I was awoken by a phone call from Pops this morning... he wanted to let me know that there was someone looking for me and had not realized that I no longer had a land line phone line... she didn't know how to get in touch with me. What was strange was that during the conversation I let it slip that I thought today was Wednesday. There was a slight pause and then he informed me, in a rather astounded voice that today in actual fact was Friday!
I seem to have lost a few days somewhere along the line. I'm not quite sure how that happened but perhaps I had my head buried too deeply in my homework. Either way here it is Friday and there are only three days left before the beginning of school. Daughters #1 and #2 are heading off with Teapot and me for a day of shopping in a nearby town for their back to school supplies this afternoon. We are still hoping to get away for a few days but it probably won't happen until a later weekend in September.
Back to school is always an issue at this time of the year. Teapot is trying to get his classroom sorted at school and the Daughters are going through their closets in an effort to update their clothing and styles. For me, it is a time of angst. I love the lazy-get-up-whenever-you-want mornings of summer but I also love the freedom of not having kids around in the day to distract me from the things I like to do.... not to mention there's less mess to clean up. I usually plan a day of dyeing when school starts up in the fall because it is like a joyful treat to help aid me in adjusting to the new schedule. School means getting up early and having breakfast on the table when the rest of my family comes down from showers and dressing. School means long drawn out days of no conversation while Teapot is at work. School means that lunches need to be made the night before. School means a different pace for our lives. In some ways it is good. For starters I don't lose days and suddenly realize it is Friday. But in some ways I long for the days when our little family can be lazy and relaxed and just be us.
So in three days time I will watch the Daughters head out the door to school with their Dad and I will get out my dye pot but it won't be without a sigh of loss.
An aside:
It has rained so much in the last week that the grass is starting to look green again. Too bad all of those farmers waiting for their oats and canola to ripen are not going to be pleased.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
A Little Swiss Please
I love cheese... well, who doesn't?! It's one of the most divine foods on the face of the planet. There's something undeniably yummy about sinking your teeth into a slice of cheese.... I think this little fellow would be in agreement.... don't you think so?!
Teapot just made breakfast (which I really appreciate since that's my time for writing here). He made me a slice of toast with melted Swiss cheese and a fried egg on top. It was delicious. (Is your mouth watering yet?)
The problem is that cheese is loaded with calories and salt and a bunch of things that make it one of the worst diet foods ever. Any diet, including Weight Watchers, will tell you that pizza (loaded with cheese), lasagna (loaded with cheese), grilled cheese sandwiches (has cheese), potatoes au gratin (really loaded with cheese), anything au gratin (loaded with cheese) is like a million calories. Even crackers and cheese is not really good diet food..... the only place that I can find cheese as an ok diet food is if you use (bleeeckk!!!) Cheese Whiz on celery.... this combination, in my opinion, should be officially banned from the face of the planet!
A few years ago I went to Barkerville, which is an historic townsite that has been preserved to function as a traditional gold mining community for tourists to visit. There is a great general store there, in which I love to browse around. They have everything from food, to Victorian style clothing, candies, toys, hunting stuff etc.... my favorite part of the store is the section where they keep the big wheels of cheese. It was there that I first tasted Asiago cheese..... oh God, it was orgasmic! Teapot and I would purchase a small amount of cheese each day (wrapped in wax paper), and as we were driving home, and while the Daughters were sucking on their candies from the candy shop, I would slice thin slices of Asiago cheese and feed them to Teapot or eat them myself on the way back to the campsite..... I'm not kidding, it was orgasmic! (And the Asiago that you get in the grocery store...yuck... doesn't even come close to the stuff you get in Barkerville. They hand pick each wheel...)
A friend introduced me to smoked Gouda... oh, it was divine.... I ended up turning this whole town on to it, when I insisted that the local grocer bring in smoked Gouda for Christmas. It is imperative that I try new cheeses.... it is also imperative that you don't eat too much blue cheese at one time... as Teapot found out one year when he went to a friend's house at Christmas and gorged on Blue cheese and red wine.... suffice it to say that he spent Christmas night in the bathroom! It is also imperative that you don't eat processed cheese.... it is like eating glue that has been formed into slices and coloured orange. (I can't see how anyone could possibly want to eat that stuff... euuuu...)!
Feta is great on salads.... even if they're not Greek salads.... add a few raisins and awesome!
Try a little Ricotta on the next pizza you make.... oh yum!
And a good block of Cheddar... to die for!
Try this on for size.... Get a slice of homemade bread. Spread butter over it. Then lightly sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese (and not that gross Kraft stuff) and then sprinkle it liberally with Greek spices. (You can make that with: sundried tomatoes finely chopped, dried onion, dehydrated green onion, basil, dried garlic, dehydrated red pepper, dehydrated celery leaves chopped finely, soy or cottonseed oil and a little bit of sugar. Spread it over a shallow pan and lightly roast in your oven... cover and store in a cool dry place.) Then put your bread in the oven (the toaster oven works best) and bake until it the bread is toasted around the corners. Oh it is sooo good... and if you let it dry out and cut it into cubes you can make your own croutons..... which is waaayyy better than the store bought cubes of dung!
But my favorite, all time, eat-fairly-often cheese, (when I can afford it), is good Swiss cheese. Oh yum, there's nothing like a good slice of Swiss to perk you up.... I wish I could grow cheese because I'd have a garden full. Holey cheese is Holy cheese. Absolutely!
I pretty much would pass over anything for a block of really good cheese (and I certainly would give up my socks!) I think the only thing that surpasses my love of cheese would be my wheel and wool.... ok, well maybe my family too. : )
So there you have it.... anyone for a little Swiss?
God! I'll never lose weight this way!
Teapot just made breakfast (which I really appreciate since that's my time for writing here). He made me a slice of toast with melted Swiss cheese and a fried egg on top. It was delicious. (Is your mouth watering yet?)
The problem is that cheese is loaded with calories and salt and a bunch of things that make it one of the worst diet foods ever. Any diet, including Weight Watchers, will tell you that pizza (loaded with cheese), lasagna (loaded with cheese), grilled cheese sandwiches (has cheese), potatoes au gratin (really loaded with cheese), anything au gratin (loaded with cheese) is like a million calories. Even crackers and cheese is not really good diet food..... the only place that I can find cheese as an ok diet food is if you use (bleeeckk!!!) Cheese Whiz on celery.... this combination, in my opinion, should be officially banned from the face of the planet!
A few years ago I went to Barkerville, which is an historic townsite that has been preserved to function as a traditional gold mining community for tourists to visit. There is a great general store there, in which I love to browse around. They have everything from food, to Victorian style clothing, candies, toys, hunting stuff etc.... my favorite part of the store is the section where they keep the big wheels of cheese. It was there that I first tasted Asiago cheese..... oh God, it was orgasmic! Teapot and I would purchase a small amount of cheese each day (wrapped in wax paper), and as we were driving home, and while the Daughters were sucking on their candies from the candy shop, I would slice thin slices of Asiago cheese and feed them to Teapot or eat them myself on the way back to the campsite..... I'm not kidding, it was orgasmic! (And the Asiago that you get in the grocery store...yuck... doesn't even come close to the stuff you get in Barkerville. They hand pick each wheel...)
A friend introduced me to smoked Gouda... oh, it was divine.... I ended up turning this whole town on to it, when I insisted that the local grocer bring in smoked Gouda for Christmas. It is imperative that I try new cheeses.... it is also imperative that you don't eat too much blue cheese at one time... as Teapot found out one year when he went to a friend's house at Christmas and gorged on Blue cheese and red wine.... suffice it to say that he spent Christmas night in the bathroom! It is also imperative that you don't eat processed cheese.... it is like eating glue that has been formed into slices and coloured orange. (I can't see how anyone could possibly want to eat that stuff... euuuu...)!
Feta is great on salads.... even if they're not Greek salads.... add a few raisins and awesome!
Try a little Ricotta on the next pizza you make.... oh yum!
And a good block of Cheddar... to die for!
Try this on for size.... Get a slice of homemade bread. Spread butter over it. Then lightly sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese (and not that gross Kraft stuff) and then sprinkle it liberally with Greek spices. (You can make that with: sundried tomatoes finely chopped, dried onion, dehydrated green onion, basil, dried garlic, dehydrated red pepper, dehydrated celery leaves chopped finely, soy or cottonseed oil and a little bit of sugar. Spread it over a shallow pan and lightly roast in your oven... cover and store in a cool dry place.) Then put your bread in the oven (the toaster oven works best) and bake until it the bread is toasted around the corners. Oh it is sooo good... and if you let it dry out and cut it into cubes you can make your own croutons..... which is waaayyy better than the store bought cubes of dung!
But my favorite, all time, eat-fairly-often cheese, (when I can afford it), is good Swiss cheese. Oh yum, there's nothing like a good slice of Swiss to perk you up.... I wish I could grow cheese because I'd have a garden full. Holey cheese is Holy cheese. Absolutely!
I pretty much would pass over anything for a block of really good cheese (and I certainly would give up my socks!) I think the only thing that surpasses my love of cheese would be my wheel and wool.... ok, well maybe my family too. : )
So there you have it.... anyone for a little Swiss?
God! I'll never lose weight this way!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Mea Culpa
A few months ago I sat down at this computer to read a few of my favorite blogs. I usually sit down and start at the top of the list to the left (do you see it?) and read through each one. That fateful morning when I hit on As The Whorl Spins I never expected to read something that would stick in my mind so much. It is a blog written and kept by my level 3 instructor and I have been following it since my first year of the Master Spinning program at Olds College. Her post called Mea Culpa (like mine.. yes I know it's plagiarism... but I am giving her credit) was all about how she had unwittingly purchased a sweater (because it was cold and she needed a sweater while traveling) and then discovered that her new sweater was full of ACRYLIC! Ordinarily this would not be much of a concern to the ordinary person.... but to those of us in the fibre world (you know.... the un-ordinary ones : ).... those of us who are fibre snobs.... gasp in horror at the thought of purchasing a non-natural fibre sweater. (All together now....gasp!)
It was not that she had purchased said acrylic sweater that so struck me and got me to thinking.... no it wasn't that at all, as a matter of a fact, I actually laughed a little. I have a closet full of acrylic.... and truth be told, nylon, and polyester.... etc, too. What got me was what she said about how Green Peace and other activists come into her community, (which happens to be a petroleum industry town) with their polyester fleeces and their Gor Tex jackets and their jeans laden with spandex and their other garments made with some form of petroleum product based fabric, and then proceed to protest against the very industry that supplies their clothes. I looked in my closet and gasped!
She's right. I'm as much at fault as anyone. And here I am ranting about environmental concerns and it never even occurred to me that I am as much a culprit as the fellow living in a city with an eight cylinder, gas guzzling truck traveling back and forth to work when he could be using the bus.... I'm every bit as bad at the fellow using a two stroke engine motorcycle... I am a polluter just as bad as anyone else. Mea Culpa! Yeah... you bet!
I thought long and hard about this.
I think there are reasonable uses of petrolium products, some that in this modern world are very hard to get away from. (The medical world is one of those areas.) I don't think we can live with the kind of blossoming populations without some mass produced items. Clothing is one of them. Let me tell you I certainly was appreciative of my polar fleece last week when I was camping! But we can be thoughtful of what we purchase. Instead of buying the inexpensive sweater that we know is the next best thing to being plastic, why not take a harder look at who we are, and what we want for this world we share, and buy something that was made from renewable resources like wool, or cotton or silk. Even linen is a better choice... though harder to find. One or two items in the closet that have petroleum in them is not terrible but for me the perfect closet would be the one that is mostly wool, cotton, silk....and linen with only one or two items of those petroleum based fibres.
That doesn't mean we have to go out and start slaughtering seals for our winter boots (oh now there's a bone of contention for an expatriate Newfy!) Nor do we have to go looking to the Innuit for Cariboo hides for our outerwear.
I think what I am saying is that we just need to be a little more thoughtful about our usership of those products that hurt the earth and make living on this planet a little more precarious.
It will take me a while to rid myself of this dastardly evidence of my blatant use of petroleum. I am not rich enough to have the luxury of going through my closet and throwing out the things that offend me.... but as I replace old clothing I am going to think long and hard about what I need and look at those natural fibres a little harder... yes they may be more difficult to care for but in the end... we all benefit.
Mea Culpa?..... we all are....
It was not that she had purchased said acrylic sweater that so struck me and got me to thinking.... no it wasn't that at all, as a matter of a fact, I actually laughed a little. I have a closet full of acrylic.... and truth be told, nylon, and polyester.... etc, too. What got me was what she said about how Green Peace and other activists come into her community, (which happens to be a petroleum industry town) with their polyester fleeces and their Gor Tex jackets and their jeans laden with spandex and their other garments made with some form of petroleum product based fabric, and then proceed to protest against the very industry that supplies their clothes. I looked in my closet and gasped!
She's right. I'm as much at fault as anyone. And here I am ranting about environmental concerns and it never even occurred to me that I am as much a culprit as the fellow living in a city with an eight cylinder, gas guzzling truck traveling back and forth to work when he could be using the bus.... I'm every bit as bad at the fellow using a two stroke engine motorcycle... I am a polluter just as bad as anyone else. Mea Culpa! Yeah... you bet!
I thought long and hard about this.
I think there are reasonable uses of petrolium products, some that in this modern world are very hard to get away from. (The medical world is one of those areas.) I don't think we can live with the kind of blossoming populations without some mass produced items. Clothing is one of them. Let me tell you I certainly was appreciative of my polar fleece last week when I was camping! But we can be thoughtful of what we purchase. Instead of buying the inexpensive sweater that we know is the next best thing to being plastic, why not take a harder look at who we are, and what we want for this world we share, and buy something that was made from renewable resources like wool, or cotton or silk. Even linen is a better choice... though harder to find. One or two items in the closet that have petroleum in them is not terrible but for me the perfect closet would be the one that is mostly wool, cotton, silk....and linen with only one or two items of those petroleum based fibres.
That doesn't mean we have to go out and start slaughtering seals for our winter boots (oh now there's a bone of contention for an expatriate Newfy!) Nor do we have to go looking to the Innuit for Cariboo hides for our outerwear.
I think what I am saying is that we just need to be a little more thoughtful about our usership of those products that hurt the earth and make living on this planet a little more precarious.
It will take me a while to rid myself of this dastardly evidence of my blatant use of petroleum. I am not rich enough to have the luxury of going through my closet and throwing out the things that offend me.... but as I replace old clothing I am going to think long and hard about what I need and look at those natural fibres a little harder... yes they may be more difficult to care for but in the end... we all benefit.
Mea Culpa?..... we all are....
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
This Is Teapot
This is Teapot. This is last winter on a beautiful afternoon waiting for cross country skiers to come by his post....... this picture is the perfect picture of Teapot.... he loves tea and especially out in the woods.
Happy Birthday, dear! Let's go find the perfect spot in the woods for a cup of tea!
Phsssstttttt!
That's me blowing raspberries from my straight jacket......
I have been chasing the ever elusive 12 t.p.i. I thought I had it..... yes I did.... but I washed the skein and it relaxed and turned into a 10 t.p.i. So I'm back at it again today.
All day yesterday I spent nursing my prolapsed disk and all the stupid radiating pain down my left leg from sleeping on the ground on a mattress that wouldn't hold up a starving African, let alone a fat middle aged balogna butt. And while doing that, I did some catching up on write ups for work previously done on my level 3 homework.... yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know it is due today. Phhhhssssttt to that too!
Anyway, my 12 t.p.i. turned into a 10 t.p.i. and so I still had a little bit of cotton singles on two spools so I jumped right on that and spun the rest of the cotton as a two ply yarn and guess what..... no guesses eh?... ok I'll tell you what.... I got my 15 t.p.i. It is washed and hanging to dry as we speak.... All I have left of that blinking section is the dumb and ever elusive 12 t.p.i.
Then there are only two sections left.
It is 5:44 a.m. and the sky is orange, purple and grey off to the east.... I'm hoping it will be a nice day. I might even take my spinning out on the deck. All is quiet on the home front.... though Daughter #1 is away at a sleep over with one of her friends. I love this time of the day. There are no ruddy interruptions and all is beautifully quiet. Dreamer the horse is pacing in her paddock... the sheep are stirring and milling about, the alpacas are soporific... the cat is off hunting and not making a racket to come in and check his dish for crunchies. The bats have settled for the day after hunting all night and they are not soaring and veering around the outside of the house... the birds are just starting their morning chatter. All is well with the world.
Except for that d#$n 12 t.p.i. I think I'll go try again... (sigh)!
I have been chasing the ever elusive 12 t.p.i. I thought I had it..... yes I did.... but I washed the skein and it relaxed and turned into a 10 t.p.i. So I'm back at it again today.
All day yesterday I spent nursing my prolapsed disk and all the stupid radiating pain down my left leg from sleeping on the ground on a mattress that wouldn't hold up a starving African, let alone a fat middle aged balogna butt. And while doing that, I did some catching up on write ups for work previously done on my level 3 homework.... yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know it is due today. Phhhhssssttt to that too!
Anyway, my 12 t.p.i. turned into a 10 t.p.i. and so I still had a little bit of cotton singles on two spools so I jumped right on that and spun the rest of the cotton as a two ply yarn and guess what..... no guesses eh?... ok I'll tell you what.... I got my 15 t.p.i. It is washed and hanging to dry as we speak.... All I have left of that blinking section is the dumb and ever elusive 12 t.p.i.
Then there are only two sections left.
It is 5:44 a.m. and the sky is orange, purple and grey off to the east.... I'm hoping it will be a nice day. I might even take my spinning out on the deck. All is quiet on the home front.... though Daughter #1 is away at a sleep over with one of her friends. I love this time of the day. There are no ruddy interruptions and all is beautifully quiet. Dreamer the horse is pacing in her paddock... the sheep are stirring and milling about, the alpacas are soporific... the cat is off hunting and not making a racket to come in and check his dish for crunchies. The bats have settled for the day after hunting all night and they are not soaring and veering around the outside of the house... the birds are just starting their morning chatter. All is well with the world.
Except for that d#$n 12 t.p.i. I think I'll go try again... (sigh)!
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Cold Night Brings Thoughts Of School
I think I can safely say that Canadians generally tend to watch weather patterns. This morning I woke and came downstairs to our first frost. It didn't really surprise me since this area often receives frost between the middle of August and then end of August. Last night, before I went to bed I let Jiggs out... and as I did I had a look at the night sky.... it was full of stars with a crystal clearness that signals a cold night. A sure reminder that it won't be summer for long. We are beginning to think about school again as Teapot and the girls head back a week from now. The growing season is almost over and what didn't die off in the heat over the last few months, is turning brilliant shades of yellow, mustard, and gold. After this frost there will be red as well, I expect.
I awoke this morning to thick fog and wanted to go out into the fog looking for photos.... but the cold chased me back to bed to another hour of reading and partaking of the last few sleep-ins that we'll enjoy before the normal schedule of getting people out the door for school returns. Teapot and I are thinking that we might take the girls for a shopping day soon. Our camping trip was cut short due to weather but the least we can do is give them some time to think about what they want and need before school starts. A shopping trip to the great big city would be good for them... actually for all of us.
Living in a small town has given us good memories over the years. We have on occasion taken our two Daughters for shopping trips and have always found something to laugh about due to their lack of know-how in the big city. Having grown up in a small city (albeit a city all the same) I find that my children's lack of understanding for city things amazes and amuses me no end. For instance, they love to ride on escalators, they love to be the one to press the button on the elevator, and they are not sure what to do when they walk on the sidewalk and come to a street corner where there is a cross walk.... (you know... press the button and wait for the little white walking man) these are the things that having grown up in the city you don't realize that was taught to you to at some point in time.... it doesn't come as a-priori knowledge. City folk take these things for granted.... we think it is magic!
Our idea of shopping, living in the north and such a small town, (population about 1000), is to turn on the computer and surf. We can buy just about anything that we want just by surfing around and googling specific terms.... like jeans and runners. The problem is that as the Daughters get older... (and shaplier), there is more of a need to try things on, so that is why Teapot and I think that perhaps it is time they go shopping for real. We have a few things that we are waiting on before we head off for this trip.... (if we go at all) but if we go we will make a bit of a holiday of it and stay in a real live hotel..... oooooh! aaaaah! (And the crowd goes wild!) The Daughters would be able to ride escalators to their hearts content!
Isn't it amazing what a cold night will bring....
I awoke this morning to thick fog and wanted to go out into the fog looking for photos.... but the cold chased me back to bed to another hour of reading and partaking of the last few sleep-ins that we'll enjoy before the normal schedule of getting people out the door for school returns. Teapot and I are thinking that we might take the girls for a shopping day soon. Our camping trip was cut short due to weather but the least we can do is give them some time to think about what they want and need before school starts. A shopping trip to the great big city would be good for them... actually for all of us.
Living in a small town has given us good memories over the years. We have on occasion taken our two Daughters for shopping trips and have always found something to laugh about due to their lack of know-how in the big city. Having grown up in a small city (albeit a city all the same) I find that my children's lack of understanding for city things amazes and amuses me no end. For instance, they love to ride on escalators, they love to be the one to press the button on the elevator, and they are not sure what to do when they walk on the sidewalk and come to a street corner where there is a cross walk.... (you know... press the button and wait for the little white walking man) these are the things that having grown up in the city you don't realize that was taught to you to at some point in time.... it doesn't come as a-priori knowledge. City folk take these things for granted.... we think it is magic!
Our idea of shopping, living in the north and such a small town, (population about 1000), is to turn on the computer and surf. We can buy just about anything that we want just by surfing around and googling specific terms.... like jeans and runners. The problem is that as the Daughters get older... (and shaplier), there is more of a need to try things on, so that is why Teapot and I think that perhaps it is time they go shopping for real. We have a few things that we are waiting on before we head off for this trip.... (if we go at all) but if we go we will make a bit of a holiday of it and stay in a real live hotel..... oooooh! aaaaah! (And the crowd goes wild!) The Daughters would be able to ride escalators to their hearts content!
Isn't it amazing what a cold night will bring....
Sunday, August 29, 2010
That's Not Fair....
Oh what a beautiful morning...... it's sunny.... and to think we could be paddling and enjoying the river if we were still there. Greeeaaatttt! And we came home because the forecast was calling for rain, rain and more rain.... well, I just want to know were all that rain is!!!
I'm seriously p--sed! : (
I'm seriously p--sed! : (
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