There’s a rat living in the compost. The magpies are catching mice and leaving them half eaten on the front steps. Juvenile robins swoosh around the yard chasing each other, in between checking their favourite spot between the pines for worms. A chipmunk has shown up and races across the porch while we sit. The quail family come by each day and a hummingbird showers in the sprinkler, then sips from the water drops on the Japanese maple leaves. An osprey sits on top of a power pole eating, the baby crows gather at the bottom of the pole catching fish bits, squawking happily. Gold finch decimate the sunflowers in the garden along with the red winged blackbirds. There is another rat in the garden that is nibbling on the trombolino squash.

It has been a hot summer so a couple of times a day I swim in the lake, there I meet a single mallard duck who silently swims with me. I am ignored by the gulls and in the evening for my last float flocks of black birds speed by swooping just above me, rippling the air.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, corn, kale, onions, basil, rosemary, oregano, blueberries, raspberries, pears, crabapples and plums all grow and ripen here at Newport Beach.

When we chose to move here in 2011 this is what I came to experience. A deep connection to the natural world. A place where silence could occur. This life nourishes me and I am ever so grateful that Steve and I were able to participate as humans in this naturally alive place.

Last week our newsletter theme was Confident and this week, the 8th anniversary of the Twisted Purl Yarn Studio the theme is Empowered.

It is the nourishment I receive from the environment that I live in that empowers me to do the business that we do. It informs the choices of yarn, the patterns that are knit or crocheted and how we interact with customers and community. All of the yarns that we have at the Twisted Purl originate in connection with the earth. How they feel, how they look, what colour they are and how they knit up are all about the human interaction with the raw materials. The Twisted Purl is in existence to empower humans to consciously interact with quality yarn. 

At The Twisted Purl yarns originate from around the world. Turkey, Uraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Italy, Britain, Canada, Australia, China, Argentina, India, Japan, US, Romania, Germany to name just a few. I imagine bringing the world to Armstrong, allowing the creativity of a whole world wide community to be found in one small store in a town of people connected to the earth in a conscious way. So from one part of the earth to your part of the earth I send gratitude for those people who have chosen to become empowered with us for the last 8 years. Many thanks for taking the creative human journey with us.

Love Kathleen.