Three Things You Don't Know About Me

 

Ever since I came up with this thing about you not knowing me, I can't get Eddie Arnold's song You Don't Know Me  out of my head.  I often suffer from earworms like that but this one is particularly annoying because I don't know the other words. 

 And Just for the record here are three things you don't know about me

1.Whenever I'm alone in the house, I put on music and dance.  I've always loved music and dancing though I'm not great at it.  But when no one can see, who cares.  I just like to keep moving the old body. One of the music channels we get as part of our t.v. cable package is songs that are oldies.  Perfect for an 'oldie' like me.



2.  I read my magazines from back to front.  I've done this for years and thought I was the only one.  I couldn't believe it when I read I'm part of an army of people out there who also enjoy their magazines this way.  In fact, so many of us prefer this backwards first approach, many magazines have been reordered and reorganized to include more items starting in the back.  Just when you think you are unique...





3.  I like to try to speak in accents.  I know, lame, geeky, such a dweeb.  But I can't help it.  After watching Ray and Abs on Ray Donavon, I will use their Boston accent around the house for fun.  I can also do a fairly good Irish accent which I guess comes with the territory of being a Newfoundlander.  I also love the Australian accent; when we watched The Slap last year, I was trying out their take on words for weeks.  In particular, I just love the way they say stressed, kind of like strissed, which almost became the way I pronounced that word for a while. 

 Hubby's favourite accent is the Irish, but then he is half deaf  which once again, might be a really good thing living with me. 

Visual Imagery Tool

If you love beautiful visual imagery, you have to love Pinterest. In fact, Pinterest describes itself as a tool to access visual imagery.

Like millions of others I have a Pinterest account and for me it is because I have a strong love of visual images, ideas, and researching for such.  Signing up is easy; I signed up through my Facebook account. 
 I began looking through Pinterest several years before I began my blog and I love it.  I started out slowly with it and surprise myself when I see just how much I've managed to 'pin'.  I use pinterest in a number of ways.
Just about any topic you can think of has its own category on Pinterest.  Cars, kitchens, books, fish, animals, school work,  the arts, poetry, writing, you name it and there are pages and pages devoted to each. How to do just about anything is there...links to lessons, aps, web sites. 
 I can't say which are my favourites...there are too many to pin down. (No pun intended, :) )
If I'm feeling a little low, I go to Pinterest humour pages and read the quotes or various jokes or scroll the funny pictures, etc.  Perhaps I'm easily amused but I always end up having a laugh and feeling bettter. 
The food, well, I have lots to say about that.  The photos of the food, most with access to the recipes, are endless and marvellous.  Anything I can possibly think of to make, mix or bake is already there with accompanying photos...the word drool comes to mind. I just love scrolling through the seemingly endless array of desserts, cakes, casseroles, meats dishes, etc. etc.
 One of my favourite categories is the needlearts and in particular, hand embroidery.  I have spent so many hours looking through the beautiful work, patterns, web sites, ideas, etc. that others have taken the time to pin.  I have repinned some favourites and enjoy following up with visiting the web sites or blogs. It is always a learning experience.  I have found my way to so many wonderful international sites that I would never have found on my own. I am a pretty good researcher but I have to say Pinterest has greatly widened my information far beyond and so much quicker than I could find things scrolling browsers on my own. 
Photography is also a favourite category with me.  People have pinned such incredible photographs, breathtaking and stunning, images from all over the world, as well as their own backyard.
 I also love the watercolours category for the same reason..what a feast for the eyes these sections are, is all I can say.
A way to find patterns, how to fix, clean or cure just about anything, decorate, save money, books to read, ideas, inspiration or just a laugh, it's all there at Pinterest.
 On my opening page today just in one screens length the general feed included links to

Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash
Seashell and Starfish printables
How to sew an invisible seam
Link to an embroidery pattern book by Mary E. Waring, 1917
Bacon and Pea Macaroni and Cheese

 I'm a big fan.

You Don't Know Me

Oh, I know all about you now, someone I know said to me recently. What do you mean, says I.  Well I read your blog every day, so I know all about you.
What an interesting thought.  That someone could know me by what I put in my daily blog.  My trail-walking with the dogs, my busy stitching fingers, my attempts to cook and bake in the kitchen, the books I'm reading, my efforts to label the bits of nature I come across.  Come to think of it, I guess that is a lot to know about me.  I reckon these things account for quite a lot of my day so yes perhaps I am 'known' by following my blog, come to think of it.
I had thought of a blog as a bit like the reference to icebergs...you only tell about 10% of your life with a whopping 90% still hidden.  But it seems really my life is a bit of an open book and perhaps this equation for me should be reversed.
In my blog, I prefer to talk about myself mostly with the odd reference to Hubby.  I have reassured the people around me that I won't write about anything that refers to them without checking with them first.
 Blogs can share what could be considered highly personal information that's for sure.  Some people have gained a lot of spiritual and mental support by blogging candidly about personal challenges, for instance.  Those bloggers are thankful for the avenue that a blog provides and grateful for the feedback such disclosure can elicit. I say good for them if it helps them get through.
It is an interesting thought though, in this age of personal sharing and over sharing, what is too much.  On Facebook, some of my friends share their daily movements, spats with each other, romantic encounters, political persuasions, religious beliefs, illnesses; all varying degrees of  personal information posted for their friends to follow; sometimes something will be TMI in my opinion.
 What is too much information to have "out there"; who really cares anymore anyway; I guess it's whatever your own comfort zone will allow.         

Snowflakes On Felt

My embroidered felt ornaments have widened to include more themes.  Besides the birds and snowmen, I have worked out a design for a simple snowflake. This took longer to figure out than you would think.  I remember well years ago learning how to fold white paper and make little cuts through the layers, then unfold, and voila, a snowflake.
 I tried that at first as a template but realized quickly that you make too many turns and openings that way.  You might be able to use such a design on fabric but the felt was too thick and stiff.  I saw a video on Youtube where someone was showing children how to draw a snowflake by starting with drawing straight lines crisscrossing.  That video and  a bit more experimenting led me me to this design.  I like how colourful they are but I'm still unsure about the spokes on the ends.  I see bird's feet when I look at them.
I'm thinking about decorating them with a few small beads and maybe then they will be more snow like. 

Nature: Good as Gold

Along our trail

          "The year was in its yellowing time, and the face of Nature a study in old gold."
                                                                                                                  Grahame

 I was watching an episode of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki and one section of the show tweaked my interest.  It talked about studies at the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine that are proving time spent in the outdoors, what they term 'forest bathing', is medicinally good for your body.
 It seems a little strange that we would have to be told this.  I think of the tuberculosis patients fifty years ago who were sent to the country side and made to spend a portion of each day outside in the fresh air as part of their treatment.  I hadn't known that fresh air had so fallen out of favour as a good thing that now we need studies and such to prove its usefulness as a tonic.  But I guess I can see why when I think of how the urban areas have grown and how little time people and children today are really spending out doors.  With such busy lives, it is mostly a run from the house to the car for many.
Anyway, the work in Japan proves scientifically that spending as little as ten minutes a day in a nature setting can lower your cortisol levels and help boost the all important immune system.
This is good news for us country folk.  I spend time every day outside usually walking around the property, sometimes just meandering with my camera, but often  trying to get a little exercise in.
Now if only it would help with insomnia.

My Blueberry Pie (With Thanks to Crisco)

"Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy? "
 If you're old like me you can remember this song.

I've been using the same recipe for pastry as long as I can remember.  It calls for Crisco shortening and I have tried other lards at times but never had the success that I have with Crisco.  I think this recipe was found on the Crisco tub originally, come to think of it.  I used to joke that I could do a commercial for them, that's how faithful to this product over many decades I have been. I have also tried variations for pastry, recipes that call for sugar, or milk, or combinations of butter and lard, but always feel this one works out best for me.  I think pastry is a very personal thing for each baker and you learn yourself what gives you the best results.

Once this mixture is all in the bowl together, I do try to handle the dough as little as possible; that's about the only secret I have to tell you.  There has to be enough liquid to hold the dough together without having to work or knead it and that can be a little tricky.  I use a large egg always and don't skimp on the water which should be very cold, by the way.

I always use a knife to cut this big ball of dough into two balls, lightly wrap each and pop in the freezer while I prepare the berries.

Yesterday it was a blueberry pie so here is what I mixed for that:

4 cups of blueberries, 1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar(depending on how sweet the berries), 2 tbsp. flour, 1/4 tsp. salt; I combined the sugar, flour and salt and mixed it into the berries.

Again I try not to handle the dough too much and get it rolled and onto the plate as quick as I can.  This is a double crust pie so the berries are topped by another layer of dough just like this one.  I mixed half an egg and brushed it over the whole of the pie top.
It was  baked in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, the temperature lowered to 325 degrees and baked  for another 20 minutes or so.

 

I don't think I extended the dough to the edge of the plate like I should have; nothing is ever perfect with me!  Hubby had a big piece last night and pronounced it good, so I guess the proof is in the eating. 

Gail Marsh's Early 20th Century Embroidery Techniques

I have borrowed this book from the library several times.  It is written by Gail Marsh, who has been a design consultant for Marks and Spencer, and has published several books in the field of embroidery.  Titled Early 20th Century Embroidery Techniques, this particular book highlights the work of  a dozen or so embroiderers who were prevalent in the field from around 1900 to 1939.  It is 192 pages long and features over 330 photos so it is sure to be pleasing visually.  Included is a brief biography of each woman, followed by a discussion of their preferred methods, techniques, materials, etc. and photos of finished works. 

I was struck by how passionate these women were about their embroidery and how so many of them did truly view it as an art. The amount of work that would be devoted to even things that would be well worn such as tea cosies was surprising.  Sometimes the stitching on such items would be just exquisite. 
This is a highly readable book and the photos are lovely; the items shown provide inspiration and are well worth examining. 
One little jarring note was that some of these women were snobbish about embroidery and eschewed the kind of work many women would have been producing at the time and in fact, still do; you know using the iron-on transfers where you fill in with straight stitch or back stitch.
Other than that, this book is useful and inspirational.  It is available to buy from the Book Depository for around $23 with worldwide free shipping.