Starring Mouse and some Nameless Smoking Bones

Starring Mouse, the diluted tortoiseshell Manx
Willowpede and Sallymander's older sister

An outside-inside cat has very dirty paws...
dirty, but still cute.

Nose and Whiskers



This skeleton hangs near the doorway of the house here -- he's plastic, don't worry ;o) However, he doesn't have a name -- nothing has 'stuck' yet, as he has very little personality. He has gained a coat and pipe recently though, so maybe he's planning to make a break for it?

In other news : Still working on the weaving, although yesterday wasn't very productive for it. I had a headache most of the day - got quite bad about 9 pm, then let up at 3 this morning. Feeling better now, much better. Working on putting some auctions up on Ebay and have a small Python program that should be worked on later.

Sun, Clouds and Sunset

The sky just continued to be beautiful all day today -- and the temperatures got up to nearly 50°, much better than the (unseasonable, for here!) below-freezing temps we've been having. The yarn I had ordered a few weeks ago came in the mail today. It was originally for the dream bag, but that is already going well in the cotton embroidery thread -- so I'll have to see what this wants to be now, when the current weaving is done.




Post-processed picture of the sunset

We went down to the lake and took some pictures as well -- the pup crowd was photogenic, as usual.

Sunrise

the sunrise this morning was beautiful

The Geeky Girl Reads:
Althaea root, (marshmallow) which is in the soap I like. Wiki-crawled from there through --> Asparagine amino acid, --> Aspartic acid then off to looking at amino acids in general. Better yet, Richters online catalogue (in Canada) sells the seeds.

Productivity

The weaving is 4" tall now. When it gets over 6 inches, I can 'turn back'
that means mirroring the pattern (as much as humanly possible!) so that it is symmetrical from top to bottom. I really like to work on it when a little bit of sunlight comes in across the workspace -- usually in the midmorning. It seems to me that in natural sunlight I can see things down to the tiniest of details, much better than in artificial lighting. I love to draw 'in a sunbeam' as well ;o)

Busy day today -- lots of things got done! The snow is almost all gone here. In other news - I'm getting things ready to reopen the KnitOwl and friends shop. I need to make and mail Alee's aliens!

Sharing some linkys:
Awesome t-shirt designs from Robert Mars. I love to do this kind of work as well in my art -- structural designs, analogies between structures, symbols and systems. Check him out!

Nooka watches - the strangest and most interesting product change I've seen in a while. You could be staring at one of these on someone's arm for a good while before getting up the courage to ask - "Excuse me, what is that thing? A Watch? Really? COOL! Err.. how do you read it?" Comes in several designs, for even more interesting confusion ;o)

Milly Molly Mandy printmaker's shop I saw when visiting Jhoanna's site - I love this one!
AlthaeaSoaps etsy shop - I love her Yuzu olive oil soap, it smells extremely yummy!

Dream Bag Weaving, old and new

The weaving for the dream bag is continuing along. Here it is compared with the old (and well-used) dream bag, that usually resides under my pillow, so as to lie just under my ear as I sleep.



So, what is in a dream bag? It would be different for every person. I put in special items that I feel are important. My items are symbols representing links to certain people, qualities and structures that are either important to who I am, or to what I am seeking to dream about. Some items stay in the bag for years, while others come in and out depending on the topics most important to me at the current time.

I think dreams are important, especially 'strong' dreams. When I have those 'pay attention - you're here IN this dream and things are happening around you in real-time' lucid-type dreams, I do pay attention - and see what they might be telling me. Sometimes I get an idea of what is important, or wrong, or needing attention in my waking life - that I have been forgetting or trying to avoid. I view the whole dream experience as a subconscious experiment - another way of gathering and sorting information with my subconscious. (For those of you who have read a little bit about my ink art - you will see this connection in their purpose, as well.) The dreams are rich in symbolism and often 'wacky' in their structure -- but usually upon waking I have a 'Oh Wow' moment - where I understand what my brain was saying and what I need to do with this information while I am awake.

So, do I really think this bag, or the things inside it, makes a difference? In other words, why do this? I think, at the very least, it helps make a focus point, putting things together in my mind just before I sleep that carry over, psychologically, into the 'dream world' of my subconscious. I have a very visual mind, as well, so making a visual symbol with attached meanings helps me personally, to carry over, better than simply thinking 'I want to dream about X.'

We Geek Out on French Toast (and Bacon)

We had a surprise this afternoon -- the water froze in the cold temperatures, and broke a pipe, so we were off to town to get the necessary parts. (Pictures of clouds from the drive back home)...




After the water was fixed, we geeked out on french toast. Neither of us could remember any exact recipe - or amounts... but we did remember the ingredients ;o) Eggs, milk, bread, butter... make the right mixture and it all fries up nicely into dinner! We only had one pan suitable for the french toast - the one we usually cook bacon in, so the bacon in these pictures is being oddly cooked in a saucepan -- but it worked... that's all that matters, right?


Mark stirs the pans while I snap some photos


The end result isn't particularily pretty to look at, but it was delicious with maple syrup!