Ordinary Time

Well, I can decide if I should title it: Silos in Academia are Good for No One Or: I Have a PhD so I Don't Need to be Self-Aware It's such a toss-up that I'm truly torn. Here's the story. I'm in the barn mucking stalls this morning. The podcast I loved is no longer producing episodes and I am bereft because l finished the last episode. Wanting something to listen to I decide to go back to The Hidden Brain. Surely the episode which so annoyed me was an anomaly because the back episodes have been good. The current episode is about memory which is a topic right up my alley. Between my personal reading on memory because I'm interested and my reading to help H., I feel pretty familiar with the subject. I'm always happy to learn something new about a topic I'm interested in.  The good news is that there is nothing in this episode that is cringy. (It's sad that cringy is now the low bar.) And much of the information was good. It was mainly focused on how s

B.'s wedding is a week from today. We are all excited, we adore his fiancee, abd and it will be lovely to catch-up with family. But I am so tired of sewing. I can say without a doubt that everything will be finished and everyone will be clothed, so that's good. I still have quite a few hours of sewing ahead of me to get all the various bits completely finished.  One of the reasons I do so many different projects in a wide variety of crafts is that I never know what I will feel like doing. If I grow tired of one or get stuck on a project I then move to something else for a while. Then, after a bit, I'm ready to go back to the project I had grown tired of or have figured out how to solve my problem and can continue. That freedom to flit from project to project has not been an option because of the need for clothing for the wedding. Don't think I'm not pleased that I can make special clothes for my son's wedding, I am. Very. I just have to work against my usual way

I was going to skip posting tonight because it's been a full day and this evening was our church's inclusive game night which ends late. But I didn't post yesterday and some people get concerned if I'm silent too long. Then I thought I would share pictures of sheep. Because they're cute. But I had asked G. to take some and that hasn't happened yet. So no sheep pictures. Really all you get is a short post saying we're fine, but I have no energy to write. Fascinating stuff, I know. But it's also a post just a bit over one hundred words long instead of heading into the thousands. That's got to count for something. 

I mentioned last week that H. has decided to work on math again. We got stuck last spring when her book started to introduce multiplication. She was having none of it and I wasn't going to push it. So when she wanted to go back to math, I did need to take a deep breath. But a break can do wonders and so far she is managing the difference between the number of times we add something together versus the amount of each thing added together. (For instance 3+3+3+3=12 is the same as 4, threes or 4x3=12.) The ability to deal with a number that doesn't actually appear in the addition version is new. It's kind of a big deal.  I was reminded earlier today how far we've come when I was discussing the the idea of numeracy with a homeschooling mother. It made me remember those years where H. could identify and understand only the numbers one to four. Five was beyond her. I actually had come to resign myself to the idea we might never get beyond four. (Note that numeracy, the idea of

Watch the debate, that is. That man sends my blood pressure to unhealthy levels and I find myself becoming consumed with the idea of stock piling food and supplies because surely the end of the world is coming if he wins or even loses by a narrow margin. None of that seems helpful or healthy. I'll read about it tomorrow instead. I may need to find a cat to sit on my lap while I binge watch House Hunters. 

Because there is nothing to show. I've nearly finished L.'s vest, but that little bit of sewing is the only sewing I've done since last weekend. Panicked? No, why do you ask? On Wednesday the week calms down a bit so I'm hopeful that I can spend some time in the studio. We'll see how the weekend goes, because I may have to cancel my part of school next week.  Really the only fiber related pictures I have to show is on the hoof and not so good for wearing to a wedding. I'm sure the sheep pictures will slow down eventually.

The wedding festivities have begun. Today was a shower for my nearly daughter-in-law.  The sheep are doing well. And I have driven hundreds of miles this weekend. I'm pooped. 

This weekend is the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and today was the day I could make it up to it. So G. and I loaded up early to get enough time there. We wandered around and looked at many things. I bought the gift I needed to as well as some antique buttons that match L.'s best perfectly. What I did not buy, and I know this will surprise some of you, was any raw fleece.  At least not on the hoof. Because by loading up to leave, I meant it was quite a process and involved some borrowed dog crates, and a tarp, and some old towels... See? Which turned into... Yes, those crates are each filled with a sheep. Shetland sheep to be precise. They are all ~5 month old wethers (neutered male sheep; wether = gelding). Meet Clark: And Fred: And Everett: The ride home was uneventful (except when I realized the low fuel light was on and I had no idea how for long... I was able to find a gas station with 0.9 gallons left in the tank) and we made it home.  Which was then sheep handling 101 as

A little distance is always good before writing on a tough subject. I think I can tackle this rationally now, though I may step on a few toes. We'll see. As some of you may know, yesterday the State department issued a notice saying that China, as of the end of August, has closed their intercountry adoption program. This is across the board and regardless of whether a family has been matched with a child or not. This has been exceedingly hard news for the Chinese adoption community.  I think I need to fill you in on some background before I continue because I realize not everyone lives in this world. (This is an extremely cursory and very simplified history.) China began allowing intercounty adoptions in 1992. Since that time, more than 160,000 children (most were girls) were adopted around the world; ~82,000 of those children came to the US. The process was centralized and a fairly predictable process. Once a family assembled their dossier and had it logged-in, they could usually

It was a bad news day yesterday between yet another school shooting and China announcing that they have closed their inter country adoption program. I don't actually have words yet for either, but maybe by tomorrow I'll have something to say about the latter. We'll see.  Instead, I'll talk about our first day of school. As first days go, this one was pretty smooth. Everyone worked on math. Sometimes being confronted with math after a break is... challenging. This went smoother than I had expected. H. even decided to do some math. I had decided that school for her would be driven by her own choices. Towards the end of last year, we reached something in her math book that she didn't immediately understand, so she announced she was done. I said okay and she put it away. I didn't even mention it to her this morning, but of her own accord, she had her math book and wanted to know what to do. I'm happy to report that the thing which was so upsetting last spring wa

As usual, we kicked off our school year by going on an outing. This year we went to the Brookfield Zoo with friends. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and not too hot. I accidentally left my phone in the car, so the few pictures I have are taken by others.  K. and L. The marmoset was a particular favorite today and we spent a long time watching him.  The Canada geese were very interested in our picnic lunch, but though a couple came fairly close, none were aggressive.  And the sleeping snow leopard was so cute and fluffy. The sleeping position also made us laugh because it was nearly the same way that Juniper sleeps.  It was a great day and everyone enjoyed it. Tomorrow morning we get up and start the official school year. The first day is far more discussing plans and sorting out our schedule more than anything else. Some people are not overly excited, but I think even they will survive. This also means I will be beginning year 28 of my homeschooling career. 

On Thursday night J. loaded up the van with six children and one dog and headed to his aunt's Beach house in Michigan.  I stayed home. By myself. Well, by myself along with four cats, five horses, and innumerable poultry. Sometimes paying a house sitter just isn't in the budget and I needed to sew.  So as I was recreating my own version of a sweatshop, I would get pictures like this.  They all had a lovely time. While I enjoy going to the beach house, it just wasn't in the cards this year and it was an unusual experience to be alone with absolutely no schedule for four days. For someone who likes very much to start a project and not be interrupted, there was great players in that.  Everyone is home now. We'll have our nit-back-to-school outing tomorrow and then life gets back to its usual schedule. In terms of sewing, I have handwork and hemming on my dress and H.'s dress, I have handwork on G.'s vest, I have nearly all the sewing done on L.'s vest, and my j

Oh, don't worry, I'm still sewing, but while I was sewing I watched several episodes of Shiny, Happy People. It has been on my list for a while, but knowing the content I wasn't rushing to watch it. When I needed something to occupy my brain while I was putting bias tape on what felt as though miles of raw edges, I decided this was the perfect opportunity. For those who don't know it is a documentary of sorts looking at Bill Gothard's IBLP cult (and yes, I am using that term in its precise sense) in general and the Duggar family specifically. It was not pleasant to watch.  I'll admit to watching the first couple of Duggar family specials and enjoying them. I think we just had five children at that time and had not started the process to adopt TM. Society was constantly telling us five was a lot, so it was fascinating to watch a family with three times that many. I felt about it the way I felt about watching the show about the DeBolts when I was a child. Having d