Ordinary Time

It has been a very long time since I've done one of these.  We've had rain and rain and rain today. I would have been happier if it had been snow instead. The problem with rain after such a long Arctic cold snap is that the ground is still very frozen. Frozen ground does not absorb water. There is standing water everywhere. To make it worse, our pastures slope slightly from north to south. The ponies' stall is on the north side of the barn which means all the water fills their stall. They are currently living in the aisle because this morning their stall was fetlock deep in water.  Either all my usual or somewhat usual readers have hunkered down and are avoiding the computer for personal sanity reasons or I have finally hit the end of the public's interest in the blog. The stats are (low)  numbers I think I haven't seen since the first few years. It's very odd. Or is it context and no one wants to be confronted with reality? Clearly I'm still writing, but I ...

I have spent the past three days running from thing to thing. They are all good things, but this evening when I got in from the barn I realized I had spent all of one hour inside my house. This is not my optimum schedule and I'm exhausted. The rest of the week looks only marginally better.  Today is also the first day of the lunar new year celebration. We have not begun to celebrate yet. We don't even have our decorations up yet. I'm hoping we can get to the tomorrow. The decorating, that is. Sunday will be our big family celebration. Y. is already planning on making a big batch of baozi.  Because I'm exhausted you don't really get a post. I'll share a photo I took Monday night on the way to the barn. I am also definitely not complaining about the warmer weather, especially since the pasture is solid and not turned to mud. 

I was a huge M*A*S*H* fan when I was growing up. (I think I'm still a bit traumatized by the final episode.) There is one episode that  particularly sticks in my head. I can remember being disappointed in it when I first saw it because it wasn't funny. Now, I think about it often. The whole show flip flopped back and forth between what was happening in the hospital unit in a war zone. Lots and lots of blood and death and destruction. Then it would move to what was happening state side in the early fifties; light hearted normalcy. I particularly remember lots of people dancing in fancy clothes. It wasn't funny, it was just jarring. As I said, I didn't like it. Now I don't like it for a completely different set of reasons.  I don't know about you, but that jarring difference between horribleness and absolute normalcy has been flirting through my head a lot, often on an hourly basis. I do something normal such as hang with my horses and muck stalls, then something ...

I need to go back to some semblance of a schedule because it's the only way to stay sane while the world turns upside down. It's Monday, so we're going to talk to fiber.  I mentioned last week that I found myself compulsively combing wool and listening to books because I couldn't seem to do anything else. I feel as though I can begin to venture slowly into other things, but having started this project, I want to keep working on it. In just a few days, I have managed to comb 100 grams of fiber.  I'm looking forward to spinning this, not only because it will be fun, but because I can't really figure out where to store all of this, so it's currently on my studio table. I love spinning combed wool. The trouble with combing wool is that it creates a bit of waste as the combs pull out the too short pieces. This is what I'm left with after making a few little nests.  It's not necessarily bad (because I try to get out as much vegetable matter before I start)...

I thought I was going to be able to write something of substance that was also coherent. When it came to actually writing, though, it seems I was overly optimistic. Instead you get a short post about chickens.  Slacker chickens to be precise.  These slacker chickens whom I disturbed by using my flash when taking a picture of them after they had gone to bed. (As an aside you can see that Zorro and his hens use the long roost while Fluffy and his hens have the shorter roost under the window.) The chickens had a few little lectures from me today on the topic of eggs. Specifically the lack of eggs. No eggs means I need to buy eggs at the store while still feeding a coop full of hens. This feels wrong. The simple solution seems to be that the hens begin laying again. That's what I told them.  I also looked into getting a few new chicks this year specifically breeds that have a reputation for laying through winter. Wow. Not only have eggs increased dramatically in price, but so...

Since I fear I tire everyone with constant fiber related posts, I'll write about books tonight. As I've mentioned, when one currently only reads books or plays with fiber because the wider world is too terrifying, it doesn't make it easy to come up with blog topics. Based on the stats I'm seeing since last Monday, I'm thinking I'm not the only one to be knocked more than a little bit unbalanced. If that is the case, then you probably need more reading material because you're plowing through books at an unprecedented rate, too. Here's a few I've enjoyed recently. A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers  I know I've already mentioned this book, but I want to urge you to read it if you haven't already done so. You will be glad you did. Soothing and calming are the two best adjectives I can find to describe how I felt reading it  Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles This is historical fiction set at the end of WWII (I kn...

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty emotionally tapped out. In practical blogging terms this means I don't really have anything to blog about. And trust me, you don't need me sharing my spiraling brain's misuse of imagination. I'm also pretty sure if you're reading here that you have your own brain misusing your imagination as well. Where does that leave a blogger if I don't feel like adding to the general sense of free falling to hell in a hand basket? With a very blank screen when I sit down to write something, that's where. What have I been doing when not braving me negative temperatures taking care of horses or taking children to doctor's appointments? This:  I've been combing wool while listening to yet more Mrs. Polifax books. It's fairly mindless work, so easily lends itself to becoming engrossed in a story. Plus, I have a lot of dyed fleece that needs to be prepped for spinning, so I feel good about working on a project...

If you're anything like me, you're feeling done in and exhausted. Between the weather and current events it's just a lot to manage at once. So here's my list of things that can help you keep a grip on your sanity. (And I'm preaching to myself as much as any of you.) Turn off the news and social media after you have done a quick catch-up to stay informed. Hearing more of the same isn't going to help you, but it will flood your brain with cortisol which makes it difficult to think rationally as well as making you feel kind of rotten.  Once you've turned off the news, if you can't direct your brain elsewhere distract it by engaging in something that will take your attention: read a book, make something, help someone, learn a new skill.  Find your community and spend time with them. More and more the research is finding that being in community with other people (IN PERSON) is vital for our physical and emotional health. It's harder to spiral when you...

Eight or nine years ago, I found myself reading a lot of books with craft settings. I probably read at least a dozen novels or mysteries where the structure of the story was women making things while also being friends and supports to each other. The type of craft didn't really matter. I remember quilting, sewing, knitting, dyeing, and needlework off the top of my head. I realized as I came to the end of this little jag, finishing yet one more rather poor to average book that I was reading them not for the story (and obviously not for the writing) but because of a deep need and desire to belong to a group such as being described. Like so many dreams I had during that period, this one also seemed unattainable. I've long since learned that my crystal ball is broken. What I was seeing as something that would never be was instead something that was not yet. It makes me almost teary to find myself having made friends with a group of women who very much fill the needs I was feeling n...

Sing with me... This is not a good day for our country or for our family. And to my readers and friends who do not live in the US, I apologize. I apologize for the many ways that your lives will be harder because of the government some US citizens elected. It seems that just over half our country is so racist, misogynistic, transphobic, and homophobic that they would rather vote for a grifter and rapist then a highly educated, experienced, and competent Black woman. I cannot make it make sense.  I'm also annoyed because I had to buy this shirt again this afternoon. I had one from 2016 through 2020, but I optimistically have away away after Biden's inauguration. Who knew I should have just kept it? Finally, I took this photo this morning as I was not entirely successfully mucking the dry lot in the frigid weather. It's a poopsickle! And if that doesn't sum up the next four years, I don't know what does.  [I don't normally need to do this because I get so few comm...

I'm afraid I have some very bad news to share this evening. Java passed away Friday night. She wasn't acting quite right that evening, but she eventually seemed to be doing better, but obviously she wasn't. She was around 25 years old and we think her body just started to shut down. We will miss her very much, but I was also pretty constantly concerned about how she was doing because she was definitely slowing down and not always comfortable. I'm a bit relieved that she didn't have to go through this extreme cold snap we're having because she would have been uncomfortable. It's always hard to say goodbye to a good friend. 

Since much of what I do when facilitating equine assisted learning or coaching parents is helping people experience positive change, the idea of change has been high on my list of things on which to do further reading. Currently I'm working my way through Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (I'm enjoying it and finding it interesting a quarter of the way through.) This quote came very early, but I've been thinking about it quite a bit since I read it, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. Really, it comes down to learning to be compassionate towards ourselves, I think. We're fairly good at being compassionate to others, assuming we think they are worthy of our compassion, but we're really not very good at being compassionate to ourselves. "And when people exhaust their self-control, what they're exhausting are the mental muscles needed to think creatively, to focus, to inhibit their impulses, and to persist...

I finished the jacket and lining I was working on, so that meant I could begin on the next step... the embroidery. Remember that I wanted to use the lining as a basis for the embroidery on the front.  The first step was to create a design to play with. I decided that I would use the muslin I made before I sewed The Dress to play around with design and stitches and whatnot. I tried to use the window to transfer the design to the muslin, but the fabric wasn't cooperative. (I think I need to invest in a light table before I actually start on the actual jacket.) So because it was just for experimenting I ended up free handing the design onto the muslin.  Then I picked the palette of thread which is always fun.  And then finally I could begin stitching. Stitching for the practice jacket in order to be able to stitch the actual jacket which has to be done before the lining can be sewn into the jacket. Possibly the only way I could have made this take longer would have been to d...

I realized this morning that last week, on the 9th and the 11th, was the nine year anniversary of Y.'s and R.'s adoptions . Nine years feels like a pretty significant amount of time. I'll admit that there were quite a few years there with R. that I didn't think we'd survive to nine years. But after two years of finding the correct cocktail of seizure meds, I'm happy to report that they are still working. I don't actually like to think about the post-ictal psychosis years. They were hard. It was a journey to bring these two girls home and our family wouldn't be complete without them.  Y. also had a big day today in another way. She started her first college classes at the community college where J. works. Many of our children have done dual enrollment college classes for which they received both high school and college credit. I'm excited that Y. gets to start doing this as she's ready and I think she'll really enjoy it. She said her first day...

What don't you see? No Christmas tree No Christmas decorations  No Christmas decoration boxes No red No green No pine needles  No leftover bits of Christmas stocking swag It feels very, very good to have it all put away for another year. And since this week promises to be a little bit busier than usual, I'm glad I don't have to spend it wondering when I'll get around to putting it all away. Future me thanks this past weekend me for being responsible. 

Having cajoled their father into driving them to a store to get bleach and dye, there is a(nother) hair transformation in progress. Because you never know what color hair a child will turn up with.  Then on a totally unrelated topic (so totally unrelated that I can't even begin to come up with an appropriate seque), I listened to this YouTube video today. If you are at all interested in the current state of the garment industry and are concerned about fast fashion, this might be of interest to you. 

Some days all you can do is look around you and be thankful that at this moment you and your loved ones are safe. The news is hard these days, isn't it? I find this to be especially when there is so much I can't fix or have any control over.  So for this evening, maybe just a cute cat picture is in order. This is one of W. and MC's cats having a snooze in the sunshine. 

A new textbook arrived in the mail today. Now, since we are homeschoolers and we occasionally use textbooks, this wouldn't necessarily be exciting or blog worthy news. But the textbook which arrived wasn't for a child but for me.  (Ignore the cover art, it was published in 2008 and it shows.) I am finally, after years of wanting to, going to get to take a pattern drafting class. It is the first of a series of four classes (I think it's four) that teaches all the ins and outs of drafting a pattern. I really cannot tell you how excited I am to finally learn these skills and not just try to figure it out on my own.  The text is pretty large.  Inside it seems pretty comprehensive, from starting with drafting pattern blocks then moving on to how to manipulate them to create just about any style you want.  I don't know if I'll be able to complete the series in just one year, but it feels good to be actually starting. 

It seems we are back to our regular schedule now. People have done schoolwork, J. is back to work, children are back to their weekly cooking, I did some EFL training online today as well as paying the bills, and I have a conference proposal and research project work sitting on my desk just staring at me.  The trouble with having been sick for much of the break is that it's hardly a break. At least not one that feels as though it counts. I want a vacation do-over.  There are some fun things coming up that I'll be sharing as they get closer, so this moving back into regular life isn't all bad. And some children are definitely happier with a routine as well.  We also have a solution for keeping things too dull and humdrum. We have ponies. Ponies who are really cute, but who also have too many brains inside those fluffy heads. When I headed out to the barn yesterday morning this is what I was greeted with. Oh, Buddy. It seems he pushed against the lowest stall guard strap unt...

I've decided that one reason I have so many projects going at a time is that I still have something to work on if I finish a project and can't quite decide what to start next. There are so many ideas in my head that it can stop me in my tracks a bit while I decide which to choose.  When I finished spinning the yarn for The Dress, I didn't have a new project in the works. I had plenty of fiber and possibilities, but no clear direction. When I finally settled on something yesterday, I realized two things. One, that I hadn't really spun anything since last April or so. That felt like a really long hiatus. And two, spinning is good for my mental health. I'm at a point where I have to expend very little effort and it is a very soothing activity.  Here is what I decided to work on.  This is a silk/merino blend that came with my most recent wheel. I have over half a pound of it, so will make a pretty decent amount of yarn. I'd been putting off spinning it because I was...

It's Epiphany and my Christmas decorations are still up. Still up and I haven't really thought about when I'm going to get around to putting it all away. For some people, this might be normal, but not for me.  When we only had a few children, we would always head to Arizona to visit my family after Christmas. There is nothing worse than to come home to a dried tree and decorations to put away after vacation, so I always got things cleaned up before we left. Sometimes this happened the 26th. When we had more children than we could afford plane tickets, the decoration stayed up a bit longer. In that season my New Year's Day activity was to take down the decorations. I really wanted to start the year with a clean and tidy house.  Last year I don't think I took things down on New Year's Day and this year I didn't even think about it. I'm not finding them overwhelming as in years past. I think the difference is that when you have younger children the accompan...

I just finished reading All This & More by Peng Shepherd. At least I think I finished reading it. I got to a page that told me the story was done, but I'm still not entirely sure I read all the pages. The premise of the book is that physicists have developed quantum technology that allows a person to experience vastly different life choices. This technology is then taken by a production company and turned into a reality television show. The premise of the show is the a current season's participant makes different choices with the goal of redoing bad decisions and making their life perfect.  Here's the twist... As the reader, you decide what choices the show participant makes. It becomes an adult version of choose your own adventure. While intriguing, I also found it incredibly disconcerting to not know how far in the book I was. I'm also not sure all the loose ends were actually tied up or if I didn't make the right choices to get certain ends tied up. It was an...

I spent a bit of time writing out a response to someone about ways to keep grocery costs low. The extremely short version?  Don't shop at expensive stores Don't buy prepackaged food Stick to ingredients  Make a plan and shop with a list Use meat sparingly  Don't waste the food you buy I can still feed nine people for a little under $200 week with this plan. It is doable and no one goes hungry. In thinking about it all, I realized tonight's dinner was a perfect example.  I had bought a lot of food for the holidays (definitely going over my $200/week budget.) I also admit to overestimating what we needed, though half the family being sick probably played into that. As a result, I had a refrigerator full of random vegetables that were going to rot if I didn't do something with them. Yesterday we had green chicken curry which took care of the two bags of green beans and tonight we had millet grain bowls. I love a good grain bowl because they just need little bits of var...

Compared to previous years, this one was a little slim. I just didn't feel like reading for much of the year. I'm not sure why; some years are like that. So the stats first and then I'll list the books. As usual, here are my designations listed after each book: F = Fiction NF = Non-fiction M = Mystery RA = Read out loud L = Listened to * = I particularly recommend  There will be far fewer recommended books this year. Maybe there is a correlation between really good books and my desire to read. Who knows. 61 books read     13 non-fiction     28 fiction     20 mystery 16 books not finished 2 books read out loud 9 books listened to 1. That Bullet that Missed - Richard Osman (M)(342 p.) 2. The Last Devil to Die - Richard Osman (M)(353 p.) 3. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty (F)(477 p.)* 4. The Collector - Daniel Silva (F)(399 p.) 5. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch (F)(340 p.) 6. Babel - R. F. Kuang ((F)(544 p.)* 7. The Domestic Revolution...

I'll be honest, dread about the coming new year is a more accurate description of my feelings about 2025 than typically is associated with a New Year's celebration. This has more of a feeling of strapping into a scary roller coaster that isn't going to stop. I didn't enjoy the years of 2016 - 2020 for the whole wake each morning and wonder what fresh new hell was going to greet us-thing. I don't kid myself that this time around is going to be any better. The pessimist inside of me is thinking that in comparison, those other four years are going to seem like a trip to Disneyland.  But I am also not going to let any future dictators steal the joy that surrounds me. We had a low key party, the best part of which was getting to share it with the P. Family parents. Some of our older children were going to be going to the P. Family's house for New Year's, then crashing there so as to not have to drive home late at night. So we decided to invite the parents here an...