30 Sep 2005: Gone again.
Oh, dear. It appears I have to have another holiday. Rob and I will be in Portugal from tomorrow to next Saturday, enjoying the sea and sun. I tried to buy some new, swishy, holiday-type clothes yesterday, but instead became attached to a new guitar which I bought today.
It's a Martin, and it's going to have to last for a very long time. Still, acoustic guitar technology doesn't have anywhere to go, and it's an investment (we're not talking loads of money, here, but enough) I'm happy to grow old with. I'm probably going to take it to Portugal, so I have to find out if I can either bring it on the plane with me or check it with some heavy insurance. It's so nice and pretty, you see.
So, away again it is for me, but at least I should be back with some excellent photos!
25 Sep 2005: Variations on a theme
Of all the many kinds of slumps a (crafty) person can get into, I think the copy-cat slump can be one of the worst. lacking original ideas, one looks at the creations of others and tries to reproduce the charm in those items, fails miserably, and then thinks of oneself as an untalented hack. I've had a few failed-ish projects in the past couple of days, so I decided to try something new.
Rob and I went to Cambridge yesterday afternoon (oh, the things you can do if you're not busy watching TV! . . . and live an hour from Cambridge.), and I spent most of the time looking at craft/art stores. I bought some new block printing supplies (my regular ones are still in America) and a few blocks of Fimo on a whim.
Sometime last week, I happened to draw this at work:
If only we were publishing a book about funny looking dogs. Anyway, I tossed it in my purse and brought it home, and last night, I turned it into this:
It's sitting on a pound coin for reference, though I'm not really sure how helpful that will be to non-UK dwellers. It's small, and it's the first thing I've made from Fimo since I was thirteen or so. I think it's very dear, but the first strong wind to blow through here will knock it off its shelf, and all its legs will break off.
This morning, I set to work with a new linoleum block. I'd sworn off block printing for a while, because I kept cutting myself when the carving tool slipped. Then I bought a Mastercarve block about a year ago, which made a world of difference, but the store yesterday was only selling the real thing. I used a block of wood to butt the linoleum against as I carved, and I wound up stabbing the wood only once (instead of stabbing my hand), so it was a success.
I tried a couple different methods of inking the block, once using acrylic and fabric medium, once using silkscreening ink, but neither really worked that well. I'll have to search for waterproof printing ink, I guess. One print (slightly warped due to the angle and the folded fabric):
I wanted to make a textile-based incarnation of the little dog, but I'm slightly burnt out on sewing soft toys at the moment. Instead, I opted for something like a textile collage, which I think is my favourite of all the little projects:
It was fun using a 'character' which just happened to come into being from somewhere in my brain, as I had absolutely nothing to compare it with. It didn't have to be better than anything, or even just as good; I could simply do whatever I felt like and enjoy the process.
24 Sep 2005: Want my stuff?
I made this a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting it. When I was in the State in July, I bought a good selection of fabrics, and I thought a little mini quilt would be a nice way to showcase them. That's so cheesy and television-craft-show-y, yet I actually did it.
I've hung it on the wall with some tacks for the moment, as there was a blank space wanting something. It just happens to be by the birds' cage, and they were eyeing it very interestedly after I hung it. I can only imagine they were trying to work out a way to pull in through the bars and into their nest.
Speaking of the birds, I can't believe nobody bothered to comment on the sparrow incident. It was practically in our flat! Sex and gore, that's all people want these days -- can't muster up any excitement for a sparrow.
Since the shop is still down, I've pulled together a few things (only three for the moment, but there are more to come) available for trade. They're just random crafted items I can't be bothered to sell, either because they're slightly unusual or used or not as well made as I'd like. But if anybody would like to barter, there's a new little page here.
And that's it.
23 Sep 2005: Lemony Tartness
I've decided to stop watching TV for the next week (That 70s Show doesn't count. . . nor does Ray Mears). The plan is to be more productive instead of sitting around watching episodes of shows for the fifth time, wishing I had more free time. Last night I made a lemon tart. It's very lemon-y.
I started it almost as soon as I got home yesterday, wanting to finish it before the sun went down (so I could take a picture). I think it finally came out of the fridge, ready to eat, at 8pm. There was a lot of letting dough cool in the fridge and then rolling it out and then freezing it and then pre-cooking it with tinfoil and rice before I could even pour in the lemon-y goodness.
And lemon-y it is. Lemons are very stingy with their juice; I had to hand squeeze seven just to get the 3/4 cup required for the recipe (er, and two glasses of lemonade). I whipped some cream to top our pieces last night, as it really is a lemon tart. The whipped cream seemed to turn into whipped quasi-butter (which still tasted like sweet cream) overnight in the fridge. I used the last of it up before I finally took the above picture this afternoon, so you'll just have to imagine the complete look.
I wonder what I'll do tonight.
21 Sep 2005: Some crafts!
Crafts! I do crafts sometimes! What with all this weekending in the Lake District, etc, etc, I haven't been getting as much sewing done as I'd like. I finally made the time on Monday night and whipped up a pouch for my MP3 player. I was very much inspired by these little bags posted on Molly Chicken. It was nice to do something small, and I used a first little piece of the lovely Cath Kidston fabric I bought a while back.
I made this little pin cushion a while ago, but it's just been sitting around, feeling unloved. Not sure what to do with it, as I really like it, but I'm fairly loyal to my regular pin cushion. Such problems.
18 Sep 2005: French Toast
I remember hating French toast lunches at school. I'm not sure that the toast itself was offensive to me, or whether it was just because I didn't like my food smothered in maple syrup (oh, the times, how they have changed). I've rarely had French toast as an adult, but I've enjoyed it the times I have. Somehow, we were out of maple syrup this morning, so I substituted yogurt and raspberries. Tasty. There's nothing clever to my recipe, but:
some butter
6 slices of bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix the ingredients together and dunk both sides of a piece of thick bread in the mixture. Melt a small amount of butter in a hot pan and fry until golden brown and crisp on the outside. The mixture should coat about six pieces of bread.
On a cooking-related note, I'm slowly putting my Cooking with Anna pages back together. I'd carefully formatted everything a couple months ago, but the files were lost when my old server booted me (since I was visiting Minnesota when I made the changes, the files had been saved on my parents' computer, but they're apparently gone now). Since MT allows multiple blogs on one site, I'm currently using --basically -- the same design I have for this blog. I'll think about changing that once I've plugged in all the old pages as entries.
17 Sep 2005: Birds, birds, fake birds.
Rob very helpfully installed this bird hook for me today. It's the picture that's at a funny angle, not the hook. I bought it for just about free when I was in the States, which was very exciting, as I'd been eyeing something similar in a magazine. Only a month and a half later, and it's on the wall!
We have to sink metal, er, sinks into the wall to hang things, and since that can result in a lot of dust, I took the birds on a bit of a holiday. They were plunked just inside our open balcony door, half in the sun and half out (they chose the sunny side of the cage for a nice spot of preening). Frankie made an appearance outside the nest:
While Ira peeked inside to see what all the fuss is about:
I left them there for a while once the hook was installed, because my mom called, and if they're in the same room as me, the birds make sure they're heard in America. After a while, I had to ask my mom to wait a second, because the birds were making urgent sounding cheeps. and when I stuck my head around the corner, I could see Frankie flashing his wings and hopping around nervously.
I got up and walked to the cage and found that the fuss was over a sparrow which was sitting on the balcony, a foot away from Frankie and Ira's cage. The little sparrow (well, 'little' -- still thrice the size of the finches) sat there for another five or ten seconds while I watched. She was just staring dumbly up at the finches, probably wondering why they were allowed indoors. I took another step forward and she flew away.
It was really the funniest thing, and I wonder if the curious sparrow would have actually come inside if the birds' cage had been further away from the door. Was she attracted by their little songs? Was she passing by and noticed the tasty seeds? Judging by the finches' reaction, she definitely wasn't the visitor they were expecting. That'll teach them to call back to the birds in the park.
And, lastly, a thing that is not a bird, but tastes like one. Er. . . Fake fried chicken sandwiches. Mmmm. I picked up the summer issue of Donna Hay Magazine on half a whim the other day. There are more meat-eater recipes than I'd really like, but then I thought that there's no reason I can't adapt many of them to be used with fake meat products.
I chose the recipe for fried chicken and substituted Quorn chicken-style pieces. I wasn't sure what the end result would be, but oooooh, it's so good. We had them in sandwiches (half the pieces fell out, of course), and I think I might make a salad tomorrow with the leftovers. They'd be excellent in a wrap. Yum. Since I altered the recipe a bit, I'll put down what I used, just so I can remember later.
1 package Quorn chicken-style pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp rosemary
3 tsp paprika
2 tsp crushed chilli
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour
First, I mixed all the flours and spices and heated oil (enough to generously cover the bottom of a large pan). Then, I microwaved the 'chicken' for three minutes, since it was frozen. Dumped it all into the buttermilk and then into the strainer so it wasn't dripping. Mixed it around in the dry mixture, and put that back into the (rinsed and dried) strainer again, to tap away all the loose flour. Into the hot oil, and it had to sizzle away for only five minutes. Easy peasy.
17 Sep 2005: The Lake District -- Finally!
Okay, there are a few photos; are you ready to sit tight for a bit?
I left for Windermere after work last Friday, and since my train was only a little bit late, I managed to get to my B&B mostly on time -- about 5:30. I didn't do much that evening, but I managed to go into 'town' and have dinner by myself. I had Chinese, which would usually be taken away to eat in the privacy of one's own home, but the B&B didn't allow hot food in the rooms. Fair enough.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early (as usual) and took myself for a walk down to the lake. It couldn't have been more than a mile away, but I was expecting a very long walk, so I was surprised when I reached the end of the road so quickly. On the way, I was treated to some scenes of pastoral beauty:
Pretty nice, if you like that sort of thing. By the time I got to the lake, the sun was up and it was turning into a bright blue type of day. I appear to be cursed in this way when I go to the Lake District. People keep telling me it's a horrible rainy place, but it's been pleasant and sunny every time I've gone.
Ah, yes -- the lake. Lake Windermere is Britain's largest lake, if I remember correctly, which I find funny, as you can clearly see straight across it. Still, it's many times more beautiful than most of Minnesota's lakes, so I suppose it deserves its fame. Some lake and trees and, I dunno, mountainy things in the background:
I was back to the B&B by 8:30, which was when the breakfast portion of my B&B experience took place. Afterwards, I headed up to Ambleside on the bus. I don't have any pictures of Ambleside, as I was too busy buying fudge. From there, I headed down, past Windermere, to Bowness.
Bowness is best known to me for the ice cream, crowded pier, and innumerable shops selling absolute crap. Still, I bought a £5 children's watch from one of those crap stores (mine stopped a couple weeks ago, and I haven't found a suitable replacement), so they're not all bad. Like most of the Lake District, Bowness is also filled with outdoors stores, my new favourite of which is Hawkshead. They don't so much sell actual, practical survival supplies so much as active-type fashion, but they're pretty good at that, anyway.
I loved these natural coloured boats docked off the pier; if I ever live on a lake, I think I might get one for myself. They're availble to rent -- quite cheaply -- and I was tempted to give it a go. But then I imagined A) what I would actually look like attempting to row and B) how tired I would get after two minutes. There was also the possibility that I would get wet. No row boats for me.
Instead, I shelled out an extra pound or two more to sit on a bigger boat that somebody else was driving, filled with other people who would absorb the bulk of any water that came on board. It's a seventy minute 'tour' from Bowness up to Ambleside and back -- a very windy seventy minutes. I took many many shots of the lake and shore, most of which look like this:
Or this:
Again, nice -- if that's your kind of thing.
Oh, dear. Somebody turned this swan upside-down. How undignified. The swans in Bowness are very 'tame' and walk up to people, asking to be fed. Everybody knows that a swan wants nothing more than to break your arms with its neck (or was it break your neck with its wings?), so I stayed away from the killers.
And, the very last photo I took on my weekend away:
It's hard to believe, but this was the best of all my attempts to photograph myself. It's not a matter of framing it right (which I find very easy to do with an SLR), but rather a matter of making a non-stupid face. As you can see, I didn't really succeed. I seem to be saying, 'Oh, yeah the Lake District is super!'
Of course, it is. Even not sarcastically.
15 Sep 2005: Dusk
I will post about my weekend away, I promise. Until then, a picture from last night. During the peak of the summer, the sunsets were hidden from us behind the trees in the park. Now that things are starting to shift back, we're seeing the nice colours again.
08 Sep 2005: Adventure Pants!
Disappointingly (for you), I'm going to be away all weekend. I'm having an adventure weekend up in the Lake District, and I'm taking only what you see above (er, plus a couple other things). This includes:
-- A small daypack to pack everything in.
-- Two shirts, two pairs of socks, two pairs of brand new adventure (under)pants.
-- A fleece-lined woolly jumper Rob made me buy.
-- A jar of jam (an adventure staple).
-- A jar of Skippy Peanut butter (the first time I've seen it in the UK!).
-- A mini loaf of bread.
-- Three small apples.
-- A bag of dried fruit and a bag of mixed nuts.
-- An umbrella.
-- A book. (I plan to buy more reading material once I'm there.)
-- The necessary toiletries.
-- Clever thing to hold my wallet/passport/MP3 player/phone.
-- Train tickets.
-- Anything else I forgot to mention.
The plan is to leave after work (well, was -- I STILL managed to get 13:45 confused with 3:45 and booked my train ticket two hours early) tomorrow and return Sunday afternoon. I'm going by myself and will last the weekend without a computer of any form (unless you count the harddrive on the MP3 player).
I'm staying in a B&B, so it'll actually be a nice treat, and I probably have no need for the food I'm bringing. It just seems that I associate the Lake District with having jam sandwiches, and I wouldn't want the lack of that to ruin my weekend.
So, I'll see you in a few days -- probably with much sorer feet.
08 Sep 2005: i don't know where this craziness comes from
You can tell Ira's no good by the glint in his eye. Actually, he's a perfectly nice bird, but I'm a bit sore with him, as he pulled one of my hairs out. That's right.
See, Frankie is currently incubating a piece of ricecake (at least they're BOTH crazy!). Both he and Ira are definitely singing, dancing male finches, but it seems Frankie is longing for a family, so in lieu of an egg, he's adopted a small chunk of caramel flavoured rice-snack (he was meant to nibble it). I've watched him carefully position it under himself before settling down over it like a content hen. It's a little bit funny, a little bit sad.
Anyway, I keep trying to peer into the nest when he leaves, just to make sure he really is taking care of a rice cake, and whenever I do this, Ira flies up to the perch nearest to me. I'm used to them coming over when I'm by their cage, because I know they know I usually have treats for them. Still, Ira was sidling very close to me, so I leaned my head closer to him. Once I was near enough, he grabbed a strand of my hair with his beak and plucked it out. Into the nest he went, muttering happily to himself.
It hurt a bit, but at least it'll help keep the rice cake safe and warm.
05 Sep 2005: Oh, whew. Birds.
Frankie wanted you to know that he's been okay while the website was down. Ira too.
05 Sep 2005: Test Entry
This is a test. Movable Type, while much prettier than Greymatter, is very very much more complicated and non-intuitive (in my mind). I have to thank Rob for installing it all, otherwise I wouldn't have even got this far.
So, here's the deal with the site:
I noticed it went down Friday morning, so I e-mailed the hosting company. The helpdesk got back to me, rather nicely, and said that the machine that had been hosting it had been running at 100% the night before, which they tracked down to a script which was using 95%. The script's name? Twelve22. I didn't have any script actually named twelve22, but obviously it came from my domain (I found out that it was something in Greymatter that had gone a bit mad), so they had to switch it off.
The man very kindly said he understood it hadn't been a malicious or intended act on my part, but they had to close the account to keep the server from crashing. I had to contact the billing department to see about reactivating the account.
Billing said no-way-no-how were they going to give me my account back -- but they would credit my card for the unused services. Rob had the idea to host twelve22.org on one of our (his) machines at home, so that's currently where it is. He installed Movable Type at my request, to avoid any future problems with Greymatter.
And, now. . . I just have to figure out how to work Movable Type. Everything will probably be down for quite some time, and thingsivemade.com is missing as well (it was hosted on the same account as twelve22.org). Ignore all the style-less pages (comment forms, etc). I'll get there eventually. Ho hum.