We are snowed in today. It’s 1 p.m. and we have about 9 inches of snow on the ground and it is still coming down. Last year, we were unable to get out for a couple of days with just 5 inches down. The next couple of days are supposed to stay below freezing, so I’m not planning on going anywhere for a while. My son did make it out at 4 a.m. to go off to his job at Wal-Mart. He called me at 5 saying he had spun out into a ditch, but once he calmed down a bit, did manage to get himself out and made it to Tappahannock by 6. He was scheduled to start his shift at 7 a.m.  At the time, there was only a couple of inches down. He plans to spend the night in town so he doesn’t have to make it back here today.

I have bread rising. I’m allowed to eat whole grain carbs now (in limited quantities) and I figure I may as well go for the best quality and taste since I get to eat so little. So just before the holidays I got a sour dough starter going, made a bunch of sourdough bread to give away and share. No point in letting it go to waste, so I’m learning to make lots of stuff with this starter including crackers. Whole wheat bread is a whole lot tastier when it is sourdough. And since I’m in no hurry, (and it can sometimes take two days for these loaves to get where you want them), I’m going this old-fashioned route.

I’m also weaving a series of face clothes/washcloths to sell with my homemade soaps. I’ve got four done so far. The fourth one is going to be mine. The warp is commercial unmercerized cotton. But for the fourth one, I used handspun cotton that I found in the spinning pile. All I had to do was ply it. The selvages are a bit ratty on the fourth one and there are two knots… so I think I can safely justify keeping it for myself.

I did get a little more work done yesterday on the Buddha painting. I’m not sure this photo is fully accurate in the values, but it’s close. The elephant is a small ceramic pedestal my mom used as a door stop. I rather like the way it came out here. I’ve got something wrong with the highlights on the red pot, but nothing I cannot fix. And I “refound” the little enameled container in front of the elephant. That one will need to be developed quite a bit. Oh, and I got the little stones done and fixed part of the issues I had with the little bowl. So, next it will be on to the apple and the flower pot and the orchid. I’m thinking six to eight more hours on this one.