Questions, and Answers

Diana, of Piffle, asked:
Have you told us how you and Neil got together? Tales of radical feminism? Odd holiday traditions?

Neil and I met via mutual friends, with a little twist of the Internet thrown in. There was this local group that we both came out to visit once in awhile, and it had an email list. He was first attracted to me because of what I wrote on the email list, but we kept missing each other at the group's real life functions. Eventually, he got assertive in meeting me, and the rest just fell into place.

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Tales from my radical feminism days? hmmm.... several rewrites later, all I have to say is ...that's a post for another day. And one I'll have to give some considerable thought.

Here's a link to Wikipedia's page about Radical Feminism 'though. I think they sum it up nicely.

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Now, by 'odd holiday traditions', I'll presume you mean Christmas, and not Thanksgiving, since up here in Canada, we did Thanksgiving more then a month ago.

Nope, no odd traditions here..... I like a traditional turkey dinner, lights on houses, christmas trees, presents.... the usual. I suppose the oddest thing comes with Neil. He seems to have this need to put a christmas present on the shelf for me earlier and earlier every year.

This year, it was in the first few days of November. Nearly two months ahead of time. And it's a big one, gets in the way, and collects dust bunnies at the floor that I have to vacuum up. Really, I think I should just open it and get it out of the way, yes?



I mean, just because I like to peek at the last few pages of the book, and shake presents, and try to see what labelling is on the package when they arrive in the mail .... that doesn't mean that something shiny and pretty and unknown tortures me at all. Not at all.....nope, not this girl.

I'm just thinking of the dust bunnies... really, that's all.

Karen

Blog blahs

So.... did you know that some folks call these things Blahgs? A statement on the often boring content?

Well, I've got it. A bad case of the blahs. Nothing to see here folks.

Not that anyone's looking anyway... I'm getting just 6 hits per day according to my Site Meter and most of those are search engines. Ah well...

I'll tell ya what. Leave a comment asking me a question, or telling me what you might like to see me write about and I'll do my best to be responsive where appropriate. Feel free to tag me for a meme if you've got an interesting one floating around.

In the meantime, maybe I can forge through the garden pics and bring summer back with some of the ones that never got used in the first place, or borrow an idea from another blogger.... I need to go a'hunting.


Karen

A Mixed Bag o'Fun

This is Neil's arrowhead. I didn't have a picture of it in the last post. He's also done some research summarizing Norse arrowhead finds from various sources. If you're interested, it's here.



New rovings from Wellington Fibres! Great service, good prices, and nice people!

Some of these rovings are naturally dyed raw fleece that had become too difficult to work after dyeing. Sending them through the commercial mill to be turned into rovings really made all the difference to their spin-ability. It's not a historical process, but at least it means I'll get around to actually spinning them.



On sunday, we went to the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair in Toronto. We met this sheep, among many others.

I didn't see any Icelandic or Shetland sheep, surprisingly enough. There's certainly enough people raising them in Ontario.

I waved at CraftyGrrl (aka Mel) briefly during the fleece and shawl auction, but we didn't chat. I didn't want to distract her from the hunting. :)



This is one of the shawls produced in the Sheep to Shawl contest - my favourite. But I haven't the foggiest which team made it.

One of the great disappointments of the Fair was that very little was well labeled. Not all of the shawls were easy to match with the team. Not all of the sheep could be identified. Not all of the fleeces for auction could be identified. It was somewhat frustrating.

The other disappointment was that there didn't appear to be a merchant selling rovings, spindles, spinning wheels, or looms. I had been hoping to poke at a few of the more expensive toys, and perhaps to pick up some exotic fiber to spin.

But the Fair was still a lot of fun. I loved wandering around the sheep, talking to the Sheep to Shawl teams - other women who actually understand the fiber hobby!

Karen

Playing with the New Blogger

Still here, I'm playing with the new Beta Blogger.

The template will take a bit to figure out. At the moment, I'm stumped for re-adding the moon phase calculator and Site Meter.

Karen

I've been busy

I made these...



... and yes, I am absurdly proud of myself.

Well, okay, I didn't actually _make_ the metal, but I did shape it. Hot metal, hammers, brute force. :)

Our friend Darrell, who is a blacksmith, opened his shop to some of his friends this past weekend, taught us the basics and set us free.

Neil made a Viking Era arrowhead replica. It's still unfinished.

Marcus made a knife. Sarah made a knife and a twisty Viking Era fry pan. Richard made two tools for gouging wood. Nancy also made S-hooks. Other stuff was made as well, but I only caught bits and pieces. The shop was very busy.

Darrell also teaches Blacksmithing courses. Go check out his website for more info.

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We finally got the front lawn leveled sufficiently and seeded. I think at this point, we're leaving the back yard damage until the spring and throwing money at it then.

Must get the spring bulbs in this week, and clean up the driveway so the snowblower guy can do his thing without impediment this winter.

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Some catch-up, upon rereading old posts:

I got busy, and neglected the green tomatoes. They turned red and I used them in the usual manner - pasta sauces. I feel most humbly lazy in the face of Anti-V's energetic posting of Green Tomato recipes on her blog for me.

The Verilux "Rise and Shine" light alarm clock. It's now been several weeks since we bought it and I promised a review.

It's OK.

The light bulb that came with it died relatively quickly, and replacements are quite expensive. I hope that isn't a normal thing for the life of the bulb. There's a strange 'whiney' noise that occurs when the lamp is first coming on....it can be quite annoying. And the time/setting display is quite bright, even on it's dimmest setting, and that can be kind of annoying.

But....

It's way better to wake up to then the jarring radio alarm. It's so much gentler. I don't wake up suddenly and swear at the lack of light outside anymore. It seems to gently and gradually push me toward wakefulness and when I open my eyes, I'm ready for it.

I'm not feeling particularly well rested... but I'm not feeling like my alarm has violently assaulted my senses anymore. And that's a good thing.


Karen