Monday, February 10, 2014

I scream, you scream...

This is the way it happens: Warm air (usually off the Pacific) crowds down on top of the cold front that has brought our snow. The clouds thaw, but we down below are still chilly so when they let go their weight our world gets covered in a sheet of ice. It's beautiful.





It is also quite treacherous. Trees break, roads are downright wicked, walking is for the adventurous. People actually strapped on skates and used the streets as an ice rink. Magical, but at this point I will be glad when it's melted and I can open the doors to my car again, when the animals' waters stay liquid, and I can send my youngest outdoors to frolic without physically holding her upright. It will happen soon, the cold never lasts long around here. In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying scenes like this one:





Sunday, February 9, 2014

Snow Day

It is not often that we get any real winter weather here in my hometown. The mountains to our east are too high and the ocean to our west too vast, so our darkest months tend to be chilly and wet and grey, rather than white.


Every few years, however, we get some real snow. When this happens there is much rejoicing and everything shuts down. Those residents who have migrated here from snowier climes too often waste this magical, breathtakingly quiet time in scoffing at our noobish inability to function when the ground is covered, but to them I say this: how much better is it to be skiing in the streets and sledding to the store for a few days than to grind on through the grey and dirty plough drifts in our same old workaday worlds?




Also, we have almost zero snow ploughs, true story, since we so rarely need them. So when it snows a lot here conditions really are much worse in many areas, making a lot of people who have never had the need or opportunity to drive on ice and snow suddenly have a, ummm, crash course of study.





Better by far then to stay in, romp around, make hot drinks and decadent foods, watch some Olympics and build cardboard houses, throw snowballs and watch birds, venture tunnels and draw with sticks, make fallen angels and find animal tracks. Better to take the gift of a few days to just enjoy, because you know that the time will be fleeting.



I have spent some winters in the midwest and New England, and that kind of endless slogging and ground covering requires a whole different list of supplies and tricks to survive. Respect to you all, I almost went out of my gourd with the lack of color in the landscape (though my driving, thankyouverymuch, was and is just fine), but here that erasure is such a treat.

Next, a look at how these storms too often end. Until then, friends, be cozy and safe and full of life wherever you are wintering!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Trunk Show

Hello friends! Just a quick note to let you know that North is going visiting, and you're invited, too! Starting tomorrow, February 3rd, the collection will be at Twisted for a couple of weeks and it's anxious to make friends with you.


If that isn't incentive enough, Sorren and I will be hanging out with our knitteds next Sunday, February 9th, from 2pm to 4pm in case you have questions or have just been dying to spend some time with us. Understandable, we're nice ladies and we've been dying to see you, too. I might even bring a small person or two to imbue the scene with a bit of action for a while.

That's all for today, carry on!

** Update February 7: we are postponing the meet & greet for a week to give the city time to plough the roads...Happy snow times, Willamette Valley!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Family, in monochrome.

Taking photos of people is often a bit like stepping into their lives, and this is almost always a really good thing. This last fall I got the chance to meet some very lovely people, tour their beautiful homes, and take pictures of their families. It is such a privilege to be welcomed like that, and to witness the care people have for each other. I'll share a few of these sessions with you in the coming weeks (have to stretch these things out), starting with this foursome. I took everything in color, I should add, but black and white is where my heart really lies, and I never get to use it for the knitting work, so I'm going to indulge myself for a bit.









The real danger is wanting to immediately adopt everyone I meet, invite them over for dinner and set their children up to be friends with my children. People want to have photographs to tie their memories to, and to share those memories with others, and all the photos I take become a part of a collective memory that far outlives the often transient relationships I get to form with my subjects. Thank you, Tinsel Family, for an unforgettable autumn afternoon!