Happy Hogswatch!

On Hogswatch night, children waiting for the Hogfather to bring presents will leave him a meat pie and glass of sherry, as well as turnips for his pigs.  So meat pies and sherry seem an appropriate supper when watching the movie (I didn't have any turnips so the pigs get carrots.)

We had a lovely Christmas morning going to visit my parents, where I showed that I can cook brunch for four people in a rather small microwave oven.  Over mimosas and sweet bread (and later shrimp and grits) we enjoyed memories of Christmas past.


I've enjoyed a new way of multitasking.  I enjoy spinning--it's calming and soothing, but honesty makes me admit that it could possible be . . . boring.  It involves the hands and the feet but not the mind.  I also enjoy reading--which involves the eyes and the brain.  So . . . . book on a stand, wheel at the chair, fire in the fireplace--what more could one want?  A book later I had enough alpaca to get a scarf on the loom.

So enjoying the Christmas break--is this what retirement is like?

Winter Wonderland

Even in Florida!  Temps have been getting into the low 20s--which is cold for us.  And we get to see strange happenings--like water getting hard and crunchy.

And sometimes it's magical.  The stems of some of our plants froze, and as they split open the water inside froze in impossibly delicate feathery sheets.  Amazing.

And we continue to have problems with annoying little visitors.  Raccoons!

They,re destructive.  They can be viscious.  They chase my outdoor cats away from their food (and I'm glad the cats let them, because otherwise there would be big vet bills to pay).  They aren't afraid of us.  And they're rabies vectors.

But I gotta admit it--they're also darned cute!

And yet another month

I've sort of figured it out.  Between writing lectures, writing tests, and grading, I'm on the computer 4-5 hours a day at least, so I don't feel like turning it on in the evenings.  Hence--just at a month since the last post.  But the term is over!!!!

So . . . the last month.  First of all, Azrael.  He was a birthday gift from Fate 13 years ago.  We were coming home, and the car ahead of us on the highway had just run over a cat!  Poor thing was screaming in the road.  When we rescued him, we found that it had gone *over* him--not hit him.  Scraped him, and embedded some gravel, but he wasn't hurt.  My first thought was that it had gone over his feet--they looked splayed and huge.  Turned out he's a polydactyl--has extra toes on his front feet.  Bob's Dad nicknamed him "Snowshoes."

Almost three years ago he developed a sarcoma on his back leg.  In that time we've had it removed 7 times.  Seems a bit excessive, but within a few days after the surgery he'd be back to having 100% use of the leg again, so it was worth it.  But a few days after my last post, it went really bad, and it was obvious that it couldn't be removed again (this was only a month after the last removal).  We made the heartbreaking decision to have the leg removed (the alternative was to put him down.  But he's otherwise a healthy cat).  Fortunately, he is adapting pretty well to being a "tripod".  And adapting very well to being spoiled.  It still gives us a twinge to see him hopping around--but I'm glad he's still with us.  And if you get the angle right, you can't tell that anything is missing.

Meanwhile, we finished clearning up the Howl stuff and getting it back to the museum, and spent a morning there cutting down the sugar cane for syrup making (did I remember the camera??)  We've managed a day on the lake in the kayaks.  I did indigo dyeing at the Farm Days at the museum--again, no pictures but I still have blue fingers.

Meanwhile have gotten a couple of small things made.  One of the departing professors left a bag of yarn for the textile lab students to use for samples.  I looked at it--and its alpaca!!!  Heck with the students--I got them some acrylic yarn.  Some of the alpaca went for my mitts--keeps the hands warm while reading or using the computer.  If you look closely, the pattern on the back looks like an owl.  

I  also spun some yarn to make a shawl for the woman who cooks on the woodstove at the farm--she kept the haunted trail team going with pots of homemade soup.  To make it a good working shawl, I a) made it of wool, which doesn't catch fire, b) made the long tails which now have a cord to tie behind the back to keep it all out of the way, and c) made it of natural gray--soot colored.  Like all knitted lace, it looked like an uninspired wad fresh off the needles--but with a little washing and stretching it looks quite nice!

And I've made a couple of batches of fruitcakes--more today. 

Last night we got up at 3:00 a.m. to see the meteor showers.  There were a few really nice ones--but the temps were in the 20's and a warm bed seemed inviting . . .

Emerging again

I actually did a post in October with Zack the Zombie--but it seems to have disappeared.

Now it's the middle of November--what happened?

School started.  Two new preps--classes I haven't taught yet, so takes a lot of time to get the lectures together (nothing more boring than a teacher who reads notes).  The guy teaching the labs that go with one of my lectures quit, so I got three of them--which means teaching for almost 7 hours straight on Tuesdays.

The Howl happened.  And my volunteer coordinator bailed on me.  It was the biggest and best haunted trail ever--because it was our swan song.  We ("we" meaning Bob and I and our friends Rob and Jeff) love Halloween, love the challenge of doing the trail, and we burned out.  So we decided this is our last, and we made it a good one.  We also ran almost 1900 people through it in two nights.

Pictures will eventually get posted but for now here's one of the aftermath (celebrating in the tent afterwards and suddenly the big pile of discarded costumes looked pretty comfy.

Of course what goes up must come down--We got the trail cleared within a week, but I still have a house/barn full of trail stuff being sorted and packed.  Maybe finished by tomorrow.

Meanwhile time marches on, and veteran's day arrived, which means Bob and I (as Rosie the Riveter) were in the parade.  HUGE crowds--estimated over 25,000.

I'm finally getting back to some spinning/weaving/knitting and indulged in a new toy.  It's a yarn swift (holds skeins of yarn for winding into balls)--much fancier than it need to be to be function, but I've been eyeing this for awhile because it's so beautiful.  As long as I've had to spend so many hours teaching the labs, I thought I'd get something pretty with the paycheck.

I'm a little rusty with this writing thing now--practice will improve!

Playing Reindeer Games

We're starting to get prepared for Halloween.  A friend found one of those Christmas animated reindeer by a dumpster and knew that I would want him.  A bit of work later, and here he is (and his head still moves back and forth)

Bob has reworked a nice stack of skulls, but showing that would entail standing up and going to take a picture.  So I'll post them next time.

Finally!!

Somehow a month managed to slip by.  In mid-late August I was working at summer camps--for some reason, after being outside all day long in the 100+ degree weather with a bunch of kids I just didn't feel like doing much of anything in the evening--go figure.

Then, without a break, the new term started.  I really had meant to get a few lectures done in advance--but see the previous paragraph about being in the heat with kids all day; No brain left in the evening.

So what have I done in the last month (besides summer camp and teaching)

Well--I now have five squirrels. Remember this one?  Well, she grew up.

I made the skirt out of the fancy handwoven fabric (on the dressmaker dummy because it was hard to wear it it and take a picture at the same time.

And a friend saw my skeleton gloves and wanted a pair, so these have been produced.

And some other bits and pieces--now we're knee-deep in making Halloween props, so those will appear soon--hopefully in less than a month.

Silliness and Steampunk

Had a party last night to kick off the Halloween season (for those who haunt, we really should start around March but better late than never . . .)

I'm not sure everyone expected me to hand them sheets of painted aluminum foil and tell them to smash them on their faces.  But they were good sports.

This morning I did a little detail painting and put up the results.  Friends don't let friends get too close to the trees . . .

STEAMPUNK

Steampunk is an art movement which can sort of be described as Victorian fantasy with an emphasis on technology.  Possible the best example would be the Time Machine from the 1960 movie of the H.G. Wells classic:

I have a fondness for Steampunk, and Bob has enable this by giving me my anniversary present early--a steampunk pendant.

You can't really see all of the details in the picture--there's a tiny gear inside, and a crystal, and a little coiled spring.  You can also see the line where it opens--I do like pretty things that are also practical.

Yep--it's a jump drive.