spin, span, spun

Two days worth of spinning.  Ok, Maybe 8 hours total.  The all white is alpaca singles (thank you for the glorious alpaca, Cheryl!) The color blend is wool roving (thank you, MJ) plied with white alpaca.  The dark gray is Pyrannese Mountain Dog undercoat, two plied.  I was out on a walk one day, and saw this couple with these two gorgeous dogs.  I said hi and asked if I could say hi to the dogs.  They fawned all over me.  I cooed over how gorgeous their fur was and how I'd love a chance to spin some.  The lady lit up, ran into her house, and came out with a bag of fluff she had been saving.  It was SUCH fun to spin - soft as alpaca, with not much crimp and a trace of natural oil that kept it from fluffing all over.  Now I'm going to knit a hat and return it.  It  will keep the wearer warm and dry.  I wouldn't mind spinning more of this stuff.

While spinning, I was listening to a Falco mystery by Lindsay Davis.  Falco, ( Marcus Didius Falco), is a second century Roman informer - something like a private detective.  He works for the Emperor Tiberius, and travels all over the empire to solve tricky cases.  The history is spot on, the details are richly sensual, the characters are engaging and believable.  Falco is a tough, clever, 30 year-old ex-soldier with a large, colorful family, and a soft spot for helpless victims.  You might give the series a try.  I find the books vastly enjoyable.

Next week, I start a blue quilt.

Meanwhile, the place where Kyle used to work has hired him back out of retirement.  He will start full time next week.  He figures, maybe two years, and then he'll give retirement another shot.  I think he's happier with a schedule and a reason to get out of the house.  Furthermore, when you have a skill that you excel at, it feels good to practice it.  I'll miss his company, but I think it's good for him.  The only fly in the ointment is that he'll be working graveyard.  Well, we've managed this schedule before, and now, I won't be off at work during the 8 hours he's not asleep or working.    I might even get back to writing.

You see, the thing about the writing is that it sucks you into an alternate universe, and you have to make a journey through time and space to come out of the zone and say, "What? Tea?  Umm, (the whisps of story line are floating over the event horizon and . . .)sure, I may as well take a break. I'd love a cup of tea with you!"

But, with hours of uninterrupted immersion in the zone, I might even find another tale to tell.  Wish me luck.  First I need to write back-cover blurbs and advertising synopses for the three books going into print.  Hard work because, if I could actually tell the story in 25 words or less, I wouldn't have written a sixty thousand word novel.