Thrift shop find

I was in search of a black leather jacket to replace the one Casey the perfect dog ripped when this caught my eye

Several text messages with Stashaholic later and I brought the sad wheel home. She needs some work, and some parts, but I'm anxious to get to know her.  She certainly inspires the creativity I called into my life for this year.

Well hell

I said I'd be around more and showed up less. I'm scheduling things a bit differently. Time on the laptop is for writing and minimal play. The tablet and phone are for playtime but then the Olympics happened. I couldn't get excited about them for a lot of political and controversial reasons. The IOC is never going to change. Corruption and controversy will dog them until people demand a change. I wasn't boycotting. I support our athletes. I donate to their funding, shop at their sponsors and cheer loud.  On Day 6, I got sucked in and never looked back.

At the beginning of the year, I had decided to knit myself a top as part of the Olympic viewing spree. I cobbled together three patterns and bought the yarn.  I worked on it while watching other things.  I had five inches of red Maple Leaf lace by the time I did join the rest of the country in Olympic-mania.  It's a complicated pattern and men's hockey caused me to rip out five out of every seven rows I knitted.

More ridiculous stuff happened at home that required an incredible amount of my attention.  Everyone survived. But it turns out I wasn't sleeping on my arm wrong. I had dislocated my elbow, pinched a nerve and got tendonitis there.  No more knitting. No more typing and really no more using the left arm until it heals.  Progress has been made. Today, I scratched my ear when it itched. 

I can type one-handed on my tablet so I have been using it more often.  I can write with pen and paper so I should finish section three this week. The Olympics are over so I can wear something other than red and white, turn the television off during the day and go back to rooting for my favourite players(they played for their home country. Imagine that)

I'm going back to posting One Good Thing.  Maybe not every day, although I do still keep track at the end of the day, quietly and to myself.  But at least once a week. 

Because it's important to remember that flowers grow even in gardens of stone.

Catching up

The idea of being creative this year has not extended to the blog.  I've been writing every day but get easily distracted so I've been using pen and paper. When I get near the computer, Doctor Who sucks me in. For someone who had never seen a single episode until Christmas Day, I'm addicted.

One of the other things that I really want to accomplish this year is to stop apologizing.  It's not that I don't think my opinions, beliefs and actions are invalid so much as I don't like to offend people or prosthelytize. There's a reason we don't all think the same way.  Regardless, I'd prefer to have discussions or lead through example.  I've been working on it.

Today was less than exciting, I cleaned out the bedroom closet, and mended a huge stack of clothes that had taken over a corner of my bedroom.  Fascinating stuff there.  Apparently, about 15 years ago, I was awash in beige.  Or olive green.  Perhaps the occasional washed out blue that no one notices.  Even the multi-coloured clothes were pastel. I remember being pastel.  I was surrounded by loud jewel-toned people.  I thought being pastel gave depth to the view.

Funny thing about colours. They can change your mood. Feeling blah?  Throw on a red shirt. Or neon yellow. How about bright orange?  My closet looks a bit more Benetton now.  It's odd that I'm still wearing a blouse I wore thirty years ago but cannot fit into one that's only two years old. Clothes, and styles, are so different now.  I'm irritated that I donated a hat to Goodwill on the last purge simply because I hadn't worn it in ten years. I want to wear it now. I'm in that style in this moment. Plus, I have such great memories of buying that hat in a shop in Charlottetown and my grandma giving me grief for wasting my money. I told her it reminded me of her father's driving cap.  She still thought I was wasteful but had good taste.

I'm in a bit of quiet time at home while my brain sorts out new patterns and behaviours. They're not quite set enough to take out for a spin in the world so I putter here in the meantime.  It's the beginning of February and I've been quite productive so far.  I'll endeavour to get over here more often.

What have you been up to?

Niagara Icewine Festival in Jordan

All's well

Sorry I've been absent. My dad passed out last weekend, hit his head and needed stitches.  The ER doctor thought passing out while reading a book was out so he ordered tests. It turns out Dad’s heart stopped so they kept him until they could put in a pacemaker.

Yep, it was a rough week but honestly,  it went as well as something like that could go. He wasn't alone, he was treated right away and the procedure went well.  It's amazing that sticking wires in a heart is commonplace and no big deal these days.

Last year's daily good things helped me get through this week. There were many blessings,  helpful people and support. We had some good laughs, everyone is in good spirits and incredibly grateful. Mom and I found a really good routine. The dogs were confused a bit but liked all the extra attention.

The Littles came by the other night and filled the house with laughter and hugs. The Leafs won, twice. We're all back under the same roof and healthier than can be expected.  Even if it's not what we expected, life is good.

By-products

I'm making sweater boots for my nieces.  We haven't seen each other in a few weeks so not much progress has been made on that front.  I need their little feet in front of me.

We did cut the sleeves off their sweaters so I looked at them and thought - vests!

Here they are:

Dav rain boots

I've been pretty sick the past week, not thinking in complete sentences.  The good news is I dropped a couple of pounds. I couldn't find the belt the nipped in my top so I used a pin. It actually looked pretty good, all the drape and flow was flattering.

My Dav Rain boots arrived two days after I ordered them online. I loved them! But they were tight so I ordered the next size up. They arrived yesterday. Too big.  I walked around the house in them for hours debating whether to keep them. Too big means heavier socks in the winter.  However, they hit me right in the back of the knee so sitting down with them on wasn't a real option. Holy smokes were they warm. I didn't need heavier socks. I was wearing knee highs.  Other than bare skin I couldn't get much cooler. I decided to suck in the massive disappointment and return both pairs. The nine were too small and the ten too big.  This is why I don't like ordering things online.
Honestly, these are beautiful boots. Beautiful. And comfortable, stylish and versatile.  They were everything I was looking for in a boot.  Well worth every penny - if only they'd fit.  I'm going to spend some time perusing the website and see if there's any other style that might work better. I might give these a try.

Lions

Lions have always been important to me. Not only as icons and symbols of strength, teamwork and majesty but as very real individuals.  Odd, when you consider I've been allergic to cats as long as I can remember.

Twenty years ago this Fall, I had the opportunity to get to know a brother and sister lion pair up close and personal.  While he was fond of shoes, would slip them off your foot carefully with a gentle touch, his sister never hesitated to swat any and all passersby.  They were pet lions who worked occasionally in a magician's act.  They were big babies, weighing in at 280 pounds.  When the brother jumped up to slam both paws on my shoulders he dislocated one.  He never meant to hurt me. His size and enthusiasm did it.  Imagine your housecat when he's racing around the house chasing shadows.  Add in the extra weight and height and you have unplanned injury.

It's why I'm conflicted about videos like this.  Lions are dangerous.  They are wild animals. But then so are domesticated house cats.  And dogs. We tend to anthromoporphize them.  I truly believe they have souls and personalities as individual as humans. But they are not human. What makes sense to them, what makes them lion/dog/cat/parrot is different from what makes us human. Forgetting that, or even denying them their wildness, causes problems.  We expect them to conform to our rules, to fit into our lives, often at the cost of their own.

I have no doubt of the strength of the bond between this man and the lions. None at all. I've experienced it to a lesser degree. It is incredible.  Watching him rub their bellies reminded me so much of the feel of lion fur, the sound of purrs, as I brushed out their shaggy coats.  Some nights I would sit on a bale of hay and read Diana Gabaldon's Voyager to them while the male lion chewed on my shoe. The lioness always listened and watched me carefully.  I'm not sure how if she was contemplating time travel or just liked my voice.

There was nothing like waking up to the sound of a lion moaning, a mournful sound.  They were terrified of the chew toy yet batted my window air conditioner around like nerf ball. I miss them every day but know they didn't deserve their life in captivity.  There was only so much I could to to make it interesting when they weren't mine. Releasing them back into the wild was hardly an option here.

To this day, I associate that time with a burst of creativity. They kept me on my toes as I did my best to entertain them. I wrote every day of their four months in my care.  I read aloud to them in the evenings then researched as much as possible.

When the lioness was off for a vet trip alone, her brother broke out of his cage and ran amok in the garage.  He knocked over a bucket of paint, decorating our walls and floor with giant pink prints.  I wrote a note on the door warning his owners that he was loose.  A note that was more haiku that rebuke.

Lions. Dangerous and enthralling. Affectionate and endangered.  Protecting their habitat is as important as expanding ours. 

Blessed

The temperature was so cold here the other day that the boots cracked. I've reverted them to the purple vinyl and am ordering a gorgeous, durable pair of rain boots online. I saw the perfect pair when shopping in Toronto a couple of weeks ago.  Too bad they didn't have my size as the sale price is considerably less than it's-no-longer-Boxing-Week regular price.

It takes a special kind of creative to walk across the floor of the library and pop your sacrum.  Freaking painful too. I had to get creative about lying on the floor at home to watch the hockey game while reading a book. The game was horrid. The book was fun. Kristan Higgins' The Perfect Match.  It was a good break from all the suspense and horror I've been reading lately.

I needed to stretch my back last night. Sitting is painful, standing and walking less so.  I walked slow shuffling steps on the spot while knitting a sock. My family has gotten used to my odd behaviour. Nothing much fazes them.

An interesting note. While it's only been six days since I stopped daily posts, I find I'm still thinking of at least one good thing a day.  Today's is remarkably easy.  Unlike most of North America, including cities within twenty minutes of us in all directions, we have power, little snow and the sun is shining. Temperatures are dropping like a stone but we're in a sweet spot, weather-wise.

New boots

My rubber boots are wonderful. I can jump into them easily. Sadly, they've split at the ankle so I need new ones. I saw the perfect pair the other day when we were in Toronto but they only had a size two larger than I normally wear. Apparently, that's the size I take in that brand. Oh well. I'll order them online as none of our local shops carry them.

Snow is piling up today and I wore all three pairs of boots I currently own. Only because every time I went out the previous pair were still wet and my socks were not. 

While I was out boot shopping, I came up with a temporary solution for my rubber boots. While I really like the purple, I couldn't find anything in that colour that would work as a repair.

These are the ripped boots (the tear is on the other side)

I bought some plastic shelf paper and covered the boots.  I've already tested them in the snow when I ran out to empty the garbage.    Eliot thinks they're cozy (truth is that's Eliot's spot and nothing, absolutely nothing is going to keep him from it)

Not bad for a creative solution.  What do you think?

New Year

Last night at dinner I did a much better job of articulating what the past year of Good Things has meant to me than I wrote on the blog. Let's pretend you were all sitting at the table and heard my concise explanation.

If 2013 ended up being the Year of Balance, what does 2014 have in store for me? What will be the focus of this blog?  I've been thinking about it a lot for the last few months.

Should it be about sources of inspiration?  Things that fill me with pride? Being accountable for personal goals?  Do I stick with daily posts?

I'm not sure.  I considered posting a photo a day that best summed it up. My grandfather was a good photographer.  I still have the telephoto lens he gave me in my first year of college. I still have that camera.  Film m is hard to find these days. Getting it developed even more difficult.  While I like the ease and convenience of digital,  I don't think I compose as well now that I can't afford to waste a shot.

I'd like 2014 to be the Year of Creativity. Whether it's crafting a fine piece of writing, knitting up a warm pair of socks, shooting a glorious sunset or problem solving with a patron, I intend to be creative, to approach things from an angle that only I can reach, to share a perspective that comes from my vision.

No matter my mood, my expression will be creative and stretch me into areas of growth. I hope you share the journey with me.

A year of good things

The most important thing I learned this past year was contradictory. I needed time to feel bad about all the things that went wrong. By committing to posting one good thing a day, I was able to gain perspective on my life.

It really was a year of balance.

While friends and family were a source of concern, sorrow and worry at times they were also my salvation.  Apart from the unconditional love from the critters, those people were most often my Good Thing.

I am truly blessed.  Focusing on the good happening all around me really lly helped me know that in my soul.

Thank you all for being part of a year of Good Things

Honour

Susan Barclay nominated me as someone who has had an impact on her blogging experience.  I am honoured by that accolade. 

Susan and I are both librarians who write but we met over the Internet.  If I'm not mistaken, we met over at another writer's blog.     


The rules for this award are very simple:

1. Display the award logo (see left) on your blog. By the way, it seems to have expanded beyond the 'WordPress' family!

2. Link back to the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate ten others you see as having an impact on your blogging experience.

4. Let your ten nominees know you have awarded them. 

 

That’s it!  Now just spread the love!

 

My nominees are:

 

KD James - http://kdjames.com/

 

Elen Grey - http://elengrey.com/

 

Pirko - http://pirkcrochets.blogspot.ca/

 

Stashaholic - http://blog.stashaholic.com/

 

London Mabel -  http://www.mabeltalk.com/

Nancy Herkness - http://fromthegarret.wordpress.com/

Betty Fokker - http://bettyfokker.wordpress.com/

Lisa Deon - http://slcslavedriver.blogspot.ca/

 

Natalia Maks -  http://blog.stashaholic.com/

I don't have ten because some of the people who have influenced my blogging have stopped doing so themselves.  Having blogged for 350 days this year ( I think I missed about 15 days for a variety of reasons), I can appreciate there are times when it's more difficult than others to find something new and interesting to say.  Life is good, even when it could be better.

Friends

Spinach,quinoa, egg,grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber and feta cheese salad was delicious but the company was better.  I've been blessed to be able to spend the last couple of days with good friends.  

My DNi was fortunate to attend a hockey game with her dad.  Even better, her favorite player scored twice and the team won the game.

Good day

The day was full of laughter, good food and fantastic friends. We shopped for shoes, tried on hats and got fitted for bras which always makes me feel 20 pounds lighter. We met a sweet little dog named Henry at the jewelry shop then saw him again at the boot store, aptly named Heel Boy. We decided Henry was a cross between a corgi and a pug - a porgi. We laughed even harder when I went into the health food store but couldn't remember what I wanted.

Dinner was delicious, of course. A gentleman went in the same time we did. He was sitting by himself for a while so I suggested we invite him to join us if he was stood up. He might have heard me but then his friend arrived.  It was wonderful to be out and about, carefree and irresponsible for a change.

According to Fitbit, we walked three miles. I didn't buy any yarn despite the tour through two shops that had great product. No hats, no boots, no earrings, no coat but a lot of fun trying things on.

All three of us have completely different taste and individual styles but we really enjoy shopping together. It's not usually an activity that I care for so it must be the company that makes the difference. Such good company.

Adventure

My friend arrived safely from Detroit. She brought a bottle of Winter Classic wine.  Apparently the NHL has a winery. Who knew?  Tomorrow we're meeting up with a mutual friend who is home from California for the holidays. I'm looking forward to the pleasure of their company, good food and some possible shoe shopping. We will likely walk for hours and cover very little distance.

I walked to work this morning. It was a slow trudge but it was nice to be out in the brisk morning air.  It had snowed in the night. Most sidewalks weren't shoveled so I followed some small critter tracks down the one street. They went up a tree.  I went around it.

Who

I have spent the day immersed in Doctor Who backstory. Last night, I watched my first ever episode. It seemed fitting to start with a regeneration from Eleven to Twelve.  I didn't intend to fall into that world, or worlds as the case may be. I was flipping through the channels and tripped over a wrap up of Eleven's time as the Doctor.  It caught my attention so I stuck around for his final episode.

Anything that distracts one. And the idea of regeneration clearly appeals at this moment in time, far more so than others.

So I cleaned, did laundry, knitted while walking on the spot because I also ate date squares for breakfast(fruit and oats).  It's been an odd day.

Children

Three bundles of joy bounced into the house and danced through the kitchen.  So much energy in those little bodies but they alleviated the sadness. We watched movies, played games and even opened presents.  The best gift was the reminder that this moment can hold so much more than grief.

Merry Christmas

We're plugging away and doing our best. Remembering the Christmas we spent in Florida with my aunt and her husband has made us laugh a few times. She was a big kid who loved all the silliness of stocking stuffers, tacky Santas that ho ho ho'd when you walked past and picking grapefruit off the trees on Christmas Day. I cannot imagine this season without her energy to liven it up.

We're wrapping presents, baking butter tarts and watching the Boris Karloff Grinch. The original is the best.  Rain gave way to snow and it's truly a White Christmas out there.

Stay safe, bask in the warmth of your loved ones and enjoy the day

Bad day

It's been a really hard day. Mom had a bad fall this afternoon followed by a phone call that her baby sister died yesterday. There's no way she will be able to go to the funeral in Florida. Mom is gutted.

The only good thing about today has been the way we've all come together near and far.

Traditions

Big ice storm last night spared us but not many trees. The carnage was heartbreaking as I drove to work. Ice still bent our guys to the ground when I got home.

I finished the minion hats! I'm particularly thrilled with this one.

My friend and I did our annual wrapping party while we watch Christmas Vacation. Our exchange seemed to have a theme