Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Ack!
I ran into one of the Rangers at the restaurant last night...... he is one of the fellows who is coming for dinner tonight.... and he just happened to mention that this was his weekend to have his kids (he's divorced) so his three kids are coming for dinner too. Ack!
First of all my roast is too small for nine people. So I'm in the process of defrosting two chickens in the microwave. I wonder if they will thaw in time to cook them.... I'm giving up on the roast idea and will cook that for us some other time. For all you city folks who can run out to the store and buy another roast..... yeah, well... you can't do that here... no stores are open on Sunday or Saturday evening either for that matter. So chicken it will be.
Now that I know that there will be three extra mouths to feed I'm starting to think I had better start early getting the cooking done. I also know that those kids have severe allergies to all dust and animals. Ack! How am I going to make this house dust and cat hair free? I'm doomed... : (
I'm off to a Eucharist service at church in a little while... hope the chickens are thawed by the time I get back. One nice thing about it all is I don't have to make Yorkshire pudding now.
I'd better go make the pie though.... Ack!... I think I'm going to need two pies.
Can you tell that I don't normally cook for this many.....
Oh well, I'm sure it will turn out all right.... now, I'd better start peeling apples. Yup, apple crumble pies sounds just about right.....
First of all my roast is too small for nine people. So I'm in the process of defrosting two chickens in the microwave. I wonder if they will thaw in time to cook them.... I'm giving up on the roast idea and will cook that for us some other time. For all you city folks who can run out to the store and buy another roast..... yeah, well... you can't do that here... no stores are open on Sunday or Saturday evening either for that matter. So chicken it will be.
Now that I know that there will be three extra mouths to feed I'm starting to think I had better start early getting the cooking done. I also know that those kids have severe allergies to all dust and animals. Ack! How am I going to make this house dust and cat hair free? I'm doomed... : (
I'm off to a Eucharist service at church in a little while... hope the chickens are thawed by the time I get back. One nice thing about it all is I don't have to make Yorkshire pudding now.
I'd better go make the pie though.... Ack!... I think I'm going to need two pies.
Can you tell that I don't normally cook for this many.....
Oh well, I'm sure it will turn out all right.... now, I'd better start peeling apples. Yup, apple crumble pies sounds just about right.....
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Windy
The trees are sure losing the last of their leaves today. It is warm, oh so warm.... but blustery. What was a orange a golden paradise a few days ago is now a grey and drab winter waiting terrain. Teapot and his Rangers are off for a survival in the wilderness weekend. Tomorrow I will be cooking a roast of beef with Yorkshire pudding and all the fixings for our little family and two of his Ranger friends. Is this not a true autumn activity?!
Well, we have had no interest in the wee kitty and so she has become a part of our home life. Her name is now Whisper. She is a sweet natured kitty and so far I've had no bad reaction to her. Of course, she is still young and those dreaded hormones that activate my allergies have not developed in her yet.... but if that happens, then we will have to turn her into a barn cat..... which means that I guess we are keeping her. Our old cat, Midnite has his nose out of joint but I suspected that and he will deal with her I'm sure when He feels she is too much in his way with a swipe of his paw or a check from his hip.
It is a quiet afternoon and I have been trying to get myself geared up for Christmas.... I actually bought my first Christmas gift online today. Meanwhile I continue to work on home made little Christmassy things for gift exchanges and friends who I always give to. Place mats for two families are in the works. Distaff bags for gift exchanges that I will be participating in are also on the go. I am knitting a pair of wristlets for my Pops out of some sumptuous yarn in a blend of Polworth and wool. I am also continuing to work on the knitted Shadow stitch scarf. It is quite long so far but I want it to be a scarf that wraps around the neck twice so it is not long enough yet. I am sorry that I didn't knit it on larger needles. But that just didn't pop into my mind at the time that I started it... so it will be a little stiffer than it should be.... hopefully washing it will soften it a little.
It has been a lazy afternoon with my girls helping with the chores while Teapot is away. The back continues to mend though very slowly. I still have severe twinges in my leg and hip as the nerves pinch when I forget myself and sit in a wrong fashion. I keep having to remind myself to be careful, but at least I'm starting to cut back on the medication that I was taking. My brain was so befuddled with all those drugs that on some days I felt like a dementia patient. I can't imagine how people with chronic pain manage.
I'm still on the hunt for bison fibre for my level 4 homework. I will certainly need more if I am to complete the samples required.Anyone know if there is a Bison ranch that collects the Bison down for spinning?!
Well, Pops just called and asked me if the girls and I would like to go out for dinner... on him..... no question there! I don't have to wash dishes, I don't have to cook, and best of all I don't have to pay..... yep! I'm into that. With the skies blue and the wispy clouds of a windy day overhead, you couldn't ask for a more satisfying day. Hope you're having a good day too.
Well, we have had no interest in the wee kitty and so she has become a part of our home life. Her name is now Whisper. She is a sweet natured kitty and so far I've had no bad reaction to her. Of course, she is still young and those dreaded hormones that activate my allergies have not developed in her yet.... but if that happens, then we will have to turn her into a barn cat..... which means that I guess we are keeping her. Our old cat, Midnite has his nose out of joint but I suspected that and he will deal with her I'm sure when He feels she is too much in his way with a swipe of his paw or a check from his hip.
It is a quiet afternoon and I have been trying to get myself geared up for Christmas.... I actually bought my first Christmas gift online today. Meanwhile I continue to work on home made little Christmassy things for gift exchanges and friends who I always give to. Place mats for two families are in the works. Distaff bags for gift exchanges that I will be participating in are also on the go. I am knitting a pair of wristlets for my Pops out of some sumptuous yarn in a blend of Polworth and wool. I am also continuing to work on the knitted Shadow stitch scarf. It is quite long so far but I want it to be a scarf that wraps around the neck twice so it is not long enough yet. I am sorry that I didn't knit it on larger needles. But that just didn't pop into my mind at the time that I started it... so it will be a little stiffer than it should be.... hopefully washing it will soften it a little.
It has been a lazy afternoon with my girls helping with the chores while Teapot is away. The back continues to mend though very slowly. I still have severe twinges in my leg and hip as the nerves pinch when I forget myself and sit in a wrong fashion. I keep having to remind myself to be careful, but at least I'm starting to cut back on the medication that I was taking. My brain was so befuddled with all those drugs that on some days I felt like a dementia patient. I can't imagine how people with chronic pain manage.
I'm still on the hunt for bison fibre for my level 4 homework. I will certainly need more if I am to complete the samples required.Anyone know if there is a Bison ranch that collects the Bison down for spinning?!
Well, Pops just called and asked me if the girls and I would like to go out for dinner... on him..... no question there! I don't have to wash dishes, I don't have to cook, and best of all I don't have to pay..... yep! I'm into that. With the skies blue and the wispy clouds of a windy day overhead, you couldn't ask for a more satisfying day. Hope you're having a good day too.
 |
| Won't be long till that snow on the mountain isn't part of our everyday. This was taken on the other side of the dam a few days ago. |
Thursday, September 30, 2010
So Much
Hmmm... I'm not sure where to begin.
I've been having a look at all the horrible pictures of the devastation in Newfoundland from hurricane Igor. It's just awful. And even though we hear the news coming from there we have no idea of what those poor people are going through.
My Grandfather Coles (who I called Gangpop) lived in a house in Elliston, Nfld, all his married life. And when I came along, I thought of his house as my house. I never really grew up there, but I really grew up there. I know that sounds weird but 10 months of the year I went to school and lived in Mount Pearl and when summer came or Easter break came we always headed off to my grandfather's house. I spent only a little time there but it was the best time in my life, and I spent it visiting my grandparents and getting to know their world. They were awesome folks, real salt of the earth people. I can tell you how many steps it was from the door step to the wood shed. I can tell you how my grandfather's work shop smelled (like freshly shaved wood and old paint brushes). I can tell you how much fun it was to lie in the tall grass on the top of his root cellar. I can tell you how the thorny bits on the gooseberry bush by the cellar door felt if you happened to brush against it. I can tell you how the wash stand stood in the porch long after everyone had stopped using it. I can tell you how many rungs were on the ladder that hung from the 45 degree angle roof. I can tell you how the white roses smelled on the rose tree in the front yard. I can tell you how many posts were on the gate that Gangpop would yell at me to stop swinging on. I can tell you how many steps there were to get to my bedroom. I can tell you how much breath I had to hold in order to get enough strength to push open the bathroom window when it would stick after a week of fog. I can tell you how good it felt to giggle with my older sister as we sat in the bathroom listen through the grate, to the adults talking in the kitchen below, (we used to lower things down on strings too sometimes just to scare the person sitting directly below). I can tell you exactly where my grandmother's Blue Willow jewelry dish stood on her dresser. I can tell you how freshly baked bread and freshly fried trout tasted for breakfast after being cooked on the big wood stove. I can tell you how many old hats were in the trunk in the cupboard under the roof of my parents bedroom. I can tell you how long it took to ride a bicycle over to Crawler's Hill. I can tell you how long it took to walk to Sandy Cove taking the Trickem's Rd. I can tell you how much I loved that place.
It's all gone now. My Grandfather's house was purchased after his death by some unknown buyer who let the place go to wreck and ruin, and then 10 years ago my Uncle bought the house back and had it torn down because it had become such an eye sore. But 2 of the 5 poplar trees that I used to play "Go In And Out The Window" under are still there. So when I saw the brook that I used to go troutin' in as a raging river that had taken out a good 30 feet of road in front of my where my Grandfather's house used to stand, I knew that that small town would never be the same again.
It is funny how Canadians pull together and withing weeks of some disaster, dig down in their pockets and give generously to the victims of tsunami's in the Indian Ocean or to the victims of Earth quakes in Haiti. But when it is in our own back yard .... nothing. Perhaps it is because nothing like this has ever happened here before. Though if you think back a few years ago when the Red River burst its banks in Manitoba there was a lot of outreach to those victims. Still, perhaps Newfoundland is so far away that we just don't think about it. I'll be honest.... I'm the first one to admit that it just doesn't seem real. Newfoundland is such a peaceful spot... nothing out of the ordinary could really happen there.... at least that is what I felt until I started to do a little research on the effects of Igor. Newfoundland is hurting.... at least the area where I GREW UP. In Elliston on the Bonavista peninsula there are few roads left and infrastructure has broken down in a way we can only imagine. The Red Cross are taking donations for the victims of Hurricane Igor.... and I intend to donate. I will ask you to do the same. You can go here to find out more information about donating.
Now on a lighter note:
I went to FSJ today. My back is certainly on the semi-mend I think. And what a day it was. It does the heart good to feel orange.... and that is certainly what happened as the sun hit the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees along the highway.... it was perfectly spectacular! Submersion a la orange! After threes weeks of the walls of my house it was nice to get a different view. And friends.... such dear friends.... there's nothing like being in the company of friends to make you feel, it's all good.
A little show and tell:
The scarf is from a book called Shadow Knitting. I think it is so cool because you can look at it straight on and never see the pattern until you turn it sideways and then, there it is in all it perfection.... a zig zag design.... hmmm.
So there you have it.... a gem of a day..... though I did have to give up Knit Night due to Teapot needing the truck..... Oh well the rest made up for that one small snafu....
I knew I had so much to tell y'all..... : )
I've been having a look at all the horrible pictures of the devastation in Newfoundland from hurricane Igor. It's just awful. And even though we hear the news coming from there we have no idea of what those poor people are going through.
My Grandfather Coles (who I called Gangpop) lived in a house in Elliston, Nfld, all his married life. And when I came along, I thought of his house as my house. I never really grew up there, but I really grew up there. I know that sounds weird but 10 months of the year I went to school and lived in Mount Pearl and when summer came or Easter break came we always headed off to my grandfather's house. I spent only a little time there but it was the best time in my life, and I spent it visiting my grandparents and getting to know their world. They were awesome folks, real salt of the earth people. I can tell you how many steps it was from the door step to the wood shed. I can tell you how my grandfather's work shop smelled (like freshly shaved wood and old paint brushes). I can tell you how much fun it was to lie in the tall grass on the top of his root cellar. I can tell you how the thorny bits on the gooseberry bush by the cellar door felt if you happened to brush against it. I can tell you how the wash stand stood in the porch long after everyone had stopped using it. I can tell you how many rungs were on the ladder that hung from the 45 degree angle roof. I can tell you how the white roses smelled on the rose tree in the front yard. I can tell you how many posts were on the gate that Gangpop would yell at me to stop swinging on. I can tell you how many steps there were to get to my bedroom. I can tell you how much breath I had to hold in order to get enough strength to push open the bathroom window when it would stick after a week of fog. I can tell you how good it felt to giggle with my older sister as we sat in the bathroom listen through the grate, to the adults talking in the kitchen below, (we used to lower things down on strings too sometimes just to scare the person sitting directly below). I can tell you exactly where my grandmother's Blue Willow jewelry dish stood on her dresser. I can tell you how freshly baked bread and freshly fried trout tasted for breakfast after being cooked on the big wood stove. I can tell you how many old hats were in the trunk in the cupboard under the roof of my parents bedroom. I can tell you how long it took to ride a bicycle over to Crawler's Hill. I can tell you how long it took to walk to Sandy Cove taking the Trickem's Rd. I can tell you how much I loved that place.
It's all gone now. My Grandfather's house was purchased after his death by some unknown buyer who let the place go to wreck and ruin, and then 10 years ago my Uncle bought the house back and had it torn down because it had become such an eye sore. But 2 of the 5 poplar trees that I used to play "Go In And Out The Window" under are still there. So when I saw the brook that I used to go troutin' in as a raging river that had taken out a good 30 feet of road in front of my where my Grandfather's house used to stand, I knew that that small town would never be the same again.
It is funny how Canadians pull together and withing weeks of some disaster, dig down in their pockets and give generously to the victims of tsunami's in the Indian Ocean or to the victims of Earth quakes in Haiti. But when it is in our own back yard .... nothing. Perhaps it is because nothing like this has ever happened here before. Though if you think back a few years ago when the Red River burst its banks in Manitoba there was a lot of outreach to those victims. Still, perhaps Newfoundland is so far away that we just don't think about it. I'll be honest.... I'm the first one to admit that it just doesn't seem real. Newfoundland is such a peaceful spot... nothing out of the ordinary could really happen there.... at least that is what I felt until I started to do a little research on the effects of Igor. Newfoundland is hurting.... at least the area where I GREW UP. In Elliston on the Bonavista peninsula there are few roads left and infrastructure has broken down in a way we can only imagine. The Red Cross are taking donations for the victims of Hurricane Igor.... and I intend to donate. I will ask you to do the same. You can go here to find out more information about donating.
Now on a lighter note:
I went to FSJ today. My back is certainly on the semi-mend I think. And what a day it was. It does the heart good to feel orange.... and that is certainly what happened as the sun hit the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees along the highway.... it was perfectly spectacular! Submersion a la orange! After threes weeks of the walls of my house it was nice to get a different view. And friends.... such dear friends.... there's nothing like being in the company of friends to make you feel, it's all good.
A little show and tell:
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| What I've been working on this last week. |
 |
| A 3 ply Skein or Bison, Cashmere, Silk, and Merino that feels oh sooo nice! |
 |
| Sock Yarn that I spun from black wool from my sheep, and some BFL rovings I dyed at the summer retreat. |
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| Somme more of those little distaff bags.... that need embellishments and handles. |
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| And a scarf that looks pretty plane Jane until..... |
 |
| You turn it and look at it from this direction. |
So there you have it.... a gem of a day..... though I did have to give up Knit Night due to Teapot needing the truck..... Oh well the rest made up for that one small snafu....
I knew I had so much to tell y'all..... : )
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A Long Walk Ahead
I am missing my long walks down through the forest. Ever since the trip down river back at the end of August, I have been dealing with a terrifically bad back. (I think I might have mentioned that). The disk at the bottom of my spine is still acting up and has been for six weeks, now. I'm not sure why this time it is not going away with medication but it's not. As a result walking has become next to impossible. I've been pretty much house bound for five weeks. This week I am able to sit up for about three hours before my back get excruciating and I have to go lie down again. It hasn't made life conducive to walks in the bush as normally I do at this time of the year. As I told you a few posts back that surgery seems implicit. I knew that eventually I would need another surgery on my back, I just hoped that I could put it off until much later than this. Yesterday I made my decision to go forward with the process. I called the clinic here in town and made an appointment to see the GP and get the ball rolling. It means facing that MRI, but I'm not going to think about that yet. (should I be saying "fiddledy dee")!! With Murphy's Law on my side, maybe my back will get better now that I've got an appointment with a doctor....
Teapot came home yesterday from a trip to FSJ with photos taken on the trip there. They are awesome... and I'm missing all those beautiful colours.
Now, if those don't make you wish you were out in the wilds of Northern BC... well, I'm sure you live somewhere just as nice....
I'm missing being outside though... a lot! Today I'm going to give walking a small way, (probably just around the yard), a try and see if my back will hold up.
Either way with surgery ahead I guess I have a long walk.... (I sure hope this doesn't affect getting level 4 done)!
Teapot came home yesterday from a trip to FSJ with photos taken on the trip there. They are awesome... and I'm missing all those beautiful colours.
I'm missing being outside though... a lot! Today I'm going to give walking a small way, (probably just around the yard), a try and see if my back will hold up.
Either way with surgery ahead I guess I have a long walk.... (I sure hope this doesn't affect getting level 4 done)!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A Little Gift
My guild is sister guild to the Pembrokeshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers. Every alternate year we choose something and everybody in our guild makes that item as a Christmas gift for the members of their guild. I know that is confusing but they do the same thing for us. My last gift was a bag for my tools which I hang on my spinning wheel. This year is our guild's turn to make and send a gift to them. We chose distaff bags that are used when spindling. It is a small bag that hangs off your wrist and you put fibre in it and then hold then end of the fibre between your fingers as you spin on your drop or support spindle. They are great handy little things because it keeps your fibre source from getting tangled in the fibre that you are actually spinning.
We have known that we needed to make these since last winter but as usual I put it out of my mind with the thought that I had lots of time to make a few. Our due date was the third week of September and we needed to make more than one each since their guild is larger than ours. So in a mad panic at the beginning of September I rushed to make a few. My first one was woven and I wasn't really happy with it. So instead of carrying on with woven distaff bags I decided to try felting one. The orange one was my first one.
I took a chunk of roving and wrapped it around my hand and with a felting needle started to felt it slightly. (Yes, I did poke my finger quite a few times, thank you very much). Once I had it so that it would hold together, I took another chunk of roving and pushed it down into the bottom... then I felted that with the felting needle. I then patched any holes that there were and thickened up any thin areas with small amounts of roving.
After I was finished with needle felting so that it would all hold together. I got a tennis ball and covered it with Seran Wrap, and poked the ball down in the bag. I then sewed the top closed with a needle and thread, and submerged the whole thing in hot soapy water. Then I put the thing in the dryer for about 45 minutes. When it came out it was a well felted ball. I removed the thread from the mouth of the bag and trimmed the top of the bag to make it more even and less ragged looking. Then I stretched the neck of the bag to get the tennis ball out and turned the whole bag inside out. Then I picked from my stash of hand spun yarns a yarn that was close in colour to the bag and chose some embellishments to decorate it. The yarn was twisted into a cable to make the handle and then was sewn on to the bag.
I made the green one at the same time as the orange one and then they sat there. A couple of weekends ago, when we were supposed to bring them to the guild, I had forgotten mine at home. There were 27 little distaff bags to be shown that day which wasn't near enough for the Pembrokeshire Guild as they have well over 40 members. I came home and thought about the ugly woven bag I had made early on. It just wasn't good enough to send but I needed more than the two that I had originally made. So two days ago I got at it, and made the blue one and the white one.
The orange one is Merino and silk felted, with autumn leaves as embellishments. The green one is Merino and silk also felted with a white woolly handle and sheep buttons as embellishments. The white one is plain wool and I'm not sure what kind, with gold cherubs and hearts, and roses as embellishments. The blue one is Corriedale, and Mohair and silk blended with the same in the handle and a ships wheel, an anchor, and a lighthouse as embellishments.
Teapot took all four of them and headed off to FSJ today and will get them to the person who is going to wrap them and prep them for their overseas trip. I was very pleased that they turned out so nicely..... as a matter of a fact, I liked them so much that I think I'm going to make a couple for myself.
Sorry the picture is not brighter.....
See ya....
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