The Book

Kathryn Stockett... I just finished reading her book (yes.. occasionally I look up from the big j.c. and do other things). She has written a marvelous book called The Help about the relationships between black maids and their white employers in Mississippi in the 1960's. I have begun to find that it is harder and harder to find a book that keeps my attention and entertains while still having something to say about life, relationships, love, and most importantly social justice. Her writing is fluid and takes you into the world of the characters with ease. I don't normally use this blog to push anything but I was just so happy to find a book that I enjoyed that I wanted you all to hear about it.... if you are a reader and want a good read... this is one.... for sure.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

I wonder if Kermit had any idea about what "being green" would mean in just a couple of decades from the time he sang that song. Here at Nicholsville farm it is all about being green. I mean we do try to be green... I hate plastic and think it is the number one reason our planet can't breath any more. If we banned all plastic in anything other than medical situations... I do think plastic in medicine has revolutionized how medicine is delivered..... then this whole planet would be a whole lot better off. Meanwhile it is St. Patrick's Day and while St. Patrick wouldn't know modern day "green" if it came up and bit him... actually he would probably roll over in his grave if he knew green beer was served on "his" day....

I'm still pondering the reason for Wagon Wheels becoming smaller. (That doesn't have anything to do with being green.)

I'm going to the St. Paddy's Day tea this afternoon I think.... if I can talk someone into going with me. One time St. Paddy's Day was huge back in the day when I lived in NFLD. I miss it... on campus (MUN) there were always celebrations for St. Paddy's Day. But now I live in the north and though Canadian Tire is run mostly by Newfies, St. Paddy's Day is not such a big deal. But in honour of the day I am going to put on something green.... I hope I have something. I just heard on the radio that there are only two types of people in the world.... those who are Irish and those who wish they were.... hmm! Anyway... if you are green ... then enjoy St. Paddy's Day...

Hey I have a green nighty.... I wonder if I could get away with that... No?! Well I had better have a look for something green...

It ain't easy being Green... I wonder if green Wagon Wheels would be possible....

Totally Random

Why have Wagon Wheels (the food) gotten smaller... it's not fare!

It's snowing..... Murphy's law rares it's ugly head....I should have known not to get excited about spring.... at least all the poop is white for another few weeks.

If I see black wool or alpaca fibre after the big j.c. for at least one whole year I'll puke!

I cleaned up my bedroom... man were those dust bunnies ferocious!

The dog is shivering.... I think I cut his hair too short.

Why is St. Patrick's day in the middle of March.... and why do we wear green?

What does green beer taste like?

I have friends leaving today to go home to NFLD..... I wish I could go too.

Looks like we're leaving for brudder's on Saturday for a few days...

Hark is that the big j.c. calling?! Maybe if I ignore it some little elf will come and finish weaving the sleeves.... (dream on)!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.... ho hum...

Fall Back, Spring Forward

It has been a busy weekend. I have been prepping two separate newsletters to go out this week. I also had the service at our little church for the third week in a row. That kind of work is mentally exhausting. It actually sucks out all my "desire-to-write" and dries me up like an old prune. But I now have two weeks of time without having to write anything so hopefully I can be a little more blog centered. I haven't been particularly blog centered lately and if is starting to bug me.

I like writng on my blog and miss it when I don't get a chance to write here but the same thing happened last spring and since I've only been keeping this blog for a year and a half I haven't had more time to see if this spring bloglessness is a trend. Spring of course is always a busy time. We all adjust by getting outdoors again, which means having to leave other things behind. Last year at this time, I was blogging about our house renovation and we certainly don't have anything like that this year to occupy us.

There is still a lot of snow around on the ground and patches of ice every day I see more and more ground/grass showing through. We can still have heavy snow falls... and it would not necessarily come as a surprise. Last year we had a pretty good one in the latter part of April.
More and more garbage is showing through the snow and I'll be glad when we can get out there to rake and clean up. Spring is always a time of mess and despite that I can't contain my pleasure at being able to wear light outer wear and seeing the snow slowly disappear. I just hope we don't get any spring dumps of snow.

You may have noticed that to the left I am no longer following the sunrise and sunset time.... this is because with spring very obviously on the way, daylight seems to be less interesting. Also it is already daylight when I wake... what's the point of following it anymore.... I usually lose track once the time change occurs anyway. So how does it feel to be on a new time? Did you all sleep past when you were supposed to... That's one of the nice things about where I live. I don't have to worry about time change.... you see I live in one of the only parts of the country that doesn't recognize Daylight Savings Time. So Saturday night when millions were fixing their clocks we just went to bed and didn't worry about it at all... I think it is great.

So with the weather turning spring-like I am thinking it is time to take off those Christmas pounds I put on and have been struggling to rid myself of. So my plan is to walk two and a half kilometres each day starting today. I'm also on a strict food regimen of 1300 calories a day. My goal is to lose 30 pounds before I head off to Olds College. I wonder if I'll reach it.

So the sun is up, and Hubby and the girls are headed off to school.... I had better get to it... a day of the big j.c. plus a nice walk to start with.....

Wanderlust

I'm all over the place these days. I can't seem to get myself to settle on any one thing. I'm not seeming to get a whole lot done. I do a bit here and a bit there but nothing seems to be coming off finished. It the dreaded disease. I call it wanderlust. Most people think of Wanderlust as being a disease where you want to travel all the time but for me it is more serious... wanting to travel all the time wouldn't be such a bad disease I'm thinking. For me Wanderlust is a need for my mind to wander from topic to topic, from project to project, from one thing to another without really settling with any sense to it. Usually it means that I need down time and time away from all projects.... usually it means I need sleep and lots of it.

As I may have mentioned, March break is coming soon and Hubby and I have decided to take a few days to go away with the girls and visit some family if they will have us. It will be good to get away from the day to day routine and do something different... it will be good to take just one project and focus on that. It will be good to put everything especially all the demands on my time, behind me and focus on something other than deadlines.

Deadlines seem to be the bane of my existence.... there was the big j.c. deadline which I didn't meet and I have to say it really knocked the wind out of me. Plus service quite a bit lately for church to prepare. Minutes to type and newsletters to prepare... I have two to get ready... It's not that I don't like doing any of these things... I think its just that I'm tired and coming up with ideas is tiring me out.
I look out the window and see the ice disappearing and I want to go for a walk but I feel guilty when I do because there are too many other things that I should do. You would think by now at 44 (almost 45) I'd have my sh-- together but still I'm as unfocused as any cross eyed cow.

So here I sit with my wanderlust drifting over projects I want done... projects I want to start... jobs I would like to forget and a nice clean house wouldn't hurt either.

I did go out today for a little walk.... it's good to play hookie once in a while and just enjoy. So to the Wanderlust disease that has attacked me of late.... and in the ever inimitable words of the wonderful Monty Python... "P--s off! I have work to do". And to my readers, "thanks for sticking around.... I'll try to write something interesting for a change".

Spring Is Here... The Grass Is Growing

I saw green grass. Yes I did! I saw green grass under a tree where the snow had melted and boy am I happy. Our road only has a few small patches of ice let and I can't wait to see the end of the snow around the yard. I do have to tell you that it is pretty difficult to get inspired to write this time of the year when it is too icy to go out walking and there's dog poop everywhere. March break starts next week and the public library here in HH is having an afternoon tea for St. Patrick's day.... I think I might go. It might get me doing something else and cheer me up. Not that I'm down... I'm just feeling a little burnt out. A vacation might be the ticket.

In the meantime the sun is shining and I want to go walking but there is just too much snow on the ground to walk safely. As a result the house is feeling rather like a cage. I still go out for knit night and recently I started working on a shawl project that I started last summer. It is woven on my 4" x 6" weavette loom with one block a multi green angora and the next block is brown llama. It is very soft and very light. I decided to pick up that project for knit night because I'm sick of lace gloves.... next fall when my hands are cold I will get back to them again. Part of the reason for doing the lace gloves in the first place was a gallery show in FSJ for which I had been preparing things for the last two years but when the choice was made for the theme it was.. "Scarves, Shawls, and Shoelaces"... yup not a one of those things that I completed in the last two years was a Scarf, Shawl or a Shoelace.... so I am now more focused on scarves, shawls and shoelaces.

Meanwhile the big j.c. rears its ugly head as I continue to spin black alpaca.... which I have to say I'm getting really sick of.

We are considering a few days away coming up here during March break which begins next week... I think Hubby and the girls are all feeling like a trip away. I'm thinking it might not be such a bad idea.... still there is a lot to do around here too. but a short vacation can't hurt right?

Well I just finished giving the small dog a hair cutthis is before the cutand this is after the cut
and he is looking painfully up at me to play with him.... the black alpaca is calling my name, and I have a dessert to make for dinner out at a friend's house. The day has begun and so must I.....

Colour.. Pink Is Putrid

Last night I was sitting in the living room at about 7:30 p.m. and I happened to look out the living room window and there before me was the most beautiful blue I have ever seen... I don't think I could even describe it. It was just before sunset and I don't know if the snow remaining in the yard was part of it, perhaps it was reflecting the colour a little, but somehow I don't think so because the trees and ground were already black. There wasn't a hint of any other colour in the sky, just this not-quite-ink-blue. It had an ethereal quality about it. I know I should have taken a picture right then and there but honestly I was enjoying looking at it so much that it never even occurred to me to get off my rump and find the camera. But I am glad I looked at it because it was just glorious.

At knit night last Thursday we were discussing our favorite colours and everyone was able to say what their favorite colour was except for me. I have a hard time choosing favorite colours because that is too abstract. A colour for me signifies as much a feeling as anything... so when I choose my favorite colour (if there is such a thing) it is always in context. I love blue but there are so many shades of blue that saying that is almost inane. I also love soft yellows like butter yellow and lemon yellow... but then if I think about a block of butter in a dish I almost want to laugh because that is not it at all.... the butter yellow that I like is a shade of a quilt that I once owned.... and I wonder if I like the shade of yellow or if it was the blanket itself that I liked. And if I think about a lemon I can't stand lemon but I love lemon chiffon fabric... it looks so utterly feminine. Red is an awesome colour but mostly because I love Stewart plaid.... then there is moss green. This is by itself actually a greyish drab colour but if you use it primarily in the bedroom it is very soothing. Mauve is lovely too if it is a lilac or if it is in conjunction with navy blue velvet. You see I love no colour as it stands on it's own but how it is in accordance with something else or with a feeling it evokes. I love melon orange but especially in regards to Cottonwood trees and how they look when the colour goes out of the leaves in autumn. So you see I have a difficult time choosing a colour that I can unequivocally say is my favorite.

Now you understand why I change the look of my blog so often.... mostly because colour is a tool... it is a tool the represents my mood.... I, over the last year or so have used many different colours on my blog, and all the time they are chosen to represent me..... I think, the colour that I least like is rose or any shade thereof.... puke! That is why the pink of the last few weeks didn't last on the blog for very long. Pink drives me nuts.... it puts me in mind of smoke and vapours. Pathetic.... I wonder if I ever threw up something pink.... hmmm.... I should ask my mother... maybe she would remember. Either way pink is vapid.

So there you have my low down on colour..... I can safely say that colour is a very personal thing... I hope I have not stepped on anyone's toes by saying pink is vapid.... If you happen to like pink and it works for you then more power to you.

My grandfather was colour blind.... I cannot imagine a world without colour.... how lucky we are to have the rainbow of them......