It's Only Going To Get Worse

It's really hard to get out of bed and it is only going to get worse. It is dark... just plain dark in the mornings now and it is really hard to get out of a nice warm bed that feels oh so cozy when there are no birds singing and no sun shining. The girls grunt when I call them and the only one who is enthusiastic is Tootsie the wonder chicken herder. We all eat breakfast like we are zombies and then slowly the sky lightens. The last of the stars twinkle and the sky looks pretty but cold... oh so cold, in that metallic blue that no one has a name for. As the sky lightens we perk up... but I know that that blue which I love will come later and later every morning until it's midmorning before there's light. This morning all the grass has a serious coat of frost and it looks almost like feathers sticking up out of the ground. It is pretty in a very cool kind of way.



I've always wondered why school couldn't start at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. I know my whole family would be a lot better off if we had that extra hour to wait for dawn before getting our carcasses out of bed. Think of it... 10 - 4 instead of 9 - 3. Oh happy day if that would ever happen. I would rather stretch out the work in the evenings rather than in the mornings. I'm up in the evenings anyway and I usually wake up by 8 a.m. even in the winter, so 10 - 4 would work a whole lot better for me and I'm not alone in this. Unfortunately I cannot make the time of school different and so we fumble our way through mornings in a fog bank.

This morning, the deck is covered in really cool frost that swirls and twists in feather like patterns.
This is one of those odd mornings where there is fog that has been locked down into the river bottoms but every so often the fog rolls in over the land a little further. That is probably why there is more frost this morning than is usual. Still all the fog and frost makes for a lovely morning even if it is a little on the dull side.
So there it is, as we make our way down into the depths of winter, I begin to see that I have to stop procrastinating and start getting work done whether I am awake or not... there is no time to lose. I'm off today now that it is actually morning, to spin, card, and do what needs to be done before it gets any worse!

Trippin' On Home

What a busy weekend! I was really glad to get home yesterday afternoon. Last night it was so nice to crawl back into my own bed. I just lay there and thought, there's no place like home. I had a great sleep. Sleep is an amazing thing. All weekend sleeping in a hotel meant for me that I wasn't really sleeping my best and so if I don't sleep well I don't function well. By Sunday I was starting to function in a red mist which means that I was not really thinking straight and I was getting angry about it. On top of it all I still am having dizzy issues which more and more I'm convinced is due to problems with my ear which is having shooting pains and a dull ache. Dizzy spells took the crispness out of my step. So after a weekend of serious fatigue, I am glad to be back in my space, with all my comforts right at my fingertips.

I did manage while I was away to knit a fair bit on a lace glove. I was happy to see it progress as well as it did. I am at the point where my lace glove will soon need fingers. It was made with a Rideau Arcott fleece and then dyed with Avacadoes. The yarn is a lovely ecru bordering on peach colour. Sadly though I have managed to break another one of my rosewood needles. So today I have to have a look through my Knitpiks catalogue and see if I can order more along with a really nifty needle protector. I made it to a very nice wool shop too while I was away and of course spent money on yarn. That's just too easy to do. Two yarns were brought for a component of my level three homework. Later this year I will have to spin several different commercial yarns and so I picked out two commercial yarns that I would like to duplicate. One is a novelty yarn with a thick single and a thin single. The other yarn is a four ply silk and merino worsted weight yarn. Both are lovely. I look forward to spinning them.

The conference that I attended was interesting and for the moment that is all I am prepared to say about it. I will have to take some time and ponder the things that were said both officially and in chit chat with other attendees. It certainly has given me much to think about.

Being the latter part of October means that winter is so close you can feel it breathing down your neck. The drive back from the conference only reminded me that snow is coming in the near future. The days are grey and dull even the grass is lifeless. There is a darkness to the days and so I begin to think of Christmas. On the drive home yesterday I saw my first Christmas lights in the window of a store that we passed by as we drove along the highway. Christmas must become something to enjoy instead of something to dread in our house. Last year Christmas was not what we would hope for with Hubby hurting his back and the daughters not interested in anything other than their books. I have decided that Advent will be a time of preparation with one Christmas thing going up each day, so that by the time the actual day arrives I won't be dead from the exhaustion of decorating.

It feels like only a short few days ago that I looked out my window and saw sun and warmth in abundance. So with winter hard upon my heals I am off for a day of spinning on my woven jacket commission.

Trippin'

It's gotta be pretty serious when I miss knit night... and twice in a row is next to unheard of. I'm not sick but I just ran out of time. Tomorrow I'm trippin'. I'm heading off down to PG for a religious conference for the weekend and tonight is my time to pack.... I had intended on packing today but things just got too busy. So here I am waiting for a load of laundry to come out of the dryer and then I will pack my bags for the Long and Winding road to prayer and learning. See you all when I get back on Sunday.... hopefully I'll have some interesting things to talk about.

X Support Spindle Sample

Today I have had a very big disappointment. I have been spinning on my Navajo spindle and have greatly enjoyed it. I finally felt yesterday, that I had spun a good amount and was satisfied that it looked pretty good. I plied the skein and washed it, expecting that it would be lovely especially when it came off the spindle plied, and nicely balanced. I washed it in some hot water with a little soap and rinsed it and hung it to dry. This morning I had a look at said skein and was very disappointed because the whole thing had bloomed and where I thought I was being so consistent in my grist and tpi, turned out to have slubs in it all over the place. So I am back to the drawing board with a commercially prepared top in Finn wool this time. So back to whorling around again. Mind you this does not entirely displease me since I really enjoy the Navajo spindle and find it almost as relaxing as my wheel.

I think I will go and watch a movie while I spin, spin, spin.

June

Once upon a time there was a farm that had chickens. The chickens were bad. Bad, bad, chickens. They were always freaking out the farmer's wife by hiding under the deck and squawking loudly when she came out to water her flowers. One day the farmer came into his wife's kitchen and said, "I am going to butcher the chickens... they are the worse chickens we have ever had! They eat way too many eggs and I can't break them of that habit. I'm not going to feed them if they are all eating eggs."

The farmer's wife was not too happy. She liked fresh eggs but she knew that there weren't enough eggs to keep them. Sadly she watched Hubby and her daughter cut the heads off each and every chicken.

The farmer came into the house and said that he would smoke the chickens in his smoker and so for a whole week there were eleven chickens soaking in a roaster with yummy marinade. The farmer's wife cut her losses and began to look forward to trying the smoked chicken. Finally when the chickens were smoked, the farmer and the farmer's wife were very pleased that the smoked chicken tasted so good. The farmer's daughters both said, "yum yum," to the smoked chicken and they all knew that it was very good.

The farmer's wife began to plan for next year's chickens and the joy of fresh eggs and more yummy smoked chicken. She began to look up websites where she could buy new chicks. One day, the farmer's wife was looking out the window and noticed something strange. Tootsie, the wonder chicken herder, was staring under the deck. The farmer's wife wondered what the chicken herding dog was staring at, when out from under the deck came a very smart dumb cluck. Dumb cluck because all chickens are dumb. Smart because she managed to avoid the ax and survive for a whole week with no food. So the smart dumb cluck was named June by the farmer's wife and lives happily ever after in the barn with the sheep. She is in love with the ram's belly and the ram seems to have taken to her. The farmer's wife saves scraps for June and feeds her tidbits from the kitchen. The daughters are happy to have a pet chicken and the farmer scowls at the chicken and says things like.... "I'm not hooking up a heat lamp for her," and, "she is going to have to survive on her own," and," I should cut her head off."

But the farmer's wife just smiles, knowing that the farmer will suffer the chicken through the winter with heat lamps and feed. And so the farmer's wife waits patiently for June, the month, to come at which time she will borrow a rooster in the hopes that June, the chicken, will have a brood of chicks yet!

Blank Page Syndrome

Sometimes when I sit down to write here I think, "what have I got to say that other people will want to read about". That's when blank page syndrome hits me in earnest. I sit here with my hands poised over the keyboard and suddenly I'm without a thing to say... at least of any value. One day of Blank Page syndrome doesn't bother me but when you run into three or four days of it... well, it makes you wonder what you are doing, or not doing to be so boring.

So, for the last few days I have had a serious Blank Page syndrome and thought I would fill the void with some of the photos that Hubby and I have taken over the years. Then a recipe thrown in was ok too. But this seems to be an ongoing problem, so when you see reams of pictures you know that my brain has gone south for a holiday.

So on that note and feeling like I really don't have much else to say that's humorous, or interesting, or of any known value in the universe, I will post a few more pictures today.

The Annual Chili Cook-off

We didn't get as many as we hoped for but we did have our annual chili cook-off. St. Peter's Church hosted a Chili cook-off which we hope to have every year. The idea is to have people make pots of Chili and bring to the event to be judged by those who buy tickets to our event. The tickets were $10 with kids eating free. You receive a bowl and two pennies at the door. The bowl is yours to take home and the pennies are your vote. We had a hoot and the pots of Chili were great. I didn't think it would happen because I was up against some pretty stiff competition, but I won.... hands down. Here's my Chili recipe... which really isn't a recipe at all.... Mom made chili when she was young and put frozen corn into it by accident and I've been doing that ever since.... I throw a whole lot of whatever in my chili.... as you will see.

Frankie's Chili
Two small packs of Ground beef and two sirloin steaks cubed into 1/2 inch squares (this is best done when still a little frozen)
The sirloin helps to add to the flavour
2 beef oxo cubes or packets
two onions (best when garden fresh)
brown meat and onions at same time
salt to taste and pepper to taste.
chop red and green peppers 2 of each (substitute a yellow one for a red one if you want more colour)
two cans of mushrooms or the equivalent in fresh (fresh are better)
two cans of tomato paste
two sm cans of tomato sauce
two cans of red kidney beans
1/4 bottle salsa
1/4 bag of frozen corn niblets
Now this is where I have fun!
chili powder to taste (I used a lot but mine was old and had lost the flavour... about a 1/4 c. You may want to tone it down if you are using fresh chili powder)
honey 2 tbsp (use more if you are using lots of chili powder it helps take the edge off the bitterness)
cinnamon very small amount..... 1/2 tsp-ish
a little garlic crushed 1/2 tsp-ish
a smidge of lemon juice
cayenne pepper (don't want too much of this as it will burn your lips) 1 tsp-ish
1 1/2 tsp tobasco
sometimes I'll throw in a few chopped tomatoes (better when skinned)

Let this all simmer for a few hours and voila.... yummy!