It's Raining Cats and Dogs (Patagonia, AZ)

Gosh, can you believe this month is almost over?  We have certainly had some crazy weather for winter.  One day we are bundle up against freezing temperatures and the next day, we are wearing t-shirts trying to stay cool.  For the last two days, we had rain with a dusting of snow this morning.  Well, all I can say is this - the weather knows how to keep us on our toes!

Before the rain started, the deer and birds were enjoying the sunny afternoons.  Doesn't this look relaxing?  A little nap in the sunshine....

Some time spent down at the creek for a little snack.... 

And one Gila Woodpecker playing peek-a-boo with me.  Ha!  Gotcha! 

Wool - the series by Hugh Howey
I finished the last three of the Wool series.  I loved all five short stories.  I decided to wait until I finished the last three to tell you about the rest of the Wool series.  You can get the whole book  on Amazon or buy one series at a time.

Wool3 The Casting Off
Each series revealed a little more about this underground community living in a silo.  How did they get there?   Who built the silo?  Were they the last humans on earth?  Could they survive outside?

Can you imagine never experiencing the warmth of the sun on your face or wind messing up your hair or to watch snowflakes floating to the ground.  Imagine never smelling a rose, listening to a bird's song or grass tickling your bare toes.  It seems a little depressing and yet life in the Silo goes on because they don't know what they are missing.  Their community in the silo is strong only because they are kept in the dark, but that might be a mistake.  People are naturally inquisitive and the government is naturally secretive.   To keep their secrets, the guilty are sentenced to "the cleaning" or being cast off.

Wool4 The Unraveling
The ones with power start abusing the trust empowered to them by underestimating how well people will follow without questions causing an unraveling of their structured society.  Once people start to discover the dark secrets that have held this community together, it could be the beginning of their end.

Wool5 The Stranded
I won't say anything about the Wool5 because I will spoil some of the surprises in the first four.  Quick note:  there is swearing, but no sex.
These are the links to my first reviews:  Wool and Wool 2.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Tuesday Treasury
Well, it has been raining cats and dogs.  So many cute critters to pick from in Etsy!  So here's just a few.....

Happy Trails!

Wool 2 - Proper Gauge (Blaine, WA)

It took me awhile to finish the second book Wool 2, but not because of the story.  I was reading this book on my cell phone while waiting on whatever we were waiting for at the moment.   Yep, I now have Kindle on my cell phone.  Oh, I do enjoy my new toy!  Now, I am always happy when someone tells us there will be a wait.  I immediately pull out my phone...time to read...yes!

By the way, if this is the first time you are reading the Wool reviews - here is the first one.  There are six in this series and I plan to read them all.

Anyway, back to the book.  I loved it!  The second in the series of Wool had my full attention and I can't wait to start the next in the series.

Wool 2 - Proper Gauge tells us more about the community living in the silo.  How they manage to survive for a couple of centuries.  So if I understand knitting and gauging:  in order to have proper gauge, you need to knit a sample to make sure you have the correct needle size and tension.  If you don't do a sampler, your finished project may not come out correctly.  It might be too big or too small or too tense.  So, like knitting, a Mayor should know the proper gauge of her community, but does she?

I like the way the author Hugh Howey introduces the reader to the community by following Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes down the spiral stairs to the deep down depths of 144 floors to the mechanical floor.  Their mission is to interview and hire a new sheriff.  Along the way, they make stops on different floors to visit people and to conduct business.  Each level plays a key part in the community.  There is a floor for growing produce, raising animals, living quarters, and even one floor for Intel security or as many of us think of them - "Big Brother".

Hugh's imagination is out of this world or is it under this world?  Well, I loved it and I don't want to say too much if you are interested in reading the Wool series.

On The Cutting Board
I finished marking and cutting out all the pieces for my True Lover's Knot quilt blocks.  All by hand.  It took quite a few days, but it is so much more relaxing to sit in a chair and cut each piece out with scissors.  I don't know about you, but after an hour or two of cutting with a rotary cutter, my shoulders are in knots.  Maybe it is because of the height of my counter.  I don't know.   I do know that I am more relaxed when I am doing everything by hand.

Do you remember my Bunny wall hanging coming in this cute box?  Well, I just could not get rid of it so I put all my extra needles in it along with some thimbles.  

Maybe I will stop losing them now.  I can only hope.  I'm still looking for a few things that I have squirreled away and I have no idea where I put them.  I should make an inventory list with location of all my sewing items......okay, that just wore me out just thinking about it.

And that is as far as I got in the last couple of days.  The sun has been out so I am spending more time outdoors soaking it up.  Of course, the cats are quite pleased with the extra time outdoors.

Calendar Girls

Chris:  "The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire. Every stage of their growth has its own beauty, but the last phase is always the most glorious. Then very quickly they all go to seed." 

Happy Quilting!

Short Story ~ "WOOL" (Patagonia, AZ)

Sitting Pretty

Wool by Hugh Howey

Of course, the title caught my eye, but "Wool" is not a story about a group of knitters.  It was one of  Amazon's suggestions probably because I recently uploaded "Journey to the Center of the Earth".  A book on my 'must read' list.  I'm not a big fan of sci-fi post-apocalyptic stories.  Usually, I find them too depressing.  The reviews for "Wool" were outstanding.  I read the first pages online and I was hooked!  I had to read the rest of the story.

Imagine spending your whole life underground.  Never seeing the sky or feeling grass beneath your feet, but you do know the outside world use to exist from old picture books.  Does it now?  According to the outside cameras - no, but wouldn't you be curious anyway?  Be careful of what you wish for, you might get your wish.

I know this is a science-fiction, but it did not feel like one.  This felt more like a study on human nature.  A society built from unusual living conditions and the circumstances of why they have survived inside a silo for many generations.

Metaphorically speaking:  Humans are like spun wool woven together to become the fabric of a community.  There is strength when tightly woven together, but if one of the threads come loose, others might follow.  Soon the tightly woven community is compromised and weakened to a breaking point.  How does a community prevent their survival thread from unraveling?

I also became curious about the author and why it was selling for such a low price.  I found out that Amazon Kindle now offers writers a chance to sell their stories without a publisher.  Hugh Howey is one of them and he has become quite popular.  Better yet...he has more "Wool" stories and I have a feeling I am going to read all of them.

On the Cutting Board
I just finished the second Cupid mug rug so it needs a little ironing.  Feet and wings are ready to sew together.  Now I just need to find some time to get some sewing done on the machine.  And I need to start going through my stash for the next two Rabbit mug rugs.  Oh, and I can't forget to look for red, white, and blue for the Uncle Sam mug rugs.

When I get tired of hand sewing, I have been working on crocheting the second baby blanket.  Got to use up all that extra yarn I ordered.

I had to add this one from LOLCats......Happy Quilting!