Boston Fall Pignic 2014

The morning of the pignic dawned beautifully sunny, but rather chilly.  The forecast had been for a clear day with a high of 70F, but as we packed the car, the temperature was hovering around 50F.  I had warned people to prepare for the cool weather, but I still worried.

It was still very cool when we arrived, but the sunny spots in the grass were wonderful.  I wandered around in bare feet to make sure the pigs would be comfortable on the ground.  I just wanted to lay down in a sunny spot and nap - so I figured we were good to go.  It never got above 66F in the shade, but the breeze died down in the afternoon, and people brought plenty of cozies and houses to share. It turned out to be a good day for a pignic.

We had a good showing.  People arrived early, despite the cool weather.  We had nearly 60 people and close to 50 guinea pigs.  The guinea pigs spent the afternoon chasing each other and eating grass.  The boars got rather rowdy, and a few ended up in the time-out pens.  Most pigs, though, interacted peacefully and many seemed happy to spend the afternoon with other piggy friends.

Clockwise from upper left: Pignic in full swing; Pigachu; disapproving guinea pig (being with Mom was better than participating in the contest); goofy rodent being inspected; gray guinea pig that completely filled the weigh-in bowl; a boar that was bigger than the tissue box (he broke it!); peeking boar - do you see me?

Cape Chick Weekend VIII

Plenty of reasons to smile at PB Boulangerie

As I packed my car, fretting if I had all the food, supplies, guinea pig stuff, I wondered why I bothered with the stress for a long weekend away.  Would be easier to take a few days off and stay at home.  Or sneak off to Cape Cod by myself.  Friday was so hot and humid.  I was a puddle by the time I had everything brought in to the cottage and the guinea pig cage set up on the porch.  Whew.

Then my friends started to arrive, full of smiles and laughter.  This.  This is why I organize Chick Weekends and stuff this cottage full of babbling women.  I had a blast.  I'm pretty sure they did, too.

Most of the gals arrived on Friday afternoon.  We walked the beach.  Made dinner.  Had chocolate cashew coconut tart for dessert.  This weekend is all about conversation, food and relaxing.  My morning stress was forgotten.

Love Rocks

I discovered Love Rocks through a friend of mine that lives in Washington state.  She had made some and posted photos on Facebook.  They were cute, simple and I liked the idea of spreading some love on the East Coast.

I brought Mod Podge and fabric scraps to the Cape, figuring I'd collect rocks and make some during Chick Weekend.  The idea was to leave a few behind at the beach before I returned home.  However, I didn't get a chance to coat them until my final day at the Cape.  They were still pretty tacky on Wednesday morning, so I left two around the cottages and the rest came home with me.

I had expected to use lighter colored rocks.  All the ones that caught my eye were medium-to-dark gray.  I like the results.  I also failed to bring down a paint brush, so I ended up coating the rocks with my fingers.  Sticky business!  Next time I need to remember a brush and to allow plenty of time to dry.

I never have an offering to leave that the Kripalu shrines I visit each spring.  Next year I plan on bringing a handful of these to leave at the shrine and wherever else the spirit moves me.  Should be fun!

Sharing with Freemotion by the River's Linky Tuesday.

X Marks the Spot

I'm doing the nerd thing again and showing off my latest guinea pig weight chart.  Last year's tracked a fairly stable Pinniped and a growing Cannoli.  What a difference to this year's chart:  X marks when Pinni and Noli traded weights, just before the new year.  Not really what I forecasted last year.

Buried Treasure

With the sewing machine in the shop, I've spent the last week going through my photos.  Thirty year's worth of pictures.  Whew!  I'm weeding through photo albums, keeping the good pictures.  It's freaky how much I've throw away.  The plan is to digitize the ones I keep. 

It's been quite a trip down memory lane.  I'm looking forward to share some of my favorites on Throwback Thursdays.

In with the photos were a variety of old cards, including this birthday card my sister made for me.  Guinea pig, quilting and tea!  My favorite things all together!

Comparing Fleece

When I bought a batch of fleece on-line last October, I happened to buy one yard of micro-fleece.  I wasn't sure about it, but how could I pass up those flamingos?  It seemed very thin when it arrived but I decided to use it anyway.

Months later, it seems to be holding up as well as the other fleece I from that batch.  The interesting thing is that the micro-fleece seems to slough off hay easier than anti-pill.  The hay doesn't cling like it does to regular fleece.

Of my older fleece, I'd say the anti-pill fleece has held up better than the blizzard fleece.  The few pieces of blizzard fleece have lost most of their fluff.  My anti-pill fleece has taken a beating and still looks pretty good.  I will be interested to see how well the micro-fleece looks after a few years.  All of them seem to wick moisture well.

If your guinea pigs have fleece bedding, what kind is it?  Anti-pill?  Blizzard?  Micro-fleece?  How well has it held up for you?

Becalmed

Quilting my pillow didn't get very far.  I had some kind of wavy pattern going on with the blue patch.  It wasn't quite what I had planned, but I thought it worked.  I was having problems moving the fabric around freely and the foot kept catching on the seams.  I think I ripped out as much as I stitched in.

In addition, my sewing machine sounds like a washing machine with an unbalanced load.  I decided to suspend my sewing projects and bring the machine to the repair shop.  They told me the backlog was a three week wait.  Ugh.

In the meantime, I'm cutting pieces for a new quilt, sorting through old photos.  Maybe I'll start on some more earrings.  I'll have stuff lined up for my Singer's return.

Guinea Pig Spaghetti

Corn season!  I picked up a big bag of husks this week and shredded the lot for drying.  That left a mound of corn silks, which looked to me like a plateful of spaghetti.  Doesn't it?  It just needs some tomatoes on top to complete the picture (however, I'm unwilling to share my few that have ripened).

I grabbed Pinniped and Cannoli to take some photos.  Pinni was more than happy to sit right down and start munching.  Cannoli, as usual, was a bit shy.  She wolfed down a mouthful of silk, but as soon as I moved her to get a better shot, she was gone.  Made a beeline out of the living room to the home base in the kitchen.  Better to hide where it's familiar than to eat good stuff in a strange place.  Noli is such an odd guinea pig.