Retreat! Again!

I haven't been producing much these days although I did get about a foot woven on my latest rug. I just seem to be so busy all the time. Most evenings, I find myself wondering where the day went. I am scheduled to finish work in a little over a month and am looking forward to some time to just get a few things done around the house. Heaven knows that things need to get done!

But in the mean time, I am heading to Nova Scotia for a Fibre Arts Retreat on Friday! The retreat in October was just a spinning retreat but this one is for all different kinds of Fibre Arts. Last year there were spinners, weavers, quilters, felters (needle only- no wet felters please) a huge amount of hookers, and a tatter or two. It was a great weekend.

This year Sarah and I are going as well as my mom. She is a hooker who has been bitten badly by the hooking bug! It should be a great weekend!

Sesame Street: Andrea Bocelli's Lullabye To Elmo

I was hanging out with James while Christine was in the kitchen making meatloaf and for some reason we started to talk about Earnie and Bert and the La La La song. You know the one. Bert sings "La La La La Lemons, La La La La Lamp Post" etc. So I found it on YouTube. And after watching it (and singing along to the best of my ability) this one came up.



I had no idea that Sesame Street expanded so much! Now I want to watch ALL the Sesame Street videos!

Which one is Easter?

Yesterday for breakfast we went to the Stanley Sugarbush for their Buffet Breakfast. Pancakes, sausages, ham, egg frittata, french toast, beans, and the cutest darn waffles that you have ever seen! Coffee, tea, cranberry and apple juice. We went with Christine's friend Kathryne and it was a good time. I went back a couple of times to get "just a little more" and as a consiquence wasn't really all that hungry for the rest of the day. Two of my cousins from Montreal came up to visit along with Ed's wife Donna, and Paul's son Michael. Listening to Ed and Paul go on was like taking a step back in time. We spent an afternoon laughing and playing "do you remember...?", and then all went out to dinner before they headed back to Montreal.

I forgot to take pictures of the cousins but I did take a few pictures of the critters at the farm because I knew that Mira would be interested.
First there were a couple of goats. One was in a pen and the other was laying in the alley apparently very unconcerned by the massive amounts of people hanging around.

 There were a number of draft horses. I don't know what kind but they were exactly what you would expect from draft horses. They were harry and large and really sent my allergy meter through the roof. No pictures of them either.

In the next barn there were birds. Like these lovely peacocks. I think that they had moulted their fancy feathers for the winter because they had very short tails.  There were four fancy boys and a very dull lady with them.

There were no chickens but there were a few turkeys. These fellows were the least offensive of the group.

Next came the Bronze turkeys. Their feathers were beautiful.

They would holler their turkey gobble and the guys in the yard would answer.

These fellows were strutting around the yard. Again there were 4 guys and one lady if the brilliant plumage was to be believed.

And I think I found out which ones were called Easter. They were the brothers with the attitude.

Bill's Big Bowl

So apparently I sparked a bit of the competitive streak in Bill when I told him that he shouldn't get his hopes up too high for his throwing class. He wanted to throw a big bowl.

I didn't scoff.

Too much.

But in the end he proved me wrong. He took to clay like a duck takes to water.

Here is is final bowl. It was 10.5 pounds of wet clay and about 14 inches across. Dried and fired it weighed 5.5 pounds and is 10.5 inches across.

Bill, what do you have to say?

James

I am in Ottawa right now hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law and getting to know my nephew a bit.

James asleep

 Being almost two months old, James spends a fair amount of time sleeping. I have managed to coax a couple of smiles out of him but he doesn't give them up easily. Hopefully when he comes to visit in the summer he will be a little more free with them. He loves lights and shadows and will calm down (sometimes) when pointed in a direction where he can see them.
It has been a while (7 years) since I have done the baby thing and some of it is coming back. I remember some of the good tricks to help calm the savage beast. The "rock\bounce\walk" and the "hum and grunt". And the knowledge that sometimes nothing much will help until they get the poop\gas out on their own.

Brazen sleeping

Being 14, the cat spends a lot of time sleeping too. She has bad hips and knees and occasionaly gets a dropperful of some really good drugs that have her staring at the lights like a college boy. She has the longest fur that I have ever seen on a cat. And surprisingly she is not bad on my allergies.

Published!

Well, actually I am going to be published. Last winter there was a call for submissions for a new Lark Book for the 500 series. It was 500 felt objects. I submitted 5 pieces along with over 1000 other pieces.  The final decision was suppose to be made by December. I heard nothing and so though that I had not been selected. Good enough, I thought.

Last week one of my collegues asked me if I had heard anything from the selection committee to which I could reply "no". She then told me that they selection committee has to take until February to decide and that letters were in the mail for those that had been selected. "Second chance!", I thought, but still didn't expect much. And Wednesday when I arrived home, there was a letter stating that I had had not one but TWO pieces selected to be in the book! There is no money involved but I do get a free book and I do get to say that I have been published!

The second image will have to wait. There seems to be some issue with blogger not wanting to upload it. Oh well. Maybe I'll make you wait until September!

Craftier and Craftier

Since the new year, Mira and Bill have been taking a night pottery class down at the Craft College. Before the class started, Bill was asking me what I thought that he should throw. Did I want bowls or mugs or something else? Having taken 2 years of clay,  most of it on the wheel,  and watched beginner class after class make monstrosities, my reply was "Anything. If you manage to throw anything half decent, I will be happy"

Well, after very little instruction (and many, many, many, youtube videos) Bill managed to make a number of very nice actually usable pieces of pottery.


Here are his three mugs. The one on the left even has fish relief on it. They were sculpted out of a slab of clay and detailed and then attached.

Here is one of his first bowls. It is about 5 inches across.

Here is one of his early vases. We will not see his first vase like thing. It is holding 5 pens and can be used to defend the house from intruders. It's a little thick. And heavy. And ugly (he agrees).

Here is a cereal bowl. Bill has also made a much, much, much, bigger bowl. Actually larger than any bowl that I have ever thrown. It is in the kiln being fired right now and will hopefully make an appearance soon. 

I think that Bill was rather taken aback by my early comment of "Don't expect too much from yourself" There is a steep learning curve when dealing with clay. Especially when working with clay on a wheel. He was determined that he would take command of the clay and show it who's boss, so to speak. And to show me that he would do just fine thankyouverymuch! And he did.

More Learning about Travel

Today I learned about getting bumped off a flight.
I was suppose to get on a 6:30 am flight to Ottawa to go visit my sister, her husband, and most importantly, my new nephew!
Early morning travel means getting up early. Did that. I was at the airport in plenty of time. Did the whole check the baggage thing and was directed to go here and there for various security checks. Had my bag swabbed. I think it may have been the combination of a bunch of batteries, loose change, puffers, and the metal coils on my yaktracks that had my bag looking suspicious. He almost seemed surprised when the swab came out clean. I asked him what he was looking for and he said "explosives". He then let me through and I proceeded to wait for my boarding call. The flight ahead of us was delayed a bit and so were we. Fine, no worries.
After the Toronto flight left, the fellow came on the intercom and said that our flight was over weight and he needed 5 people to take a later flight. None of the luggage was going on and it was still too heavy. Apparently the problem was in Ottawa. It was the "weather" and the pilot wanted to ensure that he had enough fuel to circle the airport for hours or land somewhere else. I talked to my sister after I got home and she said that the weather was a few tiny flakes of snow now and again. "I wouldn't even call the flurries!"
In any case, no one volunteered to go later (big surprise) and they started boarding people. When I got there, he looked at my ticket and said, "stand over there please" And so I waited as he let more people on board and told a couple of other people to wait also. Wondering why, I asked a few questions. One woman suggested that it was because we didn't "reserve" our seats. Maybe it was because I didn't "check in" on-line the day before. Any one have any other explanation why me? Or ideas to ensure that it doesn't happen again?
In any case the next available flight would have been this evening and about 8:30ish. And it was going through Toronto. Not being a seasoned traveler, I didn't want to have to deal with transferring in Toronto. I have heard that it is a nightmare and didn't really want to experience it first hand. The next direct flight (there being only one a day from Fredericton to Ottawa) was next week. So I am delayed a week. Having told my story to several people, they all agree that Toronto is a great place to avoid as far as transfers go, but Montreal is fine. I did get a $200 travel voucher to use against the cost of the next flight that I want to take. Next time I will endeavour to be more adventuress and go via Montreal. But I hope to never be bumped again.