Ordinary Time

One of the things I love about winter since moving out here are the great flocks of Canada geese which fly overhead. I don't know why I love them so much, but I do. We seem to be right under one of their flight paths between where they spend the night and where they spend the day. K. got a great video of what we see twice a day during winter.  K. also got a couple of pictures of the amazing sunset we had tonight. And some more geese.

I read a lot this year. I also read a lot of lighter, escapist type of books and that trend does not seem to be changing in the new year. Reading is one sure way of not thinking about current events. As usual, I am going to list the titles and authors, page count, and genre. I will mark those I thought were of wider interest and were exceptionally good. I will also link to any blog posts I wrote about a specific title.  F = Fiction NF = Non-fiction M = Mystery RA = Read out loud L = Listened to * = I particularly recommend  The totals for 2025: 115 books read totaling 35,393 pages     25 non-fiction     45 fiction     47 mystery 25 books not finished 1 book read out loud 11 books listened to And now to the list. 1. The Treasure Hunter's Club - Tom Ryan (M)(368 p.) 2. The Gardener's Plot - Deborah J. Benoit (M)(321 p.) 3. All This & More - Peng Shepherd (F)(469 4.The Puzzle Box - Danielle Trussoni (F)(320 p.) 5. A Psalm for the Wildbuilt - Beck...

Our plan for New Year's Eve was to eat snacks, play some games, and see if we could stay up until midnight. W. and MC also thought they'd drop by for a while. We're all going about our day when a child goes to take a shower and discovers sewage had backed up into the downstairs bathtub. It's not great, but this has happened before and J. owns a long snake for running through the pipes.  So he does that, and nothing. The drain is not opening and the contents of the bathtub are not going anywhere. The house was starting to smell... not so sweet. M. and WC decide that maybe they'll just stay home and invite us to come there if we want.  After a trip to the home store, the drain is still not opening, so we decide to take W. and MC up on their offer. We go, we have snacks, we play games, and we have our toast at 11:00-ish so we can get home before midnight and throw more hay to the horses. Unsurprisingly the drain is still not opened, but the contents of the bathtub are ...

In October I shared how I decided it was time to jettison most of the homeschooling books so I could use that space in my studio . It felt like a momentous change, and it was. It was ultimately a very good change and I don't miss anything we gave away, nor did any of the children. That was actually just the beginning. In the loft and the toy closet in the loft was another huge amount of both old toys and homeschooling stuff. I decided that I could only emotionally manage one thing at a time, so we stuck to the studio.  The more time I spent in the loft (and I've spent a lot of time there recently because that is where my loom is), the more I thought about what I could do with the space. I knew I was ready to tackle it. I also knew I would need J.'s help so I wouldn't get stuck. Today was the day. I was pretty sure I could manage the toy closet, so we started with that.  The toy closet is where all the picture books live when there season is being stored. I knew without ...

I've been putting this week between Christmas and New Year's to good use. J. is home and there is nothing on the calendar. My goal has been to clear the decks a bit so that I can head into January with fewer projects in various states of completion.  I'll start with the finished projects because that feels more optimistic. First is a skein of yarn that needed to be plyed and had been sitting on one of my spinning wheels for a ridiculous amount of time.  It's the skein on the left. The one on the right I had finished earlier in the year. This will ultimately be a set of four skeins that are a color gradient going from blue to grey. This is obviously the bluer half.  The other big finish is the green scarf that didn't quite get finished before Christmas. My friend was correct that went finishing it would soften up the Tencel. It's not a drapy scarf, but has a little more heft. It is a very soft and smooth texture. I'm seriously considering selling this. I alre...

A month or so ago a friend asked if I was interested in her mother's old Singer sewing machine. I don't know anyone in their right mind who would turn down a working mechanical Singer sewing machine. I'm certainly not such a person. My friend brought it over during the height of the artisan market weaving marathon, so I was responsible and moved it to an out of the way corner. Even after the market it sat in its corner because preparing for Christmas had taken the brain space that had previously been occupied by the market.  So it was that today I had an afternoon that had no demands and it was time to investigate the new toy waiting patiently in the corner. I have to say it is all even more wonderful than I had hoped.  The sewing machine in question is model 301A. From my brief research it is known as the "big sister" to the featherweight. And this machine is heavy! It tips the scales around thirty pounds. Still in it's case. Along with the machine came the i...

This cheesecake with lemon curd was our dessert tonight.  G. made it and it was marvelous. It was as good as any that I have had at high end restaurants.  The holidays continue.