Day 19: Winners!

I was busy today again and did begin baking. Not Selma’s goodies yet, but I did get two batches of shortbread made.

The first was a fairly common recipe that I made especially  for cousin S, as she is on her last week of work before retiring and is tired.

 These were the ones with white flour, granulated sugar and butter, plus a bit of vanilla. Very good, indeed! As you can see, that recipe made four dozen, although there are a few less now. 🙂

And then I made the Scottish oat flour ones I shared the recipe for recently. But I doubled the oat flour and halved the rice flour. They are also very good, delicious, in fact, but the oat flour has made them a bit too textured for us. So I shall ‘have’ to make another batch and go back to the recipe and follow instructions. How hard can that be?

 

But I know what you really want to hear: who has won a small ornament? Well, that was easy, as it turned out . . . only five people left comments, so each of you is a Winner! But we knew that already . . .

And the winners are:

Marlene of “In Search of it All” I’ve been reading Marlene’s posts for several years now, and have learned much from her, especially when it comes to facing the challenges of life. Her positive attitude inspires me every time I visit. Marlene’s interest in books and stitching are only some of the things that make me feel connected to her.

Jessie of “Twinny Acres” and “Rabid Little Hippy” Jessie’s been too busy to post for some time now, but her past posts are well worth reading. I connected with Jessie years ago, too, and am grateful for my introduction to permaculture via her posts. She led me on to other blogs where I continue to learn about this and more. Jessie crochets, too, and has learned to do things I dream of learning, like making cheese and soap and all that.

Jan of “The Snail of Happiness” Jan is another inspiring writer and makes me think about the impact of some of my choices. I have been thinking about choices and consequences for decades now, but there is always more to think about and new choices to be made. I was doubly delighted to see her name come up, as I earlier won a prize from her! Soup, Socks and Baking are a few of the things we have in common.  Also, Jan’s Thankful on Thursday posts have inspired me at times to write my own.

Selma from “Eclectic Home & Life” I have been following Selma for years, too. A few years ago, 2014, I think it was, she held a series of crochet classes in her home and invited anyone online who wished to join in. I was the only online participant and it was so much fun (except tat I never once got to taste any of her delightful Norwegian treats. Selma made one of these for each week’s participants. We have Norwegian backgrounds in common (Selma is from Norway, but lives in England), also crochet,  knits, loves traditions, baking and more.

and last, but not least,

Jon of “Writing House” I connected with Jon’s blog years ago, too; then, as my life became more complex, I stopped visiting many of the blogs i was following and his was one of those. Not a conscious choice, by any means. Jon has a knack for wordplay that I enjoy very much. He is an author, but I have yet to read any of his works. One day, when I am reading print books again.

 

Runners-Up:

There were two people who ‘liked’ my post but did not leave a comment. So I have decided to make them a wee something, too. They are:

Sue Dreamwalker from “Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary“, “A Dreamwalker’s Thoughts”  and “Dreamwalker’s Garden” I have followed Sue for years, too, although sometimes I have forgotten to get over and read her posts. I especially like the Sanctuary posts and feel that I have much in common with Sue. Her latest post on a holiday to Oban with her husband really resonated with me.

and

Ina Vucik of “Croatia, the War and the Future” Ina has been an activist for some years now. I have known people who had to leave Croatia because of the war and the poor economy. Ina’s blog is very informative, if you have an interest in that area of the world, its history and its future.

I have email addresses for all of you lovely readers except for Jon and Sue, so if you could drop me a line at maelinne (at) hotmail (dot) com, I’ll have a few questions for you. You may put “Winner” in the subject line; it will help me to find them in the midst of all the daily mail.

As to the rest of you, I’ll be sending an email either tomorrow or the next day. Now, I DO know it’s nearly Christmas, so there is no rush on responding. I do understand.

Your gifts will be created after Christmas and I will post when I mail them, as well as emailing each of you. I’m quite excited about doing this, more than I expected, but I am wondering why I chose a time so close to Christmas . . . oh, right, it was the 500th post!

Thanks to everyone for leaving a comment; I so appreciate your taking part.!

I am re-posting a photo of the pocket scarf, as Jill from “Nice Piece of Work” has said she isn’t getting them where she lives. That may be due to them being a larger pixel size or whatever you call it . . .

On the right is the front, showing how I am working in the new colour; on the left is the back, with an extra skein of yarn stuffed in the opening so you can see the pocket. The bottoms have yet to be finished, as I’ve decided to do a few rows of the new colour and then stitch them closed. I do envy people who live lives of simplicity <sigh>  🙂

All right, music . . .

Christmas in Vienna 1999 by The Three Tenors

Duelling Banjos with Joe Brown and Richard Collins

and a little-known Canadian group, Shanneyganock, from St. John’s, Newfoundland, singing “Grey Foggy Day”

Wishing you sunshine and harmony today. Love ~ Linne

 

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Day 18: Musing about Mishaps on Monday

This is Sunday the 17th and at midnight I shall close commenting on the Day 5 post. Tomorrow I will put names of all commenters in a festive container and pull five. Those lucky people will receive a small ornament (not necessarily a Christmas ornament, I know some of you don’t celebrate Christmas. I’ll be contacting the winners and you may specify then. So DO go and leave me your name, will you? It doesn’t matter to me if you are a long-time follower or someone new who just happened upon this space.  ‘Everyone is welcome to participate.

Musing is a good work, I think. I did think of others first, but they weren’t alliterative enough. Good thing, too. 🙂 ‘Moody’ might have been a tad closer to the mark.  I’ll get to that . . .

Today the cousins made stew for the next five days’ suppers in the crockpot. It smells as good as it looks. I was not involved this time and there were no mishaps.

But I made the dessert for tonight and tomorrow: Selma’s Mocha Roulade.. Back in 2015, Selma was holding crochet  lasses at her home and online followers were invited to join in, which I did.  She was teaching new stitches every week and often shared photos of the participants; work on her blog and on facebook. My red striped ripple cushion is shown on this page and three down is a corner of one of my blankets. It was such fun! And every week Selma baked a special treat for everyone to have with their tea or coffee. It was the only feature I had to miss out on . . .  😦

Sometimes ‘winging it’ works out quite well . . .

The recipe for the Mocha Roulade is what I linked to above, though. And this is how it went today . . . this is a recipe that I follow pretty closely, in spite of my tendency to follow wild flights of fancy when in the kitchen. I separated the eggs, but partway through realized I had dumped the yolks in with the whites due to being distracted by my thoughts. Arrgghhhh  I took one of the eggshell halves and attempted to fish them out, breaking one in the process. As I’m sure you know, egg white will not whip in the presence of any fat and egg yolks are fatty. In the end, I put the egg whites into a container to use in my baking this week and began again with four more eggs. (two of the yolks had made it into the proper dish).  And then I got out the stick blender and began whipping them. Part of them whipped, but the rest did not. I’m not sure why. I even added a pinch of salt and 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar as both are helpful when whipping egg whites. Finally Cousin  S came to see how it was going, took pity on me and whipped them up in the KitchenAid bowl. I don’t like using other people’s expensive machines, so tend to do things as I always have, by hand.

Then I cut the parchment to go in the pan. But this was a glass pan with sloping sides, so the parchment wouldn’t stay put. I took it out creased it, tore it a bit, got another piece and finally had something that would sort of work.

After I removed the baked sponge from the oven, I did manage to turn it out onto the fresh parchment without mishap. Just . . . I managed to roll it, but it was on the thick side, as the pan was a bit too narrow for this. It makes me miss my own tools and supplies so much . . . And having my own kitchen, with things where I can find them easily.

 

As seen from one end

 

So, once it was cool and I unrolled it, it looked like the photo above.  But I persevered. I’m nothing if not stubborn . . . or should I say ‘single-minded’?

 

 

 

 Cousin S kindly used the KitchenAid to whip the cream, too, and that went well. I spread most of it on the sponge.

Doesn’t that look tempting? And can you see the potential problem? Yes, it’s just too narrow to roll up again. But I went forward bravely and added the halved grapes; I’d cut enough for the size I usually make . . .

Well, I forgot to photograph the Roulade in its finished state, I guess. So half of it is already gone somewhere in this picture . . .  I’d held back some of the whipped cream and some of the grapes, as I’d planned to decorate the top of my ‘log’ once it was rolled up. But we added those to our servings and enjoyed them anyway.  The good thing about this sort of kitchen mishap is that it’s all edible, in the end.

The Roulade was pronounced a definite success and cousin S, who is not partial to grapes, had a second helping, which I think is a great compliment.

This is much like a Jelly Roll, but has no flour in it, so it is perfect for people who hae Celiac disease or are simply gluten-intolerant. It is very light, so a perfect complement to a filling winter meal. I hope you try it; if so, do let Selma know how you liked it.

I will be baking some of Selma’s Christmas cookies/biscuits this coming week and will share my experiences with you. And I need to get a move on with the making of gifts. I bought three stockings at the dollar store yesterday (Saturday) and have been planning what to do with them. They don’t need decorating, just filling.

 I have some cranberries, too, so I need to pop some popcorn and get out a needle and thread, to . . .  This photo is from the internet, and it shows cranberry strings exactly like the ones I used to make. I don’t know if we will use them indoors or put them outside for the birds’ Christmas feast. I’ve always liked how these look; the handmade thing is definitely ‘me’!

I shall be posting some news on New Year’s Day, my friends, so watch for that. I still can’t believe that a week from Monday will be 2018!

Are you making resolutions? I am . . .  I like making them and I don’t beat myself up if I don’t achieve them. I always manage to master at least a few and I do find that setting goals moves me a step or two closer to the realization.

Well, this is good . . . it’s only 10.30 on Sunday night and all I have to do is find some music to share. I think I’m going to go with classic carols from here to Christmas Eve. And something else for those of you who have different celebrations at mid-winter.

Here are three hours of Christmas carols, all instrumentals, so you can start it playing and then go on with your last-minute making, baking, wrapping, or  . . .

Tears are Not Enough by Northern Lights, a super-group formed of many of Canada’s top performers. The lyrics are”

As every day goes by
How can we close our eyes
Until we open up our hearts

We can learn to share
And show how much we care
Right from the moment that we start

Seems like overnight
We see the world in a different light
Somehow our innocence is lost

How can we look away
‘Cause every single day
We’ve got to help at any cost

We can bridge the distance
Only we can make the difference
Don’t ya know that tears are not enough

If we can pull together
We could change the world forever
Heaven knows that tears are not enough

It’s up to me and you
To make the dream come true
It’s time to take our message everywhere

C’est l’amour qui nous rassemble
D’ici a l’autre bout du monde
Let’s show them Canada still cares
You know that we’ll be there

If we should try together you and I
Maybe we could understand the reasons why
If we take a stand every woman, child and man
We can make it work for God’s sake lend a hand

Mu favourite garage band ever: The Travelling Wilburys. singing End of the Line

“Well, it’s all right, even if you’re old and gray,

Well, it’s all right, you’ve still got something to say . . .”  and so we do . . .

 Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison. I wish they had had time to create more than two albums (they made Volume One and Volume Three;  there was no Volume Two; it was a sort of in joke and it makes me laugh.)

Have a lovely day today, my friends; I wish you Sunlight and Serenity.  ~ Linne

 

Day 16: A Second Story for Saturday

Before I begin, I’d like to remind you, if you haven’t been here for a while, that if you leave a comment on the Day 5 post celebrating my 500th post, your name will go in the bag for my giveaway draw.

Another Travel Story:

Last week I shared my story of a rather amazing trip I took a few decades ago. Well, ten years later, I made a similar trip. I had inherited some money and one thing I did for myself was to return to Virginia in June. No camping this time; I love camping, but I wanted something different. So I booked one night in a hotel, but nothing else. I was prepared to camp again if I had to. Plan Z, I call it, this ‘what I will do if all else fails’. I’ve never had to implement a Plan Z, but I feel better when I have one.

This time, getting there was much of the adventure: It was significantly cheaper to fly from SeaTac (between Seattle and Tacoma) than from Vancouver, BC. So I offered to pay my younger son and his girlfriend enough for them to have a weekend away for a change and they drove me to the airport. Well, we decided to leave a bit early and stop for breakfast on the way. Except we forgot it was Sunday and we were on the freeway. In the end, we left the freeway and finally found a place that was open. After a more hurried breakfast than we’d have liked, we resumed our trip. Traffic was bad and we were held up a few times, possibly due to accidents. In the end we arrived at the airport at exactly the time my plane was due to take off. I wasn’t worried, and I told the ‘kids’ so; I urged them to go on their way, reminding them that things have a way of working out for me. But my daughter-in-law was not budging. She insisted on staying with the car and sent my son with me to make sure I was ok. When we got to the desk, we found that the plane had not taken off, due to problems with the landing gear . . . So they checked me in and we said goodbye and my son left, likely still worried a bit.

Things continued to unfold . . . because I was so late, they had given away my seat and there was nothing left in the economy class, where I usually fly. But there was room in first class. Hmmmm

I had a comfy seat similar to this.

And apparently I was to be treated as well as if I had paid for it. Nice. Only, I had a very sore throat (I used to get laryngitis frequently back then) and was unable to swallow anything but some warm water. I could have had a drink or two otherwise.

We sat on the tarmac for several hours, then were asked to disembark, as the problem with the landing gear was still not solved. No worries; I didn’t really want to fly with flaky landing gear, anyway. Although I did love the leg room!

So off we went; me holding back because some passengers were in a huge rush; they were trying to get to New York or other big cities where they had to catch a connecting flight to Europe or the like.

By the time I arrived at the booking desk, the poor staff looked so stressed; passengers were upset and shoving, raising their voices and so on. I felt that if I missed the evening sign-in at the conference, it wasn’t the end of the world; if they missed a connection, it might be the end for them. So when I got to the head of the line, I told the young woman that I didn’t have to be in Virginia exactly on time, so long as I got there eventually. And I told her she could send me anywhere, the more unique the place, the better, as I do love an adventure! Her relief and gratitude were almost tangible. So she booked me through to Minneapolis, where I would stay in the Embassy Suites hotel. Now that’s a very nice hotel and it really was a suite. I ordered room service for my supper, as I’d not had lunch and it was late in the evening by then.

My suite was even nicer than this!

After a good night’s sleep I took time to look out my window. Across the street was a huge military graveyard, with row upon row of white crosses. The sight has stayed with me all these years.

Shortly after, I went down to the dining room for my complimentary breakfast. Some of you may have stayed in places like this, but I hadn’t; there was a large room with cooking and serving stations all around in an oval shape. I could have had a Korean breakfast, a Japanese breakfast . . . you get the idea.

Much like this, but all around the dining room.

Then it was time to return to the airport and continue on my way. The flight went smoothly and I was soon landing at Norfolk. I forgot to tell you last week that on my first flight here a decade before we flew through a huge lightning and thunder storm. It felt like being on a roller coaster; lucky for me I love roller coasters! But we made it safely and the sight of lightning flashing all around was truly spectacular.

Like this, only redder . . .

I spent my first night in the fancy hotel, on the 17th floor, in a room that faced East. I left the curtains open and woke to the most incredible sunrise ever; a huge red sun rising out of the Atlantic Ocean, right in front of my eyes! I shall never forget the sight.

The next day I learned that there was a beach cottage informally called the Canadian Cottage and that one of the ladies had been unable to come at the last minute. I was offered her room and, of course, accepted. It was right next to the beach and when we crossed the street to the west, we were at the conference. I suppose one could call this serendipity at its best.

I had a great time, renewing acquaintances from the previous trip (the couple I’d stayed with before had moved out of state, so I was unable to visit them) and meeting new people. This time, thanks to my inheritnce, I was able to be more supportive of the organization and I bought a few souvenirs and some raffle tickets.

Did I mention that I had booked this flight for three weeks, also? I did. and I met the nicest volunteer there and we hit it off immediately. She invited me to stay with her for the last two weeks and we had such a good time, visiting historic sites and places of interest to me.  The only hitch was spending a day at the beach when it was very overcast, but warm. My new friend fell asleep and I was reluctant to wake her. I ended up with the worst sunburn I’d ever had. Fortunately, this was the day before I had to go back to BC, so it didn’t spoil my visit. But three days later you could still feel the heat in my arm.

Historic Cape Henry Lighthouse, Virginia

There is more to this story, but I’ll continue it either next Saturday or the one after that.

I wish you all some time for relaxation and creativity today.

Music:  I’ve been enjoying Selma’s posts on Norwegian Nisse, and I always think of dwarves as larger cousins of the Nisse. Here is Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt. This is the first piece of classical music I ever heard and I still recall how vividly the images of dwarves marching underground were in my mind’s eye. It’s a bit rousing, so here is an antidote, also by Grieg:

Morning Mood

 

Day 8: Five by Five on Friday

Hello, again; it’s been so long since I wrote, hasn’t it? (at least 20 minutes!) But I was just informed that Cousin M and I are going to Vernon tomorrow to shop, so it means up a bit earlier than I’ve been managing lately and less time during the day to get things (like knitting) done. Of course I will take my scarf and try to finish it on the drive; it’s over a half hour each way, so that’s good. So no blog-hopping tonight, sorry. I may have time tomorrow evening. We’ll see.

And so I have been wracking my brains over what to write about for Friday. I think it’s going to be Five Lists  for Friday. Because I do love lists . . .

A) Female writers who changed my thinking and my life . . .

1. Tasha Tudor, author and illustrator, who lived as though she’d been born in the 1830s, weaving the cloth for her dresses, making her own candles and soap, raising her own food and much more.
2. Keri Hulme, of New Zealand, who wrote The Bone People. Not an easy read at times, but a beautiful use of language and story-telling. She addresses some difficult issues.
3. Zenna Henderson, who wrote the few books about The People. They make me think about how we react to those who are different and to their gifts, too.
4. Ursula K LeGuin, whose books also changed my thinking; more accurately, showed me different ways of thinking and also to question what I think of as ‘normal’. The Left Hand of Darkness in particular, for questioning gender and gender roles. She wrote the A Wizard of Earthsea books, too. Also thought-provoking.
5. Vonda N. McIntyre, for Dreamsnake in particular and also for Of Mist, And Grass, And Sand.

That’s five, but I can’t leave off Andre Norton, whose book Star Rangers I read at age ten. I have read nearly everything she wrote, but Star Rangers remains the most important to me, as it exposed me to thoughts about racism and racial harmony.

B) Male writers who changed my thinking and my life:

1. Robert A. Heinlein, for his children’s books first and later his more adult novels. I don’t always agree with him, but I love that he is so thought-provoking.
2. Ray Bradbury, for everything he ever wrote. Mostly for The Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine.
3. Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian author. I love all his books, but most of all, The Lions of Al-Rassan. His characters and plots are subtle and complex and he never fails to surprise me by some twist of plot or change in character. And his use of language . . .
4. Louis Bromfield, whose Malabar Farm introduced me to ecological ideas about farming and whose house-building inspired me. He (with an architect)  started with the original small farmhouse, then built on additions to look as though they had been added over many years.
5. J R R Tolkien, whose The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings will be a part of me forever. I read these four books to my boys half a dozen times or more, the firs time when the older=st was four and a half and the younger one not yet born.

And I can’t forget Zane Grey and Albert Payson Terhune, the former for his stirring plots and colourful descriptions, the latter for his love of dogs. I first loved Collies because of his books.

C) Musicians who have changed my thinking and my life:

1. Runrig, for their love of family, country and their own culture; for the beauty of their songs; for the way their words and melodies have touched me deeply.
2. Phil Ochs,  for standing up for what he thought was right.
3. Pete Seeger, for the same and also for his love of music and fun.
4. Woody Guthrie, for more of the same . . . especially for The Hobo’s Lullaby
5. Buffy Sainte-Marie, ditto

Looking at this list, I can see the sameness in my favourite singers, although I do like other genres, too.

D) Artists whose work I love

1. Maxfield Parrish
2. M C Escher
3. Emily Carr
4. A Y Jackson, The Group of Seven
5. Jackson Pollock. I came to understand his work through Ed Harris’ wonderful depiction of him

E) Poets who have influenced me

1. Gerard Manley Hopkins. I still have the book of his poetry that I bought when I was in uni and I still love his work. He introduced me to a different approach to words and rhythm in poetry.
2. John Masefield
3. Emily Dickinson
4. Pauline Johnson
5. Walt Whitman

I wanted to add photos and more details of why I chose these particular people, but I’m out of time now. If you have questions, do ask in the comments section and I;ll do my best to answer them.

Music for the day:

2 Cellos playing Benedictus live in Zagreb, a lovely piece.

I wish you all a day of Peace, Light and Harmony.  ~ Linne

p.s. In case you missed it, I’m having a Give-away! Check out Day 5 . . .

Day 5: 500th Post Giveaway!

Hello, my friends! I realized yesterday that today would be my 500th post. (I began this late on the 5th but it won’t be posted until early on the 6th. I really need to get back in front of the ball . . .)

The Snail of Happiness had a giveaway for her 1001st post and I am one of the winners. Not sure yet what my gift will be, but I’m excited about it. She has inspired me to celebrate my own progress and so I’m offering a small hand-made Christmas ornament to each of the first five people whose names I draw. To enter, leave a comment below including at least one of the following in your comment (feel free to include all five; the more I know, the better):

1. what you like best about Christmas
2. your favourite Christmas symbol
3. your favourite Christmas song  or carol
4. your favourite Christmas food and/or drink
5. the word you associate most with Christmas

I will use at least one of your answers to guide me when creating your gift.

I do wish I could send each of you something useful, like a $500 bill, but that’s not in my budget yet. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were?   🙂

So it will be an ornament and I do hope you will like it.

This is open to everyone, no matter where you live, by the way.

If you do not celebrate Christmas, no worries; change ‘Christmas’ to the name of whatever holiday you do celebrate and I will take that into account.

I will close commenting on this post at midnight Pacific Time (BC, Canada, time) on Sunday, the 17th of December (this will be the 18th to some of you) and on Monday I will put all the names into a festive container and select five. I will email each recipient with the good news and to get your address.

I appreciate each one of you, especially as I was absent so much over the past couple of years. Thanks for hanging in there in spite of the irregularity of my posting.

May you find Peace, Comfort and time for Reflection today and every day.

And for today:  “My Wish For You”

Love and Light to each of you.  ~ Linne

 

Update on the Poppies

Good evening, my friends! Much has been going on here, what with Canadian Thanksgiving and all that. But I have managed to complete eleven poppies and will be airmailing them to Kendal tomorrow (see my last post for more details); fingers crossed that they arrive in time for the display! These are for the display planned by the group called Kendal Wool Gathering, to commemorate WWI anniversaries. They have a facebook page, if you are interested. It’s a bit late now to be making poppies for them (due date for arrival in Kendal is 30th of October) but you may wish to make a few poppies for your own community. Any poppies sent to Kendal with pins on the back are being sold as brooches to raise money for the Royal British Legion. I suggest we all think a bout making some for next year, when we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War. I am hoping our Women’s Institute will have some events planned, but have not contacted them yet to find out.

I made eleven because, as I’m sure you know, the Armistice was signed at 11.00 am on the 11th day of the 11th month.

There is some symbolism in these for me personally, too, as there were my parents and nine children in our family; the three red poppies are for my Dad and his brother and one of Mum’s brothers, all of whom served in WWII. The group as a whole is to honour the man I worked for in the late 1980s, Mr. Brown; he served during WWI, but was stationed in the Caribbean Sea in case of attack. He saw no action, fortunately. However, his brother was one of the 3,598 Canadians who died at Vimy Ridge between the ninth and the twelfth of April, 1917.

If I have time, I want to make a poppy scarf using mostly the white Peace Poppies and a few red traditional poppies. If not this year, then next year for sure, which will mark 100 years since the end of WWI.

I have permission to link to the pattern for these poppies. The designer is Emma Leith, of Emma Leith Atelier, who has been more than kind in taking time to respond to my emails. That link will take you to her site and to the poppy pattern that she designed and offers for free.

With her permission, I have adapted that pattern to make my own Peace Poppies. Remember that they are white with a black centre? I tried that, but it looked like this:

I felt it needed something, so I tried this:

I like this one much better. I still used Emma’s pattern, but I used white for the last two rows, leaving the second row red. For me, this honours those who shed their blood, or at lest offered to do so, while still holding to the thought of Peace on this earth in our time. I haven’t written up my version for Ravelry yet, but I will do so. It will be linked to Emma’s pattern and will also be free.

Oh, one other change I made and it’s certainly optional for anyone else: I used Judy’s Magic Cast On. It gives the option of a tighter centre, but also means that the petals can become a bit more ruffled. In part, for me, that may be due to my using a rather ‘hard’ acrylic yarn. With a softer yarn, the result may be quite different.

Well, my friends, I’m going to keep this short. I’ve been up to rather a lot lately, which is why you haven;t heard from me as often as I’d hoped. Lots of creating going on here and more about to begin! Not to mention that, in honour of ‘Anticipation 301’ I’m giving advance notice of a HUGE PROJECT in the works for next year. Hints to come and then the Great Reveal!! I’m so excited! It’s lovely to be happy and excited again; it seems as though it’s been forever.

before I go, though, one last thing. I know that some of you have been facing great challenges in one form or another. You are all in my thoughts and prayers; in particular anyone near the horrific fires in California. I still haven’t unpacked my ‘go-bag’ from our fires here. I know how so many must be feeling, living with the uncertainty. I can only imagine how it is for those who have lost their homes or, worse, family members. I wish you strength and courage for the coming days and months.

I have been saddened by the Las Vegas shootings, too, and I hope none of you have been directly affected. One of my daughters-in-law had a business trip scheduled for Vegas two days after the shooting, but in the end was unable to go. In light of all the challenges out there, including the political facings-off, with Tom Petty’s death, I was reminded of one of my favourite songs that he did (the background to this song is on YouTube under the video and well worth reading):

Good night, dear friends. I shall attempt to respond to comments before too long. (But I do have a couple more posts to write, so those may come first). Warm hugs from rapidly-cooling BC.

Poppy Project/s

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, “Mother, what was war?” ~Eve Merriam.

Hello, my friends! Now (as of today) it’s officially autumn. Attention is shifting from gardening, harvesting and ‘putting by’ to crafting.  At least mine is . . .

Yesterday I saw a post on fb about the Kendal Poppies project to honour those who served in WWI. Apparently similar projects are happening in other towns, too.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/KendalPoppies/

If you don;t do facebook, you can read about it here:

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/15530088.Poppy_pop_up_art_installation_to_be_created_for_Kendal_Wool_Gathering/

Sara Last, who is mentioned in the article, has created a group on fb for anyone interested in taking part.

I have made two poppies already today:

Luckily, I had bought some red and black yarn yesterday (inexpensive acrylic) for making some Christmas items I hope to sell. After reading about the meaning of the different coloured poppies, I went back today and picked up a skein of white, too. Inspired by Mother Teresa, I am no longer anti-war; I am pro-peace, so most of my poppies will be white. with a black centre; I plan to try out a black centre, narrow red band surrounding that, then white petals. To learn more about the various colours, go to

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-37798965/red-white-purple-black-choosing-a-remembrance-day-poppy

I am using a pattern that was posted to the group and have asked the designer for permission to post it here. I’m sure she won’t mind, but am waiting for confirmation.

If any of you knitters and crocheters out there would like to take part, your contributions will be most welcome. They are hoping to cover a WWI medical tent by spreading camouflage netting over it and attaching the poppies to that.  The initial display will be on 20 October, I think, so that gives us time, especially for those of us who don’t live in England. The poppies will be used for Remembrance Day, too, (and I think some may be sold), then donated to Wonderwool Wales for their curtain.

http://www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk/show-events/curtain-of-poppies.html

There are patterns for both knitted and crocheted poppies in the group, so likely online, too. If you don’t do either, but want to take part, they will accept other forms of crafted poppies. Felt, woven, stitched, etc.

Well, back to crochet for me! I’ll update this post later with my creations.

Oh, one more thing: I am contacting a local yarn shop or two and the local Women’s Institute (Mum was a member for years and I was, too, but not for as long) to see if anything is planned here that I might contribute to. You might want to do the same where you are. Love and Light to each of you. I wish you all Inner Peace. ~ Linne

 

3 quotes in 3(?) days/periods of time/weeks/???

. . . but hopefully not 3 aeons . . .

I have been nominated by my loving friend, Pauline, The Contented Crafter, which is a good thing, as now I will post ‘something’ at least. I’ve been rather busy with one thing and another lately and most lax about posting and responding to comments. Again, my apologies. And to quote a poster my Mum had up for some time: “if it’s not one thing, it’s your Mother!” Anyway . . .

I don’t know how regular these will be; we have the Celebration of Life for my Aunty this coming Saturday and family members are coming from all over, which is nice, but means I likely won’t see the computer much for a wee bit. When the dust settles . . .

My first quote is from a woman who has inspired me for many years. In the spirit of Gandhi, she owned only  the clothes on her back, a notebook and pencil. No money. She walked across the USA  at least eight times and if you added the partial trips, some say up to thirty times or more. She was flown to Hawai’i and Alaska so she could walk there, too. In 1952 she changed her name to ‘Peace Pilgrim’ and began walking for Peace. She did this until she died nearly thirty years later. She vowed to walk until offered shelter and to fast until offered food and she kept those vows. Her words and writings are available free, thanks to a group of her friends/followers who keep them published. Donations are not necessary, but are accepted with thanks if anyone is moved to help with that mission.

You can read about her here: Peace Pilgrim and her writings are online here: Peace Pilgrim book in seven languages.

One of my favourite quotes from her work is:

Many of you, no doubt all of you, have your daily life challenges. In the midst of all that, I wish you Peace as it is defined here.

More to come and thank you, Pauline (I think 🙂  No, seriously, thank you!).  ~ Linne

And my favourite Peace song: Let There Be Peace On Earth, and Let It Begin With Me

I’ve created a Petition to prevent Mining the Moon

After reading Lois’ post on Living Simply Free, I was moved to go to Change.org and start a petition. If it gets over 100,000 signatures, Congress must take it into consideration. Not much, I know, but if enough people sign, there’s a chance of stopping this madness.

(Lois, if you read this, I ‘borrowed’ the photo of the moon from your post. Hope you don’t mind. I have one taken with my iPhone, but it’s not very impressive; the moon came out way too small.)

If you think that Mining the Moon is Madness, please consider signing. The link below will take you to the petition. Thanks in advance.  ~ Linne

(Note: You will see that my given name is on the petition, not my preferred Villager nickname of Linne. Just in case that confuses anyone)

The President of the United States: Don’t allow mining on the Moon!

More info on Monsanto for all you bolshie activists . . .

Here is a blog with tonnes of information, along with lots of links. I believe in the quote:

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have . . .  this is a good start, I think.

http://eslkevin.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/more-news-on-mo-mo-the-mosanto-monster-and-related-marches-etc/#comment-20501