Home again - smelting pics.

We finally pulled in mid-afternoon today. After several discussions along the way about stopping at various fun places like Cullen Gardens, Black Creek Pioneer Village, Richters Herbs or Ikea, because the opportunity was there, because we had the time... we both decided that we just wanted to get home.

Of course that also meant that we had to stop to get the dog, the cat, dinner stuffs from Zehrs, and the mail. But we finally made it.

Let's see now... I've promised pics since the smelting, several days ago. I've finally got it all arranged.

But first, the shoreline of Annapolis Royal on the morning of the smelt.


Before the smelt got started, we needed to have the ritual Jiffy Pop over the smelter as the pre-heat took place... that's our erstwhile leader Darrell, doing the honours.


More details then you could ever want about the process of iron ore smelting in the Viking Era are available on the DARC webpages, under Projects, so I'll just give you some highlights here. Please remember that I take pictures, that I'm not technically oriented. I only superfically understand the science involved.

With a lot of hard labour pumping the bellows....


...the smelting process gets started - iron ore is added, alternating with charcoal.


Skipping ahead a few hours of bellows pumping and adding stuff and monitoring the smelter (by the sound of it, and the glass runoff), the boys decided that they had failed this time around. And after some discussion, they even came up with a good reason for the failure.

So....they added an electric blower to compensate...


...finally got the glass slag runoff they were looking for...


...and eventually came up with a bloom...


...which Kevin and Mark ...


...proceeded to beat in order to consolidate it.


The final product, last seen below, is much smaller and compact then it comes out of the smelter.


When we woke up the next morning, we had found that someone had stolen the bloom!

We think it was the Weird Guy (there's one at every exhibition, it seems), since he disappeared that morning as well.

But how disappointing is that?


Karen

Day What?

I've lost track of which day in the vacation this is - the hubby just decided it was Day 10.

I'm exhausted. It was a very very very long day of driving. All the way from just-before-Quebec to just-after-the-province-that-doesn't-want-the-rest-of-us.

Highlights of the last couple of days:

London Wul - the people were wonderful to talk to, the dogs delightful, a natural dyes garden, and a great selection of all things fiberish.

Hopewell Rocks - lots of pictures, coming soon. Just like the smelting/forging pics I promised earlier. I'm just a little too tired to cope with it tonight.

Spa tub and lakeside view in Grand Falls. Spa tub with lots of hot water and jets = good thing.

Stopping at a hotel that finally has internet access (ie. tonight's hotel) = also a good thing.

More later. Home tomorrow.

Leif and Ginger tomorrow. Also a good thing.

Karen

Day 5 and 6 - Historical Gardens and Smelting

Still in Annapolis Royal.

Day 5 - overcast or raining most of the day. Surprisingly, there was just enough of a window in the afternoon to make it to the Historical Gardens after all.

And I have pics, of course. It's a big ol'garden - whatever else shall I do? :) Mind you, there are a million more pictures but I've narrowed it down to just these few.

Oh, and we can play a guessing game. For most of these, I haven't the foggiest what it is, so please feel free to let me know.


Blue something and white something.


Blue something and yellow something.


Love Lies Bleeding - this one I know! It's very distinctive.


Pretty things...identified as Cosmos by Diana and Jamie. :)


Water Garden...


Big ol'pumpkin...

Day 6 - Smelting

This was the point of getting us here, to this place. The Dark Ages Recreation Company, of which I am a part, had a specialized smelting team out at CANIron, a Canadian conference for blacksmiths from North America and Europe. Neil and I followed our hardy smelting crew out to take pictures and document the process.

The day started at 9am and finished at 9pm, more or less. The historical smelt was an abject failure. *sigh* We've had successes before with the process, but this time, the team made a fatal mistake. They tried too hard.

As I understand it - and I am not a blacksmith or particularily technically inclined - the team made the smelter *too* good, *too* much able to handle heat. They used a highly refractory clay and added kyonite to the mix as well. Apparently the process actually depends on part of the smelter breaking down and contributing sand to the slag bowl that should form at the bottom of the smelter, for the heat to reflect back and help the iron solidify and sit in the bowl. No smelter breakdown, ore that was too pure (and hence didn't have enough slag of it's own to contribute) = no slag pool, not enough heat for the bloom to solidify.

Now, there was a bloom and the removal and hitting therof makes for great pictures (as yet unprocessed) but that came only after they gave up on the historical process and added an electric blower.

Ah well. Pictures later.

Karen

Day 4 and 5, in Annapolis Royal

Yesterday we took the ferry from Saint John to Digby, a 3 hour cruise. It was a delightfully short drive from Digby to Annapolis Royal, after we stopped at the Visitor Information station and picked up a few million pamphlets.

Annapolis Royal is very pretty, very historical, and quite cheerful about gouging the tourists.

There's no phone line available, at all, in our little hideaway housekeeping unit, so blogging will be spotty for a few days, until we move on to the next leg of the trip. The town library has internet access, so we can check in from here.

I can only hope the cell phone works in case someone from home needs us. The remaining bits of Hurricane Katrine is hitting our home in south-western Ontario right about now.

I leave you for a few days in the care of a few more friends from the Aquarium two days ago.


Sunstar



A small Ray of some sort...



Crab (again of unknown variety)



Flounder


Karen

Day 3, the end

Today was much much better! Driving-wise, that is. I'd have to say I found the sights just as fun as yesterday.

We crossed back into Canada around noon, and immediately around the corner in St. Stephens, we sat down to the quintessinal Canadian lunch - at a Tim Horton's. Just across the street from Tim's, there was The Chocolate Museum.

"Presenting the story of brothers James and Gilbert Ganong, whose candy-making company built in the late 1800s continues today, the Museum offers hands-on exhibits, interactive computer displays that explain how chocolate and candies are currently made, collections of historic chocolate boxes and antique candy-making equipment."

Samples were part of the tour. Delicious!

There was an obligatory Chocolatier store out front, of course. I didn't spend a cent. And if you believe that.... ;)

Then we moved on to St.Andrews where the Huntsman Marine Science Centre is located. We weren't allowed to take pictures at the Chocolate Museum but I got a few at the Science Centre.

The seals were delightful. Chelsey, Buddy and Aurora are a small family. When the tourist season ends in two days, the young Aurora will either be moved to another Aquarium or introduced to the wild.

Aurora:


Buddy:


Chelsey:


Buddy was a ham, showing off his swimming abilities...


...and lunging for the food.


A few other folks made the pics as well, but as you can no doubt tell, Buddy stole the show. :)

morning of Day 3

Yes, it really is 7 something in the morning. You would think I'd sleep in on vacation. Neil is sleeping. But I found the bed too hard and the room too hot. I'm not rested, even if I did get 7 hours of sleep. Oh for that waterbed now....

Day 2 started off fantastic. We had all this great scenery in and around Lake Placid. Mountains and water - two of my favourite natural architectural features.

And then there was the ferry crossing at Port Kent - invigorating! I kept trying to hide behind Neil from the water crashing over the front of the ferry and he kept laughing at me. He was really in his element.

But then the drive just got longer and longer and longer, until we finally crashed - an hour earlier then planned. By the time we were checked in, I was too exhausted to blog.

I give you ...pics.


This is a river of unknown name near Lake Placid - just chanced upon by the road.


Where we found this fellow...



A little further down the road, we came across Ausable Chasm...



...which was really quite deep.

And then a little while later....

Neil...



...and Karen (who regrets what the wind has done to her hair but bravely posts the pic anyway)...

...watch the sights on the way over.





Today is a much shorter drive, and includes planned stops at a chocolate museum and aquarium - on the home side of the border. Back into Canada today. :)

blogging on the road!

Oh, this is the life! Laptop and an internet connection in a hotel. I can blog on the road.

It was a long drive, but once we hit the USA, the scenery was so interesting. Both human and natural. We're going across Route 3 through the Adirondacks, to Maine, and across the Bay of Fundy to Annapolis Royal.

Route 3 is a fascinating contrast in poverty and wealth. Mobile homes that aren't so mobile anymore next door to century old houses. So many not-so mobile homes...

The speed limits are different, even after the conversation from miles/per to kilometres/per. The common limits are 30, 45, and 55 miles/per. This translates to 50, 70 and 90 k/per. In Canada, the common speed limits are 50, 60, and 80 k/per. Not that anyone drives the limit in either country 'though.

But driving over the limit in a familiar area is a little different then driving over the limit in a foreign country. I kept expecting a friendly State trooper to leap out from behind a bush somewhere.

And driving 90 k/per in these twisting mountain roads - fun! Even if it does take too much attention away from the scenery at times. Fudge, handwoven baskets, leather artisans and blacksmiths - oh my!

Yes, I did manage to get through the cat and dog departures even if Ginger did try her hardest to guilt me out when we left her at the Cat Hospital for boarding.

There's a pool at this place - an important feature in choosing a hotel - but we were too tired to use it. Just curled up in front of the tv and computer. Maybe in the morning.

Karen

last day!

Last day at work for two weeks! woohoo!

Anyone know how to delete specific comments (ie. the spam)?

Karen

more pre-vacation jitters

Apparently, I'm nesting - big time. Is it really that crazy to want to just stay home? With the doggie and the kitty and the garden?

I'm sure I'll enjoy myself on this vacation - I've left home before and done so! But I'm being a lug again. I woke up in the middle of the night to listen to the cat getting healthier all the time - scratching the carpet in the middle of the night. And then couldn't get back to sleep because I was worried about the dog's first time in a kennel when we go on vacation.

So eventually I did get back to sleep, only to wake up again with a dream of setting a friend's tent on fire. Now where did that come from?

Strangely enough, I'm having Post-MichFest withdrawal symptoms. The Michigan Womyns' Music Festival is where I used to go every August, back in the days when I was a lesbian. Pre-bisexuality and Hubby.
The festival's just finished and I'm haunting the discussion forum for stories and looking for pics online. It's a physical sensation - my memory of being there, even 'though it's now been 6 years or so since I was last there. I'm going to have to go back again some year.

Karen

vacation, vacation, vacation!

Okay, I think I've finally found some enthusiasm for the vacation. :)

My poor hubby desperately needs to get away for a bit, and he's got this goal for the trip and he's been doing all this research for it and I've been, like... a lug.

A lug stuck in the mud, even. A real homebody, that's me.

But today, the desk schedule for next week came out and I realized that I won't be on the one after that and it was a good thing! I was surprised to find out that I'm actually looking forward to this trip. Okay, maybe not the hours of driving. Or the strange beds every night, or the being away from my kids (Leif and Ginger), or the missing the harvest part.... but umm, the rest of it.

The not being at work part, the being with the hubby, the newness of things, the gadgets, the sights, the ocean. I'm really looking forward to the ocean.

We're bringing the laptop, the digital camera, and the cell phone. We'll be the most connected ever and I do love gadgets! I don't think I've ever experienced time away from the house as quite so convenient. Oh, I can blog from the road.

Speaking of gadgets.... We're going out to the east coast of Canada. I've never been there. But if you're watching this spot at just the right moment, you can actually watch us cross The Bridge. Some things are wyrd, no matter how much fun the technology might be.

But the darned tomatoes had better start ripening soon if I'm going to get to use them. Since I'll have to perserve a lot of them.... got any good salsa or bruchetta receipes laying around?

Karen

a blog-inspired blog

I am feeling very much better at the moment. The back has gone from hellish to merely grumpy, and I've now had three solid nights of sleep - better even then I usually get!

I took today off as well - that doctor's note had better be useful! - so I've spent all week at home recovering from a very very bad back episode. But today, I actually got a few things done around the house.

I even baked bananna bread, but it didn't entirely work out.

I've been checking out new blogs and have found quite a few new reads that I'm excited about! Check out Counting Sheep, Piffle, Pocket Farm, The Farmette Report, mellowtrouble, and Riverrim blog.

Another new one that I added a little while ago is Anti-V who is actually a real-life friend who has, I think, a great perspective on the world around her.

Oh, and a happy belated birthday to my little brother! I've been a little busy being in pain this week to mention it earlier.

Karen

well now

Sure wouldn't wish the last 5 days on anyone else!

Accumulating and increasing back spasms and their accompanying friends - nausea and diarrhea, are just NOT FUN. Not fun at all.

I've now been 4 days off work, and flat on my back for most of it, popping pain pills with visits to both the chiropractor and the massage therapist. Whew.

I'm still not well, but at least now I'm starting to come out of that self-centered haze of pain and fatigue that debilitating pain can bring.

Maybe I'll even want to eat something today. So far - no interest, but at least no repulsion at the idea either.

Had to give up tickets to Great Big Sea tonight. I'm just not up to it. I'm not the biggest fan of the band, but I've been wanting to see the Fergus Scottish Festival, where they are playing ....ahh well.

Completely missed my assigned watering day this week, by virtue of being in a fog of pain and nausea. It's supposed to rain today, 'though so maybe nature will take care of itself before all the flowers and veggies die. I certainly don't have the energy to water by bucket today.

The good news is that we don't have to replace the septic tank this year. Repairs done should tide us over for another year or two. Maybe we can afford it then.

Okay, time to go back to lying flat on the couch feeling sorry for myself now....

Karen

Blah!

I'm at home, taking a much needed rest/sick day - too bad I'll spend most of the day cleaning the messes that have accumulated.

But after another night of back spasms, and the see-saw recovery of the cat, and the possible replacement of the septic tank that we can't afford, and the looming "vacation" that I'm not sure I want to go on.... I'm stressed.

At least my jaw is holding so far. Good thing too, since the chiropractor is on vacation.

Mrrrph.

Karen

Long, full weekend

I'm getting somewhat tired of feeding Ginger through her tube, but she is getting better. She's drinking on her own, and holding down her food, for the most part. And there was even the tiniest bit of poop - woohoo! The things one gets excited about, eh?



Started working on the new deck, designed and implemented by the man himself - my very own hubby. Those are my toes. :)



I stained my new deck chair, and started on the deck pieces, but there's no pics. The chair was a first-date anniversary present. :)

On saturday, we went out for dinner and a movie, and ended up doing dinner and an hour or so of browsing in Chapters instead. I'd mentioned to Neil awhile ago that I had been wanting to spend some more time then our usual 'magazines and sci-fi' trips, browsing other sections carefully. And *sigh*, after a very thorough trip around the store.....all I ended up with was one magazine.

I want to find - on the shelves - books on herbs that include growing, harvesting and using them for natural dyeing, medicinal purposes, and the kitchen. I want to find books on spinning, dyeing, weaving that aren't all about the modern versions thereof, without a lot of technobabble. I want stories of why people do what they do in the fiber crafts. I want to find something new and thoughtful and intelligent in the pagan sections - right now, it all seems so cheesy and cheap. And I want to find books whose information I can trust. Especially about health issues - I support alternative medicines, in theory, but it's so understudied, and overwritten. Everyone and their grandmother with a theory that knows a publisher....

I can find many books online, even on the Chapters website, and I'm less resistant to online shopping then I used to be, but still.... I want to find them on the shelves! The damned stores are certainly big enough.

Feel free to make recommendations, by the way. :)

And of course, did more weeding and flower shots and watching season 3 of Babylon 5. We tried to finish the mulching project but the place where we've been getting the mulch decided to close for the holiday weekend.

Brown-eyed Susan. I prefer the brown eyes to the black eyes.


And two shots of the echineacha.




I think I'm out of words now. :)

Karen

Ginger's home! and golden marguerite.

Ginger came home tonight! Now we get to feed her via a feeding tube, installed in her neck. Oh joy, oh bliss.

And she's healthy enough to resist a bit. More joy, more bliss.

But she is home, and seems happy to be here. And the feeding tube should go away in a couple of weeks as she starts to eat on her own again.

I've also been dyeing, with the golden marguerite (aka dyer's chamomille). Flower heads in one pot, and their leaves and stalks in the other. The wool rovings that went into the flower pot was pre-mordanted two nights ago with alum, and the yarn that went into the other pot was accompanied by a rusty iron nugget.

I came home at mid-day yesterday, after the contents of my stomach left the building, so I turned on the dye baths, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Woke up an hour later to find them boiling, and turned them off. Fortunately I hadn't added the wool yet. I tested the flower heads dye bath with some cheap yarn to see if I'd ruined the colour but it turned out okay.

When the dyebaths had cooled sufficiently so as to not shock and felt the wool, I added it and turned the heat up again to simmer for a few hours.

The colours are delightful. :)


This is the results of the flower heads dye bath. Originally white icelandic rovings, pre-mordanted in alum.


This is the results of the dye bath from the golden marguerite stalks and leaves. Originally white mysterious yarn, iron nugget acting as mordant, in the dye pot.

Next on the list - elm bark.

Karen

Funnies, and philosophy

Ginger, a few weeks ago, before her current illness, checking out the new plant to eat.


So that's where I put the calla lilly bulb.... I'd forgotten where I planted the bulbs when I later planted the golden oregeno.

So anyway... had a little pissy moment on thursday, not having gotten any comments on posts for well over a week. So I had to start thinking about why I blog.

I think I have some unchallenged creative energies, that perhaps blogging is something akin to an artistic endeavor. Maybe more of a crafty one.

Fiber geeks will recognize that arguement - is it an art form, is it a craft?

But I digress. I have creative urges that I follow. Sometimes it's in the garden, sometimes it's in photography, sometimes I spin, weave, dye and sometimes I blog.

And I'm that weird mixture that many creative people are - wanting to share that creativity with the world and be recognized, and wanting just to _do_, and being too shy and self-conscious to actually advertise myself.

I blog because I want to stand out somehow ('though with millions blogging right now, one wonders) and yet I'm too shy to put myself into all the right places to get the traffic that would get the comments.

I'd be a starving artist, or crafter, if I didn't have a day job.

I won't be giving it up any time soon. Day job, or the creative urges.

Karen

Ginger, and getting a bone off my chest

Ginger's recovering slowly, still in the Cat Hospital. She has something called 'fatty liver', which is apparently entirely curable.

Thanks one and all for your concern. The drought of well-wishers has been memorable.

I suppose it's a good thing that I just like playing with gadgets....

Karen

Harry Potter

Oh my god, I can't believe that Rowling killed that particular character.

It's so not fair that everyone that Harry looks to as a parental figure dies.

And I liked him!

Karen

Ginger, and garden pics

Ginger cat went into the Cat Hospital on thursday. She hasn't been eating or pooping for a few days, and apparently she was very dehydrated. Poor kitty.

I'm of mixed feelings - some of which aren't so happy-making. I miss her and I know she's in good hands, but my allergies are better without her, and it's nice to not have to yell at her for scratching the carpet and curtains in the middle of the night, or to have to carefully watch the door while loading in groceries.

Her prognosis seems to be good, we'll learn more today when we vist, but at 17, she won't be with us all that much longer. 20 is the average age for most cats. I honestly don't know whether I'll get another when she does pass on.

On another note 'though, it may not have been the wisest idea to visit Chapters after dropping her off at the Cat Hospital. 4 books, 2 magazines** and a Godiva bar later - only 2 days before the Harry Potter release - I might have been working off some empty space anxiety. Ya think?

Anyway, it's been a few days since I threw ya a few pics of the garden.


This is the Calendula, my current favourite. What a wonderful collection of bright orange flowers! You can dye with this plant, but the colours are insignificant. More important is it's medicinal use as an antiseptic for burns, cuts and bruises. Not that I know how to get from plant to medicine just yet.



Now, the Golden Marguerite, aka Dyer's Chamomille, is an excellent dye plant. And I have more then enough of it this year to experiment with. I'll start collecting in a few days when the blooms start to dye off. It's also just plain stunning in it's abundance, spread and beauty.



I'm also enjoying the Yarrow this year. I think this is the original variety, but there are apparently many new cultivars on the market this year and some of those colours are quite pretty as well. Yarrow is also a medicinal plant - a quick Google search lists liver, digestive, menstrual and antispasmodic uses. Again, I'm no expert.

** Tanya Huff's "Valor's Choice" and "The Better Part of Valor" - hmmph, she's a Canadian author and she allowed the publisher to spell "Valour" in the American. I just noticed. How annoying. But's she's an excellent author, nonetheless. I'd just been putting off these two books because I tend to like fantasy better then military sci-fi.

Julie Czerneda's "Survival" and "A Thousand Words for Stranger". Both are first volumes of trilogies. So if I like them, I'll need to go get the rest of the set. She's a new author to me.

Bitch mag and Canadian Gardening, which is where I found out about the new varieties of Yarrow.

Karen

A is for Achievement

Woohoo! I have finally, in mid-July, planted the last plant I have any intention to plant. I have achieved a goal.

The little babies from the alkanet and dyer's broom are finally in the ground instead of their seed pots.

I feel so proud.

I can clean up the back patio, such as it can yet be called a patio. But that's a different kind of project, yet to be achieved.

Now, those plants that I may just happen upon ...that's another story. :) But I am running out of room until next year.

Did I mention the folks visited on sunday? Well, they did and my mom mentioned that my peppers are quite a bit bigger then hers at the moment. And we bought them in the same place back in May. That made me feel good because I had been worried about the progress of my veggie garden.

My folks also seem to have this strange way of socializing. They seem to believe that the family that weeds together, stays together. I was hard pressed to protest. :)

Karen

stuff

Vandy got herself a blog! I'll put a link in when she lets me.

Been watching a lot of Babylon 5 on DVD lately. It's such a good show 'though I do keep wishing that JMS could have written the whole story without having to accomadate mid-story network cancellations, actor's egos, and budget constraints.

Back spasms, sinus troubles and TMJ - all in one week. No fun.

But I did get the lawn cut yesterday, and today I spread some Scott's turf-builder stuff. And we went and got more mulch (yet more mulch) to add to the new space. Maybe I'll get out there soon.


Karen

the Girl card

Spent the holiday (that's Canada Day, on July 1, for the non-Canadians out there) quite pleasantly. Where else? In my garden. :) I was in an incredibly zen place with the weeds and spent hours pulling them without the least bit of frustration. I filled up a rather large size plastic tub with weeds. We really need to get a composter going.

Saturday on the other hand, wasn't exactly what I'd call pleasant. But I am left with a feeling of achievement and dozens of sore muscles to prove it.

The hubby and I went up to his mother's place to help re-shingle the roof. My advice for all the middle-aged out there? If anyone asks you to volunteer to re-shingle a roof - just say no.

Unless of course, you actually enjoy hard physical labour in the sun for hours on end. If so, then it's right up your alley.

All in all, I think I spent 6-7 hours on the roof. And for the most part, I was the only girl and probably the oldest person up there.

At supper-time, I changed into real clothes* and played the Girl card. You know, the one that lets you off of hard physical labour on account of being a Girl.

Then again, Neil** and I spent the next hour or so chainsawing up some broken limbs in the mother's yard, which is in and of itself physical labour, although not quite so demanding as roofing. But it was on the ground. And safe. Relatively speaking.

On sunday, I spent most of the day on the couch having a sinus reaction to something - either dripping, doing that whole body sneezing thing, or napping (because sleeping is the only time my sinuses would go anywhere near clearing). Fun, Wow. I figure it was a reaction to a combination of altitude change, hard labour, heat exhaustion, and the septic tank that overflowed the morning before we went to do the roofing.

* Real clothes being defined as clean and Girl-like.

**Neil played the Bad Knees card to avoid going back up on the roof again after supper.

Went camping, found some flowers :)

This past weekend was spent camping, quasi-Viking style, at an SCA event in the Kingdom of Ealdormere.


This is the hubby, in his Viking personna of Ragnarr. In an unusual moment, we find him actually helping out with lunch. ;)


Our fire, with a few too many iron gadgets to be authentic. What can we say? One of the group's leaders is a professional blacksmith.


This is the end of one of our friend's tent. Vikings like to decorate everything.


Found some daises at the campsite, couldn't resist.


It's a weed. Vandy tells me it's called Hawkweed. But it's very very pretty. And was all over the campsite.

I'd love to show you some pictures of the other Vikings, my friends, but I haven't asked their permission yet.

The garden exploded here in the past week. Pictures another day.

Karen

domain name problems

I'm not gone, I'm just lost temporarily.

Have got lots of pics to add, but my home website where I host them and just link to them from here is.... being problematic. We're in the middle of switching ISPs for the domain name.

Anyhoo... back when I have pics to show. Y'all so rarely comment on my text type posts anyway it seems pointless without them.

Karen

more birthday fun!

The hubby (aka Neil) dropped by work and brought an ice cream cake for me to share with the rest of the staff, just to draw attention to it being my 40th birthday.

He likes watching my face turn beet red. :) And apparently there are some forms of embarrassment that I like as well.

This birthday thing is perking up.

Karen

it's my birthday!

And I'm turning 40. I'm alternately wyrded out, and indifferent. One might say I have very mixed feelings.

Neil gave me a calla lilly plant for my birthday. Since I was foolish enough to plant the new bulbs in full sun, right beside the brick house, and they aren't coming up. I'll need to recover those, if they survive at all and remove them to a cool shady area where they belong.

He also gave me season two of B5 to compliment the season one set that he got me for christmas. Reruns of one of the greater scifi shows to ever grace the screen -- here we come!

Other then that, it's a low-key birthday so far...

Karen

and today

Tonight the lawn finally got cut, after two weeks of being ignored - Yeah!

Karen

the weekend

Saturday - boring, cloudy, raining on and off. Hence, very little gardening. So, I made beads instead. Glass beads - gas torch, melting glass. You get the drift. Neil gave me the glass and setup for Christmas this past year, and it was the great occupier during January and February. I made dozens of wonderful beads and then when spring started arriving, I got busy or sick and just started letting it fall by the way-side.

So it was very good to pick up the glass for a few hours again. But I think I've lost whatever talent I briefly had. I need to get back into it more often, to keep my hand practised. I made six beads this saturday, and only one of them is reasonably pretty.

Sunday - mix of overcast and sunny. Reasonable temperatures. So... back to the garden.

We are almost done. Almost. Well, at least this year's major plans. And not including the ever-ongoing weeding.

We need another 4 or 5 yards of mulch to finish the new garden area. But it goes quickly when we do it. Neil did the part I was dreading - pulling out the creeping charlie where it's broken through the earlier batch of newspaper/mulch barrier and reinforcing it.

I planted a few more annuals and some new tomato plants that I hope will take this time. I took a page from Mark Cullen's book on Ontario Gardening, and planted them directly in sheep manure. Maybe this bunch won't die like the others.

But I still didn't get the lawn done. The ground was too wet to mow most of the day. Actually, it might have been fine in the evening, but I was too zonked by then.

After we cleaned up last night, Neil and I took a walk around and discussed next year's plans. :) There's another whole bunch of fence line garden in the shady area that I don't venture in very often because the mosquitos are so prolific there. But it needs some major weeding, mostly of creeping charlie, some new plants, some mulching, some gravelling, and some delineation between it and the grass.

And the lawn desperately needs professionals to aerate, weed, restore the sparse areas, even out the bumpiness and kill monster ant hills. My puny amateur efforts just aren't suceeding.

There's more flowers in bloom so expect more pictures later in the week. Maybe my ugly beads will find themselves on film as well. Or maybe not. One never can tell.

Karen

creeping charlie, everywhere

I've spent much of the day fighting with one of the websites I maintain. It'd be easier if I had created this massive mess in the first place. I'd know my own work. But this was created by someone else with a far superior webwork education, and too much time on his hands. I'm trying to wrestle it into something much much simpler. It'll never get updated on an ongoing basis if I don't.

I did spend a little while outside weeding, but when my path crossed with creeping charlie - it chased me back into the house. It's a nasty little rooter that doesn't give up easily.

Neil suggested dinner and a movie tonight. I think I'd like that. I have a sweet hubby. :)

Tomorrow - more planting and mulching. And maybe it'll be dry enough to cut the grass. Same old, same old.

Karen

back to the garden, as promised

Ya know, one might be forgiven for wondering that if I'm such a big fan of gardening, then why is my grass so tall and unmowed?

I wonder sometimes too. But here it is - Neil's the only one who can reliably start the damn mower. It hates me. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Or it could be the rain for the past couple of days. Or the fact that we've been out of town. Or the fact that if I blink, it doubles in size. But really, I think it's just the hateful mower.

Anyway, here's a few more pics.


These white clematis flowers are new to us. We planted them last year while Neil was working for White Rose during it's dying days. It's funny how the same species can produce such different flowers. The Jackmani clematis will be open in another few days.


This iris stands out from the purple and blue varieties that are the bulk of our collection. We've been adding new irises every year for the last few years - mostly yard sale finds in this nearby town that has one great big day of yard sales every year. Many of the ladies in the local horticultural society reside there and sell their starter plants every year. There is what looks like a black variety getting ready to bloom in a few days.

I'd give you proper variety and plant names if I bothered to remember them. :) I just like the colour - I'm a big fan of masses of riotious colour.


This is one of the new Icelandic poppies that I went out and bought just a few weeks ago after the first one opened. It has been so hot and dry for the past couple of weeks that I wondered if they'd make it and here they are, popping flowers already. Almost makes me want to go out and get still more. :)

Karen

Smelting, or Melting?

This past weekend, I went to see members of the Dark Ages Recreation Companyattempt to smelt iron the same way the Vikings would have, over a thousand years ago.

The science worked! DARC again made a bloom of iron. The brave men of the DARC demo team could have died of heat stroke 'though, if they hadn't been smart enough to stop pumping the bellows by hand and insert the electronic version of the bellows instead.

30°C temperatures with a humidex that made it feel like 38°C instead is not a day to spend 5 hours pumping bellows by hand. There's apparently a reason that all the Sagas refer to the blacksmiths as working in the winter.

You can see the smelting by going to the DARC webpage, clicking on "Iron Experiments" in the left nav bar, and choosing "Smelt #5" or just by going here directly. Going the first route leads you to the index page for all of DARC's experiments.

Please keep in mind that the page for this weekend's smelt is still being written up. All that's available so far is the pictures from one digital camera (mine, I took them :)) - there are several more print films to be scanned in, and another digital camera full to make it's way to us. All of the accompanying written stuff is still to be written. My husband is the record-keeper for the experiments. I'm often (but not always) the photographer.

Tomorrow, we'll return you to your regularily scheduled garden report. :)

This just in from the front lines - apparently Vandy's next door neighbour is doing Sonny and Cher covers on a kareoke machine. Outside. Loudly. *shudder* I have a feeling that if she ever got a blog herself, the 'Blasted Heathcliffe' would feature prominently in her reports.

Karen

photo blog

The very very last of the tulips. These pale purple tulips are great performers - they've been in bloom for almost 2 weeks by the time I took the photo a few days ago and are just starting to go.


This oriential poppy is fantastic! I planted it last year but it didn't bloom until this year. I had no idea just how spectacular the bloom would be. The petals look like parchment paper, and the colour is just so dynamic.


One of my favourite iris shots - there are dozens of irises in bloom in the garden now.

These next two photos are sort of the 'before' and 'after' shots of the newest garden space. I say 'sort of' because the 'before' is really mid-way through the ripping up of the grass, and they are taken from different angles, and of course, several weeks apart.
Most of the new plants are still just baby plants, so they are harder to see in the 'after' shot. The hose in the 'before' picture is the new edge of the garden. It looks smaller in the 'after' shot because it's taken from further away and the plant growth behind the new garden space is so much more developed.



Coming up this weekend - Playing with Fire, the Viking Way. DARC's hottest new demo team will be demonstrating how to smelt iron in the Viking Era - a preliminary showing to a major demonstration in Annapolis Royal at the end of August.

I'll mostly be hiding in the screened in shade observation area, when I'm not helping out by crushing rock ore for the Annapolis Royal smelting. The boys of the demo team will be sweating their body weight out on the bellows in 30°C heat, with only a 30% chance of rain relief. Since this is a Living History demonstration, they'll be in full body wool, linen and leather - just like the Vikings of yesteryear.

Wish them luck!

Karen :)

opting out

Last night I opted out of gardening. I can hear that collective gasp of shock from here. :)

When we got home from work last night and did the usual 'walk around the yard looking at the new growth' thing, I swear I was mosquito-bitten a dozen times in under two minutes. I just couldn't take it, so I declared the evening garden-free and hid inside instead. We watched an old rerun of "Nine to Five" on tv.

Tonight after work, I have a pedicure. :) So that will likely be another night off from the gardening as well.

But I do have some new great pictures on the way. The irises started blooming just two days ago, and the oriental poppies started blooming yesterday.

Also, I now have mid-way and finished shots of this year's big garden project so y'all can see some of the work we've put in this year.

But give me another day. I've not gotten the digital camera to web photo routine down pat just yet.

Karen

yet more gardening

You're not tired of reading about my gardening yet? :)

Today in the garden, it was really freaking hot. And muggy. The weather prediction was for 30°C - I don't know what it actually ended up being.

We did an hour of weeding and mulching and cutting the front lawn grass and then gave up because of the heat for several hours. Went shopping - bouncing from air conditioned store to air conditioned store - but didn't buy much.

Came home and fixed the screen door. It's the first time in my life that I'd ever put a new screen in. Funny the things I'm learning as a (relatively) new home owner.

Puttered around the house gathering garbage for putting out tomorrow, and gave the cat's home room a thorough airing and cleaning. Ginger seemed to appreciate it.

And then it was finally cool enough to go back out into the gardens. I weeded and mulched and planted new annuals in the front garden while Neil weeded and mulched the front of the fence line garden. I only got half of my garden done while Neil completely finished his, but mine is bigger. :)

Watered bunches in all the gardens - I felt like I was baking, it had to be needed.

Oh! And the veggie garden actually is showing growth! Carrots and beans and peas and corn and garlic - oh my!

But I have to ask - does the dirt ever actually get out from under the fingernails?

Karen

another long day in the garden

Whew.... after a frustrating, annoying, very long four days at work this week, we spent another long day in the yard today.

First, they're rennovating the floor of the library that I work in, so my office had to move to temporary quarters in one of the conference rooms. My supervisor, our part-time staff and me - one conference table each, because they didn't want to move our desks. It's a bit cramped for desk space, and I've lost a lot of privacy. But there are perks - the new space has much improved proximity to filtered water, microwave, sink, toaster oven, and fridge. And the one and only colour laser printer in the entire building is just around the corner.

We've had to re-organize our schedules and procedures, almost every day, based on what new issue the construction brings up. It's been a constant, frustrating challenge, and I've always been slow to take up the positive side of 'challenges'.

At least at work, anyway. :) The gardens, on the other hand, have been a fun challenge this year and I've only had two minor hysterical fits so far. I think I mentioned the first - weeds and the vegetable garden on the long weekend. Today was the second one - the lawnmower doesn't work for me. Neil's the only one with the magical touch to turn it on, fix the wheels, whatever. And he wasn't home when I started this afternoon. But he did come home just when I couldn't take it anymore and had started kicking inanimate objects. He just gave me new tomato plants to put in, and fixed the lawn mower.

We started off the day dropping off bunches of yard waste - dug up grass, porch remains to the dump - and picking up another trailer load of mulch. Then spent most of the rest of the day cutting the grass, with a short pause here and there for mulching, weeding, watering, lemonade, grocery shopping, and helping Neil work on the shelves for the shed. And as long as the rain holds off tomorrow, I have more annuals to plant, the front lawn grass to cut, more mulching, and there's always another weed to pull.

Karen