Take Joy!

Why We Have The Fattest Goats In Town

I wonder sometimes whether those of us who have been made especially sensitive to lies, or who have the most trouble negotiating them — the hypervigilant among us, the borderlines and post-traumatized, the embittered and the disillusioned, the autistic-spectrum residents — I wonder whether one of the attractions we find in the non-human world isn’t precisely that the lies end where the rest of the world begins.

by Chris Clarke, found here on his Coyote Crossing blog (which I have just discovered, thanks to Lance Mannion, and am adding to my regular reads)

My answer would an unqualified "yes."

March Flowers

 

I Have New Toys

All this came from Evening Star Designs, except for the two bags of beads on the right (those are from Earth Guild) and the strange-looking earrings on the top right (I haven't the faintest idea where those came from, but I'm thinking they'd make really interesting eyes for something).

And all these lovely new faces! The dark brown one on the lower right is from Stonebrash Creative Arts. The rest of the ones on the right-hand side are by Jen Martin. The three on the lower left are by Sculpted Windows (I've lost her shop address, but she's on Etsy.), and the four on the top left are by Linsart (another Etsy seller. I really need to keep better track of the shipping notes with these things!). All of them are really nice people who offer good service and quick shipment—if you want faces for anything, do look on Etsy.

 

And this is in progress on Imogene, my new inkle loom! I'm having a bit of trouble getting the edges nice and even, but they're getting better as I go along. And the use I have in mind for these involves some vintage rickrack over the edges, so . . .

Balancing Act

Serena, a few days before she disappeared.

Independence Days/Eat Real Food Update

1. Plant something – Rosemary—one plant in a pot, and the other will go where the big rosemary bush used to be (just as soon as this current cold spell has passed). And some lily bulbs. We did manage to get the tiller running and till up part of the garden, but since the chickens are still in there (and will be until we get the fence in their lower lot mended, where a tree limb has fallen on it), they immediately assumed that John has conjured up a lovely dust bath just for them, and proceeded to take full advantage of it.

2. Harvest something - Weeds for the chickens, and eggs for us.

3. Preserve something – Nothing this week (or this two weeks, to be precise), unless I can count making yogurt, which was preserved in the refrigerator until I ate it.

4. Waste Not– The usual recycling and feeding scraps to the chickens. We've managed to nearly use all the winter's hoard of paper scraps, toilet paper rolls, etc. in the woodstove. I managed to avoid buying another tarp by using the old and nasty shower curtain liner to cover the chain saws on the porch, when John has them out sharpening the chains (preparatory to working on next winter's heating, which he has meant to do nearly all winter and hasn't been able to). I went through all the pots from last year (the ones I was too lazy to dump the dirt out of, that is) and cleaned them out. Also repotted my two asparagus ferns—I know those aren't exactly no-waste-related, and they are a major pain in the neck during the winter, when they shed merrily all over the floor and everything else within many yards, but I do love to have them hanging on the side porch in the summer, and I've managed to keep these alive for several years now. 

5.  Want Not – John's granddaughter visited last week and brought us half a dozen frozen salmon burgers, 10 pounds or so of beef cube steak, a quart bag of frozen fish that her landlord caught in Florida, and . . . something else, but I've forgotten what. Fortunately, I had just straightened out the refrigerator freezer, so there was room for everything. Also restocked the chocolate chip jar.

6. Build Community Food Systems – Sold bread and cookies at the produce stand, and gave a friend of John's another loaf of bread.

7. Eat the Food – We've been eating mostly stir-fries this past couple of weeks; we are both tired, tired of heavy winter food. Asparagus—that was the other thing Christina brought! Not in season here yet, but we are not going to turn down free food, so we stir-fried it with a chicken breast from the freezer, some carrots and onions, and assorted other odds and ends from the refrigerator. I cooked corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's, which was a first for me. (Not the cabbage, but the corned beef. I'd never cooked any before, but it was good and disappeared quickly.) Also, I made Greek yogurt last week, and have been happily eating with with a dollop of [homemade] blackberry jam (good) or thawed frozen strawberries (not so good; need just a little more sugar). We've been eating more chicken and fish, less beef, and both feel better for it. John made soup tonight, with getting-elderly potatoes, canned tomatoes, a small cabbage languishing in the crisper, and a few carrots. I shall experiment with tofu this week . . . 

Notes — The fence and gate are up and in use. The neighbors' dogs are [mostly] staying at home or are on leashes. Enough said about that.

I have a new toy:

 

An inkle loom! I've been wanting one—I used to have one years and years ago, but it wasn't nearly so nice as this one. I'm planning to weave belts and trims, and perhaps some small bags. My book (Inkle Weaving, by Helene Bress) just came today, so I will be practicing this week—as soon as I visit Mom & Daddy tomorrow, and bake on Wednesday . . . 

And this is what I did last week:

Leprechaun hats for, respectively, Brian, Lara and Emma.

We had a lovely Saturday—71 and sunny. Today it was 40 and snowing. Nothing like spring in the Appalachians! But it's supposed to warm up again by the middle of the week and I will be able to get out and potter about with seeds and dirt, and sit on the porch and watch the squirrels and birds. I can hardly wait!

Scenes from the Cat Tree

 

Maple Buds

He's Taking Up All The Space!

Mr. Poozle, Widget and Maggie—two are sleeping, one is just peeved . . .

Winter Heart

This is my Bead Journal piece for February, entitled "Winter Heart." I actually finished it last week, but with the good weather and being outside most of the time, I didn't get around to photographing and posting it until today.

It's ATC-sized, 2.5"x3.5", worked on Bead Backing from Sova Enterprises and backed with pale blue wool felt. The white beads are Delicas, creamy white with a gold flecking which doesn't show here; the blue background is Mill Hill seed beads from Michael's, I think, several years ago. The heart is a hank of mixed reds that I bought . . . somewhere . . . some while back . . . actually, I think they came from Chevron Trading Post here in Asheville, but I wouldn't swear to it. And the branch is brown matte beads that I'm sure did come from Chevron. Everything is 11's except the branch, and I think those are 10's, or maybe 8's. The original packaging is long gone, as usual. The polymer clay face is a freebie that came with some stuff I bought on eBay a couple of years ago.

I'm not as satisfied with this one as I am with January's—I see (and you do, too, don't you?) places where there ought to be more beads, because the thread is showing; and I'm not sure about the size of the brown beads. I used them because they were what I had (and, being snowed in yet again, I couldn't get anywhere to buy any more) and I wanted to use matte, but I think the branch might have been better if they'd been 11's like everything else. Or maybe not—but I do like the overall effect, and anyway, it's all about experimentation, right?