks of February with the flu. Not fun. Doing things together can be wonderful but being sick together is not a good plan! Anyway, we’ve recovered and are gratefully  back to good health.

I don’t know it it’s the wonky weather, AKA climate chaos, or is it that New Mexico has early spring. But I found daffodils blooming in my yard and squealed like a 7 year old! As you might know, winters in Woodland Utah can last until May so early blooming bulbs didn’t thrive there. I spoke to the previous owner of our home and she said the peonies would be up soon along with forsythias and then it’s pops of non stop color. I can hardly wait! Even though we bought the place in May, we didn’t move until September so we missed all the summer color. Luckily the property has a well with drip irrigation so we should be able to keep things colorful all summer.

I took a felted scarf class at my local fiber “Hub” this weekend and learned to improve on the way I’ve made them in the past. The class was fun, I felt right at home. We used merino and silk to make our scarves but now I can’t wait to try a few with the alpaca fiber that I moved to New Mexico with me. The teacher is a neighbor who has a small fiber mill in her home. I still find it amazing that I landed in such a fiber rich community! I walk past her home when I walk the dogs and I had no idea there was a fiber mill hiding there! 

Exploring New Mexico was put on hold until we recovered from the flu but we’re making plans now. Petroglyph National Monument is not too far from us and protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. Shiprock is a monadnock rising nearly 1,583 feet above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is 7,177 feet above sea level. It is 10.75 miles southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak. It has been visible to us when we made the drive from Utah but we never had time to explore or get any closer. It’s about 3 hours away but it’s next on the list of places to explore. Shiprock and the surrounding land have great religious and historical significance to the Navajo people and we will be respectful when we visit. 

I’m not sure who still checks in here, my system is not intelligent enough to tell me that, but honestly I can see that the numbers are going down. Well of course they are!  I went from a blog post every day to maybe once a month. And now the host of my site keeps raising the price of hosting, forcing me to look at options. I’ve poured my heart and soul in to this web site since I built it and I find it very hard to let it go. The website will be here for a bit longer as I find a way to migrate my story and photos to another platform for posterity, but I fear it’s days are numbered. I asked the web host to consider giving me a break on pricing (which has increased to almost 6 times the original amount, but they refused) But ….. I think I’ve come up with a plan to keep in touch with anyone who’d like to follow my blog.  I’ve used Mailchimp for my business newsletter for years and it works fine. As the alpaca business fades into the sunset, I’ve understandably not sent out any recent newsletters. But I know the software well enough that I can just hop back on with my blog. It will be delivered quietly to your inbox and you can unsubscribe at any time. Easy Peasy. I’ll take you along as we explore New Mexico and rekindle my love of the fiber arts. When I have new spirit dolls or other creations available, they’ll be on the blog. Amazing photos included at no extra charge. lol  If you’d like to follow the new blog, just sign up below. 

Be well and as always, thanks for checking in.

Photos:  Our very own daffodils!

Fiber class at the Hub. The teacher is standing with her back to the wall, my unfinished scarf is in the forefront.

And part of the finished scarf!

Banjo and Belle are doing great. They want to be sure they are included in any new adventures. 🐾 🐾

Ship Rock, New Mexico. On the list.