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More winter musings

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...
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Finishing up our New Year's organizing

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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 ...
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Recipe for life

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...
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The god of convenience

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. ...
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How does one blog?

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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...
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Fiber Monday - Recovery

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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...
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First book of 2026

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 . 
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