Graduation, wedding bouquet choices

Graduation was today and Chelle graduated with Faye, Anna presented Lynn to a fabulous raiser (who wrote an awesome Taking Care of Business rap), and Annalynn, Ardella, and Avani all saw one another for a brief picture together (Karren rode up with Annalynn in our car). Also, one of my club's puppies, Wichita, graduated. I had a lot of interest in this class, needless to say.

Ardella was mega stressed today for some reason. We suspect the heat, but she whined and barked during graduation and Lyn took her out where she had more signs of intestinal and urinary distress - diarrhea and having to relieve every few minutes (which I think was why she was barking and whining). It was hot and in the 90s, plus it was really humid, and I don't think Ardella handles humid, hot weather. We'll be working on corrections in our next meeting. Sigh...

Edit: We weighed Ardella when we all went to take Annalynn to board near the kitchen for the graduation ceremony. She weighs a whopping 45 pounds! More than Annalynn now.

Here's a picture Lyn took of Ardella on GDB's Oregon Trail:



It was a memorable experience seeing Chelle graduate and to see Anna present Lynn. I wish I had pictures, but Lyn took the camera when he took Ardella out and I couldn't get the video camera photograph function to work. Karren took a lot of pictures and I'm hoping to get some of those from her and hopefully we'll get the 3 sister picture from Anna.

I got to visit a bit with Chelle after the ceremony and met Faye and Maylee's puppy raisers, including the father of one of the puppy raisers. They were very friendly and I really enjoyed meeting them. I am still blown away by the coincidence that Chelle received a puppy raised by a close friend of Maylee's puppy raiser. They were able to both attend the graduation. The puppy raising/handler connections are favorite stories of mine these days.

As the month of May draws to a close I will mostly be going to puppy classes and turning the majority of my attention to my daughter's upcoming wedding. Keri and I went to check out the community center with the caterer yesterday. Ardella accompanied us and we went out for coffee. Upon leaving the coffee shop, we were stopped by a gentleman who wanted to talk to us about Ardella. We were a little late to meet the caterer. Keri ran ahead while I relieved Ardella and put her coat on, and I arrived a few minutes later only to see that Meals on Wheels was serving lunch. Well, needless to say I got stopped by a few people wanting to talk about Ardella... I think Ardella is cute, but my goodness, doesn't the attention level off as the puppies get older? I've only noticed it increasing. I got in on some of the catering conversation, but mostly I was talking dogs. Oh yeah - I'm supposed to be talking about the wedding..

We took Ardella home and went to talk to a florist about wedding bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, and flower centerpieces. We booked with the florist and Keri brought home a sample of many of the flowers that will be in her wedding. It was hot and humid yesterday too, and as the florist was on the opposite side of town and it took us awhile to get home, the flowers got a little wilted. Still, Keri took a picture and the colors still look beautiful together.



Wedding shower is next week and invitations go out after that. Family is letting me know of arrival dates and I'm getting excited. It's just 2 months away!

Local Yarn Store Swap

Above is the contents of a swap box sent to me from Mindy in the province of Ontario. The candy bar was eaten in minutes of receiving it, the 3 bars of soap smell wonderful, as does the coffee (which I hope to try tomorrow). I love the notebooks, and the yarn colors are perfect! The solid blue is a mohair-wool lace, the wine is a heavy fingering mohair wool. The 2 variegated blue skeins are Lorna's Laces sock yarn. I also got Ontario postcards, an Ontario magnet, and a Canada pen!

I got the package yesterday and while I was out in the yard taking pictures of the box, I tried to get Ardella to pose for pictures in the garden. It's been awhile since I have done a garden update. She wasn't as interested in posing for me as I had hoped - too much to discover - so I only got 2 pictures with her in them.



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Here are a few without Ardella. It was just fun to wander around with the camera. The reason I was able to do this - the neighbors who always hung their heads out the windows and talked to us were evicted. I am beside myself with joy to have our privacy back! They took their yappy dogs who always fence fought with Aidan with them.





I'm finishing up my Loopy Ewe project and may end sooner than I anticipated. Once that package is off, I'll be focusing on a summery thing to wear to Keri's wedding. I may have a vote in one of my next posts.

Sick puppy

In one of those pictures I posted of Ardella yesterday, there is one that shows her lying on the grass with alpaca in the distance. Well, Lyn informed me that she was eating alpaca droppings. Once he realized what it was he stopped it, and we hoped nothing would come of it. However, this afternoon Ardella got sick all over my office floor, was groaning and shivering and I think it was from yesterday's indulgence. She suffered for a few hours but is fine now. She had ice cubes for dinner.

The other animals - mainly Theo and Aidan - were very sympathetic and lay beside her when she was sleeping it off this afternoon. This is a picture of Theo and Ardella in the back yard where we took her to lie down so she could warm up a little.



As stated, she perked up and went for a walk this evening, but she'll be getting rice and boiled chicken and Pepto-Bismol at mealtime for the next few days.

Shear Delights

That's a picture of Ardella at some location that I do not recognize. It's recent though and I like it. (Edit: Taken at the Spirit of the Red Horse - a shop at the Portland airport - last weekend).

We went to play put-put golf with the puppy club on Thursday and I forgot the camera again. The best thing about that evening was seeing Miranda, the newest puppy. I have no recollection of Ardella being that small! She was adorable!

Lyn and I took Ardella to Woodland, Washington today, to an event called Shear Delights. The event was at White Oak Alpacas and featured raw fleece, spun yarn, cute alpaca, and friendly people. There were a number of spinners who sat up spinning wheels for the day to spin. I left mine at home because we had Ardella and we couldn't stay that long.

People were very interested in Ardella and she sat or lay down nicely so people could pet her. At first the ranch owners were a little worried about Ardella because they had a Great Pyrenees watch dog who sat in the fields with the alpaca and who was very suspicious of any strange dog on the land. He was a little suspicious, but not aggressive and Ardella did not react in a fearful way towards him at all, which I was a little concerned about considering her past experience.



Everyone was happy to have Ardella there, but only service dogs were allowed to the event, understandably.

The alpaca were funny where Ardella was concerned. They made a cooing sound, gathered in a circle, and then would all face her together. Occasionally an alpaca would come get acquainted. Ardella wagged her tail slowly and never got excited and usually the alpaca were calm and just turned around and left. All but one who spit at her and then ended Ardella's interest in the alpaca. I was proud of her for being so calm. She loved meeting people and I guess it's better that she was more interested in people than in alpaca.









I bought some mahogany lace that was spun from grand dame Meryion, one of the older alpaca on the ranch. I was taken to see her right after I bought the lace. You can see her in the picture above - she's a dark brown alpaca in the fenced area adjacent to the one I was photographing. I bought about 770 yards of lace and plan to make something pretty.



This is a long weekend. I have to work tomorrow, but do have Monday off. I'll be knitting as I need to finish up the Loopy Ewe swap project I'm making.

Knit and Chat

The meetup with Chelle did happen, but I'm just now able to write about it. I could have kicked myself, but in my haste to get out the door on Sunday, I forgot the camera. This is because it took me forever to decide what to bring to knit - I have too many projects and all require some form of concentration. I ended up taking the Online butterfly sock yarn (self-patterning yarn that looks like butterfly wings) because I could just knit in the round.

I did drive myself, again, no problems. I really enjoyed the 45-minute drive to Boring. Sunday was very sunny and HOT. Chelle and Faye were waiting for us by the Visitor's Center and we walked around a little to hopefully get Ardella to relieve herself before setting off to Gresham. I met Faye, who is as great as Chelle says she is. She is little, and is very focused on Chelle and doesn't get distracted even though Ardella was trying her best to play. Faye was a very polite greeter. I gave Chelle some ginger cookies and Knit and Crochet things and Chelle gave me and Ardella a Goughnut and Black Lab key ring. I also got to see Faye's new toys. After Chelle put Faye on tie-down (dogs can't leave with handlers yet) we went to Gresham. With Chelle's helpful navigation, we got to Cafe Delirium, drank cold coffee drinks and talked and knit (at least a little knitting). It was really fun to meet in person, to talk about our dogs from handler and puppy raiser points of view, to vent about the layoffs, to talk yarn and Ravelry, and to hear about Chelle's experience on campus in greater depth.

It was also really nice to have Chelle handle Ardella a bit. Chelle verified many things that I see in her (a little high maintenance, but manageable if constantly alert).

Five o'clock arrived much too soon and I had to get Chelle back to campus. We were pretty much on time, thanks to Ardella's internal alarm that it was 4:30 and thus almost time for her to eat.

This visit was a high point of the puppy raising experience for me and I think the graduation will be a similar experience. I plan to bring a camera for graduation. I'll pack it in a bag the day before, just to be sure!

I lost Ardella's Halti but Chelle informs me it has been found. Big relief. I was prepared to go buy another one as Ardella is getting to be a bit of a garbage mouth outside again and thinks no Halti means play with the leash time.

Tonight I go to the second of 2 classes to learn how to do the Flower Basket shawl. It's fun, but one of those projects that requires A LOT of concentration. I'm going to figure out how to do life lines so I don't have to rip out too much if I make a mistake (inevitable, but I don't want to think about that). Put-put golf is this week's puppy club and there's an alpaca event called Shear Delights in Woodland this weekend. I may be taking Ardella to that, and I just may drive us there.

Knit and Crochet Show; Ardella goes to work

Not many people know that I have panic attacks when I drive so usually don't. However, the Knit and Crochet Show is in town and in order to get the Japanese stitch books I have been wanting forever, I needed to go to the show today. The weather was good, I imagined myself driving and didn't panic at the thought, so I took Ardella to Lyn at work, and DROVE MYSELF across the 205 bridge to the Parkrose MAX station, took MAX to Lloyd Center where the show was, and drove myself home again. No panic. It was a breeze. Now to do it again!

I found my Japanese stitch books, a Namaste buddy case, some Peridot sea silk yarn (for which I got to use my birth month discount at Knit, Purl booth), and some needles made in Vietnam from Forest Palmwood. There were some other purchases, but they're secret. Click on this if you want to enlarge it - it's taking too long to download the medium size.



Ardella has been going to work and to Friends Meeting with Lyn for the last 2 weeks. He's been taking her big bed and she has a spot in the 4-person cubicle set up for her when she goes with him. There are a number of dog lovers and another service dog or 2 that come to work so Ardella gets a lot of attention and seems to enjoy herself when she goes. Here she is entertaining herself.



I've welcomed the change in routine. It's nice to have 2 work days a week where I'm not "on" all the time in terms of caring for Ardella. Besides, I'm always so happy to see her when she comes home.

I may have another opportunity to drive myself out to Boring this weekend. Chelle and I are getting together to knit. I'm hoping to take Ardella, but she's been very dog distracted this week, so we'll see. Can't wait to meet Faye, and actually meet Chelle - we're invisible friends so far.

I heart collaborations.

Another wonderful project, this time wedding invitations.  Designed by the Bride, Carrie Smith. Her design is one that I appreciate, classy and elegant yet contemporary. It's an elaborate creation without being tacky. She's good. And I was honored to help create these beauties. The Invite is a large piece of 100% cotton paper, blind embossed on the back, 3 color printed (orange, charcoal, blind emboss) on the front, folded twice and glued to make a pocket, then finished off with a little letterpress seal! Oh I just love the look of blind emboss! 

Sunday, May 10

Happy mother's day to mothers!

Just a very quick update to say that Chelle is now on campus and that she has a new blog about her experience in getting a new guide dog. I thought readers of this blog might enjoy reading about the experience of getting a guide dog and Chelle gave me permission to post the link on my blog. Also, I'm excited because today Chelle meets her guide! Since this is Chelle's story, read her blog to find out more information.

Edit: Dog info is up! : )

Birthday

I had a nice birthday and I've been trying to play with my new video camera, but have not successfully figured out how to upload videos to post on the blog yet. That's coming.

I got cards to reflect many interests. I love the Jacquie Lawson card from my friend, Kate. Scroll down to the Special Delivery one.

My mother likes to make birthday cards from New Yorker cartoons and the one my parents sent me this year has 2 angels - one in a knitted scarf and hat, the other with a knitted sweater and hat and they are saying "It was better before God took up knitting." Inside the card my parents said, "Happy birthday to God's competition." I laughed!

My sister sent me an animated card with a cat dreaming of rats dancing in line to a rhythm band, and Lyn gave me a card of how dog's celebrate birthdays.

Lyn started my day with blueberry pancakes and later in the day Keri and Ryan joined Lyn, Tim, and I at a Laotian/Thai restaurant that recently opened.

Lyn took Ardella to Quarterly Meeting on Friday and Saturday and I had a lot of uninterrupted knitting time. Ardella had a good time, behaved nicely, and Lyn is going to start taking Ardella to work soon. Ardella turned 6 months on my birthday. The time is going so fast!

Editing to add a picture Lyn took at QM. This little girl loved Ardella and I think the feelings were reciprocal.



Oh - I joined Facebook... Haven't found a guide dog group yet.