Sunday 1 October 2023

๐Ÿ Yay October ๐Ÿ‚

It's been dry in September. We shall see what October brings. I watered the garden yesterday. 

I took a nice walk in the forest, the shoulder seasons are the best, and found a few trees down. 
My first wood duck nesting box, wrecked by a bear, and three cubs, needs repair. This is my non-mental note to remind me.

Our colourful mushrooms are done, the fungus is still going.

I feel so badly for our large white pine trees. Shorn, as they were in 2023 storms. I've been stacking the wood.

After my break, I got back to work stacking. 
During and after. The rest of it is too big for our wood stove. I may just fire it down the hill! I could get them back, but I'd just have to stack it!


๐Ÿ‘€ Now, those of you with eye floaters know whereof I speak. I am still not used to them. 
Not only that, but we've these durned no-see-ums. They aren't biting, and for that I am grateful (some of the 5000 of this species do), but they hover in a cloud just to fool my eyeballs. When I sat down for a break in my orange shirt, they all landed on me! Then, I looked at the hops vine, and there they were. 
 

There was a ceremony on TV for Orange Shirt Day (←excellent information from the Canadian Encyclopedia). I taped and watched it. This is a day to honour the 4100 named missing Indigenous children at residential schools and missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). It was a moving two-hour event. White people must bear witness, and listen to their stories if they are able.



This is another shameful saga of white colonial history. Children sent to horrid institutional schools, torn from their families. It is well represented by this famous painting.

Felting

This is a new craft for me. I watched several YouTube videos and I am getting the hang of it.
I am working on Christmas presents! SSsshhhhh – don't tell anyone in Vancouver! I have been revising it. I originally ordered a kit from Topsy Farms, one for each girl, but they only had the one style. That first one worked out well enough. 

This is Bernie, one of the kids' cats in Vancouver. Bernie lives near a busy street and he is a runner. He is often leashed. I was trying to figure out my second piece, having redesigned it myself. ๐Ÿ˜ธ 

I decided to improvise. My bird didn't work well. I pulled it out, felting is very forgiving, and created a dragonfly.


I tried to order more of the felting base, but even Topsy Farms has trouble finding it. I ordered kits from Amazon. More on that later!

16 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Happy October! Take care, have a wonderful week!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Love your felting forays... and adore the new blog banner! YAM xx

Nancy J said...

The Orange shirt, I read the story on Stew Hilts' blog too. Too sad to contemplate what happened. Floaters, for real? I have real ones in my eyes, and my previous optometrist said " Get the fly spray out", cheerful chap.!!! Felting? that's a new craft for you, and so good to have during your colder days. I'm waiting for a day with NO wind, and can work on the veranda table to wet felt some more scarves. You might be able to get kits for them too.

Nancy J said...

Jenn, The Loop in Halifax have Ashford scarf kits, and Canadian Dollars just $25, a very good price considering they are the original Ashford ones that I used to start the wet felting.Let me know if you think this is for you.

DeniseinVA said...

A very interesting post as always Jenn. Very thought provoking in parts, especially with the history of Orange Shirt Day. These things as horrific and as sad as they are, need to be acknowledged and remembered.

RedPat said...

Felting looks like a fun craft.

Elephant's Child said...

We could do with rain too. Some is forecast for this week but the weather boffins are not entirely truthful.
Love your felting. And that you are learning new crafts.

Barbara Rogers said...

Starting at the end of your post...the felting is easy to correct? Then you might look at how the white chest of Mr. Kitty is looking like another paw. And then to the beginning, I was at a Native American Seminar and we were urged to wear orange. Most of us did, and they also had orange ribbons to pin on if people had not. One of the presenters was the daughter of a boarding school mom, and she is now a leading behavioral health specialist for generational trauma. All of the program was excellent, and I'll start posting some of the pics and talking about it on blogs soon.

Cloudia said...

You are felting is sweet, thank you for teaching us about orange shirt day! Yes, those mini flying vermin can be quite vexing. Aloha my dear

Red said...

Fall chores never seem to end.

Kay said...

Kay of Musings: Oh my gosh! That painting…. It’s so awful! Was that how it was? Man’s inhumanity to man. And when it’s for religion, you just shake your head.
I’ve been bit by the those pesky bugs you don’t even realize are there. And they hurt!

DrumMajor said...

Interesting crafts! Linda in Kansas

Anvilcloud said...

Happy Month

Divers and Sundry said...

It's been dry here, too. There's a lot of work there dealing with all that wood! Our history dealing with the indigenous peoples is horrible. Cruel. Your felting will make an exciting gift. I'm wondering if people ever put these felt designs on hats...

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

We just watched a limited series called 'Reservation Dogs" that had a couple of episodes about the forced Indian schools ( the same horrors happened here in this country). The series is set on a reservation in Oklahoma in the present day -- the episodes about the schools were flashbacks. Its a good show -- comedy/drama. The main actors are all Indiginous, and I think several are from Canada. It's worth watching.

William Kendall said...

Supposedly there's rain coming.

There was much in the city for a week on Truth and Reconciliation.