Summer Camp, glittery yarn and Welsh

Been a bit... Esme went off to summer camp for a week, and returned sunburnt and with better swimming knowledge.  I've been playing with some glittery yarns - three to be exact.  I finished a round pillow for the 'lolfa'... and am working some glittery blue yarn into our 'Creeper' blanket.. and then I have two balls of 'shawl in a ball' glittery mocha colored yarn that I haven't decided what to do with, yet.

The 'Creeper' blanket (in progress)

 Clustog crwn gyfer y lolfa (round pillow for the lounge)

Out in the garden the tiger lilies are just starting to bloom.
We have a few pumpkins on the vine, too.

I made a milestone - opened up the Welsh book I had ordered last year and turned to the first page, and this time (not last time) I could read all but three words without having to look anything up.  I was pretty amazed.  I've made some progress.  I've also subscribed to four Welsh podcasts on my phone to listen to as they become new episodes available.  I can understand quite a bit of what I'm hearing.. not all, but I'm picking up new words out of them as important ones that I look up later.. 'anffordus', 'wreddiol' etc.  I've also almost got to the end of SSIW level one and am now hearing some of those new words in the things I am listening to, as well.

What's coming in AlphaAgriculture 2.0 minecraft mod

Peach Prairie biome 

plus more recipes for cooking in Survival mode

a few new textures, Ruby Glass

able to fiber-process some more things

Lemonwood cabinets

Pork roast

 

Peaches grow wild on some trees.

Make a peach into a peach pit and start an orchard.

Remember you can download AlpaAgriculture original version at AlphaAgriculture Minecraft Mod

The tutorial for how to use the mod is also at that link.

 

This mod made by rhelynn and monalisa64

June 21st storm in Tennessee

It was my birthday and we had a huge storm roll through - bringing down a couple of big branches in our yard.  This one was so big that Mark and Esme couldn't move it even pulling on it together.

I went out in the garden and put up a bunch of fence and netting to try to keep the deer and rabbits out of what little produce we've been working on this year.

Callie cat says 'no more free lunch rabbits!'... really she just wants it to stop raining now.  We've had a LOT of rain the past few days!

AlphaAgriculture Minecraft Mod

We've finally posted it for download and playtest! Esme (who is eleven) has been working on this with me since the beginning of the year, at least.  We're proud to put it out there now for others to look over and have fun with!

 Download it at MCreator's website!

This mod is designed to be used with Vanilla Minecraft, not requiring any other mods to make it work.  It adds lots of new plants (which are farmable), biomes and resources.  Everything in the game is makeable in Survival Mode and on Peaceful.  Although, of course, you can use other mods, creative and monsters-on with all of it.

You can survive and build a big farm of food.  You can collect honeycombs from the wild and build yourself a thriving honey system.  You can milk cows and make cheese and cream.

All of the 'classic' southern farming crops are here - cotton, corn, peanuts, soybeans and rice.  Esme got to use her knowledge of the 'cotton gin' and threshers for the plant processing.

And because Esme suggested it, you can recycle the plant and tree fibers to make more cloth, mats, ropes and clothing!  There are new dyes and foods including marshmallows.

There is also a new chemistry system for making fertilizers (bone meal) and gunpowder from newly mined ores, instead of having to kill skeletons and creepers.  Leads can be made with cotton or jute grown and then processed. 

And we wanted the world to be interesting.  We loved 'Plenty of Biomes', but didn't want to have to include any other mod in ours to make the world fun to explore.  We added a lot of extra biomes, wood types, things to harvest and discover.  I made it a goal to make any of the woods biomes 'liveable', meaning you can make tools, minecraft tables and chests out of them.

We added fifteen new biomes in all.
Here are just that you might find:

Magic forest highland, where no monsters ever spawn

Merania ocean glass biome and Highland pines

Cherrywoods, Maple forest and Greywood swamp biomes

Come play :) and enjoy

Note : Yes, there are a few bugs, especially with the seeds.. but it seems to be par for the course with the editor we are using... but overall, this is a lot of fun!

Bits

It is that time of year again, vacation and reflection.  Thinking about how to do things, how to complete things.. what can be done, should be done etc etc.  A time for some cleaning, organizing.. lots of taking down thoughts... some drawing and reading and writing.  I've been drawing a bit more here and there, and scanning/photographing some of the work, even the 'not really good, but I'm doing something 'work.. because, for me, that is as important as the 'greatest thing I ever did' work.  Doing more after you've done something mediocre is a stickler point with me.. I want to 'take time off' and nearly quit.. and I have to get back on that horse.

Fox Hollow

little folk painting done after Esme and I argued mightily about her hair

trying to get my head back straight and not be angry when I explained to her exactly why she needs to brush it and wash it adequately.. for her future with other people outside this household as well as with me.. She is so stubborn - I know she gets it from both sides.. but stubborn!

I now have three 'books' going... the time traveller/dimensional traveller saga I've been working on for years.. a light hearted and snarky one about a witch and her animated house, and a collection of deep short stories that are based on dreams.  I was adding to and editing the short stories one this morning.  These are dream images so they both tell a LOT about me deep down, but also very little about anything anyone really knows about me.. so it will seem, in the end, like someone else wrote them or like I was having a very bad time with depression or existentialism... anyway... They are such powerful stories and images I cannot NOT write them down.. and they flow like water until each story arrives nearly fully-formed, 1500 to 2000 words.. and it is like a parable or mythology.  I know the two stories I have are connected and will need to be together in a book.  I haven't gotten any others that say 'we go with those guys' yet.. but there is the budding of another one - from a dream I woke up from too soon.. but had some interesting imagery and text inside a book inside the dream that my 'character' in the dream responded to.

Going through yarns, sewing materials, books.
Going through Esme's room - which since she is a teenager, is filthy and disorganized and she shrieks when I touch or change things.  But - it has to be done.  Shrieking included.  She is going to camp next week.

We also had a head-to-head about her hair.  And then, grasping the nettle firmly I took her to the salon to have it thinned out, and they confirmed she has been letting shampoo or something goop up in her hair.  We have fought over that - tooth and nail almost.. you obviously haven't washed it well or at least rinsed it well.  Yes, I have!  No, you haven't.  *sigh*  My ears are ringing, so she is probably reading this at some point in the future saying something under her breath about it.  We've talked about that, too... its not nice and not something that is going to win her influence or friends - the opposite, actually.

So, rant over.. maybe  I can turn my mind towards some more of the things I need to do now.
It's definitely vacation when you have time enough to think about cleaning up everything and sorting.. at least, it is for me.

I turn forty in two days.
I don't  feel bad about that.
I know I'll do my normal morning routine - weather permitting... we'll see if it does.

2002 drawings Regeneration and Medicine

I dug into some old artwork of mine today, as I wanted to make a small print version of the first one here.  Took some pictures before I put them away again.  This was from my linguistic surrealism / expressionism drawing phase that I graduated through college at NDSU (North Dakota State University) with.  Lots of ancient art inspiration and looking at picture languages of the SouthWest, Middle and South Americas.  There is also a bit of Picasso that shows up.. but that is likely because he was inspired by the same things, as well.

'Regeneration', 2002, inks 

18x24"

 'Medicine' 2002, watercolor and ink

16x22"

'Medicine' screenprint on cotton paper, 2003

three color process

about 8x8"

 

2002 Marie Winger (now Lamb)

A medieval penguin .. this looked very similar to costumes of the Black Plague Priests after I looked up people in bird masks.  However, I have no idea where the original imagery idea came from.

 

The Evolution of Cosmic Bear 2002

this tells a story about how Cosmic Bear went to the underworld and came back with his weapons.

It was a made-up mythology story for some of my drawings in my class.  There was a whole mythology of Cosmic Bear being abandoned in the Silver Forest, adopted by Fox (Cosmic Fox), and taught all the things about the Universe, interacting with humans and other Animals in the Forest and becoming a force for Good.

Cyfarfod

Welsh cyfarfod - to meet with someone, to have a meeting. /// Cyfarfod Esme a gwiwerod yn y parc. Aeth Esme a minnau i'r llyfrgell a chael pryd o fwyd. Cawsom ddiwrnod da! // Esme and a squirrel meeting in the park. We went to the library and had a meal together. We had a good day! -- Bit of drama, we lost her library card in the park and had to backtrack to find it afterwards.. but it was located, and all is happy again.

y lolfa

Roeddwn wedi bod yn addurno yn y lolfa. Cadeiriau newydd, lamp, desg a blancedi. Fe wnes i gobennydd crwn mawr ar gyfer y gadair. Roedd ni yn mwynhau'r pethau cyfforddus newydd

 I have been decorating in the lounge. New chairs, lamp, desk and blankets. I'm making a big round pillow for the chair. We are enjoying the new comfortable things.

---

We have more changes to make, remove some of the countertop, add bookshelves in its place.  That will push the room back another foot, opening it up.  I spend a fair amount of time now at the desk, waiting for food to cook, writing, reading...  I found the blanket box/footstool yesterday on clearance and am hoping it will be a useful thing. 

I am hoping we will keep the countertop area for the cats, and maybe put a big cupboard above (and maybe also below) that area for storing the things we do on open shelving there now.. keep dust off it, and keep it in reach but out of sight.  Then we can remove the rest of the countertop and open that space up.. but keep the desk area and the lounge area a bit separate that way.  We're still deciding on that - and once we have a firm plan, then we'll actually start doing more.