Christmas Stuff

Another Christmas has come and gone.

Last September I decided to make stockings for our four grandchildren. I started Mya's but got sidetracked. Dec 10th I finally finished it and I hated it. It was ugly. So with two weeks to go, and a lot of other things on the schedule, I started over, finishing them Christmas Eve. Their gifts that fit went right into the stockings instead of wrapping them. The kids liked them and I was asked if their parents get them next year.
















This is Mya, she spent a lot of time singing and dancing in front of the fireplace.
















Jonathon & Jamie getting their gifts ... Andrew was as pleased with their gifts as they were.


















Gavin wanted a tiger shirt ... he doesn't ask for a lot, so we weren't sure if he wanted a cute tiger or a realistic tiger on the shirt, so we gave him one with two adults and one with a young cute tiger.
















As always, we had clowns at our Christmas gathering. Gryper and Prince Charming ... a scary pair!

A Few Friends

Last night, we had a few friends in for supper. There were 13 of us and we all had a great time.


I had great fun planning the menu and setting the table. I was particularly pleased with the way I was able to fold the serviettes - like little Sydney Opera Houses.




















After supper the Tone Deaf Daredevils, made our "recorder debut" and played some Christmas carols and we had a little sing-along. We played soprano, alto and tenor recorders. Last year at this time none of us had even played recorders, but Ken arranged the music in three parts and then he, Dave and I worked on learning to play. It went really well.

We Had a Little Snow

Oh, yea, we had a little snow alright .. and it's not even winter yet.

I've been trying to upload these pictures since Sunday and blogger was giving me grief. It doesn't look like much because it's taken from so high, but there's about 4 feet of snow piled along the left side of the driveway. We have pretty close to two feet of snow here already and they're saying that this is what we should expect this winter.

















This is what our poor gazebo looked like after the storm on Sunday. We've had more snow since then.

The recital and all

Well, I did it, I publicly played my violin at a recital. Up to now, I've only ever played in front of friends and family (and my teacher). I was somewhat nervous for the weeks leading up to the recital, but not freaked out, as I have been for some things in the past.

Any time I've sung publicly, the outsides of my legs shake from the hips to the ankles, my tummy gets twisted, my throat and neck gets really tight, my voice gets higher and shaky, my mouth goes dry, and my hands shake. I know how my body acts.

Yesterday, was different. My bow hand started shaking part way through my first piece, so I told it, go ahead, I'm not going to worry about it. It went away. The two pieces went really well. I made a couple of little mistakes, but nothing horrible. So on the way home I started thinking, "Why did it go so well?" I want for myself to be so calm every time. I know my teacher, this is only the beginning.

Here's my recital prep.

I decided on my two songs, then I played them to death, until they were memorized.

Then, at my teachers suggestion, I started practising them with the metronome set at 80 bpm, increasing the speed by 5 bpm each time I played it until it was too frantic and I was unable to keep up. Then I would go back down the by 5 bpm until I was back at 80. By the time I got to 90 (the speed I wanted to play it) it was easy. This way, if I started off too fast, I've played it at that speed before. I did this with both pieces for about two weeks, I must have played them a million times. I know them well.

The day before I ran through them at speed a few times, and I was happy with them.

The day of the recital, I played my fiddle for about an hour. I figured, if I don't know them by now, one more day won't help, so I didn't play them at all that morning. Instead, I played all kinds of old stuff that used to be difficult, noticing how some of the nasty parts had become easy. I had a good old time.

One other thing I've found. After doing lots of public speaking, I know I'll relax if I connect with the audience. So before I started to play, I talked to them. It relaxed me. I was astounded at my calmness. People told me afterwards I didn't seem nervous.

I actually enjoyed it. I almost wanted to say, as I was bowing after my second piece, "I have another that I could play", but the big cane came out and around my neck in the nick of time, saving me from that embarrassment.

There was a little guy, about 4 years old, who played his tiny cello, he was so cute! His big brother is about 6 and he played his violin first, then got handed a candy cane. Little guy was so focussed on the candy cane the teacher had to get right in front of him to get his attention to get him started. So all in all, it was a great time.

Can't wait for the next one.

Let It Begin With Me

It's beginning to look a lot like the hap-happiest time of the year again. The traditional pre-Christmas e-mails have started showing up in my mailbox, I'm sure you've gotten them too, perhaps you've forwarded them to others. At first I find myself angry, but now, I've decided to just laugh.

I'm sure everyone with e-mail has received them. They use HUGE FONTS and bright colours. The subject line is often something like this ...

Fwd: Fwd: Re: [insert something pious, self-righteous and/or patriotic]

They often start off with something about our great country, (either Canada or USA). Then they mindlessly rant about people from other countries and other cultures coming here and insisting we change our way of life. They determinedly spew "our" right to "our" religious beliefs. They piously call themselves Christian, and go on to point out that they are having their religion taken away by these horrible heritage-sucking immigrants. The message is most often about calling a Christmas Tree a Holiday Tree, or a Family Tree or saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".

Well so what. People the world over have had celebrations at this time of the year for thousands of years.

As far as Christmas trees go, they predate the Christian era. They were called Paradise Trees in the middle ages, when on Dec 24th people celebrated with the Feast of Adam & Eve. Ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows as they believed this would protect their family against witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. There have been people living on this continent for thousands of years who never said "Merry Christmas". It is each person's right to celebrate as they choose. If retailers choose to market to those other than Christmas shoppers, so be it.

So let me take this opportunity to wish you and yours peace, health and happiness, now and throughout the year. Whether you celebrate the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukkah, and/or Ramadan or anything else, I respect your right to do so.

I will celebrate the Winter Solstice in the beautiful, snow-covered forest in which I live, I will decorate my house with a "Christmas Tree" and spend Christmas Day enjoying my family, exchanging gifts and over-eating.

Meanwhile, I wish you a Blessed Yule, Merry Christmas, Joyful Kwanzaa, Happy Chanukkah, Blessed Ramadan or to sum it all up, Happy Holidays, whatever and wherever they may be.

Feel free to copy this post and send it to everyone in your mailbox with the subject line "Let It Begin With Me".

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Ankle Weights, Dog Training and My Lunatic Family

We've got about six inches of snow over the last 36 hours, and it's still coming down. When I took the dog for her walk, I decided to wear my new Bunny/Mickey Mouse boots. They're US Army issue and I was told they were the warmest books imaginable by my sister, Mushing Mum (see link to her blog in the column on the right).


She's right, I have been given the genes for cold feet year 'round (Thanks Mum!) and these boots were unbelievable, my feet were hot not just warm. I also have small feet, if I wear boy's shoes, a size three is perfect, my new really warm boots are men's size 5. I expected them to be a bit sloppy. What I didn't expect was the weight of those suckers ... 2.61 pounds each. It's like walking with ankle weights, really ungirlie, too big ankle weights .. and through the snow.


My legs were exhausted after 3 kilometers, but hey, my feet were warm so no complaints.

Which brings me to my next topic. Those of you who know Muggins, the guard cockapoo, know that she's pretty smart. She's easily trained for the most part. However, we haven't broken her of her unusual greetings ... best left undescribed here, nor her little-poodle barking when someone dares to walk on her road. However, the car chasing thing I believe is behind us.

When we go for walks, if a car comes along the road, I say "car", and she's expected to sit until I tell her "okay". We've been working on this for three years now. We were walking yesterday, and a total off 4 cars passed us. She heard the car each time before I did, she'd look up the road watching for it and as soon as it came into sight, she plopped her bum down exactly where she was. I had to try to get her to move off the travelled portion of the road, but the old bum was glued to the ground. I pulled the leash .. two steps .. .plop ... pulled ... two more steps ... plop. It was actually pretty impressive. (She pats herself on the back for persevering on the training for so-o-o-o long)

And the third part of my title ... and you thought they were all one topic - hah! It was just a clever ploy to get you hooked on reading this blether.

People often say they have a weird family, or a crazy family, but my family is completely deranged, a collection of lunatics, yes out and out nut bars. Why you ask, would I speak so harshly of my loved ones? Take a look at this it's post my sister put on her blog today . When she and Gryper (see link to his blog in the column on the right) get together, you never know what madness will ensue. I'll leave you to read her blog and form your own opinions.

Hey, I may be able to add to the "Ongoing Ode to Cheryl" .... what rhymes with tongue?

Weekend of Stress

Well now I'm in deep.

Quite some time ago the concert band in which I play the flute, arranged to play in a local seniors' home on one of the Fridays in December. Not too big a deal, I know all but a couple of the pieces fairly well. Can Can is tough 'cause it smokes along pretty fast, but I'm getting there. My fingers are just a-flyin' though.

Then, I get asked to participate on Sunday of the same weekend, with Grandpa and a friend in a local fundraiser. "Grannies to Grannies" is a fundraiser to help grandmothers in Africa raising their grandchildren who have lost their parents to aids. Great idea. I'll be playing the soprano recorder in a recorder trio. Yup, I got a $2.50 recorder on ebay earlier this year, and now I'm performing with it. What??? Ten pieces?!?!? Oh, well, it's similar-ish to the flute, so how hard can it be?

As if that's not enough for one weekend, this week, I get a call from my fiddle teacher. Saturday of that same weekend, she wants me to play a couple of pieces in a recital. I'm just laughing about it. Whatever! The week before, I'll be freaking out, but for now, whatever.

So last night, I had practiced on my fiddle for somewhere around an hour and a half, and I'd gone through the recorder repertoire, I'd done Can Can and the tricky bits in several others on the flute. So I decided to relax.

I started learning Away In A Manger on my harp. Okay, it's a really easy tune - not even one of my favourites for the upcoming season, but it sounded so pretty ... so angelic ... and I don't have to play it for another soul, just myself. Tonight, I'm determined to get the left hand part ... at the same time as the right hand part. Well ..... maybe that'll take more than one night.

For now, before I can do that, I have to go through my other stuff. Apologies to my banjo .... you're gonna hafta sit quietly tonight.

Not My Night to Cook

What a week this has been. A couple of weeks ago we were invited to friends' house for supper this past Thursday. A day or so later, we were invited to other friends' house for supper on Friday. Then a couple of days ago we were invited to yet a third couples house for supper Saturday. I'm still full. Great food, great, circles of friends. Each of the three nights there were eight people in the group and we had a wonderful time all three nights. Tonight my "Not My Night To Cook" lucky streak is coming to an end with potluck night in our community. When you have 40+ people coming to a potluck supper, there is an incredible number of things to choose from. Even if you only take a teaspoonful of each, you're stuffed to the gizzard by the time you're finished.

What an awesome week. This brings me to the point of this post.

While we were driving to supper on Thursday night, I had a question pop into my mind. We were talking about someone who talks about his wife quite often. I heard about her for about two years before I actually laid eyes on her. For the longest time I referred to her as "Maris" (which made me laugh like crazy). This led me to thinking about the TV show Frasier. What a great show. They had a regular "character" on the series, that nobody ever saw, we never heard her voice. We heard lots of tales over the years, usually one-liners delivered by David Hyde Pierce with an absolutely straight face.

"Maris is pushing me over the edge which is ironic because she can't push. We learnt that the time she got stuck in the revolving door."



So my question for you TV trivia types. Has there been a "character" like Maris on any other TV show? A character that we never saw, never heard, but was a regular on the show.

This Morning

I often go outside and look at the lake in the morning. When you live in an area like this, it's easy to fall into taking it for granted. The quiet when the sun is rising often takes my breath away, as it did this morning. I'm not a great photographer, but when your subject is like this, you can't go wrong. I had to share these pictures.

I love the reflection in the mist on the water.

Add on to the last post

Susan asked me about the size of the violin I'm making, so here is a picture of it with the one I play right now.

On the left side is the back and on the right side is the front, which still needs more work.

If you look around the outside edge of the voilin, you see the black lines - they're wood fibre inlaid in the wood, called purfling. When I'm finished the countouring, I'll do that. It will go on the thick part around the outside edges of both the front and the back then the edges will get finished.

The Violin Project

Here's an update on the "in progress" violin.

In the first picture, the front is on the left and the back is on the right.


The second and third pictures are of the back, as it is this afternoon. I've spent a bunch of time with thumb planes and scrapers and to my inexperienced eye, it looks like it's ready for me to put the purfling in (the black like around the edges of violins, and guitars and other wooden instruments). I have to cut the groove and then set the purfling (tiny strips of wood fibre) into the groove and glue it in. After that is done, I will start carving out the inside. I've ordered the stuff I need for the purfling, but in the meantime, I'll get busy finishing off the front.

It's hard to get a picture that is is the same as looking it in real life, but it's so smooth now except around the edges which get finished after the purfling.

I can't wait to hear it .... and start on another!

Interesting New Word

I've always enjoyed languages. English is bizarre, with the different pronunciations for words that look like they should rhyme.

I learned a new one today.

Think about these:

bough
cough
dough
plough
tough

and my new one - sough

The fun thing about this list is that when you look at them, they look misspelled.

From my Collins dictionary - Sough (sau) vb. 1. (intr.) (esp. of the wind) to make a sighing sound. ~n 2. a soft continuous murmuring sound

What a great word!

I have a book in a box somewhere, it's a Dr Seuss book, for grown ups called "The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough". I haven't read it in many years, and I only remember the title, not the contents. It isn't on amazon.com, you can get it used on chapters.com, and it's available on both alibris.com and abebooks.com. I guess today I'll check the boxes of books downstairs and see if I can find it.

This all because I saw the word sough this morning and I can't even remember where I saw it.

What's Been Going On

It's a while since I've blogged. It seems that we're busy as all get out. This week is a little slower. Tomorrow I take my defibrillator training. Our local "hall" is having one installed for the commmunity and I'm in the first group of trainees.


I've been doing a bit of work on my fiddle, it's getting to the point where I really need someone who knows what they're doing to look at it. I'm so afraid of screwing it up. So I start measuring and checking the thickness of certain areas and get myself all worked up and thinking that I've ruined a perfectly good piece of maple.

Last weekend we went on the canopy tour - "Walk In The Clouds".
The night before 13 of us hung out around the campfire at our place for the evening, then everyone crashed all over the floor for the night.
















The next morning we all got up early and headed off for the tour. My partner was Grandson II ... we had so much fun. It seemed to intimidate him a little when he found out we were 70 feet from the ground. Fortunately he found that out 3/4 of the way through, but it really had him concerned for the last 1/4 of it. It was a perfect fall day. Sunny, no wind, 70F degrees, coloured leaves. It couldn't have been a better day for it.

Response to Laurence

On September 13th, by brother-in-law Laurence posted on his blog and simply posed the question "What do you love?" http://laurencehunt.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-do-you-love.html

So since then I've been putting some thought into it.

I made mental lists, of things like my fiddle, ice cream, my Canon camera, my Haflinger cork soled clogs, my own lovely home-made soap, and pondered how to make all that interesting enough for my blog.

Today, while I was walking the dog, admiring the brilliant fall colours and thinking about people who are in cities. On a day like today they're working inside buildings with windows off in the distance, past all the padded divider half-walls. Then it came to me.

I love my life!

First there's the people in my life. I have a wonderful husband and awesome parents. I have two grown children who have grown into kind, thoughtful, caring adults. They are raising their own children and are doing an awesome job of it. I have the best sisters. I have a great circle of friends, who are all fun and supportive.

I live in a beautiful house that we designed, on a lake, in a forest that looks Monet painted it at this time of the year. It's quiet, except for the lake lapping against the shore, blue jays calling each other and the squirrels chattering at me and the dog.

I work at my own business out of our house. After having held down a variety of different jobs, with commuting in the winter always required, my morning commute is now from the kitchen to the basement. Whenever I want stop whatever I'm doing and go and sit on the dock and listen to the wind and the water.

I just don't think it gets any better than this.

Thanks for the idea Laurence.

Roughing it While You're Camping

So this past weekend we went camping with Gryper and the Missus. Some may argue that this style of camping stretches the idea of roughing it, but ho-old on thar! It ain't always a picnic setting these rigs up.

This campsite in Emily Provincial Park was listed as being able to accomodate less than 32 foot trailers. Grypers' Doll House is less than 32 feet, much less. They lucked out with campsites as far as world record for the funniest parking jobs, but you all know Gryper ... it was perfectly level.. the Missus stated that the Doll House was the most level they have ever had it.

You be the judge.

What's Granny been up to?

I've been accused of not blogging enough, so I thought I'd do a quick post before work this morning.

As you know, Gryper & the Missus just got back from the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. The gave me a bag of ground musk ox to try. So last night we had company for dinner, and in my spirit of treating company like guinea pigs, I tested another new recipe on them. I made a tourtiere (Quebecois meat pie) and used the musk ox. Grandpa said "I knew it would be good, but I didn't know it would be that good". It was a success, thanks Grypers!

While our company was here, I had to show of my violin-in-progress ... I was astounded when I put the three parts together .. for some unknown reason, I hadn't done it before. It blew my mind. This thing is actually starting to look like a violin!!















I've had a knitting pattern in my head for a while and decided to make some "knucks". You know, fingerless gloves. I wanted to do them on one long circular needle. So I made the fingers and thimbs, and put them on double pointed needles, then started assembling them. Here's my progress on that project.


















Next month, I'm once again going on the canopy tour "Walk in The Clouds" at the Haliburton Forest, but this time my partner will be Grandson the second. You'll recall we took Grandson the first for his 13th birthday a couple of years ago. I'm so excited about doing it with him. Speaking of the grandkids, since Lexiphage is going to a wedding the end of the month, I'll own Grandson the third and Granddaughter the first for a whole weekend. That'll be really cool, we're going on a trip to the zoo one of the days. Yahoo!

Here is a picture of a sunrise that I took out in front of the house a few days ago. Early autumn in Haliburton ... I'm really pleased with how this pic turned out. There's nothing like watching the sunrise from the dock - maybe I'll go and stand down there now, although I've missed the sunrise this morning, the water is sparkling..

African Grey Parrots

We have an African Grey Timneh (parrot), and I'm always amazed by how bright she is. We've had her for eleven years, since she was 10 weeks old. We are constantly amazed by how aware she is of everything going on in the house, how funny she is, and how she can contribute to any discussion with her comments or her laughter. She is very definitely opinionated and makes her opinions known. She was part of the gang on our recent tour of Newfoundland and adapted to life in the truck and the trailer just fine.

So, I was saddened to hear that Alex had died on Monday. Most people who have parrots for companions know of Alex, the African Grey Congo parrot. He was a brilliant 31 year old, who had worked with Dr. Irene Pepperberg at Harvard University for 30 years. He was known to correct other parrots being trained by saying "Speak clearly!"

From the website:





"Dr. Pepperberg’s pioneering research resulted in Alex learning elements of English speech to identify 50 different objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities up to and including 6 and a zero-like concept. He used phrases such as “I want X” and “Wanna go Y”, where X and Y were appropriate object and location labels. He acquired concepts of categories, bigger and smaller, same-different, and absence. Alex combined his labels to identify, request, refuse, and categorize more than 100 different items demonstrating a level and scope of cognitive abilities never expected in an avian species. Pepperberg says that Alex showed the emotional equivalent of a 2 year-old child and intellectual equivalent of a 5 year-old. Her research with Alex shattered the generally held notion that parrots are only capable of mindless vocal mimicry."


Alex's Website

Trip to Newfoundland

Well we just got back from our trip to beautiful Newfoundland. I can't say enough good about this province, it's heaven right here on Earth. The scenery on "The Rock" is unbelievable. The people are beyond friendly. There is so much to see and do, that you only skim the surface.

When we got off the ferry and were checking into our campsite, I was telling someone there that two weeks wasn't nearly enough, another woman said "Well, we've been there two months and it wasn't enough". To use her words, "It's magical".

I took almost 300 pictures and I've been trying to narrow it down to a reasonable number to post on my blog, so I've reluctantly narrowed it down. I'll try to line up the descriptions with the pictures before I get myself all frustrated and pissed at blogger's layout glitches.

This is sunset inthe town of Rocky Harbour, right in the middle of Gros Morne National Park.

















This is part of Bonne Bay in Grose Morne Park.




















Ken & Muggins walking at the Lobster Head Cove lighthouse ... (okay they call them lightstations now .. but I like lighthouse better).



















Right up at the northern tip of the west side of the island is L'Anse aux Meadows which is the site of where the Vikings landed and set up a settlement some 500 years before Columbus and Cabot and all those guys came over. Although you can see where the original sod and wood buildings were, these are replicas rebuilt in the same meadow.








































This is Moreton's Harbour. You know, the line from the song "I'se The B'y" ...Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour ... We'll this be 'er b'y.




















We were just outside a village called Trinity and found a huge blueberry patch. The blueberries are huge ... way bigger than the ones that grow here. Muggins was picking her own.























Down the road from Bonavista is Dungeons Provincial Park. The sea, over 600 million years has eroded the shoreline in really interesting ways. There was a really bad storm once and a boat went into this little sheltered area to wait out the storm.



















Here is Quidi Vidi, pronounced "kiddy viddy", it's a lovely little cove that is part of St John's now. Back many years ago it was the "red light district" now it's just a pretty little area with a micro-brewery and fishing boats.























Our last morning on "The Rock" ... sunrise in in Codroy Valley.

Update On My Violin

Cheryl asked why I haven't blogged lately. I can't type, my fingers are sore! Okay, not really, I've just been busy.

I wasn't happy with the templates I originally made for my violin, so I made a new set yesterday. They should make it much easier for finishing these babies.

Here's what I've done since my course, in between all my other stuff. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Violinmaking

Here's an update on my violin making class from last week. Scroll down to the post before this one to see how it looked when I went in to the course on Monday, then come back and look at these pictures.

You can see the back is much thinner and closer to the finished size (on the edges). When I went in on Monday it was about 8mm thick around the sides and now it's down to about 4.5mm on the edges and I'm working my way down just inside the edges. In the picture of the back you see the little thumb planes that I'm using. You can also see there's still a lot of wood to come off.

The second picture shows that I joined the spruce top together and got started on the rough arching for it.

It really makes a difference when you know how to use the tools. Not only did I not really know how to use the gouges effectively, but I was not being nearly aggressive enough removing wood. I learned how to sharpen gouges, planes, and chisels. I learned how to use planes, and the pencil calipers.

Last year when I finished the week, I came home not really knowing how to proceed, so I read about it in books. This year, I know what I have to do and I know how to do it. The only thing that'll slow down the process is my technique. It's one thing to have watched it being done, and another altogether actually doing it. What is it they say about surgery ... "See one, do one, teach one". So in the spirit of my personal motto, "How hard can it be", I expect to get a lot done this year.






Stay tuned!

Granny's Gets Ready for School

Today I decided to put all my stuff together for my course next week. Monday starts week two of my Musical Instrument Construction course. Last year was the first week, and I've done some work on it during the course of the year.

When we finished last year, I had the sides partially completed but still on the mould. Since then I've finished the sides, and started working on the back. I decided to work on the back because it's maple and therefore hard wood. The top is soft wood, spruce, and I figured I could do less damage as I learned how to use a gouge if I started with the back. I'm guessing that the instructor will take a look at how I've been doing it and show me a better (the correct) way to use a gouge.

Here's what I've done so far. It doesn't look like the back has come that far since I last posted about it, but there's quite a lot of maple all over the work table, so I guess I've made some progress. Stay tuned. Next Friday, when the course is finished for another year, I'll have more pictures.

We've All Been There

This morning as I was packing up my fiddlemaking stuff in preparation for my course next week - yippee, I stepped outside onto the deck to calm the guard cockapoo when I saw this lovely lady in all her finery.

She looked so pretty I just had to take her picture.

















Then I thought, I wonder if I can get in a little closer and get a close-up "head & shoulders" picture of her all dressed for the party.

After I took a look at the pictures, it struck me as kind of funny, looks like this was the morning after the night before for this party girl.

The Canadian Pastime - Talking About The Weather

Samuel L. Clemens, aka Mark Twain, has often been quoted as saying: "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."

I'm just like all the rest, I'm going to talk about it. It's a Canadian pastime really. While in the lineup at the grocery store or filling the car with gas, people say things like, "too hot, can't wait for winter" or "too cold, can't wait for summer". Otherwise articulate people say things like, "Hot enough for ya?" on warm days, or when it's raining, "At least we don't have to shovel it!".

As far as the weather goes, I've decided to stop calling it "global warming" and call it "climate change". I used to think it was a lot of hype, but now, I believe it is really happening, after having seen what's going on in the Arctic and Antarctica. They tell us that in general the earth is warming up, but especially at the poles and that we should expect lots more "weather extremes". We're seeing that here.

We got an e-mail from our daughter in South Texas, she says this has been the hottest summer ever down there. We have been down there a couple of times in May, and it was stinkin' hot. I can't even imagine what it's like mid-summer; it'd suck the moisture out of your skin in seconds. Here in Central Ontario, it's been chilly and damp this summer. Oh, we've had some nice days, but, on many days drizzle, or all out rain.

Yesterday, it never got above 19C (66F) until early evening, when it got to a whopping 21C (70F). We had an outdoor concert in the evening, and my hands had been cold all day. Playing a metal flute that never really warmed up, as the sun was going down, didn't help matters.

But hey, it gets better. Right now it's 3:00 in the afternoon and the temperature is 14C (57F) and it's been raining all day. For the first time ever, on July 14th, we actually had to turn the furnace on and warm up the house. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big fan of housework, oh, I do it, but I don't like it. Today, I LOVED washing the dishes! For the first time in three days, my hands were warm for a few minutes.

So, what can we expect for the next week? It's supposed to warm up to about 22C (72F) by Tuesday and we should expect "variable cloudiness" "scattered showers" and "showers" until Friday. By the following Tuesday (July 24th) we should get up to our average temperature, 25C (77F).

I'm not complaining, think of this as commenting. Those who have the right to complain have been having unrelenting rain and flooding, or no rain and fires burning out of control.

So as I sit here typing with cold hands in the middle of a cold, rainy, summer afternoon, I should be grateful, really. We DON'T have to shovel it. Soon enough we'll have five foot piles of snow outside the door, from shovelling it! Maybe I'll think up some new statements to make about the weather, since after so many days, I can't use the "We needed the rain" one.

So despite what Samuel L. Clemens said, I'm doing my part to help slow the climate change. I'm turning off any lights that don't need to be on, washing out my plastic zip-lock bags and re-using them, I've got my super-duper re-usable grocery bags that I remember to take to the grocery store most of the time. For today, however, I'm using the oil, the furnace is on ... in July.

Granny Does A Survey

Frequently I look at the map of visitors to my blog and I'm surprised by the visitors I get from all over the world. I have a hard time believing that people actually read some of my silly posts, especially people who are not family members who feel obliged to visit.

Blogger has started this new survey thing, and I thought, "Sweet, this is a cool way to find out more about blog-visitors." Humour me ... take a moment and check out the survey just above this post .... let me know why you visit.

Whatcha been doing?

I've been asked why I haven't been blogging lately.

Busy, busy, busy. Aside from making music, I've been knitting like crazy. Sure seems an odd thing to do when down in the Toronto area it's been really hot ... unbearably from what I understand. Up here in the forest, it's been excrucitiatingly pleasant. We've had some rain, and low to mid-20C days. It's been wonderful.

I am working on my third pair of socks ... I'm using the two socks at once on one long circular needle method. I believe I may be addicted!



It's odd how with varigated wool you end up with patches of one of the colours for a while then it shifts.






I've also learned "fur knitting". I'm making a head-band, but I'm not going to elasticize it, and I'll use it instead as a scarf. It's made of sheared beaver and cotton yarn. It's not difficult to do, it's really a simple technique. However, working with the fuzzy stuff isn't really my cup o' tea. Here's a picture of it before I started and in progress. There's another hour or so of knitting left in the fur knitting then I'll be working on several more pairs of socks, and I think I'll look into a pattern for one of those Andean Chullo hats.





I should mention that the beaver yarn is unbelievable soft. The manufacturer (www.furyarn.com) states "It is important to note that trapping is well regulated, environmentally sustainable, and accounts for the livelihood of a certain segment of the Canadian population. ".

What's going on with the chipmunks?

After living in the forest for several years now, I'm noticing a disturbing trend.

For us, we drive fifteen or so minutes through the forest to get to the nearest "village". It's interesting to note that most forest creatures are a bit shy and stay back from the roadsides. However, the chipmunks seem to be playing "silly bugger" with the cars as they go by.

If you see a deer by the roadside, they look worriedly at you, then bolt into the trees, hidden within moments. If you see a squirrel, they dart hither and yon in a panic, trying to decide where to run and hide. The grouse(grouses?)suddenly flutter noisily out of the roadside bush and scare the crap out of you.

The chipmunks however, sit at the roadside and wait until you're almost to them, then they dart across the road, tails pointed straight up, to the opposite shoulder. I really believe they're little thrill seekers who are addicted to the adrenaline rush of trying to get across before you squash them. I imagine they sit at the roadside with all their little chippie friends giggling and playing a chipmunk version of russian roulette.

Here you see one poised at the side of the road, ready to make the mad dash. At he last second, he'll grab a lungful of air, point his tail skyward and dart out, wide-eyed, racing for the other side of the road.



I think the more often they get away with this reckless behaviour, the more frequently they'll try it. I don't know what the solution is ... time out, gounding, perhaps a really boring lectures in that "clicking" language they use?

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tears from Granny

Okay, before you get all worried, these are happy tears, not the sad ones. Grandpa was nosing around online and came across these three YouTube clips.

There's a talent show in the UK called "Britain's Got Talent". Yeah, I know, another reality show. Perhaps so, but this contestant is worth watching. This is incredible. If you're on dial-up, (like you Gryper), don't worry about it taking a few minutes to download them. It's well worth the wait. A cell phone salesman from Wales surprises the heck out of everyone.

Paul Potts does his first performance.

Paul Potts' Semi-final Performance.

Paul Pott's Wins £100,000


Enjoy the goosebumps and the tears ... I chole up every time I watch it.

You Say Tomato .... and other stuff

Oh how the times change .....

I decided to go into a store in the mall and pick up some of the two for five bucks pairs of sandals. You know the ones, we all wore them for the entire summer when we were kids.



















I was in a bit of a hurry and I guess the employee who was organizing shelves could tell by my stride that I was looking for something particular. When she asked if she could help, i said to her, "That would be great ... where would I find rubber thongs?"

She looked at me with this dumbfounded, speechless look ... I realized that I say tomato and she says tomawto. Clarifying, I said, "Shoes, rubber sandals."

Looking relieved for a moment, then laughing uncontrollably, she said "Oh, right, flip-flops".

Silly me!!

We went out for supper later that day, with Mr & Mrs Gryper and the Lexiphage and his kids.















The kids were so good, they're getting so grown up. I can't believe how big they are. Where are all my baby grandchildren .... The ages of the four of them are almost 15, 11, 5 and 3 years old.



















This is a picture of Muggins on the trip home. I love how she sits back in the seat. I don't think she's impressed with my taking her picture all the time.