The past couple weeks, I have been dog-sitting at my youngest daughter's home while she is working in another state. This week, my husband, Pete, came to visit me while I was away from our wee ranch. grin
When I travel, I bring craft work to keep my hands busy when I'm sitting. This trip, I have stitched some embroidery and also woven a bit of ribbon/ narrow bands on my inkle loom. So far, I've made a couple of bands in linen, and a couple in silk... and have a good start on the embroidery.
At Frontier Texas museum...
Pete, however, does not have any sedentary hobbies with which to occupy his hands and thoughts.
Since he arrived, we have taken in the sights of the small Texas town of Abilene. We want to stay close to the house as we are still responsible for taking care of the dogs, and there is a limit on how much driving we want to do during the day.
Walking the dogs at Fort Phantom Hill...
Nevertheless, we do go out and about sightseeing for a couple of hours daily, which leaves plenty of time for him to putter around the house. So far, Pete has mowed the lawn, changed all the furnace filters, cooked most of the meals and done all the dishes, walked the dogs daily, and is still looking for things to do. Methinks it is one of the hazards of living on a ranch/farm and keeping moving around outside all day every day... for when he travels... he is restless... finding it difficult to sit and just "relax."
Last night I told him I could not find an empty popsicle stick in any of the drawers. "I'll throw myself on that grenade for you," he chuckled, as he walked toward the freezer. When he finished, I washed the stick, and set it aside to dry. You see, I want to make a krokbragd band on my inkle loom, but I left my shed stick back at the ranch. I have made several shed sticks over the years so I know what is involved.
My new shed stick...
This morning I managed to give him a project that took a bit to figure out. I handed him the dried popsicle stick and told him what I wanted. A flat stick about two inches long with tiny holes on either end to hold a string. I wish I could tell you what he did... I have no clue... He took the dried stick out into the garage and was busy for a couple of hours. He said most of the time he used searching for what he needed.
My loom warped up with the heddles and stick.
He watched as I warped my loom and saw how I used the shed stick, pleased he was able to help. And happy to putter productively for a bit.
I guess the rest of the time he is here... I'll be using all the creativity I can muster to find things for him to do...