Winter Camping

Check out my sisters' blogs at the right ... both Mushing Mum and Shady Lane Farm have more on the big winter campout.

Also check www.dropshots.com/evenden for my pictures.

Mad Mid-winter Camping

After much pressure about a month ago, I finally agreed to sleeping under the stars on Feb 24th with my sisters and my daughter - in Ontario. Everyone else is too cautious (sane perhaps?) to participate in anything but early evening

festivities. The big plan is to have a bon-fire/corn roast/bbq in the pasture at my sister's farm. Then sleep out doors in the middle of the freakin' winter under the stars.

She's started working on the shelter, at the left you see the poles she's planted into the snowbank ... prior to the melt today, that is ... and the tarp will be suported by these posts somehow. That's yet to be figured out. I guess it needs some wine/beer/food followed by some serious planning. Here's her blog with some pictures and some thoughts on the matter. http://www.shadylanefarm.blogspot.com/

Yesterday, while "talking" on msn she suggested that we needed a flag to fly on an occasion such as this. I guess it's kind of like flying the flag outside the palace when the queen is in residence. So I undertook the assignment.

After thinking about it from 5:30 till 6:30 this morning as I enjoyed the comfort of a warm bed in a warm house with a warm body beside me, I give you the completed version. You can see the five sleeping bags ... blue representing the frost-bitten fools who may have turned blue with the cold before mid-night.

Then there's the 30% waxing crescent moon and several stars (there aren't as many visible when you get south of Haliburton so I thought three would be plenty). Heaven knows if they'll even be visible with the forecast (see the link).

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/can/Pages/CAON0473.htm

Below the feet of the frozen fools, you can see the bon-fire surrounded by leftovers from the bonfire/cornroast/bbq, and plenty of firewood, 'cause we're gonna need it. Hopefully the feet of our sleeping bags don't catch fire.

So there you have it. Check for further updates following the weekend. If there's nothing posted here, you can check the Toronto Star. I've taken the liberty of preparing this "Breaking News" if it all turns sour.

TORONTO STAR

Five local women Freeze to Death Within Walking Distance of a Warm House.

Local members of the community state that the women, all raised in Newmarket and ranging in age from 32 to 53, had made some rash decisions in the past, so nobody who knows them is really very surprised.

"They always were a little, you know, different" states one woman claiming to be their "youlder sister".

Services will be held in a phone booth at the corner of Davis and Main Streets when they can find someone who says, "Yeah, I'll go, even though they deserved what they got" .

The Turtle Truck

Here she is ..... all she needs is her shell and that'll come this summer ... and then we'll have a house on our back and be ready to roll. Look out Jellystone Park

Oh ... And I forgot

Here we are one week past Valentine's day. Ken got me some beautiful roses and they are still gorgeous. Look at these pictures that I took this morning ... I couldn't decide which to post these are so nice.






I can't believe how beautiful they are after a whole week.

Where've ya been?? What's New??

Well, let's see. It's been a while since I blogged and there are a few newsy things.

I have a couple of new Great-nephews ... Nathan and Kaden. For pictures, you'll have to click on the links to Shady Lane Farm's blog and Stephanie & Matt's blog and I'm sure Mushing Mum's blog will have plenty of pix too.

I have a new Grand-dog ... Cherry Jubilee .. she's getting called Jubilee though. Here's her picture.






I took this picture of her when she was eight weeks old. She's really cute and fun to play with.

We served a gourmet supper to 48 people ... the theme was French Canadian .... here are our beautiful salads all line up and almost ready to serve, we topped them off with lots of blue cheese. Yummy!!

Here's the crew of cooks.





Since I last blogged, Ken did some customization on the Durango ... long story ... it's been written off ... living in deer country, it happens. Suffice to say that Bambi made it with less injury than the dodge.








Last, but not least, Cheryl made me a "roadie" for those long, boring drives ...

"Nuff for now ... gotta get ready to go out ... taking my "roadie" to it's first party!

Tinnitus

tin·ni·tus [ti-nahy-tuhs, tin-i-]
–noun Pathology.
a ringing or similar sensation of sound in the ears.



Poor old Vincent Van Gogh ... I've heard it said that he cut his ear lobe off in anger, after an arguement. I've also heard it said that he had an extreme case of tinnitus and cut it off in frustration.

A while back I noticed a ringing in my ears that seemed worse some days than others. I thought that the only thing that really changed was the food I was eating. So I "googled" it and learned of some foods that aggravate the ringing and began eliminating them from my diet in order to fine the guilty culprit. Cheese, wine, nitrites, aspartame, you know the drill.

This has been ongoing for over a year. If no ringing at all was rated as a zero and poor old Van Gogh's a ten, I'd rate mine as varying between a one and a four. Some days are diamonds ......

Well after trying everything I could think of, I was almost ready to just submit to it and convince myself to think of it in the same way I find comfort in the rolling serf of the tropics or the rustling leaves on a mid-summer night. But holy mackeral, by jove and all that rolled into one! "Eureka" I seem to have found it.

The other day,while doing something that I don't even recall, I tipped my head sideways and I noticed that the ringing worsened. "What?" thought I, is it possible that this requires a visit to my trusted and ignored, lo these many years, chiropractor?

Off I went to the chiropractor, and got some of her magical pummelling and thumping. Twice last week, and no change, but she agreed that tipping my head shouldn't make it worse if it's an inner ear problem. Yesterday I went for another beating.

Last night, my trusted companion, the ringing, was all but gone. It was about a .25 on my scale of 10, despite my listening and searching for the familiar "music". Truth be known, I kind of miss the ever-present company, I awakened a couple of times through the night for no reason, could it be the quiet?!

I'll keep you posted!

Ongoing Ode to Cheryl

Only you, forgot you had runningboards no more,
Only you could fall out the truck door.
I'm sure somebody saw, and looked on with awe,
And they laughed hysterically too,
They think you're accident prone,
You're hilarious, you one and only you.

http://shadylanefarm.blogspot.com/2007/01/shadenfrauden.html

Breathtaking

January 3, 2007

Cut away everything that doesn't look like a violin

A continuation of my September 25th post.



Time off between Christmas and New Year's has been fun. Although there has been plenty to do, my shoulder has healed enough that I can actually do work on my fiddle again. Rotator cuff injuries make doing all kinds of things nearly impossible.


You may recall when I finished the sides and proudly displayed them. Each step of the way, I've been really anxious, and by the time I put tool to wood, I've done it a hundred times in my head. Here again is the sides completed and sitting on the maple that will be her back.






Then I gathered up all my nerve and cut into that beautiful piece of bird's eye maple. I started taking little nibbles of wood and then eventually, got relaxed and finished her outline.






I have spent some time over the holidays with a chisel and a beech mallet, again taking little nibbles. And guess what I found?!?! There really is a violin inside that piece of wood. I can't tell you how excited I am, just watching it emerge. I'm already imagining what she will sound like when I play the first notes.

Tornado Picture Stitched

Susan took stitched my three pictures together from my tornado post ... here it is.

There are all kinds of areas like this where the tornado just cleared areas of forest.

Thanks Susan

Granny's Calmer Downer

Okay, it doesn't have all kinds of computer-like functions. It's no use in gourmet cooking, it doesn't clean the bird cage. This gadget only gets pulled out once in a while. Using it isn't always a happy occasion. When you do have to use it, as I did today, and on a previous post in the not too distant past, it takes you from feeling frustrated, to calm. It puts your world back in order. It is my wool winder.

Last night, I finished the back of a sweater that I'm working on for Ken. When I was about to cast off the final twenty-eight stitches, I realized I had thirty-eight, ten stitches too many. How can this be??? I don't add stitches while I'm doing something that's a plain old stocking stitch, it's second nature now. I can do it with my eyes closed. After having checked over the whole back, it appears that when I did my increase row at the top of the ribbing, I did my math incorrectly (Okay Mr Kibler, I do have some use for math in my life as an adult!) and increased by too many stitches.

Frustration ... with a capital F! So after deciding not to throw it into the fireplace, but putting it back in my knitting bag instead, I got it out this morning and pulled out my trusty wool winder. I've taken it apart down to the ribbing, and I'll pick up the stitches from there and start over.

Roll 'em! Take two.

Granny Takes The Leap .....

Nope ... not the new blogger leap, I already did that. I'm back on the nutritional warfare topic now.

Today I made shortbreads. Lighter than air, buttery shortbreads. I made them with spelt flour and fructose (no wheat, no sugar), but the butter is everything, just couldn't do the "margarine" thing. I haven't made the Yuletide batch in a few years since, only half of the dough usually made it into the oven. Showing great restraint, I only nibbled at the dough a little.

However, once they were done, they were fair game. They are as light and buttery as always and you can't tell they weren't made with wheat. As you can see, a mouse got at the one on the counter. I better gobble them all up before the mouse comes back.

Perhaps in the spirit of Christmas giving, I'll see if I can save a couple for the "fam" to taste ... yeah, right!

If A Tree Falls in the Forest ...

In early August of this year, we had three tornadoes touch down in the Haliburton area. Most of us had no electricity for about six days, but some folks had lots of damage to their homes and properties. We were visiting with friends when it took place. The drive home would normally take about an hour, but that night took us over three hours. Many roads were completely blocked by fallen trees tangled with hydro and telephone wires.

Fortunately the weather was beautiful and, being in "cottage country" everyone spent most of that time on or in the lakes. Everyone, that is, except the folks who had the job of restoring electricity, phone service, and clearing the roads of the debris and fallen trees.

They worked endless hours of overtime in the heat, with bugs buzzing around them looking for an opportunity for a meal. The trees were braided together with hydro wires, and they had to climb in amongst the debris with chainsaws to untangle the mess. Their twelve to eighteen hour days, were not filled with boating, docks and cold beer.

In the weeks and months that followed, the clean-up continued. We all saw significant damage to the forest along the sides of the roads, but as the leaves fell, it became much easier to see the extent of Mother Nature's work.

Innumerable huge trees were twisted off at the middle or top of the trunk like the one you see above. Now as you drive along the Harburn or Eagle Lake Roads, you see swathes of trees laying on their sides as if cut down by some Paul Bunyan sized sythe.

These three pictures should actually be stitched together, but I'm not that clever, so you'll have to imagine them lined up side by side, or come for a drive to the Eagle Lake/West Guilford/Drag Lake area.

Knitter's Lament - Part II

As I unravelled the sweater from my previous post, I came to realize that I didn't buy the wool in 1991, but in 1995. So I'm guessing I started on the project in about 1998. Had to clear that up after having read the tangled web post on Whitterer on Autism.

Odd that it didn't really bother me tearing it out. So here it is, all taken apart. I think I'll go and look through pattern books and find out what this wool has in it's future.

Knitter's Lament

Many years ago, I'm thinking in about 1991, I found the most beautiful coloured wool. A stunning hand-dyed wool in shades of turquoise by Colinette. It was really pricey, but I simply had to have it.

It took me about four years to settle on a pattern. The wool was such terrific colours that I thought it should be a fairly simple pattern. I decided on a shawl collar cardigan that looked great on the outside of the pattern.

I worked on it, but never seemed to find great enthusiasm for it. I had a problem with the front and back raglans where they meet at the top. The shawl collar, when finished, seemed to big for the rest of the pieces. I had all the bits and pieces complete and they weren't lining up right, so over the past few months I pinned it together, got the sides and sleeves all sewn up. I decided that I would leave it out in plain view until I completed it, so it's been sitting out now for several months awaiting installation of the collar.

Today was the big day. I decided to procrastinate no longer. Now I can say, finally, it's all finished. It took from 1991 to 2006.

However ..... I don't like it. It's boring, has no character, has a beige personality. It's top heavy.

So, I guess it's time to unravel the whole thing and find another pattern.

I've located the wool winder, so the kinks should come out by the time I find another pattern.

Now I just have to get the guts to make the first cut. The funny thing is, I'm not all upset about it. I have a sort of "oh, well" attitude.

It's an Aran Weight wool, so if you have any suggestions. I'd be happy to hear them.