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Fleeceful Kingdom

Welcome to my blog! I'm Abu, short for Abuela. I'm married to the Professor. We live on a small "farm" in the beautiful Fingerlakes Region of Central New York. I'll be posting on my journey to create a more simple life way.

Interests: Sheep, knitting, spinning, felting, sewing, other hand crafts, and gardening.

Recent Activity

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." --Lao Tzu

I think it is fitting to use the quote I began with when I first started this blog a little over two years ago. That single step has taken me on a journey I never could have dreamed or imagined. A single step launched fiber art classes for adults and... Continue reading

Posted Oct 23, 2012 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"People change and forget to tell each other." --Lillian Hellman

Georgie says hello! Sorry for the absence. Life is in full swing right now. I'm teaching three classes, and all are booked solid with long wait lists, so that is keeping me very busy. Two Color Finger Knitted Shoelaces I mentioned in my last post that The Fleeceful Kingdom (TFK)... Continue reading

Posted Oct 8, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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These pears were an utterly luscious ending to our meal. The pears, slightly warm and dripping in sweetness, were accompanied by the perfect compliments: carmel and walnuts; bringing back memories of grandma's kitchen.

Commented Sep 16, 2011 on Easy and elegant: Roasted pears with caramel glaze and candied walnuts at pão e queijo

"In Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves." --Rumi

Forgive my silence. A lot is going on. A lot to contemplate. This is a week of many anniversaries: my surgery two years ago and starting on the road to recovery, leaving my job one year ago and leaping into the unknown, and my 30th wedding anniversary! I have been... Continue reading

Posted Sep 15, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Planning regular downtime nurtures positive energy." --Judith Orloff

After Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids, I am enjoying a little downtime…with my new SAORI SX60 loom! The loom arrived last week on the last day of camp (can you believe it?)! Moms, dads, grandmas and siblings had arrived for our "art show." The kids were superhyped to show... Continue reading

Posted Sep 2, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." --John Lubbock

Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids Day Five: Garden Loom Weaving We wove in treasures we gathered on our nature walk, and bits of yarn from my stash. Even my four year old granddaughter, Frida, enjoyed weaving on her garden loom! So cool! Everyone's weaving was different; unique to their... Continue reading

Posted Aug 26, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"What a beautiful, sunny morning. It makes you happy to be alive, doesn't it? We can't let the sun outshine us! We have to beam, too!" --Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids Day Four: Drop Spinning and Felting! Concentration! Our morning results Felting our Shepherd's Rugs Shepherd's Rugs on the line No one wanted to go home today! I guess that is a good sign everyone is having a good time, right? Fleece, Abu Continue reading

Posted Aug 25, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun." --Kahlil Gibran

Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids Day Three: Today we dyed! We went on a walk in the woods to gather Queen Anne's Lace for dye and interesting materials to weave into our looms on Friday. It was a beautiful, sunny day for a walk! The kitchen became our laboratory!... Continue reading

Posted Aug 24, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." --Henry James

Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids Day Two in Pictures Barn boots by the back door Everybody loves George! Picking and carding our washed fleece Go fly a kite! Taking the wool off the drum carder I love busy, summer days! Fleece, Abu Continue reading

Posted Aug 24, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Nothing is more memorable than a smell…" --Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Woolly Week Summer Camp for Kids is here! Day One: We spent the morning learning about my little sheepie friends; what they eat, shearing time, how to take care of them, etc. I showed the campers my book of New York State Breeds of Sheep that I put together in... Continue reading

Posted Aug 23, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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“If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” --Shel Silverstein

Flax harvesting (1904) painting by Emile Claus (1849-1924) Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium Around here, once we turn the calendar page to August, the season changes as well. The days are cooler, it is getting dark noticeably earlier, the Canadian geese are already flying overhead. Mind you, we... Continue reading

Posted Aug 11, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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“The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom.” --Jon Stewart

Since Tia Sari is home, she is teaching me the ins and outs of Facebook, and I am going along kicking and screaming. (Oh no, another time suck)! I really test her patience with my stupid questions trying to learn the difference between a fan, a favorite, a follower, until... Continue reading

Posted Aug 9, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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“Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.” --Lord Byron

Oh, those naughty sheepies. They are up to it again. I have yet to earn back my shepherdess status since my return. Sarah and I have been walking in the evening. (Yes, she is off the crutches and walking! Incredible and unbelievable)! So the Professor has been sneaky, and putting... Continue reading

Posted Aug 8, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it." --Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Life is indeed happening fast. After completing Summer Art Camp, we took a family trip to the Cape to celebrate my father-in-law's 90th birthday. This was only the second time in ten years we have gone away as a family (the last time was for Poppa's 85th); one of us... Continue reading

Posted Aug 3, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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“A good speaker is one who knows how little time two cents' worth should take.” --Anonymous

Very exciting news! I was interviewed by the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center today! Make more art! Fleece, Abu Continue reading

Posted Jul 14, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"I shall the effect of this good lesson keeps as watchman to my heart." --William Shakespeare

The Lesson Life has taken unexpected twists and turns. I was very disappointed that my summer art camp at the Schweinfurth was cancelled this week. I am trying to be positive: family is coming to visit, we are all trekking to Poppa's 90th birthday party, it lessens the load as... Continue reading

Posted Jul 13, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"They sure knocked the stuffin' out of you, didn't they?" --spoken by the Cowardly Lion, "The Wizard of Oz"

I sure feel like I had my stuffing knocked out last week! Whew! The week flew past, and the next thing I knew, it was Friday, and all the moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, brothers, sisters, it seemed like all of Auburn was there for our art exhibition! We... Continue reading

Posted Jul 10, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off." --Author Unknown

Art camp started bright and early this morning, and did we have a blast! I have the older kids this week, ages 9-12, and they really held their attention as I discussed different fibers and their uses. Poor Georgie. He really wanted to go to camp with me. But there... Continue reading

Posted Jul 5, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"A lot of parents pack up their troubles and send them off to summer camp." --Raymond Duncan

I can't believe it's time for camp. All my fiber equipment is in the front hall, waiting to be loaded first thing tomorrow morning. Then I'm off! I had some time between last-minute running around getting supplies (I have five more students more than they told me to plan for!!!),... Continue reading

Posted Jul 4, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” --Denis Waitley

Things are not going as planned. I am working hard trying to accept this as part of my path right now. But it's frustrating. Rather than fighting it, I am trying to accept it, to make peace with this path; a bend in the road. Trying to move through it.... Continue reading

Posted Jun 29, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent." --Dave Barry

Saturday was the Marcellus Skaneateles Art Guild's festival, Art in the Park; my first time being on the other side of the table! I checked the 5-day forecast on Tuesday; it was supposed to rain all week and be a beautiful weekend. Well, all I have to say is, I... Continue reading

Posted Jun 27, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor." --Victor Hugo

The loom sits idle. Too much is happening: a trip to PA for graduation, father's day, two surgeries for family in the same week, preparations for summer art camps, the art festival on Saturday, etc. So I work on the "invisible." I close my eyes at night to a river... Continue reading

Posted Jun 22, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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"Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again." --Menachem Mendel Schneerson

This post is dedicated to Em, who came into our lives 25 years ago today. You have enriched our lives beyond measure, and it's been so wonderful to watch you grow, stretch, and discover your own special and unique gifts and talents. I will not embarass you here by lavishing... Continue reading

Posted Jun 15, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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Michelle, Yes! The image of that boy in my memory will last a long time. Oh, how I wish I could have taken his picture! But you need all kinds of permissions these days, so my memory will just have to do. Thanks for stopping by, Abu

Commented Jun 14, 2011 on "Wherever you go, go with all your heart." --Confucius at Fleeceful Kingdom

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." --Confucius

Before I left for Saori Worcester, I finished a tee for Frida, who is in desperate need of summer clothes. I had to draw on an inner reserve of courage to take the scissors and cut! I measured her, cut a paper pattern out of newspaper, and prayed a lot!... Continue reading

Posted Jun 13, 2011 at Fleeceful Kingdom

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