Happy Leap Year Day - It's a Rare Day and a Freaky-Warm Winter

Good Leap Year Day to all of you, and Happy Birthday to my oldest nephew. I've always thought it must be an odd day to have a birthday because even though you're aging like the rest of us, in "actual" birthday celebrations, you're under ten - LOL. But today is a "bonus day" for the rest of us, a day to catch up, or have a fling, or do one thing that you would never have dreamed of the last time Leap Year came around. 

Happy Leap Day to my nephew, and the 
best of Birthday Wishes to him as well. 
This is my nephew who is fighting 
abdominal cancer, so I fear celebrations 
will be very low key. But he's still fighting 
the disease and that's one very positive thing. 

An online friend has stepped in and offered to pay some of the cost of the beadwork repair for my fixed income customer. I'll take you up on that (and message you directly), and I'll see what she can manage to do. It really isn't something I want to keep - I want it to be back in her home, not on my "pick-up" shelf in the back room. 

Although I am delighted with the lack of snow, I know 
it's hitting bars and resorts really hard. People who 
would normally go North to vacation doing ice fishing, 
snow shoeing, cross-country skiing and other winter 
sports are getting hit hard. I suspect there will be quite 
a few bars and/or other entertainment venues that will 
go out of business because of our lack of snow. 

I'm absolutely exhausted, and at a high weight (for me), so I'm not starting today out really great. I just feel a bit "blah" today, and I'm sure I've got a ton of computer work waiting for me when I get into the shop later this morning. *sigh* It's the story of my life. BUT, on the positive side, our "snowstorm" of Tuesday turned into less than 1/2" of snow in my part of the cities. I can totally deal with that. So far this is the "Winter That Never Came" and I'm happy to be living through it. 

This is "The Year that Winter Never Came". I know 
some people will have a really hard year ahead because 
they're not able to take advantage of our usual snowy 
conditions, but I am grateful. I'm quite happy to not be 
shoveling the driveway, and DH has only had to pull 
snow from the roof once this season (although he 
probably could have skipped it completely). We live in 
the "Frozen Northlands", but you'd never know it 
this year. 

So, as I sleep-drive to the gym to wake up in the pool, I'll wish all of you an extraordinary February 29th. Enjoy this rare opportunity to catch up on things. As usual - be kind, and stay safe. I'll be back with you tomorrow to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

ARGH - Just ARGH!

I sat down with a repair yesterday and worked on it all day. It's a beaded pot-holder - a trivet - and it's old. I'm guessing it's from the 1950's or early 1960's. Now mind you, I can't really consider that "old" because I am of that vintage, but in the realm of beaded items, it's more than 50 years old and that qualifies. It's a lovely thing that finally fell apart on her in the center, where the heat would have been most focused for its' long life. I had counted the beads she had once I deconstructed it, changed the pattern by pulling two rows out of the pattern to allow for shortages, and dove into making it once more. 

I was afraid I'd be short of the light blue beads, but 
it turned out that I was (am) short of the dark blue 
ones. I'll have to make a major alteration to this and 
that won't be fun. It's actually turning out to be lovely, 
but it's just not quite working. *sigh* Back to the 
drawing board. 

Unfortunately, as I approached the far end of the piece, it became apparent that two rows simply hadn't given me enough excess of the dark blue beads, and suddenly, I was sunk. These are old beads - they aren't made anymore, and what I have for substitutes aren't good substitutes. I tried a couple of options that DH suggested, but they just don't look good. I'm sitting down with the photos and the graph once again at the shop, and I'll change the pattern again. I really don't have a choice. Then I'll start the beadwork from scratch again and, hopefully, have it completed by tomorrow night. At least it's an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday. 

I think this describes my current mood to a "T". 

DH isn't on the bandwagon for an Autumn closing of the shop, however, wanting to push it into April of NEXT year. I'm having total fits about that - I'm really not sure what to do at this point. This is totally a rock and a hard place and I'm a bit speechless right now. I guess my needs aren't important to him, and that's not really a surprise, but it is a disappointment. 

It could easily be a raccoon in the chimney. We do have 
them up here - in large numbers - and they have enough 
dexterity to get up and down. The sound seemed too loud 
to be a squirrel - the other major chimney resident of the 
area. I like raccoons, but don't really want to share my 
house with them. 

Right now, I'm just going to wrap this up and face a day that will be a lot of thinking. One fun thing to share, however. While doing my morning meditation, I kept hearing regular breathing and light snoring coming from my chimney in the living room. I guess I've got a critter nesting there for the winter, and it was having some dreams. LOL I'm glad it's feeling comfortable enough to sleep that deeply - an unexpected house guest (which had better stay away from the actual interior of the house). Have a good weekend, I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Sunday - It Was An Excellent Day and An Excellent Game!

I hope those of you who love American football had a chance to see the Super Bowl last night. It was an excellent game - very well played by both teams, and totally down to the last few plays to achieve a winner at all. In fact, the game went into overtime, a rarity in Super Bowl history. I was hoping that San Francisco would pull it out. As a Denver Broncos fan, I find it impossible to cheer for Kansas City, despite their playing superb football over the years. DH, on the other hand, was cheering for Kansas City since San Francisco is a rival for his beloved Minnesota Vikings. So, we were a "house divided". One of us was bound to be disappointed. 

Both teams played really well and it was a totally entertaining 
game that went into Overtime for the win. That's the way I 
love to have my Super Bowl games. Two well-matched teams 
that play up to their abilities until the final whistle. 

Still, even though I'm disappointed in the final score, I'm far from disappointed in the game itself. It was outstanding, and I was glued to the TV, for the ads and for the game play. I didn't even mind the few gratuitous TV shots of Taylor Swift in her box, and Usher ... OMG, Usher was fantastic! Total entertainment from step one onward, so many guests appearing with him, and so much awesome music. DH was left totally cold - he doesn't care for Usher's musical style. I was enthralled, and several of my nieces and nephews were also commenting about how much they enjoyed the half-time show. 

Usher was the half-time headliner, and he totally brought 
it! His guests included Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Lil Jon, 
along with cameos from will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, and 
H.E.R. You could easily tell that Usher has been performing 
in Las Vegas for a while (I think he's been headlining 
there for more than a year now). That Vegas gleam and 
swag were everywhere, and it was a finely tuned 
machine. A truly well-done show. DH doesn't much care 
for Usher's style of music, but my nieces and nephews 
were totally over-the-moon at the show, as was I . 

So, all in all, it was a fantastic Sunday filled with football, food, music and minor arguments about whether a play was a good one or not (depending on which team we were supporting). I'm without football for many months now, so will have to concentrate on ice hockey instead - LOL. Certainly not a tragedy since I adore my Minnesota Wild ice hockey team. 

This is going to be a fun repair. Now that I have it 
totally disassembled and cleaned, I have to graph 
out the design and then start reweaving it. I'll have to 
pull out two vertical rows to give me enough beads 
to reweave the center element correctly, but I don't 
think that will be a problem for the total look. It's 
the best I can do, since the missing beads can't be 
replaced. I'll make a careful count before making the 
final decision, however. If I can avoid pulling rows 
out of the pattern, I'd prefer it. 

I started on an interesting project during the afternoon, A customer dropped the piece off on Friday for a total reweave. It's old - I'd guess mid-1950's, maybe even earlier. It's using beads that haven't been made for decades, and I have no good replacements, so I'll have to pull two rows out of the piece to make up for the few missing beads. It won't affect the end result by much. It's a fun challenge. I spent much of the pre-game chat pulling it apart, separating the beads by color, and washing them thoroughly. They were a bit of a mess, and I might wash them once more just to make sure I got all of the gunk off. I then tried a trial run with the thread that DH thought would be a good size. That didn't work - that thread was too thick for the project. So he took the spool back to his workshop and brought me one that was the dimension I asked for (1 mm instead of 2 mm thick), and that works much better. I started graphing out the pattern, but then the game started and I got involved in the game instead - LOL. 

So, that was my Sunday - football, beading, a load of laundry, a thorough kitchen clean (including washing the floor - it desperately needed it), and a relaxed day of food, beads, and football. A perfect day all around. I have movies coming up that I HAVE to see ("Despicable Me 4" and "Kung Fu Panda 4", and I loved the Budweiser Clydesdale horses (and the dog) appearing once again during the "Big Game" commercials. What a great Sunday. Now it'w back to reality once again. Sigh. Enjoy your Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Le Tour Meets the Alps and a Day of Housework Accomplishment

For those of you who love the mountains in Le Tour de France, today and tomorrow are the days for you to watch. We're in the Alps, and the scenery and roads will be spectacular. Just look at the two profiles! Monday is a "Rest Day" and the riders will certainly need it. It's going to be a fun two days watching the boys try to pull their way over and through these massive mountains. 

I just love it when I see a stage profile like this! Lots of 
high mountains with an HC as the last peak of the day. 
The Alps - there's nothing quite like them. 

This might be the stage when Tadej Pogacar might finally take the Yellow Jersey. I do suspect he'll be wearing yellow by the end of Sunday's stage, if not today. He's been strong, and he's been very strategic - allowing Vingegaard to be in Yellow, while he lurks behind - breathing down his neck. He's been riding a strategic and very careful race, but he's also one of the most talented riders of his generation, and it's always a pleasure to watch him on a bicycle. 

Take a look at Sunday's stage!!! With a summit finish, 
and the way the Alps can kick any rider, this should be 
a super fun stage to watch. I'll be glued to my phone 
while sitting out in the garden. 

I worked very hard in the kitchen yesterday, making a meatloaf for a few meals, baking a pound of bacon to a beautiful crisp for my salads, cutting up fruit, and generally being very busy. I spent more than an hour at the shredder chomping through old financial records and paperwork. I ended up with three bags for my recycling bin, so I had a real feeling of accomplishment. 

We have two shredders at home and one at the shop;. The best 
one is at the shop, but the one in the kitchen area is a close 
second. I made it work hard yesterday, shredding a bunch of 
old documents and check registers and duplicates from the early 
2000's. I ended up with three full bags of shredded material 
for my recycling bin. 

I had hoped to work on my beadwork project late in the afternoon, but I just didn't have the tine. I did, however, pull down a second loom from my loom stash and get it strung up. I'll take this one to the shop so that I can do a panel in the early mornings before I unlock the store. Eventually I won't be able to spend the time with that - I'll be working on the embossing instead, but right now, an extra hour to spend beading will be a lovely thing. 

I actually own a Mirrix Loom - a metal loom 
made for beading and tapestry weaving. I still 
have it in its' box (bad me). It was a very 
expensive item, but I'm still happy I own it. 
I'm looking forward to playing with it after 
I retire. It was a gift I bought myself with my 
inheritance money from the sale of my Mom's 
condo. I'm using a board loom that I built 
myself for the project I'm currently working 
on, though. Looms don't have to be expensive 
to be functional. 

I dropped by my orthodontist early in the morning, hoping they could envelope me in. Fridays are odd days for them - they catch up on paperwork and deal with emergencies. I had one hook that I needed that had broken off, so I needed a replacement. Unfortunately they weren't open yet when I got there, so I phoned and left a message. They got back to me and we scheduled for 10:30 am. I showed up early, and got right in. Fifteen minutes later, my tooth was back in business and I was back on schedule. 

Our raspberry plants are wild and grow between the house and 
our neighbor's house on the West side where they get a lot 
of sun. We don't ever do anything with them - just harvest them 
when we start getting ripe berries. I've gotten more than three 
pints of fresh raspberries over the past week. I do love them. 

I spent quite a bit of the afternoon in the kitchen making a meat loaf for my next few meals, and then my batch of Ogre Juice for the coming week. I also baked a batch of crispy bacon for my salads. Yummy! To end the kitchen time, I cut up the melon I had bought on Wednesday. Now that's ready to eat, and it smelled lovely! 

My canteloupe is absolutely lovely, and very 
sweet. I picked a good one - LOL. I got that all 
cut up and in a bowl, ready to eat. Summer fruit - 
there's nothing much better. 

So that's about all I have right now. I'm looking at a busy weekend, I'll go out and harvest raspberries again, probably on Sunday. We're at peak season for our raspberry patch right now, and I've already harvested several pints from it. SO GOOD! I'll be enjoying those in the early mornings - I do eat fruit when fruit is in season, and now's the best time for so much of it! Have an excellent weekend, I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

It's The Weekend - Thinking Ahead and Planning

Today is Stage 8 of Le Tour de France. I hope some of you had the opportunity to see the end of Stage 7 yesterday. Cav came in second, and it was SO close! He's trying to set a record this year, and a single win will give it to him. But he's not great on the mountains, and we have a lot more mountains to come before the next good sprinter's stage. I feel for him - he's GOT to be so frustrated. So close!!! 

We're starting to cross France now, going from West 
to East. We'll be in the hilly central section of the 
country for the next two-three days. Not really a 
sprinter's paradise, but not the killer that the big 
mountains can be for the swift guys. 

So, today is Stage 8. It starts out flat, but has topography by the final third. It should be a pretty ride, and so far this race has been a fun one. Hopefully that fun will continue as we progress towards the Eastern wall of mountains - the Alps. 

This is Sunday's stage - hilly, with an uphill ending. Again, 
not a sprinter's paradise. Looking at the stage maps for 
the Tour in general, there really isn't a great stage for 
the Sprinters for a LONG time. Yesterday was Cav's 
best opportunity and he did his darnedest, but only managed 
to come in 2nd. GRRRR. 

Yesterday was pretty much as I had expected/wanted. I dd a bit of grocery shopping, went home and did two hours of beading, then I hit the kitchen. I baked six peaches (they're absolutely lovely, but I probably will parboil and skin them first, next time). The recipe said the skin wasn't an issue, and it really isn't, but I found that the skin was getting caught up in my braces, so for me it's probably best to pull it off for any future batches. 

I like the baked peaches I made yesterday, and 
don't mind the skin too much, but it's not the best 
thing for my braces, so I'll pull the skin off before 
making this one again (at least while I have a 
mouth full of metal junk). 

I made my Ogre Juice (veggie alkagizer) for the next week, and got those into the fridge, and I did sent off two sets of eyeglasses to my re-lensing place in Staten Island. When those get back to me, I'll send more frames their way. There are at least two more I'd like done, maybe three. I didn't sent the Craft Optic glasses off quite yet. I really need those for my beading project, and am reluctant to let them go for 1-2 weeks. 

I really need to get these re-lenses also, but while I'm working 
on my beading project, I'm loathe to let them go. I need that 
close vision assistance to make sure I'm not making errors that 
will cause a problem with the project. I might have to hold off 
on sending these for another 1-2 months!

I did settle down in the morning and did two panels of beadwork, and then in the late afternoon, it was such a lovely day - not too hot, not too cold - I brought my loom and beads out to the patio and beaded another two panels outside. That actually worked quite well - a bit better than I had hoped. If I get more nice weather days on days when I can bead, I'll do that again. 

We have two different brush recycling areas we can use, but 
one is extremely close to us. They open at 11:00 am on 
Sunday, and we hope to be there at 11 or shortly thereafter 
to get rid of some smaller trees we're cutting down. 

Tomorrow is a yard day - DH wants to bring a load of brush to the recycling collection point, and they open at 11:00 am. He'll be working in the yard all day today, trying to get as much done as he can so that his impact on my "day off" will be as minimal as possible. That would be VERY appreciated. 

I have no idea what the secretary desk will look like, and 
Chickie didn't have a photo of it when we looked 
through her phone on Thursday. So, it's a mystery. It 
might look like this one ... or not - LOL. 

I'm already mentally gearing up for Chickie's vacation at the end of the month. She'll be gone for a bit more than a week, and both DH and I will have to work every day she's out of town. She's attending a family reunion with her Mom, and they're hauling a trailer along with them to bring an antique Secretary Desk home with them. Apparently it was one that has been handed down in the family, but the current owner is moving to a new place where it simply won't fit in. So, Chickie will take it. Actually, it's her Mom who wants it, but Claire has no room in her part of the duplex, so it will go upstairs in Chickie's part of the house. 

So, I'm off. Have an excellent day and enjoy the Tour for the next two days. We're back into topography now, as you can tell from the stage maps I've provided, so it should be rather fun. I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Hurry Up and Wait - Running Out of Time

I'm almost running out of my current audio book, which has me a bit concerned for today's swim. I listen to audio books while I swim - it's just my thing. I had plenty of time to actually listen to the last of my current book and get the next book loaded onto my waterproof headphones, but I totally forgot to do it. So it's my own fault. Still, if I do run out of book, it will make for a rather boring swim for at least part of it today. 

I always listen to an audiobook while I 
swim. I find that music changes my strokes 
to match the rhythm of the tune, but 
I can stay steady in my swim with an 
audiobook. 

I did, however, get a lot done on my holiday cards gift yesterday. I got all of the beads organized and arranged and I started work on the pieces. I managed to get four of them done during the afternoon, and I'm feeling much better about the project. There's one bead I'd love to find a substitute for, but generally, I like the way it looks, the progression of colors and the size is also working out well. 

I love color, and that's what this year's holiday card gift 
will portray. It took quite a few samples before I was 
happy with my choices, and I still might change one 
bead, but I can work with what I've got right now, if 
necessary. 

Of course I did the usual thee loads of laundry, and I fed my hummingbirds, but I was so focused on working with my beads that I simply ran out of time to spend time outdoors for any length of time. Those things happen, however. It's far from the end of the world. I feel like yesterday was a good day - an accomplished day, despite what I didn't do. Focusing on the positive is important to anyone's self-worth and forward progress. 

I have achieved forward progress in this year's holiday 
card, but there are a lot of steps still to do. By next week 
I should have quite a bit more progress on one stage, and 
hopefully have decided on the actual images to use as well. 

I also had a good meditation this morning, and I'm actually running slightly ahead of schedule, so all-in-all, today might be an excellent day, despite the fact that I might run out of audio book while doing today's swim. Friday will be much busier, so I'll enjoy the "relaxation" today - LOL. I'm not sure anything in my life might qualify as "relaxation", but let's go with it. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I hope you have a relaxing day with minimal pressure and maximal enjoyment. Be kind, stay joy-filled, and Slava Ukraini. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Computers and Scheduling - We'll Get it Done Somehow

Today will be a tough day for DH. He's got a large file of photos and a file of documentation that he's sending off to a single vendor. We worked at getting his PDFs set up last night. Things were a bit annoying for a time there - we'd know there were PDF files in his listings, but they weren't showing up. Then, as I took a closer look, I realized he had checked the box for documents only. Once he unchecked that box, voila! The PDF files reappeared. He's not too great with computer stuff, but I think he'll manage - he just won't be super happy about having to do it. 

I'm quite sure DH will feel like this several 
times today as he tries to get his files sent 
out to the vendor. He might even be in tears. 
But he's got to figure this stuff out. The 
document files are ready to go in PDF format, 
and his photos are also ready - although they 
might be a bit large. I was going to suggest that 
we put the photos into another PDF file, but he 
was too tense as it was. I'll have to see if he's 
been successful when I get home tonight. 

I have my own computer issues at the same time. I'm trying to get a mailing list together for product, and I was slowly getting addresses into my file using a split screen on my laptop. But the laptop's screen isn't all that large to begin with, and working split screen wasn't working very well. DH has a tablet computer that I bought for him (cheap) a couple of years ago. It's very slow, but it might be just what I need - a second screen where I can enter or read data. It may not be what I need, I may use my phone instead, but I'm hoping for a larger screen to get the data from. 

I know I can split the screen on my laptop - I've done it 
for this file before. But the actual size of each of the 
half-screens is just too small to be of use to me. I need a 
much larger monitor to work that out successfully on this 
file. For this, I think it would be a lot easier to just have one 
screen on a totally separate device - thus, the tablet came 
to mind. It's DH's tablet, however. He doesn't like it, says 
it's really slow, but if I can either get or enter my information 
on it, that might be just what I need. 

I'm 90% set on my what I'm making for my project for this year's holiday cards. Of course, 90% is still not quite there. I'm quite close, though, and think I can figure out the rest with colored pencils and graph paper. I also have a large mail order to pull today. I know I won't have everything she's looking for, but hopefully I'll have at least 80% so that she won't have to hunt for too many items. She wants me to fill the requirements for three large projects, so it's going to be a lot of beads. They're fun projects, though. Beading is her way to decompress after a hard day at work. I totally understand - I've had my times of doing exactly the same thing. 

Just like these samples of wood types/stains, I've been making 
small samples of what I want to include in my holiday cards 
this year. I'm just about on time. In those years when I've made 
intensive "gifts" to accompany my cards, I've usually started 
working on them by the time of Le Tour de France. Well, that 
starts in July, and we're in the last few days of June. I'm just 
about on time with this project. 

We're winding up June - it's rather frightening how quickly it came and went. Of course it's far from done yet, but what a month it's been so far. We're all working exceptionally hard to get the store closed down, but DH admitted last night that although he's trying for the end of the year, that it might be a firm date of April 1st before we can close the doors. Actually, I'm fine with that. I've moved in the winter more often than not and I HATE it. There's nothing much worse than moving in the dead of winter. Since this year's schedule has been toast for a while, I'm fine with April 1st. 

 

So I'm off to the pool. Then I'll think about how I want this beading project to come together in the final run-through, and get it down on paper. Then I can start the production work - and that's exactly what it will be - a way to make multitudes of the same design. I have most of the rest of this year to get them made and ready to mail, and the clock is ticking. But, as usual, I'll be working on my holiday cards while watching Le Tour de France. There's something comforting about being on schedule for a change, unlike the past two years. 

Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Very Full and Busy Day

It's another perfect day for the swimming pool, and I'm totally psyched up for it today. In fact, I might treat myself to a swim tomorrow too - making it four days in the water this week. My hands seem to be fine with the chlorinated water so far, so if today is also good, I'll take advantage of one more day in the pool. 

Chef Jason is featured in our WildFit Check-in 
Calls every month or so. He's a chef in 
Canada who has been Living WildFit for 
more than three years now - about as long as 
I have. He's a really delightful guy and has 
put out some really nice recipes for us over 
the years. 

Yesterday was a very full and busy day. I had a short Zoom call with Chef Jason, a delightful Canadian chef who has been living WildFit for just about as long as I have and cooks food appropriate for the way we live and the food choices we make. He did a fabulous chicken on the grill. Of course he has a much nicer grill than I do. If I had one like his, I'd be using it all the time. But I don't. Still, it was a nice marinade for chicken and I'll probably give that a try one of these days. 

The loom that I chose to warp up while listening to 
Chef Jason, is similar to this, but MUCH longer. 
I think it's about four feet long, and it was wide enough 
to warp it for two-across, so I'll be able to work on 
several of the pattern I'm still finalizing. I want to 
do one more sample before making final decisions 
on the design I'm making. I have chosen the loom 
and the colors, however, so I'm making strides. 

I bought two mangos to bake, but didn't have the time to actually deal with them, so they're on tomorrow's agenda along with my next batch of Ogre Juice. I'll have a busy Friday in the kitchen. Instead of cooking, I spent my time working on what I'm probably making for many of this year's Holiday Cards. I decided where I wanted things to go, warped up a big loom so that I can do several of the pattern at one time, and decided to do one more sample to see if the colors I chose would work and how my pattern would come together. that was educational, showed me that I needed to change one color, and now I need to do one final sample before diving in to the reality. 

I bought two mangos at the store yesterday, thinking to 
cube and bake them, but I ran out of time. So I've put 
them off until Friday instead. I'm looking forward to 
baking them, however. It's a really lovely recipe. 

So, if all goes according to plan, many of you, if not all of you, will have a small piece of beading in this year's Holiday Card. I'm excited. I always try for something different every year, and I haven't done beadwork for quite a while. My eyes aren't quite up to this yet, but I'll make it happen. I have tools. LOL

On that note, I'm going to plug in some photos and get things together so that I can start my day in the pool. I hope you have a lovely day, I'll be back tomorrow, and Slava Ukraini. 

A Challenge of Three and a Drabble

So, my holiday cards have been mailed (except for Marta - I need your address!!!). Now I'm focusing on holiday gifts because I really need to mail Sharon's gift soon, and I only have half of it done. I'll be working on that on Wednesday, and hopefully will finish it up quickly. I'm quite happy with it so far. 

Holiday cards have been mailed - going all 
over the nation and the world. I just love 
sending cards to my friends. I also got my 
first card in the mail yesterday. Thanks 
to Tinnean for starting my season out 
so beautifully. 

An e-friend on Dreamwidth posted with a request to allow her to choose three random items in your personal tags and tell her about them. So I decided to take the plunge. The three things she chose were (1) beadwork, (2) hard rock and (3) sewing. That's pretty easy, so after a quick explanation, let's see if I can pull a quick tale out for them as well. 

This project of mine is named "Hobby Horse Dreams". I 
constructed a hobby horse, padded it and covered it with 
fabric, then beaded the fabric, added wings and composed 
a poem about a forgotten hobby horse in a dusty attic 
who dreams of flying into the stars. It won People's 
Choice for the exhibit, but didn't win a "prize". Still, 
I'm proud of the piece and love it. 

I own and operate a bead store. I have beaded on and off throughout my life, but seriously got involved in beadwork when my hands were unable to handle fiber arts any more. So, that's mid-1980's to early 1990's. I re-learned beadwork, took lots of classes and workshops, taught around the country, entered competitions, published projects and patterns, and generally made a pretty good name for myself in that art. COVID has changed a lot, including my finding a doctor who gave me back my hands, so my craft has switched back from beadwork to fiber once again, and I'm very happy. 

There are all too many times when I feel stuck between 
a rock and a hard place. It would be nice to have my life 
under my own control again, but it's still going to be a 
while before that happens. 

But, being between beading and fiber sometimes puts me between the devil and the deep blue sea - in other words, between a rock and a hard place. Thus ... hard rock. I deal with hard rocks in my jewelry making, but that's not what I meant by my term "hard rock". 

I love my sewing machine. It's the same model as this (although 
mine is in better condition). I've always had a sewing machine 
of my own since my mother bought me a Bernina in 1978. 
My niece has my Bernina now, and I have a New Home 
(now called Janome). Great machine! 

As for sewing, that's a lifetime thing. I'm not a talented seamstress like my mother was, but I know my way around a sewing machine and patterns. For many years I made a lot of my clothes - it was a matter of lack of funds and desire for new things. I recently got my sewing machine repaired, so I'm back in business once again. Yippee! 

Now for a quick tale. Late last month I did a quick drabble of a woman seeking the body of her beloved at the broken gates of Minas Tirith. I'm going to continue that tale and tie it into the three items chosen by my on-line friend  ... 

The wails of others surrounded her, but she heard them not as she fell to her knees beside him. Her trembling hand reached toward the bloodied fabric under the mangled breastplate. Hesitant, it hovered, before coming down to rest on the beadwork. He had laughed while she embellished the sewn fabric with beads. "I'll flash all the way to Mordor," he proclaimed. But he took the token, pushing it next to his heart. Now his body lay broken on the hard rock, the bloodied token all she had left of him. She collapsed, keening, as tears flowed down her face. 

That's it for today. Be well, stay safe, and please wear your mask. Always be kind, and I'll be back on Monday. Thanks for the challenge, Bladespark! 

 

Stay-at-Home - Day 43 - Limping Along, But We Have Cake!

I'm getting used to working with my crutches with no weight bearing on my leg. The Podiatrist was quite adamant about that, so I'm trying to be good. I meet with his partner, the ankle specialist, on Thursday morning. I can tell you this - I'll never forget this birthday - limping through the Pandemic with cake. 

His cake wasn't quite this pretty, but it tastes absolutely
fantastic. I'm going to gain weight with all of this food
and no ability to exercise. 

DH baked yesterday, my birthday cake, although we indulged in our first portions last night. He did a vanilla cake batter with lemon curd filling and a buttercream frosting with more lemon curd. Super good (not thinking about the calories). He'll do the grocery shopping today and I'm hoping I remembered to put everything onto the list. Personally, I'd be all in favor of shopping with one of those electronic carts that they have, but he's rather I stay in and I'm fine with that. 

I'm looking forward to getting my knee scooter. I have a feeling
that's going to be a lifesaver at the shop. 

I'm actually not having a lot of pain, taking Tylenol Extra Strength for overnights, but staying away from any pain meds during the day. I am keeping my leg elevated as much as possible, though. I'm trying to do everything I can to avoid having a hard cast put on. I think I'm doing well, but I haven't had to work yet. That comes on Monday and I'm not looking forward to it. I suspect that's when I'll be hurting, so as much healing as I can get before I have to work, the better. 

I adore owls - they are funny, charming, stealthy hunters,
silent flyers and so beautiful. I might send in the registration
application anyway, just so they get the money, but I doubt my
project will be finished on time. 

I just can't concentrate well, and even though I don't have a lot left to do on my Owl project, I haven't been able to settle and take care of it. The deadline is looming, and I suspect I won't have it finished on time. It's OK, There are other events I can display it at, but I'm disappointed to not support my favorite birds. I have to be in the right frame of mind, though, and right now, I'm just not. 

So, on that note, I'm going to take it easy today, and if I can, I'll slap a load of laundry into the wash. Easier said than done since that's another short flight of stairs I have to negotiate. *sigh* Have a truly glorious Spring/Fall day (depending on who's reading this) and I'll be back tomorrow, although tomorrow will probably be a late post, not an early one. As always, Stay Safe, Stay Home and Stay Well. 

A Lazy Sunday and Sunrise Pictures

It was a lazy day yesterday, even though the temperatures creeped up and actually touched 60F (15.5C). It's early March, so a bit early for Spring, I fully expect at least one more serious snowstorm before we can call the winter finished. However, the birds are quite happy, the trees and bushes are starting to look "fuzzy" with buds starting to appear along bare branches, and the massive piles of snow are diminishing. They're not gone yet, oh no. But they are shrinking at a rapid rate as we experience our own mini-version of global warming. 

Because of Daylight Saving Time, I'm going to give you photos
of sunrise because I love the dawn. Enjoy! 

It was the return of Daylight Saving Time early on Sunday morning. The "Spring Ahead" never gets to me as much as the "Fall Back", even though I lose an hour of sleep with the Spring rotation. Still, it's nice to have more light in the evening, and I'm quite used to standing at the door for the gym in the dark, so no real changes here. 

I love a misty sunrise on a rural road. So pretty! 

I didn't get any beading done yesterday, and DH is making noises about the fact that we haven't worked on the house for the past two weekends. I'm waiting for one more package of charms to arrive at the shop today. Those should be all I need to step into the next section on my owl project. I know what I need to do and how it will all work, but I need the charms first. I could have made charms of my own with metal clay and my kiln, but cast ones will be fine for this project. There's a limit to how much expense I want to put into this piece. 

Here in the Frozen Northlands, our sunrise will often have a lot
of mist on the ground because of our high humidity. This picture
is a lovely mix of sun and mist. 

So, after a lazy Sunday I'm getting ready for a busy week; chiropractor this morning, accountant for our personal taxes tomorrow night, and work - always - just to keep me occupied. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow.