where?

Yes, I know. I fell off the face of the earth after that last post. I just got distracted.

The short version is that I missed recounting the last two weeks of the dig/vacation, and I've been back home for two weeks already!

The good news is that the hubby and I are working on a web page detailing the whole trip, and I'll post it here as soon as it's done. Possibly even this weekend.

The bad news is that real life is still very distracting. It's easier to find me on Facebook 'though my friends circle is intentionally smaller there, just because it requires so much less thought and coherence then blogging does.

Next big plans are seeing Cirque du Soleil so maybe I'll have more pictures to share from that trip in a few weeks!

Karen

Planning an archaeological dig in Gotland, Sweden

Hallo again :)

This year, Neil and I are planning going to an archaeological field school in Gotland, Sweden.

I plan to blog about it as it happens, but I'd like your input please. As you might have noticed, I'm a little short on original material recently. Facebook's brevity and immediacy has sucked my brain dry for intelligent, lengthier writing.

So.... what would you like to see me blog about during this adventure?

I've done previous trip blogging in May 2008 (Scotland, Iceland) and July 2009 (Iceland, the ring road tour), and in August 2010 (L'Anse aux Meadows, NFLD), but this trip is a little different in that there will be an educational component as well as entertainment.

Please be specific. Please feed my poor, starved-for-topics brain with ideas.

If you are not feeling inclined to using the comments field, I have added a Contact Me section to the sidebar - please feel free to email me. I don't promise responses.

Questions about trip preparation will be entertained as well.

Thank you,

Karen

Not entirely abandoned

I'm thinking about what, if anything, I want to do with this blog in the future.

With Facebook being so much more compelling and immediate, I'm not spending as much time here as I once did. Is it still useful a space?

Do I have enough readers?

Do you have an opinion?

Karen

Tagged!

Nina tagged me with a few questions! I love getting tagged.

1- What would your perfect day consist of?

There's lots of elements to make a perfect day and they don't all need to be in one place at one time. Fudge, warmth, new experiences, sleeping in, good food, friends (or sometimes just that special one - the hubby), my garden, my pets, Iceland.

2- How would you describe yourself if you were an item of clothing?

Hmmm... have never really thought of myself this way. A big cozy blanket or tunic dress, probably.

3- What hobbies are you currently working on?

It's gardening time!

4- Walking in the woods in Wellies or Barefoot on the beach?

Depends on my mood. :) I'd be totally content in either situation.

5- Have you ever hugged or sang to a tree?

I got married under a tree, and we left the flowers at it's base when we were done. Does that count?

6. Growing your own veggies or nipping to the supermarket.

Growing my own! It's so rewarding to watch the whole cycle of birth to growth to eating. And yummy too!

7. Have you found anyone exciting in your family tree?

I've never explored my family tree.

8. Slap up meal in a posh restaurant or fish ‘n’ chips from the wrapper?

Posh restaurant, man. Hands down. Not because it's 'posh' per se... just because, generally, you really do pay for quality and fresh new experiences.

In Toronto this past weekend, we ate at Colburn Lane and Lee restaurant. These two folks are considered to be Toronto's top two chefs right now.

I wouldn't go back to Colburn Lane because it just wasn't worth it's pricepoint. This is high end molecular gastronomy - something I could never do for myself at home, but there's a whole experience thing, the big picture, that I expect out of a high end experience and Colburn Lane was missing a few parts. I can't complain of the tastes - that was delightful! But the portions were small, the time lag between dishes was annoying, the music was a bit loud and they had fake cheap candles on the tables instead of real tealights.


Orange in Reykjavik,was also high end molecular gastronomy but it was more fun, the portions were bigger, the waitress couldn't crack a smile for the life of her, and a mad scientist mixed up liquid nitrogen smoking meringue bombs at our table. They served their dessert on liquid nitrogen chilled rocks from the Icelandic earth. The appetizers came floating a few inches off the table attached to perfectly filled helium balloons. The restaurant is mere feet away from the dock and the fish tasted like it was caught that morning and died only seconds before cooking. And!! the drink menu wasn't confined to stiltifying perfectly suited wine choices but had wild tasty fun choices instead. I've never met a cocktail menu more alive!

Lee, on the other hand, was fantastic food, served with perfect timing fashion, and larger portions. It was however - crazy busy (which didn't intere with the service!) and the music was a bit loud.

9. Which element do you most resonate with, Earth, Wind, Fire or Water?

Depends on what I'm doing, and what mood I'm in. I'm mostly Fire and Water - all steamy and in conflict, but I've been blown away by Iceland's sheer physical earthly beauty. :)


10. Do you believe in fairies?

I haven't seen one myself, but there's just way way too many stories out there to not have some basis in truth. :)

Comment moderation

Sadly folks, I've had to enable comment moderation.

I've now had the comments section spammed a few times too many. I had hoped it was an isolated incident or two, but it's becoming more frequent. I promise for those of you who are actually writing a real comment, I'll be quick to approve them.

Karen

Perception Personality Image Test

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NBPC - The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Facelift

Once again, Alda from The Iceland Weather Report inspires me. For those of you not in the know, Alda was my inspiration some years ago to start my own blog.

Of course, we have totally different interests, topic matter, and followings, but I still read her blog daily.

This time, it's the facelift. I've been meaning to get around to put a picture up in the header bar, but I didn't get off my butt and do it until I saw Alda's new look. She's gone quite a bit more complex then I have so far, with rotating pictures and all. Go and check it out and see what true art is - reload the page a few times and see the pictures change. :)

I'll be back over here basking in the simple glory of just one good picture of just one truly wonderful (and stinky) flower from my garden. I'll get around to a few other details (like updating the sidebar) eventually.

In the meantime, stay tuned. I've got a road trip coming up in a few weeks and I plan on blogging as we travel.

Small bits of news

Neil's going to California again soon. *pout*

Vandy, aka Anti-V, has just (finally) started writing in a new blog, specifically about historical food, called Dagda's Cauldron.

Elliptical machine exercising - good, slowly working my way up to a half hour a day. Lots of sweat and feeling like I'm gonna die, followed by really cool endorphin rushes. Love those endorphins! Health, smealth.....

Canada Blooms is on the horizon in March.

I've just started doing my boss's job for a year while she's on Mat leave and my head feels like it's gonna explode by the end of every day so far this week. Life is fun.

Still lots of snow here, I'm getting impatient for spring. Sunshine, fresh air, warmth, pretty growing things in the garden. Let's look at something from last year, shall we?

Blog Fun

RSS feeds - come and see me! It's a pretty site, really. At least I like to think so, anyway. Nonetheless, let me put a bug in your eyes - my blog content is suffering from boredom and inertia. Ask me questions, or offer quotes for the Quote box, or make suggestions for content. I'm listening!

Renovations are in the blog wind - I've just finished finally adding a label to each and every one of my 3 years worth of posts (yes, I know I'm a little slow).

The Dark Ages Recreation Company (to which I belong) has just finished a huge huge overhaul of it's website. And now we have a blog on site as well!

Check out the 2008 Bloggies! The blog that got me started 3 and a bit years ago is the Iceland Weather Report, and it's one of the finalists for "Best European Blog".

New Blogger 'feature'

Apparently, the fabulous Blogger software has decided that my blog resembles a spam blog and must be reviewed by a human being. In the meantime, I have do that word verification thing that all commentators go through just to post. Colour me less then thrilled.

I wrote a nice long review of Harry Potter this afternoon, and couldn't post it or postpone it. The word verification thing didn't seem to work on IE 6. I'm trying again (just to post).

Please Mr/s Blog Human (when you get here) - tell me what the heck is it about my blog that got caught by your darned stupid software?

Deep breath.....

Remember the pretty.



Karen

Still here, really

My motivation for posting has been a little slack of late, but I'm getting tired of seeing the great potato death as my leading post every time I want to use my blog for the links to the rest of you.

Basically, the last few weeks have been making me somewhat more grumpy then usual. And grumpy doesn't make for good postings.

Forward Into the Past - a yearly day-long conference on all things medieval. I finally learned how to tablet-weave! I've only been trying to get to that class for the past 5 years!

And the party afterwards at our house was pretty decent too. Lots of good friends. :)

New blogs - Links from your links, and the people who comment on other blogs. Friends of friends, so to speak. Community, isn't it cool?

Accepting the Now
Slowly She Turned
The Worsted Witch
Edge Effect
Small Meadow Farm
Maggie's Farm

Coronation - Yep, that's right. The crowning of a King and Queen. It's an SCA thing. We don't care much about the Royalty these days (they come and go every six months), but we went to see a friend receive an award that he definitely deserves. Sort of a lifetime achievement thing, it's hard to explain without all the SCA jargon.

"But Karen, what's with your garden?" - I still have one. And things are slowly starting to grow in it. But this year, the weather sucks, to put it mildly.
Even though it seems like we've finally taken a turn for spring and it is warming up a bit, the overnight temperatures are still dropping below frost levels. It's May already, and I can't even put the darned tomato seedlings out in the greenhouse because they are so fragile in temperatures below 5 degrees (celsius, of course).

So the mud room is quite full of plants that need to be planted. Soon. Before they root rot in their pots.

I'm hoping this weekend sees some .... something getting done.

Fiber? - you must remember that theoretically I dabble in the fiber arts as well? Well, I learned to tablet weave at FITP, and promptly went out and bought some yarn to do that there craft with, and.... I have to sand the damned cards. Which is not so much fun. So, I've been drop-spinning instead. So much so that my shoulder is starting to act up again. Does anyone know how not to aggravate one's shoulder?

Pictures? - well, ya know, you've seen one crocus and daffodil, you've seen 'em all. Gods, I'm depressing myself. I promise I'll get some pretties up here soon. Within days, really. Not weeks apart, I promise.

Oh baby!

Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		75%	Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		65%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		55%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		55%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		45%
Inara Serra (Companion)		45%
River (Stowaway)		45%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		40%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		35%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		30%
Alliance		20%

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

Hibernating

Hibernating - be back soon.

Karen

New Year's Resolutions

I resolve not to make New Year's Resolutions.

But I am going to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year and get fit. Yah, yah.... me and a million others, I know.

Let's just say that I stuck my arm in one of those drug store blood pressure machines and I'm a little worried. I know you can't trust these things any further then you can throw them, but still....

Neil and I are planning on taking a tai chi class this year so that's a good start. I'll get back to y'all on other plans and progress as it happens.

And speaking of folks named Neil... I just added a new link in the Blogs I Read. Neil Crone taught my Neil in high school, and then went on to become an actor and eventually started this blog. I've visited his blog before but this post, in particular, convinced me to add his blog to my listings. Go visit, it's important.

Karen

B is for Blog, C is for Christmas

B is for Blog -

Yeah, I'm still here. Life just kinda got away from me for a bit.

I started the blog in April 2005 and in that first year (April to December), I made 83 posts. In the entire year 2006, I've only made 65 posts. My urge to blog has decreased significantly.

And yet, I've gathered more comments, switched to the new Blogger, and installed a site meter just so I can see how few hits I'm getting.

I'm conflicted. And I don't really know what category I fit in as a blogger. If I knew that, I could join a few rings and get more hits that way.

Of course, posting more often might get me more hits too....


Mother of Invention asked what the big present pictured in a previous post was - and it turns out that it's a mini-greenhouse! I can get started with new seedlings earlier in the year without clogging up the mudroom.

I also got (from the hubby) several new books and cds and dvds - on gardening, viking scotland, womyns' music, and the Animaniacs!

Mom and I made contributions to each other's wardrobe - both from Northern Reflections! While it's sometimes been difficult for Mom to buy clothing for me that I appreciate....she was right on the money this time!

Christmas up at the hubby's family home was fun in a whole different way. His brother and two sisters and their respective spouses are bound and determined to reproduce so there is a lot of kids to up the energy level. Running around the yard with the Nerf rockets, and watching them open the presents was just wonderful.

And there have been plenty of turkey sandwiches for me. The best part of holiday season food. :)

I am a Sunflower!

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

ABC, and webrings, and the Liberals - a very mixed day

"A, your an Amazon
B, growing brave and strong
Clearly and Consciously you C....."

Lyrics from a song from the 70s. Part of the 'radical feminist' experience. Written by the delightful Alix Dobkin. I can't find the lyrics on the web, but you can buy her music at Ladyslipper.

Funny, the more research I do on the web to write anything on the blog about feminism, the more I'm convinced that there's a serious gap in written 'herstory'. Not that I'm volunteering to fill that gap.

Anyhoo....

Cyndy, of Riverrim, asked:
"If you are looking for hits, you could join a web ring?"

I don't know where I fit in. Is there a webring for people who just write randomly about their life?

Often it's about the garden, but heck, flowers make for pretty pictures. Rarely, it's about fibre crafts (or fiber, depending on how I feel like spelling it - I hear the first version is Canadian, eh) but just how many pictures of spinning can one post?

And sometimes it's about Canadian politics. Like today.

I've been watching the Liberal leadership convention today....Stephane Dion won! It's the first time in Liberal history that the front runner in the process didn't win.

It's not what I expected, or wanted - Gerard Kennedy impressed me with his outspoken opposition to Prime Minister Harper's "Quebecois nation" motion.

But I'm very happy that Michael Ignatieff did NOT win. One just can't leave Canada for 30 years and come back expecting to lead it. It's just not right in my books. I don't care how many books he's written or that he taught at Harvard. Big deal. If the Canadian university system is good enough for me to work in, it's good enough for him too.

Not that I vote Liberal. I generally go with the New Democratic Party. But the Liberals have the biggest chance of stopping Stephen Harper's Conservatives in the future. And that is very important to me.

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

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

Blog-i-versary!

It's my Blog-i-versary!

And I'm too busy and tired to write more!

Soon, I promise.

My first daffodils came out sometime today. It was dark by the time we came home, so I'll wait until tomorrow morning to take a picture, and will entertain y'all shortly thereafter.

Karen