Ordinary Time

I've mentioned before that I tend to only like to do Christmas crafts during the month of December, which means it can take a while to get something finished. Yesterday I had some free moments so I decided to get out one of those languishing projects. I have never forgotten about this project, I really like how the finished project is supposed to look, but it just wasn't something that made it to the top of the list. I also knew it had been a while since I had taken it out because I moved it in its unfinished state. But how long exactly it has been since I had worked on it surprised even me. Let me show you the project before I continue. Here is what it will look like when it is finished.  It is a little beaded tree and I still love it. This is an old Martha Stewart kit from when the magazine has a lot of really nice kits that they sold. What surprised me was the year on it... 2002! I knew it had been a while since I had worked on it, but I didn't think it had been twenty-t...

L. had her ceramics class final presentation today so came home with a huge box of completed projects, many of which she was thrilled to see come out of the kiln in one piece. Her final project was to create a piece based on a history piece of pottery. The students then had to create a PowerPoint presentation on the piece they chose. L.'s choice was a canopic jar from ancient Egypt. Here it is. I love it. That's a regular sized ruler to give you a sense of scale.  -------- I did very well at the Artisan Market, but did have a few skeins of handspun which didn't sell. I'm offering them on my personal FB page if you want to take a look. 

With the end of fall semester, my college attending children are now all home in the late afternoon on the same days. We haven't managed our read aloud all fall because someone was always missing. Today we sat down to our story at teatime for the first time in months. I'd had an unexpectedly busy day so it was a nice break.  We are now 26 pages away from the end of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Since it's a very long book, with dozens of characters, we needed to do a bit of a story review before diving in. Thank goodness for family trees in the beginning of the book to help us refresh our memories as to what the character's names are. Our goal is to have it finished by Christmas. When we do finish it, I'll have to look back to see when we started it to see how long it took us to read 1349 pages. 

With all of my holiday things done, I can think of other projects. Mainly I have been feeling the need to finish things that have been kicking around for a while. The item at the top of that list is the sweater vest I've been slowly working on all year. I've done the back and all that's left of the front are the two sides of the 'V' at the neck. Once those are done I'll do the ribbing on the arm holes and neck and it will be done. The end is in sight. It is at this point with a project that I get a renewed sense of energy and work on it diligently. I'm hopeful it will be done before the new year. I don't have a picture to show because in a photo it looks pretty much as it has done all year. Solid colored cables just don't change that much as you work on a project.  The only new thing to show is the threading for the Christmas scarf I want to weave. I've done five inches and only have three and a half left which I should finish tomorrow. Them I ca...

Vienna and Buddy continue to enjoy being out in the big pastures. For the most part they are their own little herd and do their own thing apart from the big horses. The big horses don't pay much attention to them and do their own thing as well. Except for Luke, who really likes Vienna and will often trail around after the ponies.  Ponies are so primed for survival, it's interesting watching them. Before they've finished the hat that room service obligingly provides multiple times a day, I've noticed that they are likely to go wandering off and dig through the snow with their hooves looking for the grass underneath. What's amusing is that J. noticed that after Vienna will dig out a spot, Luke will come sauntering over to investigate the grass Vienna has found. As of yet it doesn't seem to occur to Luke that he could dig out his own hole in the snow.  Vienna and Buddy are a funny pair. Buddy is always the leader and Vienna is always half a pace behind. It's ho...

  "In his master's steps he tried Where the snow lay dinted. Heat was in the very soft, Which the saint had printed. Therefore Christians all be sure,  Wealth or rank possessing. Ye who will shall bless the poor, Shall yourselves find blessing." This is the last verse of the carol, Good King Wenceslas, which is one of our family's favorites. It tells a story which is always a plus. If you aren't familiar with it, look it up. Really, this is just a holiday reminder that Christmas is political. It is the story of the turning upside down of power from the rich and powerful to the masses who live underneath them and have no power. It reminds us that the most powerful thing we can do is care for and love others regardless of the status they do or don't have.