Ordinary Time

If you enjoy reading about history, I have a great book recommendation for you. I'm just a few pages away from finishing Follow the Flock: how sheep shaped human civilization by Sally Coulthard. It is an extremely engaging book. I would say it is an extremely engaging book even if you aren't vaguely sheep obsessed. I have read this book faster than I typically read non-fiction books because I'm finding it so interesting. Probably one of the biggest takeaways that students leave my Sheep and Fiber classes with, other than to be thankful for automated spinning and weaving machines, is a greater awareness of the importance of sheep and wool. At this point I'm time I know quite a bit about the role of sheep in civilization. But one of the things that kept me reading was the new information regarding the intersection between sheep and history.  If you are looking for an entertaining and informative read, I highly recommend this book. I don't think you have to particularl...

In a rare moment, I decided to go with the more SEO friendly title. I could also have called this post Becoming an Autodidactic. My third choice was Grown-ups Homeschooling Themselves and Not Realizing It. So many options.  But I should back up. This morning I was searching for a podcast to listen to while I cleaned the barn to take my mind off of the continued extremely cold weather. The podcast I had been listening to had volume issues, so turned out not to be a good fit for the barn. On a whim I searched, "psychology of crafting" to see if I could find something that would hold my interest in eleven degree weather. The first option was for The Modern Mrs. Darcy's podcast, What Should I Read Next? I do wonder at algorithms sometimes because at first glance this had nothing to do with my search, and then I noticed the first word of the episode title. It was crafting. A very tenuous connection to my way of thinking. The whole title was Crafting Your Personal Curriculum. ...

I realize that I seem to have a penchant for choosing things that are somewhat labor intensive. You have probably already figured this out. Why buy something at the store when you can spend a million hours making it yourself? Which is why my newest craft to learn is English paper piecing. Here was my first trial run to see if I enjoyed the process.  I chose the colors pretty much at random from the bags of scraps I have. This will probably become nothing because I'm not overly fond of it design-wise, but I love the possibilities. It also didn't as long as I thought it might.  For those unfamiliar with the process, you begin with little paper hexagons such as you see in the top of the photo. Fabric is them wrapped around them and basted in place. The hexagon pieces are then sewn together.  When the project is sewn together, the papers are then removed and can be used again. This whole process was made a lot simpler because of the cool template I had. W. and MC have a 3D pr...

It was cold today. Cold enough I broke out my snow pants and extra long wool scarf. But really, it didn't feel too much different appropriately bundled than the times we have been in the single digits this winter.  The animals are doing fine. As predicted, the sheep appeared to be completely unbothered. Our new hens, the ones who were chicks in June and and are now full grown, are buff brahmas. We chose them because they are supposed to be particularly cold hardy. I guess they are because while all the other chickens didn't mention so much as a beak out the door, the five new hens were out and about as if it were thirty degrees warmer.  We still have running water in the barn. It feels almost miraculous. Both I. and I have a brief moment every time we use the hydrant where we wonder if this is the time the hydrant freezes. Trust me that we don't take running water for granted. It was cold enough last night that L. opted not to stargaze with her telescope despite Jupiter, Sa...

I realized this morning that it was ten years ago today that J., P., R., Y., and myself took a terrifying car ride to Hong Kong from Guangzhou, boarded a plane, and flew home to begin life with our two new daughters. Like so many things I both can't believe it's been ten years already and surely it's been more than ten years all at the same time. Time is funny. Consequently, I've been thinking a bit about those three weeks we spent in China adopting R. and Y. Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? It's a good thing we cannot know the future. I had no idea of the challenges that awaited us while we tried to figure out what was going on with R. and her seizures. It was... a journey.  And while there were some very hard moments, these two girls are worth it. We love them both to pieces and are overwhelming grateful that we get to be their parents.  If you missed the details of our adoption trip, click the 'Adoption' tab up there on the top and scroll down the page t...

I'm currently reading (among other things) What Sheep Think About the Weather: how to listen to what animals are trying to say by Amelia Thomas. I'm enjoying it, but the bit I read today made me laugh out loud and I have now read it to every person in the house who has crossed my path. And now dear reader, I shall share it with you. We absolutely cannot pass up things that give us a moment of joy.  This comes as part of a bigger discussion regarding training and if some animals enjoy it, especially the question of whether they would prefer to get food for having done something or just have that food available.  "Researchers investigated further and found that mice, birds, primates, wolves, gerbils, horses, and pigeons all chose will-work-for-food over the free buffet option.  The only species that didn't?  Cats.  To no one's surprise, ever." (p. 200) And you can't have a post about cats without cat pictures. Apollo Apollo Nefertiti Basil Juniper

I have a few projects that I have begun which I realize are all going to become much bigger things. I didn't necessarily plan it this way.  The first is the project I just got started on my floor loom. I decided that I wanted to teach myself the structure of doubleweave. This is a cool structure where you can weave two layers of fabric at a time. They can be completely separate, attached along one side so that it opens into a piece of fabric twice as wide, or sewn into a tube connected on both sides. I just haven't been able to wrap my head around how it works, but I knew if I just followed the directions and did it, it would start to make sense. So that is what I did. I have a three yard warp on the loom to learn doubleweave.  Today I finished dressing the loom and could start weaving. I have two separate layers of cloth! And I was correct that it now makes sense. At least this variation does.  Do you see the green layer of fabric underneath and the white layer on top?...

Can you stand one more post about me musing on my general adjustment to tolerating winter? Clearly I find the subject somewhat fascinating based on how often I mention it. This time it isn't just about weather, though.  I mentioned on Monday after my weekend away that I was exhausted. It was a full weekend of pretty constant people-ing and I assumed that was the root of my fatigue. I'm sure it was part of it, but my physical fatigue was significant. The first morning back to caring for the horses and cleaning the barn felt really hard. So hard, in fact, that I felt the need to break it up into two sessions. The next day, it still felt really hard, though I was able to complete the job all in one go. By Wednesday, I felt back to my regular endurance and nothing about it felt hard.  I sat a lot during my weekend away working on various projects of one kind or another. Certainly I sat more than I usually do. But even then, there were other times I was standing, to use a suspended...

When we sorted out the loft and toy closet over the Christmas break, we were left with a stack of toys that no one was currently playing with, but that we didn't want to get rid of.  The question was what to do with them. I didn't really want them to permanently live in a pile next to my studio door.  The stairs to the third floor have a crawl space under them with a small access point through the closet in L.'s room. There is certainly space in that area for this stack, but the access door is to small to get the big bins and boxes through. Here is J.'s solution which he finished today. This is in the hallway down to the girls' bedrooms. J. found some cabinet doors at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, cut out some drywall, and fitted the doors on the opening. Now we have easy access to the storage in that space.  That little door in the bottom left is the access through L.'s closet. As you can see, I stashed some stuff in this area at some point, so now I ...

Today I am finally going to get to the doing things with your hands aspect of the quote I shared in yesterday's blog post. But, before I do, I have another quote to share with you. "Toward a New Incompetence ________________________ If advertising streamlined mass selling and relieved consumers of the anxieties of numerous trivial decisions, did it simultaneously, as its spokesmen claimed, help people surmount the new complexities of life? Did its 'advice' enhance the competence of the average consumer? Advertisers liked to describe their functions as one of education. Advertisements not only improved tastes; they made the consumer 'a more competent buyer.' Ads spoke of the modern woman buyer as 'Armed with new Knowledge -- sure of her new skill.' But, of what did the consumer's new skills consist? Were the shortcuts to decision-making offered by advertising a clear gain in competence in the face of complexity? Or did consumers merely increase thei...

I have a lot of thoughts running around my head right now, so I'll see if I can put them together to make anything coherent. This might end up being a multiday ramble.  First off, interesting things come from a wide variety of places. I was looking through the book, Flossie Teacakes' Guide to English Paper Piecing. (For those who don't know, English paper piecing is a form or quilting where you cut out shapes, such as an octagon, out of paper, then cut out a piece of fabric and sew the fabric around that piece of paper. You then sew all the shapes together, remove the papers, and then quilt it if desired. It adds a whole other step to the piecing process, making quilting take that much longer. Does it surprise you that I love it?) But back to the book. The author did some research on the benefits of handwork, no doubt to make the case for doing an incredibly time-consuming craft, which is where I came across this. It's kind of long, but necessary to my main thesis. ...

I've got nothing. The current state of the country is so horrible and unbelievable that it feels it cannot be real. But yet there it is. The government is murdering and violently abusing people and they are seemingly getting away with it. Felon47 flips an autoworker off for disagreeing with him and the autoworker gets suspended and Felon47 goes on his racist, insane way. I truly believe, 100% totally believe, that at this rate, the psychopath in the White House could point blank kill a reporter in a news conference and absolutely nothing would happen except his lackeys would say it didn't happen.  What am I supposed to write about? All the words in the world are not going to convence the white supremacists who worship the felon in chief that he is other than a god. And anyone who is terrified by what is going on doesn't need more to perseverate over. Yet it seems weird to not address current events because they are so enormously horrible. I'm also not sure how many post...

My weekend with other fiber friends was lovely. Lots of conversations, lots of making things, lots of food. There was absolutely nothing strenuous about it, but I'm exhausted. I think it's due to an entire weekend of socializing. I also realize that even just a couple of days of sitting (and it was a lot of sitting), does horrible things to one's muscles. Getting the barn done this morning felt far more strenuous than usual. I'm hoping that after one more good night's sleep, I'll be back to my normal.  So what do I have to show you? Not a lot. Before I left I had measured out a warp for my floor loom. I decided that I would spend January teaching myself to weave double weave. This is where one weaves two layers of cloth at the same time. It annoyes me that I don't fully understand how it works so I have decided to do something about it. I've also almost finished with the project I have on my rigid heddle loom. I probably have about fifteen more minutes o...

This will be a short post because it's later than I usually sit down to write. That's because I had to finish a book I was reading because I really needed to know how it ended. The book is The Museums Detective by Maha Khan Phillips. It is set in Karachi, Pakistan and the main character is a Pakistani Egyptologist. There's a missing person, a newly discovered mummy, some great characters, and lots of twists and turns. It was a great book to start out my reading in 2026. Highly recommended.  Don't expect any posts this weekend. I'll be away with friends, working on fiber projects, eating food, and enjoying good company. I've been looking forward to it ever since the one last year . 

We had bought a bottle of prosecco to open at midnight on New Year's Eve. But with backing up drains neither of us felt very festive. The next day J. spent much of the day trying to rod things out and seemed as though he had taken care of the problem. Until we realized he hadn't fixed the problem and start the whole process over again. Then yesterday the amount of backup indicated that we had moved into a whole different realm and needed to call someone in. Our children were resigned to continued extreme water regulation.  J. had already begun calling rodding services and the prices he was quoted were... well, it was looking as though the beginning of 2026 was going to be a repeat of 2025 in terms of large but necessary expenditures. Neither of us slept well. In the end, we ended up with our wonderful septic guy. What we discovered was that the clean out (which we didn't even know about because it was buried and not what was used to clean the septic tank, was completely con...

Drains are something we take for granted until they don't do their job. It seems the new year is not an end to expenses we can neither afford nor avoid. So while we deal with drains, you enjoy this photo of Jupiter and its moons that L. took a while back with her new telescope. 

My project this past week to clear the decks in terms of projects was pretty successful. I'll start with the finished knitting project since I had been working on it for nearly a year and it feels good to have it done. It still needs to be blocked and that will take care of the funny waves in the fabric. I'm very happy with how it turned out, plus it fits pretty perfectly, so my adjustments were correct. It feels very good to have this done.  I was also able to get through nearly all of that mending pile. I was correct that most of the items took just minutes to fix. Here's the list of things repaired: 3 sweaters, 1 towel, 1 pillowcase, 1 sheet, 1 weaving project hemmed, 1 pair of pants hemmed, 1 pair of trousers repaired, and handles attached to a woven bag. The only thing on that pile of mending that I didn't get to was the three pieces of clothing that I need to use my embroidery machine to add my business logo. I'm hoping I can get to that this week. (It's a...